Meet Katty Kay

 Katty Kay eats all the time. She is very very fat.

Three years ago in the fall a tabby cat showed up in the hay barn sleeping on the seat of the tractor. That was not unusual. There were three other cats coming and going around the place that fall, but this one decided she wanted to be friends.  She was afraid at first, but decided after a week or so that I was OK, especially after it turned cold and we had an early snow.  She was a slim, normal sized cat when she showed up.  I think she must have been neutered, since she's been around here now for three years with plenty of intact male cats roaming the area and has never had kittens.

Once Katty Kay achieved the house, she refused to leave.  She spent the entire first winter hiding in the basement and coming out at night to clean up any and all cat food left out for Walter and Nico.  She tolerated Walter, who was already showing signs of the cancer that would kill him, but she down right hated Nico.  At least once a day she would attack Nick, for no reason as far as I could tell. She also wouldn't let me pet her.  Several times I captured her and put her out of the house proclaiming that she would no longer be allowed in with Nico.  She would sit on the front porch and cry for hours until finally I couldn't stand it any longer and would let her in.

When Nico was killed late this spring, Katty Kay became my friend. All of a sudden she wanted to be petted (though she still wouldn't sit on my lap) and follows me around the house rubbing on me. She also developed a huge crush on Matisse, the smallest of the four neutered male cats.  Matisse returns the interest and they spend hours of time wrapped in each others arms - but since they are both neutered, I'm assuming its more a mother and son kind of thing. She hugs him and licks him and rolls around on the floor with him and he loves it.

Big Black Snake!

I was weeding along the back porch steps and noticed the Speckled Sussex hen acting strange near the oak leaf hydrangea.  She kept looking to her left side under the bushes.  I thought maybe there was a toad under the big oak like leaves and when I went to investigate and I found the biggest black snake - a black racer - I've seen in years.  With all the cats around I am sure the mice are slim pickings but maybe he will get some moles!  He's a big bodied snake, at least six feet long if not longer. I'll stay out of its way. We will get along fine as long as he stays out of the chicken house. I've had snakes steal eggs more than once and I don't appreciate it.

Thai basil, lettuce and beans

It seems like my Monday routine the last few weeks goes something like this: work in the garden in the early morning when its cool. Plant lettuce and beans.  Weed, weed,weed.

It was so hot and so dry the last couple of weeks that nothing seemed to grow except the weeds. Finally though with the rain this past weekend, the green beans are popping through the dirt.  The lettuce however was either all eaten by critters or cooked into dust in the hot dry dirt. I replanted lettuce for the fourth time this morning.

Part of the herb garden. Left to right back row:  Mint in bloom and sage.
Front row:  sweet pepper and three Thai basil called Siam Queen from Burpee. The pepper has been very slow to grown but I am sure it will smother the basil before the summer is over.

Siam Queen, Thai Basil, started indoors and then transplanted to the garden. At this time, they appear to be nice little well behaved bushy plants.

I usually plant sweet basil near the tomatoes. I love fresh sliced tomatoes with a little bit of sweet basil, some olives, salt, pepper and a little olive oil.  This year I decided to try one of the Thai basils and chose Siam Queen (probably because it was the only Thai basil I found on the seed racks anywhere), and I love it.  It's intensely aromatic and has dark red flowers - which I keep pinching off to make the plant bush out.  The flavor is stronger than regular sweet basil but its very good.  It's been slow to grow with all the heat we've had and  what with filling five, 100 gallon water tanks at least once a day for the last several weeks, I didn't spend much time watering the garden!  Mostly they received enough water to keep them alive, but with this weekend's rains - like everything else, they are growing like mad.  I highly recommend this basil.

In Focus

In Focus, better known as Bobby Burns

I thought you might like to see a picture of a really good Black Angus bull.  Meet CEH In Focus, better known as Bobby Burns- well that's what I call him anyway.  He is the sweetest guy going.  He lives with Misty and Bramble, who are now both pregnant by him, so he is pretty bored. He's for sale and looking for a new herd to call his own.

This is Misty:  She is a Limousin Shorthorn cross hefier, bred to Bobby. She is also camera shy.

In Focus from the other side.

We Welcome BTAP Zooey!

BTAP Zooey, black heifer calf born Sunday, July 8, 2012

Here's a first picture of BTAP Zooey, the new calf born yesterday to GMEG Jealousy.  It's a nice cool day to day but the flies are still bothering her. She has a nice quiet disposition like her mother, and is happy to let us pet her.

BTAP Zooey and her mother GMEG Jealousy.

Waiting for Calf to be Born

GMEG Jealousy trying to keep cool while she waits to deliver her calf.

My excellent big red girl GMEG Jealousy is due to calve sometime soon. I hadn't seen her since Wednesday (July 4).  Her udder was getting full at that time but her back end wasn't getting loose, so she looked like she still had a couple of days to go.  It's 95 degrees this morning (Saturday, July 7) and I wasn't looking forward to tramping up and down the wooded hills looking for cows - but needs must - so out I went.  I found Jealousy pretty quickly - I could here her splashing in the creek.  She was standing in the biggest of the three pools left in the creek that runs through the property.  I suppose like humans who get relief from the heat by plunging their hands up to their writs in cold water, she is getting some relief standing with her hocks in water. 

No other cows were in sight, which concerns me. Also, one chamber of her udder is very swollen and distended, but the others are not and when I check her back end, she was not really loose - loose would indicate she is getting ready to calve. He belly is hung low though, so time will tell.  I sure hope this isn't another breach birth like Violet had.  If she doesn't come up for salt by tomorrow morning  I will have to go get her and drag her up to the barn where I can keep a closer eye on her. Fortunately she is a former show heifer and halter broke.

Even though I traveled mostly in the shady and somewhat cooler woods, I came back to the house dripping with sweat. I downed a large icy glass of orange juice before sitting down to write this. A little itch near my left temple caused me to scratch my scalp and the next thing I knew a tick flew out of my hair and landed on my computer screen!  I promptly flushed it down the toilet. Now I need to check for more. Ah, the joys of farm life.

This creek runs about a quarter of a mile through our property and these rocks are usually covered in flowing water. I walked the entire creek line and found only three pools of water. Jealousy was standing in the biggest one. They are all brackish and muddy.  I have a two hundred gallon tank filled with water for them up near the house where I keep their salt and mineral feeder so they won't go without water, but cows don't like to have to travel more than 600 feet from their grazing to find water. They will probably wait until the creek is totally dry before they use the tank on any regular basis.

Fawn Still With Us

I found this picture on the Internet but it looks just like the orphaned fawn.

I went out to the barn this morning to fill the water tanks for the cattle and feed the yearlings. Just as Bobby, Bramble and Misty came out of the barn to munch on some old deer corn, the little fawn came running toward me from what I think was behind the barn.  It might have been inside the back of the barn and come out of the backdoor, but I wasn't sure.
It came right toward me, very skittish,  and I noticed there was blood on its snout. It skittered around the cattle munching at their feed bunker trying to find a way out.  Then it ran helter skelter for the paddock behind the barn and continued trying to escape. I figured it found its way in, so it would find its way out and I was right, but it took it a few tries.  I wondered if the bloody snout was an injury from trying to get out of the paddock or if a coyote had scared it into going through the fence, injuring itself in the process.  
Finally it managed to push through one of the 12 inch rectangles in the woven wire fence and went flying into the woods.  It hung around a few minutes watching me and the yearlings, then disappeared.  A few days ago I spotted it running through that bit of woods following a full sized deer who handily jumped the fence and disappeared. I wondered if the deer was its mother and if it came back and forth to the fawn to care for it, but with this episode this morning I continue to believe it is an orphan or abandoned.
I was glad to see that the fawn had grown quite a bit in the last two weeks and that it was surviving among the cattle. In a month or so I'm hoping it will be big enough to jump fences and join the other deer. I keep short sided water tubs full so it can get a drink, as the creeks in that area are totally dry.

Obsessing Over Cows

I woke with a start yesterday at 6:00 am to the bellering of a bull. Since the windows of the house were all closed and the air conditioning running, it was a pretty loud beller to wake me. I decided I'd better get up and check on him, as you never know what kind of trouble a bull can cause himself and others. That began my day of obsessing about cattle.

I noticed that all the AI'd cows were up at the barn getting water and that Bobby and his two girls were talking through the fence at them.  That probably explained the beller from Bobby and that might mean one of the AI's didn't take and a cow was in heat.

As it turned out, Bobby and my big red heifer Juliette were trying to get to each other through the fence.  She didn't look like she was in heat when I checked for signs, but she sure acted like she wanted to spend time with Bobby. After a little messing around with cows and gates I managed to move Juliette in with Bobby's little herd and made a mental note to mark the calendar. Juliette is for sale and I planned to place the sale ads for her this weekend. I'd need to note her AI status and the fact that she was "pastured exposed" to Bobby.

I went about my business, feeding and watering chickens, checking the garden etc. and the next thing I know, Bobby and Juliette are fighting. This was not the activity I had expected but I ignored them and went on with my chores.  Pretty soon I saw Bobby trotting down through the pasture by himself with a definite air of looking for something.  I checked around and could not find Juliette. A bit of trampled fence seemed to indicate that she had broken through the fence to return to her herd. Trouble is she would have jumped into Thor's territory. Then I looked around and couldn't find Bobby. Thoughts of Bobby in Thor's territory and pictures of Thor throwing Bobby down a steep hill into a creek ravine plagued me enough to send me looking for him.

That began the first of three trips through the farm yesterday in 99 degree weather hunting for cows. I looked first for Bobby in his own pastures and could only find Misty and Bramble panting in the shade on the far eastern property line. I was sure Bobby had followed Juliette into Thor's territory. I then checked the AI cow's pastures, found Juliette but no Bobby. Thor came up to the salt feeder with part of his herd, but no Bobby. Did I mention Bobby is an outstanding registered Black Angus bull, sired by the top Angus bull in the breed and worth many several thousand dollars? I tramped the whole of Thor's territory again which is about 45 acres of woods and pastures. No Bobby.

By then end of the day, after three trips through the whole farm I found that Bobby had never left his pastures, Thor and his crew were in the highest, most dense part of the woods on the property line as far west from my house as possible, and Juliette happily back with her little herd and showing no signs of being in heat. With a strong sense of the futility of the entire day, I headed for the shower.

Craigs List Chuckles



Creep feeder used to feed calves grain so their moms can't steal the food from them. Mother's love goes just so far with cows.

I'm selling my creep feeder on Craig's list. I just don't need it any more as I've so few calves. Also, I like to wean my calves early so by the time they need to start on feed I have them separated from the cows anyway.

I posted the picture above and a few lines about the feeder and a price. That was it. I've sold lots of my old farm equipment and stuff on Craig's list in the past and it all went pretty well.

I’ve received a few legitimate emails and I think it will be gone soon, but I've also, for the first time, received a bunch of weirdo emails. They come through with re:re:creepfeeder - so I know up front they are not good emails. The content makes me laugh. They all start out asking if I still have the feeder. Then they tell me how intrigued they are by my post and ask to meet and have coffee etc. Some of the language would lead you to believe that I had made some very sexy suggestions in my post. What a hoot! But also, warning to all - I imagine most of you would figure out not to respond, but just in case you are tempted, DON'T!!! I'll tell you what I tell the chickens when I spot a hawk and they are out in the pasture scratching away. I point to the sky and yell Danger! Danger! They seemed to understand right from the start what I am talking about and they run for cover. So I say to you, Danger! Danger! Don't respond to creepy Craig's List emails.