Today no pictures. I started the day off meeting a new calf in the barn who was born early this morning. We induces cause momma was gettn ill. Hes a beautiful black/white bull calf. Then after i got the babes up and off to school I had a few errands to run in Greenfield. Then back home to meet the vet to set an embryo in another cow! Our vet took a look at momma who was sick and we are gonna give her some meds. We decided after looking at her and baby, that baby came breach cause his tail was broken and momma was in pain. Sooo now im ready for the weekend. Did I mention that I went to Brookville to the flea market and we have 2 baby turkeys! I'll post some picts soon.


Take Care!

Baa Baa

The lambs are gettn huge! They are soo funny. They talk a lot when we come into the barn. Especially at feeding time. The actually run and bounce off the walls! The scarey thing is they get halfway up the wall. I'm so afraid they will jump the pen gates and get out sometime. And the coyotes are really bad right now. Hopefully, they wont figure out they can get over the gates anytime soon.

Calf Delivery

So on friday I look out the window and notice a cow in labor. Lots of friends that dont farm wanted to know how it all goes down, thus this post. This is Canute we arificially insemenated her and this is her labor. You usually have about 45 minutes from the time the sack bursts till the calf should be delivered. This labor took 35 minutes from start to finish. Some of our cows let us get to the calves for their shots and some dont. They get 2 shots and a nasal injection and iodiene on their navals to dry them up. This one is a girl. With LOTS of hair. And as you can see the other cows are not affected by any of this. I took these photos from my kitchen window, because I tend to talk out loud coaching the cows! Like they need me to do that. But hey it makes me feel better. I feel like an expectant grandparent waiting!

I have a friend that has an incredible story. If any of you has the time go the website i will post and read their story. The are truely strong and couragous and wonderful people. And if you can donate money to the cause, even if its only a couple of dollars. Every little bit helps! Thank You!

www.coreyscrewz.com

Patience pays off

Mark and I have been raising beef cattle since we got married. I am crazy about my baldies and any with chrome on them. This is the first year since we started that we have actually had GOOD, chromed calves to keep. And the best part of 9 calves allready on the ground all but one is a boy. I took updated pictures of all of them yesterday. So i will get them posted!

Motherly Love

This year is an awesome calving year for us.. Everything has went smoothly with very little stress on us and the cows. I am soo excited that we have the option to increase our herd with some very nice heifer prospects this year. And they are black with chrome which makes my heart go pitter patter. And its hard to believe that we have only had 2 bulls and all the others are heifers. These are a few tender lovin moments with momma!

GREEN

When Mark was working in the woods sis and I took a walk around. We found all kinds of interesting stuff. This is the only time she can go back there. Once the mosquitos get going she has to have her clip on. Shes highly allergic and swells. But we had a great time exploring!

The last weekend of March we went to Colombus, Indiana for a cattle show. This is our 7th year going, but the first year Garrett got to show. It was really chilly that morning. Garrett placed 5 out of 8 in his first class and 4 out of 8 in the second class. We had a great day! He is working hard with Bella and hes more proud of the fact that she is his.

Water+Sunshine=FUN

Warm weather + daddy washing calves = mud and water puddles! Sooo the babies got out there hand shovels and starting making and playing.

Mahlia has an thing with these orange boots. Well, she is outgrowing them. Sooo we got some new boots. These have camo on them and she wears them all the time now. Which is great because she can be funny about replacing things sometimes. YEA!

Cowpies

Last weekend was as usual, BUSY! Soo my tush was dragging on monday morning. Mark got up at 4:40, at 4:45 he runs into the bedroom and yells "Get up and get your boots on fast!" Soooo in my pajamas and rubber boots armed with a flashlight I ask what's going on. He tells me the momma cows are out. Soo i grab 2 buckets to trick them. As i'm walking blindly around the house in the dark, all I could think was "they are gonna see me before I see them and they are gonna run over me with these buckets thinking they have corn in them!"
I look out in the pasture and see what looks like the cows laying down. Then I hear the old corn stalks cracking, cause someone was out in them. Then I hear the electric wire "ping, ping, ping." Someone just wen't through the electric fence. We never did figure out who the trouble maker was. We did a head count in the barn. All mommas and babies were present.
I honeslty thought mark was still asleep and dreaming about cows being out, until i heard the cornstalks and the fence. And then later in the morning I found a few of these in my beautifully green grass!

Fence

We love this farm! But the people that owned it before us, let it get in such bad shape. We have spent the last 2 years ripping out old fence and fence posts. Then we put in the new posts and run 5 or 6 strands of hot wire on it. It's much prettier and keeps the bull off of it. This section is through the middle of our woods and Marks using his new tracks and grapple bucket. He just loves them! Soooo now that the debris is out of the way, we get to start stringing wire and putting in the new posts. We have to more sections to go. Then we just have to maintian it. Hopefully the deer don't mind it being hot. This section will actually have springs, so if they hit it it has some give. Or if a tree limb falls on it.

Bella and Garrett

This is Garrett's heifer Bella. We took her to Colombus, IN a few weeks ago and then to Henry County. We are hoping to breed her this month. Can't wait to see how she does as a momma.

Cattle Equipment

The last two weekends we have had cattle shows on saturday. Sometimes when we explain going to a show to someone they look at us funny. I laugh too when i think about it. They get their hair done and have more hair products than me and mahlia put together!

Going to a show is like moving half the house/barn. I make something for lunch. Then get a conatainer with snacks, paperplates, silverware, papertowels and baby wipes in it. Then theirs the cooler to pack with all of our drinks. Each of us drinks something different. Then I have to make sure we have show clothes, wash clothes, extra clothes and weather appropriate clothes. Then we pack the show box with all of the blowers, sprays, wash materials, clippers, blower and the hundred other things they need. Then we have the chute we clip them in. And everything has to loaded into the truck and trailer. The cattle and us come last.

Needless to say I thought when we got out of the baby stage we would not have to pack half of the house to go somwhere, but that is soooo NOT true. We love the shows and all of our friends that we see and hang with. But when we get home theres always more to do. And the laundry is awful! But I will fondly remember these days when the babes are gone doing this with their families. And I as a grandma only has to bring her camera and a chair! But thats not for forever~

Not gone, just busy

I would like to just let everyone know that we have not fallen off the earth! Yesterday was my birthday and today is my brothers (hes 2 yrs younger). And today Mark took the day off and we are frantically hauling manure before more rain comes in. And we are having another cattle show tomorrow. Back to back weekends of cattle shows can wear a family out!
I dont know what will happen when we start with the lambs, hogs, 4-H, fairs, planting, hay work and all the other things that we do in the middle. Life is awesome and we wouldn't have it any other way! I promise to come back soon. I might take my camera to the hog farm, so everyone can experience the cuteness of newborn baby piglets!

Take Care, till we meet again.