An Early Spring???

We have had a mild winter thus far.
There was snowfall but it was brief and temperatures were unusually warm again in just a couple of days.
In contrast to this past summer when temperatures soared and the animals suffered and some died due to the heat, this winter of mild temps has been welcomed. Of course, this being Oklahoma, the weather can take a turn for the worst without nary a moment's notice.
But for now, while I'm taxiing kids here, there, and everywhere it's nice that I'm not nervous about icy roads or whether-or-not one of the sweet cherubs has forgotten their coat.
Walking in the woods, back by the lake last week, the children and I spotted many signs of spring creeping in early. Up here at the house, the tulips that I put in last fall are pushing up through the ground as well as the other early-flowering plants.
Before we know it spring will be here in all her glory!





Spring here means tornado weather, in other words scanning the clouds for rotation within wall clouds, cleaning out the cellar, baseball practices and games, and bucket-calves arriving.
It means yelling at the kids to take their shoes off before coming into the house due to the increased trips to the barn to take care of new calves.





The smell of milk replacement permeates the house and the presence of large feeding bottles begging to be washed constantly causes irritation to all those trying to get to the kitchen sink.
This past Sunday I made a trip to town for groceries and stopped by one of the local farm supply stores. They already had their chicks, ducks, and guineas for sale. Wonderfully, I walked around the large tubs lit up bright yellow by their individual heat lamps and peered in at all the sweet, fluffy cuteness.
Peep, peep, peep, peep...as the little fluffy tushes scurried about or huddled sleepily together.
I told myself, "Resist and the devil, will flee," or in my case the temptation to call my husband and plead that we could put just a few in the schoolroom for just a few weeks and then kick them out to the coop.
But who was I kidding, winter is not over, and this is Oklahoma after all.
Besides, the large rubber feeding tub I've used in the past for the small ones was currently out in the calf pen being used by the five bovine behemoth's and their offspring.
There were strikes against me from all sides, I was hemmed in, and there was no getting around it.
No farm supply chicks this late winter/spring!
But I have a plan.



Remember Mr. Incredible...the incredibly mean rooster that my husband killed last summer? Well, the one sole survivor of the chick crop from last summer lives on. That's right, Mr Incredible has a son, and he's the spittin' image of his cantankerous dad. And rather fittingly his name is, Dash.
Dash and his harem will supply me with a fresh crop of chickens, I just know it...or I think so anyway.
We will see, we will see.
Counting my chickens before they hatch,
& looking forward to Spring,
Julie

Workin' Some Calves

The kids got out and helped Tim put eartags in the calves this morning.



Oh and they were a big help! They helped Tim get the calves cornered into a couple of panels. Middle child assisted in loading the tagging gun. She has serious dreams of following in her dad's footsteps to be a veterinarian someday.



Ta-da! "Look Ma, I got my ear pierced!"
(Momma bawling in the background)
"I always knew he was the black sheep...errrr, I mean rebel in the family!"



Tim had to play cowboy to catch our smallest and newest calf, Bingo.



Catching her was pretty easy, but keepin Mama at a safe distance was another thing altogether!



"Watch out Tim!"

 

And finally, Bingo is tagged.



"Momma, that was a bit brutal."



"Yes, I know Honey, there are plenty of hoops to jump through in life, just wait...I heard the man say that he would be castrating calves next month."

And Bandito watched the whole thing while enjoying the Oklahoma early morning sunshine!



Our week has started off productively, I hope yours has too!
Blessings, Julie

I Don't Know Nothin' 'Bout Birthin' Calves!

Just right up front I gotta say that I really don't have much to say.
Well other than we're outrageously busy around here with old mother cows
'bout to birth babies, the rest of the critters, 4-H, educatin' kids, choir, scouts, getting ready for a craft show, and numerous and other sundry stuff.
Probably just like your homestead, huh?



And regarding the big old cows birthin' babies...we're excited! We've never experienced this part of the whole cattle scene before. Well, I should probably correct myself there. Tim has.
He's delivered many a calf. I was there for some of them. One of our premarital discussions over money took place while Tim was performing a c-section on a heifer. Imagine if you will, little ole me pouring a bucket of antiseptic solution over a huge gaping incision that Tim had just pulled a calf through and moi asking rather nonchalantly, " Are we going the route of joint checking accounts or seperate?" You got the picture. And that's really the way our lives have rolled ever since!

Have a wonderful week!
Blessings, Julie

That's No Bull!

                                   Otis at eighteen months
I was just outside to let the chickens out to freerange, when I noticed our large (appr. 1000 lbs) 18 month old brangus steer, Otis, hurrying around the barn towards the trough. He didn't act at all interested in what may be in there but stood, head up and alert, looking around with an air of agitation. He then bellered loudly several times with an expectant expression on his bovine face, turned quickly and exited as quickly as he had entered.
I couldn't help but stop and observe all this with a bit of amusement and curiousity as number one, Otis never moves this fast and number two, Otis never seems to get excited about anything except food.
While standing there I realized his little sidekick, Peanut, wasn't with him.
Peanut is our "mistake" calf.
Last May, I asked Tim to buy me a beef calf to bottle feed and raise hoping one of the kids would someday show it.


                                                                     Peanut at two weeks
Peanut let us know real fast that he had other plans.
Peanut, short for Peanut Brain, is our juvenile delinquent calf. Barbed wire means absolutely nothing to the little lame brain, he goes through it.


                                                        Peanut currently
We've caught him time and time again in the barn trashing the place. He goes through dog food and chicken feed like he's poppin' a peppermint in his snout!



Any tool left on the barn floor is a target and Peanut doesn't miss.
So as I stood there watching Otis's odd behavior, I realized he was looking fervently for Peanut.


                                                         Peanut and his surrogate mother, Otis.
We had laughed that it seemed Peanut was attracted to Otis early on and stayed at his side like a calf does with his mother.
But to see that Otis needed Peanut, too, was rather comical.
So turning back towards the house and shaking my head, I thought, "Wow, I've seen it all."
I was met by one of the dogs carrying what looked like the hind leg of a deer.
Hmmm, farm livin', it's definitely never boring.