farmlife – Living de Good Life

She’s Here! Introducing “Daisy”! I Love Calves!

“Daisy”, Mocha’s 6th calf born on 7/24/21

WAITING…

Waiting for the expected birth of calves always is difficult. And, it feels like we waited an eternity for the arrival of this precious little heifer! Due on July 22nd, the sixth calf of Mocha (and the sixth heifer), she finally made her arrival in the predawn hours of July 24th with a full moon illuminating the dark sky and the earth below!

As is my practice, at the first sign of the impending birth, I usually put the mama in the barn with fresh straw and clean water, with lots of hay, to ensure the new arrival has a fresh place to be born. I saw the first sign (mucus strand) of the impending birth of Mocha’s new calf on the morning of July 21. Although Mocha is usually uncannily “on time” with her deliveries, I didn’t want to take any chances that this calf might come early, so I put Mocha in the barn. Much to my disappointment, the 21st came and went with no calf. She really wanted to be back in the pasture with Jersey, so we put them in a pasture in the back near the barn so that in case her calf was born during the night, we wouldn’t have far to get them to the barn.

TICK TOCK, TICK TOCK!

On the morning of her due date, she was SLOWLY progressing, so I put her back in the barn for the day. I checked on her several times throughout the day…running errands and running back home to check on her several times!

The night of the 22nd, I set my alarm and checked on Mocha every couple of hours. STILL NOTHING! The day came and went with no baby! That night, again, I set multiple alarms and checked on Mocha every couple of hours, just feeling for sure that the calf would arrive in the wee hours. But, NOPE!

Duplicate the previous paragraph for the 23rd! Checking on her every couple of hours…still thinking the birth was imminent! The night of the 23rd was also a duplicate of the previous night. Alarms were set every couple of hours and I went out to the barn, half asleep, hoping to find her in full, active labor. But no! Each time I was disappointed.

More than a little bit discouraged, and totally exhausted, I hit “snooze” on that last alarm…just for a few more minutes. However, at 4:30 am, I threw on my clothes and made which seemed like my hundredth trip to the barn. But, my heart quickened as I got closer to the barn! I knew halfway there that she had made her arrival.

She’s Finally Here!

Mocha (and I guess other mama cows do too) has this “sweet lowing” sound she makes for her calf (read my first book My Name is Mocha). It is how she communicates love, care and instructions to her calf. I heard it before I was even halfway to the barn…and as I did, my steps quickened. I KNEW she was here!

And, yes! sure enough, there she was, standing by her mama with milk bubbles on her mouth indicating she had already had her first drink of the the nutritious colostrum. Newborn calves need about five percent of their body weight in their first six hours in order to get the necessary antibodies and nutrients to avoid scours and respiratory problems. This is one reason I typically leave mama and new calf in the barn for the first couple of days…to monitor milk intake and to verify first the first bowel movement (an indication of their gut health and that they are getting enough milk.

“Mama Time”

As with each previous calf, when Mocha feels the calf is stabilized, and all is well, she lets me know she is ready to have some time away from her calf…which means time in the pasture eating the fresh grass. She was ready for her “mama time” last night after chores. Daisy was contented and I led Mocha to the pasture.

She had her head down eating grass for nearly two hours. I kept an eye on her, knowing that she was finished and ready to return to her baby, she would come and stand by the gate. She did and I led her back to the barn.

Daisy was still in the same place, same position as she had been when Mocha left the barn, totally unconcerned that her mama was gone for awhile. This is another indication of a healthy calf. (We have had calves that literally mooed the entire time them moms were away from them.)

As Mocha reentered the barn, she spoke to Daisy with her sweet “lowing” voice and she must have told her to get up and have a drink…because Daisy did just that! Witnessing the instinct that the Creator gave these amazing animals to care and provide for their young is and amazing and wonderful gift!

Healthy Calf

Another sign of a healthy calf is that not only does she eat regularly, but she eats plenty when she eats. This morning, after I gave Mocha her “snack” consisting of oats, barley, molasses, etc. which is the routine before milking, Daisy decided to have her own breakfast. She went and lay down in her favorite spot in the corner of the stall, out of the way. I tied Mocha up to milk whatever was left and there wasn’t even one-half cup to be milked out! She is an efficient drinker…which gives her an excellent chance of staying healthy.

Calves — The Icing on the Cake

If you know me or if you’ve read my books https://dianeorrauthor.com/590-2/ you know how much I love my cows, and the other critters here on the farm…but to me, the calves are so sweet, they are just the icing on the cake! I love the hands on time I get with them in their first four months before they are weaned!

New Book?

I have been asked if Daisy will have her own book. My answer was “Yeah, probably!” Our last calf, Elsie, was included in the last book at the calves We Are Mocha’s Family. There are some special things about Daisy’s birth here on the farm: she is the TENTH calf to be born here; she is the first not to be either Jersey or Jersey/Angus mix (her breed is Jersey/Limousin, check out this link to see what her daddy may have looked like: https://www.thecattlesite.com/breeds/beef/39/limousin/.

I am eager to see what her personality is. So far, she reminds me of Hazel and of Herbie, who were both very contented and even-keeled! So watch for news. SUBSCRIBE to stay updated on lots of topics!

Life Lessons Learned on the Farm – Part One

We have now been on the farm for nearly six and one-half years. There have been happy times and sad times, productive times and less-than-desirably productive times, times of elation and times of despair, times of exhaustion and times of rest and through all of those ups and downs, there have been a lot of lessons learned…life lessons…that go beyond the scope of farm life and yet envelope it completely.

This will be the first of several posts in a series called “Life Lessons Learned on the Farm”. I hope these posts will make you laugh, smile and even possibly relate to your own life lessons.

SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO LAUGH TO KEEP FROM CRYING!

To be honest, I am still working on this one…but I have been able to implement this lesson a few times! You have heard the old saying “Don’t cry over spilled milk”? Well, the person who said that obviously hadn’t just spent twenty or thirty minutes in preparation for, and milking that cow who decided to shift her weight, or scratch an itch, or kick at an annoying fly, or any number of other reasons and as a result, KICKED OVER THE BUCKET of fresh milk.

Of course, there is the chance to be thankful that’s all she did…because you can salvage the milk left in the bucket, but when she firmly plants her foot INSIDE the bucket of milk, the whole thing has to be pitched! Believe me! That has happened on a few occasions and laughter was NOT what came out of my mouth!

Then, there are the incidents that cause more work; incidents that could have been avoided…but weren’t, and the result is more work. Fussing and fuming doesn’t undo the damage, but finding the humor in it definitely can lighten the stress load.

For instance, leaving a gate open behind you inevitably and eventually will result in a bovine finding their way out of where they are SUPPOSED to be and into a place they ARE NOT supposed to be! One morning, I realized there was manure ALL OVER our back yard, and I am talking eight to ten piles! I couldn’t figure it out because everyone was where they were supposed to be…and then…I saw it. THE OPEN GATE! Obviously, at some point during the night, Mocha and Jersey had discovered the gate was left open and they took a midnight stroll around the back yard (so thankful our back yard is fenced in), eating to their hearts’ content and depositing their evidence all over the place. But, they had been “smart” enough to find their way back to their pasture before milking time the next morning! They acted all innocent but the proof was in the pudding, so to speak!

And then there is the most recent occurrence of this negligence when a gate was left open (do you see a familiar theme here?) and Elsie made her escape into the newly greening pasture. Now, this is a little scary, because too much of the richness of the spring pasture could actually be deadly to her…but 1) she actually made her escape while we were out there and so we could shut the gate before anyone else could escape; and 2)because we were out there when it happened, we put all hands on deck to get her back in. Three humans and one amazingly intelligent Odin (Great Pyrenees, just in case you are new to following my farm antics) worked together and got her safely back into the pasture where she belonged, even though she was trying every avenue available to her to further her adventure!

I think we all had a huge adrenalin rush as we tried to outsmart her, block her passage to the rest of the pasture and then watch Odin exhibiting a magnanimous adrenalin rush as he ran circles around her in an effort to keep her contained to one area. It was an amazing rescue and even though there were some harsh words in the heat of the moment, once she was safely back in her space, and we could all breathe a sigh of relief, the humor of the situation began to explode!

Along with finding the laughter in things, comes the realization that the laughter may not come immediately. Sometimes it takes some time and space from the situation to be able to see the humor in it.

For instance, when Fred and Barney first came to the farm, Fred was a little high strung. He escaped (with a lead rope on, thankfully) from the first person who had a hand on him…leaped through the electric fence INTO the pasture…ran around and seemed to settle down then as soon as we relaxed…he ran THROUGH the electric fence on the back side of the pasture!

This could have been REALLY bad! there was nothing but neighbors’ 5-acre lots and a road and a cornfield facing him. I have to admit that I panicked! Jeff went under the fence and I walked/ran around to hopefully head Fred off if he headed for the open road! As we got to him, ever so slowly so as not to spook him, what did he do? He hopped BACK THROUGH the electric fence back into the pasture where he was supposed to be! WOW! It was scary while we were going through, but as we retell the story to others, we laugh and joke! It IS funny! It just wasn’t funny in the moment!

So, what can we learn from this? Find the laughter. It won’t always be present in the moment, but eventually, you may be able to laugh! The other thing is “this too shall pass”. The spilled milk gets absorbed and cleaned up. The manure gets picked up. The cattle get back into the pasture behind a closed gate, and on and on. Trying to remember that as long as it all ends well, you will have a funny story to tell…may help you get through it, if you can’t laugh in the moment!

And, please know that I realize that there isn’t always laughter. Some things just aren’t funny; they are hurtful…we will address that as well in an upcoming post!

So, in the meantime, laugh! It’s like good medicine!

What’s Going On?

newest “de Good Life Farm” book released

Well, it’s been a pretty long time since I wrote on my blog. But, don’t think I haven’t been writing! Since I posted last, in April, we have been very busy here on the farm and I have been very busy as an author!

First, the authoring news! In May, My Name is Odin was released! If you aren’t familiar with Odin, he is our 28-month-old Great Pyrenees livestock guardian dog. He is an amazing creature and my love and respect for him grows daily. He has been “off lead” and in “full guardian mode” since he turned two years old in April and he has literally OWNED the pasture and the protection of the animals who live there!

He has learned NOT to chase the Merlin and his hens (well, he remembers that MOST of the time!). Then in July, we introduced him to our 50 three-week-old broiler meat chicks. Oh boy! Did he love having them in the pasture! He layed by them, circled the chicken tractors and left his mark multiple times a day! I think he was energized by the fact that when he was investigating and making his rounds around the chicken tractor, the chicks would squawk and scatter. But, he is STILL a puppy, right? He has his routine in patrolling the entire pasture, which I think is more than cool!

Mocha and Jersey have learned (again, for the most part!) to put up with him. He loves to “tail” them (literally following under their tails) when they are going from pasture to barn and back again. Sometimes Jersey’s dislike for him is displayed by turning around quickly and giving him “the look” as if to say “keep your distance, buddy, or I’m gonna kick you right in the nose!” And, amazingly enough, he seems to read her, because most of the time he will back off.

His speed amazes me. One day when we were out doing chores, I noticed he was laying over in the side pasture with something between his paws…the typical pose for when he is eating a bone, etc….but I hadn’t given him a bone. So, I slowly approached, talking softly and sweetly to him so he didn’t feel threatened…and he picked his treasure up and headed to the back pasture with it. I am not totally sure what it was, but I am almost positive it was a bunny. It was the right size and the right shape. The thoughts of that boy being fast enough to catch and eat a bunny totally astounds me! However, I know HE IS FAST! When he is running up behind me and passes me, the wind he brings with him is amazing and the speed with which he passes me is impressive! I don’t hear him until he is just a few paces behind me and then it’s breathtaking…hoping one day he doesn’t knock me over. Once, he didn’t steer clear enough and some part of him hit the back of my knee. I don’t know how I kept from falling! Thankfully, I stayed upright with a new appreciation of all of his attributes that make him such a good livestock guardian.

He is SMART! AND, he is motivated by the duck jerky treats I found at our local pet supply store. When preparing to let him off the lead for good, I had to find something that would motivate him to obey. The beef jerky treats did NOTHING! The chicken treats did nothing! So I tried the “European raised duck jerky” and oh my! It’s almost funny because even when he knows he is going to get tied up (to keep him out of the barn when it has to be opened, because he causes havoc in the barn…cats…chicks…etc.) you can see his dilemma. He WANTS the treat but you see the struggle in his behavior as he has to deny himself freedom for the treat! Jeff won’t even attempt to tie him up because he doesn’t take treats out with him and Odin stays far from him and watches because he knows Jeff will tie him up if he gets too close…and he won’t even get a treat for his trouble!

So, on to the next book: my fifth book in the de Good Life Farm book series, The Mysterious Midnight Visitor at de Good Life Farm is waiting for the final edits to be made by my publisher and hopefully will be released in the next couple of weeks! But, the most exciting thing perhaps, is that I have completed my first children’s fiction picture book, Carmella’s Camel, and have begun my first fiction chapter book (name being withheld for now).

Besides the writing I am doing, I have one children’t book being illustrated, with another to follow soon after. And, I am working on some counting books (if you know me, you know that not only do I LOVE words…I LOVE numbers!) Writing is such a joy to me. The marketing…well, not so much! Guess I will just have to continue writing and getting books published because I love it and I have a lot of things to write about..and not because I am making money at it.

The COVID-19 pandemic has blown out the fire in my book sales because the schools have been where I have sold the most, which makes sense because children are my audience! Not being able to do author visits makes me sad. Not only do I appreciate the sales, but I absolutely LOVE interacting with the children, watching them interact and respond to the books as I read them and answer their questions (or hear their stories and comments as well). I hope that someday soon, those visits can continue.

So, back to the meat chickens – yesterday completed the good life we gave our first batch of meat birds and we loaded them up in the truck early in the morning. Of course, we tied Odin up…can’t even imagine how much harder they would have been to catch had he been loose to rile them up! Anyway, he watched intently as we caught and put each one in crates and loaded them onto the truck. Then, he watched as we went to the second chicken tractor and did the same. The look on his face was perplexed concern. He strategically placed himself in front of the chicken tractor where his new charges are (the four-week-old meat chickens) as if to say, “You can’t take these!”

Micah drove the truck loaded with chickens out of the pasture and Jeff closed the gate. I let Odin off the lead and immediately he headed over to the empty chicken tractors to check them out. I headed to the house to grab what I needed to take with me to the processor and then as we pulled out, I realized Odin had run all the way to the front pasture so he could see what was happening with the chickens. It was as if he felt responsible for their well-being and he was reluctant to turn over his duty of protection to anyone else. It was so adorable and admirable!

Now we have the second batch of broiler chicks in both of the big chicken tractors in the pasture and the cycle starts again. As soon as they were all safely moved into their new homes…Odin began making his rounds, keeping his watchful on them…and of course, making them noisily scatter when he came near.

Besides broilers, we are raising thirty layer chicks. Our layers’ production has dwindled and in this family, 3-4 eggs per day will NEVER do…so we will eagerly anticipate the day in late fall that we will begin getting eggs again and have enough to share. This time, when ordering, I opted for a higher percentage of the good egg producers and fewer of the “pretty variety egg” producing hens. After skimping on eggs for weeks now, I want the majority of my hens to be all about laying eggs. I did get a few Americana’s for their pretty blue eggs, but just a few!

And gardening…this year I have grown the most amazing garden I have probably ever grown. My zucchini plants are monstrous (as are some of the zucchini that hide under those amazingly large leaves) and I have frozen tons of zucchini spirals for use instead of pasta and shredded zucchini for breads and muffins. YUM! Now my tomatoes are starting to come on and I made my husband’s day when I put fresh tomatoes on his turkey sandwich and salads.

My sweet red peppers are nearly ready to harvest and I have banana peppers ready to freeze. Jalapeños are already in the freezer, so when my Roma tomatoes are ready, it’s salsa time! I will also be sharing my Roma tomatoes with my mom for canning, since I seem to use a lot of the tomatoes she cans. This year it will be a joint effort.

But the “funnest” thing about my garden is growing pumpkins. I don’t ever remember growing pumpkins before but I have wanted to for some time. The pumpkins started off as something fun for whatever grandkids can be here when they are ready to harvest…but they have turned into something FAR more than that! (I am going to be slyly evasive about this for now).

I love how the pumpkin leaves grow so symmetrically!

We have had a pretty difficult last four weeks — the first weekend, we lost our air conditioning on one of the hottest days of the season. We couldn’t keep the house cool enough and we are so sad that even with fans and water, Beau, our not-even-five-year-old male golden retriever died from heat stroke. Our hearts are broken.

The next weekend, the air conditioning went out AGAIN…a different issue…however it wasn’t AS HOT as the previous weekend and we took our female golden, Lacey, to our son’s house to hang out for awhile. Thankfully, the problem with the air conditioner was discovered and the fixed!

The following weekend our other son got sick with some stomach/intestinal bug (oh, this is AFTER a week and a half before that when my husband got sick with the same symptoms!) and he was pretty sick for a week! Then, he had to get a COVID test in order to return to work. We are still waiting on those results even though he has been well for several days.

Then, this past weekend, (YES! another weekend!), we blew a fuse in the barn when going out to do milking and evening chores. Our sweet neighbor, Dave, came and tried to fix it (he can fix anything!), but no luck. We put together more than 240 feet of extension cords and plugged them in on the deck so that our 3 week old layer chicks wouldn’t die. We have done the milking with no light and no fans…until I got fed up and found another extension cord for those luxuries during chores! Today, we finally got electric restored…it was a BIG ticket…issues that should have been caught when we bought the house, but unfortunately, weren’t.

the path where the new electric lines were laid from barn to house

Well, I just wanted to catch you all up on what we’ve been up to here at de Good Life Farm. It has been an eventful few months, but what can you do but be thankful to the good Lord for the blessings and keep plowing ahead?

Hope you enjoyed this update and will subscribe to my blog. Watch for the announcement that my new website is up and running (hopefully soon) http://www.dianeorrauthor.com. You will also be able to access my blog there as well purchase books and eventually other items!

If you are interested in checking out my books, here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=diane+orr&crid=3NYF4KYLALEVW&sprefix=diane+Orr%2Caps%2C172&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-a-p_1_9

You can also access them at http://www.bn.com as well as http://www.penitpublications.com.

Enjoy what remains of your summer! Thanks for stopping by! Will hope to talk to you again soon!

Life

Mocha and Elsie’s last day together. She is definitely Mocha’s “mini-me”!

I am sitting here inside my family room beside the bay window that faces the barn and I continue to hear Elsie bawling her heart out because she is permanently separated from her mama, Mocha. Mocha is beginning to settle down some, but sometimes joins back in to make it a sad duet, singing their woes of isolation. Beside me, lie our two golden retrievers, Lacey and Beau. Beau is snoring peacefully.

If you read my previous posts about “Tenney”, I am sad to say that I haven’t seen her for three days. The first day I let her out she went about her day as normal, checking out all her usual places…the manure pile, the pasture, etc. That night she didn’t show up for feed and I didn’t see her until the second day after that. She was out front, in the garden and the front pasture living it up.

I was relieved and stopped worrying about her, but I allowed my fears to subside too soon. I haven’t seen her since then. I feel sad, but there are, from time to time, many things that make me sad here on the farm. I find that the only way I can deal with the sad things is to just allow myself to be sad and to cry. Eventually, I am able to deal with it and move on. As in other areas of life, some sadness takes longer to get over. I guess I have adopted the attitude that I will do everything I can to take the best care of the animals that I can, and after that, I just have to understand and accept that this life we have chosen has a very front row seat to the life and death cycle of this life.

I think I am a bit melancholy due to the state of the world right now. I have no doubt that God is in control but it’s still concerning to me. Thankfully, my world hasn’t been horribly affected other than not being able to see and spend time with my friends and family. Everyone in my family still has jobs. The biggest change is that four out of five days my husband works from home. It’s been a bit of an adjustment but I am so thankful that he still is employed. It has given me a new appreciation for him…getting this up close reminder of corporate life. It makes me glad and thankful that my days are spent here on the farm.

Odin is still enjoying his birthday bone!

Now that Odin has turned two years old, he has entered the next phase of his Livestock Guardian training. He is now loose in the pasture from the time I finish morning chores until we finish evening chores. He is calming down nicely and seems to enjoy his new promotion to pasture supervisor. He wanders around and checks out every area of the pasture, chases birds and sleeps in the sun. He has even stopped chasing the chickens when I let them out after gathering eggs. He is becoming such a great dog!

This year we are waiting to breed for calves a little later so that we can, for the first time, have spring calves. Previous years, we have bred for fall calves so that we were calving during baseball season, but sadly this year, it doesn’t matter. So, the plan is to breed in July or August for April or May calves. This will be so nice because the calves can be out in the pasture with their mamas. We didn’t intend to have a December calf, but that’s just the way it worked out, but will avoid that from now on. Even though they were in the barn all winter, Mocha had chapped teats from freshening in the dead of winter.

One thing I am looking forward to is ordering chicks for our new batch of layers and broilers soon. Undeniably, there is something so cute about the chicks. Of course, the broilers grow out of that cuteness rather quickly. The layer chicks stay cute much longer!

Sales for my first three published nonfiction children’s books, My Name is Mocha, My Name is Merlin and We are Mocha’s Family weren’t doing too badly until Covid-19 disrupted our lives. The bulk of my sales have come from Amazon and from author visits to the schools. With the onset of the Covid-19 virus and the subsequent “distance learning” orders, my scheduled school visits were cancelled. Not only did this hurt sales but it made me sad. I really enjoy reading my books to the students and answering their questions.

My book Micah’s Day is finally in the process of being illustrated and I am so happy with the sketches. Other books: The Mysterious Midnight Visitor at de Good Life Farm, My Name is Odin and Tenney, The Part-time Chicken are in the works as well. I enjoy writing so much, but I have found it difficult to sit down and write the past few weeks. Just now do I feel like I am becoming myself again.

Odin with Mocha and Jersey in the background.

I will leave you with this picture of Odin learning to co-exist with the cattle. He gets so excited when they head out to the pasture and he frustrates them by getting in their way and wanting to play. Mocha seems to tolerate him better than Jersey does at this point. Usually on her way to or from the barn, Jersey inevitably sideways kicks at him. Hopefully she keeps missing!

ONE MORE THING! Here on the farm, as in life, you never know what is going to happen next! I just happened to look out the window while making dinner and saw Snickers and Hazel had helped themselves to an unauthorized dinner time in the pasture! It would be cute and funny if it didn’t pose the potential for a life-threatening condition commonly known as “pasture bloat”. When cattle have been on hay and in the barn all winter, transitioning to the richness of the grass can cause bloat in them. There are several ways to guard against this. One of the ways we guard against it is to make sure they aren’t too hungry when they go out to the pasture and by limiting their time in the pasture, beginning with thirty minutes and gradually increasing the time.

Well, I guess these two girls decided they weren’t happy with how we were managing their time in the pasture! It’s frightening because I don’t know when they decided to pull this little stunt. If they were in the pasture for hours, we could have some sick calves in the morning.

We ran out there and thankfully, they were obliging and were dutifully coaxed back into their little shelter area. But, in the meantime, we realized that the fence wasn’t on (later discovering that the wind had disconnected a wire on the other side of the property). How did they know? I can’t tell you how many times it has happened that the only way we knew the fence wasn’t on was that one of the cattle had discovered it and had taken advantage of the situation and helped themselves to the pasture.

If we caught them shortly after they broke through tonight, then they should be ok. It’s hard not knowing. They seemed ok after chores. Just praying that we caught them early!

Snickers and Hazel after being coaxed back into their shelter area after an unauthorized romp in the pasture

Hope you have enjoyed reading about some of the happenings here at de Good Life Farm. Come back soon! Feel free to comment or ask questions if you’d like!

“you, stupid chicken”…

It’s been awhile since I’ve posted. I like everyone else have been busy wrapping my head around the events going on in the world. But, just had to share with you our most recent dilemma here on the farm.

Well, Merlin, our rooster, and I are in the same boat…EXTREMELY FRUSTRATED with one of the hens! (If you have read my book “My Name is Merlin“, you know he has really owned his job of managing the flock!) The trouble began last week when I accidentally forgot to secure the chicken door open when gathering eggs and the flock got caught outside their coop in the middle of a snow and sleet storm. Totally my fault! I went out to shut them in for the night and couldn’t figure out why one of them was hanging around beside the coop instead of going in.

I realized what I had done, quickly opened and secured the door, profusely told them I was so sorry and scurried the soaked flock from the cattle shelter where they were hiding out, into the safety and dry cover of their coop. I began counting them as they found their places on the perch: one, two three…..thirteen! WHAT? There are supposed to be fourteen! So, I went out to figure out who was missing and found one of the Cuckoo Marans. I literally thirty minutes chasing her around, in my boots that were NOT meant for snow and mud, trying to get her to go into the coop. FINALLY, she complied and I locked them in and headed into the house. As I was walking away, I heard Merlin giving her a very stern and loud talking-to!

A similar scenario has played out each night when it was time to shut them in. I go in after milking chores are finished, count them and shut them safely in for the night. (Now, our flock, like most flock, head to their coop as dusk descends. Our flock is “encouraged” to head that way by Merlin, however, I know that other flocks tend to do this even without a rooster to guid them.) Each night, the count has been thirteen, and I have had to coax or chase THE SAME HEN into the coop.

Earlier this week, she was hanging around and she flat-out refused to head toward the coop! She was deliberately NOT going in! She was hanging around the barn. I threw a few pine cones at her to get her going the right direction and I thought that had helped, but NOPE! She doubled back and left the area.

Once I actually got my boot on her, keeping her from getting past me and she started squawking! By this time, Merlin had heard the noise of her squawking and sound of me yelling at her and came out to lend his support! Finally, she began running and squawking toward the coop but ran right past it! Merlin had had enough! He went to where she was hunkered down and totally “dominated” her. She stayed down for a few minutes and then squawking, got up and ran for the coop! He was yakking at her and she was squawking, but he got his message across to her and she complied with his authority! As I followed them in the coop, shut and locked the door, I could hear Merlin STILL giving her a piece of his mind! I couldn’t help but smile!

Merlin with his girls…one of the black ones at the front of the group is “the stupid chicken”.

I thought we had made progress because the next couple of nights she complied…she was the LAST one to go in, but she went in without much fuss. Tonight, was the last straw!

Everyone was in…except for her! I could hear her squawking while I was milking and between cows, I had gone out and tried to encourage her to go into the coop since everyone else was already in there and I could hear Merlin talking to her. But, NO! She wouldn’t.

I tried. Jeff tried. Odin even tried. She did end up on the yard side of the coop which usually then, she will go in. But tonight, she refused! She went up to the chicken door, acted like she was going to go in and then turned around and left. So, I opened the whole door. She did the same thing! Walked right up like she was going to go in and then deliberately turned around and left.

So, I told Merlin “Sorry, buddy. I tried, but I’ve had enough.” I counted to make sure the thirteen were all in safely, and they were. I shut the door, locked it and said “ok, stupid chicken. You are on your own.” I walked away! I couldn’t believe I was walking away but I am just that done!

I do hope she survives the night. I hope she learns her lesson. As I entered the door to the house, I looked back toward the coop. She was at the door flying up at the coop trying to get in, but I didn’t go back out. I stood my ground! I knew that if I did, it would be the same thing all over again.

I feel a tiny bit guilty. I hope Merlin isn’t upset all night, but I know for a fact she has frustrated him quite a bit too. Evidence of his discipline is obvious by the feathers missing on her head. In Jeff’s words, her one egg just isn’t worth the hassle every night. I must agree. Good night and good luck, you, stupid chicken!

The New Kid on the Farm

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

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

can’t keep my hands off of precious Herbie!

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

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

Jersey cleaning Herbie up right after birth

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dueling Roosters

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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!

Not for everyone…

I am slowly realizing that as much as I love the life here at de Good Life Farm, this life is not for everyone! In fact, there was a time I’m sure I would have said “manure on my boots, hands, clothes, even FACE…etc.? NO WAY!” However, here I am and loving every wonderful day, whether hard or not-so-hard (there are no easy days)!

For instance, we are in Ohio…and the last two weekends in a row we have been pummeled with snow storms. That changes everything about my day from how many layers of clothing I wear to the barn and how many socks I have on inside my boots to how long it takes me to complete my rounds to each of the animals checking on their needs at that moment. The dip into arctic temperatures meant that on those days I went out every hour or two to break up the ice in the water troughs with a shovel so that they could drink…calves, cows, chickens and livestock guardian dog. That takes some serious time and effort.I hate being cold- maybe more than most things, but I can deal with the cold once I am in the barn taking care of the girls. , back to my point: It’s not easy. It’s not for everyone.

But, just as is true with most hard things in life, there are perks…joys…things to make me smile and laugh amidst the hard work. Just yesterday I tried my hand at making my first video of farm life…and yes! I will be uploading it. (But don’t laugh! It’s very rough!) And in the midst of the videoing, the animals were just being themselves: cute, acting like they always act, completely unaware that they were being videoed. I’ll give you some examples:

The first place I visited on my video tour was the calves shelter where Oreo and Truffle reside. They were lying in the hay chewing their cud and seeming quite contented. As soon as I went into the shelter, Truffle got up and wanted to get some loving and find out what I was doing. The video didn’t capture the time I was giving Oreo loving, so he didn’t feel the need to get up and solicit my attention.

From there, I went to the barn and opened the window to Mocha’s stall. As I could have predicted, she played hard-to-get by acting uninterested in my attention until I was ready to turn away and visit Caramel and her calf. Then, true to form, she climbed up on the hay pile and stuck her big head through the window for some attention. She is a very fickle diva-cow sometimes but she is so lovable I can hardly be upset with her!

Next, I visited the stall where Caramel stays with her three month old calf, Snickers. They were both eating which didn’t surprise me. Caramel has been putting away a lot of hay and Snickers is following in her mama’s hoof-prints. Snickers turned to me for some attention but in actuality she is so coyly looking for an opportunity to escape the stall…which she has done several times! Little Stinker should be her name!

I crossed the barn to Jersey’s stall to give her a little visit but all she wanted to do was bypass me to try and get outside. This time of year is very difficult for the cows as it has been weeks since they could safely be outside. They are all itching to get out.

Next, I gave a little tour of Odin’s “straw igloo” who wasn’t happy I had brought along a shovel for the trek. He seemed afraid of the shovel, and although I dot understand why, it served the purpose of keeping me from getting tangled in his cord.

Odin and his straw igloo next to the chicken coop

I walked past Odin to his charges, the chickens. Although except for the days of the horizontal snow from the east, we have tried to open their coop door for some fresh air, however, they are not fond of snow or ice on their feet, so they haven’t ventured out much. They were talky as I showed them off.

After the chickens, I trekked across a snow drift to the corral where Hazel, Mocha’s nearly four-month-old calf awaits the call that it’s time to be reunited with her mama. As I entered the gate, I took a look at her and had to stop the video and switch to still mode…she looked so adorable! She had put her face full in the drift behind the shelter and it was all white…with just her little dark eyes showing through! She is so cute and as the video shows, she is always ready to romp and play!

Although there was no huge thing to shout out about, there is joy in the journey. Manure (regardless of the season), snow and ice of winter or heat and flies of summer…it’s all part of the journey here at the farm and I love it.

I know that I am so fortunate to be living a life in which I find joy, pleasure and contentment. It is my dream-come-true. I have known many people who searched their whole lives trying to find what they loved doing, and my loves are literally in my back yard!

Tag: farmlife