Check on Them

check on them it's calving season

With everybody out of town except for me, a lot of the duties of the farm fell my way! I had to feed up every day, put out hay, and most importantly, I was on mom duty! I had to check on them. It is calving season and every day, sometimes multiple times a day, I had to go out and check on cattle. Not only do the expectant moms need checking, but the recently calved as well. Calves need to be checked to ensure that they are growing getting what they need!

Cows are just like humans in a lot of ways….not every new mom knows what to do and not every baby either! We had one kid that couldn’t figure out nursing and had to move to a bottle and cows are no different. Most of the time, nature does know how to take care of itself, but every now and then there’s a calf that has issues or is too weak or just can’t figure out how to nurse! There are times that cows have trouble giving birth, calves can be breach or even com backwards!

So having cows at calving time means riding around and checking the moms. While everyone was gone, I had two calves come easy, one set of twins and one that was born and fell in the pond! It was a crazy two weeks!

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When The Storm Rolls In

hay in the field as the storm rolls in

Two things that don’t go together….rain and hay! This summer has truly been one to remember. It has been very difficult to get that 3 day window to cut and bale hay, while in other parts of the country, farmers are extremely dry and in need of rain. Recently, hay was cut and although great attempts were made to get it baled in time, the storms rolled in and the hay was ruined. Sometimes things just don’t go as planned!

Hay that is cut and baled for cattle can get a little wet, if it is allowed to dry before baling. But hay for horses cannot get wet at all. I don’t know all of the science and reasons behind it, but I’m sure it has something to do with cows having 4 stomachs and the ability to process the hay in a way that horses can’t. Nevertheless, when our friends cut down this hay for horses, and the rain came, the hay was ruined. I don’t know about you, but standing in a field looking at a $10,000 loss is a sobering thought!

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Chasing a Legacy

cattle on the farm- part of chasing a legacy

Farms are work! Most people can never understand how much work goes on around here on a daily basis. I am so thankful for farmers of all kinds. Big farms, little farms, cattle farms, chicken or pig farms, crop farms, all farms/farmers are necessary and underappreciated! (my opinion) But at the end of the day, there is a lot of work involved and sometimes people can get the wrong idea. Our philosophy is that we aren’t chasing a living, we are chasing a legacy!

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