Big Heifers and Baby Calf Feeders

I FINALLY got my internet up and running!! Thanks to DSI Systems and Exede Satellite internet! They are amazing and if you need internet service and you are in my area, for my money, they are the best.

A lot has been happening on the farm – more baby calves born, we got baby chicks, as always feeding and hay, and ice storm!

Today, we are home missing our wonderful church family.  My sweet girl is a little under the weather and my hubby is trying to repair the chicken house drives. The rains and the ice have made a complete mess of them.

I am hanging out on the couch right now writing and catching up on the Olympics (GO USA), with the boy playing cows under my feet!

We are still in the middle of our busiest time of the year still feeding cows, waiting on the last few calves, starting our spring breeding, and chickens. As well as everyone being in and out of town several times over the next couple of months.

We spent Thursday, the first warm and pretty day in a while, putting the finishing touches on the fall breeding season by pregnancy checking the cows and turning them out. Then catching and grouping our spring breeding cows. We now have a new group of cows in the trap; this includes a few heifers that have been enjoying the big calf feeders in the big pasture. They can get in and out of these feeders pretty well. In the traps we have smaller baby calf feeders and the big heifers are not supposed to get in them!

This was taken with my iPhone, the other day. This is one of the heifers that is NOT supposed to be in this feeder.

Friday morning, while I was getting ready for the internet installers to be here, I heard a crazy noise outside. When I first looked I could not find the source of the noise, but finally I saw it. This baby calf feeder was moving across the trap with a heifer half in and half out. Not the heifer in the picture, but a bigger one. Unfortunately, I was worried about the heifer so I did not get the chance to snap a picture or video. I wish I could say that I did something amazing to get her unstuck, but all I could do was watch. The heifer finally got herself out. Then she turned around and was going to fight the feeder, but I guess she figured it was not worth it.

This is a picture that Andy snapped yesterday afternoon of another heifer in the feeder. She was able to get out on her own. Andy lowered the bar on the feeder in hopes we can keep the big girls out!

Missy's New Baby

It is calving season at the farm. One of my favorite times of year! I love going out every morning and seeing new baby calves everywhere. What I don’t enjoy in getting a phone call or a text that says, “Heifer in trouble, I need help.”  That is what I happened Tuesday around lunch, except the text said, “Missy is in trouble.” Now, we do not name all the cows on the place, but there are a few that are show heifers and they usually get names. Missy is one of our heifers that was shown by a local high school student. Of course, we watch all our cows and heifers closely when it is time for them to have their calves, but the heifers that have been shown are watched more closely. These heifers are usually fed more, so they are at higher risk of having bigger calves that can cause trouble.

So, when I got the phone call I took off running. When I got to the barn I found Papa and Cooper with Missy, who did not seem to be in any distress, but Papa wanted to make sure!

Cooper kept asking, "Papa what you doing?"

First moments of life - AMAZING. You can the calve's tongue sticking out, what you can't see is the calve was flicking its tongue. Funny.

Its tough being born.

We moved the calf over to some fresh hay, and brought Missy over to see her new calf. Missy was pretty happy and went to work cleaning the new calf up.

Missy gave birth to a very pretty, 70 lb heifer calf. She was very proud of her self and so were we!

Andi Beth just told me she named the calf MK, as in Mary Katherine, from the movie Epic. If you know anything about our family you know that we watched Epic for 6 family movie night in a row. (6 Weeks) Andi Beth is obsessed with the movie Epic.

Did anyone notice the pigs photo bombing ALL this pictures?

Life

Several friends and family have asked me to continue blogging about the family and crazy things that happen here at the farm. I really enjoying writing, so here we go again!

My goal is to post 2 or at the most 3 times a week. I will post about the kids, the cows, and all the silly things that happen. I will also post some of our favorite recipes. I really don't know what days of the week I will post, it just kind of depends on what is going on here. I intended to post this last night, but when I finally made it in the house I crashed. 

Yesterday, I spent a good deal of time at my desk planning an upcoming meeting for a state wide organization I am a part of. I also learned that I will be writing a monthly article for this organization. I am looking forward to this. It will be a little bit interesting because it is due more than a month before it is published. I know this is how the magazine world works, just new to me. 

While I was finishing up my phone call around lunch, I got a text from Papa (my father-in-law) that said, "Need you at barn, Missy problem." Missy is one of the heifers that had been being shown and was due to have her calf any day now.  Papa seemed to think she was having some trouble having her calf, so we  got her in the chute and helped her out a little. Missy is the proud momma to beautiful heifer calf. I am working on a post all about Missy and her calf for later this week

After we finished birthing the baby calf, Papa took Cooper to the house for a nap and I started feed cows, filling calf feeders and putting out hay. Feeding cows is always slightly exciting and yesterday did not disappoint. More on that later. 

Finally, Andy, Papa, and I spent the evening taking out Nana and Papa's master shower. It has been leaking for a while, and needs to be repaired. It was a fun evening of busting glass blocks. 

Most days are not as busy as yeasterdy was, but some days are.