Contamination Catastrophe

J has been wanting to move a group of cows that have already calved out to our rented pasture for 3 weeks now.  But the wedding and 4 inches of rain had delayed the process.  

 But yesterday finally worked out to get them up.  We were vaccinating the cows and calves, implanting the steers and tagging the calves.  Everything was laid out and ready to go.

 Then the first group of cows in the barn created the worse mess ever.  One of the cows deliberately backed up to the barrel and let loose.  It sort of ruined my attempt and a clean field for my vet supplies.

 J had a few choice words about that one.

After a couple of buckets of water we were ready to try again. 

It was nice to get one bunch worked and turned out.

Two Delays

So Friday was suppose to be a day of light cleaning and getting ready for the wedding rehearsal.and rehearsal dinner.  But we live on a farm.  Nothing ever goes as planned.  The problems started off in the morning after J had checked the cattle at our farm up the road.  There was a cow that was just starting to think about calving the evening before.  When J checked on her Friday morning she was in the same location, no calf and no apparent signs of labor.  In our experience this is usually trouble in the form of a backwards calf.   We got her up and I check and sure enough, backward but the legs were extended back which made things much better than if they had been forward.  I got the chains on while J went to get the truck.  We had left it where the cow started out because we had to drive her to the working pens on foot.  By the time he got back I had the calf 1/2 way out.  He jumped in and we got it pulled.  There was still a heart beat but we never got it to take a breath.  I even tried mouth to mouth to no avail.  We did have a twin we were bottle feeding so we drove back to the house to get it, skinned the dead calf and tied the hide to the graft.  Usually the cow will accept a graft better if it smells more like her own.  She ended up taking it but it was several hours later.   Anyway, after all of that it looked like I was the one that had been pulled out of the back of the cow. 

 Next up was J mowing the yard.  We were still trying to spiff up the house and yard since 40 family members would be coming over after the reception the next day.   The cypress trees are right next to the bee hives and so far that is where they have always swarmed to.   J, unfortunately, didn't see the swarm until he ran into it with he face while mowing with the riding mower.  At first he had no idea what happened.  Then the bees started stinging and he started swatting, finally jumping off the mower and running to the house.

 Since I had a hive body ready, we went ahead and tried to catch the swarm.  I thought the box was too far from the branch for a good shake so we raised it up with some buckets and a board.

 That worked much better and J got a good shake on the branch and most went in the box.

 And while he had his suit on he went ahead and added a honey super to one of the other hives.

After a few hours and some more flying around the bees finally ended up in the hive.  So if everything works out there, we will have 3 hives.
Not quite what we had planned the day before V's wedding.

Lots Happening

You can see by the picture that we have been busy.

 V and M got married Saturday afternoon.  It was a lovely service and enjoyable reception, followed by family at our house until late.  V and M are off on their honeymoon cruise now.   Were V works, they gave her 2 honeymoon days.  When I expressed my surprise she said, "don't all employer's give that?'

 The rehearsal dinner was very good too.   If you are every in Pulaski, I highly recommend Al's On First.  This was our last night as the 4R's.

V made a beautiful bride.  I, on the other had am recovering from falling down the steps trying to carry the dress into the basement of the church down a narrow set of concrete steps before it started to rain.  I missed the last step but tried to save the dress and in the process scraped my are up on the door frame.  Just a few abrasions and some bruising but I don't think it showed and the dress was fine. That was the important thing.  The preacher made a bit of a gaff when he tried to make M, V's wife instead of the other way around.  Everyone got a good laugh out of that one.  I don't have any professional photos yet (except the first one that V had on her facebook page, but I will post more on that later.  Thank you A for these pictures.

Bad Horse For Sale Pictures #31

Bay Colt, Gated, Beautiful

Q. What kind is he
A. Gated
J said he was fenced not gated.
What else is there to say?

Two Days of Cattle Sorting

It is that time of year where we have to do more sorting and rotating of the different cattle groups.

 Saturday it was getting the yearlings up and the replacement heifers sorted out so the smaller end of the group could go to some rented pasture.   The day before, there was a group right at the gate so J practiced having them come through.

 The next morning the practice paid off because there they were, ready for another try.

 The only problem was that not all of them had participated in the practice run.  That meant Otoelene and I had to make a trip to the top of the hill to bring the rest in.

 After a few back and forth trips we finally got them headed off in the right direction.

 There was a little hold up at the gate but they finally went on through.

Then Otoelene and I got the sort out the replacements.  I much prefer horse back to on foot.  Of course it helps when it's a good horse.

 Then today was the Sandhill Shuffle.  We needed to get 32 cows that haven't calved out of the field where there were 20 cow/calf pairs.  Then the pairs needed to be turned out across the creek.

 J started out on the 4-Wheeler but on our place it is very limited where it can go.

 And there was one stubborn cow that wanted to stay with the pairs instead of the yet to calve group.  J always said you could tell a tired football player when they were standing with their hands on their hips.  He had to leave the 4-wheeler behind as he darted up through the woods to cut off the cow.

But it was nice to see them out on good pasture.

 And the pairs headed off across the creek.

Bottle Babies and Graft

The question has been asked, "so how many goats are you bottle feeding now?"  And my answer is, "it varies."  I have 3 every day bottle goats living in the dog pen.

 The first one born that didn't get colostrum is now 2 weeks old and she seems to be doing well.

 Bunny was a triplet from a pet goat that didn't  have enough milk for 3.   I found her too weak to stand one morning and had to bring her to the house.

 And this black and white one is one of the triplets that I had to pull.  J found it collapsed out in the field on a cold raining day.  It had to come into the house on a heating pad for a day.  She is the best eater of the 3.

 Then outside there is this set of twins born on the 10th.

 The nanny had all appearances of doing well with them but it looks like no milk because they have gotten weak and scrawny.  Because she hasn't rejected them, I just take the bottle out to the field and feed them there.  They may still get something from her too.   There was also the set of quads.  I was worried about the runt not getting enough so I was taking him a bottle to supplement the nanny.  I quit feeding him when he got too fast to catch.

Then there was this success story.  The perfect storm of events to create a goat graft.  The nanny had triplets, 2 born dead and one very weak.  I had if up and nursing but it only made it about 3 days.  She is one of my pet goats and didn't mind me milking her.   The kid was a twin another nanny had rejected.  He was very vigorous and persistent.  It took a week and a lot of effort but we finally managed to get her to take him.  So that is one less to bottle feed.
You can probably tell from my last several posts what I have been doing with most of my time.
Kid count - 45

Easter Bunny Tryouts

With Easter just around the corner we are searching for the Easter Bunny.  And I think I found it, just look at those ears. 

This one is part of the set of triplets born in the barn during the cold rain storm last week.  

I should have known there was a problem when it came running up to me away from her mother who is in the back ground.  The next morning "Bunny" was in the barn but too weak to stand.   Mom didn't have enough milk for all three.  So she has been added to my bottle goat collection.
Kid Count - 43.

Just Kit Sunday #118

Wishing you a lazy sunny Sunday.

Love,
  Kit Kat

Total Chaos

The wood floors went in this week.  The entire house is in total Chaos.

 Furniture has been from one end to the other but mostly in the middle.

The hall is full, the closets are empty.  Half our clothes are up stairs or piled in the laundry room.  The play room is packed with chairs, books and glass wear.  Not a room has been left unscathed.  I will be spending the next few days cleaning sawdust, carpet bits and drywall dust out of the entire house.  Anyone want to come help move furniture?
Oh, and the floors are beautiful by the way.

Goats Are Complicated

Sometimes goats are cute.

 But most of the time they are complicated.

 Yesterday it started pouring down rain about the time I usually make my rounds through the goat field.  One of my pet goats was looking very close that morning.  When I checked on them in the rain, she was in early labor.  I made the decision to go ahead and move her to the barn since she is so tame.  She ended up with triplets and is so far accepting them all.

 When I made my evening rounds I found this confusion.  I knew the brown and white one was close but the yellow one I wasn't expecting.  She was acting like she wanted to steal one of the brown one's.  After I ran her off I noticed the size difference and decided that maybe the white baby was hers after all.

 I separated it out and she seemed ok with it and the brown and white nanny was happy with her two.   The additional problem is the big white nanny in the back.  She is the mother to the younger one which she is still possessive over.  So there are 3 generations where granny doesn't want baby with daughter.   Are you confused yet.

Then this morning I go out and find yet another baby with her.  But the second one she doesn't like at all.

 They really are a pain when they do this.

 Poor little thing got pushed out.

So now I am milking the pet in the barn with the weak triplet (other 2 were dead) and taking a bottle and feeding the abandoned twin to make sure it gets colostrum.
Kid Count - 27

In Bloom and More Triplets

We have had several warm days which has helped things in the blooming department. 

 I love how the grape hyacinths volunteer in the grass.  Might have to mow them down tomorrow though.  The grass is getting a little tall.

 And the Yoshino Cherry trees have lasted longer than some years.

 It seems like they are usually just starting to peak when we get a torrential down pour followed by high winds.  This year that came before they peaked, so the blooms stayed on. Yay!

 Then today when I went out to check the goats after lunch I found one of my bottle goats from a couple of years ago with triplets.  Unfortunately, 2 were dead and the third was almost so.   Since she is so friendly, I didn't have any problem milking her so I could tube feed the baby.  Then after a little drying off and time in the sun it was strong enough to nurse but it still couldn't stand up.  Since the nanny was laying down, I just move the baby so it could nurse.  We moved them to the barn before dark and the baby was just starting to stand on its own.

 While all that was going on , I was keeping my eye on this white nanny.  She never seemed to be pushing but she stayed in the same spot for a couple of hours.  When J got done feeding he grabbed his catch pole.  He then held her while I checked things out.  J remembered we had to pull her's last year too.

After some rearranging I managed to get a set of triples out, all live and standing in just a few minutes.
Kid Count - 20