Well folks, you’re going to be chuckling after you read this post. It will just prove to you that us “farmers” are not always as smart & observant as we should be! LOL! But first I have to talk about the weather.

Wednesday we hit 70 - a beautiful day but guess what, yesterday (Thursday) we only got to 31 & it snowed all day. Just light flakes, but snow none the less!

If you remember, 3 weeks ago we put 24 chicken eggs in the incubator. This week just 3 eggs hatched. Last night we were all scratching our heads wondering why on earth we only got 3 chicks & then the light dawned. As you know the winter was very rough on our birds & so alot died. Well it appears that the rooster from the top pen was one of the deceased & we had not noticed. (Probably did at the time but it was so stinking cold all we were thinking about was getting back into the warm house. Once spring arrived we had long forgotten!) The turkeys have all been out there strutting their stuff & we just assumed the rooster was doing the same. HAH! SO in fact, we filled the incubator with mostly infertile eggs. LOL!

Hens will lay eggs regardless of whether there is a rooster or not but of course without the rooster doing his part the eggs are not fertile. We did feel a little silly.

Here are the three chicks that did hatch - those eggs, all green by the way, must have come from the bottom pen. They did not stir when I went into take their pic - fast asleep.

Tomorrow we will put turkey eggs in the incubator. They take 28 days to hatch but we know they are fertile so hope we get a good hatch rate.

Meanwhile the black bantam hen has gone broody down in the cow barn & is sitting on a whole clutch of eggs. That chicken is OLD! We have had her at least 3 years, maybe 4 & she was old then. She has never raised a set of chicks so it would be really neat if she manages to hatch these. As for the three new chicks they will go down to the gray bantam who loves to raise babies.

Enjoy your weekend,

Liz

Yesterday afternoon around 2:30pm Lilly gave birth to this little fella:

Yes another bull!

I was able to snap some great pics of the dogs & Daniel so you can see what size he is. Here is Daniel stroking him, Ribeye is on the right.

Here you can see him with Roxy & Razz. Razz is a normal sized Chocolate lab - not a big dog & they are about the same size.

Haven’t named him yet as we are not sure if we are going to keep him as a bull. He is a full blooded Dexter but to register him as a bull he has to have some DNA testing done. We need to wait & see how he develops. If we are going to keep him as a bull then we would need to take him from Lilly in a few weeks & bottle feed him to tame him down. A wild bull is NOT a good idea. Cinco runs around here & we can give him a stroke but Lilly will still not let us near her. A bull like that would be dangerous.

Taking the evening off & relaxing

Liz

Thought I’d share this pic with you all.

Enjoy your weekend,

Liz

Each year we have a pair of Sandhill Cranes that nest in our wildlife area. If you have never seen these birds they are huge & magnificent. We are so blessed to have them right here on the farm.

Tuesday was a gorgeous day so the little ones & I went for a walk. As we were coming up the field I heard this noise. It took me a few seconds to register what it was but then I realized it was the Sandhill Crane & was excited to know that they were back once again. BUT then I saw the dogs sniffing at something. Couldn’t figure out what it was until I got closer & saw that one of the cranes was stuck in the fence. OH NO! Somehow it had got its leg wrapped in the top of the range wire & was upside down. Still alive but obviously had been fighting to get out as its beak was a mess. It took me a while to get it loose & of course once it did the only thanks I got was a hiss! LOL! Alas I didn’t have my camera.
We rushed back up the field, Richard had just left for the Post Office so I grabbed Michael’s truck, the camera & Michelle & headed back down the field. Was kinda surprised to find the crane still sat there:

It was then that we realized it couldn’t go anywhere. Although I had freed it from the fence it had somehow also got its wing wrapped in a vine. I cut one end off but it was still trapped so Michelle distracted it with a stick whilst I reached in & cut the other end. I then pulled the vine out which was a little bloody but at least now the crane was free You can see the vine in this pic where I had cut one end.

As you can see his head was pretty battered. They are beautiful birds normally. I didn’t see any big gashes & its legs were not broken so I’m sure once it grows back its feathers it will look great once again.
We checked yesterday & there is no sign of it so hopefully all is well. As long as it could get away from predators & have time to recover it will be alright.

Liz

Hi folks!

As most of you know Sunday is the day we collapse & rest. Not this past Sunday though. Richard looked out the window in the morning to see Hazel’s calf running around Off he heads out to bring in the news that it was another bull calf! We had so hoped that Hazel would have a heifer this time. Oh well we at least we have Heidi.

I head down to the barn whilst Richard goes gets Heidi as I needed to graft her onto Hazel ASAP. Brought Ribeye into the barn. You have to admit, he is pretty cute:

Tied Hazel up & Heidi was ready! LOL! Very craftily she went behind Hazel & started sucking. Unfortunately Hazel’s front quarters were extremely engorged & hard. Michael & I both tried to get milk out with no success. We would get a few squirts but that was it.

Later that morning we had to head out to an ambulance fund raising lunch so nice not to have to cook but when we got home it was right back down to the barn to see if we could get any milk & to make sure the calves were drinking.

Here they are both after the same teat:

Now they’re full & resting. See how much bigger Heidi is than Ribeye.

By Monday morning there was no improvement in her front quarters so I headed to the vet. He kindly came out last night & gave her three different shots to try & help. The one side is where Hazel had mastitis a few weeks back but I, nor he, thinks that that is the problem as the milk coming out is white & also her bag is not hot. Today I put hot & cold compresses on it twice. I let the cows out so that they could get some sunshine. When I brought them back in this evening her 3rd quarter was back to normal Yee haa! The bad quarter is still very swollen but I don’t think it is as bad. I still cannot get any quantity of milk out of it though. As I was sat down there I had to laugh to myself. Massaging Richard’s back is one thing, but massaging a cow’s udder is quite another.

More adventures to tell you from today but I’ll save that for another post.

As for news on Michael, it appears that we were misinformed at the time of his last release. Apparently he will get served with papers telling him to be in court on a certain day at the appointed time. Of course we still have no idea what the exact charges will be nor when the papers will arrive so it’s still a waiting game but at least we know that when Michael leaves for work of a morning he will be coming home.
Take care,

Liz

A couple of weeks ago we watched Mary Poppins which everyone loves. One day this week Daniel took Hannah over to the bonfire & they proceeded to put on make-up! LOL!

I couldn’t tell them off - they looked so stinking cute.

Hi folks!

I had put an ad on Craigslist for a bum calf earlier in the week as Hazel is due to calf on Monday & has more milk than we will ever use plus I do not have time to milk her twice a day at this time. SO last night we got a call from a lady & agreed to go pick Heidi up this morning.

Heidi is about 3 weeks old - she is brown although that may change. She is 3/8 Jersey & 5/8 Angus so should still make a great milk cow. She is REALLY sweet. These pics aren’t the best as she was in the dark barn. She later went exploring & climbed through the corrall fence so we had to put her in with the turkeys. Can’t put her in with the other cows yet as we don’t want her trying to suck on Hazel until Hazel has calved. Once she has calved then we will graft Heidi onto her.

Here she is drinking from her bottle:

The dogs, of course, are always very curious when a new animal comes to live here. They have to check them out. Here is a pic of Roxy bending over beside Heidi. Roxy is “beefier” than Heidi at this time but they are about the same height!

Have a blessed Easter,

Liz

We have never gotten Jackson fixed as we always thought he was a boy with very little to show for it! LOL! (He is so small & skinny!) However recently Jackson has been making these horrible yowling noises - awful & so we did some more investigation. Darn cat is in heat so now we have to take a trip to the vets!

Michael is still here - we have heard nothing else so just waiting.

Thursday I cleaned out the cow barn. Richard was hiring a skidsteer Friday to clean up some of the mess from the long winter so I figured I had better get the barn clean & all that muck outside the door so that he could scoop it all up. Hannah was down there with me & then she took a little wander. I heard her calling the piglets & clapping her hands. They followed her in glee & then ran off down the field so that’s their latest adventure, discovering the large pasture.

They are just like dogs but noisier - as soon as you call them they come running - squealing & grunting.

On that day I also collected 25 eggs! Yes we are now back in egg heaven. The incubator has started for the season - there are 24 chicken eggs in it right now. Once they are hatched we will put in turkey eggs. They are not laying regularly enough yet to put those in. The geese eggs are enormous but just as yummy. No duck eggs although they must be laying - I suspect the piglets are eating them.

Here’s a pic you’ll enjoy - the female turkeys love to wander. The Toms are just interested in one thing & spend their days strutting their stuff.  Here are the girls one night this week:

Hope you enjoy your weekend,

Liz