Living de Good Life

We are officially enjoying the second day of Spring, however no one here on the farm really believes it! Trudging through the snow to the barn for morning milking is the same as it was in December or January other than the fact that my purple and yellow crocuses are peeking through the white blanket of snow.

The dogs are reliving winter by rolling in the snow and making snow angels. The cattle even love the snow.  I saw Oreo kicking up his heels just this morning having a blast!  And, Mocha!  Oh, Mocha!  She got in trouble (again) last night because “someone” failed to shut the stall door completely while mucking her stall and she embraced the opportunity while backs were turned to push the door open with her nose and run into the barnyard and frolic in the snow!  I wish I could have seen her!  She is such a bovine/kid at heart!

But however fun it is…this farmer girl is ready for Spring weather, not just a date on the calendar! I hear we might have another round of the white stuff, but I am going to hold out hope that March will go out like a lamb because it certainly came in like a lion and has roared the entire month so far!

If you have been following me on my other site, you should know that eventually those posts will be transferred here to this one. I am so excited to begin this new journey!  It is a long-time dream come true!

This site will include more more topics but the stories of our farm will continue!  How could I NOT write about our sweet animals and their antics?  But, also included in this blog will be  other topics like: my favorite grain-free recipes, healthy living including grain-free recipes, natural remedies and my favorite essential oils.  I will also write about our journey as breeders and raisers of Golden Retrievers.

I hope you enjoy reading what I have to say because I will certainly enjoy sharing with you!

As another Daylight Savings Time looms in the near future (why 2 A.M.?  Does anyone actually get up and set their alarm for 2:00 to “spring” ahead?  Does anyone feel like “springing ahead” at 2 A.M.?), I thought you might wonder about bovine and other animals whose routines revolve around a specific time of day.

Well, here is the evidence on our little farm: At 7:45 A.M.,  when I arrive in the barn, both Mocha and Jersey are standing in their stalls looking at me, almost as if to say, “Where have you been? Do you know what time it is?” (I can almost visualize them impatiently tapping their right front hoof on their left front leg as if their were wearing a watch!) So, I go about the business of milking Mocha, same as every morning, as I finish, I head over to Jersey’s stall and she is standing in the milking position as if she were already tied up again, as if she knew “it was time.”

After milking Jersey, I ready the wagon for the trip back to the house with buckets of liquid white gold…and the calves begin mooing. Now it’s their turn for some loving and, they hope, a trip to the pasture.  Do they know what time it is?

During the summer, when the girls are in the pasture all the time, as milking time draws near, they stand at the gate, staring at the house, and if they do not see me coming toward the barn, they begin calling to me…LOUDLY!  Again, how do they know what time it is?  You might think it is because their udders are full and they want to be milked. Well, no!  The last couple of days they have been in the pasture in the afternoon and around 5:00 they are standing and staring at the house, mooing for me to come out.  The difference here is that they are not being milked at 5:00 or 6:00 anymore since I have been working for weeks to transition them to one morning milking. So, that is not why they are mooing.  Can they tell time?  Where are they hiding their watches?

So maybe it’s just the cows, you say?  Well, no.  Yesterday afternoon, I was heading to the barn and the calves saw or heard me and ran all the way from the front pasture to the gate where they expected me to meet them to bring them into the barn for the evening.  Maybe they wear watches?

And our golden retrievers…do they wear watches?  Well, today they went outside for their morning romp at 7:45 A.M. Tomorrow, it will be 8:45 A.M. Do you think they will think “Oh, OK!  The clocks have changed so we have to wait another hour!” Or, will they be fidgeting and whining because they think we forgot them?  And, when we take them outside last thing this evening before bed, will they understand that today it’s 10:00 P.M. but tomorrow it will be 11:00 P.M.  I think not!

Tomorrow, when the people of our state (wish we lived in a state that doesn’t observe the ridiculous practice of Daylight Savings Time) turn our clocks ahead and struggle to adjust once again to getting up in the dark when our bodies know it is really 4:45 A.M. but the clocks says 5:45 A.M.; eat when the clock says its 6:00 P.M. but we aren’t hungry yet because yesterday this was only 5:00 P.M.; and when we attempt to go to bed at 10:30 P.M. when yesterday it was only 9:30 P.M., we can tell ourselves all the reasons that we must adjust and all the benefits of Daylight Savings Time.

But, what about the cows?   When I do not show up to milk until a whole hour later…will they know why and understand? When they come into the barn a whole hour later, will they understand? Nope!  I do not think so!  Whether they wear it on their leg or it is hidden deep inside of their bodies somewhere, I am convinced that my bovines have a watch whereby they can keep tabs on me and know whether I am adhering to our unspoken agreement to milk and feed on a specific schedule!

I am contemplating rebelling and NOT adhering to this ridiculous practice this year, but instead attempting to continue on the same standard time so that the cows and dogs do not have to endure this adjustment.  However, how do I live on Eastern Standard Time with the animals and live on Daylight Savings Time with my family so that my husband and son aren’t an hour late for work and ball practice? What a dilemma!

 

No, instead, Calves Play! Oh what a fun morning I had!  Since the calves have been weaned, I don’t get to interact with them while I am milking, so I usually go over and love on them in their stall before I leave the barn if I am not taking them out to the pasture.  This morning, however, Micah took them out to the pasture while I was finishing up, so I didn’t get my chance to love on them.

As I headed to the house with my equipment full of milk in tow, I looked over at the pasture and there were those two precious black faces watching me.  So I stopped, dropped the handle of the wagon and trudged through the little bit of glistening snow in the yard that as yet was untouched by foot or paw prints toward the pasture.

Immediately both Oreo and Truffle came up and started licking my coat, eating the strings on my hood and enjoying the loving I was giving.  Then I decided to play our little game: I took off running and disappeared from their view around behind the shelter.  Just as I expected they would, here they came bounding around the shelter to find me.  We played this game several times, each time I go around the next corner of the shelter and wait in a safe place for them to come and find me.  Then Truffle surprised me!  She came at me from the other side of the shelter bounding toward me with all her energy.  She responded to my startled reaction by kicking up her legs and running down the pasture lane, with Oreo following, his little Oreo cream spot showing as he ran.

They tore around the front pasture a little bit and then headed back toward me running at their top speed. When they returned to me, we played our little game of hide and seek again.  Soon, they were running down the pasture again, kicking up and having such a great time! I was laughing out loud and enjoying myself so much I didn’t even feel the cold! What a great way to get my heart pumping and get my morning exercise!  You should try it sometime!

Now, if you have been reading my blog for any length of time at all, you know that I have a very special love for my cattle.  They are each special to me in their own way.  Some are easier to get along with than others and some are more bossy than others.  However, there is one thing they all have in common: THEY ARE SPOILED!  Did you know cattle could be spoiled and act like bratty kids?

For instance, if Mocha doesn’t like what is in her feed pan, she puts her big nose on the edge of the pan and tips it over.  Now, when they are down to the “crumbs” and it’s hard to get at the last of it, they will tip the pan up so t’s easier to clean up what’s left, but when they aren’t happy with the contents, they push even further until it tips over and spills on the ground!

Tonight, because they haven’t been eating the kelp meal as free choice like they are supposed to do, we began putting some in their feed. When I came out to milk this evening, Mocha’s bowl hadn’t been touched.  Jeff had put the feed, in her bowl, the kelp meal on top and then drizzled the molasses over that and then served it to her like that!  Well, to be honest, I did tell him last night that he would need to stir it up before giving it to her, but he must have forgotten (wink, wink!).  So, I found something and stirred it up and walked away and that Stinker (notice the capital “S”?) walked over and started eating it!!!

Another example, especially with Mocha and Jersey, is that if for one reason or another we decide that they can’t be in the pasture that day, Mocha (and sometimes Jersey) will moo/scream/screech/holler/roar at the top of her lungs!  It’s almost like she thinks we forgot and she is trying to remind us! And, OH!, if we dare take the calves out and not let Mocha and Jersey out, she will definitely raise a ruckus, letting you know that you have wronged her deeply!

But the most recent example has been with their hay.  Did you know that cattle have definite preferences and they will let you know what they like and don’t like? You probably thought hay is hay, right? Wrong! They have been eating hay from one source for most of the winter and they really liked it when we brought the load home.  They dove into eating it and were quite content.

Then we got hay from a different source and they weren’t very happy with that hay so we went back to the original hay. Now, you may ask, “How do you know they don’t like it?”  Well, one way is they throw it all over the stall so that it becomes bedding instead of feed. Another way is when the stack of hay is up to their brisket and they just stand and stare at you as if to say “You expect me to eat this?” and wait, hoping you will bring something else.

Then we introduced the third source of hay.  Oh my!  You would have thought we had offered them caviar (I’m not sure if cows like caviar but you get my meaning!). They devoured it and not only devoured their daily ration; they began eating more hay than before, to the tune of fifty percent more!

Well, the inevitable happened:  WE RAN OUT!  So we began giving them the hay from the first source.  It is then that we got THE LOOK: “You must be kidding! You expect me to eat this stuff?  Where is my hay? Bring me my hay! I’M HUNGRY!  I’M NOT EATING THIS! WHERE IS MY HAY????”  You get the drift!  So, what choice did we have?  We bought more of the hay from the third source and let the hay from the first and second source sit there!

Did you know that cows can tell time and they think they are in charge and are crazy strict time masters?  I am not kidding! When they are in the pasture and milking time is getting close, I will glance out toward the pasture and there the two of them will be standing, staring at the house.  If they don’t see any movement indicating someone is coming toward the barn, they will begin mooing…as if we don’t know what time it is.  And now that you know that, I’ll bet you can only imagine what happens when Daylight Savings Time moves 5:00 around.  Not fun!

I hope you have enjoyed these tales of our crazy, bratty but lovable bovine!  By the way, several of you have told me that you read my blog(s) and that you are enjoying them!  I am so glad!  Thank you for saying so! It is so fun to know that you like reading about what goes on here on de Good Life Farm!  Keep reading and I’ll keep writing!

When I was a child, my dad taught us a song called “All God’s Creatures”. The words go something like this: “All God’s creatures got a place in the choir. Some sing low, some sing higher and some sing out loud on a telephone wire, and some just clap their hands, or paws or anything they’ve got now….”.

This song came to my mind as I was milking tonight. It started with the magically musical sound of the streams of fresh milk hitting the side of the stainless steel milk bucket. This represented the brass section of the orchestra. Then the calves piped up with a couple of low moos which sounded like a woodwind section duet. Then I heard Jeff outside in the pasture with the wheelbarrow and it sounded like he had joined in with percussions. Adding to the percussion section, was the rhythmic sound of Jersey chewing her hay and Mocha keeping time by slurping her water.

Then I got to listening with new ears and thinking of all the sounds I hear in the barn when it’s somewhat quiet.  This morning, the birds were definitely singing soprano and alto parts. When the calves get their bellering going, they have a perfect pitched alto and baritone duet. When Mocha is wanting to be heard, her voice definitely carries the bass section! Occasionally, Jersey will join in with a much quieter harmony.  Other contributions to the barn’s musical talents are the rain on the metal roof, and most recently, when all four bovine choose to blend together for a rousing quartet special.

I have often thought how peaceful the quiet of the barn is when I am milking, but I am so thankful that my ears and spirit woke up to the wonderfully creative and beautiful concert I am privileged to attend twice each day!

 

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!