A Few Things

Sunday was a special day, Joe's Birthday!

Lots of family came to eat out then stopped here for cake.  I splurged and made a totally from scratch cake and butter cream icing instead up a box cake and canned frosting.  I still like using the "Covid Candle".  At the time, we decided it was keeping germs off the cake.  Now I just like the big candle and no worries about wax dripping on the icing.  

Sadie even made a card for Joe.  It was a picture of Woody from Toy Story.  

Monday morning we woke up to our first snow.  It was just a skiff.  The real problem was going for 70 degrees to 20.  

But that didn't stop us from taking a trip to the meat processer.  We have decided to go a little further to be able to get the meat vacuum packed instead of paper wrapped.  It is also USDA inspected so we could sell individual cuts if we wanted to.  

Joe had been feeding a heifer that didn't breed.  She was plenty fat.  

On the way back, I found a Christmas blow up hoarder.  There has to be over 30 in that line up.  And it's not even Thanksgiving yet.  
 

New Hobby?

You may or may not recall that back in September I purchased a needle felting kit at the G.O.A.T. Festival. 

Well, tonight I decided to open it and see how difficult it was going to be.  The instructions we clear, everything was included and I was ready to start. 

And, ta da!  It looks like a goat!  I want going to add the heart but changed my mind d. 

I think it is adorable. Be looking for it on a Christmas tree near you soon.  I think I am ready to do more. 
 

More Improvement

Sadie and Allie came over to ride Clyde yesterday.  But they had to take naps first.  They have been getting up at 5:30 since the time change.  The time may have changed but their internal clocks didn't.  Anyway, Sadie woke up first.  I recommended that she go ahead and ride Clyde while Allie was still napping so there wouldn't be any arguing about who's turn it was.  

Sadie has been improving with every ride.  With the help of a bucket she was able to get on by herself.   

She did lots of walking around but finally wanted to trot some.  She was fine doing it on the lunge line this time.  There were no falls this time either.  

Sadie had finished riding by the time Allie headed to the barn.  They both wanted to do some grooming.  

At first, Allie didn't want to ride.  She was too worried about Sadie getting to clean up the poop without her.  I explained that there were 4 piles of poop, each could scoop up two.  I would make sure Sadie didn't scoop up more than her share.

  Allie finally consented to ride, then scoop poop.  

She even lead Clyde by herself.  She is getting so much braver.  Clyde is a great confidence booster.  

Learning Curve

The weather was beautiful yesterday for our fall calving herd work.  

I had had another farmercising episode on Tuesday to help Joe get the cows into position to be able to get them up today.  But I was recovered and ready to go again. 

Fortunately, we had Mike to help yesterday so that really cut down on my workload.  

The cows worked well, through the chute for one shot and some dewormer.  Then it was time for the calves.  They got one shot, an ear notch and the bulls got castrated.  My job was to give the shot.  During my down time I remembered that I had downloaded a scale app on my phone.  It is suppose to "weigh" the cattle.  I tried it out without reading any instructions and decided there was a bit of a learning 

It seemed pretty self explanatory, get a side view in the frame and it gives a weight.  But the weight ranges varied wildly.  

This same calf went from 164 to 331.  It pretty much did that on everything.  You would have to have a good idea of what they are suppose to weigh for it to really help much.  

There was a feature where you would chose cow frame size and number in the pen and it would calculate the pen weight after you snapped however many you put in.  I was going to try that but apparently, there was a limit to the free time I had without signing up and paying a monthly $34.99 or yearly $349 fee.  I decided that this isn't an app for me.  

Back  to the calves, Mike and Joe had them worked without incident, 

and the calves back out with the cows.  And we got to go to the Dutch Pantry for lunch.  
 

Difficult Day

We have had some rain but it was too little too late. Our pastures are not coming back this season. So Joe decided to wean the calve early. Feeding the calves will go further than feeding the cows with calves on them. 

When I looked back I found that we have weaned our spring calves anywhere from October 2nd to January 6th depending on the grass situation.  

The move to get them to the barn lot involved first, getting them back from across the creek.  Some just did not want to come.  Joe ended up having to go back to the house to get his waders so he could get across and drive the stragglers through the creek.  

I had nothing better to do while he did this than take pictures.  

The last one came across and we then drove them into the field behind the house.  

The problem now was that this was some stockpiled grass and the cows did not want to leave it for the barn lot.  

After the second lap around the field I said I couldn't do it again.  Joe ended up hooking a feed trough to the 4-wheeler and towing two groups into the barn lot.  At one point I fantasized about catching Clyde and seeing how good of a cow pony he was.  But I was rested up and was able to help get the last group in on foot.   It only took 3 hours and 4 and 1/2 mile of steps according to my fitness app.  That is farmercising at it's best.   

After a break for lunch, we sorted the calves off and dewormed the cows and calves.  

The calves ended up going onto the stockpiled grass behind the house and the cows in the adjoining field.  This way the calves will be less stressed since there is still fence line contact.  Surprisingly,  it has been pretty quite so far.  
 

Taking Turns

Sadie and Allie are struggling some with taking turns on Clyde. There is always a discussion on who gets to go first. 

Since Allie was taking a nap and Sadie went first last time, it was Allie’s turn to go first. 

She did not want to trot so we let Sadie participate by leading Clyde.  

Then it was Sadie’s turn. She wanted to ride by herself.  For the trotting, I put her back on the lunge line for a few circles then let her try by herself.  She was dong good until she lost her balance and tipped too far forward. Clyde stopped and Sadie fell onto his neck then did a slow motion controlled fall while still handing on.  It scared her and she did not want to ride anymore. But Joe and I insisted that she get back on. She did, but I had to lead her around. 

Next came the arguing over who would get to clean up Clyde’s poop. There was only one pile.  It was determined that Allie would start. 

Allie managed 1/2 the pile so we said Sadie could get the other half. Allie did not want to relinquish her hold on the pitch fork. Sadie wrenched it away.  Allie cried about Sadie hurting her arm. They finally worked out the they would just scoop poop from the short grass outside and carry it to the long grass. There was plenty of outside poop for that. 

Allie is getting so much braver around Clyde. On the was to the barn she said she wanted to hug and kiss Clyde. 

I’m not sure if she kissed him, but she did give him a big hug.  Later, when they were watching Unicorn Academy, Sadie asked as the characters were galloping around, “are we going that fast when we trot on Clyde?”

 

Spooky

You never know what is running around on the front patio until you put up a bird feeder camera. I haven’t started filling the feeders yet but I did place the camera so I could see if anyone came to the front door.  We have had a variety of visitors so far. 

A opossum 

Socks came by again. 

Molly, who isn’t allowed in the yard, was in the yard. 

And a beautiful fox trotted past. I think the birds camera is better than a trail cam. It has a solar charger so I don’t have to worry with batteries.  Plus, the videos go to the app and I can check them any time along with being able to watch live. It has been a busy month. 

Happy Halloween 

 

Helene Tribute

This Spring I bought a cordyline plant at Rural King to jazz up my side entrance. 

It did the job. But it was too pretty to let freeze.  So I brought it into the garage. I needed a plant stand for it so I could move it into the house. After some thought I decide on a log stand. 

Goodness knows we have plenty of wood to choose from thanks to hurricane Helene last year.   Joe has cleaned up most of this since last year and cut up the logs for fire wood. 

  It has seasoned for a year and the bark came off easily.

I evened up the top and bottom with the chainsaw. Then did lots of sanding and finished it off with two coats of polyurethane. 

I also cut out a round piece of plywood and screwed it to the bottom for a floating appearance.  

It turned out well enough. 

And it is the perfect size for a plant stand.  Now I just need to settle on a good spot for it. 

 

Thanksgiving Is Coming

I saw a treat leaving for work last week. 

There were several turkeys just milling around.  

They never acted spooked.  A couple went over the fence but most just went back and forth until they found a way through.  

Looks like they have another month to learn how to hide better.  

Panic

Clyde had some new visitors today. 

Emily and Keiran stopped by.  Emily liked Clyde but doesn't understand why I don't utilize her horse Pep any.  Pep is a great horse.  Maybe when Sadie and Allie get more skilled with Clyde we could try out Pep.  I will have to think on that more.  

Pay no attention to all of the poop.  I did clean it out, although I wish I had waited.  Allie asked to scoop poop when she came over a little later and there was no poop to scoop.  

Keiran approved of Clyde.  

When Sadie and Allie arrived, Allie had fallen asleep in the truck.  So Sadie had a long turn all to herself.  

She did some walking around but wanted to trot.  I put her on the lunge line and she was doing so well that I let her off the line to trot by herself.  She was very good at stopping Clyde whenever she got off balance.  

Allie woke up and was ready to ride with her red sparkle boots. 

Sadie entertained herself by raking the sand then writing things in it.  I have no idea how she thought of that.  

Meanwhile, because Clyde has been such an angel, I let Allie off the lead line to ride by herself.  Things were going great until Clyde spotted the hay in the corner.  He made two trips over to the hay.  I had to keep showing Allie how to run her had down the rein so she could pull him away.  The third time he ended up trotting about 12 steps to get to the hay.  As soon as he started to trot, Allie panicked. She let go of the saddle, dropped the reins, held her arms straight out and started screaming.  I yelled for her to hold on.  Instead of grabbing the saddle she leaned forward and grabbed Clyde's neck.  He stopped as soon as he got the the hay.  By some miracle, Allie had stayed on.  I got her to quickly stop crying when she realized she wasn't hurt and she kept riding, but back on the lead line for the duration.   Looks like I have some work to do on emergency stops.