Fluttery Friday

The things you see on farm walks......

In the barn til well after nine last night. Sent Liz home early to get some rest. The rest of us chopped hay or fed hay or milked cows or delivered Broadway's great big bull calf, depending on our various abilities. 

Sorry about quality, taken with phone almost at dark

Can't tell you how amazing I find those milking shorthorns. Huge calf, hard birth because of it. Lungs full of fluid when born. We laid him head down on the edge of the hay pack for a few minutes and cleaned his nose and mouth with paper towels and hay, while mama licked his fanny and mooed sweet nothings at him.

Literally ten minutes later he was standing, and by the time the men had the wagon filled for the other cows he was following her around. This amazing hardiness is probably why our herd is slowly, but surely, turning red. Have a good one.

Twins

Born this morning to Detroit, one of Liz's older cows. Sadly one was a tiny little heifer and the other a mammoth bull. All three are doing okay though.

Such a Starry Night

Another calving last night around nine-thirty. Booth had a heifer calf by Leadfield Columbus. It was one of those times when things went south fast. It was a good thing we knew what she was up to and Becky went over and checked after supper. 


The calf wasn't too big, no difficult presentation, but delivery slowed down right after the head was born and the baby inhaled some amniotic fluid. We laid her over a bale to drain her lungs and worked hard at stimulating her to breathe.


 Mama worked hard too, licking her and nudging her.


I thought she was a goner, but then she took a couple of gasping breaths and shook her head, always a welcome sign. We went through a lot of paper towels cleaning out her mouth and nose and a lot of hay rubbing her ribs and ears and head, but by the time we left the barn she was trying to stand up.


Booth was gobbling hay as fast as she could stuff it into her mouth and licking the baby in between bites. Hopefully they will both come through all right.


On the way back from the barn we stopped to admire the stars and planets. With Mars, Jupiter and Venus all showing their stuff each night it is quite a show. The latter two are so bright they are like a big neon sign in the sky.....I don't know what they are selling, but I had a glass of wine when we got it.....seemed well earned somehow.

Redeux

Two calves born at the same time last night. Right at milking. Suffice to say that even with six people running around like beheaded chickens, it was just insane. 


Broadway started first. She always has huge calves for some reason. Even her first calf, Scotty, who is half Jersey, was a giant. This one was no exception and she would NOT settle and have it lying down. 


While we were watching her, Lakota started calving too. Both of them had really big calves and needed some help.


When Broadway's big, red baby finally slid out into the world the boss declared, "It's a bull."


I believed him. He's seen a calf or two in all his years of farming.


Liz is not quite so trusting and checked later. Nope, a heifer, by the Select Sire Power milking shorthorn bull, Poker. The new baby is a full sister to Rose Magnolia...and I will welcome names from you folks, who named her big sister for me.


Lakota, alas had a bull and not a real healthy one. A real shame as he is a beauty, sired by the ABS bull, Force. I am really hoping he makes it.


Anyhoo, by the time we got to the house after dealing with all the stuff new milkers need, plus milking, plus discovering that Licorice had a temp and needed some doctoring, and passing out extra good hay to all the fresh cows, it was late as heck. And of course the sick heifer I am taking care of in the green house decided that she was really, really thirsty, but must dump every single pail of water I lugged up from the house....I had to have Becky and the boss both help me take care of her.


French toast (Becky makes the best ever) sausage and bacon for dinner. Totally guilt free...I think we earned it.

Red Letter

Night.....


Our cow, Asaki, decided to have her calf last night at around 11. Alas, a bull, but a really handsome guy.

Between helping the boss with her and a 3:30 barn check I am kind of stupid today...but here are some pics of him plus another bull calf. The bottom calf is Licorice's Maxwell son. 


Maxwell is at ABS, as a young sire. We have two calves by him, both bulls, alas, but they are really outstanding. Of course, if you look at his mama, here, you can probably see why. Liz has good taste.

Amid the Wreckage

As I run...er....trudge..up and down the cellar stairs in hot pursuit of photos of the no longer at all hot furnace, I find that there are bright sides to be found.

So far it is not all that cold out. (Please send our share of Global Warming now, thanks.)

My little three-breed heifer, Scottie (half-Jersey, one-quarter Holstein, one-quarter milking shorthorn) had a heifer calf by our milking shorthorn bull yesterday. She is a little cutie. The boss and I milked Scottie for the first time this morning and she didn't kick much. That could change, but we didn't have a rodeo this morning at least.

Scottie is just a tiny little thing, takes after the Jersey half of her pedigree I guess, but she goes back to some decent Holstein show cows and has a nice enough udder and pretty correct feet and legs...which don't quite match her very large and excessively hairy head, but what the heck, you can't have everything and she will probably look much better when she sheds out in the spring.

And each fall I bring in my multitude of house plants, including a lot of holiday cacti. Usually I stick them in the parlor, a room we don't use much, and although they bloom, no one sees their flowers.

This year I was in a hurry and they never made it past the living room, which we use as just what it sounds like. Thus the flowers are right there handy to brighten our days...works pretty good too.

Trying not to be Greedy

For spring. But it is hard not to be. Went out to check cows in a soft, early morning rain, an Irish rain, not enough to even wet my pull over, but wet enough to hear.(The kind of rain that just might bring on the new grass....I look every day at the hill behind the house...is it green yet? No but soon.)

Wet enough to get the robins going out there in the dark.

And going they were, dozens of them everywhere around, north, south, east, and west, and all points in between. Killdeers too, and four...at least four...song sparrows. The phoebes showed up at the creek day before yesterday, but either they don't like rain or they sleep late. They are not calling.

No woodcock either, although we have heard him a couple of times. I like to think of him out there in the short grass part of the pasture, trotting around on his stubby little legs and shouting imperatives to his lady. Then tumbling sky-high, all whistle and flute, only to drift gently back down and do it all again.

Just a couple weeks ago there were barely any birds and they surely were not singing before dawn. I took a little walk this morning though, just my Hall's cough drop and me, listening for more...new...better...different. Who else is back and taking up territory? Yeah, I am greedy for more spring no two ways about it.

No calves this morning and the sump pump the guys rigged yesterday did its job pretty well, so the flooding is negligible. Thankfully.

We are hoping for some decent weather to get some fencing done and some manure on the fields before the serious spring work begins.

One of my goals each summer is to learn a couple new bird songs. I am not good remembering sounds in that fashion so it is a challenge, but one that I much enjoy. Last year I got indigo bunting and Carolina wren......Who will it be this year?

Babyland

Two calves yesterday, a heifer to Hollywood, a bull to Baja.

Busy, busy. Hollywood's had a leg back, but Liz and the boss repelled it a little and got the leg up. As soon as all was clear she sat right down and got it born. Hallelujah.

Several-many moons ago I bought the boss a bull calf for Father's Day, Keeneland Astre Pat. There is quite a story about him, as I went to the sale and he was purchased for big bucks long before I could even get in a bid. Then at the end of the auction he was put up for sale again. Seems the individual who purchased him the first time thought he was a heifer. I got him bought for about a fifth the original price.

Not to be outdone, the boss bought another bull (O-C-E-C Lindy Fred-ET) from Oneida County Embryo Company, a son of the famous Stewarthaven TT Fallon cow (one of the most incredibly beautiful cows I have ever laid eyes on. We saw her at pasture when she was quite old and she was like a Bonny Mohr painting. Silky black hide over a fabulous frame with wide, sweeping ribs and a rump like you wouldn't believe....just wow!)

We raised them, had them drawn at Dependabull when they were old enough, and have been just a tad competitive about whose choice was best ever since.

KPat made a lot of heifers, middle of the road milk cows, nothing special, but sturdy and dependable. The Freds are big and black and framey like grandma, but a tad mastitis-prone.Oddly enough the best daughters of either bull were out of daughters of the other bull. Turned out to be a great cross......Hollywood is out of an old KPat daughter and her baby is by Fred. Really nice calf.

Which made our little competition kind of silly I guess.

And my new favorite milk cow, alongside my beloved Broadway, is a Fred daughter out of my old Citation R Maple cow, England.

Fuzzy little Egypt was a loon when she was young. Abso-positively nutso. When we had to do anything whatsoever with her she freaked and we had a rodeo. However, after she had her baby she turned into the bovine version of a happy puppy. When I milk her she turns her hairy black head around to be scratched and loves to have me pet and fuss with her. I can't believe she is the same cow. Needless to say she is treated like a big baby and called Boo boo and all. (Yeah, I call my cow Boo Boo, what can I say?)

Off to the barn in a couple of minutes who see who has gotten up to what in the night (hopefully they all just finished their hay, slept and chewed the cud, but you never know.) Have a great Saturday.

Calves and Currycomb Love

Heather's baby boy. Check out his eyeliner

In the next four weeks we have around eighteen head due to calve. It is with a mixture of awe and dread that I face this prospect. Among the "springers" are my beautiful Broadway and Liz's Fustead Emory Blitz daughter (whose name is Mendocino, but who is simply called, THE BLITZ...she gets caps even in every day life.) We care a great deal for all the cows, but there are always certain special ones that cause just a little more worry and heartache when calving time rolls around. As with any birth there is a lot that can go wrong.

Last year if you remember, Broadway had a gigantic heifer calf, breech, and it was one of the toughest deliveries I have participated in. We were thankful for the hybrid vigor of the shorties that day I can tell you. It looks as if she is carrying another big one.

I worry.

Evie, Verona, Egypt, the two Whirlhill Kingpin daughters, Zobaba and Bayliner, Heather, and several others have already had their babies, mostly bulls, alas.

Does anybody who milked cows back in the sixties remember any temperament issues with the Kingpin daughters? These two are both snarky little darlings I can tell you. They are from unrelated dams, but they are like the nasty devil twins. I have been lashed with more sodden, stinking tails and stomped at more by them than by all the other first calf heifers together.

Even Egypt, who was a real wild child all through her carefree heiferhood, is a little sweetie and loves to have me scratch her exceptionally furry head. I was currying cows yesterday and didn't even try to brush Zobaba (although Bayliner is finally liking the attention.)

You wouldn't believe how the cows are shedding. I could bed them with the hair I get off with the comb. And they love it so much! Always worth a laugh to see the heads waving and the stanchions clanging while they await their turn. I like it too. I can't even see over Lemmie's rump, she is such a big girl, and normally she is flighty and a little loony. However, when I have that currycomb, she is like a fourteen-hundred pound kitten, all cuddles and love.

Kinda like cupboard love, only this time it's currycomb love.