August 2, 2014

Farm happenings

What a blessed morning!! As Doug and I awoke and shared a mildly intimate moment, our time was interrupted with a bellowing cow wanting a treat, and a rooster crowing for no good reason. So off we went to do chores. Each child has their own animal- Tori the chickens, Evan the dogs and Trey the pig. I of course, have the cow.

 

  So as I'm out bringing Bethel her treat I look over my shoulder, and Tori is in the yard, petting the chickens and giggling. And as she walks towards the garage for their food, they follow her and she giggles more. I really need to start carrying a camera with me at ALL times. Trey has formed a kinship with the pig, which is major because he's so awkward and adolescent, he's having a hard time forming anything with anyone. My poor guy. We've all been through it though, those years are tough.

So were off to the fair today!! Checkin out some 4h projects. If they're still there. I have no idea how this works. Our 4h leaders seriously live a mile down the road from us and I've only been over there for 1 encounter- that's a story for another day. So hopefully we see some good stuff and the kids get more excited about their projects this year

 

An hour later.....

 

Farm happenings

Were having our own fair here!

I took a ride with the kids down to Lloyd's this morning to check out his paddock arrangements and how he does his fencing. So we got a tour of all the huuuuugggeee angus cows and got to see the baby calves.

And then Lloyd sent one home with us to bottle feed.

It was the moms first calf and she wasn't doing the best job. So we loaded her up in the back of the Pacifica with a bottle and milk replacer and home we came.

Doug came out as we pulled up, showered and smelling sweet, all ready for the fair in a way only a suburbanite could be. 

And I walked past him, carrying a 3 day old calf from the back of the car proclaiming "Were having our own fair here!!"

She's in the pen in the shed and Tori has taken over care of her. I'm telling you, the girl is an animal whisperer.

 

Well, then Lloyd and Regina came down to castrate the pig. Doug held him down, the kids and Regina watched and I sat on the front porch with my ears plugged, rocking, and saying over and over - "this is farm life. It is normal. It is good." After the procedure I went over to him in my ruffled mental state to check on him. He had a couple drops of blood on his feet and was eating. I'm sure I'll be obsessively checking on him all day because I'm crazy and just getting used to this.

Bethel is still bellowing like crazy. So next week I'll be calling the AI guy to set up an appointment in 21 days. We'll try breeding her again and see how it turns out.

 

The new baby calf- Tori has named her Peace