Category: Farm Life

Today is Day 3 of the separation of mamas and calves. Mocha’s “moo” sounds hoarse but I believe things are definitely moving in the right direction.

All day and most of the first night, Mocha screamed (and if you knew the sound of her “normal moo”, you would have to agree that it was screaming) all day and far into the night. Honestly, I’m not sure she didn’t scream all night. Yesterday, we took the calves out to the pasture since the temperature had frozen some of the mud, thinking it would be a good distraction for the calves to be able to run and play instead of hearing their mamas call to them all day. However, as soon as we got them into the pasture, they stood at the fence and responded to their mom’s calls with insistent and agitated mooing of their own.

Yesterday evening, when we went to the barn for milking, even Jersey was getting in on the mooing.  She is much more laid back than Mocha so for her to moo at all is significant. She mooed in between mouthfuls of hay…about one moo to Mocha’s twenty moos, just enough to let us know she wasn’t very happy with us. The calves joined in the song after they were returned to the barn from the pasture.  Oreo has a very “male” voice and he was projecting it as much as he could.  Truffle’s moo is a bit more feminine but they were singing a duet. Believe me, it was LOUD!

Today, the calves willingly went to the pasture, even though Truffle was muttering under her breath.  You could almost tell what she was thinking, “I thought you were FINALLY going to take me to my mama!  She is THAT way, right in there!  She is NOT out here!”  But, when she saw the Oreo was willingly going to the pasture, she following him but continued muttering. Once in the pasture, she gazed longingly at the barn, but quickly headed for the shelter when she realized Oreo was eating hay.

On Day 1 of the separation, Jersey and Mocha each withheld a portion of their milk, which they typically reserve for their calves. At the end of Day 1, production was short more than a gallon of milk (which is significant when that gallon represents around twenty-five percent of the total production for the day).  At the end of Day 2, the amount withheld was less, perhaps a half gallon. And this morning, which is Day 3, I was only short of my “normal” morning milk amount by about a quart and a half or so.  We will see what this evening’s milking brings, but I do feel sure we are headed in the right direction.

As I sit at the table and write, I do not hear Mocha screaming. I do not hear the calves calling. So, although I’m sure they are still quite agitated with us and the situation, they are acclimating.  Three days is usually what it takes for them to become accustomed to a new situation or routine.  I know they aren’t happy about it, but they are staying true to their nature…tomorrow we might even have bliss!

For me, raising calves is like the icing on the cake.  I love my cows and I certainly love their sweet milk. But raising calves brings joy to my heart and laughter to my soul like no other living creature on the farm. From the moment they are born, my heart is filled with love for them.

We have now birthed five calves on our farm: Hershey (born 7/19/15, son of Heidi, the first calf born on the farm and the first male), Cocoa (born 9/14/15, first daughter of Mocha and side-kick to Hershey), Caramel (born 9/4/16, second daughter of Mocha), Oreo (born 8/30/17, son of Jersey, brother of Mocha, second male to be born on the farm) and Truffle (born 9/22/17, third daughter of Mocha and side-kick to Oreo). Each of these precious calves has had their own personality and birth story.  One was born breech and without the help of a farmer friend, he might not have lived. One was born under a tree during the wee hours of an autumn morning by a first time mom and was discovered by me when her mama stood their mooing at me trying to show me what she had done! One was born in the pasture on a late summer afternoon while we were away and when we got home and I saw him, I thought there was a black dog in our pasture! One was born on Labor Day after I made a joke about wondering whether her mom would go into labor on Labor Day!

Some of the things I love about the calves is how hard they work to stand up within a few minutes of being born. Their legs are so spindly and weak, but they just keep trying to get up on all fours until finally they succeed.  Soon after they can stand, they find mama’s milk and begin getting nourishment.  Some of our calves have taken to nursing more quickly than others, but eventually they all have become masterful at getting their mama’s milk to let down. They don’t seem to understand that I worry about how quickly they latch on, how long they nurse, how much they are getting, and when their first waste appears!  I count the hours between seeing them nurse and watching for the signs that they are getting enough.

Something else I love about the calves is when they are a couple of days old and they go from toddling around on tipsy legs to literally running around the stall. Sometimes they fall, or their legs carry them faster than they should go, but it’s such a sweet sound to be somewhere else in the barn and hear those quick little footsteps running around the stall. I always run over to the stall to watch them. It’s like they are children trying to run on women’s high-heeled shoes…not very graceful but oh, so cute!

 

There is a sound that a mama cow makes only to her baby, a sound I had never heard  until Hershey was born but it is a precious low sound that reminds me of the phrase “the cattle are lowing” in Away in a Manger.  It is a low, soft and soothing sound that they use to draw their calf near to them, as if to say “Come a little closer, sweet one! I want you nearer me.” Oh! How I love that sound.

When a calf is born, they already have their bottom row of teeth.  Sometimes they will stick out their chin so that their teeth show.  *NOTE: Did you know that cattle do not have a top row of teeth? They have a bottom row of incisors, and molars top and bottom for chewing but instead of  a top row of teeth, they have a tough pad of skin. Anyway, when the calves are being stubborn, they stick out their chin with their bottom teeth showing and it is absolutely adorable!

Something else the calves do when they are being stubborn is put their feet together and just fall over on the ground.  It happens most often if we are leading them somewhere they don’t want to go, and once they go down it’s not easy to get them back up.  We have learned though that to rub on their backs near their tail simulates what their moms do to get them to nurse, so we have found that if we rub on their lower back, usually they will instinctively get up.

Usually after about a day or so in the barn stall with their baby, the mama is ready for some time away, fresh air and grass and to reunite with her buddy (the other mama). During that mother’s time out, I get to calf-sit!  Oh how I love sitting on a bucket in the barn stall with nothing to do but to love on that sweet calf and get acquainted with each other.

Calves are very smart. They are trained by repetition but they are very perceptive and attentive as well.  For instance, they know that when I make the sound of opening my little cooler, it is just moments until they are allowed to finish nursing on mama. They even have learned that an “ok” from me means it’s time! I have had to code my words so that they wouldn’t lunge at their mom before we were ready.

Someone said our newest calves are trained like puppies.  I can head from the barn to the pasture where they have spent the day and call their names.  They come running from wherever they are to the gate. It is there that we put the lead ropes on them to lead them back to the barn. During the fall, we would take them into the barn separately and I always took Truffle first.  She is now in the habit of stepping forward to have her lead rope put on first and Oreo know she gets to go first, so he kind of stands back and lets her go.  If we don’t come back for him soon enough, he starts yelling as if he think we have forgotten him. A couple of times they have tried to fool us by Oreo stepping forward instead of Truffle…and once they DID fool us. We tried to take Oreo in to nurse off of Mocha!  We quickly discovered our mistake and corrected the situation!

Hershey was always very playful, even when he was 1100 pounds!  I don’t think he realized his size made a difference in how safely we could play with him. He would romp with us even when he was big, even coming up behind us and pushing us trying to entice us to play. Cocoa and Caramel aren’t very playful but Truffle and Oreo love to play with us.  All I have to do is playfully give them a push and they get all giddy and excited thinking it’s time to play.  I have to be careful not to turn my back on them because if I stop playing too soon, they will run up behind me and try to push back at me to let the play continue. They love to have their faces near mine and more than once my eye or mouth has been licked by them! They love to interact with us and the feeling is definitely mutual!

Before I close this post, I would like to share the personalities of our calves with you:

Hershey – He was playful, inquisitive and loving, but he could be a bully when he wanted to! When he was first born, Mocha was jealous of the time Heidi spent with him so when they were in the pasture together, she would push him around.  As he got bigger, I don’t think he ever forgot. Once we were moving cattle from pasture to pasture and Mocha was trying to mess with him even though he was now as big as she was.  He surprised her by pushing back! He literally backed her up several feet.  I’m sure she didn’t expect that!

Cocoa – She is reserved and aloof.  When I spent time in the barn with her every day while she was nursing, she was pretty friendly but once she was no longer nursing and spent most of her time with Hershey in the pasture, she became more timid and aloof.  Hershey seemed to enjoy having her with him and they were buddies, but he was definitely the boss of the pasture and if he wanted hay or minerals or water, he went first and was big enough to push whoever was there out of the way, including Cocoa. Cocoa is very affectionate and will be a great mom someday if we can get her pregnant. She took over the care of her little sister when Caramel was weaned and they became very close.

Caramel – She was a very loving and smart calf, again, while we were interacting with her several times a day in the barn. When she was weaned from Mocha, we put her with her big sister, Cocoa, in the pasture.  Cocoa took on the “mom” role with Caramel, cleaning her and spending time with her.  However, Caramel found out who WASN’T her mama when she tried to nurse off of Cocoa!  She is reserved like Cocoa.  They really are two peas in a pod.

Oreo – He is so sweet and playful.  He is very inquisitive but also very cautious.  When we  lead him from one place to another, if there is anything different or out of place that isn’t usually there, he will just stop dead in his tracks until the item (or person) is removed. He is very interactive and affectionate with us, seeming to need our love and attention as well as his mama’s.

Truffle – She has no fear! She is sweet and loving and very inquisitive but she has no hesitation when she wants to go somewhere she goes there! Nothing stands in her way, even if she has to knock stuff over in the process of getting where she is going!  She loves to kiss my face and often gets my eyelid (thankfully, my eye shuts before that little sandpaper tongue gets there).  She is very much like her mama, Mocha.

Well, time to go for now.  Hope you have enjoyed reading about our calves and why I love them so much!  Hope you join me again soon!

 

 

 

“Baby, It’s Cold Outside” is a popular song for this time of year. You must understand that this farm girl is NOT a cold weather fan of any sort!  I love feeling the warmth of that big yellow ball in the sky on my face and if I go very long without feeling it, I begin to crave it.  However, being a farm girl in Ohio means that there are many long, dark days of winter where the warmth of the sun is only a vague memory or a hopeful wish to long for in coming months.

Another thing you must understand is that cows, dairy cows in particular, are very efficient eating and heating machines.  They can eat grass or hay all day and turn it into energy and that energy produces that wonderful white stuff we call milk.  Actually, their bodies are so warm that in summer, they can actually experience heat distress and/or stoke on a sunny day when the temperature is only 70 degrees if they don’t have a place to get out of the sun or enough water to drink.

This morning the temperature application on my phone broke the devastating news that it was ZERO degrees with a wind chill factor of negative nine!  But, just like the Dunkin’ Donut guy “has to make the donuts”, so the dairy farmer must milk the cows.  “They won’t milk themselves” someone once said! HA!  ‘Tis true! So I donned my four layers and then put on my heavy coat, warm hat, arctic Muck boots and two layers of pants and headed out to the barn with milk pails in hand.

One thing you must realize is that with four layers plus my Carhart barn coat, the range of movement of my arms is restricted, so I must take off my coat when my prep work is done and I am ready to milk. I began milking and it didn’t take long until all but my pinkies and ring fingers were stinging a little from the cold. Because of the warm of Mocha’s udder, all of the rest of my fingers were warm.  I decided to try  putting my cold fingers against her udder to get them warm, hoping she didn’t kick me for the attempt.  Thankfully, she was accommodating and I was able to get them warm enough to finish milking.

Then it was Jersey’s turn. Jersey typically takes a little more preparation so that helped me and my hands get warm again. And it began all over again. Typically, my hands don’t get as cold milking Jersey as physically she is built a little easier to milk than Mocha and by the time I was finished milking I contemplated heading outside without my coat…UNTIL, we opened the barn door and was greeted with the absolutely frigid temperature that rushed in. I quickly put on my coat and headed to the house with the milk.

Tonight, I will do it all over again. Do I love my cows?  ABSOLUTELY! Do I enjoy milking? Normally, yes!  However, during cold, dark winter nights and brisk cold winter mornings trips to the barn are just something I must bravely endure until the first signs of spring encourage my heart! But I am so appreciative of the warmth of my cows so my rendition of the familiar saying that is also the title of this post is “Cold hands, warm udders”! Stay warm and join me again soon!

UPDATE BEFORE POSTING: This piece has been in the works for a couple of weeks now and I have to say that when it was first written, I had NO idea how cold it could get outside! During this arctic weather we have recently been experiencing, my ring and pinkie fingers have often felt like they were little blocks of ice while milking. I have taken advantage of the heat these girls produce and discovered that nestling my nose into their warm fur gives some relief from the cold! However, the WHERE I nestle my nose is extremely important! With the treacherous weather outside, they have been spending more time in the barn and that makes for messier cows, which in turn means longer clean up before milking. It  also means that their coats that normally smell sweet to me, don’t always smell so nice, so being particular about where I put my nose is fairly important! Hope ya’ll stay warm and hang in there! Spring is just sixty-eight days away!

Our calves are getting big…by big I mean they are stronger than I am!  So, being that I can’t control them by strength, routine is very important to my being able to be productive in the moving of them to different areas on the farm: i.e, from the pasture to the barn, barn to pasture, barn stall to mama, mama to pasture, mama to barn stall…they know what to expect. For the most part, I have found that if my cattle know what to expect, they are pretty easy to get along with.

Going along with that idea, I know my cattle pretty well.  Mocha will escape if you give her the chance (and twice in recent weeks, she has taken the opportunity to roam the barn and dig into the hay bales when the gate to her stall wasn’t latched completely. Mocha likes things a certain way…I only milk from one side of her…she will kick me if I try to milk from the other side.  She has to finish ALL of her feed before she is willing to comply with being secured for milking.

Mocha is also a bully.  She has a thing against our bull calves.  She bullied Hershey when he was a calf and she was still pregnant with Cocoa.  She was jealous of the attention he received from his mama, Heidi, who was then her best buddy. And then, it became a mutual irritation relationship and they equally and eagerly antagonized each other.  One day when Hershey was bigger, they were passing by each other in the pasture and he took off after her.  Guess he had a long memory and saw his chance to get her back of all her aggression when he was a calf.

Now we have a “Hershey Jr.” (aka Oreo).  He is so much like Hershey was when Hershey was younger; same loving personality and same inquisitive nature and Mocha seems to have the same disdain for him that she had for Hershey. His personality is very different from Truffle who is friendly yet forceful and quick and pushes ahead to wherever she wants to go. He is more laid back, slow and methodical…much like his mama.

Personalities aside, we have remarked this week that the calves are looking more and more alike. Oreo (Jersey’s calf) was born a very dark chocolate brown and quickly turned darker until he was black (thankfully he still has his little white “cream filling” spot) on his underbelly. Truffle (Mocha’s calf) was born a lighter chocolate brown with grayish overtones. As they have grown over the last few months, they have both become very dark, black, even. Truffle has more of the Jersey cow profile and Oreo’s face looks like an Angus. As I look into their eyes each morning and evening and know them so well, I didn’t pay any attention when someone said earlier this week “Some day we are not going to be able to tell them apart and we will get them mixed up.”  “NO WAY”, I retorted!  “I won’t get them mixed up!” HA!

Now, back to this morning…I milked out Mocha as normal and went over to help Jeff bring Truffle into the stall to help get the milk flowing again.  Truffle, regardless of when she ate last, is always thankful for another chance to nurse.   Jeff was having trouble getting the lead rope on her so I helped him and then tried to lead her out.  I thought she was acting weird, but sometimes they do!  I led “her” into Mocha’s stall, exclaiming how big she was getting and tried to get her to drink…but she wanted nothing to do with Mocha.  I thought (and even said to Jeff) that it was really odd that she wouldn’t want to drink but I kept trying.

Then it hit me!!!!  We had brought Oreo in to nurse off of Mocha and he was smart enough NOT to risk his life to do so!  We tried and tried and he absolutely refused!  Now I know he refused with good reason!  He didn’t want what he knew would be a firm kick instead of the sweet reward of mama’s milk!  I quickly removed a totally confused Oreo  from harm’s way and took him back to the stall and brought Truffle instead.  She didn’t disappoint…she was eager to drink from her mama, just as she always is.

I have exclaimed over and over since then how I can’t believe I actually couldn’t tell the difference between them and brought the wrong calf to Mocha.  When we took Oreo in to nurse off of Jersey, he seemed so relieved!  He didn’t wait for a second invitation and eagerly went to the safety of his mama for his nourishment!

Hope you have enjoyed this story of mistaken identity.  Can you imagine what it will be like next year if we have three or four calves who are all similar in color?

 

 

I’m sure our neighbors sometimes must think there are crazy people living at our place with the hootin’ and hollerin’ that goes on at times. Tonight, I was just howling with laughter at our calves!

Our routine the last couple of weeks has been that after milking, we walk (sometimes run…sometimes lead…and sometimes push Mocha and Jersey to the east pasture. To accomplish this, one at a time, we hold the calves while we let the moms out of the barn stalls and they head in that general direction until we free ourselves from the calves to guide them. The moms must go through the corral in order to reach the east pasture where they will spend their day. Then we go get the calves and run them to the corral.

So, the opposite is true in the evenings when it’s time to milk. We must bring the calves out of the corral first before taking the moms to the barn for milking and since the days are so short now, unless we get this done before dark, it can be quite challenging for a number of reasons.  First, even though the calves started off very different shades of chocolate brown, now both of the calves are black and the corral is very dark except for a pole light positioned on the north side of the shelter so that it casts a perfect shadow for black calves to hide in.

Secondly, they know their mamas are still in the pasture right next to them.  There is no incentive for hungry calves to cooperate getting to the barn when they are fully aware that their meal is NOT in the barn.  Now, just a side note: when the moms are in a different pasture and get taken to the barn first, we have absolutely NO trouble getting the calves to go to the barn willingly.  In fact, the only trouble we might have in that endeavor is to make sure we aren’t dragged to the barn behind a running calf!

Thirdly, they are literally bovine children.  Playing in the dark is fun! Making up games and head-butting and chasing the humans around and around the shelter is SUCH FUN!  Do you remember your mama telling you when your sibling was chasing you that they can’t chase you if you don’t run??  Well, tonight I remembered that little tidbit of advice from my childhood and I stopped running and guess what? They stopped chasing me! In fact, I sat down in the corral on some hay and tried to entice them to settle down and come in where I was (and where the light was)! Then, as they realized I was sitting down, I realized I was sitting lower than they were standing and they definitely outweigh me and could easily run right over me…so, I STOOD UP! My mama didn’t raise a dummy!

They chased each other, they ran in circles kicking up their back legs and “high tailing” it around and around. They were having such a high ole time, and I was laughing!  No, I was howling!  It was so funny!  They were acting so cute and obviously having a lot of fun and it was so enjoyable to watch them and be part of the fun.  Eventually, they wore themselves out and settled down enough so that we could get the lead ropes on them and lead them to the barn to begin chores. And, even though their antics cost me time on chores, the loud belly laughs were so worth the time spent with them!

 

 

When I started this blog, my desire was to share the fun and funny happenings here on the farm that bring laughter and joy to us. But because of recent events, I have become aware that I also need to share with you the sadness and heartaches that are a part of this life as well.  As in every part of life, sad and hard things go hand in hand with the good things. So, this post will not bring you laughter and it may bring you tears, but it is important that I share it with you as well.  So grab a box of tissues and walk this path with me.

We see the words “Fragile – Handle with Care” on packages and moving boxes indicating that the contents are easily broken and that special care is required. However, we don’t often remember that life…the involuntary, yet greatly-desired action of inhaling and exhaling is fragile.  Oh, when we think about it, we acknowledge it, but how often do we really think about our own invincibility or the fragility of the lives we encounter day after day?

We have had lots of new life here on the farm.  In February of 2015, we brought home our first 20 chicks.  They were absolutely adorable in their yellow, brown, black and reddish fluffiness and their little “cheep cheeps” brought a sweet new sound to our farm. In July, our first calf, Hershey, was born.  He presented breech, so had it not been for the experienced helping hand of a farmer friend, he may not have made it, but thankfully he did and he was the most precious thing I had ever seen. In the three years on the farm we have enjoyed the birth of five calves, five puppies and we have brought 315 baby chicks home to the farm, some of them layer chicks and some of them meat chickens. Bringing new life into the world and onto our farm never gets old…life is precious!

Here on the farm there are two kinds of death: scheduled (their “one bad day”) and unscheduled/unexpected.  They are both difficult.  Because life is precious, the ending of life is not easy, nor should it be. Our first encounter with unscheduled death was two day old chicks. Even though statistics prove that a small percentage of chicks don’t make it for one reason or another, it still hurts when they die. And, then some of the older chicks or chickens die before their scheduled date, sometimes due to heat or some unknown cause, and it is sad. We give them all the best care we can while they live here on the farm.

Our next experience with unscheduled death was when one of our then two pregnant dairy cows (Heidi) died unexpectedly. There was no warning until the last minute.  Her death also took the life of her two unborn calves, a boy and a girl. Those losses were devastating emotionally to me as we had to watch her die feeling helpless to do anything but comfort and love on her as life ebbed away. It affected all of us. It was so sad as Mocha, our other cow and her buddy, looked all over the pasture for her day after day, mooing as if to call to her to find her. It was heartbreaking.

We have also had our share of scheduled deaths. We have raised and taken six batches of meat chickens to the processor.  The quietness and emptiness of the pasture after they are gone is sad, but because we don’t really get emotionally attached to the meat chickens, it is a quick recovery as chores are much less complicated and time-consuming when they are gone.

Last month we experienced the most difficult scheduled death on the farm: that of our firstborn calf, Hershey, our steer, born to provide meat for us to eat. He was a gift from God to these novice farmer-wanna-bes. Knowing this was his purpose from the day of his birth did not make his one bad day any easier.  We gave him the best life we knew how and I know he felt loved. It was so sad to know he was going. As we spent time with him with the date drawing near, I cried so much and then after he was gone, the vacancy with him gone was almost overwhelming. He was such a beautiful animal, a gentle giant and loving boy. His huge presence is greatly missed here on the farm.

Then earlier this week, we again had to deal with the harshness of unscheduled death: we were greeted with the realization that a predator had penetrated the perimeter of our poultry fence and had killed two of our young laying chickens. I felt angry and sad, especially given the fact that we are lucky to get 3 eggs per day from our 16, now 14 chickens.

But, we as human beings…do we think about the fragility of life and how quickly life can change? I had a friend who witnessed a serious car accident last week who reminded me how fragile life is and how quickly life can change.  Then it became a reality for me and my family when we received the news that my own mom had fallen asleep at the wheel and had been in a serious car accident.  But as the details of the story unfolded, miracle after miracle was being inter-weaved through the entire incident.

One moment she was on were way home from doing a multitude of errands just like she had done so many times before, but THIS time was different. There were lessons to be learned and lives to be touched.  I am so glad that God spared her life. I am so thankful that although her injuries are serious and will take time to heal, she is still with us, being the same source of joy and light that she has always been.

Throughout this ordeal my mom was ordained to endure, the number of lives she touched may never be known.  I was told by many people that she was an angel, a sweetheart, the favorite patient and many more references to how she shares her light and song and spreads it around to those with whom she comes in contact.  We have said for years that she has a song for everything and I realized it was really true as she sat in her hospital bed and sang songs with my sisters and me. What a treasure she is, a rare treasure. A priceless jewel!

I am determined to remember that life is fragile, not like a breakable vase being shipped in a box, but in a  reverent way, a way that reminds us to tell the people we love how much they mean to us; a way that helps us reach out to someone we don’t know with a smile, to lend a helping hand when we are able, to help shoulder a burden that is weighing someone down, to sing a song when given the chance.

I am so very thankful  for the gift of life and love. I am so very thankful that my mom’s life was spared and that I can still call her on the phone each morning.

SAD UPDATE TO THIS POST:

We lost 14 chickens, our entire remaining flock, to a predator overnight. The devastation and sadness is overwhelming. It seems somewhat uncannily ironic that as our chickens were being slaughtered, I was sitting here writing my post about death. My heart is broken. We lost the best and most beautiful rooster we could ever imagine after having here on the farm. His name was Griffin. I am sure he died valiantly trying to protect his girls.

We are going to take a short break and make a new plan for protecting our spring flock.  I love eggs too much to give up on having chickens, but I am not ready to deal with the stress of protecting them yet.

Life and death go hand in hand as we walk this planet.  Farm life is a hard life but, to quote a loved movie line, “It’s the hard that makes it good.”  Thankfully, the joys, chuckles, giggles and laughter of the farm usually outweigh the hard and sad times. Unfortunately, this week, we have had more than our share of hard times and tears. I am looking forward to the coming joys and laughter and hope you will join me again to share those with me here on de Good Life Farm.

 

 

It’s a frosty morning as December begins the journey to Christmas and the winter months that follow. I am not a cold weather girl.  I like, no! I NEED to feel the warmth of that big beautiful light in the sky on my face! These dark and cold days of winter threaten to freeze the life out of me.  So, that being the case, why would I choose a life where I have to traipse across a frozen tundra path to the barn morning after morning and evening after evening? The answer: I love cows!  I may as well admit it now! Surprised?

I was first drawn to cows at county fairs.  Oh, I loved the horse barn and all the other attractions, but I couldn’t wait to get to the cow barns. My husband was born and raised in Amish country in Ohio and we began the tradition of spending time at his hometown county fair as a family.  His dad raised steers and most of his cousins are still in the farming business and their kids in 4-H, so we began going through the cow barns at the fair.  It is there that I first fell in love with the jersey breed of bovine. Oh!  Their eyes!  Big and brown, doe-like eyes that just drew me in!  I watched the 4-H kids caring for them and at times, just lying in the straw with them and I was jealous!  I know, you may think I am crazy!

At the same time I was being drawn to the bovine species, my heart was being drawn to the country.  The first time my husband-to-be took me to his part of the state, I was so captured by the beauty of the rich dirt in the fields, rolling hills dotted with cattle grazing or crops waving in the breeze and the seeming simplicity of the cycle of life there. The change of seasons was so obvious there: dead and brownness of winter gave way to green new life in the spring which in its time gave way to harvest in the fall.  Plant seed, grow it and harvest it.  The land with houses few and far between and the unhurried pace was calling to me!

The next link in the chain was that a friend of mine introduced me to an incredible young woman who had a cow and provided milk to people through a herd share. This jersey cow’s name was Kate.  I got to know Kate as I picked up milk each week and I grew to love her!  Eight to nine hundred pounds of docile love!  I was amazed as I watched my new friend take care of Kate and at the time thought there was no way I would ever be able to do that.  I had subdivision brain, but my heart was slowly being drawn to the country.  In addition to falling in love with the country and jersey cows, I grew to love fresh milk.

Then, my young friend sold her house and moved away. My only “fix” was heading to the cattle barn each year at the fair.  I found myself not wanting to leave the cattle barns and my camera filling up with pictures of bovine. Not long after, I was told of a farmer whose jersey cow had just had a calf. I headed over and saw this adorable little tan calf with doe-like eyes peeking out from behind her mom trying to hide in the crude little shelter the farmer had built as a haven from the harsh winter.  I was in love!

Her name was Mocha.  Oh, what a sweet looking calf she was.  However, she was so shy and afraid that I couldn’t get close to her.  I tried and tried for months but she kept her distance.  I told the farmer then that we were planning to sell our house in the subdivision and move to the country and when that happened, I wanted to buy Mocha from him.  He laughed and agreed, but honestly, I doubt he thought he would ever be called upon to keep that promise.  Little did he know that my love for Mocha was growing and growing!

Although there is a very special story in our move to the country, which I will save for a later date, I will jump ahead to us moving here.  Almost six acres with a barn and a ranch home, with pastures already fenced, complete with a manure pile, was our destination in the country.

I hope you will join me next time for the continued story of how we got here.

 

 

It’s hard to believe that today is the last day of November and that December, snow and Christmas are literally just around the corner. Life here on de Good Life Farm is good!  It is not a walk in the park, it is not a parking place on easy street, but it is a wonderfully good life full of all aspects of life. We see life begin and end here on the farm. We care for each life entrusted to us as best we can. We farm with heart!

First, let me say a little about each facet of our farm. We are a diverse bunch of breathing creatures on these formerly green-turning brownish acres. We have two dairy cows (Jersey and Mocha) who have their own stories that I will go into another day.  We have two heifers (Cocoa and Caramel) who are sisters a year apart, and both the daughters of Mocha and the granddaughters of Jersey.  We were blessed this fall with two calves, one male, Oreo, so named for the little patch of white on his underbelly surrounded by dark rich brownish black fur everywhere else; and, one female, Truffle, who is a rich, chocolatey brown color.

We also have the privilege of raising Golden Retrievers. Lacey, the mom, is a beautiful red Golden we adopted in January ’15. She is sweet and loving and very smart! We bought Beau in February of 2016 to be her companion and future boyfriend. He is cream-colored with beautiful white feathers and a stately block head. However beautiful he is, Lacey isn’t sure we did her any favors in that effort. We lovingly say that he is gorgeous but affected by Attention Deficit Disorder.  We also have Belle, Lacey’s daughter by a stand-in stud named Sam. She is smart like her mama and very energetic, as anyone who knows Goldens will understand!

We raise layer hens in the pasture for their beautifully golden-yolked, delicious eggs but because of the shortened days and the their need for new feathers, we are seeing very few of those wonderful little treasures.  We have a beautiful rooster named Griffin who is a wonderful protector over his flock of girls.

During summer months we raise meat chickens, 50 at a time. We have them here on the farm only a short time before they meet their purpose of providing dinner for our family and other folks who choose to buy them, so we don’t name them, but we give them the best possible life they could have in the time they are here on the farm.

I have wanted for some time to start a blog to share the hilarious antics of our residents as well as raise awareness and knowledge about a life such as ours.  Welcome to my blog!  I hope you get a chuckle now and then and that you will feel you have been here with us after reading one of my posts. I hope the content will bring you back again and again for more visits and more smiles!