Breaking the Rules

I saw something just a little irregular today on my way to work today...

whats this?

I am driving down a lane between two pastures

straight ahead there are two cows...

notice that they are OUTSIDE

the fence?

This is breaking ALL the country club rules and I must hasten over in my golf cart and remind/reinforce them!

That is Cody on the left and Sarah on the right (and a cowbird in the middle)

Sarah, you are so beautiful...I remember feeding you your first bottle...I knew you were going to be big and go far....and look!

You are big and you have gone far...

outside the fence that is.

And Cody?

We do not keep bulls on a dairy farm.

The only exception to that rule is if a "Rock Star" cow has a bull calf that is from an "Amazing" bull - then and only then will we keep you...

and you are that one in a million Cody,

The problem is we shouldn't have named you Cody

We should have named you wanderlust

or if that isn't a name then maybe Daniel Boone or something

because you are a wanderer

I find you in every field but the one you actually belong in

For the entire last month he put himself in the close up pen - cows that will be birthing within days. So there  were all these big waddling soon to be Mamas and.....Cody!

They get fed a little more, maybe that was the appeal?

So Mr Codes.....you are a sweetheart considering one day you will weigh over a 1000 pounds and be the size of a minivan.

Now you just want to get a scratch behind the ears don't you?

A TALE OF THREE TRACTORS

Another irrefutable sign that spring is in full swing is the constant chug and thrum of tractors in the distance.

Here is the John Deere. Breaking ground to plant silage for the late summer and fall.

This picture shows how much has to be plowed but maybe I can get a little closer...

thats a little bit better!

So thats the action on the eastern front, turning west we find the Duetz, the prize of the farm. This tractor is over 70 years old, German made and can outwork anything on the place. It is also the only tractor that will start without a jump off when the temperature drops in to the 20s or below.

  

This field has already been plowed and what is happening now is it is being tamped down with a big heavy roller. Packing the loose soil helps it retain moisture for the seeds that will be planted.

  

The cowbirds are the "foremans" of the job on a day like today. They are everywhere at once supervising. They feast on the grasshoppers and other bugs that are sent scurrying by the noise and activity of the equipment.

  

They are nervy little rascals and will stay on the ground pecking and eating until the very last second before the tractor makes a pass and just barely misses them as the reluctantly take wing only to land again the second the tractor passes by.

The last tractor is smack dab in the middle of the other two and is cutting down the last of the winter oats to be made in to hay. This is cut with a special cutting arm (that white thing near the ground on the right of the tractor) that lays it out like palm fronds so that it will dry faster.

It is night now as I post this.

The tractors are all silent and idle. In place of all the activity and noise, is a quiet stillness. The only proof of their busy day is the warm rich smell of newly turned earth coupled with the tangy scent of cut grass. There is a slight breeze wafting the scent across the fields in a way that begs for windows to be left open. 

Spring has not traditionally been  my favorite time of year....but I have to say, it definitely has its own charm, I think it is growing on me...      

BREAKING GROUND

More signs of spring when I hear the rumble of a tractor

the sound of grass ripping and giving way,

the smell of fresh rich dirt ready for seeds

We are most fortunate to have family that is living here now who are experts in gardening. So the expectation of beans, corn, cucumbers and tomatoes is filling my head.

wonderful....

 

Its Been A Beautiful Ten Months....

What did we ever do before you? 

TENT CITY

After a fairly mild, dry winter we are riding out the roughest late winter/early spring in years.

Many nights it plummets down into the high 20s or very low 30s.

The calves that are with their moms do fine. The calves in group pens do fine also. Early morning finds them all cuddled together around the big hay bales fast asleep.

Its the little ones individual pens that I worry about. They cant seek out a warm spot, they depend on me. The best solution I have found is to group them all together each still in their own pen, fill their pen deep with hay and then cover them over with huge tarps.

A tent city if you will....

The tarps are weighted down every few feet with blocks and once they get their evening milk they get "tucked in" for the night.

I do a final check just before midnight to see what the temperature is in their house. Amazingly enough, the warmth of the hay and their combined body heat rising and being blocked by the tarp keeps them 20 - 30 degrees warmer than the outside temperature.

Toasty!

The next morning they are fed and covered back over if it is a very cold day. If not the tent is folded back so they can enjoy the sunshine of late morning

Whats so funny is how much they like the tent. They seem to really enjoy their cozy blue tinged world.

A Princess Party

Aurora is one year old and the Fairy Godmother sent me pictures of a very wonderful party...

Here are some of the highlights of the day...

It began most appropriately with a Mani-Pedi minus the Mani...

The color is Perfectly Princess Pink just in case you want to race right out and make this well hoofed look your own.  

Take note of the two  tone pink french color!

Princess's always know exactly what they want...

  Of course, like any good party there was a marvelous cake,

and special guests!

The Princess continues to lived happily ever after!

To read more of the fairy tale of Princess Aurora: 

http://writingsfromblackberryhill.blogspot.com/2012/05/aurora-and-perigee-moon.html

http://writingsfromblackberryhill.blogspot.com/2012/07/princess-aurora-update.html

http://writingsfromblackberryhill.blogspot.com/2012/10/an-aurora-sighting.html

Meet Melly

Its moving day for lil Mz Melly!

Today is the day she gets to leave her individual pen and go live in a group where she will have more freedom and independence.

Melly meets the criteria for the big move into "big girl world". She can drink from a bucket and is eating grain   every day and is past the newborn stage.

Over the years we tried many ways of moving calves but like most things, the simplest is also the easiest. Melly, although she drinks from a bucket, still knows what a bottle is and like all calves LOVES it. So just a bottle of milk and slowly leading to the new home....

  

gets us to our goal!

Lazzie is thrilled to see Melly coming...they were next door neighbors until Lazzie moved 2 weeks ago, now they can be best buds again.

There is always the same routine when introducing a calf to a new spot...

first they sniff the ground (their nose is a much surer guide to them than their eyes)

Then they realize the freedom....

then finally, the awareness of the other calves...

and finally....

settling in with your BFF to enjoy your new digs.

Meet Scully

No she isn't  FBI Special Agent Scully and she knows nada about X-Files!

Scully was born with an odd bent angle to her spine. Probably this is due to laying in an awkward position in utero before she was born.

This isn't a great picture of her but it shows the odd alignment of her spine, especially on her left side.

When calves are very small I keep them in individual pens so I can handle them and feed them their bottles with no competition. As soon as they are big enough I move them to a group pen. There, they can run and romp and play with other calves that are on their same developmental level.

In Scully's case I felt it was imperative to get her in a group setting as soon as possible. The hope was that running and bucking and playing would help to straighten out her spine.

It is working!!!

Scully one week after moving in to her bigger play area:

  

Its always amazing how if given a chance, nature will many times correct its own mistakes. All we have to do is provide the right situation to enable it to happen.

Scully (surrounded by her peeps) is going to do just fine!

Meet Lazarus

Lazzie was born on time, just a little smallish. She was quite "unique" (read ugly)  looking.

For one thing, she didn't have the sleek fur a Jersey normally has but instead she looked like that favorite teddy bear that's been through the spin cycle in the wash a myriad of times!

In addition to her many "cowlicks" she was possessed of a massive under bite  which she proudly displayed  throwing her head high in the air when anyone walked by so they could be impressed with her charms.

At about one week of life she got scours (an upset tummy) which is common between day 7 - 9 of a baby calfs life. Only she got worse instead of better. I moved her to a spot beside the door of the office and erected a plastic tent over her pen with a space heater to keep her warm. She was lethargic and disinterested in everything, including eating. I medicated her and when she wouldn't eat I tube fed her. When she was past the very worst she would  drink her bottle but only an ounce at a time. So I rigged up a bottle feeder to hang in her pen so she could have her milk as she saw fit. This was all happening during the coldest part of our year, deep into January and early February. Every night I would go back around 11 and refill her bottle with warm milk with added electrolytes. I would make sure she had plenty of fresh hay to sleep in and that her space heater was blowing very warm air. Then I would cover her over like a blue bubble and think "she probably wont make it through the night..."

Every morning I would go back and pull off her tent and there she would be, laying there looking half alive but her bottle would be EMPTY. Sometime in the middle of the night she would get up and drink her bottle. All day long she would lay there listless barely able to be coaxed in to eating, I added vitamin B shots to her regimen of medicine, probiotics,  and zinc. Each night I would leave a warm bottle and think, tonight is probably the last night I will see her.....

Each morning there she was....not acting normal but alive, AND her bottle was always empty. It got the the point that even the morning milkers that come at dawn would carefully pick up the tent and look under, thinking this would be the sad day but NO!

There had to be a way to get her interested in life so each day I started letting her out of her pen to walk around freely amongst the other calves while I was there to keep an eye on her. She would stagger around and walk as much sideways as forward and then with no warning she would collapse on the ground. A few minutes later she would rise....stagger around and collapse. At first I would run to help her up but when I realized she could get up when she was ready I quit interfering. It was very alarming to visitors and delivery guys who would be here at the time. They would see this little ragga muffin calf staggering around and then fall  down and would ask if there was something wrong. I heard

"Hey lady, is that calf OK?" many times during that period.

 Each night back she would go in to her toasty warm pen and I started leaving two bottles and each night I would hope for the best and each morning the milkers would greet me with "she rose from the dead again one more time"

Honestly she became the focal point of our morning salutations. Instead of "Good Morning"  it was

"She made it!"

Gradually she started to eat during the day. During her times out of her pen she quit falling down and started to walk more forward than sideways. Her strange tremors that she had slowly disappeared. It was time to give her a name.

I was surprised to see that the name Lazarus is of female origin when I googled it (yes I did) so really what else could her name be?

Only very special calves get 2 ear tags. Most just get one. It was very touching to arrive at work and find Laz with her identity tag in one ear and her vanity tag in the other which said:

So little miss Lazzie Pizazzy is doing so well she has graduated from her individual pen into a group lot where she lives with her homies and runs and plays in the sunshine.

Spring

It is still a couple of weeks away (officially) but signs of spring are everywhere

I am not the only one who feels that spring is here...

 Miss 3208 is celebrating spring come early with her little daughter born this morning and enjoying the sunshine

I Have Officially Lost Control...

...and the inmates are running the asylum!

never mind the cradle waiting to be put back in storage, or the firewood I tossed in so that I could hopefully light a fire later, what else do you see?

Something a little more out of the ordinary?

Yes that high stepping lady is "Turkey Lurkey" and she is being followed by one of the "Spice Girls", Ginger I believe it is. (That Ginger is SUCH a follower in everything!)

As you know, "Turkey Lurkey" has no problem trying to enter the house at any opportunity that arises.

Here she is walking in the front door last year, chattering all the way (she loves to talk and always waits expectantly for your answer with her head cocked to one side) in and back out.

"Turkey Lurkey's" obvious penchant for house visiting had a greater purpose today however. It involved this,

 Yes, you are seeing right. This is a an excellent blurry photo of a bucket of peanuts. We grew lots of peanuts this summer and this particular bucket was set aside to mail to some loved ones who live in the frozen north where they dont grow peanuts. Briefly they were set down on the deck which is where "Turky Lurkey" discovered them and realized that she liked to eat them very much!

When they were brought inside she stood for a long time outside the glass door, with her head cocked and one beady gold eye trained on that bucket that she could no longer get too...

But she is a busy girl with many things to tend to in a day, such as chasing the goose away from her water and leading her follower around...

So the next day dawned cold with a threat of rain, prompting me to grab firewood and toss it in the door and then pick up baby calf Mia and haul her in my arms OUT the door which leaves no hands free to SHUT the door. Once outside you cannot set Mia down and walk away to shut the door because Mia thinks that once her dainty little hooves touch the ground a bottle is supposed to instantly appear in her mouth because that is how the world works.

If for any reason the world DID NOT work this way, like suppose I decided to try to step back up on the deck to shut the door after setting Mia down on the grass, Mia would charge UP the steps while falling. Yes that's right, Mia can fall UP the steps. Most people fall down but Mia can fall UP. A fact that I learned one morning when I tried to set her down and walk up the steps and shut the door.

Here she came with a great crashing and clattering of legs and hooves and her on her stomach wild eyed, bleating for her bottle in great anxiety. So ever since that day when she almost broke all four legs, I either have someone shut the door or I leave it open while Mia convinces her stomach that her throat was not cut during the night somehow and that she can gulp her milk within 5 seconds of her feet hitting the ground.

Whats the worst that can happen? A fly might get in? I can kill a fly no problem, what I cant do is make a full body cast for for Mia.

No fly came by............however, I forgot about the chickens. Ever the opportunist with the good memory, "Turkey Lurkey" remembered those delish peanuts disappearing in to the house the day before.  

So in she marches AND brings a lunch guest following right behind her.....

and straight to the peanuts she heads

She then had a most awesome time taking peanuts out one by one and sharing with her friend where they proceded to peck them apart on the wood floor and eat the peanut and leave the shells.

I could only watch helplessly while Mia downed her bottle and the chickens turned my den floor into the Texas Roadhouse, a look I dont even like when I GO to Texas Roadhouse.

I walk in Texas Roadhouse and I immediately feel I should grab a broom and start sweeping. Use the bowl on the table people! That is my thought.

So after Mia inhaled her bottle I DID get to shoo out the chickens AND sweep up the peanut hull party remains. All this and I hadnt even started the real days work at the barn where there are babies to feed and care for. 70 babies just in January alone.

 Its all getting a bit dizzy fying (is that a word?) around here.

So everyone got cared for and I never did get that nice fire lit in the fireplace.

  The cradles has still not made it back in to storage either.

Thats ok. It will get cold again another day.

The cradle is so pretty to look at and once it goes in to storage it may be there a very long time.

In the meanwhile there are other things to be enjoyed.

Sometimes its the small things, ya know?

Here We Go Again....

I miss Aurora.

That is, when I have TIME to miss anything!

January is our peak calving month, 70 babies so far and counting...

A week or so ago just before dark, the herdsman drove up with what looked like a small fawn tucked in the crook of his arm.

Another tiny bébé, if anything a little smaller than Aurora was when she started out. About 20 pounds maybe?

So now she lives with me..........

shades of Aurora....she has inherited Auroras playpen also...

at least at night. It is too cold for her to be outside at night. I just dont have the heart for it. 

She has to get some body fat first!

The days are mild enough that she can be outside in a little pen to protect her from wandering off.

She loves that. 

Mia is one fortunate little cookie because "the fairy godmother" is going to take her to live happily ever after too!

Just as soon as she is  little bigger

Then she will get to meet the famous Aurora and live with her.

Great things in store for little Ms Mia.