Waiting for the Storm

It's Sunday morning and we are suppose to get rain and snow mix for the next two days.  Valentine's twin heifers, born Friday morning about 7:30 have had their first 48 hours of life in dry, fairly warm weather.  They are nursing well, so I am hopeful that they will come through the next 48 hours with no problems.  Limousin are a very hardy breed and those little girls are all purebred Limousin. 

Nap time.

The twins joined the other three calves in my herd yesterday. They were a little shy but all the mama cows hung out together and let the kids play together. It was good to see. The sun and warm temperatures had all the cows resting and contented.

I shot some video of Samantha and Frosty having a race. They do this all the time and I love watching them. 

http://youtu.be/NjovEPBN_uQ

Calving Twins

About six hours old.

My lead and oldest cow, Locust Grove's Valentine, delivered twin heifer calves about 7:30 yesterday morning.  Valentine is 13 years old, the first Limousin born on our farm.  She was a show heifer (first in class at Ohio State Fair, 2001) and is generally easy to handle.  But she gets a little stubborn at calving time.  Like her mother before her, she likes to hide herself away from the herd when she is due to calve, so I always know she's ready when I can't find her!

The twin on the left is definitely bigger than the one on the right.

I spent two hours looking for her Thursday evening. I was just about at my wits end when I remembered that two years ago when she calved BTAP Thor, she had hopped the fence into the woods and delivered her calf under a large cedar tree. As I walked toward the woods I could see that the fence had been trampled down to about 30 inches high. Over I went and immediately I spotted her about 50 feet ahead of me.  She had a nice nest of leaves and was lying down contentedly near a big cedar tree chewing her cud.  She had not come to her milk and there was no sign of a calf coming any time soon, so I left her there, sure she would calve within 24 hours, but not just right then.

I spent a restless night worrying about her.She has had two sets of twins and she's getting old. I had to be at work at 7:30 am to open the Conference Center for a town hall meeting with our State Senator, Shannon Jones.  Our Chamber of Commerce director was in charge. She grew up on a large diary farm in Virginia, so she understood when I made my apologies and left them to get on with it with out me.  I made it back to Valentine by 8:00 am hoping all was well. As I climbed over the fence I could see a calf up and nursing. I could also see a black pile on the ground beside the cow, which I hoped was a big pile of manure.  It wasn't.

The nursing calf seemed very small and spindly legged but it was up and nursing.  The bigger calf was huddled in the leaves and obviously had not been up yet.  They were both still a little wet.  Immediately I started working on the bigger calf, rubbing it all over to help it's circulation and trying to lift it up to get it on its legs.  I estimate it weighs about 70 pounds.

Here's some video I shot and loaded on YouTube. http://youtu.be/lQKtFuWpr60.  And another bit of video on YouTube, http://youtu.be/I1wqhnBdjT0.

I took Valentine a bucket of sweet feed about 10:00 am and went back to work. About 5:30 I took her a few flakes of hay.  Valentine was lying down and the calves were huddled in the leaves around her. They were a bit shivery so I got every body up on their feet and made the calves walk around. The bigger one went to nurse right away. They were still wobbly on their legs but the little one was particularly lively.  I'll check on them again this morning at first light and hope they made it through the cold night.  Like all the other mothers this month, Valentine did not have a big full udder of milk at the time of her calving. I never worry about the dry cold weather as long as a calf can get plenty of warm mother's milk.

First Day of Spring, First Daffodils

It's now officially Spring and the sun is shining, although its only 29 degrees outside.  As I left the house on my way to the chicken house this morning, I noticed the daffodils next to the mud room's porch were just starting to open. This is a little sheltered area with east and south exposure and lots of warm brick to make a little micro-climate. As you can see from the picture they are just starting to open.

I have a good collection of daffodils all around the house.  For several years I bought  a half bushel at a time from White Flower Farm and that gave me a large variety of colors, sizes, petals and scents. Daffodil bulbs are somewhat poisonous to a lot of small rodents so they don't disappear as do tulips. They are also good at multiplying.

Usually by now the daffodils are in full bloom.  On my way back from the chicken house I walked all around the house to check for more blooms, but no more were even close to opening. Sunny cold weather is good for calving however, so I'll fore go the daffodils a little while longer.

Below, just for fun, from the Old Farmer's Almanac, www.almanac.com.

Baby Chick Update

About five weeks old. Those awkward teen age weeks.

Tomorrow is the first day of Spring but the weather man says winter is going to hang on little longer. The Farmer's Almanac, www.almanac.com, says that April and May will be wetter and warmer than usual. I sure hope so. These chicks are getting pretty big and I'm anxious to get them outside. 

 

Aracana chicks week two.  The dark ones kid of remind me of pheasant chicks.

The Aracana chicks are still cute but so much more active then the older ones ever were. They fly around the cage and have a fit every time I change their papers or give them clean water and food - which is twice a day.

 

Between calving, rain storms, snow storms and work I've not had a lot of time to drag the old rabbit hutch out from behind the barn.

 

The whole area behind the barn is covered with those horribly invasive honeysuckle bushes.  At this time of year you can just pull a lot of them out of the ground they are that shallow rooted, but there are plenty of big ones that have to be chopped and  the roots dug out.  Add to that all the fallen branches from dead wild cherry honey locusts and  ash trees that didn't survive the drought and you can see it is quite a project.   The ground is so wet that I can't get the tractor through so its going to be brute force or nothing. Brute force is the watchword of my farm exisitance!

 

Angus bull calves born March 12 and March 14, 2013

And speaking of calving, we had five calves born in five days last week.  All did pretty well except the fifth one.  Angus Heifer 05 gave us a fright calving late Thursday night, a nice bull calf. All seemed well Friday but Saturday he went missing.  The herd came to the barn to eat and the calf wouldn't cross the creek.  Mom was not terribly concerned and doesn't have a lot of milk, which explains to some degree her lack of interest.  He has had a pretty bad week of rain and cold but enough milk to keep him alive. 

 

The Angus have been used to being up on the high back pasture, but tramping forty some acres to find them gets old, so they are now confined to the six acres near the house with barn access. The hope was that they would bed the calves down in the barn at night. Some nights they do and some they don't, even if its raining.  So, yesterday I rebuilt the inside of the barn to give them easier access to the calf pen - an area of clean dry straw that's a little hidy hole for the calves.  The entrance is right inside the big barn door and the calves can sleep warm and dry and safe from cows laying on them. Happily, both calves spent the night in the calf pen, and seem quite content with it now.

 

The other cows and their calves are remaining on the road frontage pastures with good woods for cover. There are two heifers and one bull and so far those calves seem to be doing well.  My AI's cows are due this week, then we should have about a three week break before the rent come.

 

 

 

 

Sprouts Ready to Eat and Plant, More Calves.

L to R, pea, broccoli and kale sprouts

The pea, kale and broccoli seeds I've been caring for in my sprouter are finally ready to harvest.  They have grown too tall for the sprouter, particularly the pea sprouts. 

My plan was to pot up the pea sprouts in peat pots so I can set them out in the garden. Traditionally you should be able to plant peas directly in the garden on St. Patrick's Day.  The weather has been so cold and wet, I'm not sure I can work the ground.  St. Patrick's Day is Sunday and we are to have a little warmer weather for a few days, so I'll see how it goes. In the meantime I've transferred the pea and broccoli sprouts to a tray with a clear plastic lid, sort of a mini green house.  They can stay put for a few days, then if the ground is still too wet on Sunday I'll pot them up and put them out only during the day.  The kale sprouts went into a plastic bag in the refrigerator. They will top salads and sandwiches over the next week or so. The roots are a matted mass so I think I'll treat them as micro greens and just cut the tops to eat.  The pea sprouts look like they might be tasty as well, but I really love peas fresh from the garden so hopefully these will survive to grow out doors.

Pea Sprouts

Calf number four was born last evening. It was one of the Angus's heifer's turns and she gave us quite a fright.  Their owner, Courtney, came out about 6:30 to check the calf born Wednesday and found the heifer in labor.  She wouldn't let him near her so he just stayed back and watched to make sure of her progress.

 When it was almost dark and he hadn't returned I became concerned and suited up to go look for him. He didn't have his cell phone on him and I thought he might be in some kind of trouble either with a birth or heaven forbid, injured.  Just as I went through the gate he came striding up the hill to report that the heifer was in labor and wasn't doing well. She was straining a lot but no feet or nose was evident. He could see a rounded mass pushing against her vulva and was concerned it was coming butt first - which would not be good. To make matters worse, while he watched her heard rustling in the woods near by and a very large coyote emerged and headed for the heifer. Courtney is from Oklahoma by way of Texas and he was amazed at the size and overall healthy appearance of Ohio coyotes.  He got the heifer up and moved her across the big field to position her closer to the herd and left her there with plans to return in a few hours.   At midnight he returned and I let him know to call me on his cell if he needed me.  By 12:30 he called to report that the calf had been born unassisted, the cow was on her feet and so was the calf.  We were lucky. 

This was another early calf.  I'd checked that heifer yesterday and she wasn't showing any clear signs of calving soon. I figured her for next Tuesday when the first AI calves are due, so I had left them all on the high, dry back pasture.  It's still the best place to calve - provided nothing goes wrong.  I'm on the watch for the last calf due in that heard for a few weeks, and also for calves from my two possible AI births.  They are still not due until Tuesday, so we will see what happens this weekend.

Calves Keep Coming but March Forgot Us

Blackberry Bramble and her first calf, Samantha (Sammy)

I hate calving in March. The weather is so unsettled. Heavy rains, then cold and snow, little or no sun, still!   Three calves on the ground in three days, all in good shape so far thanks to their good Mama cow's care. I am very pleased with Blackberry Bramble. This is her first calf and she  is doing a very good job with it. Plus, she calved all by herself. 


Sarah and little heifer

The big white cow is Sarah, a Shorthorn who has had several calves before. She had this little heifer laying to the right of the picture in all that rain we had Monday.  The calf was born on clean pasture which is good, and Sarah managed to get her to the barn that evening.  The calf is nursing and seems to be coming along well. I had put out a big round bale at the barn yard on Sunday after Bramble calved and as usual they have turned it into a bed as well as dinner. All this week the mamas have stayed at the barn with the calves. They have hay and water and shelter and I also give them a few pounds each of a 12% protein sweet feed to help them produce milk.  The other cow with the backbone showing is Lady. She and Sarah belong to a neighbor. Lady is old and crippled and happy to hang out at the barn with the new moms and snag a little sweet feed in the process.

I hadn't seen the Angus herd since Monday night, so last night I tramped back through the property to the back high pasture and found them all munching away (on what I don't know, the pasture is not looking good).  One of the big Angus cows had a nice calf with her, probably born Tuesday night. She is one of those Mamas that won't let you within 50 feet of her calf, so I don't know what sex it is, but it was lively and nursing and the high pasture is dry and protected on three sides from the wind by dense woods.  The only concern is that the calf is a week early.  The Angus herd's owner, who is a veterinarian is visiting this evening to check them out.  We are expecting more calves on Tuesday from the artificial insemination.  Hopefully the weather will break warm and dry for a change.


Baby Animal Updates

Just shy of a month old, they have lost their baby chick cuteness.

It is Monday morning, so here's the latest picture of the chicks I bought at the Rural King three Mondays ago.  They are four times or more the size they were when I brought them home and they have their first feathers.

Yesterday my little heifer Bramble presented me with a calf a few days before I was expecting it.  I didn't have any 12% protein bagged feed on hand to give her and my feed store is always closed on Sunday so I decided to get some of the Rural King's 12% Sweet Feed.  I had read the label on it very carefully when I bought the chicks and could see no ingredients in the list that would cause me any concern. Still I wasn't happy that no one there could tell me more about the feed. But, Bramble needed some protein so off I went to the Rural King.

Six little Aracana pullets, very tiny compared to the first bunch at the same age.

To get to the bagged feed section in the Rural King you have to walk past the baby chick display.  Guess what? They had just that morning received a new shipment of baby chicks. And this time they had Buff Orppington's and Aracana's. 

I was planning to purchase a dozen Aracana's from McMurray's in April. They won't sell you less than a dozen at a time and they have to be shipped in April or May when the weather is warmer.  You need at least a dozen chicks in a box to keep them warm enough to ship.

I couldn't help myself. This time there were even some little chick carrying boxes attached to the display.  I bought six pullets - all Aracana, two bags of 12% Sweet Feed and a small bag of Nutrena Chick Starter.  Aracana's are from Peru. They look more like hawks than chickens and they lay different colored eggs.  I have one Aracana hen at present and she lays green eggs. I've had Aracanas in the past that laid pink or blue eggs.  They are suppose to be lower in cholesterol than traditional chicken eggs.

I managed to give Bramble about five pounds of the 12% Sweet Feed with out any of the other cows stealing from her. They finished the rest of the bag. 

It was going to rain last night and I worried about the calf getting wet; its best not to have calves rained on in the first couple of days and that's one of the reason I hate calving in March!   Bramble turned out to be a very good mother and dutifully brought the calf to the barn for the night. She was still in the barn this morning when I went out to check on them and give the herd some hay.  The calf seems to be doing well and Bramble has a nice udder with plenty of milk. She munched a little hay, then followed the herd out to the pasture.  The calf will get a little wet today, but not soaked.  She's a plucky little thing, staggering through the mud and muck, but keeping up very well with mama cow.





First Calf of the season born last night

Blackberry Bramble and her first calf, a heifer.

I'd been nervously waiting for my little cross bred heifer, Blackberry Bramble, to have her first calf.  I was careful to breed her to CEH In Focus (Bobby) because he should be a calving ease bull (read, small calves that fit the cow well).

Bramble built a nice udder and has shown other signs of calving soon. By my calculations she was due this Tuesday. Still, I've been checking on her every day, sometimes twice a day, for the last week.  This morning, about 8:15  as I drove down the road on my way to church,  I could see her grazing in the pasture. 

As I drove home from church about 10:00 am I could see she had a calf with her. I said a little thank you prayer and hurried home to change my clothes and go for a first visit to mother and calf. Heifers always need to be watched carefully with their first calving. Sometimes they have trouble; sometimes they don't have a clue what to do with the calf.  I had been worried about this little heifer's first calving. I'd lost one of her older sisters to a bad calving. All of  the members of this cow family are keen escape artists and its very hard to keep them confined in a barn for calving or anything else. I wanted to keep her on clean pasture but at the same time didn't want to deal with a difficult birth far from the barn and easy access for the vet.

In this picture Bramble and the calf are on the right. Back in the trees is the proud papa, Bobby, keeping watch. The rest of the herd is keeping a respectful distance. 

I doubt very much that Bobby has any knowledge about the calf being his, but several black buzzards were flying around the field next to this little bit of woods and I think Bobby was being a good bull and looking out for one of his cows. Black buzzards are not just carrion eaters like our normal and very ugly turkey buzzards.  Black buzzards will kill small animals for a meal, including new calves.

Bramble did a good job taking care of her calf. She is clean and dry and has been nursing. I estimate she was born some time last night.  She will have a good twenty four hours before we get rainy weather.  Tomorrow I will find a name for her.

Time to go give mama some high protein feed to help with the milk supply.

Feed Sack to Shopping Bag

Tote bag made from a feed sack.

During the Great Depression farm women made do by fashioning clothes out of flour and feed sacks.  Chicken feed and flour came in 50 pound cloth bags or feed sacks back then.  The women could bleach the sacks and use them to make tea towels, diapers, children's clothing etc.  Eventually the feed sack manufacturers started using pretty printed cotton fabrics to entice the women to buy their feed and thus gain a pretty printed cotton feed sack. These vintage feed and flour sacks are in great demand.


Fast forward seventy years and here comes Purina chicken feeds taking advantage of the craze for back yard chickens by producing very pretty pastoral farm scenes on their feed sacks made of woven poly fibers.  I can buy the feed store's very good no name brand chicken feed in a plain brown bag, but if I buy Purina with the pretty picture I can turn it into a tote bag to take to the grocery or where ever.

Pipster had to check it out.

It wasn't too difficult to make. Here's a link to directions. http://www.instructables.com/id/Feed-Bag-Tote-Bag/
This being my first, it took about an hour. The  sewing machine needle that was in the machine when I started was a number nine and it broke half way through the process. Fortunately, I had a number fourteen, which had been the recommended sewing machine needle by several websites I visited for directions.  I would also recommend wearing eye protection, just in case a needle breaks.

This makes a nice big shopping bag sized bag. I'm going to fill this one with diapers and give it to my niece for her baby shower!

Little Hen Back with Flock

When I arrived home late yesterday afternoon, Little Sister (my name for the little white hen) was scratching around the front yard busy as ever looking for anything that took her fancy.  She seemed perfectly healthy and I noticed she had been resting on the porch at some time during the day (read chicken poop on the porch).

It was a sunny afternoon for a change and I judged we had another hour and a half of daylight, so I let the rest of the flock out of the chicken house to see what would happen.

Little Sister slowly made her way toward the flock. The flock slowly made its way toward the house and they met at the round bale ring (the cows were down at the creek getting a drink).  Everyone seemed perfectly happy to see Little Sister and no one attacked her. 

I locked the chickens up at dusk.  Little Sister was roosting right long side her brother on the hay rack in the chicken coop and no one was complaining in the least.

This morning when I went to feed and water the flock, Little Sister greeted me with all the others.  Since its going to be a nice sunny day, and just to be safe, I left the chicken door open so that everyone could go out and play.

It's a mystery to me. I was sure Little Sister was a gonner on Wednesday morning. Her legs seemed paralysed and when I tucked her into that hay lined cardboard box in the hay barn she just lay their limp and uncaring.  I'm glad to have her back; just wish I knew what happened Tuesday night!!

Little Hen Ostrasized by Flock

Wednesday morning when I went to feed the chickens I found the little crossbred hen that was hatched here in August of 2011 hiding in a corner seeming unable to walk.  I was very sad because this is a nice young hen and because she was raised here.  But she was raised here all naturally with no vaccinations and I figured she had contracted the dreaded Maerk's disease which paralyses chickens and other birds.

Little Hen on the left

Chickens are quick to spot a weakness in another bird and will peck it to death. That's why she was hiding in the corner trying to protect her head.

I took her to the hay barn, made her a nice hay lined nest in a cardboard box and left her to quietly die. I thought about wringing her neck to put her down, but couldn't bring myself to do it.

When I went to the barn to get the tractor that evening, I was expecting to find her dead, but instead she was walking around chipper as you please.  The barn is pretty wide open to critters and I was surprised she was OK but decided that something had caused the other chickens to try to kill her so she couldn't go back to the chicken house. I rounded up some food and water and left her for the night.  Yesterday evening she was still up and hopping around, although roosting on the ground rather than up on the hay bales.  I don't dare take her back to the hen house, so if she survives today I'll haul one of the old rabbit hutches into the barn and secure her there.  She may still succumb to the Maerk's but maybe not.  You never know what's going on in the minds of a flock of chickens.  They'd as soon kill you as look at you some days and I am sure they get cabin fever just like people and cats.  Cats and cabin fever. Well, that's another story.

Sprouting Seeds for Salad etc.

I was cleaning out the top shelf of the pantry a week or so ago and came across my seed sprouter, still in its box, covered with dust. It must have been sitting up there for years because I can't remember the last time I used it.

Sprouter

Sitting next to it was a heavy brown mailing envelope with three big bags of seeds for sprouting - cress, wheat and mung beans.  The sprouter and the seeds had come from Johnny's Selected Seeds but the packages had no dates.

Just for the heck of it I set up the sprouter and filled it with seeds. Every morning and evening I filled the top reservoir with water and let it trickle down through the three layers of seeds to the bottom reservoir.  Then I emptied the bottom tray and set the sprouter in a north facing window. The instructions said I'd have sprouts in three to five days.

Pea Sprouts

After ten days and no sprouts from any of the seeds I threw the whole mess away and thoroughly washed out the smelly sprouter.  Those seeds must have been seven or eight years old.

All this cold dreary weather has made me long for green things, so I rummaged through my left over garden seeds and set up the sprouter with peas (the bottom layer) kale and broccoli.  I had plenty of left over kale seeds but not much broccoli, so they are on the top layer.

That was Monday morning. This morning is Thursday and I have little bits of sprouts from all three seeds!  I'm thinking I will pot up the pea sprouts in peat pots to have ready for the garden - though I doubt the ground will be warm enough to plant them out on St. Patrick's day - we shall see.

.

Kale sprouts

The kale and broccoli have a long way to go before they are edible, but since kale grows so quickly in the garden I'm thinking I'll have kale sprouts by this time next week. 

The broccoli will be a much smaller harvest as there were not more than 50 seeds among all the packages I had left over from the last couple of years. Still, its nice to know that broccoli seeds are long keepers.

Cute Little Egg Basket

Purina's Egg Basket

I needed chicken feed so after work I headed for my local feed store. They conveniently stay open until 6:00 pm.

As soon as I walked in the door I spotted a display of the cutest little egg baskets.  All that was needed to make one of them mine was to purchase three bags of Purina Layena chicken feed.  Since I buy a 50 pound bag of Layena about every three weeks, that was no big deal. I ordered up 3 bags and was promptly gifted with this egg basket, which I used tonight to collect four eggs from my hens. 



I buy Layena crumbles in the aqua colored bag.

Honey Bees on the Way

I ordered the honey bees yesterday.  For $83.00 I get an Italian queen and a package of bees from Georgia.  The bee seller will drive down to Georgia, purchase the bees and bring them back to Ohio.

My friend Patty, who keeps bees, has offered to help me install the bees.  They will arrive in late April and will need some sugar syrup to eat until the flowers start blooming.

I'm situating the hive in a small locust grove near my vegetable garden.  I've heard from several bee people that locust honey is one of the best.

My pastures are also full of red and white clover so even if the bees don't like the locusts I'll have plenty of clover for them to visit.  

Downton Abbey Season Four

Lady Mary with baby George

They have begun filming season four of Downton Abbey, which we have to wait until January of 2014 to see!!  This is one of the official photos, but the Internet news sites are publishing some others of some of the family at Mathews grave site.  Since the story opens six months after Mathew's death in that stupid car crash, every one seems to think they have gone to the cemetery for some sort of memorial service. 

It's obvious to me they are at the church Christening baby George, the heir to Downton Abbey and naturally they would also visit both Mathew and Sybil's graves.

Mary will get two new love interests in season four and they both seem very handsome from the pictures I've seen so far.  My bets on the tall dark and handsome one.

Little George Van Harlingen and his mother about 1924.

As I look at this picture I am reminded that baby George would be about the age of my father, also named George, who was born in 1923.  Baby George of Downton Abbey was born, if I remember correctly, in 1921, but I am also reminded that Lady Mary would have been near 30 years old when little George was born. My father's mother was 34 when he was born, so I watch Downton with my grandmother and father in mind.

 It's fun to compare England in the 1920's to the United States at the same time, especially since we were overcome with Prohibition -begun in 1919 - and the gangster class that came from that time.

Growing Chicks

The museum's quilt show was a great success. Many vendors reported better sales this year than last which is a good sign I think. I was thrilled that the spinning and weaving demonstrations were so well attended as we've planned many programs for 2013 and 2014 based on hands on activities.  It was a long weekend and today, Monday, is my only day to spend any time on the farm. Its very frosty and below normal temperatures but at least we have some sun this morning.

About 12 days old

The six baby chicks have been with me a week now and have grown about 50% bigger. They have develped many more wing feathers  and the black ones are decidedly taller than the yellows.

Brooding only six chicks has certainly been a lot easier than 25! I change their papers and give them clean water and food twice a day, but its a five minute process easily managed. 

These little girls are also very quiet compared to any other chicks I've brooded, but since this is the first time I've had nothing but pullets, maybe my past noisy babies have all been roosters!


Camera shy

The cats are interested in the chicks and sometimes I catch them on top of the brooder peering down through the wire top.  The chicks don't seem to be disturbed by this activity - no bunching in a corner and shrill peeping as they do when I change their papers.

Perhaps the cats speak softly to them. None of the cats has ever shown any aggressiveness towards the grown chickens. In fact, one or more of them usually accompany me to the chicken house when I feed the chickens, staying respectfully on guard around the house while I go inside.  They seem to understand that the chickens, like the cattle, are  part of the farm.

They don't accept, however, any of the wild animals that lurk in the woods around the house.  All of the cats have been on high alert the last couple of days and I thought a stray cat might be invading their territory again.  I didn't get home until 8:30 last evening so it was dark and as I pulled into my parking spot at the side of the house three cats followed by a possum came running out of the woods toward the house.  During a warm spell a week or so ago I tossed all the cats outside for the day and put a big bowl of water and a couple of bowls of cat food on the back porch. I imagine the possum, who is ever hopeful of a cat food meal, smelled it right away and helped himself.  Now he's keeping a sharp eye on the cats to see if he can steal more food.  Fortunately for the cats, its been too cold to leave the food outside. Sorry possum.