Getting Ready For Kids

Today we worked the 26 leftover yearlings that didn’t go to the feedlot.

After we worked them, Joe hauled 20 to his dad’s house where we rent 20 acres.  They are the first group getting turned out on spring grass.
 

This is in preparation for the goats.  They should start kidding in a couple of weeks and we needed the calves out of their kidding field so the grass has a chance to grow some.

And then just because calves are cute, here are a couple of pictures of the cuteness.

Spotted On My Ride

This afternoon I took Otoelene for a spin around the farm.

We saw some trees that had blown over the fence yesterday during an all day long wind storm.  I should say blew onto the fence instead of over because they flattened it.

 I was surprised when this swallowtail butterfly fluttered by. It seems a bit early for butterflies.

And we saw this cow starting to calve.  She was licking it off about an hour later.  

Second Set Of Twins

A second calf heifer had a set of twins in the rain yesterday.

Joe had already gotten them into the driveway by the time I got home.
 

 We decided to go ahead and take them to the barn.  More farmercising for Joe carrying one all of the way.

I had the easy job of driving the other one.

We made it to the barn with both calves and mom.

One of the calves nursed well once we got mom in the chute.

The other one, not so much.  We ended up having to tube feed him a little later.  Because of the rain and cold we left them in the barn overnight.

Then this morning, after I got everyone up, they both were nursing! Looks like we had a T3 and T4.

National Doctors Day Surprise

The staff at the clinic where I work surprised the doctors with a scavenger hunt that led to a lunch.

They had also put together a fun slide show and gave us personalized gifts.
 

Plus, we all got flowers.  What a privilege to work with such caring staff.

A Game Of Inches

Before Christmas I bought this fly through bird feeder.  I had gotten one to take to a gift exchange and liked it so much I bought one for myself.  The cashier liked it so much she asked if she could come to the gift exchange.

 Since it is glass,  I was a little afraid to hang it up in the winter when it might could freeze.  I finally decided the weather was nice enough to go ahead and put it out.

I did a little rearranging of the other feeders and ended up hanging it on the grapevine/hay feeder ring.

I even had a visitor.  That night the wind blew at about 40 mph.  I was in bed dreading finding the feeder smashed to pieces.  Miraculously, everything was fine the next morning.  Then the wind blew all day (when Sadie was here flying a kite).  That evening Joe and I went to feed the dogs.  When we got back this is what we found…

I couldn’t believe that I was only going to have enjoyed the feeder for 24 hours.  Then on closer inspection,

Somehow it was in perfect condition hanging just above a rock.  Joe said, “life is just a game of inches.” So true.

Spring Calving

Our Spring calving season started Saturday.  Technically, is wasn’t supposed to start until April 1st. 

But this first calf heifer got an earlier start.
 

Then today we had a set of twins along with 5 others.

Joe tagged the twins with T1 and T2 so he can keep up with them better.   He also moved them to a smaller lot for the next few days so the cow can keep up with them better.  

Then before we even got back out of the field one got out.  It was easier to just carry her back than to try to drive her.  Joe will have his work cut out for the next few weeks.  

First Trail Ride Of The Season

The weather turned off nice today after 40 mph winds yesterday.   Today we had sunshine and temperatures in the 60s perfect for a trail ride.

Joe decided to saddle up Hugo at the house and haul him with the saddle on.  I am not a fan of that so Draper got saddled once we got there.  We also went in the cattle trailer since it was already hooked up.  No problems loading or unloading.
 

With the leaves off the trees we were able to enjoy some of the views.

Hugo was out front about half the time.  Draper out walked him the second half of the ride.

There had been a lot of down trees that someone had done a lot of work cutting up and getting out of the way.

After a little excitement as two horses went up the road while we were ready to get on, things settled down and both horses did great.  A nice ride to start off the season.