Tag Archives: Food & Farming Links

A New Momma on the Farm!

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We’re so excited! Our heifer Annabelle had her first calf on Monday!  She’s a “heifer” no more and enters the hallowed ranks of “cow-hood.”

Here's Mr. Fix-It checking on her at 1 day old.

Annabelle is 3 yrs old and our first baby to have a baby–well, cow-wise anyway. (We seem to throw a lot of bull calves around here!)

Here she is yesterday at 4 days old.

But our baby girl had a baby girl! And she’s a tiny little thing–with ears so big you’d think her daddy was a mule! (Just for the record, he wasn’t, it was our bull Chester. Don’t want you getting mixed up or anything!)

I hope she grows into those things!

She’s a spunky little thing too! Already racing around on those wobbly, toothpick legs.

It's gonna take a lot of work to keep those "wings" clean!

And Annabelle is a great momma so far! No help needed at all. Although I have to admit, our cows believe that “it takes a village” and you’ll find them all washing her up and keeping an eye on her skittering around.

Here's her "big brother" checking up on her Tuesday before she really got her legs going good.

Now we just need a name… (Yes, suggestions are welcome!)

 

 

 

A Pregnant Pause…Gearing Up for Lambing Season

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We’re on the verge of lambing season around here. Any day now my highly tuned ears could catch the disturbingly human-sounding baby cries of a newborn out in the field. I’m a little surprised that we don’t feel quite so rushed and anxious this year. A little anxious, yes. I mean, we’re expecting 10-25 newborns over the next two months or so. But definitely not so flustered.

I guess we’re getting the hang of this. Last year, though not without it’s hiccups, was definitely our best year yet.

See that belly curving down and that little hollow up by her hipbone? That's a sign of "soon."

We’re gearing up by feeding up. The ladies get extra corn twice a day to help them keep their calories up. And this year we’re also adding a special mineral boost to our regular salt to try and overcome some Vitamin E and Selenium deficiencies we’ve been fighting the last couple years.

I thought giving an adult an injection was unpleasant–I hate needles!  But giving lambs Vitamin E injections is right up there as my least favorite job as a shepherd–and that’s saying something. I can’t stand having to stick them, even if it’s vital for their health and well being. I do it. Oh yes, I do it. But I usually shed a few tears each time. Or con Mr. Fix-It into it if at all possible. And if they need it, it’s usually 2 injections a day for 3-4 days. Ugh!

Look at that round belly! Notice she doesn't have that hollow up by her hip. She's "not so soon, but getting closer."

This weekend I’ve got to run everyone through the chute and double check ear tags and separate out our ram lambs that we’re going to sell so the ladies don’t have to push so much at the feed trough with those youngsters. Besides, they don’t really need the extra corn, they’re fine on hay. They’re not growing lambs.

See how her belly's curving down and she's got a slope in that backline from her shoulder to her hip? She's "pretty soon, but not like tomorrow soon."

These Clun Forest sheep are amazing mothers. In 3 years now we haven’t had a single bottle baby from rejection with them. We did have one who’s mother died in a freak accident. (Seriously freak. Some sheep broke into the feed shed and were rummaging around and a big piece of wood fell on her head. She was never quite right again and we walked out a few days later and she was gone.)

We were working with Hog Island sheep before (and still have some crosses) and we were at 50-60% chance that the mama would just walk away and never come back.  Ugh! Bottle babies can seem fun, but when you work full time away from the farm it’s a bit more like an on-going nightmare.

She gave us twins last year. We have high hopes for this year too, since she's this round and still hasn't dropped yet (No hollow at the hip).

For now, we’re waiting. We’re prepping the newborn kit for emergencies and praying we don’t have any.  And sharing a sympathetic smile when I see them waddling to and from the water bucket or panting as they loooower themselves down or grunting as they heeeeeave themselves up…I know how you feel, ladies.

Farm Kids

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We expect a lot from our kids.  We expect them to behave.  We expect them to help out.  And we expect them to do it cheerfully.  That’s a lot to ask of a 6 yr old, a 3 yr old, and a 2 yr old after they’ve already been at school or the sitter’s all day.

So we get pretty excited about “stay home days” around here.  Saturday mornings they don’t get out of their chores, but we bend the rules a little bit to give everyone the chance to relax, cut loose, and be “free” from the routine that keeps us running.

But I’m beginning to think we’re relaxing just a little too much…

Speedracer going to do his weekend chores.

Yep, that’s my son, heading out to do his Saturday morning chores.

He's on a mission.

The Cowboy and the Ladybug were already out waiting for him.  They were tossing some leftover rice to the chickens and gathering the eggs before breakfast.

The Cowboy and the Ladybug feeding the chickens and gathering eggs.

Yep, we’ve broken routine all right.

Waiting for their "teammate".

This is why, Monday thru Friday, they have to be dressed before they come downstairs.

On to the job at hand.

But at least they had their boots on.  Around here, that’s the most important thing.

“B” is for Bull

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Ever had one of those Ah-ha moments when you never see something the same way again and wonder how you ever missed it?

August 2010.

I was investigating what looked like a possible umbilical site infection and discovered that Mabel…

August 2010.

Is a Matthew.

August 2010.

A very masculine Matthew.

August 2010.

Living on a farm, there are certain things our kids will never need their teachers to explain.

Food and Farming Friday 5/21/2010

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Yesterday was a rough day for me.  Last night was tough.  I have discovered that grief, allergies, too much allergy medicine that doesn’t actually work, and not enough sleep can all blur together into a sort of false hangover.  I don’t always like to admit it (and some people don’t believe it) but I’m pretty familiar with hangovers.  Lucky for me, this post will be waaaay archived by the time it matters to my kids and I’ll be able to comfortably lie about that and pretend I just “forgot.”

So I don’t have a well thought out post for today.  What I do have is an update from last week’s trivia and some thoughts on sugar-coating things for non-farming people.  Here we go…

Food and Farming Trivia question from 5/14/2010 was…

Name Two Dog Breeds Used as Livestock Guardians.

Someone suggested a Blue Heeler (Australian Cattle Dog)…

www.blueheeler.com/bixby

And someone mentioned a Corgi…

www.overocorgis.com

Good guess, those are both herding dogs.  But not Guard dogs.  At least not traditional guard dog breeds–never say never, I suppose.

And someone also mentioned “these big white dogs.”  This one was interesting.  What’s a blogger to do?  That’s certainly not a breed of dog, but I don’t want to discourage any readers…especially loyal readers…that are sort of right…and that know where I live…so…honorable mention to Rachel. At least 4 different LGD breeds common to the USA are traditionally white (makes them blend in better), including the Great Pyrenees, Akbash, Maremma, and Kuvasz.  And there’s a host of others, including the Anatolian Shepherd, Komondor, and Tibetan Mastiff, plus some truly rare European Breeds I just learned about recently.

I guess this counts as a "big white dog." See him blending in out there? Great Pyrenees from www.toddfarmsboergoats.com

As far as sugar-coating things goes…I find that I make up these euphemisms for some of the more unpleasant things that happen at the farm.  Like, we take animals “up the road” rather than “to the butcher” or “to the slaughterhouse.”  This works find until the kids get confused and say something like “Why is Daddy taking our sheep to Aunt Jane’s house?“  So I go back to the drawing board and start thinking up something else that sounds…nice.

But I’ve been surprised lately that people have been questioning my tactics.  I commented to a few people lately that we’re “gonna do our first batch of chickens this weekend.”  Knowing that we farm and all, they still turned around and ask, “What are you gonna do to them?”

Well…

“We’re gonna stuff them head-first into a killing cone, kill them, bleed them out, dunk them in scalding hot water a few times, pluck all their feathers out, cut off their heads and feet, gut them, rinse them, chill them, and freeze them.”

Ok, I think the sugar-coating is for me.  Now I feel totally icked-yucked-grossed-out about it.  I wonder if I can just get away with taking pictures of Mr. Fix-It doing it…