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.

Werkin calves Part 2

So here is a calf cradle.  It is actually one my parents had and we bought for our calves.  Since these were a little older we did not throw them.

That's Tall Paul our hired man who is also Orrin's Father's first cousin...true family farm ;)

The calves are pushed one at a time into the cradle until their neck is secured by the head gate(same we use on bigger cattle only....bigger). Then Paul releases the catch and it swings the calf up horizontal.  Then we can band or brand while the calf is immobilized and somewhat still.

See the bars we can release to access the side of the calf.  Pretty handy if I do say so myself.  My job was a pusher.  Getting a calf out of the squeeze pen(a pen that can smaller as more calves leave so there is not room to run and hurt is or the calves.  Down side of a pusher is you will be the dirtiest one with calf poop all down the front of your legs and bruises from the kicks and your feet will hurt from being stepped on.  I love it.

As always we have extra help from Crash and Scooter, even Cuddle and Wally were trying to get in the way as much as possible, that's how farm kids learn though.

Thank you Lord for letting me grow up on a farm and blessing my kids the same way.

Werkin' calves

Around this time of year things really get hopping on the farm.  Today after feeding our (at the time) FIVE bottle calves, we went to the calving pen.  My husband had already got thirty pairs(that's a momma cow and her baby) in the pens by the little barn. 

 We needed to do several things to them.  Bull calves that were not purebred were banned.  We basically take a very strong, very little rubber band and place it around their testicles.  In a few weeks those will fall off with no pain to the calf.  We have also been known to do this to our barn cats, yes I just said that.  Saves us from taking a barn cat ,that any night might become coyote food, from an expensive trip to the vet. Back to the calves.... The now future steer calves get branded with our brand so we can always identify them if they lose an eartag (cattle rustling DOES still happen). We then inject a ralgrow implant in their ear that will help them grow without their testosterone.  We also notch their ears as another way of identification.  The heifers mainly got branded and ear notched. 

Getting those little balls... Notice my husband holding the calf down with his body weight.  This is only possible to do within the first week or two of a calf's life.  After that they are way too big to hold down without injury to us peeps.  My family did not throw calves(what this method is called since you physically pick up the calf and throw it on its side).  We worked calves just before taking them to grass with a calf cradle.

After working thirty calves we loaded them up in the trailer, I loaded my kids that are not in school yet....and then loaded up their concerned momma cows and headed to a pasture very close to our house.  This opens up our calving pen and relieves conjestion that would hamper Orrin's ability to get cows in that need assistance.  It really does make a huge difference when checking.  The cattle will continue to be fed corn silage and distillers with some feed cane in bunks (feed holders).  The ones in this pasture just happen to be recycled tractor tires that have been modified.

Just a picture of a cute black white faced calf.  We call these calves baldies and I have a fondness for them! Cute!

Hot box

Brrrrrr. It is cold.  Oh it looks like a beautiful spring day but no.  Winter is rearing her bitterly cold head this week.  

Thank heaven we have a good hot box.  Hot box?  Yes and this week we may wish we had two.  

A hot box is an enclosed crate or box that a baby calf can be put into to warm up.  Ours has two openings... A large one on the side to access the calf and a small one at the top to control the heat.  There is also an opening where a little heater can be placed to heat the calf.  Ours is a deluxe model(haha) and there is a fan towards the top to help push the hot air back down towards the calf.  The fan also helps dry off the calf which is one of the main reasons we need a hot box.  

Good momma cows should shell out their calves then quickly get to cleaning them off.... With their tongues. This removes the "goop" from birth and dries them off.

Heifers are usually harder to get to do this to their calves and just two nights ago we lost a calf to a stupid heifer who had her calf then walked off.  That calf essentially froze to death, even though my husband was checking every two hours...you just can't help the really stupid ones.  However he still tried to save the calf but he knew it was useless because it was in the death moans.  That's not good.  But it spent its last few minutes nice and warm and cozy in the hot box. 

 Here is a picture of a calf that perked right up after a little stint in the box!

Ok just because it is so cute....a heifer twin another picture! 

11 months

So last year Orrin and I were parents of a teenage girl.  Right before school started we entered into a new phase.... Hosting an exchange student.  

Miss Germany was only just 15 yrs old(birthday in May) and used to the comforts of urban life with no younger siblings!  Well, her life changed!  She suddenly was the big sister to four kids 7, 5, 3, 1 yrs old.  Plus her Dad was now Orrin.  :) 

It was a learning experience for sure.  I wasn't old enough for her to call me Mom or treat me like a mom. We definitely had our disagreements and she learned fast which parent to approach for what.  

I pray she took away from living in our chaos that there is a family who loves her in Kansas.  And I know she has a new appreciation for farmers and farm life as well as loving the small town atmosphere....she got the rock star treatment wherever she went.  I will not lie when I say it was a bit of a relief to see her head back home after 11 months.  It should have been 10 months but she applied for an extension to stay 30 more days.  

Ahhhh you say, she didn't want to leave our family.  I wish I could say that but she didn't want to go home while her parents foreign exchange student from China was still there.....in HER room.  However it was the best, most drama free time with her.  Oh, I could tell stories, but she might find this ;). 

More updates to come!

She would not like this picture... I love it!