Since Roni had her calf 9 days early, Mike & I figured we should probably bring April down to the barnyard SOON. Yesterday was the day, and BOY WERE WE GLAD WE DID THAT! Because this morning when we went over to milk, there she was with her first calf!❤️ Her due date wasn’t until 4-25, so this one was 12 days early.😳 April did a great job calving on her own.👍🏼 We were so grateful April had her own space to calve, while Helga & Roni were just on the other side of the fence. We prefer this type of situation rather than the rodeo we had bringing Roni & Helen down, lol.😆
James wasn’t fond of the halter, but Mike was able to eventually get him to lead his mama into the barn. James is a bit stockier than Helen – and definitely has a thicker neck.
Lol – isn’t he adorable??🐮😍
Then Mike carried James up to join Monty & Helen.💪🏼
Helen is in the middle and James is on the right.🙂
Tally is now 2 boys and 1 girl, with 2 more mamas to calve.🐮🐮🐮
Granny should be up next with her due date being 4-27. Mike noticed her udder was pretty full when he went up to Mordor to check on everybody this afternoon. He was able to get her out, so now she is with Helga, Roni, and April. We are ready if she has another calf before its due date…🎉
Mike & I headed back up to Mordor at daybreak to check on Roni. The good news is: she had her calf unassisted and it was up and moving. The irritating news is: Angel turned the morning into a rodeo.🙄😤
Fitting, really. Easter morning. Resurrection Sunday. The miracle of new birth, and the chaos that sin brings in. All in a farmer’s field. Right before our eyes!✝️🙌🏼🙏🏼
Angel’s easy to spot. The crazy white one.😆 She had Roni’s calf on the other side of the divider fence we have up to keep the cows away from the oil well in that field. She took advantage of Roni “forgetting” that she could have just gone up and around to get to that other side of the fence. <sigh>🤦🏻♀️
I stayed in Mordor while Mike got everything ready for us to walk Roni & her calf out of the field and down to the milking barn. Poor Roni was very stressed out, and her poor calf was confused by the chaos of the situation.😬 See Roni pleading with me to help her straighten this all out, lol?🙈
Seemed like an eternity, but finally Mike returned and was able to get the halter on the calf.👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
It’s a girl!🎀🐮 Welcome, Helen (think – All Creatures Great And Small😉). This is Roni’s first calf for us. [Click here to read about when Roni was born.] She was bred to an angus bull named Prime Effect for easy calving.👍🏼 Mike was able to push Helen under the fence to her mama; and for now, Angel was kept at bay.😬 Poor Helen was exhausted by all the hoopla. Took her a bit before she’d walk any further for us. We were beginning to wonder if I was going to have to bring the 4 wheeler in to drive her out. BUT – she finally cooperated and we walked her and Roni out of Mordor. It was hard to get ANY pics, and none of them turned out very well, but I’m grateful I at least got a few to go with her story.🤷🏻♀️
This one’s pretty funny. If you zoom in on Angel – in my imagination, her face perfectly describes how she feels, lol.😏
Roni chose NOT to walk down WITH Helen🙄, so Helen did end up getting to ride in the bed of the 4 wheeler while Mike walked behind it and held her down. In about 2 days, Mike will feel the aching muscles from holding/walking in that awkward position for the duration of the trek.😖
Once Helen was secure in her pen, Mike & I headed back up to encourage Roni to walk down to the barn. Our mission was finally successful.💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻
Hey look!!! The tree swallows are back!!! Mike built 6 more birdhouses this winter, so Lord willing, between them and the bluebirds, they will make good use of those houses. They are really fun birds to watch and enjoy.❤️
Once Roni was in the barn, we brought Helga in. Thankfully, milking went smoothly.👍🏼
After milking, we fed Monty first. He drank well from the bucket.❤️
Helen also did well. Started her on a bottle first, and then her afternoon feeding was in a blue bucket just like Monty.👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 (And yes – even though Monty is a week older than Helen, she is physically bigger, lol. He’s such an adorable little guy!☺️)
And that wraps up our Easter morning. We were still able to make it to church, and enjoyed a full day with our family. Now off to bed for me. Will be a week of adjusting back into our milking routines. LOVE this time of year!🎉
2023 Tally so far: 1 boy+1 girl, and 3 more to go…🐮🐮
It’s that time of year again – and there have been so many changes since last season! Our farm is growing, and not just with cows…🎉🎉🎉
Before Michael & Jennah even celebrated their one year wedding anniversary, they’d bought their first home! It’s perfect for them and has been exciting to watch them make it their own.🏡 They also started a pet sitting business, so keep them in mind if you ever need those services.🐶 [Click here for a link to Just Like Home Pet Sitting.]
After Paul & Annie got married last May, they decided to join us at the farm and were all moved in by the middle of the summer. We also learned a new addition would be arriving in March of 2023!👶🏼🎉
But first, they added 3 adorable kittens late last fall. They have been delightful and are soooo entertaining to watch play with one another! They LOVE people and getting attention. We do love having kitties on the farm again.😻😻😻
Meet: Freddie (white & orange), Frances (white calico), and Freda (gray). I’m quite sure there will be lots of pics of them moving forward, lol…🥰
🎉🎉🎉Just a little over 3 weeks ago, our new granddaughter was born!🎀 Ayla is absolutely beautiful, and what a gift it is to see our baby not only as a husband, but as a father, too.❤️ Granny & Pappy are so grateful for her safe delivery, and we treasure each moment spent with her.✝️🎁
That brings us to today’s addition, 4-8-23.🐮 We’re partnering with some friends of ours to begin with the first calf this year. They brought over their cow, Helga, along with her week old calf, Monty (think British TV – Gardeners’ World, lol).🐮🇬🇧 We’re grafting them into our dairy & calf herds, and looking forward to watching them grow alongside ours.❤️
Here’s Jennifer leading Helga off the trailer. Mike followed behind with Monty.🐮🐮
Monty hasn’t had much practice with a halter yet, but considering that, he did pretty good.😆 He is half Jersey and half Dexter, so he’ll be a smaller animal. Makes him extra cute!🐮
Helga acted like she already knew our layout! Walked right into the barn and headlock with no problems.👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Love our friends, Jennifer and Grant!❤️
Poor Grant got to experience a little bit of what Mike does on a regular basis with me, lol – crazy picture-taking, farmer chick…🫣📷
Not the greatest pics of Monty in the barn, but will try to get better ones as time goes on.👍🏼
Jennifer & I went out to check on Helga. She did well with milking and will stay down here by the barn to meet the other new mamas as they come down over the next week or so. I’ll try to get better pictures of her, too.🐮
It’s a blessing we’ll have Helga’s milk to add to what we get from our girls. We only have 4 of our girls bred for 2023, so our volume will be down. We are grateful for how the Lord provides.✝️❤️
Roni is slated to have the next calf. April 18th is her due date – BUT – when we went up to check on her this evening, we noticed the birthing process has begun!🎉
We are hoping to make it to Sunday School and Church in the morning, but looks like this arrival could make that a little challenging…🥴🙏🏼
Mike & I decided to put the runway fence up as the sun was setting. Will help us with time in the morning and thought maybe we’d catch a glimpse of the new calf before dark – or at least see if Roni needed any help with calving. This will be her first calf for us.🙏🏼
Another new addition to the farm is Paul & Annie’s gator. WOW was it nice to borrow it tonight for what we needed to do! Our four wheeler is still around and used every day, but as Mike & I get older, we can definitely see the benefit to getting in and out of a side-by-side vehicle.🙈 Might be on the lookout for one of these for ourselves, lol…👵🏼👴🏼
It was SUCH a beautiful night – PERFECT for a calf to be born…❤️
No, those aren’t city lights in the background, those are our curious, cud-chewing, zombie cows, lol…😂
Mike could see feet coming out, but Roni made it plain that she didn’t want any help. Us staying up there was only getting the rest of our animals all worked up.🙄😬 Soooo – I guess we’ll have to wait until Easter morning to see what we find. Lord willing, she will be ok and have a cleaned-up, well-fed calf up there when we come back. And if not, we pray for the Wisdom necessary to discern the next step in the situation. This is one of the hard parts of farming: watching and waiting…🙏🏼
🐮TO BE CONTINUED…🐮
It’s well past midnight now as I get the last of this post typed up before I crash. I can’t help but marvel at the miracle of creation – the miracle of Christ’s resurrection – the miracle of salvation to those whose faith is in Jesus Christ – and how I’ve been grafted in to the family of God. WOW.✝️🙌🏼
“I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be! But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.” “This is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.” From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” Romans 11:11-36 NASB1995
Well. Just 2 days ago I was writing about how it seemed like it took f-o-r-e-v-e-r for Nat’s calf to arrive… But today, I get to write about how we were caught completely off-guard with the arrival of Angel’s calf, lol.😳
Yes, we knew it was within a week of its due date. And, yes, we were hoping it would come early…😆 Yet, for some reason, we went unprepared into the field this morning to bring in our dairy girls.🙄🤦🏻♀️
Our normal routine is for Mike to head to the milkhouse first thing to get all our supplies to feed Mary Kate and Jake back by our barn. In that process of driving the 4-wheeler next door, he does a quick visual check from a distance to see if there’s a calf. He did that, and “assumed” there wasn’t one since all the cows were laying down and chillin’. [Never taking into consideration it might be possible Angel had her calf after we last checked her yesterday afternoon, so they had all evening/night/early morning to bond, eat, and rest together…😬]
So we did our normal chores at our place, fed Dude in the white barn, and then began our walk to the field to get the milking mamas. We were in a good routine and making good time. AND THEN. As I got closer to where Nat and Angel were, I saw an extra mini-cow laying next to Angel.😲 And of course, we never even thought about grabbing a halter before we headed out.🙈 What are we, rookies??!!🫣 Pretty sure 16 milking seasons disqualifies us from that category, lol, so…👵🏼👴🏼😂
It all happened so fast that Nat was already up before I could even get a picture snapped.📷
No time to go back for a halter now, so Mike & I made the decision to keep walking the crew down to the barn…👍🏼
The good news about it having been born yesterday, is everybody already knew it was there, so the only chaos was between Nat and Angel. Nat is only 2 days out from having her own calf, so this new addition understandably stirred up her mama instincts.😉
It’s a boy! Meet “Colorado.” (Think John Wayne movie: Rio Bravo🤠📽) This is Angel’s first calf for us. [Click here to read about when Angel was born.] We chose to use an Angus bull for Angel because they are known for calving ease…smaller head and body. We figured its coloring would look cool with its mama being all white, and we weren’t disappointed!🐮
Colorado was FULL of energy! He ping ponged between Nat and Angel all the way to the barn.🙂 (You can see Granny and Tilly watching on the other side of the fence.😆)
It was a relief to have everyone in the barn, and that Colorado followed the group so well.☺️
Mike was able to sneak the halter on Colorado without him really realizing what was happening.👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
We put QueenB in charge of watching over Colorado while we went back in the barn.😻 Angel was a trooper for her first milking and we are SO GRATEFUL!❤️
Colorado is NOT a fan of the halter, lol.😂
Adrenaline was still pumping for all of us after our adventure, but Colorado was at a whole different level.😳 He was not about to let me get a good picture of him for this post.😵💫
Made it!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 Dude didn’t know what to make of all this excitement, but he seemed happy to meet his new and smaller neighbor.🐮
Miss Tilly had fun escorting the mamas back to pasture…😂 She is sooooo cute!🥰
Soooo – just because Colorado is laying down and looking all calm and composed… DO NOT BE DECEIVED. He went C-R-A-Z-Y when Mike got in the pen to feed him his bottle. I mean, we’ve had timid calves before, but this guy??!! YIKES.😬😳
Picture those cartoons of bulls-striking-their-front-feet-in-the-dust-before-charging-type-crazy.🫣 I was in shock watching Mike absorb Colorado’s charges!😱 He had an idea that might happen given that Colorado has Angus in him, so he knew that these first feedings should be something for him to oversee. (Thank You, Jesus!✝️🙌🏼) If I wouldn’t have been so terrified that he would jump over the gates or hurt Mike, I may have tried to get a video. I don’t ever want to see that again, so I’m kinda glad I didn’t get one.😉
We are prayerful that Colorado will calm down for us as we earn his trust. It was encouraging to see that by the end of the feeding, Mike could reach over and pet him from outside the fence. Sometimes success comes in baby steps.❤️🙏🏼
Final tally: 3 boys and 2 girls.🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮
Now on to the next adventure…11 more days until Paul and Annie’s wedding!!❤️ We should be able to have these calves next door with the others by the weekend, and then we can finish transforming this barn into a wedding venue…🙏🏼👰♀️🤵🏻♂️
Every day for the past week we have thought, “Today is the day Nat is going to have her calf.” And each day we’ve been proven wrong, lol.🙄🙈 Until – TODAY!😆
I’ll back up and fill in how the last week has gone:
Anticipating a new calf soon, last Tuesday we decided to move Mary Kate and Jake next door to our barnyard to free up the calf pens in the milking barn. They were both eating great out of their buckets and ready to graduate to a grassy chunk of space.👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Jake did NOT like his halter, lol.🤣
But Mary Kate didn’t seem to mind it as much…👍🏼
Took a few minutes to get them started, but then they were off!👍🏼
Mary Kate was quite the poser…🙂
She’s a pretty sweet girl, and is already being spoiled…😉
Jake, on the other hand, was a little cranky, lol…😂
It took a little while, but eventually they became friends.🙂
I’m sure Jake is thinking, “Ugh – sisters,” LOL.😏
They both ate great in their new spot, and are continuing to adjust well to their halter training.👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Then Heidi kept rubbing on Nat🙄, so we decided maybe we should move Nat into the barnyard so she could have a little more free space. Plan was to do that the next morning…👍🏼
Friday was a dreary, rainy day. That made it even easier to move Nat closer to the barn so we’d all have less mud to wade through IF she had her calf…☔️
Nat kept hanging out at the gate that led into the far side of Eisengard – where Tilly & Granny are, so we decided to put the 3 of them together. Tilly was VERY excited and curious, lol.😆
Nat wasn’t really sure what to think about these new changes… She spent the weekend looking longingly at her friends on the other side of the fence.🤷🏻♀️🤦🏻♀️
Now we’re caught up to this morning. Here’s our audience when we came over to milk. STILL no calf.😬 (Nat’s due date had been Saturday, so now we’re 2 days late.)
A couple hours later, Mike was moving fence and he thought it looked like Nat was starting to push. He came over to check on her, and YEP – 2 feet were visible!💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻
In the couple minutes it took me to climb over the gate and get closer, the calf was born!😲
Nat started right away to clean her calf up.👍🏼
It didn’t take long for Granny and Tilly to come over and introduce themselves, lol…🙃
Less than 15 minutes old, and already trying to get up!🙌🏼
We decided to let Nat finish cleaning Dude up, and then come back for him after coffee break.☕️ (Dude was up and standing right after we left the field.👍🏼)
Dude was sound asleep in the warm sunshine when we returned.☀️ And he is pretty big – maybe the biggest one this season? What a blessing that he is so calm and willing to walk with the halter on!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
He’s also VERY photogenic…📷
Almost there…👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Made it!!💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻 We milked Nat and got enough colostrum for Dude’s feeding in a few hours.🍼
Now Nat has returned to the pasture with her friends, so she is happy!🥰
Only one final calf left – from Angel. This will be her first one for us.🙏🏼 She is due on the 17th.👍🏼
Tally so far: 2 boys+2 girls and one more to go…🐮🐮🐮🐮
Even though this morning was chilly and crisp, the sunshine toward mid-day made it a perfect day to welcome Ruby’s calf.❤️ Uno had been early with Mary Kate by 7 days, but Ruby’s been overdue by 4 days, lol.🤷🏻♀️
We noticed yesterday that Ruby was looking close, so we brought her into the barnyard thinking she’d have her calf before the end of the day. WRONG.🤦🏻♀️ You can see in the next 3 pics that her tail was doing a lot of twitching, she held it out a bit, and she was doing a lot of turning and licking…all signs that a calf should be appearing soon! Granny & Tilly were just on the other side of the fence…😆
Since there was still no calf this morning when we came over to milk, Mike opened the gate so Ruby could be with Granny & Tilly. He thought maybe she wanted to be able to get out further and be a little more secluded. Ruby went directly to the low area that makes it hard to see her.🙄 And Tilly was SO INTRIGUED!!😂
I had to run to Carrollton for a bit, and on my way back, Mike txted that he thought Ruby was finally getting ready to have her calf! I pulled in by the oil well road and walked toward the middle of Eisengard on the outside of the fence. Tilly spotted me and came to greet me. Then she led me toward Ruby, lol.🥰
I had to really zoom in to see Ruby’s calf…🧐
…but Mike headed out from the barn and was inside the fence for a much better view. He was kind enough to take a pic for me before he checked to see if it was a boy or a girl.👍🏼
Next you’ll see Granny and Tilly practicing their sleuth-like skills as they nudge closer and closer to the action, lol.🤣
We decided to give Ruby some time to get Jake all cleaned up and fed, so Mike and I headed home for coffee break.☕️😍 Then we came back over to make sure everybody was doing ok. Tilly was EXHAUSTED!!😆😴
Jake got right up and was a good sport about his photoshoot.📷
Here he is questioning Granny’s curiosity…🙃
And feeling comforted with his mama’s protection…🙂
Notice Tilly trying to sneak in from behind for an extra meal…🤫🥛
But her mama set her straight, and I think Jake was relieved, lol.👍🏼
We decided to leave Ruby and Jake together for tonight. We’ll separate them tomorrow morning before milking.👍🏼
When I came back over to feed Mary Kate her afternoon feeding, Granny & Ruby had both their babies with them by the water tank. It was another good time to snap a couple more pictures.😏
What a full day! Thank You, Lord, for another calf on the ground.✝️🙌🏼
New tally is 2 girls, and 1 boy. Lord willing, 2 more to go!🙏🏼
Wow. Praise the Lord He had us move our dairy girls out to pasture YESTERDAY!🙌🏼 Because TODAY, Mike found this little one out in the field – all cleaned up and fed.❤️
We kinda thought Uno had some signs yesterday that she was close to calving, BUT her due date wasn’t until 5-1, so we figured we still had a few more days to go… According to OUR calculations, Ruby should have calved before Uno – on Monday (tomorrow). But the Lord had other plans. Uno’s calf has arrived first!👍🏼
Granny and Tilly were content doing their own thing and watching from the sidelines. It was such a beautiful morning!☀️
It’s a girl!❤️ We AI’d our herd again last year, and chose to use milking shorthorn semen for Uno. She has been a good milker for us, so we were prayerful she’d have a girl… Lord willing, she will be one of our future dairy girls. HOORAY!💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻
Meet “Mary Kate.” (Think John Wayne movie – The Quiet Man)🤠 She was very laid back and calm for Mike to get the halter on her.👍🏼
Uno wasn’t very helpful in walking her calf down. She stayed in the back while others crowded around Mike and Mary Kate.😬
Eventually, we got Uno where we wanted her, and the 4 of us continued toward the barn. You can see Granny and Tilly up ahead in the barnyard…🐮
Once we got inside the barnyard, Mike got Uno into the barn and I waited with Mary Kate. She had a full tummy, so was content to rest and take in the scenery. When Mike returned, we got her into the barn.👍🏼
After milking Uno, she was quite happy to join her friends out in the field. The morning was perfect to welcome in our second calf of the season, and we were still able to make it to Sunday School and Church.✝️🙌🏼
3 more to arrive. Tally so far: 2 girls, 0 boys.🐮🐮🙏🏼
So I had been hearing commotion in the bushes in front of our house, but just assumed it was normal nest-building sounds…😳
As I folded my 3rd load of laundry and STILL heard a ruckus, I decided to stand on the couch and look out the window… A robin had some string caught around its foot and a branch. Ugh.😨🤨
Here it is hanging upside down on the branch…🤦🏻♀️
I called Mike and he came home from down the road to get it out. He cut the branch, but couldn’t untie the string while holding it…which meant I’d have to assist…😬😳
The string was SO tight, that I actually had to use my sewing seam ripper to strategically snip it off in sections…🥴🧐
Thank You, Lord, for a tendered-hearted, fearless, farmer-husband who knows how to gently encourage his wife who’s terrified of flapping wings to disengage knotted strings without cutting the bird’s tiny leg…😅✝️🙌🏼
The robin flew away just fine once Mike released it.💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻
This morning was our window to move the dairy girls out of Mordor and into Rohan. They couldn’t have cooperated any better!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
They saw us coming and were waiting at the gate.👍🏼
We wanted the 4 dairy mamas and the 2 heifers that we’ll be breeding in July to be in this group. I had to go in and encourage Ruby to hurry up and join the group.🙄
The beef herd will have to wait until tomorrow or Monday before getting out to grazing. They’ll enjoy that for sure, and we definitely appreciated that they didn’t cause any drama during today’s move for the dairy group.❤️🙌🏼
Here are the dairy girls walking to their pasture.🌾
You may notice a new structure up ahead… It’s from the boys’ old treehouse. The tree was taken down this spring, so we decided to use the steps as a way to go over the fence where there’s no close gate. (An idea we’ve talked about implementing for YEARS!) This will be a wonderful addition… A shortcut/timesaver, a fun place for watching sunsets, aaaand a good lookout to spot those pesky groundhogs, lol…🔫😉
Made it!👍🏼
If you zoom in on this next one, you can faintly see Granny & Tilly down in Eisengard. We’re going to keep them separate from this group of 6 for now. Putting all 8 of them together would most likely include a lot of pushing and shoving as they re-introduce themselves to Granny…and who knows what they’d think of Tilly, lol.😬 We don’t want to chance any of them going through the single wired fence around that area in Rohan. So for now, they can all see one another, but they’re in separate areas.👍🏼
And lastly – Mike had some helpers today to build a sandstone wall by the silo. Preparing for a small wedding here next month for Paul and Annie.😍🤵🏻♂️👰♀️
Just continuing on from yesterday’s post about Tilly’s arrival… Mike and I headed over to the barn before church to see how Granny was doing with her new calf. We were delighted to see Tilly all dry and fluffy, and with a full tummy, too!💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻
Granny scored an A+ with us! She is taking good care of Tilly, so they’ll stay together for now. We decided to wait to let them out into the barnyard until after we got back from church.👍🏼
They were both ready for some sunshine when we got back!☀️
And some pics of them outside to finish off the post. Of course Tilly went under the single wire electric fence as they tried to avoid my picture taking, lol, but Mike was able move the wire up higher and direct her back.🤦🏻♀️ 😆
In typical Roberts’ fashion – here it is – a blustery, cold, February evening – and we’re welcoming our first calf of 2022, lol.❄️💨🥶
This is Granny’s first calf for us. We purchased her last summer from friends, and she’d been bred to calve the end of February. Mike noticed she was starting to bag up last week, so he began preparing the runway to bring her down from Mordor and into the barnyard. We wanted to have her closer to the barn so we could keep an eye on her just in case there were issues.🙏🏼
Our window to move her came on the 11th. Mike was able to clear enough snow and break up enough of the ice so that we could walk her down to the barn without issue. Thank You, Jesus!✝️🙌🏼
This was the perfect time to make some upgrades to the milking area… A series of panels and a gate have been added so we can section off the stanchions we don’t normally use. Since our herd is small, this will be helpful to create other options of space, and keep our girls where we want them when they come in for milking. The gate will be WONDERFUL to use for these aging farmers, as before we had to straddle over a waist high board to get into that area.🥴👴🏼👵🏼
We made a section where we’ve been feeding Granny her hay and she can bed down if she wants. She can also go out into the barnyard, too.👍🏼
Mike went over this evening to check on her, and there she was with her new calf! A girl!!💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻
We were trying to think of names that would go with “cold.” Paul suggested “Tilly” (think Tillamook Ice Cream😂) and we loved the idea – WELCOME, TILLY!!❤️❄️🐮
Granny had a good start on cleaning her up, and Mike thought it looked like Tilly had started to eat. So he closed them up in the barn for tonight and we’ll check on them in the morning. Our plan is to let Granny take care of her for now so that we don’t have to start daily milking yet. Our other mamas aren’t due until the end of April… We’ll watch and see what the Lord’s plan is for us.🙏🏼
Lord, we thank You and praise You for this new addition to our farm. What a fun way to add some warmth to this cold season! We thank You for the gift of being able to work alongside one another and enjoy the growth and harvest that comes from this farm. It isn’t always easy, and we are in awe of how You teach us through this process. We cling to You for guidance as we navigate this next season. Grant us the Wisdom we need to make the necessary decisions moving forward. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen✝️
Ruby, Uno, Nat, and Angel are the mamas due to calve starting the end of April. If you click on their names, you can read about their calves from last year. (Except Angel’s will take you to when she was born – Lord willing, 2022 will be her first calf for us.😉🙏🏼)
Roberts' Farm Blog 