Spring Life around here

 I am finally back! And it is high time that I post something new, seeing as how I have not posted anything since, oh, I think January. 

So. 

Today is May 9th, Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there!

Today is May 9th. It is snowing in our neck of the woods, That is downright depressing. When I woke up this A.M, there was a beautiful red sky in the east, but... we all know that old saying, "Red sky in morning, travelers take warning". I attempted to live in denial by claiming that it didn't look like rain really. 

Serves me right for living in denial.

Anyway.

I didn't take any pictures of the farm yet. However, I intend to here soon, so you can see all the gorgeousness of our farm in the spring! 

Our cows were so happy to finally be back out on pasture that they spend almost all day outside the barn, and the hay usage has dropped quite a bit, which is great! Again, we buy hay, so that is easier on the wallet to have them out on pasture!

We have three pregnant cows right now, and the first to go is Patty. If you have read other posts, you know that she is Clarabelle's daughter, and a heifer. She is due on the 16th, so we are all excited. I am hoping that it is a heifer calf; heifers are typically early or on time. Bull calves are typically late. So I am hoping for a heifer! This really ought to be an interesting calving, and fingers crosses, hopefully she will bond with her baby and care for it. Often, heifers don't bond well, and their calves end up bottle fed, because the heifer hasn't quite settled down yet. We had a heifer like that, and it was quite the rodeo to help her give birth, and to try and get her to bond with her calf. It didn't work, as I had a feeling for before we really started! So we bottle fed her calf, and while it was cute, milk replacer is very expensive, and taking care of an orphan calf is quite time consuming!

Clarabelle is due in July, because she did not take the first time in AI, so we had to wait a month, then re-breed her. 

Dolly is due in August; we bought her last August, and she had a month old calf with her, so we had to wait to breed her back. But she took the first time, so that was good.

Last calving, we used a bull from Select Sires, named  Small Town Kid. Under the impression that he was an improvement over the last bull, we bred him to Clarabelle, Sadly, she gave birth to a premature stillborn bull the following spring. We found out later that most of the calves from Small Town Kid were arriving dead, or were dead in two weeks time. That was not a good experience, and the poor cow took it badly,and spent the day mourning her calf. When I had gone out to do chores that A.M, I saw her out standing, and I went to check on her, and saw that she had given birth, but where was the calf?

I went in and told Dad, who was not happy, because she had gone so early. Something was wrong. They found the calf in the tall grass, all cleaned up, a handsome baby, too. I took the calf from Bella, soothing her as I went. We had to keep an eye on her throughout the day so that she wouldn't go through the fence to find her calf.

Some people wouldn't believe it, but animals do mourn their dead! It is a touching thing.

Well, we have a new greenhouse filled with flowers and veggie plants. We have even harvested lettuce already!

We also stocked our pond with fish finally! Fathead minnows, Bass, Bluegill, and Sunfish. It will be so awesome to fish there in a year or so! Once the Eco-system is working properly, the pond will have chemicals put in it to kill of some nasty looking growth, and the water will be dyed a blue, I think.

Well, that is all for now! Stay tuned for a post on the soon arrival of Patty's calf!

"For winter is now past, the rain is over and gone. The flowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning is come: the voice of the turtle is heard in our land"

Solomon 2, 11-12 Douay Rheims Version