We knew there was a high probability that today would be the day calf #6 arrived. So we can’t say we were shocked, lol. It was 44° and the wind made it feel like it was 29°. Typical Ohio spring day!😆❄️🌷
When we got up to Mordor to do our calf check, no animals were in sight. (The last couple days, they were all close to the gate at the water trough, BUT NOT TODAY.🙄) So in we went to about as far back as the large field goes…
And there was Ruby with her fuzzy calf.🙂
This is Ruby’s second calf for us. [Click here to read about her calf from last year.] [Click here to read about when Ruby was born.]
It’s a boy! His name is Hank. (brainstormed through other characters from Avengers movies to go with Bucky and Sam😉)
Wasn’t too bad getting him on a halter since the fence was right there.
Then, of course, the others needed to come over and meet Hank…😂
Ruby wasn’t the best leader, and it didn’t take long to see walking them both all the way down to the barn wasn’t going to work. Hank is HUGE, and Mike didn’t really want to pick him up…😬 BUT – that’s the only way to get him onto the four-wheeler, so…💪🏼
Sadly, Hank was not cooperating very well, and there was no way for Mike to get a good hold of him walking behind the four-wheeler.🤨 So back down to the ground he went.🤔
Only other option was to shake the dust off the limo. It’s been a few years since we’ve used the farm truck to bring down a calf, but today it was just what we needed…👍🏼
Now I’ll be truthful here – it was scary for me, staying up with Hank & crew while Mike scurried down to get the truck. Remember – I’m the weirdo farmer chick who is afraid of animals…🤦🏻♀️🙏🏼 I’m happy to report that nothing crazy happened with the animals – no one tried to attack me, lol, and Hank didn’t pull me all over with his halter. Thank You, Lord!👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Endured a few snow squalls before Mike returned…🥶
Once Mike got back, he lifted Hank onto the bed of the truck. I helped him get a good hold of two legs on each side of him and we started down to the barn. Hard to take pics with just the two of us, but I managed to get a couple. They aren’t very good, but you get the idea.😉
Here is Hank all safe & sound in the barn.👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Next we headed back up to Mordor to walk Ruby down. Our approach was to call the four cows to us, get them to come to the gate, weed out Ruby, and head down. Three cows cooperated with our plan. ONE DID NOT. Guess which one?🤦🏻♀️
Here is the group hearing us calling them and considering heading toward us…
And in this pic, if you zoom in, you can see Ruby leaving the group and heading the opposite direction…🙄
So now my job was to keep these guys away from the gate while Mike rounded up Ruby on the four-wheeler.😬
Mission accomplished!💃🏻💃🏻💃🏻
Didn’t get done with morning chores until after noon today. Definitely a long morning, but also such a blessing.❤️
Our first six calves have arrived safe and sound! We’re expecting two more in June sometime, so we’ll have a little bit of a break with calving until then.
Our count is tied up now: three boys and three girls.☺️
Roberts' Farm Blog 