We knew it yesterday, as we heard the forecast for the next morning: SNOW+WIND…❄️💨 WE JUST KNEW IT. Final calf would be born in a blizzard.😁

We. Were. Right.😏 Fiskars is Paul’s cow. {Click here to read about her calf from last year.} Last year she had the first calf of the season, and this year she closes out our season! Even though it was a blustery, yucky morning, we are all extremely thankful it all went smoothly.

Click here to read about when she was born, and here to go to a past post that contains links of Paul with Fiskars over the years.  

Paul named her calf: Flapjack (think ridiculous cartoon: The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack🙄) He joins Clark as the only other bull this season. Final tally: 2 boys and 8 girls.👏🏼👍🏼

I walked up to Mordor solo since we had an extra helper this morning. The boys’ friend, Blake, got to join us for this adventure.😊

 
If you “super zoom”, you can almost see the clump of cows all the way back in the farthest corner of Mordor…🔍  

 
 
   

Flapjack didn’t quite make it out the gate on his own, but we think he did pretty good given the circumstances!🐮  

3 Amigos!😍😍😍

   

 
 
Horizontal snow!!😳    

 
Flapjack got a nice rub-down…❤️      

 
❤️❤️❤️❤️ 
Blake and his namesake…😏    

Even though his mama had fed him some, Flapjack finished off a bottle, too. Can’t blame him. All that chaos makes for hungry tummies – calves AND humans…🤗  

Well, Lord, what a whirlwind of a calving season this has been! Thank You for sustaining us through it, and for using it to build up our endurance for the next chapter here. We look forward to seeing more of Your plan unfold, one step at a time. May we stay focused on You. Amen🙏🏼

Thought I’d end this post with some fun stats from our first 10 years of calving. Kinda neat to see how our calving window has shortened up over the years! Perfect for our small, seasonal dairy.🐮

2007: 13 calves over 25 weeks

2008: 6 calves over 22 weeks

2009: 23 calves over 22 weeks

2010: 14 calves over 14 weeks

2011: 16 calves over 12 weeks

2012: 11 calves over 9 weeks (with a late one 4 weeks later)

2013: 13 calves over 8 weeks

2014: 8 calves over 8 weeks

2015: 9 calves over 5 weeks

2016: 10 calves over 3 weeks (Wow!!! No wonder my body feels so tired, lol!😱😉)