farm life – Page 2 – Living de Good Life

Predator Woes – Life on the farm

It has been a nerve-wrecking and stressful week here on the farm. If you follow my Facebook page (@dianeramseyorr), you already know that last Sunday morning, as I was feeding the chickens in the coop around 7:15 a.m., I heard a strange noise behind me. I spun around to discover that the sound I was hearing was one my layers expelling her last breath. I was heartbroken and the tears started flowing! It was a gruesome sight. Besides my sadness at her death, is my disappointment at my own inability to protect the creatures entrusted to me!

We buried her and I think I was in shock and disbelief. We had believed that our coop was pretty safe. After losing our entire flock in the span of two nights two years ago, we installed a solid wooden floor in it and covered the outside in half-inch hardware cloth three feet high. But, when it happened again the next morning, I knew something had penetrated the security and I was on the warpath!

A dear friend who who is part of our herd-share program and her daughter helped me inspect the coop to determine where it had gotten in. Her experienced eyes quickly found the points of entry. I spent the day making a plan and gathering supplies.

Because it was such a big job, we loaded up the chickens into dog crates and drove them around and settled them into the safety of the garage for the night. Then, we proceeded to spend hours in the coop installing hardware cloth on the inside and repairing the hole that the unnamed predator had made. We were exhausted and just could do no more that night, so we stopped.

heading back to the pasture…rattled, but safe after a night in the garage

The next morning, the flock was loaded back up into the back of the truck and I drove them around to the pasture so they could lay their eggs and eat and drink. Understandably, they were not so keen on spending much time in the coop. I spent that day researching and gathering more supplies so that we could finish the job that night.

By the time we finished chores Tuesday night, the chickens had already put themselves to bed and since the side of the coop that needed finished was on the opposite side of their roost, we decided to leave them in the coop, hoping that the light, the talking, the drilling and pounding wouldn’t bother them too badly. They were so cute! A few of them slowly opened their eyes to see what we were doing, but overall we didn’t seem to disturb them much at all!

Thankfully, we finished a little earlier than the previous night and although we had covered the holes and now had a good layer of hardware cloth between them and a potential predator, I still didn’t rest easy that night. I was so rattled and concerned. It’s tough to protect against an unknown enemy that can decimate your entire flock in one night.

So, since both of the attacks happened between the hours of 6 and 7 am, right after Jeff finished chores and before I went out to milk, I decided that I would sit in the coop with the chickens and drink my tea until daybreak and the time of the greatest threat was passed. The first morning, they seemed a little confused why I was sitting in there with them. The second morning they weren’t sure what the sounds were when I played music and talked on the phone. As I prepared to leave at daybreak, I sang the famous Carol Burnett song “I’m so glad we had this time together….” They cocked their heads and listened!

In addition to the improvements we made to the coop, I have been setting a trap each night. Tuesday night we put some salmon I had on a cardboard and set the trap. Each morning, the trap was empty. One night it was tripped but the bait hadn’t been touched and every night after that, it wasn’t touched or tripped. I was a bit discouraged but I was determined to do all I could possibly do to protect our flock and trust God for what I couldn’t do!

My practice has been to set the trap only once Ollie and Gandalf (our sweet barn cats) were safely secured in the barn for the night so they wouldn’t get trapped! But, last night I couldn’t find Gandalf! I called him from every side of the barn and he never did come. So, again…I almost didn’t set the trap, but was afraid not to! I have struggled much with where to place the trap, but settled on putting it right by the coop in the area the predator gained access to the coop on Sunday night. Finally, I got it set and headed in.

Last night, I was so tired. We worked to winterize Odin’s kennel, just the two of us doing a job that really needed three pair of hands, but we persevered and got it done. After dinner, around 8:30, I told Jeff I really didn’t feel like going outside to set the trap, but I was afraid not to!

In addition to all the things I have mentioned, I also started letting our golden retrievers out into the back yard between 6:00 and 6:30 a.m., so that there was some deterrent until I got to the coop. I was just trying to cover as many bases of protection as I possibly could.

Then, this morning, Jeff forgot to leave the corral light on and I was so concerned…but when I got out there, I made the discovery that thrilled my heart and I ran all the way to the house saying “I praise you, Father! I praise you, Father!”

we caught the murderer of my two morning layers!

“Micah, are you awake? Get your gun! We got him!! We caught a weasel!”, I breathlessly squealed, my voice shaking as much as my knees were! Actually, we had caught a mink, but until I had done my research, I didn’t know the difference! All I cared about that WE GOT HIM! I am telling myself that finally we caught the scoundrel that decimated our flock in November, 2016 and had killed these two layers this week! I felt so thankful and victorious!

Now, I have continued the practice of sitting in the chicken coop and drinking my tea each morning since, EXCEPT today, when as I approached the coop, I saw that there was something in the trap I had set. I couldn’t tell what it was but I knew it wasn’t a cat! I ran to the barn to put the feed back so it wouldn’t get wet and headed for the house, literally saying “Praise You, Father, Praise You, Father” the whole way! I burst into the sliding door and called for Micah to find out if he was awake and to tell him to grab his Henry Golden Boy and come – we had caught something in the trap!

Micah came back in a short time later….it was a neighbor cat! Bummer! However, I have continued to set 3 traps each night since then and to date, we have caught nothing! I am relieved…I feel sure if there were others out there, we would have caught them, but I will continue to set traps for a few more days before I will be convinced that they are out of danger…for now!

Merlin with some of his girls enjoying a sunny day in the pasture

Now, the chickens seem less afraid and settling back into their normal routine! They are enjoying days in the pasture seem to be feeling safe again. I take it very seriously to care for all our critters here on the farm. I may start relaxing again soon….BUT WAIT!

As of this morning, Mocha is in the beginning stages of labor! We will soon have our newest resident here on the farm! Stay tuned! Big announcement coming soon!

Farm living: life and death

Let’s be honest! Farm life is hard. Rewarding but hard! Especially when the circumstances are beyond your control….like the pasture being too wet for the cattle to be in it during the spring, and a heat wave once they can get in and start eating which means it stops growing! Top that off with a bad growing year for hay so, the year we have to feed hay all summer long…it costs a lot!

Yes, there are many rewards for living this good and hard life…the joy of caring for animals, the ability to know where your food comes from…literally knowing what that animal put in it’s mouth every day of it’s life and that you know it was raised with respect and in the most healthy way you could raise it. Living close to the earth and being dependent God for the outcome of your labor is a very humbling, and yet, wonderful way to live. However, there are some real hardships, circumstances that are beyond your control, which call your faith into play…the WHY you do what you are doing.

This post, I’m sorry, will not be one that tickles your funny bone and gives you that “good feeling” that a lot of my posts about the farm may do. It is with a heavy heart I write that I lost one of my layer hens this morning. I have no idea what happened, other than I heard her body expel her final breath while I was in the coop feeding them. It crushed my heart.

The death of our animals/critters, even after five years here on de Good Life Farm, is still so unsettling and heartbreaking to me. Even the planned “one bad day” deaths are difficult for me to deal with, but the unexpected ones just crush me.

The first death we experienced here on the farm was Heidi, Hershey’s mom. We brought her here to give Mocha companionship because she was so lonely being here on the farm without her mom, Jersey. Mocha cried day and night for days, so Jeff decided to search Craigslist.com for a friend for her. He found a lactating Jersey whose personality was described as being “more like a pet.” When she arrived at the farm, it didn’t take long for them to become best buddies.

Heidi gave us Hershey, our first beloved Angus/Jersey cross steer, but she died a year later before giving birth to her twins, from a disease we couldn’t have known about beforehand and one which began in her body before we even brought her here to the farm. Watching a massive animal die in front of your eyes…one that that has become part of your “family”, when what you were expecting was to celebrate the joy of new life, is pretty heart-breaking and devastating! The feeling of sadness and helplessness was overwhelming!

Then a few years ago, a weasel or mink took our entire flock of layers in two nights, including our sweet rooster, Griffin, who died doing his best to protect his flock. Now, I’m not a “chicken lover” but I greatly appreciate the beauty and diversity of the chicken breeds and I love gathering their eggs, besides the asset they are to our pasture and cows.

Other losses we have experienced were meat chickens through the summers, and although it makes me sad, because of their make-up and the heat of the summer, it is somewhat to be expected. We have lost cats we had hoped to make a good home for, who because of their upbringing ran away rather than trust us.

And, then there are the calves that we raise for beef. I am fully aware when those precious babies are born, that in about two-years’ time, I will have to say good-bye to them as they fulfill their purpose. Raising the calves is probably my favorite thing here on the farm. Jeff frequently has to remind me that I am not their mama…but, I bond with them from the moment they are born and spend time each day, loving on them, just hanging with them and making sure they are getting everything they need. I spend time training them to be led on a lead rope so when they weigh 7 or 8 times what I weigh, I can have some control over where they go.

People have said “You shouldn’t name them”! Are you kidding me? Would knowing them as “254” or “ABC” mean that I would love them any less, or be any less emotionally attached to them as I care for them each day of their lives? NO! So, I may as well give them a cute name befitting their cute personality! It means that truly, they are given the best love, care and respect that I can give them for EVERY day of their lives except for their “one bad day” when we load them on the trailer, knowing they are completing their destiny by providing food for our family and others who choose to buy their meat from us. So, amidst tears (sometimes cried over the previous two weeks, or longer), we say “good-bye” and “thank you.”

Yes, I have a very tender heart, but it’s more than that. I give these animals the very best care that I can give them while they are here and maybe what hurts me about the unexpected ones is trying to figure out what I could have done to prevent that death. I find joy in the mundane, monotonous day in and day out routines of the farm chores. But the days here are anything but dull and mundane to me!

So, when you think of me, or read my funny and wonderful stories about life here on ‘de Good Life Farm’, please remember there are many tears shed amidst the bursts of joy and laughter. And…thank a farmer for doing their best to provide you healthy food for your family!

SAD UPDATE: Before I could get this edited and published, discovered another death in the chicken coop this morning. Hope I can educate myself and figure out how the predator is getting in and out so that it can be remedied before dusk tonight. This is a hard day!

(I will add pictures later…my computer is spazzing and I just want to get this posted.)

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!

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!

“Here’s Spit in your Eye”

I am sure you have heard the phrase “spit in your eye” or “here’s spit in your eye”, but have you ever LIVED it, bovine style? Normally that phrase means something derogatory or disrespectful but not in this case!

Tonight, after milking Mocha, I went around to all the stalls to strain the hay out of their water (a long story…) and when I went in to strain Mocha’s water, she swung her head around toward me just as she hawked her throat…and PLOP! In went her spit right into my eye! Imagine the timing and the perfect placement for that to happen!!!

Now I don’t know if you have any idea how slimy bovine saliva is…but let me say I could tell there was a film on my eye that needed windshield wipers to clear it off! Had it been an animal other than one that I am totally in love with, it might have really bothered me….but if you have been following my stories very long at all, you know that Mocha is my favorite cow on the farm…probably my favorite animal, so I immediately dismissed it as just one of those hazards that comes with working with animals and not an overt, disgusting, deliberate act toward me!

I have to say that I have encountered, accepted and even become accustomed to many things that my before-farmer-self would never have dreamed, but this was not one of the events I could have predicted! Manure, yes! Smell/odor, yes! But never would I have guessed getting spit in my eye by my favorite girl!

Baby Bovine Behavior (also named The Hilarious Antics of Hazel)

Oh look at that precious face: beautiful and seemingly docile; but, do not let that gorgeous face fool you! She is ornery and energetic as well as headstrong and fearless! She took us on a romp this morning that should have been no big deal except for a few special circumstances coupled with her strong personality.

First, let me say, she will be three weeks old tomorrow! From the first hour of her birth, I knew that she was different from Mocha’s previous three calves in that she was hitting “milestones” ahead of her sisters. Some milestones she hit days before her older sisters. She stood within her first hour. She only needed to be shown once how to nurse. She ran around Mocha in the stall within 24 hours of her birth. From her birth, she was too tall to duck under her mama. She drank from the water trough with her mom in the first few days. The list goes on and on!

She is like the other calves in that she doesn’t like to have the lead rope put on and be forced to go somewhere, whether to the barn, to the pasture or from stall to stall in the barn. She plants her front feet and sticks her chin up in the air with a fierce determination to stand her ground. In her first few days of life, she rewarded the person on the backside pushing her by defecating on them, which was a good thing as far as monitoring her food intake, but not nice for the person trying to push her to go where she didn’t want to go!

She is pretty independent too! From her first hours, she just had this settledness and confidence about her. She doesn’t seem too bothered to be put in a separate stall while I milk Mocha. The other calves would bellow and moo but for the most part, Hazel just lays down and waits until we come for her.

Well, her independence showed in full living color this morning. For the past several days, she and Mocha have had the full run of the front and side pasture but since there isn’t much grass to be eaten in the back pastures right now, we had to move Jersey and Caramel to the front and put a second strand of electric fence tape across to accomodate Hazel’s small size, thinking she couldn’t get through, allowing she and Mocha to in the side pasture. (A little side note of history, last week, she ran right under the electric tape and had some crazy frolics in the front pasture while Mocha stood in the side pasture yelling for her, unable to get past the single strand of electric tape.)

This morning, that little independent miss just ran and broke through the electric tape and frolicked with her grandma, Jersey, and her older sis, Caramel, running around so fast that her body was literally at a 45 degree angle to the ground! She roused Jersey and Caramel up something terrible! Caramel is due to deliver her own calf in about 8 days, so needless to say she doesn’t need to be frolicking in the pasture with her baby sis!

To make matters more crazy, while she was running around the pasture and avoiding being caught by me, (and I am talking around and around and around the pasture) Jersey decided to run interference for her by standing between me and her and then just as I would get close to Hazel, Jersey would take off which would clue Hazel in that I was getting close and off she would go again! At one point, I was so frustrated I wasn’t sure if I was going to cry, yell or just double over in laughter.

I’m not really sure how long I ran around like a fool, chasing the illusive Hazel, but the thought did cross my mind “I now know why they lasso calves!” I think it would be a skill that would have come in quite handy this morning!

Eventually, by putting Mocha back in the corral, Hazel could no longer overcome her innate desire to be with her mom, so she headed back to the corral as well. But, what a workout she gave us! I often think how cool it would be if some “eye in the sky” was videotaping the antics that happen here on the farm, so that we could relive them and have a good belly laugh from time to time!

Tag: farm life