Shinguards and Solutions - Hard To Come By

Hello long lost followers and friends!  Sorry I have been so lax with the blog not much going on besides the norm and not a heck of a lot of time for writing!  Spring will wear a girl out if she's not careful.

Speaking of norm,say hello to Cliff (left) and Norm!  They are great drinkers thus their names!  

This week I thought I would recap a little differently with a straight up list of what I learned.  So here you are.

* No one has all the answers.  Most of the time they have no answer.  I'm still working on accepting this, I like answers a lot.  I like clear answers and solutions, often impossible things in agriculture.  Something I have recently learned about myself.

* Not everyone is willing to help or share information or ideas or whatever.  Another one that I struggle with, but I'm trying.

* Observation is everything but you have to observe the right things.  You can observe the wrong things all day long and get nowhere, but the right observations will get you everywhere if you know where to look.  Another that I am working on, working extremely hard.

* Rain really is a good thing.  Wind, however, is not!  We have had a lot of wind and a very limited amount of rain.  Maybe this week, maybe just maybe.  (Corn planting has begun though, the boys are about half way done, I think.  They don't need my help much other than parts runs.)

Playing in the rain while it lasts! 

* I always need to learn more!  It's constant and sometimes overwhelming.  Things change often and my need for answers takes over again and again.

* Laughter can remedy many situations, uncomfortable or otherwise.  Something that I think I can be good at when given a good opportunity.

* Laying a calf down is hard work!  I learned how to lay a calf down in a field or anywhere, and it is much harder than those darn cowboys make it look!  The need to lay a calf down is primarily for a shot, aka they are too fast to catch in the middle of the field or lot or wherever so you basically throw them on the ground for their own well being, give the shot, and let them go.  In most cases at least in the couple times I did or attempted to do it, I felt worse off than the calf who was just treated.

These former little guys are getting big.  They like to lick the truck!

* I should probably invest in shinguards for my daily wear.  My shins would certainly thank me.  One is bloody the other welted.  From gates to calves to casual run ins, my shins seem to hate the life I lead.  Guess they will just have to adjust!

Finally,

* I am blessed to be here where I am allowed to learn from my mistakes instead of punished for them which is just amazing because let's face it I am totally not perfect, not even a little.

I do know that if you ever need a good workout or good laugh I'm your girl!  I'm trying and learning and trying some more!

Have a good week everybody!

Calf Count: 75

Busy as a Bee

Hello again my cyber friends!

As I said last week, spring has arrived and that means things on any farm including ours are crazy busy!  The boys are getting ready to start planting by preparing the fields and the machinery for duty.  The pallets upon pallets of seed have arrived so its only a matter of hours before planting begins!  Once it starts maybe we will create a bit of a jinx and it will rain, a great rain, or any rain for that matter.  We are in desperate need for moisture of any kind!  

Since the boys are all occupied with their own duties, I have been relatively alone this week.  This means I have been busy as a bee.  I know for a fact I am like a bee because believe it or not they have arrived!  From lilacs to bees spring is in full swing.  

Aren't the lilacs pretty?!

So this week I got those new huts ready for new little guys set to arrive tomorrow!  I also arranged with the neighbor we met at the sale to pick up the huts he had too!  I have nine new homes for babies!  And there will be more huts to come, I didn't get all of the neighbor's yet!  

We are ready! 

I also am loaning a calf to another neighbor who raises angus cattle.  He had a set of twins but Momma cow only accepted one for whatever reason (nature works in mysterious ways) and now he has to bottle feed the unaccepted calf.  So he decided his little guy needed a friend!  I will be delivering a friend tomorrow.  I hope they get along! I hope to get a picture of the two of them for next week!  

I leave you for now with a picture of Conner, who is getting weaned this week because it is just too difficult for him to stay in his hut!  He is quite the Con-Artist (thus the name) and gets out so much I am not even fazed by it.  Even today when I had visitors and he bolted by I said oh its just Conner no worries.  When its time for dinner he always comes around!  

Waiting patiently for my arrival.  

Until we meet again.  (I'm off to do a rain dance!)

Sold!

Hey all!  Sorry for the delay this week, there just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day as of late.  I am starting to realize that more sunlight means more time to work and its just been too nice to stop!

Let's see where to begin.  I welcomed in 8 new friends including this guy, I have named him Badger due to his fierce attitude for life, you know, like a honey badger!

We moved some of the older weanlings to a great new pasture lot that they love.

And all of the other boys at Kalfland survived another week including the red twins, Fred and Ned!

Fred is the one sticking his tongue out at you! 

Then on Saturday Double J and Double D were off to a neighboring town for a farm auction!  I had never been to a farm auction let alone an auction where I had a blank check!  The trust from the bosses was something that I kept in mind all day and wanted to continue to have in the future so there were certainly no spending sprees.

Double D and I were headed to this specific auction because it had something the cattle division was in desperate need of....more huts!  So we got there early, got our number, and checked out what was available.

This farm was auctioning pretty much everything except the buildings and the land.  The farmer had decided to get out of the dairy business so he was selling everything involved.  Everything included tractors, implements like balers and plows and wagons, straw and hay and feed, the entirety of the herd (120 animals), and dairy equipment including our beloved huts.

The day was a little chilly to start but we had a great time!  The great part of a farm auction is it is a community event meaning lots of your neighbors are there and you get to mingle.  We mingled, but when the auction began things got serious.

They started with the big stuff first which we weren't too interested in.  But after an hour and a half we finally got to the dairy equipment.  I let Double D bid up to this point on the things we were interested in, but when I got excited I took over!  We made a few purchases including 5 bottles with nipples, a hose, and a bucket holder for a dollar, all of that for one single solitary dollar!   Then we got some waterers that Double D wanted.  And then it was time for huts!  I convinced the auctioneers to separate the huts by style.  There were two styles, new and old.  They sold the old first.  And wouldn't you know it, we bought them!  5 huts for the farm!  They certainly aren't new to the world but they are in darn good shape and were a bargain that could not be passed up!  They don't exactly fit in, but they sure do build character and can easily serve as a home for five lovely calves to come next week!

Eventually we made it home with all our new purchases, stories to tell, and lessons learned for next time.  In the end though just with the huts purchase I figure we saved the farm $500 versus buying 5 new huts and all the stuff that goes with them.  The best part is during our mingling,  we talked to another neighbor who was willing to sell us his huts too!  So it was definitely a great productive day!

Until next week, I hope the world treats you well!