Delayed post :(

Sorry I haven't checked in for awhile....busy times on the farm .  Our Miss Germany came back for seventeen days over her Easter break.  She went to prom and visited all her friends, as well as  went on a few 4-wheeler rides around the farm.

She went back today and we miss her.  My kids were so sweet and happy to see her.  I think she is already planning her next visit :). 

Here is our family on Easter Sunday

We also have caught just a little rain and I snapped a picture with our wheat and our cattle.  Although the rain wasn't enough to break our drought, it left a reminder of God's faithfulness in its wake.

Oh and we also hosted a 5K at our house, the second annual 5K in the Boonies.  I will post more about that later!

Milk replacement recipe

This is how I have made milk for our bottle calves.  It suits our setup in the kitchen, others might have a different process that works for them.

I use a two liter pitcher so it doesn't get too heavy to pour, especially when the kids help.  I put very hot water about a third of the way up.  Then I trek to the mud room where in the closet we keep a fifty pound bag of milk replacer(similar to baby formula-but just for calves).

With using a two liter pitcher I can only make two bottles at a time.  In goes four 1cup scoops of powdered milk replacer.

This gets a little messy....

Back to the sink to add more hot water and whisk briskly until mixture is smooth then fill to the top of the pitcher.  This will make two bottles. I pour this into the two bottles equally.

Fill the bottles up to the top with lukewarm water, this makes the hot water used to mix the powder at a more acceptable temperature for the calves to drink.  

Now repeat the process for the next two bottles....last thing is to cap the bottles with nipples and wipe down any moisture on the outside of the bottles~baby calves can be very energetic nursers and pull the bottle out of your hand!

Bottle Babies

We had FIVE bottle babies when this picture was taken just a few days ago.  Since then we have moved down to four but for a good reason.  Gorgeous is a heifer (female calf) and has a twin sister who is with their momma cow.  Since momma cows who have twins sometimes prefer one over the other and it harder for her to care for two at a time we pull one.  That is we pick one to be separated and possibly transferred to another cow.  Gorgeous is a registered calf so worth more on a cow as they usually do better that way.  She was bottle fed about two weeks and has taken to a new momma that loves on her!  Success!!!!

Luke and Betsy were bought from some friends/neighbors for Crash and Scooters 4-H calves BEFORE we ended up with three bottle calves from our own herd.  They are Angus calves while our own herd is mainly Gelbvieh and some Angus.

Black Betty is from our herd and is a twin to a bull calf so she is sterile.  She is what we call a Free Martin, don't ask me why! She will not be kept for breeding but be sold and will end up at a finishing yard to get ready for slaughter.  Or we may keep her and feed her and have her butchered for our family to eat.

Norman is my special needs calf.  I am not quite sure what is wrong with him . It takes about thirty minutes to feed just him because he does not suck, just swallows and gags.  He is a messy eater and I usually wear gloves because I have to wipe mucus off his nose and out of his mouth.  He is more lethargic and I wonder if he has a joint problem or arthritis.  Sometimes I have Orrin tube him(put milk directly into his stomach by putting a tube down his throat) to make sure he is getting enough, since I can only get him to take half a bottle in thirty minutes when the other calves take mere minutes for a full bottle.  Poor Norman, I just don't know if I can pull him through.

Anyway with that many little ones to feed, this is what my sink look like.

See that long tube, we also call that a drencher or tuber. The bottle that does not have a flat bottom goes with it.