Living de Good Life – Page 5 – tales of our journey to live as natural and healthy a life as we can

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!

“Living de Good Life” by Eating Healthy and Feeling Better

“Living de Good Life” is not just the name of my blog…or the name of my farm…or the name of my online presence….although it is all of those, it is more. SO. MUCH. MORE! “Why?” I hear you ask? Because, there are many things that contribute to living a good life.

One of those things that may seem illusive for some people is really feeling good. Feeling good…healthy…energetic and happy are things that are easy to take for granted until you don’t feel well, aren’t healthy, have no energy and are discouraged! I have had my share of years feeling well but when I turned 50, things seemed to take a downward turn. I severely injured my knee and discovered after a delayed visit for an MRI, that I had torn my meniscus. I had definitely taken being able to run and play with my kids, jog and walk down the street, and even go up and down the stairs doing laundry for granted!

Finally, with fear and trembling, I scheduled surgery. The recovery was rough for several reasons but the effects were much longer lasting that I expected. Possibly due to the pain pills I was given, and possibly due to years of stress and anxiety, mostly of my own doing, I developed a sliding hiatal hernia in which my stomach would slide up into the hernia and get caught, causing esophageal spasms which were described online as “pain like a heart attack”. Yes! It was! The pain was so severe that I ended up passing out and having a seizure in Whole Foods with my children present. It was frightening for them as well as for me!

A “chiropractor” (and I put it in quotation marks because he is so much more than a chiropractor) was recommended to me by a friend when my then family doctor interpreted my abdominal ultrasound as gall bladder disease and instructed me to call the surgeon and have it out immediately! I knew from doing research that my symptoms did not line up with gall bladder symptoms, so I was thrilled when Dr. Lewis was willing to take a look at the test results.

He said my diaphragm and digestive system were so inflamed that the inflammation and resulting distress was causing the recurring issues and severe pain attacks. He immediately put me on an anti-inflammatory diet* which in essence cut out all white/refined flours and sugars and listed other inflammatory foods to avoid. He also put me on an alkaline diet with a chart* of acidic foods to avoid, as well as some natural supplements to help me heal. This was turning point number one for me!

Immediately my system began healing. At the worst of it, I couldn’t even lift a gallon of milk because the muscles in my stomach and diaphragm were so inflamed. I had to be careful not to eat too much at a time and not to bend forward after eating so that my stomach wouldn’t slide up into the hernia. This meant no bending forward to do laundry, let alone lifting the laundry basket. My poor boys! They learned to do a lot of things they had been sheltered from doing. But, I did heal!

I began this regime in spring of 2013 and by mid 2014, the esophageal attacks were only a bad memory. I was beginning to get my life back! I began using natural sugars like maple syrup, coconut sugar and flours like almond and coconut. It was a challenge to learn to eat and cook a new way, but for me, it was well worth it to not have the pain and suffering I had endured.

With this new way of eating, the pounds began to fall off. I again felt like exercising and was able to lose more than thirty pounds. I was thrilled and felt like I had a new lease on life. However, even natural sugars will put weight on you and eventually, I realized I was gaining some of the weight back, even though I wasn’t eating white sugars and flours.

I tried eating more protein as in shakes and yogurt but for the most part felt like I was starving. My family really couldn’t eat the way I felt I needed to eat, so either I made two meals or tried to modify what I made for them so I could eat it but, what usually happened is that I made a meal for them and I ate next to nothing, rarely feeling satisfied.

Enter Trim Healthy Mama, at the suggesting of several friends. This was turning point number two for me. The books were gifted to me by friends as well as some of the special ingredients. Again, it took some time for me to absorb the concepts of separating fuels but what was so life-changing for me was that the sisters’ books included recipes…LOTS of recipes. I tried a few and they were delicious! My family was even willing to eat them and liked them!

Now, almost a year later, I have lost twenty-five pounds, feel like a new woman and now have a new way of eating that sustains and energizes me! The recipes are delicious and most are fairly easy to follow. You can choose not to buy special ingredients but even the few that I buy have enhanced my feeling that I am not deprived and I finally have good food to eat! I am so thankful for Trim Healthy Mama and the friends that pointed me in this direction!

This is now a way of life for me! And, (ok…you know I had to say it…) it’s such a good life!

Please comment below if you would like to know more about Trim Healthy Mama. I would be happy to share with you what I know!

*I am happy to make these charts available to you. I have a chart for anti-inflammatory foods and I have a chart for acidic/alkaline foods. Please leave a message below if you are interested in receiving either of these charts to help you heal.

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”.

Midnight Romp

If you were to tell me that one of our calves would break through the fence during the night, I would NOT have guessed it would be Hazel! She has, from birth, been extremely calm, contented and seemed to have an uncanny understanding of her place in the world…well, at least on our farm. I would have guess it would be Snickers, the calf who escaped through three electric polytape fences when she was just hours old! But, no!

This morning, when hubby went out to do morning chores at 5 something o’clock this morning, everything SEEMED the same as every other morning! He walked through the back yard to the barn and had no idea of the happenings of the night. Eventually, he became aware that something was amiss as he was mucking the stalls. He heard a noise…a strange noise, like the sound of a new calf. He went out to investigate and THERE SHE WAS…laying in the front of the barn door, no doubt exhausted from her romp. She just wanted to let him know she was there and then patiently waited for him to come and make everything right again!

It is always interesting to me how hindsight puts the puzzle pieces in place. I had a very restless night…very few hours of sleep, part of which was caused by Odin, our livestock guardian dog, barking incessantly. I was tired, and all the other times he has barked and after waking hubby to go see what could be wrong, it was nothing. So, of course, I just figured it was the same and tried to go back to sleep. Eventually, he quieted down, but started up again a short time later. NOW, I know he was tattle-telling on Hazel, but I didn’t trust him enough to be alerted that something was not right. (NOTE to self: TRUST ODIN!)

Evidence of bovine two-stepping. I’ll spare you the pictorial evidence of the more fragrant type!

Jeff said there was evidence all over the back yard that she had been out for awhile and had found much to investigate. I wish I could ask her about her adventures. As I looked around at her hoof-prints, it looked like she was doing the two-step…eh, the “four-step” all over the yard.

It is amazing to me how cattle seem to know when the breaker gets blown and the fence is off. I’m sure if her nose had been bitten by seven thousand volts that she wouldn’t have broken through…so HOW DID SHE KNOW? Did she sense it was off? Or was her need for a midnight romp so overwhelming that she tried it first? And, why did no one else attempt an escape? Did she sneak out? Once she was out safely, why did no one join her?

staying unusually close to big sis, Truffle…not sure she was thrilled with her decision for independence!

So many questions to which I will never have answers. But, I am so thankful that the gates were all shut, preventing her from wandering out to the road and beyond! I am so thankful that the other three calves didn’t follow her through the broken fence. Her nighttime secrets will stay secrets unless she shares them with the other calves. I am just thankful that in the light of day, everyone is safe and back where they belong!