Dove the donut queen.

As I recently said in our Vet visits blog,

 our Vet came out last month to do the yearly checkup and shots, and she brought donuts!

Not for us as my husband hoped, but for the pig. 

Yup, that's how we roll around here.

A friend showed up with a bucket, 

"here I brought this for your pig." 

Lol

Anyways, I had this bag of donuts laying around in the barn, so I decided to get rid of it.

 I emptied it into Priscilla's bucket and turn around, when I turn back I see Dove practically choking herself to reach the bucket.

"You want a donut?"  

I ask holding out one to her. 

First, she flinched, but the smell of sugar overrode her (unwarranted) fear of me. 

She stretched her neck as far as it would go and took the donut with her tongue. 

Since that day I have been giving her a donut a day, and the results are awesome. 

She went from running out the door frantically when I entered the barn too, well this.......

Well, Hello!

It's a relief because I was worrying I would not be able to keep and breed her.

I do not keep any animal that it not easy to handle.

 My beef steers are one thing, but a breeder that you are up close with a lot has to be kind.

So our wonderful Vet may have just saved Dove's future on our farm.

Or maybe I should say the donuts did.

Vet visitd, part two.

Soo, a few things happens when the vet was here, we found out the pig likes sugar donuts, (well, who doesn't really?) 

And we found out sad news about Little Bit, not surprising, but the only cure for Little Bits problem is to butcher him.

The vet said to do it as soon as possible. Not terribly surprising news and his end outcome was always meant to be beef, but I was hoping to raise him to have some more weight and health on him.

It looks like he will not ever be leaving this Farm to the point of being in our freezer.

 I'm not confident enough in the condition and flavor of his meat to sell it to any of my customers. 

I tried to uphold very high standards for all of my meat animals.

Overall everyone's health is doing really well, the vet was very happy to see how everyone was happy, clean and healthy.

They all got their shots and surprisingly it didn't go as badly as I was fearing, considering the artificial insemination was  done before the vet arrived, Daisy was calmed a little by then and wasn't too bad to give her shot to, she can be a big baby when it comes to medical issues though so she fussed as if we were doing something horrible to her.

Her calf Dove did better than I expected her to especially since she's been a little wild lately. 

(But we may have found a solution to that story to come shortly...)

The chicken I was pleased to find out only broke a tendon she is completely fine now and only has the tiniest limp you would never know anything happened to her. The vet told me not to feel bad she has had happened to her too. 

That visit was concluded with a glass of lemonade to cool off as she wrote us her bill and we were left with a very good feeling about our vet clinic.

Oh, hey!

Haying season is here, we are right smack-dab in the middle of the first cutting and the second cutting. 

Hay may seem easy to the untrained eye, basically just mowing your lawn and then baling it into a bale right? 

Not even a little bit.

 Haying is quite complicated and you need to know a thing or two about what you're doing for it to work out well for you. 

This time of year all the farmers around (including ourselves) are knee-deep in hayfields, which not only means making room in the barns but also being sure the hay wagons are emptied of other things that we've been storing on them, and all the equipment is functioning properly.

We also need to stock up on baling twine. This wraps the bails when they are whole to keep it from falling apart. Some farmers use netwrap or plastic, but we use old-fashioned twine because it's biodegradable. 

We need to check tire pressures, oil all moving parts, check for damage that happened over Winter and perhaps repair something that we left undone last year. 

Haying is hot, grueling and not always rewarding. 

The only time I ever get any satisfaction from haying is occasionally in the Winter to see my cows chomping down on some sweet smelling green hay when it's cold, snowy and blowing outside.

The first piece of equipment that goes into haying is the mower. It is, of course, powered by the tractor, so the tractor must be in full working order as well. Before you consider even mowing a field of hay you need to look at the condition of the hay itself, is it close to setting its seed heads? Is it short? Have we had enough rain for it to be thick and lush?

I must also preface this by stating that hay is not just wild grass, it is seeds that we buy and plow the earth to plant. It is a specific mix of types of grasses and Alfalfa's to make a healthy consistent hayfield. A lot of people think it is weed grass, trust me it's not! We pay to put that hay into that field.

When looking ahead and deciding whether to mow a field you must also look at the long-term forecast. You can drop a field of hay, (this is an expression for having it mowed down,) and have a sprinkle of rain that day while it's still green, but rain in the forecast between the time that you mow it and bale it is the worst thing that could happen. 

The idea of hay is that you are drying and preserving green grass in order to store it long-term and feed it to animals in the winter months when they probably can't scavenge for it in the three or four feet of snow that we can get.

So, since we are essentially drying and storing food, it should be done properly. If the weather looks good for about 4 or 5 days we go ahead and do as many fields as we think we can manage to bale in that time. It takes a day or two for the hay to dry, and usually midway through this drying we tedd it.

 A tedder is something similar to a rake except instead of making it into a pile we flip the hay over to make sure that it dries on multiple sides. If it rains and your hay becomes wet we will often have tedd more than once. The best farmers do everything they can not let it rain on their hay fields.

We are working with Mother Nature and sometimes it happens, so the tedder is a very useful tool. It's loud and grumpy and old, it very often needs to be repaired even though it's mechanical workings aren't terribly complicated it is a frustration for us almost every year.

So let's say you mowed about 20 acres of hay, you had good weather for a few days, it's been tedded and it's ready to go. What do you do now? Now you pull out the rake, and it basically is what it sounds like. This too, like all the other equipment, is run by the tractor.

 You run the rake along the hayfield making winrows. A winrow is what you pick up with the baler. This may sound simple but it must be done in a pattern that the tractor and baler can continue to meet. If you make rows too close together or too far apart, the baler will not have an easy time picking them up, or you drive around wasting time and fuel.

 You must remember that when you're driving a little Massey with the rake it turns a lot sharper than the big Challenger with the hay baler on it. So you must make wide turns so that the Challenger is capable of following your path.

Baling can be done in 3 or 4 different ways, Styles, and sizes.

On our farm, we have two ways to bale hay, a round baler, and a square baler. A square baler makes small square bales of hay that weigh around 50 pounds. They can be moved by hand, and when you are baling them they must be stacked by a person riding on the hay wagon. Very hot, hard, exhausting work. You are often left sunburned, dusty, and exhausted. In which case at the end of the day, a shower and tall cold drinks are in order.

A Kicker baler throws the bale into a cage wagon, but we don't have one. 

So we stack by hand.

The second way we bale hay and definitely our preference is the round baler. It makes very large round bales of hay which must be moved with the tractor. They weigh about 800 pounds and if you're not careful about how you remove them from the hay baler they can roll away and cause damage to fencing, automobiles, and the baler itself. We once had a round bale get away from us, rolled down our entire West hill, and unraveled as it went.  It stopped a few feet before the road, there was nothing left to un-roll.

Hay is extremely regional, I have been learning more about ranches out West and their haying is very different from ours, they will often get only one cutting.

Here in New England, we can get three and sometimes four cuttings of hay. A cutting means that you can cut a single field more than once when we market our hay, we classify each cutting as first cutting, second cutting, and 3rd or 4th cutting if there are any. The consistency and nutrition of the hay change slightly and can be better for different types of animals.

First cutting can tend to be coarser, therefore not as desirable for somebody who may have an elderly horse or llamas. Llamas have very soft lips and can only safely eat very fine soft hay. 2nd or 3rd cutting would be best for them.

We try our very best to have healthy hay fields that are as weed-free as possible. 

Plowing and replanting hay every 5 years or so is a good step in preventing weeds and other plants that you would not want to have in your bales of hay. 

It is grueling hot dusty grunt work that we don't always look forward to in the Summer. It eats up a lot of our weekends and there's a lot of equipment that we are counting on to continue to run.

 If your hay rake or baler breaks down when you have three fields down, and there's a thunderstorm predicted for the next day, you've really got to rush around to get things done, and sometimes you just don't make it. 

We have lost entire fields of hay before, as much as we plan ahead and do our very best to do it properly, Mother Nature sometimes has her own plans. All we can do is the best we can do, our hope is to feed our animals and our customer's animals throughout the Winter and keep them well and healthy.

There is, of course, the concern of properly storing the hay once it has been baled. The round bales get picked up with a spear point on the front of the tractor and stacked on to wagons, it is then stored under cover whether on the wagon or removed from the wagon and stacked in our pole barn. 

Square bales were generally kept in the hayloft of the big cow barn. 

We no longer do this because it required hay elevators and a lot of muscle in a very hot, dusty hayloft. We're fairly relieved to no longer store hay this way but there are plenty of farmers who still do that. 

You must keep your hay dry, do your best to keep it free of pests. 

There's a lot to consider, there's a lot of thought and worry and sweat put into a single bale of hay. Sometimes it feels like it's not appreciated.

One thing's for sure, I think Daisy appreciates our hard work.

So next time you pass by a hay field and see a farmer mowing or baling his hay, please, please do not think it's a larger version of mowing your lawn, because there's a lot more going into it than that.

Vet visited.

Do you ever have that feeling, when you're driving along minding your own business and then you realize there's a police officer behind you? 

Suddenly you're tapping the brakes and clenching the wheel tighter to make sure that you haven't just done something he could pull you over for? 

That's the feeling I get when the vet is coming?

Now, I love our vet, everyone that I've worked with in that office is wonderful!

We've always had good experiences with them but I still get that feeling. 

The barn gets an extra cleaning the water buckets get an extra scrubbing and I pay attention to smaller details than I normally would. I want to make sure they're coming into a barn that it's obvious the animals are well taken care of.

I woke up this morning knowing the vet would be coming, I did not know my cow would be in heat again.

She is not as easy to handle or as friendly when she's in heat.

we've already tried to breed her once, and the breeding did not take, so we're going to try again this afternoon, but it causes a little concern for how we're going to get a shot into her this morning.

I'm also glad the vet is coming because I want her opinion on a Little Bit, the steer, as some of you may remember he had a growth plate injury when he was very young our plan was to raise him up until he was a good enough size and then butcher him. 

Hew, as doing so well this winter that we decided to not butcher him this spring and give him all summer.

that perhaps was a mistake because he is going downhill very quickly, he has lost weight even though I am feeding him hay and grain which I usually don't do in the summertime, he is struggling to move around more and I'm afraid of letting of him go until fall was a mistake. 

So I'm looking forward to seeing what the vet says about that, butchering him this time of year would be difficult because of the Heat and the Flies so it is not recommended. 

what we will do with him between now and then I don't know.

We also had an incident the other night when I was trying to move all the chickens into one Coop together so that the ducks have some peace in their own coop.

(the chickens tend to bother the setting duck hen.)

I have been catching chickens my entire life and never had this happen. I picked up a chicken and had both of her feet in my hand because when you carry them upside down it puts them into a slight trance that they don't get as upset, as I picked her up to flip her over she freaked out and twisted I felt her leg pop! At first, I was afraid she broke it, but I just think she sprained her joint, I wrapped it up in some vet wrap and put her in the injury Ward.  I'm sure glad the vet will be taking a look at her today, I feel very guilty that she got hurt when I was handling her,  But animals are unpredictable no matter how small they are, or how well you think you know them. 

There's always risk involved, there are always new things that happen and there are always new learning experiences. Stay tuned for the second half of this blog about how the vet visit went and how everyone's health is doing. Wish us luck for now.

Farm update.

Hello folks, I know I have been bad at keeping up with new posts of late.

I do apologize there have been extenuating family circumstances. Everyone is fine, but there have been unexpected things happening with extended family that needed to be dealt with.

However, I thought I would take a moment and update you on how your Critter friends are doing. 

As most of you know Daisy had her calf, a heifer we named dove. The plan was to keep her on the farm to be a breeder as her mama is.

 This plan is starting to carry doubt, since she is not taming well.

 She was doing perfectly good for a short amount of time but now has become flighty and a little wild. This could just be a phase that she is going through, and I need to put some more work into her, Or she might just not tame, that can happen with certain breeds of cows, couple with personality. 

There is no need to fret over it as yet she is still just a baby and only time will tell.

I have spoken to our AI guy, and Daisy is going to be bred in a month, we think we are going to try a Hereford this time. They tend to have better personalities than Angus or Charolais. We shall see how that goes.

Daisy came into her first full heat last month, and I completely forgot what a raving lunatic she can be!

 She attempted to disassemble the barn, as well as walking around with her water bucket over her head banging into things, this was done on purpose! 

She continually dumped her water and made the barn into a swap she was locked in for one full day for her, her calves and my own safety. 

Luckily this bit of craziness lasted for about 12 hours and the next day she was almost her sweet self again. This was what spurred us on to plan her next breeding. This is after all her job is to make us babies to sell or to butcher, but I do like to let her go through a heat so that her body cycle is working properly. I did forget how upsetting, it is to see her so unlike herself during that time. She is a much happier, friendly cow when she's pregnant. I guess she has the perfect job.

Well on the subject of Heats, our sweet Pig Priscilla has not found her Rhythm yet. I thought I had her Heats calendared out, and it turns out she is not old enough to have them on a solid basis as yet. With the timing so late in the spring, we will probably breed her in the fall for early spring babies. 

A pig's gestation is 3 months 3 weeks and 3 days. If we breed her now we will have babies ready to go in late fall, not the best time to be raising them, and not the best time to sell them either. So we will wait a few more months for her. She is doing great otherwise, and is very happy out in the mud and getting her daily ear scratches.

The young chickens, are doing very well and have settled into free-ranging around the farm. We are continuing the chicken Wars in the sense of keeping them out of the kitchen garden and from eating all of my flowers. But they are happy friendly chickens and are doing quite well. One of my favorite girls, Clare, has decided she wants to set on a clutch, and I'm hoping that she will be a good mom. Ironically, I started the incubator almost on the same day we realize she was setting. So we should have two clutches of babies hatching next week right around the same time. I plan to hatch out babies every year, to replenish our flock and to sell to friends. And who doesn't love a little yellow ball of chick fluff! So adorable!

The ducklings I got from a friend a while back are now almost fully grown, and even though I could not tame them to be super friendly they are doing well free-ranging now and making friends with the other Ducks. 

I recently bought them a kitty pool at the store and they are very much enjoying their Fresh Pond of water every morning.

Jack, the farm dog, has recovered from his Lyme disease quite well and is happy and Lively again. We have invested in the Seresto collar for him and so far it seems to be doing the trick. I did find a tick on him the other day but it was dead so it looks like it's doing its job. My super farmer husband is teasing about buying some for us and putting them on our ankles as well.

There was a very stressful point this spring when dealing with the family issues as well as trying to repair the fencing to get everybody out on pasture, but we got through it and everyone is out now! Very happy and fat on green grass. The fence is shaping up well and I will pick away at replacing the oldest part throughout the summer.

The garden is fully planted and doing quite well. Everything is growing and looking good. We can't wait to have some summer picnic meals with fresh vegetables from the garden.

This concludes my update for now, there is a chance I will be MIA for a little while and we start haying, that is grueling, hot and time-consuming work. But I will do my best to keep up with all of you. 

Until then happy summer!

Chickens are clucking awesome!

I have said before that chickens are the spoiled kids of the barnyard.

This is still true, but that doesn't mean I don't like them.

Chickens are pretty, funny and full of personality. 

🐓🐔

Here are some fun facts about our frolicking Feathered Friends. 

Chickens are descended from the redhead jungle fowl found in Asia. There are also some genetics that are similar to pheasants. 

There are dozens of different kinds of chicken breeds, such as leghorns, Rhode Island Reds, Buff Orpington

(which we have👆) 

There are several different categories of chickens and several different breeds in each category. 

There are meat bird breeds. 

There are egg-laying breeds.  

There are ornamental breeds such as bantams, a silkie is a type of Bantam that has five toes. 

They also have very wispy feathers and a puff on their head. 

They're pretty darn cute! 

🐥

The fear of chickens is called Alektorophobia.  

I know some people with this fear, and I have to be honest I never completely understood it. 

Chickens aren't exactly dangerous creatures. Occasionally you will get a rooster that can be downright aggressive, but they only weigh about 5 lb! 

Catch them by the leg or neck you can pretty much control what they do.

 🙄

Chickens have more bones in their necks than giraffes,  😮 right? Who knew!

The dance roosters perform is called kibitzing. 

He does this for two reasons, one is a mating dance to get the hens attention, he also does it to get them to come over if he finds some tasty food.

🐓

Roosters take very good care of their hens they protect them, provide them with food, they even show them good places to lay eggs by exhibiting a nesting Behavior. 

🐓👑

A young chicken is called a pullet until she's old enough to lay eggs and turns into a hen. 

🐤

A group of chickens is called A flock, chickens have a good memory and can remember up to a hundred different faces and voices of people and animals.

Chickens have a hierarchy, or pecking order if you will!

They also have friends they prefer to hang out with and can even mourn the loss of them.

😢

There are more chickens in the world than there are people. Chickens are the most numerous of all types of birds. 

?🦃

It takes 4 pounds of food for a hen to have enough energy to lay a dozen eggs, a hen will lay two or three eggs every two days.

 The type of chicken makes a difference in the color of the egg, all eggs, regardless of the color, taste the same and have the same nutritional value. 

🍳

Chickens are omnivores, they not only eat grass and small plants, they also eat bugs, small rodents, and lizards. So when you go to the grocery store and buy a dozen eggs that says that the hens have an all-vegetarian diet, that's actually not how they are meant to eat.

Hens will lay eggs regardless of whether there's a rooster around or not, the only difference is the eggs will not be fertile. When female chicks are hatched they have every egg they will ever lay already inside them. 

😵💥

If a hen decides that the rooster she spent last night with isn't good enough to procreate with she will reject his sperm.

🤐

Chickens do not go to the bathroom in separate forms it all comes out together, and at once. (This is true for all birds.)

😨

Chickens have mostly lost the ability to fly, they can fly for short distances like over fences or up into trees, or to get away from you if you're trying to do something with them. 

😤

Chickens are very aware of Sky Predators, if the rooster sees a hawk he will make a cooing sound and all the hens will run for shelter.   

Chickens are fairly smart for the size of their brain and can be trained quite easily.

They can be trained to come to a certain call, and also to go to bed, as into the chicken coop, at a certain time of night. 

😇

My hens are very humorous when they go into the coop for the night, they all get up on their perches and wash up, as in preening their feathers and get cleaned up. At night as they prune and preen and get comfortable it is very enjoyable to watch. 

😍

Mother hens talk to their chicks even before they hatch from their eggs. Chicks recognize their mother's voice and will respond to it above any other chickens call. 

🐣

Chickens have a wide range of vocal sounds when a hen lays an egg she usually cackles loudly and excessively. It tends to get the roosters attention and then he joins in.

If a hen cries out in fear the rooster will come running to see if he can help her.

Roosters will fight each other to claim dominance, their fights can be pretty bloody and brutal, sometimes they can even kill each other. 

🐓

Chickens will dust bathe, they make a little hole in the dirt where it's dry, they throw themselves on the ground and toss their wings around as if they were having a fit. They hop up and shake their feathers off in a cloud of dust leaves them. This is to ward off mites and helps keep their skin cool. They act as if they very much enjoy it and it's quite funny to watch.

When a chicken is overheated she will hold her wings away from her body and pant.

Wheher you love chickens, put up with them, or are terrified of them, you must admit chickens play a huge part in our world.

 If it wasn't for their quirky personalities and fantastic laying abilities the nation's diet would look completely different.

 The egg is exactly what the human body needs to start off their day, or continue it. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and baked goods we love eggs! 

Thank you chickens, you're clucking awesome!

🐓 🐔 🐣 🍳💗

What's that smell?

Spring Cleaning On The Farm!

Spring cleaning means pretty much the same thing that it might for your home. You clean up things that got left all Winter, you sweep, you neaten up, and you put things away.
The one difference to cleaning a barn versus your home is the Poo!

We have been building a manure pile all Winter, and Spring is the time for it to be cleaned up.

Now, I don't think that my animals smell very bad. I clean their barn very often and do everything I can to keep the animals clean. However,

when you're digging into a pile of six-month-old manure, it's going to smell, and does it ever!

The smell is on our boots,  on our jeans, on our dog, (because he rolled in it).  

We drove the tractor up and down the driveway, so there are remnants on the driveway. That means all the vehicles have it on their tires. The whole yard smells of it! 

  It's not a particularly bad smell, not a great one either. Especially when it's on your dog!

We have Farm rules.

1. Don't go into the barn in your good shoes.

2. Don't go into the barn in your good clothes!

3. Don't let the dog out without supervision if there's company coming.

4. Don't let the cowlick your hair.

Do we break these rules? Of course, we do, but we shouldn't, and here's why.

There is something about the smell of cow that permeates your entire being! 

My husband always said this was true when he was working in the dairy barn, but to this day it is true with Daisy as well.

If I walk into the barn in my good clothes to check on everyone before I head out to do errands it doesn't matter whether I touch anyone or not, the air of the barn seeps into my entire being.

 I can smell the cow on my coat, in my hair, and even on my shoes,

whether I stepped in anything or not.

 If you take a "cow smelling" coat and wash it with some other clothing items that don't smell like a cow, when you pull it out of the wash, it'll all smell like a cow, 

unless you use some good deodorizing soap. 

We're not sure why cows have this effect and it doesn't seem to be true with any other animal. Sheep have lanolin in their wool.

If you handle them you will smell like that for a while, but you have to touch them to do that.

 Pig, surprisingly, I don't find that they smell very bad. What smells the most is their poo and if you give them the opportunity to be clean, and get away from it, they don't smell much like anything.

Chicken's poop can smell pretty bad but the chickens themselves don't smell much, except chicken dander. 

Chickens can be quite dusty animals and that is their worst trait. They love to take every opportunity to make dust baths in the dry ground and they roll around and flip the dirt all over and through their feathers, this is a natural deterrent to mites and to cool their skin.  Then they get up and shake as they walk away.

Horses smell GOOD! 

I love the smell of clean horses!  I would prefer the smell of horses,

but what is it about that cow smell?

 It leeches into every pore, crevice, and follicle we have!

I don't know why, but it's true, unfortunately. 

Why do we break our rules? Well, we have to check on the babies before we head out to do our errands. 

We know we shouldn't, but we do it! What happens? 

We go downtown with the faint aroma of the cow on us. 

 I would recommend, for your own nose's safety, to steer clear of our place for the next few days. For some reason, non-farmers find the smell a lot more noxious then farmers do. 

However, the smell will fade soon, and that manure we spread on the fields will make our crops and our gardens grow gorgeous and lush. That is the other part of the cow's two-fold jobs.  (and the pigs and the chickens and ducks) is to give us wonderful nutrient-rich manure to keep our soil healthy. 

That keeps our plants and different grasses healthy, to feed us, as well as the critters.

So we thank you cows and other critters for your smelly poo!

We really really do! Without your poo, we couldn't feed the soil that feeds you and in turn, feeds us.

In Praise of poo!

Honest and true, we praise poo!

Oh, Dove!

I grew up on a farm.

 I have helped birth many a baby animal, lambs, and goat kids, calves and smaller furry and feathered creatures. 

I know how to deal with minor things and I know how to tell if the animals healthy, knowing these baby basics does not help me worry any less. 

Especially when Miss Daisy went a few days late, I started to worry about worst-case scenarios. 

Knowing what could happen can sometimes make you worry more, in my case anyway.

We were a week into getting up every 3 hours to check on her, and I was really getting stressed out. 

Super Farmer suggested we take Sunday afternoon and go to the movies. I hemmed and hawed for a while but after checking on Daisy and seeing her not having signs of true labor, I agreed.

Our friend and good neighbor happened to stop by and I asked her opinion of Daisy's condition. She agreed with me and commented, 

"If I were you I'd go to the movies because they never have their babies during the daywhen it's convenient anyway and maybe she just needs to be let be for a while."

 With Daisy's history, this is true. The  first two were birthed at about 6 in the morning.

So I went to the movie.

Leave it to Miss Daisy to decide to one-up us all and tell us that we really do not know what we're talking about!  While I was at the theater snuggled down in a comfy seat and giggling at a humorous movie, my grandmother, uncle and friend were group texting back and forth because Daisy was in labor!

My uncle had gone out to check on her and was alarmed to see Hooves protruding from her. He sent a group text to my grandmother and me that I did not receive.

 When I thought I had set my phone to vibrate I had accidentally set it to do not disturb. I sat and giggled oblivious to what was going on back home on the farm. 

My grandmother texted our friend who came rushing over as soon as she could, by then the baby was on the ground. 

My uncle, who is a slight stranger to birthing animals did a very good job. In the past, he would be on the periphery while my mom and grandpa and I did the actual birthing. This time he was center stage. Gram knew that the presentation was normal, so asking our friend to come over just made an extra pair of hands if needed. ( actually 2 pair of hands, her son came with her.) My uncle had a lot of confidence through all this because he has been watching a YouTube show from an acquaintance of ours. It helped him, especially the calving prep videos. 

(I will put a link at the end of this blog.)

One of the texts from our dear friend said, 

"Never take my advice again! lol" 

My husband and I raced through the exiting theater traffic to get home as soon as we could. We arrived at the barn to find everybody standing outside the stall and the most beautiful calf I possibly have ever seen.(Please don't tell Daisy).
 

She was large, healthy and spunky. Daisy is such a good mom!

She was attentive and cleaned the baby up really well. My relief was palpable!

 She started passing afterbirth not long after this and we decided it was her only calf. 

Our friend and my grandmother were trying to describe the color of the calf because it is something unusual and can only be seen well in person. As they were discussing whether she was a dun or grey &what to call it. Our friend said, " We have got to give her a good name". I suggested calling her Doe as in a female deer, because her color was so soft and sweet and she had big bright eyes. A few moments later my grandmother asked me, "What was it you wanted to name her, Dove?"My friend and I looked at each other and a with light bulbs over our heads. I looked at my grandmother and said," Well that wasn't it, but I think that should be her name! " Our friend nodded, definitely! This is how sweet Dove was named. Mama and baby were doing well so we let them rest for a while and then I checked on them later and fed Daisy her supper. She was definitely tired, but she is a trooper and she did wonderfully! I'm so very proud of her and very proud of the baby that is of course 50% her. I can't wait to see what this little personality grows into.

 We've decided that she will stay on our farm and be another breeder as her mama is. Some things you just know, and I just know this is the right cow to stay on our farm. This of course means we will be another two years before we have a beef to send to Market  but I think it will be well worth it. Once we have these two lovely girls both being bred we will have twice the beef to share. The moral of the story here? Never think you can know what Nature is going to do, it will always surprise you, always Amaze you. 

I keep going back to what my grandmother said when I was hemming and hawing about going to the movies, she said it might be the best thing to bring on labor. She said that her grandmother always used to say, "A watched pot never boils."

As an added tidbit, though I was concerned about Daisy, our inseminator told me that the breed of bovine Daisy was bred to this time has a week longer gestation period than the angus. So one more piece of information learned the hard way, but those are the things that stay with us and add to our knowledge base. Of course he gave me that information when he visited Dove the morning after her birth! Lol

What the Duck?

It all started innocently enough, my Grandmother said, "you know, our duck eggs aren't fertile."

That's odd I thought, we have two pair. Oh well, maybe they haven't gotten into the swing of things yet. 

One pair of khaki Campbell ducks I have had for 5 years. They have had one successful hatching of a clutch.

The other pair is the adult daughter of the first pair.

I recently got her a boyfriend from friends of ours. 

He's an Indian Runner and I named him Emerald.

The daughter duck is young so, my thought was she hadn't gotten 

into mating yet and that was all that was going on.

A few days later I pulled up in the driveway and parked. I stopped still, sitting in the car not sure what I was seeing.

Momma duck was trying to mate with daughter duck, daddy duck was chasing away the boyfriend duck (Emerald) who was trying to stop this odd act. 

"Huh!"

I said aloud to myself in the car.

Now, I have seen sexually frustrated male ducks try to mate with anything, 

(My aunts handbag once)

I have seen girl ducks do a dominance thing and hold down other girls to remind them who was in charge.

But I had never seen a hen trying to breed another hen. 

Obviously, I have some sexually confused ducks.

I could see the look in Emerald's eyes, "What kind of family did you put me with?" he seemed to say to me.

Now, I don't have any interest in anyone's sexual orientation. Keep it to your self and I'm good. 

It's your business.

However when we are talking about ducks that I'm planning on breeding to raise the extra ducks to sell, and have more eggs to sell, 

well then,  we've got a problem!

This isn't going to fly with me.

(no pun intended)

So, what to do?

Well, I'm pretty sure I'm going to get some new ducks.

Some friends of ours raise Appleyard ducks. That is a  dual purpose breed for eggs and meat.

I'm planning on getting a few more Khaki Campbells as egg layers.

But you can bet on one thing, I am not letting my confused crew raise the next batch of babies. 

Nope, I'm going to raise them myself, and maybe they will have better sense.

As for what to do with my messed up duck family? I'm not sure. Should I let them live out their lives on the farm,

or will they end up in the stew pot?

stay tuned to find out.

One thing for sure, I'm going to find Emerald a new girlfriend. I at least owe him that.

More cows! part 2

The Divine Bovines part 2!

Cows kick.

Ever heard of a cow kick?

Yup, they kick out to the side, opposed to horses who kick to the rear. 

( Though, some horses can "cow kick" too.)

So, convenient for when your farmer is trying to milk you. 

Milking takes place at the cow's side.

A dairy cow can produce 6 to 7 gallons of milk a day.

That takes a lot of energy, to make so they eat about 100 lbs of food a day as well.
About 40,000 calories.

There are about 350 " pulls" of a teat in a gallon of milk.

Cattle need vitamins and minerals.

They love salt and sweets, just like us. 

This is not all they need to be healthy though.

They are given mineral blocks, these look like multi-colored bricks. 

They lick them (more licking) to adsorb nutrients they need.

I am sure to give my cattle bricks with selenium, because this is very good for them, especially when they're pregnant.

Cattle Products.
you probably see "Cattle products" and think, "dairy, beef, and leather."
well, yes but there are many more uses of products from bovines than that.
In fact, you probably have some part of a bovine in your house, on your skin, and in your bathroom. Cattle parts are used for:
skin lotions.

 makeup.

Insulation.

Air filters.

Gelatin.

Adhesives.

Medication.

Fuel.

Fertilizer.

Chewing gum.

Instrument strings.

Plastic.

Just to name a few.

check out the full list here.

Everything-But-the-Moo-Cow

Some cattle, have horns, some don't.

This can be because of the breed. 

Also by removing the horns.

A breed of bovine that is hornless is called, polled.

As in Polled Hereford.

Naturally hornless.

Cattle can be dangerous.

Cattle cause more injuries every year than sharks.

This does not mean you should be afraid of them, it just means you should leave them be and not try to tip them over.

They are naturally cautious of strangers.

So, unless you know them, leave them to their ruminating.

Cattle talk.

Well, not the way you think.

They do a lot more than just moo.

They bellow, and grunt, and groan.

They cry and snort, and sneeze

A farmer can tell what's going on with the noises the herd is making.

They are pretty good watchdogs too.

Cattle can see as well at night as a cat can.

When grazing they can 360 degrees around them. 

The only blind spot they have is directly in front and behind them.

(This is true for horses too)

Bovines are great!

Our world would not be the same without them. 

In my opinion on they do not get the respect they deserve.

Daisy knows how awesome she is.
I tell her every day.

Cows, cows! part 1

Our cow Daisy is 9 months pregnant, she is due any day now, wail we are waiting for the new arrival I thought we could take a moment and learn some amazing things about cattle.

I love cattle!

Not my favorite animal, (don't tell Daisy!) but high on the list.

Most people seem to think that cattle are slow and dumb.

SO not the case!

Here are some fascinating facts about bovines part 1, for you to chew on, or ruminate if you prefer!

The name 'cow' is used incorrectly most of the time.

'Cow' is a female bovine who's had a calf.

That's it, so cow pretty much means mom.

The proper term for them as a group name is Cattle, plural.

A bovine singularly, and bovines, plural.

Here are the other correct names for cattle.

Heifer, a young female who hasn't had offspring yet.

A spring Heifer means she's expecting a calf.

A freemartin, a sterile female twin born with a male twin. 

(This happens 97% of the time with a male, female twins)

Bull, Intact male used for breeding.

Steer, a castrated male used for meat or companionship.

A calf, is a baby, Heifer calf, girl, and bull calf or Bulock is a boy.

There are over 800 breeds of cattle.

some are used for milk, others beef.

Each breed has certain traits just like dog breeds.

Also just like dogs, personality trumps breed traits.

Cattle are very social animals, there will be a lead cow.

 (a steer can be used as one as well) 

The rest of the herd will follow the lead cow.

Cows make friends. There will be two or three cows who like to hang out with each other.

It has been proven that separation from the cow's "friends" causes physical and emotional stress.

Happy cows provide better milk and more of it.

Research has proven that if you name and care for your cow as an individual they produce more milk and have a lower stress level.

Duh!

Dairy cows must be milked twice a day, usually every 12 hours.

without exception! 

Much to the chagrin of dairy farmers everywhere.

An unmilked cow can suffer extreme pain and even result in illness, sometimes death.

(This is also true for all milking animals, goats sheep etc.)

Cattle are ruminants.

 (as are sheep, giraffe, antelope, and deer, among others)

Ruminants do not have 4 stomachs!

They have one stomach with 4 compartments.

these are called, the rumen, the reticulum, the omasum and the abomasum.

The rumen is where the food first goes. 

From here it's brought back up to be chewed later, this is called chewing cud. When swallowed the 2nd time it goes to the next compartment.

If you would like to understand how this all works check this out.

ruminant-anatomy-and-physiology.

Cow tipping is a myth.

Cattle do not sleep standing up, horses do. (sometimes)

Cows only sleep for 3 to 5 hours a day.

Also, they have 4 legs and are anywhere from 1000 to 1800 lbs full grown.

It's not so easy to push a cow over. The thing about cattle, if you push on them long enough, they shift their body weight back on you.

Eventually, they will lean on you and you'll be the one on the ground.

haha!

Red does not tick off Bulls.

In fact, cattle are color blind in some shades of red and green.

The reason the bull gets mad is that of the flapping fabric.

 I have seen young calves go after sheets on a clothesline.

They are not sure what that movement is and assume its a threat.

Cattle are extremely curious.

They are one of the most inquisitive creatures that I have ever met.

Perhaps it should be, " Curiosity killed the cow."

Cattle like to lick.

As a greeting, a get-to-know-you kind of thing.

They lick their calves, their friends, and their farmers.

They also have very slimy saliva, they make about 40 gallons of it a day.

Ick!

On that note, stay tuned for cows part 2, coming out tomorrow.