Since Roni had her calf 9 days early, Mike & I figured we should probably bring April down to the barnyard SOON. Yesterday was the day, and BOY WERE WE GLAD WE DID THAT! Because this morning when we went over to milk, there she was with her first calf!❤️ Her due date wasn’t until 4-25, so this one was 12 days early.😳 April did a great job calving on her own.👍🏼 We were so grateful April had her own space to calve, while Helga & Roni were just on the other side of the fence. We prefer this type of situation rather than the rodeo we had bringing Roni & Helen down, lol.😆
James wasn’t fond of the halter, but Mike was able to eventually get him to lead his mama into the barn. James is a bit stockier than Helen – and definitely has a thicker neck.
Lol – isn’t he adorable??🐮😍
Then Mike carried James up to join Monty & Helen.💪🏼
Helen is in the middle and James is on the right.🙂
Tally is now 2 boys and 1 girl, with 2 more mamas to calve.🐮🐮🐮
Granny should be up next with her due date being 4-27. Mike noticed her udder was pretty full when he went up to Mordor to check on everybody this afternoon. He was able to get her out, so now she is with Helga, Roni, and April. We are ready if she has another calf before its due date…🎉
Mike & I headed back up to Mordor at daybreak to check on Roni. The good news is: she had her calf unassisted and it was up and moving. The irritating news is: Angel turned the morning into a rodeo.🙄😤
Fitting, really. Easter morning. Resurrection Sunday. The miracle of new birth, and the chaos that sin brings in. All in a farmer’s field. Right before our eyes!✝️🙌🏼🙏🏼
Angel’s easy to spot. The crazy white one.😆 She had Roni’s calf on the other side of the divider fence we have up to keep the cows away from the oil well in that field. She took advantage of Roni “forgetting” that she could have just gone up and around to get to that other side of the fence. <sigh>🤦🏻♀️
I stayed in Mordor while Mike got everything ready for us to walk Roni & her calf out of the field and down to the milking barn. Poor Roni was very stressed out, and her poor calf was confused by the chaos of the situation.😬 See Roni pleading with me to help her straighten this all out, lol?🙈
Seemed like an eternity, but finally Mike returned and was able to get the halter on the calf.👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
It’s a girl!🎀🐮 Welcome, Helen (think – All Creatures Great And Small😉). This is Roni’s first calf for us. [Click here to read about when Roni was born.] She was bred to an angus bull named Prime Effect for easy calving.👍🏼 Mike was able to push Helen under the fence to her mama; and for now, Angel was kept at bay.😬 Poor Helen was exhausted by all the hoopla. Took her a bit before she’d walk any further for us. We were beginning to wonder if I was going to have to bring the 4 wheeler in to drive her out. BUT – she finally cooperated and we walked her and Roni out of Mordor. It was hard to get ANY pics, and none of them turned out very well, but I’m grateful I at least got a few to go with her story.🤷🏻♀️
This one’s pretty funny. If you zoom in on Angel – in my imagination, her face perfectly describes how she feels, lol.😏
Roni chose NOT to walk down WITH Helen🙄, so Helen did end up getting to ride in the bed of the 4 wheeler while Mike walked behind it and held her down. In about 2 days, Mike will feel the aching muscles from holding/walking in that awkward position for the duration of the trek.😖
Once Helen was secure in her pen, Mike & I headed back up to encourage Roni to walk down to the barn. Our mission was finally successful.💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻
Hey look!!! The tree swallows are back!!! Mike built 6 more birdhouses this winter, so Lord willing, between them and the bluebirds, they will make good use of those houses. They are really fun birds to watch and enjoy.❤️
Once Roni was in the barn, we brought Helga in. Thankfully, milking went smoothly.👍🏼
After milking, we fed Monty first. He drank well from the bucket.❤️
Helen also did well. Started her on a bottle first, and then her afternoon feeding was in a blue bucket just like Monty.👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 (And yes – even though Monty is a week older than Helen, she is physically bigger, lol. He’s such an adorable little guy!☺️)
And that wraps up our Easter morning. We were still able to make it to church, and enjoyed a full day with our family. Now off to bed for me. Will be a week of adjusting back into our milking routines. LOVE this time of year!🎉
2023 Tally so far: 1 boy+1 girl, and 3 more to go…🐮🐮
It’s that time of year again – and there have been so many changes since last season! Our farm is growing, and not just with cows…🎉🎉🎉
Before Michael & Jennah even celebrated their one year wedding anniversary, they’d bought their first home! It’s perfect for them and has been exciting to watch them make it their own.🏡 They also started a pet sitting business, so keep them in mind if you ever need those services.🐶 [Click here for a link to Just Like Home Pet Sitting.]
After Paul & Annie got married last May, they decided to join us at the farm and were all moved in by the middle of the summer. We also learned a new addition would be arriving in March of 2023!👶🏼🎉
But first, they added 3 adorable kittens late last fall. They have been delightful and are soooo entertaining to watch play with one another! They LOVE people and getting attention. We do love having kitties on the farm again.😻😻😻
Meet: Freddie (white & orange), Frances (white calico), and Freda (gray). I’m quite sure there will be lots of pics of them moving forward, lol…🥰
🎉🎉🎉Just a little over 3 weeks ago, our new granddaughter was born!🎀 Ayla is absolutely beautiful, and what a gift it is to see our baby not only as a husband, but as a father, too.❤️ Granny & Pappy are so grateful for her safe delivery, and we treasure each moment spent with her.✝️🎁
That brings us to today’s addition, 4-8-23.🐮 We’re partnering with some friends of ours to begin with the first calf this year. They brought over their cow, Helga, along with her week old calf, Monty (think British TV – Gardeners’ World, lol).🐮🇬🇧 We’re grafting them into our dairy & calf herds, and looking forward to watching them grow alongside ours.❤️
Here’s Jennifer leading Helga off the trailer. Mike followed behind with Monty.🐮🐮
Monty hasn’t had much practice with a halter yet, but considering that, he did pretty good.😆 He is half Jersey and half Dexter, so he’ll be a smaller animal. Makes him extra cute!🐮
Helga acted like she already knew our layout! Walked right into the barn and headlock with no problems.👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Love our friends, Jennifer and Grant!❤️
Poor Grant got to experience a little bit of what Mike does on a regular basis with me, lol – crazy picture-taking, farmer chick…🫣📷
Not the greatest pics of Monty in the barn, but will try to get better ones as time goes on.👍🏼
Jennifer & I went out to check on Helga. She did well with milking and will stay down here by the barn to meet the other new mamas as they come down over the next week or so. I’ll try to get better pictures of her, too.🐮
It’s a blessing we’ll have Helga’s milk to add to what we get from our girls. We only have 4 of our girls bred for 2023, so our volume will be down. We are grateful for how the Lord provides.✝️❤️
Roni is slated to have the next calf. April 18th is her due date – BUT – when we went up to check on her this evening, we noticed the birthing process has begun!🎉
We are hoping to make it to Sunday School and Church in the morning, but looks like this arrival could make that a little challenging…🥴🙏🏼
Mike & I decided to put the runway fence up as the sun was setting. Will help us with time in the morning and thought maybe we’d catch a glimpse of the new calf before dark – or at least see if Roni needed any help with calving. This will be her first calf for us.🙏🏼
Another new addition to the farm is Paul & Annie’s gator. WOW was it nice to borrow it tonight for what we needed to do! Our four wheeler is still around and used every day, but as Mike & I get older, we can definitely see the benefit to getting in and out of a side-by-side vehicle.🙈 Might be on the lookout for one of these for ourselves, lol…👵🏼👴🏼
It was SUCH a beautiful night – PERFECT for a calf to be born…❤️
No, those aren’t city lights in the background, those are our curious, cud-chewing, zombie cows, lol…😂
Mike could see feet coming out, but Roni made it plain that she didn’t want any help. Us staying up there was only getting the rest of our animals all worked up.🙄😬 Soooo – I guess we’ll have to wait until Easter morning to see what we find. Lord willing, she will be ok and have a cleaned-up, well-fed calf up there when we come back. And if not, we pray for the Wisdom necessary to discern the next step in the situation. This is one of the hard parts of farming: watching and waiting…🙏🏼
🐮TO BE CONTINUED…🐮
It’s well past midnight now as I get the last of this post typed up before I crash. I can’t help but marvel at the miracle of creation – the miracle of Christ’s resurrection – the miracle of salvation to those whose faith is in Jesus Christ – and how I’ve been grafted in to the family of God. WOW.✝️🙌🏼
“I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be! But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.” “This is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.” From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” Romans 11:11-36 NASB1995
So I had been hearing commotion in the bushes in front of our house, but just assumed it was normal nest-building sounds…😳
As I folded my 3rd load of laundry and STILL heard a ruckus, I decided to stand on the couch and look out the window… A robin had some string caught around its foot and a branch. Ugh.😨🤨
Here it is hanging upside down on the branch…🤦🏻♀️
I called Mike and he came home from down the road to get it out. He cut the branch, but couldn’t untie the string while holding it…which meant I’d have to assist…😬😳
The string was SO tight, that I actually had to use my sewing seam ripper to strategically snip it off in sections…🥴🧐
Thank You, Lord, for a tendered-hearted, fearless, farmer-husband who knows how to gently encourage his wife who’s terrified of flapping wings to disengage knotted strings without cutting the bird’s tiny leg…😅✝️🙌🏼
The robin flew away just fine once Mike released it.💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻
This morning was our window to move the dairy girls out of Mordor and into Rohan. They couldn’t have cooperated any better!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
They saw us coming and were waiting at the gate.👍🏼
We wanted the 4 dairy mamas and the 2 heifers that we’ll be breeding in July to be in this group. I had to go in and encourage Ruby to hurry up and join the group.🙄
The beef herd will have to wait until tomorrow or Monday before getting out to grazing. They’ll enjoy that for sure, and we definitely appreciated that they didn’t cause any drama during today’s move for the dairy group.❤️🙌🏼
Here are the dairy girls walking to their pasture.🌾
You may notice a new structure up ahead… It’s from the boys’ old treehouse. The tree was taken down this spring, so we decided to use the steps as a way to go over the fence where there’s no close gate. (An idea we’ve talked about implementing for YEARS!) This will be a wonderful addition… A shortcut/timesaver, a fun place for watching sunsets, aaaand a good lookout to spot those pesky groundhogs, lol…🔫😉
Made it!👍🏼
If you zoom in on this next one, you can faintly see Granny & Tilly down in Eisengard. We’re going to keep them separate from this group of 6 for now. Putting all 8 of them together would most likely include a lot of pushing and shoving as they re-introduce themselves to Granny…and who knows what they’d think of Tilly, lol.😬 We don’t want to chance any of them going through the single wired fence around that area in Rohan. So for now, they can all see one another, but they’re in separate areas.👍🏼
And lastly – Mike had some helpers today to build a sandstone wall by the silo. Preparing for a small wedding here next month for Paul and Annie.😍🤵🏻♂️👰♀️
…Mike & I stood in a church and pledged our love to one another even though we had no idea what that meant. The Lord allowed us to begin life as husband and wife, and add two sons just a few years later. For the first thirteen years, we tried to live life in our own strength, but in His mercy and grace, the Lord removed the veil from our eyes so we could see ourselves for who we truly were – two sinners in desperate need of a Savior. He rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son whom He loves – Jesus Christ, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He qualified us to join in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of Light. And we will forever be grateful.✝️❤️
Our journey has not been smooth, but it has been sure. Each detail along the way has had a purpose. And each purpose has been for God’s glory and our good. Watching how the Lord has used life’s events to also draw our sons to Himself has been another gift that we will forever be grateful for.✝️❤️
And now, just two Sundays ago, we watched our son become a husband to Jennah, and we have gained a daughter. It was a beautiful, God-honoring day, and our hearts are full. Thank You, Jesus.🙏🏼
Just a few pictures that got captured on phones…💕
A surprise dance for our 25th anniversary…
10-25-21 UPDATE: And here are a few more pics from their photographer that we can add to this post.❤️
We wondered if Sarge might have her calf this morning… She’s been looking “close” for a couple days now. Her due date wasn’t until 6-5…
We had friends over for a cookout today, and when we went on a walk, I noticed Sarge was off by herself and was leaking milk. Sure enough – a couple hours later, Mike’s mom went on a walk, and there was her calf!🇺🇸🐮
Notice that Gluey never misses a photobomb opportunity, lol.🙄Poor Sarge. She had Gluey and Nat being pretty nosey with her baby.🤦🏻♀️
Mike & I went down to get the halter and open up the fences for the walk to the barn.🐮
It was fun to have so many spectators here for this big day!🐮It’s a girl!!💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻
We decided to end our calving season the way we started it – by naming her after a special friend. Our first calf this year was named after our friend Gary, and today we named our calf after our friend Tara.☺️ Tara and her family were our spectators today. Her daughter, Jennah, will be marrying Michael this fall.❤️
Sarge was AI’d to “Bender,” a milking shorthorn. What a blessing that the two cows we purposely bred to a dairy bull both had heifers for us! Another gift from the Lord.✝️ (We weren’t able to find a picture of Bender to include in this post.) Time will tell if Mattie and Tara will be future dairy girls for us.🙏🏼
Here is Sarge encouraging Tara to follow her…But it was a long walk for a tiny girl, so Mike carried her for a bit.😉Poor Mike had these hovering mamas all over him, lol!😂Jennah took this cute pic with Nat (Tara’s big sister) bawling in the background, LOL.😆Michael carried Tara the rest of the way to the barn to give his dad a break.👴🏼Mike milked Sarge just enough to make a bottle for Tara.🍼And Tara did a great job of guzzling down her first bottle.👍🏼And here is Tara petting Tara.☺️
What a blessing today was! A delightful time of food and fellowship with special family, and the ending of our calving season with another healthy miracle. Our hearts are overflowing with thanksgiving, and we move forward seeking Wisdom from our heavenly Father as we all transition into new seasons.✝️😇🙏🏼
Final tally 2021: 3 boys and 2 girls.🐮🐮🐮🐮🐮
Here is our future new daughter, Jennah, with Michael.❤️❤️
Father, thank you for all the men and women who sacrificed their lives to protect our freedoms.🇺🇸✝️🙏🏼
Ruby was in the process of having her calf when we were wrapping everything up from this morning’s milking.🐮
Since she had the barnyard to herself, Mike & I decided to leave her alone while we went home to have breakfast. After we were done, Mike went back to check things out.
Praise the Lord! Another calf healthy calf born without our help.❤️
It’s a boy!🐮 We are sticking with our John Wayne/True Grit theme like we did with Mattie, so this guy has been named Rooster.🤠😂
Ruby was AI’d to a beef shorthorn bull named Gauge. (So Gary and Rooster have the same sire.) Here is a picture we found online of him:
We let Ruby & Rooster bond for awhile, and Mike went and got a few more pictures after coffee break.☕️
Normally we give the calves their afternoon feeding between 3-4, so we thought that would be a good time to bring Rooster into the barn and milk his mama. We only needed enough for a bottle in case he hadn’t eaten from her in the field.
Rooster is another B-I-G calf. He might even be bigger than Gary!😮 Rooster was pretty tuckered out from his entrance into the world today, and he showed no interest in getting up, let alone walking, lol. So it was an easy decision to bring the 4wheeler over to drive him to the barn.
Uno & Nat admiring Rooster from their side of the fence while Mike prepares to pick up this 100# calf…😬💪🏼
Rooster was not as easy to carry as Mattie was just a few hours before…🥴 Thankfully Mike only had to get him on and off the 4wheeler, and then into his pen.👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
We noticed one of Ruby’s quarters was pretty empty, so we’re pretty sure Rooster ate while he was with her. He did drink some of his bottle, but really just wanted to lie down and rest. He’d had a pretty big day, lol.☺️
And Mike & I feel like we’ve had a big day, too, lol!👴🏼👵🏼
Thank You, Lord, for these first three calves. They are each unique and special, and we’ll do the best we can to care for them while we are caretakers of them. We are so grateful we still have this opportunity to be farming here. Continue to equip and grow us with each step of this journey. We are excited to see what You will teach us each and every day. Amen.✝️
New tally is 2 boys, 1 girl. Lord willing, the final two are due around May 25th and June 5th.🙏🏼
With the body language Mike & I observed in Uno and Ruby on Tuesday afternoon, we expected to see their calves arrive Wednesday morning…🤔
BUT…we were wrong, lol (silly farmers🙄). Uno’s didn’t make its appearance until this morning. And you’ll see by the end of this post that Ruby had hers several hours after that. Both of these calves were born on their due date.👍🏼
This is the view we were greeted with when we came over to milk Nat this morning.🐮
Uno is the black & white one in the middle. If you zoom in, you can make out the calf standing next to her.❤️Sarge, Nat, & Ruby were all very interested in the calf, too…This one was A LOT tinier than Gary was!Mike had no problem getting the halter on. It’s a girl!❤️
We had Uno AI’d with semen from Comanche, a milking shorthorn, so we were pleased that we got a girl. Lord willing, she will be a future milk cow for us.✝️🙏🏼
Here is a picture of Comanche that we found online. How fun to see that Mattie has some of her dad’s markings!👍🏼
Mike wanted to name her Mattie. (Think: John Wayne movie – True Grit.🤠) I think that’s the perfect name for her!😍
Mattie likes the camera, lol…🥰
No one really seemed too interested in walking this morning, so Mike ended up just carrying Mattie to the barn.🥰
Thankfully, she wasn’t the 100 pounds that Gary was on Monday. Mike thinks Mattie is maybe 50-60 pounds…
Now Gary has some company in the barn.☺️
Mattie took her first bottle just fine.👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼(And Gary has advanced nicely into drinking from his big-boy bucket, lol…😂)LOVE seeing all the pretty white markings on Mattie…😄She is super sweet…💕AND – apparently, she loves to pose for me, too…📸
When we finished clean up from milking, we noticed Ruby was getting ready to have her calf. Mike moved the other mamas to the back part of Eisengard so Ruby could have some peace, lol. Lord willing, I’ll have a post up about her calf by this evening.
Here we are again. Another year of grazing, and another year of babies.❤️
2021 marks our 15th year of calving! We had a longer break from milking this year since we purposely waited to breed our mamas a month later than what we’ve done in the past. We thought this would maybe decrease some of the mud issues we’ve faced in past Marches, and also give the grasses an extra month to grow so our mamas’ feed would be more lush after calving. As it turned out, this season has not been a wet one, lol.🤷🏻♀️ But that’s ok – we were happy to have this longer break to prepare us for whatever is to come for 2021.🙏🏼
Last week we finished up getting all our groups of cows out from their winter area and out grazing in the pastures. It is always such a delight to see everything turn green and flowers pop out in the Spring!🌷
The yearlings were the first to move. Here they are on the 13th.☀️
Here are the dairy girls in route to their paddock in the Shire on the 19th.🌤
We’re expecting 5 calves this season. 3 of them are due on April 30th. One is Ruby…Another one is Uno…And lastly, we have Nat as the 3rd one due on the 30th. HOWEVER, you’ll see as this post continues that she actually had her calf this afternoon.🐮Gluey is due 5-25.And Sarge is the last one due on 6-5.
And then the last group to move on the 19th was our beef herd.
So that’s all our grazers, and now it’s time for babies!!💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻
Today, Mike left the farm for a bit to help a friend. He gave me a head’s up that he was pretty sure it looked like Nat was prepping to have her calf soon. It was nice the girls were in the Shire by our house. I checked on them every hour or so. It wasn’t long and I saw an extra face in the grass…😍
I zoomed in from our yard and txted Mike to let him know he was right.😆I got a little closer, and could see all was well.It was good to see Nat got her calf up, but I never saw it eating…But she did introduce it to the water trough, lol…🤦🏻♀️
Once Mike returned, we got the fences ready and started the routine of bringing the calf and mama to the milking barn.
Nat was where she was supposed to be, and her calf was on the other side of the fence…The calf stayed laying down until Mike got the halter on.👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼It’s a boy!!❤️
We decided to name him Gary, in honor of one of our friends who is recovering from a very serious surgery. Lord willing, he’ll be well enough to come out and visit his namesake before the summer is over.🙏🏼
Next step was to get Gary back on the same side of the fence as his mama, in hopes they would both walk to the barn together……but it didn’t work…Nat just wasn’t interested in coming over & Gary didn’t want to walk to her…😬Do you hear crickets??😂
Plan B involved calling Michael. He was home from work, so Mike asked if he wouldn’t mind bringing the 4wheeler over, lifting Gary up onto it, and then helping to drive Gary to the barn. We’re grateful he was willing to help, and Mike was especially happy he didn’t need to carry this calf!😬
I wasn’t going to put this picture in, but zoom in on Gluey in the background, lololol…😂🤦🏻♀️His mama, Nat, is in the background…just wants to eat. This is pretty typical of her. She’s had 3 calves for us so far. Nat was bred to “Gauge” – a beef shorthorn. Last year we decided to not use our own bull anymore, so all 5 of our dairy girls were AI’d.Here is a picture we found online of Gauge.
Michael drove while Mike jogged behind. All I had to do was run the gate and take pictures, lol.🙃Mission successful!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Then Mike & I went back to bring Nat over for a milking. We figured she’d be at the back of the pack so everyone would make the trek, and we were right, lol.😏
I love these walks with our girls…❤️ So excited to have begun another milkng season. Thank You, Lord, for this gift!✝️Once we got Nat in the barn, we walked the other 4 back to the pasture. We got enough milk to feed Gary, and he was happy to eat.😋The sweet sound of a successful feeding…✝️❤️
Now that the dust has been blown off the blog, I look forward to writing more updates as babies arrive.☺️
Wow, Lord. What a perfect day to bring our first calf of 2021. Thank You for giving us this opportunity to be here and capture pictures of life on this farm. Continue to prepare us for what is to come, and may we never cease to be amazed at how You orchestrate every detail, always.✝️❤️🙏🏼
Current tally: 1 boy. Lord willing, 4 more calves to go!
Hooray! Our final calf for 2020 has arrived!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Seems like we’ve been waiting f-o-r-e-v-e-r for Gluey to have her calf.🙄 She’s notorious for having late calves, but once we hit the two-week late mark, we started to get concerned. She wasn’t acting sickly, and her udder never really got huge – so we began to wonder if we had calculated her due date wrong…🤔
YEP!🤦🏻♀️ (Record keeping is a good thing when done correctly, lol.😏)
Her new due date became 7-2, but her calf actually arrived today, 7-1.
Paul actually was the one to find him. He had gone up on the hill to mow the campfire area he and Michael had made. The cows were up there staring at him, and so was an extra little guy, lol. Here is the pic he txted me. (Gluey is the light one with the goofy face, and Nat is the other one. Notice how the calf is drifting toward the one NOT his momma.🙄🤦🏻♀️)
And of course, Mike had JUST LEFT to go get some farm supplies, so it was just me and Paul.😳
Here’s what I saw after I made my way to Paul.
Here’s Gluey trying to figure out if the calf is hers…😆
And here’s Nat arguing with her, lol…🙃
At first, Paul & I were going to let them all hang together and wait for Mike to return…
BUT. The calf had other plans, and promptly went under the electric fence. Which of course stressed ALL the mamas out.🤨
After I fumbled around a bit, I was able to get a halter on the calf, and I know I breathed a little sigh of relief!
(He wasn’t too happy about the halter at first, lol…)
Then he decided to chill and rest…
Once Mike returned, he met us and we all walked down together.
Mike decided to hand-milk Gluey since we only needed a half gallon to feed Christopher this afternoon. It didn’t take long and we had plenty…🥛🐮
And Christopher took to his bottle perfectly. Thank You, Lord!🥰
Ahh. 2020 calving season is now officially over! The 6 older calves are growing really well, and Winnie and Christopher are off to a really good start. PRAISE THE LORD.✝️🙌🏼
Final tally is 4 boys and 4 girls.👍🏼
Father, thank You for this season that is now complete. And thank You in advance for the new one that is beginning. Prepare us to handle the ups and downs with grace and mercy. Continue to grow us more dependent on You each day. Use the circumstances of our lives to reveal more of Your Truths, and strengthen us by the power of Your Word…🙏🏼
Roberts' Farm Blog 