The tall and short of it all...

and with Springtime always comes mischief....I can see little Sparky is thinking about something and my Sweet Tess....she will be the follower (she is a juvenile delinquent still).

I keep a close eye this time of year. Last night as it was getting dark, I saw the baby calves had escaped through the bale feeder and were doing the evening walkabout. They come up to the house and wander all around snooping. They were over by the garden when one of them got the itch to do the baby race back to their Momma. There were 4 baby calves out and when 1 runs...they all hightail it and the race is on. Tess was watching them wander around and when the race started she decided to join. She can RUN!! I hollered for her to stop so as she didn't run them through the fence. She didn't hear me...so I really HOLLERED! Just then one of the baby calves gave that MOMMA I AM SCARED Bawl that brought 10 different Mommas running to the fenceline. Tess made an abrupt skidding sliding ears back tail under her butt halt that was impressive. She did a 360 and came running back. I know she's a big girl but she is only 8 months old and still learning. Just another learning experience but one that makes you smile....

Calving Dates-My journal of Births

For me, I keep a journal on a calendar. I try to remember at the time to write down the dates I notice things. For instance...babies being born...boys chasing particular girls....or boys who jumped the fence..or the telltale hollering. There are always signs...and I try to remember...to write it down that is.
I have found since blogging it's a piece of cake if I just put a quick post up and it really helps to keep the dates in order.

Well this last month?? All hell broke loose and I didn't write down a single thing. I would drop into bed at night and think..I will remember to get that written down...and never do it.
Today I went through the photos, the phone texts..the memory and hopefully have my dates in close order. I feel badly though, I missed 1 of the births for a picture. While I castrated all the bulls promptly,,,save for Rudy of course....I didn't always get a tag in the ear. Boy am I falling down on the job!!
Its a blurr...it really is
I write this to journal the dates for future Breeding sake.
For the Cows.
1. Themla calved 12-09-09 Bull calf-Rudy-Half Jersey/Half Guernsey
2. Louise calved 01-17-09 Bull calf-angus- did not pull and nice sized calf- approx 65-70 lbs
3. Kooky Cow (my original and favorite) calved 2-09-10 -angus-I got nervous on her as she had twins last year, although she would of most likely been just fine. Called the vet and he pulled him. Bull calf and just the right size....also this baby has Kooky cows eyes..Stunningly beautiful!! :)
4. Maple (our first born baby on the place) calved 03-02-10-angus- This is her 4th calving and she did it by herself with no problems. Very nice Black Black Bull calf just the right size..and not too big.
5. Mazie (Thelmas Daughter) - calved 03-06-10-angus- Big Bull calf and son came over and pulled. Although the pulling was nothing compared to the next days calf from Sally. This calf weighed closer to 70 lbs.
6. Sally- (Louise's daughter) calved 03-07-10 Big RED Heifer Calf-angus-will rightfully call her RED and she was also pulled. Called Son to help at 9 o'clock Sunday evening in the extremely dark night and mud up to our eyeballs. Flashlights dying on us and an enormous calf that took two mens strength to pull. Luckily my son had it in him. Beautiful Heifer calf...that will stay on the place.
I have a few more cows to calf yet, but will update as they go,
Next, I need to get dates for those new kids on the block...it shouldn't be too hard as they were all born on the same day!! Who would of guessed that?!

my winter in recap........Rated G.

there were a million other eventful events this winter...but I won't bore you with the full length feature film. We had drama and excitement along with many moments of frustrating weather related incidents. Finally with a little sunshine...its starting to revive us all again. Summer will be upon us in the blink of an eye!! WE HOPE!!!

Note to self....Always babyproof the lamps....ALWAYS!!!

my son was on the computer and I IM'd him and asked him to check the cam....told him I thought it was smoke. He was down the road and on the camera within two minutes. Seriously...he didn't waste time and came carrying a fire extinguisher! Glad he was thinking, I heard and saw him enter on the cam and within several seconds saw a lot of smoke/or fire extinguisher. He was calling next and telling me the light that was not within view of camera was laying flat on the hay and was black. I do NOT use Heat Lamp bulbs...just 60 watt and I was shocked it made that much heat. It wasn't knocked down in the morning when I did chores and by early afternoon it did that much damage. That is just frightening how fast it can smolder something and start a fire.
When I got home after work, I checked the spot and saw son had cleaned it up pretty well and them dumped snow on the area. I dug around in all the bedding and Still found warm spots.
I hope it taught me a lesson that I need to always slow down and MAKE SURE...I take extra precautions with lamps.
I have yet to get any pictures and hopefully this weekend I will get caught up and try to do a decent post on my blog. With new calves...new baby goats and this never ending Winter Weather, I am getting little else done and find myself not getting to even eat supper and relax until close to 9 in the evening. We have had too much rain and NO sunshine. I haven't seen the sun in close to two weeks. If it isn't fog it is serious ice/slush on the roads. WE NEED WARM WEATHER and a sunny day to get us out of the dumps.
p.s. Thank you Son for the cam ...it truly saved the day!!!

Normal work day at the office.....when in the blink of an eye...

...I have the goatcam running in the background on the computer. I can hear the noises and tell if something is amiss. I popped in on occassion to check everyone, when I see what I thought was some really heavy breathin coming from someone down below the camera...just out of sight.

Then it hit me!!! SMOKE!!!???

until next time.....................

Son just earned himself ownership of this last calf!!

It's a girl and I wouldn't of believed it myself, but had to check twice and then again this morning. The largest calf to date and it about took more pulling than my son had in him to get this one born.
I am seriously thinking the bull may be going to sale. This last one had me more than worried.
She is healthy and XLarge, but mother hopped up right away and went to cleaning and caring for her. I will keep her for breeding and my son earned the calves off this one. It stayed in the 30's through the night and melted alot of snow....sad thing is....there is alot more to melt yet. It is Mud Mud Mud and more Mud!! If I could get the skidster even close to the corrals I would toss in another large round straw bale...but it won't be happening anytime soon.

It WAS really cool though, to stand at the fence early morning and see all the Moms calling to their babies for breakfast. Beautiful morning!!

Babies babies and more babies....

So far to count...in one day and one day only...I had 7 new kids and another bull calf. I have 4 more Jerseys to calve out and 4 more does. I was hoping for a little breather but went out today and found youngest Jersey (Thelmas daughter)..calving and in trouble. I mucked my way back to the house and grabbed the chains and hollered for my oldest son who had just arrived . I had him do the pulling and I did the instructions...then tucked baby and Momma into the barn on some dry hay...out of the knee deep mud. I just went out to check new baby and he was already up and nursing well. I was so lucky to have Colin here to help, it took more strength than I have to pull and a lot more muscle to get him hauled to the barn. We think he weighs around 80 pounds and so far the biggest one I have had yet. 5 calves and all healthy and thriving . What are the odds of 100% bulls anyway?

Tomorrow I will walk around and get some pictures of everybody. The kids and the latest calf are only a couple days old and are absolutely adorable. All Alpine Toggenburg crosses and too cute to describe. Colin had just hooked my goat/cam up and it was running on the goats for just a day before everyone decided to kid within hours of each other. I didn't have lamps set up yet so watching them from work saved then all as it was really cold on Wenesday. I had just gotten back to work after the second doe kidded and had put the other doe (who was close) inside to watch also. She waited until I got back to the office and THEN got down to business. This time ....I again called on Colin who lives across the road to go over to set her up in her own pen and put the lamp on them. It was amazing to see her kid within minutes and by evening I had a total of 9 kids total and everyone safe and warm.
The snow is melting fast today and the mud is pure slop. Also....I hope I don't scare that son of mine off and he moves anytime soon....I know I would manage without his help somehow...but it sure is a huge help to have him close.
I am going to go back and look at some June July and August posts now. It has to be warm and dry one of these days!