Farm Life – Page 4 – Living de Good Life

The New Kid on the Farm

Well, he is here…finally! Because Jersey’s last calf, Oreo, was almost two weeks early, I was in full-expectancy mode for awhile now. I began seeing the beginning signs of impending labor early last week, so dutifully took her to the barn, against her wishes, so that we could monitor her progress and so that should the calf be born during the day, I wouldn’t have to figure a way to get mama and baby to the barn by myself now that I am the “lone farmer” during the day.

To say that I am “sleep deprived” is an understatement! The first couple of nights Jersey was in the barn, I set my alarm multiple times throughout the night to get up and check on her. Additionally, now that Micah is working a full-time job and cannot help, Jeff and I are getting up at 4:45 to get the milking done, and then after I get him off to work, I sleep…sometimes not voluntarily…because I am just that worn out. Compound that lack of sleep with getting up multiple times a night for several nights in a row…I am surprised that I know my name!

can’t keep my hands off of precious Herbie!

Finally, Thursday morning, which was her due date, I thought she might be making progress. I ran out to the barn to monitor the labor about every two hours. Bless her heart! I think she was sick of my checking on her, but I hope she understands it’s just because I love her! She was making slow progress and I checked on her around 9 or 9:30, before I began turning in the for the night.

Just before I got into bed around 10, being the AAA personality that I am, I threw my clothes back on to go out and check just once more! I felt like my eyes were tricking me when I peeked into the stall and she was cleaning him up! I estimate that he was just about 10 minutes old at that point. Immediately, I checked his gender and was thrilled to discover she had given us a precious little bull calf!

Jersey cleaning Herbie up right after birth

I ran back to the house and with breathless and shaking voice, announced to Jeff and Micah that we had a calf and it was a boy, and did they want to come out and see him? Of course, that last part was not really a question…but was more a rhetorical. As soon as I could grab my camera, I was running back to the barn.

As precious as he was, he didn’t seem to get on his feet as quickly as most of our other calves have, so I have continued to watch and monitor him often. He didn’t really seem interested in nursing and even after some “calf perk” was definitely not interested in the bottle I offered him, so eventually on Friday, the vet came out, tubed him and got about 3/4 gallon of the “liquid gold” colostrum into him. It plumped his belly up nicely and it seemed to help him turn the corner.

I still have to gently remind him occasionally that the milk supply is not under Jersey’s neck or between her front legs, but he has found the milk on his own a few times. This morning when I went out to milk, it seemed he had pretty much drained one quarter, and wasn’t interested in any more, so he must be getting what he needs for now.

If you have read my blog, or my book, “My Name is Mocha” (available on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B07RLMHJY7,Barnes and Noble, or Pen It Publications), you know how much I love my cows. However, I have said over and over, that it’s the calves that to me, are the icing on the cake! As exhausted as I am, I look forward to seeing him each time I make the trip to the barn.

Oh! That reminds me to remind you that this little guy is Mocha’s brother. She is very curious about him but mostly she just misses Jersey being in the pasture with her. Once I am convinced that he is able to find the milk on his own, which should be today or tomorrow, they will be in the pasture together again and Mocha will get to meet her little brother face to face rather than gazing at him from afar.

We are definitely “living de good life”. Country life is hard sometimes, but there are many joys that make the hard so worth it, and precious little calves are one of the biggest joys for me!

Dueling Roosters

So, you might be familiar with our beautiful rooster, Merlin. I have written a book about him (available here: https://www.amazon.com/My-Name-Merlin-Good-Life/dp/195045472X/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=my+name+is+merlin&qid=1564484646&s=gateway&sr=8-3). He has a beautiful, strong crow that is often the first wonderful thing I hear in the morning. With all of the important benefits he provides to the farm, waking to his beautiful crow is probably my favorite.

Some of you may not realize that in 2017, we lost our entire flock of chickens and “Griffin”, the sweet, beautiful rooster we had then, to a predator or predators (likely weasel or mink). We went all of 2018 without any chickens because we were concerned how we could protect them, if the electric poultry fence hadn’t done the job of protecting our flock.

Then, in July of 2018, we brought home Odin, a Great Pyrenees, who trained for the first twelve weeks of his life with his parents to be a livestock guardian dog. He is now fifteen months old and still has much training to be accomplished, but we are hopeful that his presence on the farm and in the pasture has lessened the presence of predators looking for a free chicken breakfast/lunch/dinner.

Last summer, we brought Merlin, then just sixteen weeks old, home to our farm. We gave him the coop to make his own and then we brought several hens we purchased from a neighboring farm to keep him company and to be his “girls”. Well, they ended up picking on him, as chickens are known to do. He was afraid of them, and rightly so! They wouldn’t let him eat or drink. When we realized this, we went out several times a day and stood over him and protected him while he ate and drank. He seemed so appreciative of that.

Eventually, last fall, we butchered those hens because they just weren’t nice hens and had taken to breaking and eating their eggs. We then purchased four ten-month-old hens from another farm just to keep him company for the winter. These hens had never been out of their pens, so we watched him teach them all kinds of things (further explained in Merlin’s book).

In May of this year, we bought 16 female just-hatched chicks. They were a nice variety of Golden Comet (great brown egg layers which now are the majority of our flock), Easter Eggers (for their beautiful eggs in varied shades of blue/green, Wellsummer and Cuckoo Maran (both of whose eggs are a dark, chocolate brown). Sixteen chicks added to our flock of four hens would make a nice round twenty hens for Merlin. Well, so much for my love of things being all neat and tidy and in round numbers!

Well, a couple of weeks ago, my son, who to date, has a 100% accuracy rate, predicted that one of the “pullets” was in fact a young rooster. I rushed out to see what made him think that, and after looking at them and comparing them all, agreed that he was probably right. Then, just a few days later, I heard a squeaky, weak crow. I smiled! Micah was correct…again! We had a cockerel among the pullets!

Now, each morning, Merlin wakes up the farm and I love the sound of his crow. But, shortly after he crows, I hear this little guy crow…still weak-sounding, but definitely growing in strength and volume! It’s beautiful! They crow back and forth. I wonder what they are saying! Maybe Merlin is just doing his thing and then “Kellogg” (as he has been named by his new family) tries to emulate him. But, regardless, it makes me smile every day, every crow.

Tomorrow Kellogg will go to his new home where I hope he will grow to be as good a rooster as Merlin is for us. I will miss his squeaky little crow! But, I will still smile because when I hear Merlin crow, I will think of him and know his crow will be making a new family smile!

WANTED…CAPTURED!

I felt like posting a WANTED poster. Several days ago, Merlin disciplined a hen (not sure why…) and she refused to go back into the coop where he was. She was obviously afraid of him. She took up temporary housing in one of the cattle shelters and made the grain/mineral bin her nesting box. I had been feeding and watering her out there, hoping she had found some peace. I was kind of ok with that as long as she was safe and I could gather her egg-a-day. Then, yesterday morning, I couldn’t find her and realized I hadn’t seen her since the morning before when I had taken pictures of the cows in the other shelter…no eggs in her new laying place…and she wasn’t roosting where she had settled in. I figured something killed her, which made me sad.

Then this morning, as I was scanning the pasture, again, trying to find her…I spotted her!! She was over at the neighbors hanging out with his chickens who are in a coop and never get out. So, I coaxed her (well, I started coaxing her and she was playing hard to get…so I turned off the fence, climbed through and strongly encouraged her) to head back to our property where I had food and water waiting.

Once I had her back in the shelter, I realized she wasn’t going to stay there, so I cornered her, picked her up and put her in the empty broiler tractor sitting in the barnyard. I then provided food, water and even a perch/swing for her enjoyment. Ha! I don’t think she’s impressed.

But, at least for now, she is safe from predators, safe from Merlin and I am able to gather her egg-a-day, which is pretty important when you are only getting 3 eggs from 4 hens.

Moral of the story…YES! It’s a good life! Is it easy? Is it stress-free? The answer to these questions is a LOUD and resounding “NO!!” But, I do have some satisfaction knowing she is safe and I don’t have to worry about that anymore! Even checking off ONE WORRY from my list is well-worth the time and effort spent!

I do think Merlin knows what has transpired. He is aware of most of what goes on with the hens and seems to feel it his responsibility to take care of things concerning them. Maybe, he’s not happy that she is in a separate coop and not with him. Maybe, he’s happy he knows where she is. I don’t know, but I do know that by the look of him watching out of the door of their coop, he does know what has transpired! Bet he will have a thing or two to say to her from the outside when they are released from the coop later today! Wish I could speak “rooster/chicken”!

“Get the Cow Out of the Chicken Coop! ?????

Yep! You read that right! Just when I think I’ve seen everything, yesterday I looked out toward the pasture and at first my eyes couldn’t figure out what I was seeing. It was raining quite hard and my vision was obscured by the raindrops! THEN, I realized what I was seeing was a COW BEHIND sticking out of the CHICKEN COOP!!! So I yelled to Micah to come help me. I wasn’t sure how difficult it was going to be or exactly what I might have to do!

I ran out in my sandals and as I got closer to the chicken coop, I realized that it was Mocha’s behind that was sticking out of the chicken coop door, but what shocked and astounded me more is that Caramel was ALL THE WAY in the coop helping herself to the chicken feed! I yelled at them and pushed Mocha backwards out of the way. In the meantime, Caramel realizes she has been caught in the act and tries in vain to turn around but can’t! Then, Caramel started backing out!

After I got the girls out of the coop and chased them into the corral where they could be sequestered, I went back and checked on Merlin and the chickens and WOW!, Merlin was talking up a storm, telling me all about the ordeal they had just been through. Then I realized that Caramel had CLEANED OUT the chicken feed! I stood and talked calmly to Merlin and the chickens and told them I was so sorry that happened. I refilled their feed and left them to settle down. Can you imagine two “somethings” coming into your house that were 150 times your size? Just let that sink in for a moment! They were FUSSED!

Today, everyone seems to be settled down and I will know NOT to allow the cows near the open chicken door unless I have it secured so that they cannot get in…or, I will make a door from which ONLY chickens can come and go!

Too bad this little scenario happened AFTER Merlin’s book was finished! I bet it would have brought some smiles!

By the way…I apologize for no pictures of the incident! I was just concerned about flying out there and getting the situation handled!!!

“One Bad Day”

This life we’ve chosen isn’t an easy one, but as you know if you’ve followed my posts for any length of time, that it is a good life! Not only is it a good life for the humans here on “de Good Life Farm”, but we do our very best to make sure it is a good life for the animals we care for here on the farm, regardless of how long they are here.

Last night we loaded up the meat chickens we have been raising for a little more than seven weeks. Now, I am not really a fan of these chickens, other than for dinner, but I have taken very seriously the care I give them. Each morning after milking and other chores are done, it’s time to move them to a new spot of pasture. We have done this from their very first day in the pasture, so by now they are used to the routine.

Now, I say that I’m not a fan, but I absolutely love chicks! They come to us in the mail, in a box, only one day old! Their cute fluffiness is irresistible to me! We carefully count each one and introduce them to feed and water and settle them in the brooder box with a heat lamp since they cannot regulate their own temperature and they don’t have a mama to sit under to keep warm. They are so adorable as they begin to examine their new surroundings.

They grow and change very quickly. Within a week or so, they begin to get their adult feathers and get very adept at running around the brooder box and over and on top of any other chick that might be in their way! They have voracious appetites and are so much fun to watch! As they begin to “feather out” (get their adult feathers), they become less cute, in my opinion, but it is a rather quick metamorphosis.

By the time they are three weeks of age, they are feathered out so that they no longer need the heat lamp and can be moved to the pasture and this begins their daily routine of fresh pasture grass and learning to walk with the chicken tractor each day.

Micah gets the tractor and fresh water and I get the feed and we meet at the chicken tractors. It didn’t take very many days before the chickens recognized that the sound of the tractor meant it was time to get fed. You see, we put the feed in the feeders, remove the waters and hook up the chicken tractor to the tractor and start moving. They are so interested in the feed that they compliantly walk along as the tractor moves the pen. When we have moved one section ahead so that they have new grass, we stop, unhook the tractor and put the fresh water into the pen. This has been our routine every day for four and a half weeks, until yesterday.

Since yesterday was the day they were to be delivered to the butcher, we did everything the same except that after we moved them to new grass, we removed their food, per instructions from the butcher. They had fresh water and fresh air and fresh grass. It was a pretty nice way to spend their last day. Then, last night, we loaded them into crates and took them to the butcher.

The chicken tractors seemed so silent where just hours before they were bustling with chickens looking for their next meal. I have to admit that it pangs my heart a little bit. I don’t think you can care for something, even for as short a time as seven and a half weeks, and not feel somewhat emotional when you know their lives are over, even when it’s been planned from their hatch date.

Now mind you, I am not crying. I am so thankful that they will provide healthy and delicious meals for our family and for other families who choose to buy from us, but I recognize that creatures that came to us just a day old and lived a good life here on the farm, had their one bad day and are now in our freezer. Just one bad day! That’s actually a pretty good life, don’t you think?

Maybe I just think too much, but I think all life is valuable. They were hatched to be raised, to be butchered for our food, but I do feel somewhat pensive and so very thankful for their sacrifice! But, in the meantime, I will completely enjoy the delicious nutrition they will provide for us!

Mocha – the Celebrity Diva Cow!

The face of Mocha…that I fell in love with!

What does it mean to love a cow? Can they love you back? I was thinking about these questions this morning as I was milking Mocha.

When I first laid eyes on Mocha, I instantly fell in love with her. She was hiding behind her mama, Jersey, and her sweet little face just drew me to her! As she grew, so did my resolve that she would learn to trust me and let me pet her. That didn’t happen until she came home to live here at the farm, but that didn’t stop me from trying!

One day when I pulled in the farmer’s driveway, she wasn’t in her usual spot with her mom, and I became so concerned. I scanned the fields around and then I spotted her little brown ears sticking up from the bean field into which she had escaped. She was so adorable!

Her face is the most beautiful face I’ve ever seen on a jersey, and believe me, I’ve seen plenty! For years, leading up to having our own farm, we frequented county fairs and I was always drawn to the cow barn, quickly finding the jerseys and hoping to love on them a little.

Mocha, Diva Celebrity, the most beautiful cow in the world!

Her ears, those same ears that I remember so vividly sticking up out of the bean field, are so expressive of her emotions. Mostly they are curved toward the front exhibiting her inquisitive and nosy nature, which of course shows her intelligence!

Her eyes are big, beautiful and kind-looking, always alert and constantly assessing the situation so that she can know what comes next! She has to know what is going on!

But, her personality! Ahhhh! Her personality! That’s is what makes Mocha MOCHA! I have called her my “diva cow” for so long. She is moody when she is in heat and if you don’t do everything exactly as she wants, she lets you know! When she is happy, she bobs her head back and forth and tries to bop me, like she affectionately does with her bovine family. Now that my book “My Name is Mocha” has been published (now available on Amazon), we now call her our “celebrity diva”.

When I go out to milk her, I always give her some dairy feed first. If I am not the first one in the barn and someone else comes in to muck the stall before I get out there to feed her, she impatiently keeps trying to get out the stall door. When I arrive in the barn, if the person who preceded me there was careless and left the stall door open, she just shoves it open and walks out to me where I am dishing out the feed!! She knows what she likes and that’s what she likes!! When I tell her she needs to turn around and go back in the stall, she turns that big 900-1000 pound body around and jumps and hops back into the stall to get her feed!

Mocha with her first heifer calf, Cocoa.

She is an excellent mama. She is now pregnant with her fifth calf. The first four are all heifers: Cocoa, Caramel, Truffle and Hazel. Cocoa and Caramel are full Jersey. Truffle and Hazel are half-Jersey and half-Angus. We have gone back to breeding with Jersey, so this next calf due in December will be full Jersey again. I am hoping for her first son!

Her first calf was born early in the morning in the pasture and she did it all by herself. I loved watching her teach her calf. She instinctively knew how to be a good mama. Caramel was born in the barn stall as was Truffle. Hazel was born in the pasture. But with each calf, she showed her excellent maternal instincts. Knowing that her Creator put those attributes and abilities in her to teach her calf is so precious!

So, now she is a celebrity! People who would never have known how special she is, now know her name. My book, “My Name is Mocha” continues to spread her fame. Who would have thought that the sweet little calf who hid behind her mama and rested in the bean field with her ears sticking up would grow up to be such an amazing mama, dairy cow and celebrity diva! Being a celebrity hasn’t made her a “diva”…she was that long before anyone besides those of us here at de Good Life Farm knew her! Now, those who read her book will know how special she is!

Getting some kisses from my Diva Celebrity, Mocha!

So, what does it mean to love a cow? In my opinion, you can’t love a cow unless you really know her…and I love Mocha and all that makes her who she is!

Book Just Released!

UPDATE! MY BOOK IS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON! https://www.amazon.com/dp/1950454568/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=My+Name+is+Mocha&qid=1557195676&s=gateway&sr=8-1

Today I am living a dream-come-true! My first book has been released and will be available on Amazon sometime on Wednesday. I can hardly believe it! The name of my book is “My Name is Mocha” and it is the story of my favorite dairy cow, Mocha.

Mocha is the two-week-old heifer calf I fell in love with in December of 2013 and from the first time I laid eyes on her, it was love! Well, at least it was love for me. It took me the better part of two years to get her to love me!

Watch for a chance to win a free, signed copy of my book! Only subscribers will be entered in the chance to win! I’m sure someone in your life will love this heart-warming story!

The “Whoop Whoop” Cattle Call

I have often thought that if people who read my blog could see my life in real and living action and color, they would roll over and fall out of their chairs and onto the floor laughing hysterically. However, since some people may read my blog somewhere other than their homes, perhaps it is a good thing they can’t see it real time!

As I have mentioned before, amidst the rain days, we are slowly acclimating our cattle to the rich-in-nutrients and fast-growing pasture. But, how exactly do you get a 600-800 pound animal (or more like 900-1,000 pound animal in the case of our mama dairy cows) to begin moving in the direction of the not-so-appetizing-anymore hay pile when their time in the pasture is up? Well, I and whoever is with me helping, run around behind them to prevent them from doubling back and getting further into the pasture and thus further away from the desired destination. But, just coming up behind them isn’t enough to produce the necessary momentum to get all of them moving in the right direction.

Trying to combat this issue, I have developed the “whoop whoop” cattle call. I run up behind them, clapping my hands and saying “whoop, whoop” in a high-pitched, falsetto voice and continue doing so until they start running toward the shelter and the hay pile. Now, keep in mind that compared to the richness of the fast-growing spring grass, the hay pile is like a bowl of dry shredded wheat or something even less appetizing than that! So, pulling them away from the pasture grass is understandably difficult.

So, please keep this in mind, if you every drive by my house and see me running around in the pasture behind the cattle calling “whoop whoop”, please know that I haven’t lost my mind! There is a purpose to me acting crazy…and that inside, I am totally enjoying myself and having a good chuckle!

Chicks Have Arrived!

Our broiler chicks have arrived! They are so cute and noisy at this stage of their lives! They were hatched just yesterday morning and shipped via the United States Post Office. “How can they do that?”, you may ask. The expert at Meyer Hatchery says that they absorb the yoke while they are in the egg and that nutrient-dense meal sustains them for seventy-two hours! It truly is amazing!

So when they arrive, they are typically twenty-four hours old (occasionally they won’t arrive for another day but that hasn’t been our experience) and are huddled all together in the box. We ordered fifty “straight-run” Cornish Cross chicks. “Straight-run” means that they are not sexed at the time of hatching. “Cornish Cross” is the breed, known for being a fast-growing, fast-feathering meat bird.

They are extremely “talky” on their trip home. Usually there is one peep that is louder and more demanding than the others. Often, this turns out to be a male. (No kidding!)

It is extremely important that they stay warm, which is one of the reasons they are shipped in such tight quarters. They huddle together to keep warm. Our job, once we remove them from the box, is to create a warm environment which enables them to be under the heat lamp if they need warmth, but also gives them access to feed and water.

Our routine when we take a chick out of the box is we gently “dunk” their beak into the water and then into the feed and then set them down. This helps them know there is food and water but by doing it in this order, the water allows a little feed to stick to their beak which entices them to find more. When we set each chick down, we call out the next sequential number. The hatchery from where we order them, usually sends an extra couple of chicks in case one or two don’t make it. We have had some years where all 52 made it and some years when we lost three or four. If we lose more chicks in the first couple of days than the extra chicks the hatchery included, they will replace them, so it’s important to know how many we start with.

Micah introducing them to their water and then food.

Gradually as they mature, they will need the heat less and less and when they are about three weeks old and feathered out, if the weather permits, they will be transferred to chicken tractors in the pasture and have access to the nutrients the pasture grass and the sun provide. A chicken tractor is basically a bottomless chicken pen that gets pulled around by the tractor to new pasture grass. This way, the chickens have new grass every day.

three week old broiler chicks just put into the pasture (2017)

These chicks will be ready for butchering between 7-8 weeks. Their “one bad day” has already been scheduled for the second Saturday in June. Because they are meat chickens they will mature more rapidly than laying breeds and they will be nicely filled out by that time.

Meat chickens in their chicken tractor almost ready for their “one bad day” (2017)

So for now, we keep their brooder box clean, fresh water (with electrolytes) and feed available and make sure the temperature is right for them. The first couple of years, I was out there with a thermometer checking the temperature frequently. However, now I know that I can tell by their behavior whether the temperature is right. If they are frantically huddling together all the time, then it is probably not warm enough. If they are scurrying to get away from the heat, sometimes going to the extreme of the opposite corner of the brooder box, then I know they are too warm. What we have found is that at this stage, they will want to be under the warmth of the heat lamp but will run/hop out to get food and water and then back to the warmth. This behavior indicates that they are fairly contented with their environment.

One of the wonderful things about the way we farm is how the animals here nurture the ground as the ground nurtures them. The chicken and cow manure, because they are raised in the pasture, provides nutrients to the ground to make the pasture healthier. Likewise, the grass in the pasture, because it is so high in nutrients, gives our cattle and chicks the healthiest diet which in turn, enables them to grow strong and healthy. There is a beautiful order to the way God created His world!

We didn’t raise meat chickens last year and I have really missed having my own delicious, pasture-raised chicken. In my opinion, there is nothing as delicious as a chicken raised here on the farm. I am really looking forward to reaping the rewards of raising these chicks in the best and healthiest way possible so that they can provide health for our bodies as well as for other families who choose to purchase chicken from us.

If you have questions or comments about this post, or any other post, please feel free to comment below. If you have enjoyed this post, please subscribe to my blog.

Spring Brings Dreams Come True

There is something so wonderfully refreshing about the first sprouts of grass in the pasture, first fragrant buds on the trees, first perennials to push through the unfrozen ground, first fat robins in the grass finding the first worms who dared show themselves, and many other signs of newness. The seemingly endless winter has been chased away and the drab non-color has been replaced with vibrant greens and other colors named only in a crayon box!

daffodil dirty from the hard spring rain

However, there is another new thing happening here on the farm that brings me much joy and excitement as this dream nears becoming a reality: my book “My Name is Mocha” has been accepted by a small traditional publisher for publication. I can scarcely believe it! My love of writing is so deeply a part of who I am that the idea of being able to hold in my hand a book that came from my heart and to be able to share that book and my love of the subject of that book (Mocha) with readers nearly takes my breath away!

Although I have not yet signed the contract, that will happen as soon as all my questions are answered and I will finally embark on this new journey to a dream come true. As I look around my farm, there is so much joy and activity to write about; the difficult task is being able to narrow down and focus on just one thing at a time!

For example: we have just been notified that our broiler chicks have hatched and shipped and will arrive in the next day or so. They are so adorable when they arrive and there are a million stories that pop into my head as I watch them scurry around the brooder box. Watching the antics of the calves in the pasture brings smiles to my face and joy to my heart! When we let them into the new pasture for small increments of time to enjoy and acclimate to the new grass, I love watching their excitement as they realize their good fortune. I love running around, laughing like a crazy woman trying to round them up when their allotted time has expired and watching them try to outsmart me and get a few more chomps of the new grass before resigning themselves back to the barnyard.

All of these activities and many more, bring stories to my mind so quickly that I’d have to have a brain-recorder just to capture them all! So, I am hoping that if you enjoy reading this blog, that you will eagerly anticipate the release of my first book “My Name is Mocha”. This is a journey I am unfamiliar with, however it seems I must thrive on doing things that stretch me. I was not raised in the country and yet it’s here on this farm, being a milk maid and a cowgirl that I have found my place!

So, please, if you will, watch my posts and share this journey with me! I hope you will enjoy the ride…and the book when it is finally in print! I have already begun my next book of stories of the farm called “The Tales and Tails of de Good Life Farm”.

Category: Farm Life