If A Tree Falls

Joe went to clean out the cattle guard yesterday. It was full of leaves, gravel and dirt from the winter. But since it has been so dry, it was like concrete. That is until our 4 inches of rain. That softened it up enough to work with. 

Joe had gone down in the truck. I came a little later with the 4 wheeler.  You may be wondering what all of this has to do with trees.  Well, Joe took the 4 wheeler back to check the cows and I went out with the truck to turn around and come back. 

That is when I found this dead oak tree blocking the driveway.  So I had to back back up the driveway, find Joe and tell him he now needed to get the chainsaw. 

It was steep and dangerous. 

But Joe has a lot of experience with fallen trees. 

At least there wasn’t a fence to fix afterwards. 
 

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.  
 

Welcome To The Jungle

Things are growing crazy big this year. 

The garden is out of control. 

The rows have completely disappeared. 

It is a stretching, yoga game trying to pick anything. 

But I have managed. 

Some produce is more unusual than others. 

The record growth isn’t confined to the garden. The pastures are jungle like also. 

Joe turned the cattle into the bottom the other day and the plant growth was over their backs. 

This is what the bottom looked like last year without bush hogging.  It’s just a jungle out there this year. 

The Note

When I got home from work yesterday, this note was waiting for me on the kitchen counter. 

Cow problems never are good.  Within a few minutes while I was carrying in the groceries, Mike drove up and said Joe needed help, there was a backwards calf.  Joe had noticed the cow in the same spot a couple of times that he had checked yesterday morning and afternoon.  He got her up and called  Mike.  Then they got her in the chute and Joe discovered the problem.  They were able to get chains around both feet but were only successful in getting one leg out.  I was able to give the cow an epidural so she wouldn't strain as much, move the chain on the leg still inside for better leverage and manipulate it to get it out.  Then it was Mike's turn to pull.  They told us in vet school to not pull any harder than 3 strong men, so Joe and I did not have to help Mike.  We had the calf jack just in case but it wasn't needed.  Mike got the calf out quick enough. 

And it was still alive.  A big accomplishment for a backwards calf.  

Mike didn't look too much worse for wear, 

but I think Joe's tee shirt will be headed for the rag bag.  

This morning the calf was up and had nursed.  Joe banded him, 

and sent him on his way back to the field with mom.  Joe said he was expecting trouble because he had had 70 calves with no issues.  Maybe we will get through the rest in as good of shape.  

 

Serendipity

Serendipity is an unplanned fortunate discovery.

I have always told Joe that if I ever said I wanted to join a gym, just point me up the hill in front of the house.  Well, for some reason he has been talking about joining a  gym.  I have just ignored this crazy talk.  Anyway, earlier this week after dinner I announced that I was going to walk up the hill.  Joe decided to come with me.  But instead of just walking up he had us go down the other side and then back up which is even  steeper.  On the way back down towards the house I noticed a goat off by itself. 

On closer inspection, its head was stuck in the fence. 

 I hope the goat appreciates our fortunate unplanned discovery. 

Crying Wolf

We have a neighbor that calls all the time about different things he sees happening on our farm.  A couple of months ago he left a message that someone walking down the road went through our gate and it looked like it could have been a woman.  It was me wearing leggings and a bright pink fuzzy coat.  I hope I looked like a woman.  Today's call was that we might have a goat out.  He could see something white in a field of black cows.  I said it was unlikely that just one goat would have gotten out but I would check.  

I decided to walk instead of driving.  When I got close enough I could see there was something white but couldn't quite tell what it was.  Once again, unlikely a goat laying there amongst a group of cows. 

So I climbed the fence onto a different neighbor where the white object was and got close enough to finally see it was a spotted calf, not a goat.  Maybe I need to get the neighbor some stronger binoculars.  

Anyway, I got all my steps in.  
 

Don’t Get Too Attached

Never get too attached to anything on a farm, especially a goat. 

The weather for the last week has been horrible, cold, windy and raining.  Goats can usually withstand 2 of the three.  But all three at once for days on end has been brutal.  This was a set of triplets born yesterday. The two in the foreground aren’t dead, just cold dishrags. 

They made a trip to the house with another kid for hot water baths, blow drying, heating pad and tube feeding.  Miraculously, they recovered and are in the barn with mom.  I am still supplementing them because it is difficult for a nanny to raise triplets. 

It takes lots of towels and heating devices to get them warmed back up.

Unfortunately, two out of this set of quads were dead on arrival.  We lost several over night on Thursday. I spent 16 hours dealing with the goats yesterday. My fitness app says I walked 7 miles and did 60 flights of stairs.  Our final check was at midnight, 40 degrees, wind gusts up to 40 mph and still raining. 

Today was a better day.

It was still windy but at least the sun was shining and the temperature got up in the 60’s.  Some of the goats even felt like playing.  In the afternoon Emily and Keiran were here and walked though the goats.  Emily came back to the house and insisted that there was a new goat that the mom wasn’t cleaning.  I had just checked and the mom in question has a single she was taking care of just 5 minutes before.  But I went back out (only 5 1/2 miles today) and sure enough she had had a second one and it was the size of a rat.  I thought it was dead but no, it was still breathing.  I thought it would die before I could get to the house with it.  But it managed to stay alive.  I got it warmed up and dried off.

And amazingly, it could sit up.  I weighed it and it was 22 ounces.

 This evening it could stand briefly.  It is still not nursing on its own yet.  

But it enjoyed a little bit of lap time with Keiran.  I am not naming it until it is a week old, because I am not getting too attached.