year of the bull

Yup. That's right. We had our third and final bull calf born yesterday afternoon. Maggie surprised me with it. Now  knew she was due, but I really didn't think she would go yesterday. It's baby number 6 for her, but she just didn't look like she was going to go. But thinking about it I think her due date was yesterday.

My husband and son were away for the whole day, and I was home with the girls. We weeded one of the gardens and staked up tomatoes. Then I went to clean the horse barn, while the girls played in the kiddy pool. The reason I mention my husband being gone is due to Maggie's attitude when she has a calf. She is VERY protective and gets mean for about 3 days, then chills out. Throwing her head and pawing the ground. She has tossed her head at my husband and pushed him aside in a not so friendly way in the past after calving. She's a wonderful easy milker and mother. So I guess we take the good with the bad. She's just doing her job, as we have let the moms raise the calves for now.
I had come out of the horse barn and had things to put away. I looked up in the field and saw Maggie and said "son on a gun. She just had that calf!" I dropped whatever I was carrying and trotted up to where Maggie was. Sure enough there was the calf. I still have no idea what was carrying and where I dropped them. The girls called and asked if they could come up. They did.

He was almost dried off. It was such a warm beautiful day yesterday. It was also Suzie's first birthday too! (Last years calf)
We stood and watched for a while.  Then I called my husband to let him know. He said let her be for the afternoon, and milk her later in the evening. Then I called my brother and father in law and asked if they would come over after work to help me get Maggie and calf in the barn. I needed some help in case something went wrong, and I got hurt.

Well much to my surprise Maggie was totally fine. She did paw the ground when we walked up to her pen, but then she just walked nice as you please to the barn. She chowed down her grain while I milked her out. Then my BIL helped me give her some calcium to help prevent milk fever, and she never tossed her head. She just was like OK. I could hardly believe it. She was a totally different cow! I wondered when she would act out, and kept my guard up, but she was fine. I was so very thankful.  Later that evening when my husband called to see how things went I couldn't stop gushing about how good she was for us! He was pleased to hear that! Almost as pleased as I was to tell him.

Here he is this morning. See his tongue? He was a hungry little bugger. The pail that I milked in was almost full. We don't save the colostrum milk. That is why it's in the dirty plastic pail.
Well as far as the cows we currently have, we are done with our calving season. 3 bulls in one year. I'm thankful for the healthy calves and mamas. I am lookin forward to breeding them again, and hopefully getting some more heifers next spring and summer!
Have a great day ya'll!

some of the Creators handy work

I just love the view from our farm. I pray when we move to our own land I can enjoy the beautiful sunsets in the evening after a long day. And the warmth of a fire pit makin s'mores with my loved ones around me.
I can't find words to describe these sunsets other then one word. Beautiful.

Hope you enjoyed the view from my place and my fire pit.
 Have a wonderful day!

hayin

So we made some hay last week...it was looking like really nice hay too. We got to use our new/used tractor we bought this winter. A bigger one. And the new/used pin wheel rake. I got to use the pin wheel rake. My first time using it too! I am new to haying. Well, the actual driving the tractor and the doing of the haying! I love it. I get Allis, that is what we call the 40HP 6140 tractor. We name our stuff. ha ha.

See. Me on the tractor! No that is not our house. It's the guys who fields we hay's house. Read that twice real fast. I asked my husband who was coming behind me baling how the win rows were, if I did a good job keeping them straight. He said I did just fine. I was glad of that. I quickly realized to make real small corrections when moving a win row on a tractor to keep the rows straight.

 Haying together! See my boy sitting on a bale of hay? He can't wait for him to be big enough to drive the tractors!!  Having a second tractor is a real great thing. Saves time. Even though we had some break downs of equipment and then Friday afternoon it got poured on...and we are feeding this hay out first and have it real loosely stacked in the barn...we had a good day. Such is the life of farmers. Forever at the mercy of the weather. The weather wasn't calling for rain until Saturday night. Guess they were off a few hours.

My handsome hubby! 

Belle was hot and tired. Her first time haying. She had to be on a leash so she wouldn't get hit with all the equipment. She's still learning the trade of farming! She's 12 weeks old now!

We are still in need of hay for the winter for all the critters and the horses now. But we will get there with hard work and one bale at a time. We pray for our own land and fair weather!
Have a great day ya'll

belle says...

Have a wonderful weekend ya'll!! Happy summer!

20 days

 I woke about 3am. As per usual the past few weeks. And various other times throughout the night.We've been keeping an eye on Daffy since her due date being the 21 of May.
This being her first calf we wanted to be sure to be home in case she ran into trouble. She has had some signs, her udders getting bigger and her vulva swelling. But nothing unusual for a cow about to gives birth. We just would watch her. She was happy. Eating, pooping, peeing. No problem. The days ticked by.
5 days over due.
10 days over due.
14 days over due. We call the vet. They say to keep watch on her and wait a few more days. Don't worry. We call some other dairy farmers in the area. They say don't worry about her. We think, weird, she is not having this calf. She's gonna be pregnant forever! So we wait. And pray. She is still fine. Still happy and not in any distress.
17 days over due. Still fine. Her udders are getting bigger. Her vulva is getting more swollen. She still looks huge, so the calf has not moved up into the birth canal. We have been staying closer to home. Me usually always home, and if we both are gone it's only for a short time. We wait. I don't get much sleep. I'm up checking on her in the field. My husband is up checking on her.
18 days over due...more phone calls. More being told she is fine. Don't worry. It's not usual for a cow to be this over due?! Is it?! We give her one of those big calcium pills. Her udders are bigger. Her vulva is even more swollen.
3am June 10. 20 days over due. I get up and head out. I can't find her in the pasture. I run back in and wake up my husband. He put her in the barn, and forgot to tell me. I go back out and check her out. She is standing, she has some discharge. No big deal. But as of yesterday I figured it had to be soon. The calf had moved because she wasn't as wide. Her teats were swollen. I told my husband "I bet she goes tonight" while we were doing chores.
I get back in bed. I lay there awake. We hear soft mooing. (Our house and that barn she was in are close by). My husband gets up and heads out. I wait. He taps on the window and says to go get our oldest daughter. This is her cow. I wake her gently and ask her if she wants to watch Daffy become a mommy. A sleepy smile comes over her face and she quickly joins us outside. We watch. And wait.

I didn't get many pics of the delivery. It was dark in the barn and I didn't want to disturbed her hard work she had to do. We had her in the barn because of the outside temps last night, and the possibility of rain. We didn't want the calf to catch a chill.

25 minutes later she had delivered her first calf all on her own. A bull calf. She was up and licking him off. Mooing softly at him. We were so relieved. She was doing fine. The calf is alive and she is doing her job. And she didn't need any help from us on her first delivery, like her sister Dandie did on her first calf last year.

 He was up sucking, and mama was still cleaning him off. She drank some water and licked him dry and he had a good first meal!

 A beautiful sun rise on this glorious morning. What a beautiful day to be born. We left the barn and went into the house to let Daffy and baby rest and get better acquainted.

Outside in the pasture together. See her tongue licking his face? Her first milking done and now to rest and bond the rest of the day. At least until we figure out what to do with him.
As far as her first milking going? Well she was OK. She kicked the pail and danced around and mooed the whole time. Her calf was there with her. She was a bit nervous, but she knows us and trusts us. She can only get better from here on out!
Have a great day ya'll

good quote

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved."
Hellen Keller

belle in training

I thought I would share some of Belle's training. I'm new to training a herding dog, so if you have some kind, helpful tips I'd be glad to get them.
We were told to get her on a routine, and take her out to do chores to get used to the critters and how things run around the farm. So we have been doing just that. I try to keep her lessons not too long because she is only 9 weeks old now.
So here we go!

 Belle and I are heading out to the cow pasture to round up the stubborn cows that didn't want to come in the barn. Time to milk the cow! Yes we are only milking 1 cow at the time. We are waiting on the other to calve. We have a small herd. But none the less a herd!  (My husband is around too! I say I sometimes, but mean we)

 Walking up the cow lane. Belle looks back to be sure I am coming too. She would run ahead then look back and wait for me.

 She's working so hard here. ;) She's in my arms when we get close to the cows. She's too little and she doesn't 100% come when called, and I don't want her getting trampled.  But she is right into it and watches the cows.

 Another shot of her in my arms. See her ears and face is all about the cows! While walking the cows down to the cow lane.  Not too bad for being a lefty and taking the shot with my right hand!

And here we are at the barn. Belle is sitting with me keeping the cows from going back up the lane! She did a good job!! I think she will be a great herding dog and a huge help on the farm. I'm not bias at all ;)
Have a great night ya'll!