newest addition... on monday confessions

And here you were thinking I was going to tell you about a new calf being born. Nope. We are still waiting on Daffy to have hers. She is about 12 days or so late. But more on her another day.

The truth of the matter is living on a farm is there is an ugly side to it as well. It's not all sunshine and roses. Here on my blog I can pick and choose what I want to share. So today I thought I would share some ugly truth.
 It was about 6pm and there was a commotion outside. Well it was the hens and then we saw the fox.  Some ran outside and I went running to get our .22. by the time I got back outside the fox had left. He had pulled her feathers out and bit her leg. She was OK other that. She is still fine. That got us to thinking. We have not had any such critters come visit the farm. Other then the skunks. We borrowed my BIL Jack Russel dog for a couple weeks to get his scent around. In all our thinking we decided it was time for a farm dog. We had put off getting a dog due to lots of reasons. But the time was now. A friend of ours had some puppies.  How convenient. Australian Shepard pups. Farm and family raised, that were almost ready to leave the litter. We went out to see them. And we had chatted with him about what we were looking for in a pup. He had 3 pups that he thought would be a good match for us. On my! puppies!! They are so cute! All of em! We decided 2 of them were what we liked, and had to decide what one was going to be just right. We had another week before it was old enough to come home. So we decided to think and pray about what one. One was a male and the other female. Well on our way home we got a call...
Our neighbor called and told us something had gotten into our broilers in the pasture...
Yup. We got home and sure enough there was a pile of dead chickens in the chicken tractor. They all had the same bite makes. All were counted for.  About 20 in all. We picked them out of the tractor and put them in a bucket to dispose of them. The culprit had gotten into the back of the cab in the window part. We knew this was not the fox. A fox would have taken them to eat, not leave them in a pile. A joy killing. We figured out what had killed them and we moved on. And I'll leave it at that. But with this happening we put up a double hot wired fence around the chicken tractors and decided for sure we were getting the pup.
So meet our new addition.

Belle. :)  Isn't she just the sweetest!! Her farm work training has begun! We just love her.

Have a great day ya'll!!

it's a good day to be born

Well we took delivery of a bull calf today!  Dandies second calf, and her second bull calf. Although this time she is so much better off. Last year we almost lost her to Ketosis, and then milk fever. And had to pull the calf. She was due the 22 and we've been on pins and needles waiting for this calf to come. Due to all the hardship she had last year. We've been up every night multiple times checking on her. She's been bagged up and dripping a little milk and her vulva has been swollen for several days.
She labored for about 22 minutes from the time we saw the sack of front hooves come out to the time he was on the ground. We were all outside watching and I got lots of pics. So if your squeamish don't look down at the pics. I think it's an amazing event and the kiddos all watched.

I was actually heading out the drive way to go help my sister at her farm when I looked in the pasture and Dandie was standing with her head down and back arched. That looked suspicious to me and I stopped and watched. She laid down and was clearly starting to push. I ran back to the house and called to  my husband and grabbed the camera. I always grab the camera! He texted my sister to let her know I was not on my way. She understood, she had goats that recently kidded. We all sat and watched the event quietly. Even the animals were quiet while she labored. The other cows left her alone too, they must sense something is different with her and they leave her be.
Graphic birthing pictures! You've been warned!  (Smile)

 We kept a watch on the time due to the fact that she had such a time of it last year. But this time she was an old pro at it!  She did it all on her own. She was down for a while. Then she was up.

We watched her breathing when she was down. Then she got up and moved around. We just moved too. But we kept our distance to let her work. Then she laid down and just pushed.

 And here he comes out!

 My husband went out in the field to get the sack off it's nose while she stood up and then her backed off to see what she would do.

Her natural mothers instinct kicked in and she immediately came to him and licked him dry. All the while mooing softly at him and nudging him to stimulate him. It was amazing to watch her.

 Daffy (who is 7 days over due) was in the pasture with her, and she wanted to come see the new addition. Dandie didn't seem to mind showing off her prize!

Then started the trying process of standing on those long wobbly legs.

Ker-splat on his face. After some more encouraging from his mama he was up on his feet and noisily eating away!

And here they are. Dandie is a wonderful mom and she is good to her baby. So far they are both healthy and happy, napping in the pasture! Now we pray they stay that way! We are pleased and thankful for a healthy calf and mama!
Have a great Memorial Day ya'll.

a few more updates

Well yesterday was Daffodils 2end birthday! And today is her due date for her first calf. We are waiting...things are changing on her body to tell us the time is coming. I just don't think it will be today while it's nice and sunny out. Probably tomorrow when it's cold and raining she'll have it...

Daffy is the cow in the back of the photo. The one in front her mama, Maggie.

Spring is springing. It's dry here. I'm surprised with all the snow we had all winter long too. But things are blooming. It's been a cold spring too, temperature wise it feels more like April then May.

We bought a pin wheel rake this winter. Got all it's teeth it's a little rusted but works fine. Fairly simple piece of equipment, nothing fancy about it. And it's a big step up for us as far as raking goes!
We also got a hay elevator! I'm most excited about that! It's all in working order too. We got it out and put it together and greased it all up. I don't have a pic of it though. Maybe later.

One more piece of equipment we got this winter was a chicken plucker!

I think this one will defeather 5 chickens at once.  This will save so much time for us! And we have lots of broilers to be doing in a few more weeks! I'll take pics and show you. Aren't you excited?!

Well here is hoping that when I post next it will be birthing pics of Dandie or Daffy!
Have a great day ya'll!

a few updates

 Hey a'll. Been a while. Soooo

If any of you are interested we have 2 calves coming very soon! Due dates are the 18th and the 22 of this month! We are very excited about this. We are watching them both closely because things are achangin on em! If you catch my drift ;)  I'm hoping real soon! Dandie and Daffy are the ones due. Maggie will be later in the summer.

Here is the herd! L-R Maggie (the mamma to all the other cows in the pic) Dandie, Daffy and Suzie. We are very proud and thankful for these girls! I hope to catch some action shots of them delivering their calves too! This will be Dandies second calf and Daffy's first.

We currently have 200 broilers! Ya. 200!

 100 are about 4 weeks old. And better yet they are all sold! They are on a GMO FREE grain! These older ones are on pasture and moved everyday. We have about 50 in each pen, so they have plenty of room. My husband made the chicken tractors from old truck cabs. He's amazing :)  They have wheels on the back, the cab part, then we stick a dolly under the front and just push it. The chickens move nicely along to the new spot of grass.                                                                                                                                          

 

 The other 100 are 3 days old and live in a chicken brooder my husband built from an old pop up camper frame. I told you he was amazing! It works very nicely to keep em warm and dry too.

 Kinda cute right now hu?! I like how they make themselves comfortable in the feeder. (My oldest daughter took these pics for me). 

Here is the brooder.  The other side of the roof is regular roofing .This side lets in the sun to warm it during the day, and that cuts down on the amount the heat light works too. We have that on an automatic thermostat that turns it on when the temp cools down. And as they get older we can turn the heat down as needed to get them out on pasture when they are 3 weeks old. He even put some insulation on the inside to help keep it warm too, only about half way up. Don't worry there is some ply wood covering it.  Kinda sweet I think! Makes having them a lot easier and more efficient. And we all know that on a farm we like to be efficient with everything we do. Or at least we do!
Well that is all the updates for today. I gotta go finish making supper for the hungry brood that is coming, and it's almost time for evening chores here in New England!!

shes here..

Allis got a big sister today!

Allis is the 6140 bucket tractor. 40HP

Meet Kate!! She's a 185. 74HP She's huge! We bought her the day before my birthday, so my husband said he bought a tractor for me. :)
 She came from Ohio and was dropped off at a local dealership, and then was delivered to our farm today.
  We've had our eyes peeled for a bigger tractor for a while and this one caught our eye. She's in great condition too.
This will hopefully make our haying season run a little faster and be more efficient for the mower and baler.  The 40HP is not quite strong enough for them.
While I take Allis around with the rake, my husband can come along behind and start baling.
As you can see we have some snow...a lot of snow really. I should show you the snow banks down the road from our house...We are looking forward to it being gone and started our 2015 farming in full swing!

winter wonderland

SO I"d have to say that we have been hammered with some snow! January is going out like a lion and February is going to come in like a lamb...at least for a day...

The blizzard we got the other day was cold, and windy. But I don't know of too many blizzards that are nice to be in. :) A regular Nor Easter we got! We were well prepared to loose power. We didn't. Hard to say how much snow we got. We live on a hill and open fields, so we got some snow drifts that are about 4-5 feet tall. No lie. Then bare ground. The wind was the worst part. Just bone chilling. The expression the air hurts my face, ya that was it. It was so cold it would freeze your nose hairs. If you know cold then you understand that expression. Ya that cold!!!! Burrrrr.

The day after the blizzard was just bitter cold. We had to get the snow drifts moved, and chores done. The sun decided to come out for a few minutes too. My husband was plowing the snow drifts and made some really awesome hills, so the kiddos and I went out to play what I call "queen of the hill." The queen still rules the mountain. That would be me. Mama D!!!! They love to challenge me, but I think they just love to be thrown off  the snow hills really. My youngest daughter says "I'm on your team Mommy." She doesn't wanna go down, but just to play I still give her a little push, and she'll squeal and roll down. My son really comes after me, but I get him down too. Not really sure how many more years I'll be the top dog on the hill of the game...

 Me with my girls. (My son took the pic.)

My boy.

So now today we are getting another bit of snow. It started yesterday mid morning and was just a nice light snow, all day, no wind. It wasn't horrible going to do chores. Then overnight the wind came back and the snow came heavier...it's still snowing...and the weatherman is calling for more snow on Monday...Just enough time to dig out of one snow storm to head into yet another. I guess that is life when you live in a New England state in winter. Haven't had this much snow all at once in a few years though, so I guess we are due. Haha ha.

So we just hunker down and stay prepared for the winter weather that we get, and  keep the wood stove going!
Weather temps permitting we will be tapping trees soon, if we can trudge through all the snow that we now have! 
I look forward to warmer weather and burring my feet in the sand at the ocean, and getting my hands dirty in the garden dirt. 
Have a great weekend all! 

keepin it real

Some of the Thanksgiving mess I had on my table as I was getting ready to host Thanksgiving at my house this year. I shouldn't have cleaned some of it up prior to the pic... Just a small gathering of my side of the family (but snow came our way and they didn't come). Not to worry, my family was together and that is what matters. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday actually.
 So much has been going on with us. And I don't blog much anymore.
I was so busy this week. Crazy busy. A lot of time on the road. My son got his braces off Monday!!! YAYA!! (It's a 1.5 hour ride to the Orthodontist one way). Then Tuesday I had to go back to get his retainer and make sure it fit and all. I just gotta say his teeth look amazing! Worth everything!! He was excited because he could eat peanuts and pop corn! 2 years without it and he was hungry for both! He's such a great kiddos! So all day Wednesday I was cooking and cleaning. The kiddos helped out a lot too. They were great! And Thursday morning we were getting ready for our meal. My husband was outside cleaning up the mess from the snow we got Wednesday.
 We had a great Thanksgiving meal. I only had a few minor glitches in the food prep...but such is life. My turkey came out good. It was a fresh, locally raised one.(No we didn't raise it. But we will). I made a champagne infused turkey! I just love that recipe. I've made it several times and I've yet to be disappointed with the results. Just gotta add that we had local corn, and potatoes, homegrown carrots, and squash (that I forgot in the microwave) apple cider, and butter!! We had some other food, but not local stuff ;) Just gotta plug that local food thing, ya know!

I forgot the squash, one of my favorite things to eat. I knew something was missing, but couldn't put my finger on it..until we were picking things up and I found it in the microwave... ahhhhh. Our table with all my life gathered around it. Made my heart full!

My turkey. I always try my hand at decorating it a bit...whatcha think? I'm no Martha Stewart fer sure!! haha. If your wondering what is on it, it's onions, seasonings and some parsley.

Me and My Man dancing. :) :)

No I didn't go shopping on black Friday either. Nope. Nope.
Have a great day ya'll!!!