Names for Pets

Hi all. Jeremy (of course!) remembered that Earl's girl name was "Nellie", (back when she was still suspected to be a hen) and Bernadette and Nellie were Jeremy's pick of the chicks to train to sit nicely on his shoulder while he was in the backyard with them. Got me thinking about other nick-names for the pets, as I let Rocky out of the crate just now and called him "Rock-man".  Other names for him are "Rock-mania" (depending on how crazy he's being), "Rock-meister", and of course--"Rocky Balboa".  His nicknames are the most creative, which probably isn't saying much...... Shadow is easier--just her real name or "Shadow-girl". I tend to call the cows "Pretty girls", "Bossy Bessie", "Bessie-girl", "Little Lucy" (or Little Lou), and Bess and Lu, nothing really imaginative there.  Conrad the rooster was named after we took his regal stature into account and the classic way he struts around when he's looking out for his hens. Earl was NOT named after Chris' childhood friend and our neighbor for 15 years, contrary to popular belief.  I guess that was kind of regal name, too, once we knew that "Nellie" just didn't fit him anymore. Most of the chickens don't get names, because there are over 60 now, but one big fluffy black one that hatched from our eggs this spring is "Brownie", because she has the most beautiful brown feathers sprinkled through her shiny black ones.  Jeremy has "Hawk" and "Eagle", two Ameraucana chicks from this spring, who I suspect weren't fathered by Conrad, but by the constantly-escaping Barnevelder roosters which we kept way too long before finding a butcher.  They just look too much like the Barnevelder hens, but are small, which could also prove that they were fathered by too-young roosters strutting their stuff behind Conrad's back. "Blackbeard" is the lone Cayuga duck that hatched in the fall from eggs that went through 2 power outages.  He seems to have turned out to be a "she", as she keeps nesting in the chicken-coop by the growing nestful of duck-eggs. From Palatine's illegal back-yard flock, the only one left is a white Leghorn named "Shoulder Hen".  Buffalo and "Crooked Beak" both came down with and died from a respiratory thing that seems to hit the flock when the weather is damp. Barn kitties "Spartan" and "Charlie" were from an alpaca farm.  When we visited for Alpaca Days that first fall after we bought the place, there they were in a dog crate.  Jeremy and his friend Luke were there with me.  Someone had dumped them off at another farm, and the alpaca people were trying to find a farm for them.  Michael and Jeremy were already counting on each being able to have a barn cat, so after a quick call to Jeff (who was at Michael's Immanuel basketball game that afternoon in Palatine) we brought them "home" to spend the winter in the barn.  The only time Spartan and Charlie saw the inside of the house in Palatine was when I hauled them all the way from Woodstock for our vet to check them out.   (Lots of chickens and the 2 cats lived here for 9 months before we even moved in.  I was here at least every other day to take care of all those animals and to try to get things ready for the big move.....) Our house cats are Midnight and Sly, but there don't seem to be any funny nicknames for either of them.  But it's worth noting---last year before we lived here, I caught mice inside the house for almost 2 weeks straight before the hard freeze outside, and again in the spring.  Jeff catches mice out in the garage now, but, inside the house, the only mouse I've caught in a trap since we moved here in August was in Jeremy's bathroom (last week).  The door is closed now so that the cats don't get in and bother the baby chicks in the bathtub, and sure enough, that's where the mouse wasn't taken care of by Sly or Midnight! New chicks are due to hatch in 6 days, if everything went well with the incubation.  ;) And now, on the last day of January, I have to finally get the last of the ornaments off the Christmas tree and try to haul it outside to get the living room back in order.  Seems to happen every year, despite good intentions to do it much earlier. Have a good day, everyone. Laura.

Tribute to Earl

Well, after a really quick illness, Earl the Barnevelder roo died last night.  He is the beautiful mahogany rooster in the photo I've attached, and the one who looked so grand and healthy in the photo from just last week. We hatched him from an expensive batch of hatching eggs, bought from Julie Gabbard (on-line).  He was the only Barnevelder that hatched, along with a few Welsummers.  Bernadette was Jeremy's favorite from that hatch--the only Welsummer hen.  4 eggs hatched out of 18, I think, and the cost for the batch was over $60!  Expensive chicks! We thought he was a hen for the longest time.  He was a rather late bloomer.  I don't even remember what girl name we gave him, but he was out in the yard with WAY too many chicks back in Palatine.  We didn't even suspect that he was a roo until he decided to fight with a new rooster that Luke and his family had hatched, and which was now joining our flock.  Earl made the transition with most of those chickens to our friends' place in Barrington Hills, because it was LEGAL there, and was not legal in Palatine..... And he made the trip to the farm with the entire flock (minus the large batch of roosters that met their fate in Chicago, and became someone's dinner) as soon as we closed the deal and the property was ours.  He was spared that day because he was still waiting to show us his true identity!  ;) Anyway, he was sick last winter and I nursed him back to health along with a large number of the Ameraucana chickens who were also close to death.  Every day that I was here taking care of them, I loaded them up in wire cages and set them in the sun, so that they could soak up the warmth and vitamins that they were missing in the barn.  He never got over the peculiar little sneeze, though. He has been the head rooster in the Barnevelder coop since I moved the supposed "pure-blooded" Barnevelder roos back into the barn (their chicks showed that there was some Welsummer blood in them, just by the coloring of their feathers, so Earl got to be top dog). Even after I brought home another absolutely beautiful Barnevelder roo from Barneveld, Wisconsin (yes, that's true!), Earl kept the young upstart in line. You can see in the photo that the top of his comb and part of his wattle are a bit blackish.  That's usually the sign of frostbite, and last week I couldn't figure out why he would have frostbite when the others had no sign of it.  Well, I forgot that a black and shriveling comb was a symptom of many of the chickens which died last winter.   So last night, he was in the nest box, where he NEVER is.  He is always on the top roost, with his adoring harem of older hens clustered as close to him as possible.  This morning he had died in that little nest box, and the young roo was already strutting his stuff with the ladies. We have 9 chicks already hatched and set up in the upstairs bathtub, some of which have Earl's bloodlines.   And another 36 Barnevelder eggs in the incubator, hopefully carrying on his perfect Barnevelder genes.  I should feel sad that he's gone, but it's actually a relief, because as bad as he was last night, it would have meant a mercy killing today, and I would have hated to do that to him.  He was truly a handsome bird. Sometimes I think that chickens are so hardy, and that almost nothing can get them (except a surprise attack from a hawk, maybe).  And then seeing Earl's feathery body all quiet like that, it just reminds me of how fragile they really can be.   He was king of the coop for more than a year.  Kind of a grand place for a little scrawny late-bloomer of a chick!   Time to milk Bess.  She's mooing out there, reminding me that I have other things to get done. Laura.

Sunday

Just a couple of funny stories today.  Remember how I described the cows disliking the cats, to the point of chasing them out of the fenced acre?  And two other times,  the door to the main part of the barn was just a crack open while I milked, and when one or the other kitty thought it would be fun to peek around the door and see what was going on, Lucy actually bucked and ran at them.  I was a little wary then, because I was sitting by Bessie's side milking her when the commotion was going on, and that room is certainly not big enough for a heifer calf that decides to go on a rampage. Today one of the barn cats slipped out of the barn when I was going in.  I was on my way to milk Bessie, and had to get grain, alfalfa, iodine dip, the milk crate to sit on, etc.,  ready before going in.  I completely forgot about the cat.   Well, I was half-way through milking Bess, and Lucy was happily munching the hay that she had all to herself because Bessie was otherwise occupied.  A little golden-tabby head peeked around the door from the outside, too close to Lucy.  Charlie (the cat) started to creep in, and Lucy snorted.  Bessie started shifting around.  The bucket of milk was in danger of being capsized.  And into my mind came the image of the elephants in Disney's Tarzan movie, with the elephants from The Jungle Book coming to mind close behind.  Huge animals, trumpeting crazily, stamping all around with no sense of what they were doing.   And there I was, right next to a rather huge beast, who was getting restless, and who had chased a little cat numerous times already.  Needless to say, I was ready to spring up from the milk crate, save the milk on my way, and get out of there if need be.   Charlie tried creeping in warily a few times before he was brave enough.  I waited for him to come over and rub against me and purr, which surely would have sent Bessie through the roof.  But he curled up in the corner, still not sure of what he would do, but definitely sure that he wanted to be out of the snowstorm.  Bessie let me continue to milk her and must have decided that the cat wasn't going to be worthy of her attention any more.  Lucy didn't come bucking in my direction, trying to scare the kitty away.  And Charlie luckily didn't try to come up to the bucket to try to lick a taste of milk, because that would have been TOO close for Bess!  When I took the milk back through the barn, Charlie ran like a streak of lightning past Lucy's back hooves before she could even THINK of bucking, and was safe inside again with his twin brother, Spartan.   But all day, I've been chuckling at the mental image of two cows stomping mindlessly around that small area  because of a little frightened cat, with the trumpeting of elephants sounding in the background!  ;)  I wonder what sound a cow would make that could come close to elephant trumpeting.  Could be funny if I'm far enough away...... Besides that, the dogs have decided that it's their job to clean up all the cow pies that are left by Bess and Lou.  They run from pile to new pile, sampling each one and coming back to whatever they must think is the tastiest.  Yuck!  Like little Hoover vacuum cleaners.  The chickens were supposed to scratch the manure into good compost, if all went like the books suggested, but they don't stand a chance against these two crazy dogs! Spent $300 for 75 bales of grass-alfalfa hay today.  Dan delivered it--he's the one who was so great to drive 3 hours to Port Byron to round up Bess and Lou, apparently helping Farmer Bob round up Lou from the pasture with the other calves (which she did NOT want to leave, from the description I've heard), then driving 3 hours back and averting catastrophe as both Lucy and Bessie separately tried to make a break for it by leaping out of the back of his cattle trailer and trying to remain OUTSIDE of our nicely fenced acre.  The hay looks great--about the greenest hay we've been able to buy, lots of good grass with a good amount of alfalfa mixed in, and the best price, too.  Plus, no other place was willing to deliver unless we paid an extra dollar or two PER BALE!  Still, $300 hurts the savings account a bit, and it probably won't be enough to get us through to the first cutting of fresh hay in May or June.  Dan says he always has plenty available, and I'm thinking he's in a pretty good business, because we can't skimp on feeding hay to these cows. Trying to make ricotta cheese, but I think I scorched it and will have to try again tomorrow.  But the great thing is--I don't have to feel like it's wasted.  The chickens will eat it, scorched or not, whey, curds and all.  And I'll have plenty of fresh milk to start over and try again.  Nice!  Hmm....now I'm wondering if I grabbed a quart of cream and added it by mistake with the 3 quarts of milk (should have been a gallon of whole milk).  That could be why the whey still looks "milky" when it's supposed to be clear--too much creaminess for the citric acid to curdle out? Oh, and to answer lots of your questions, Jeff is in England on business with his boss until Thursday.  A company there wants to partner with Peregrine on a new project that seems to have a lot of promise. Goodnight, everyone. Laura.

More thoughts about Bessie and farm life

I'm thinking that I painted the vet as a really uncompassionate guy in yesterday's e-mail.  Dr. Morrissey is actually very informative, we've spoken on the phone numerous times, usually between his farm calls (sounds a bit like Jim Herriot making his country vet calls!), and he takes all the time I need to understand what I'm dealing with.  I've been very impressed with him.  (His title is "bovine practitioner".  Took me quite a while to figure out what type of vet to even look up in the phone book before bringing Bessie and Lucy here!)   His comment about putting Bessie "on a truck" to "cure" the mastitis (meaning she'd not be coming back, ever) was based on the thought that her infection may be one type that is impossible (or nearly impossible?) to ever get rid of, and is highly infectious to other cows.  He was really very straightforward, but apologized about having to say-it-like-it-is many times, because he knows that I'm new to the "livestock" idea. So the mastitis facts and thoughts have been swirling in my head all day.  Just skip the rest of the e-mail if this is of no earthly interest to you!  ;)  It's mostly just me typing down my thoughts, so that I can go to bed with all of the swirling thoughts on "paper" and out of my head...... Supposedly, there are about 20 bacteria or viruses that can cause mastitis.  One of the worst is a staph infection (seems like there are 3 different staph infections that can cause mastitis).  Even if this is the kind that Bessie has, it's likely that it's confined to the one quarter that is swollen, at least for now and hopefully for as long as I keep up the religious cleaning and good hygiene when I milk her.  (Good news.....it hasn't swollen more and is still not hot and red, and seems to be doing better now that I've hit on a milking rotation.  I milk the back quarters first thing in the morning.  Seems to get more milk out and leave her more comfortable for the day.  Leaves more milk in the front quarters, but then she seems VERY relieved when that milk lets down in the evening....and this way the infected quarter seems to be milked out almost dry both times, like it's supposed to be.)  Dr. Morrissey suggested testing the 3 good quarters to see if there's any sign of infection in those, and we will do that.   The problem might come in if she has a female calf, which would get milk from all 4 quarters  (meaning that she's in close contact with the possible staph infection/virus/bacteria) unless we take the calf away and bottle feed her (LOADS more work for us--milking Bess twice a day, then feeding a calf multiple times a day).  Bull calves would be destined for the freezer anyway, harsh as it sounds, so if she has a bull calf, we're OK in terms of not letting another cow be exposed to staph (or whatever other cause of mastitis it is.)   But--for Bessie to be productive, she needs to be bred each year and have a calf each year--which means possibly dealing with isolating a girl calf every single year to keep Bessie's milk flowing for us.  Doesn't sound too appealing.  And even worse, if we were to ever bring another cow to the farm, Bessie could be the carrier of a virus or bacteria that would then infect another cow.  There are reasons for looking at the hard-nosed approach.  There's also reason for me to learn all that I can, so that I know what all the options are. And we've learned with the chickens, sometimes by watching them suffer and finally having to put an end to their misery, that death is a part of life, even though we try not to think about it.  When two hens were injured as a roost fell during the night, they were limping first, then just wasting away and becoming paralyzed.  I had to kill one before she starved to death in the corner of the coop, and cried all morning afterward.  Jeff helped me out by taking care of the other one when she was going downhill a week or so later, and it wasn't much easier for him.  When we have 2 dozen young roosters who are all trying to make nice with the other adult roosters' hens, the only thing to do is bring those "extras" to the butcher and fill up our freezer.  I've desperately tried Craigslist to find a home for extra roosters, even to give them away, but when everyone else with chickens also has the same problem (half or more of each hatch will be males!), then the freezer seems the most sane choice over the bloodshed and killing that the roosters would do among themselves.   When a chick hatches with a deformity, I'm learning that they will eventually die on their own, maybe even of starvation because of a crossed beak or a paralyzed leg, and that a quick death soon after they hatch may be the best animal husbandry I can practice.  NOT that I like it, and it brings tears to my eyes just to type it, but I've had to do it at various times for various reasons in just the short time we've been here.    It's against my nature to take the life of anything other than mosquitos, mice, rats, roaches.....certainly baby chicks don't count as pests like those, and they're so CUTE and fuzzy and soft....!  Much easier to take the roosters to the butcher and get nicely packaged chicken to put right in the freezer--no muss, no fuss.  But if I let myself think about it, it still bothers me. So, these are my thoughts today.  Bessie seems to be a part of the farm as if she'd always been here.  She has had a good life with Farmer Bob and will have a good life here, no matter how long that life may be.  I will do whatever I can to find out what kind of mastitis infection she has, and to treat it if at all possible.  There may be a hard choice to make next summer or fall, depending on what the tests show and on what I learn as I take off on yet another rather manic internet search for information (the same type of search that led us to Bess and Lou).  For today, I'll enjoy her calm nature as I milk her, and continue to watch out for her pushy nature as I come in to set up for milking.  She's here for a reason, and I intend to honor God's placement of her here, on our farm, whatever that means or for however long it is. A few friends are praying for a few things:  I have what I think is carpal tunnel syndrome--It acts up mostly when I have ordered the 5 cubic yards of mulch (more than one dump truck full) every year in Palatine and almost single-handedly shovel it onto all the flower gardens there--but also when I type too much or text too much, or now, it seems like it's acting up with the motions of milking Bessie.  Typing isn't helping it, either.  Some mornings my hands or wrists seem to almost go numb when I'm milking but the rhythm of it keeps me going.  Also--some friends have Bessie on their prayer list now, praying that the infection may turn out to be something other than Staph, something that can be cured.  She's a cow, I know, and that doesn't figure to be all that much in the grand scheme of things, but one friend reminded me of God's promise--that he will hear our prayers.  And if God knows when the smallest sparrow falls, then Bessie matters to Him. My prayer would be one of thanks, first of all, for God bringing us to this place and bringing such joy into my life with the opportunity to experience the hard work and everything else about living in the country with my family.  And next, that God will continue to be good (something that is not even in question!), and to give us wisdom and peace, as we learn to value all life but also to live with the tough decisions that come with homesteading.  And having said that, I would really love it if Bessie can stay and live a long life here, and God will hear about that from me in respectful requests as we go about our fact-finding, I know.  Ultimately, her life is in God's hands, and He will let us know in good time how it will all play out. The dogs are lying on the floor in a snarling, fangs-bared wrestling match.  Surprising thing is, Shadow is playing along, and Rocky is actually making growling noises at her and getting away with it.  At 7 months, Rocky is already bigger and taller than Shadow, but she can still outrun him and makes sure to run him down until he cowers when he tries this in the back-yard.  It drives Jeff crazy when they get into their play fights inside (which are really setting the stage for whether Rocky will become top dog or if Shadow will be able to keep defending her spot)  And now they must know that I'm typing about them, because both are looking at me like I've yelled at them.   Jeff is on the plane to England.  Time for me to get to bed so that I have the energy to keep up with everything until he comes home on Thursday.   Thanks for humoring me by continuing to read about our little farm saga.   Laura.

A bad day at the farm

Hi all.  It's nice enough for the chickens and cows to be out again today, so the yard is full of barnyard noises.  The ducks are on the other side of the barn from the house, but I can hear them loudly over everything else.  The one duck that we hatched seems to be a bit under the weather lately, so I'm keeping an eye on her.  Seems that whenever a chicken camps out under the heat lamp for several days in a row, that's the chicken that I find dead under the heat lamp a few more days later.  I thought that was the case with Blackbeard (she's a black Cayuga duck, really beautiful with green iridescent color on black feathers).  She was laying under the lamp, neck at a funny angle, and I dreaded looking in at her, but she perked up and pushed a chicken out of the way when she saw me checking in on her. A bit of a panic an hour ago when I went into the garage to find the hose.  As soon as I opened the door, I heard water gushing.....  Shouldn't be any water running in the garage, ever!  But the pipes had burst under the stairs, and water was spraying all over (luckily it was contained and leaking out the side of the garage, and not INTO the garage which is still full of Palatine stuff to plow through.)  I called the well company who had sent out a guy in August before we moved in, but then when I called Jeff, he was able to tell me where the valve switch was.  I just couldn't see it through all the water spraying out!  So that's taken care of, and we didn't have to pay big bucks for an emergency visit from the well and pump guy. The cows are frisking around the back acre again, and both dogs are just about frantic that they can't get out there.  I think it would be a bit of a disaster--Rocky and Shadow would try to "play" with Lucy, and Bessie would charge them.  After watching both cows chase the cats out of the pasture yesterday, I don't think they'd put up with irritating dogs.  And we don't need any vet bills right now. It's funny today, though, because Lucy seems to be taunting Bessie.  Bess charges her, Lucy trots away, Bess gets involved with something else, and Lucy comes back, trotting as if she's up to some mischief.  It's like watching Rocky try to get a reaction out of Shadow, only on a bigger scale. Shadow and Rocky had great fun sniffing out the new cow pies after the cows went to bed last night.  Luckily, they seem to like them better when they're frozen and they can pick them up and run with them.....  Still gross. Bess has a bit of mastitis in one of her back "quarters".  I never would have thought that the udder is divided into four distinct sections, but it is. She has swelling in one of the back sections, so that milk has been going to the chickens (safe for them, not safe for people to drink).   The infection can't spread to the other quarters unless it can enter through the teat end, and I've been fairly religious about using the iodine dip both before and after milking to keep her as clean as possible.   But there are two extremes of thought on this.  Farmer Bob sounds the most sane about it.  The vet seems to think it's a death sentence waiting to happen.  Meaning, as he put it, "There's one sure way to cure mastitis, and that's putting her on a truck".  His advice is to let her have her calf (but not to let her nurse it if it's a girl), to let a couple of adopted bull calves drink all of her milk next spring and summer and then send her away.  He said we could still have hamburger---funny, that's not the comforting statement I needed right then.   Farmer Bob was much more matter-of-fact about it.  No extreme measures.  Treat it and watch it and call him with any questions. I cried a bit, Jeff and I talked it through, and there has to be some truth to both sides, and some middle ground.  Jeff even suggested milking her "good" quarters after the calf is born and bottle feeding her calf, if that would keep a heifer calf from possibly picking up the infection. So the end result for Bessie remains to be seen.  She's only been here 2 weeks, and I didn't really think I was THAT attached to her, but I should have known better.   Kind of sad, but I guess that is the reality that comes with having livestock.  :( Whatever happens with Bessie next summer, I'm determined that I'll give her the best life here, as long as she is in our care! On a much happier note--Michael has discovered a love for milk that is rivaling my own (hard to believe, I know!).  We skim the cream off the milk, and he takes a quart of it to school every day and drinks it during first hour.  Even skim milk from Bessie is much richer than store-bought 2%.  Then at dinner, he's been having 2 full cups of it, plus maybe a glass when he gets home, maybe a glass before bed......  He's tall already--it will be interesting to see how much height he might be able to attribute to the fresh milk he's getting!  ;)  And it makes me glad that I'm not PAYING at the grocery store for all that milk!  (The milk from the good quarters is perfectly fine for us to drink.  No worries there!) Here are the photos from yesterday.  You can see that Bess found a bit of mud that she decided would be great for a beauty treatment.  Luckily, it wasn't a full-sized wallow, or I'd have had a lot of fun getting mud off of her before milking last night!  Still, she's sporting a fair amount of dried mud and grit all over her face this morning and looked a bit scary when I came in and her huge head was peering around the door waiting to get a mouthful of alfalfa as soon as she could get to it.  I know the nice weather can't last, but it's sure wonderful to see the girls out back and all the chickens scattered around the yard. Laura Picasa Album

Cows frolicking?

Imagine....a big, sedate black and white cow with a swinging udder, just kicking up her heels and frolicking.  ;)  And then little Lucy, half the size of Bessie, side by side with Bessie as they both trot, gallop, shake their heads and basically kick up their heels........   Today started out like what is becoming a "normal" farm day for me.  Jeff and Jeremy got out of the house and on their way to Palatine by 6:25 or so.  Jeff brought water to the cows before he left, then, before Michael and I left to get him to Faith in Crystal Lake, Michael brought MORE water to the cows (they drink an unbelievable amount!).   I came home, took the dogs out to run, got the milking stuff ready, and that all went without a hitch.  Scooped poop to get it out of the way when Bessie and Lucy lie down in their straw.  Brought the dogs back in and made sure the chickens had what they need for the day.  Let the chickens out of the barn because the temperature was above freezing..... The only thing different was.....I left the gate to the cow pen open on purpose.  The cow pen is on the back side of the barn, by the silo, and is inside the larger fenced acre.  Enough snow had melted that some old grass was showing, but I kind of expected Bess and Lucy to just stay in and chew their cuds like they usually do after milking time.   Filtered the milk and got it into the frig, and then the fun started.  The dogs started whining uncontrollably at the back door.  I peeked out, and could see Bessie's head just visible behind the corner of the barn. So she had at least come out of the pen (first time I've left the gate open since they had the run of the fenced acre--unintended!!--after being delivered 2 weeks ago).   What happened next was totally unexpected.  Bessie actually kicked up her heels and started frolicking around.  Next came Lucy, who passed Bessie up and was bucking and kicking her back legs right and left with glee.  The dogs were going completely berserk in the house, and I couldn't help laughing out loud.   I had to watch a bit to make sure they weren't trying to stampede or something.....!  But no, they were actually playing, just enjoying the added freedom to roam and scratch their heads against trees and stretch their legs. Funny, I never would have expected both cows to be grazing side by side, but that's where they are right now--under the stand of white pine trees, grazing on who-knows-what because no grass grows under there, and just looking content.  The dogs have settled down inside, but Shadow is still standing guard at the door and whining now and then.  Rocky left a big wet smudge on the window before sacking out on the floor, as he forlornly licked the glass, wishing he was out there with Bess and Lou.  And the cows look just beautiful out in our back yard! It's a good way to start the day, for sure! Laura.

Oooohhh....I forgot that I had this Picasa album all set up from when we first saw the farm in August of 2010.  A lot has changed since then, and some of you have seen these photos already..... Working on getting the photos from today ready to share! And.....I needed to add this to all of the previous e-mails: Thank-you God for bringing us to this farm, for having it just "waiting" for us through the previous bank foreclosure, numerous failed contracts with other buyers, and even the extra waiting time when our offer fell through when we were so certain that this is the place You had for us. Thank-you for Pat Larsen, a real estate agent who also became a friend in the process.....who called immediately when the farm was available again (not even back on the market) and who was just as excited as we were! Thank-you for providing such a beautiful setting for our family to share with friends and family. Thank-you for the blessing of a Lutheran high school for Michael to attend. Thank-you for the blessing of eggs to share, and for the "ladies" who lay faithfully every day to fill up the nest-boxes. Thank-you for a husky puppy that is TRAINABLE!  (to a certain extent) Thank-you for friends who are supportive and even excited about this crazy life-change that we've made. Thank-you, God, for Bessie and Lucy, and the milk that seems such a natural part of farm life.  Thank-you for Farmer Bob who took such good care of them before you brought them here, and who is still interested in their well-being! Thank-you for the continuing adventure, and the continued stretch of what we THINK we can accomplish here, both physically and emotionally. And Thanks to God that our family in some ways seems to have drawn closer together in helping each other and wanting to spend time with each other! Thanks to everyone--I had this on my mind as I was driving and typing and working this morning, and felt that I'd left out a big part of the "why" of what we're doing.  ;) Enjoy the photos.  I think we took these just after we signed the papers to make it officially OURS!  :) Picasa Album

The little heifer has a name

The little heifer has a name.  Jeremy named it "Lucy", and that name has taken on 3 different meanings so far.  For Jeff and me, it immediately reminded us of the slightly buck-toothed "Lucy" from the original PBS The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  Jeremy immediately told us that he thought of it while playing some game with a "Lucia" in it.  And today, Jeremy was home with a fever, and listening to the Beatles (the newest craze in 4th grade, it seems) and decided that "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" was another good reason to call her Lucy.
She's coming around--she's eaten hay and grain out of Jeremy's hand, has let me touch her nose, and she sneaks up quietly behind me when I'm milking Bessie and then sniffs my jacket.  She likes to snort when she sniffs my gloves, because THOSE smell totally like COW!!!

Bessie is doing really well.  I have to follow the routine with her.....I go in with the grain and hold her off with a stick, fill her stanchion feed pan, sneak the left-over grain in the bucket out the door to Lucy who is waiting eagerly, go back for the alfalfa for Bessie and bring in the milking supplies and the milk crate to sit on.  She stands pretty quietly now, and part of it is that I increased the amount of grain she was getting so that she wasn't nosing all around for the last crumb while I was trying to finish milking her.

Jeff even took a turn milking her yesterday night.  I wish I had had the camera for that!  ;)
Today was actually kind of balmy in the morning, so I went out and put electric-wire holders (molded yellow plastic) on the T-posts of their fence, so that eventually we can hook up the solar charger, use the electric wire as their fence, and take down the fence that was only intended for chickens when we put it up!  If they were to even lean against it, they'll find out that the whole back fenced acre is theirs to roam in!

Made cinnamon rolls with Jeremy when he was feeling better this afternoon.  (Really, he had a fever yesterday and was pretty much over it by this morning.)  So dinner was easy--fresh cinnamon rolls and fresh milk.  Michael is still on his way back from a basketball game, and the cinnamon rolls were in his honor.  His birthday was in December, and we went to Houlihan's to celebrate, but he had also asked for cinnamon rolls during Christmas break as the "homemade" treat for his birthday.  Just a little late....

Jeff's ice rink is looking good, now that we've had a good hard freeze and some rain to smooth things out.

Have a good night, everyone!

Huge puppies?

I've been worried a bit about the little one being pushed around, that she doesn't seem to know that we're OK to be near, seeing her on one side of the fence while the dogs go crazy on the other.  This morning I'm not worried anymore.

I milked Bessie as usual (although this is the first time that Bess stuck her foot in the bucket and the chickens got half a bucket before I even filtered it!)  Bess decided to back out of the stanchion and go see what she could chase the heifer away from, because the heifer's crunching was getting on her nerves.

I started mucking out all the grossness that they like to leave behind and lay around in, and with each shovelful going out the door, the little heifer did a quirky little run with a rodeo-style bucking!  I thought she was scared of me like usual (and I was just a little worried that I'd be kicked!), but I started to see that she was waiting for me to come out with the next shovelful, and seemed to be playing like a puppy would play (a HUGE puppy!).

The dogs were ecstatic on the other side of the fence.

Bessie, of course, hated the whole idea of Baby Girl kicking up her heels in glee, and rushed out to put a stop to it.  Luckily, the lure of the alfalfa in the barn brought her back in and no harm was done.

Little Heifer even came up to sniff my hand (my gloves and coat all smell like Bessie now), and didn't shy away as quickly as before.

So, even with a cow foot in a half a bucket of milk and a winter weather advisory threatening, it was a good morning.  Can't wait to tell Jeremy!  :)

'Glad everyone liked the photos.

Just a few photos to give a face to the stories.....

The big one is Bossy Bessie.  The smaller and shaggier one is waiting to be named.  "Georgia" didn't seem to fit.  I suggested "Bella", but the boys didn't like that one either, even when I said it could be short for "Bellatrix LeStrange" from Harry Potter.

One photo is a rare moment when the cows both were willing to be close to each other, trying out the grain in the pan.  You can see the difference in size a bit.  Usually Bessie is ramming her head into Georgia/Bella's side to butt her away from the good stuff, so this photo should be framed and put up on the barn wall!

One photo is of Georgia/Bella and Rocky, with Rocky being on the side of the fence he's supposed to be on (he just wants to play....but Bella doesn't!)  Actually, I think that if Shadow was in with the cows, they'd all get along.  Rocky is just the loose cannon that gets everyone riled up.

And one is of Rocky having way too much fun with a piece of frozen.....cow pie.  The dogs have a new favorite toy to play keep-away with.  Blech!

"Normal" Schedule Begins

We've been trying to work the milking into the normal busy schedule, now that it's back to the "normal".....  although Jeremy had Monday and Tuesday off, and Michael had Monday off.  Today will be the first normal day since the cows arrived a week ago. I've been calling her Bess, but am wondering if the traditional "Bossy" is really a better name for a cow.  I come in from the main part of the barn with hay or alfalfa, and she is there standing in my way.  She tosses her head and I realize just how HUGE she is!  Yesterday I didn't bring the grain in at the same time as I brought the alfalfa and other milking supplies, and she stood in the doorway to the barn and nearly leaped up into the barn to get at the grain that she could smell.  I grabbed the lead attached to her collar, but I knew that if she decided to, she'd just drag me along as if I was a piece of fluff!  She butts the little heifer out of the way, so we make sure to toss good hay outside to the heifer while Bess eats inside the doorway.  Makes me think of Paula and me as kids, insulting each other by saying (in a snide sort of voice) "Bossy, Bossy was a cow".  (Maybe that was Paula calling ME bossy, because I WAS a bossy big sister!)  I think I usually used the tried and true insult of calling Paula a "PIG" and sticking my tongue out. Anyway, Farmer Bob DePauw reminded me of his story about the Good Shepherd taking care of his sheep, and that I am now the "good shepherd" of these cows.  Then he said "A good shepherd laughs in the face of danger", and all I can think of now as I go in with the cows is The Lion King movie, where Nala says "I LAUGH in the face of danger, ha ha ha ha HA!" and it gets me smiling.  I'm going to bring a PVC pipe in with me anyway, because when we were trying to direct the cows into the smaller enclosure, a white PVC pipe seemed to be really visible to them as we herded them in.  Forgot about that, and it was only a week ago!  Not to smack Bess with, but just to remind her that there needs to be a certain amount of respectful distance, and she can't just get in my face (literally) trying to get her food before I set it down. Rocky got in with the heifer yesterday again while I was shoveling manure out of the barn, and I was so mad at how he was upsetting the little cow that I chucked the shovel at him!  It's just a big plastic barn shovel, but still.  He had the little one bucking and running scared, and I knew it wouldn't hurt him even if it DID hit him (wouldn't have minded at that point!)  He got the message and slunk out, but I always feel bad when I lose my temper with that dog!  He just seems to live for creating mischief sometimes. Jeremy has decided that he will take care of the young heifer.  I'm pushing for her name to be "Georgia", since Jeremy just finished a state report on Georgia, and we keep singing "Georgia on my mind".  ;)  Jeremy stands outside the gate to the cow's pen, and feeds the heifer hay and grain while I'm milking Bess.  He has decided that it's much more fun to raise a cow than he even though it would be.  Hooray!  Progress!  I have to be careful that he's not in the milking area with me, though, because he talked excitedly the whole time that we tried it, and Bess didn't like someone small being in there, and didn't like the chatter.  (And we chose her because the OTHER cow we saw at that farm was supposed to have "a mind of her own", and Bess was the "calmer one!") Michael likes the idea of taking care of the calf that is born in summer, so that he can raise it for the money he would get (from someone else if it's a girl, from us--if we can stand to put one of our calves in the freezer as meat!--if it's a boy.)  He's trying to find ways to pay for car insurance so that we'll let him take the drivers' ed class.  We'll see--Bossy (oops, meant Bessie!) might have too strong a will to let anyone take care of her calf.  It would be a shame to have to keep the calf separate from her and bottle feed it, but I can't deal with an already bossy cow getting really possessive and potentially dangerous about someone coming near her calf. Well, Michael's still in the shower and will be late for school, but I need to get myself ready.  It's 7:30, and already I've hauled 4 buckets of water to the cows and taken the dogs out to run (THEY ran, I didn't!  I'm getting enough of a work out taking care of these cows, I think.)  Breakfast was buttermilk donuts that I made yesterday after Jeremy and I shook cream in a jar to get the butter out of it, served with fresh milk from yesterday!  Yummy!  ;) Have a good day, everyone!

"Speak softly and carry a big stick"!

To put everyone's mind at ease, in case you're imagining huge black and white cows bullying me as I try to care for them....this mornings' milking went better than what I described about yesterday.  Bess stood quietly, munched her oats and alfalfa, and gave me 1 1/2 gallons of milk with no trouble.

"Speak softly and carry a big stick"!

Bess respects a stick poked in her general direction, and it gave me a comfortable sense of distance.  Plus, when she was turning circles and in danger of stepping on my foot, the stick helped to direct her into the stanchion.  I accidentally touched her nose with it at first, and she backed right up.

Another note:  Don't leave anything that smells like grain within the reach of the cow that you want to have standing still.  A problem last night, once I thought things through.  She could smell the dust from the oats in the bucket I'd emptied into her trough and then put in the corner.  She just wanted more!

Also--I came in through the outside door, and Bess couldn't anticipate the immediate offering of alfalfa and grain as I came through the inside door, which is what I'd been doing. 
Little heifer ("Georgia"?) was in the barn when I first went out,  which made me feel better after seeing her cold and wet outside yesterday in the snow storm.  I think that Bess cornered her in the back corner during the night, but at least she was inside and out of the cold.  I threw all the munched-through stems of alfalfa (that Bess had left behind in the stanchion area) outside to the heifer, who happily munched on left-overs while Bessie got the good stuff and stood still.

Don't know if cows can sense when someone is feeling timid, but going in with a better sense of confidence today was so much better than yesterday.

Going to get cheesecloth today to try a cheese that my cousin Vonda suggested: 
Queso Blanco.  Jeremy is very excited about cheese-making!  ;)

Progress

Michael petted the big cow and got close to the little one.

Bessie gave 1 1/4 gallons of milk both times today.  

I feel like my hands are uncramping and that I'm working WITH her instead of fumbling through the milking.  

The entire rest of my body is sore and stiff.  Who knew that milking a cow uses so many muscles?

Jeremy and Michael made butter with the cream skimmed off yesterday's milk (a whole gallon of which was given to the chickens and dogs this morning....  What a waste!).  Michael's comment was, "Well, even if I won't drink the milk, maybe I'll like the butter".  They got a little golf-ball sized clump from a quart of light cream, and proceeded to make a bag of popcorn and put HALF of that ball of butter on the popcorn.  Not a kernel was left by the time they were done snacking!  :)

Shadow and Rocky loved their cup of milk this morning, and now greet me eagerly each time I bring in the milk bucket from the barn (threatening to upset both the bucket and me with their enthusiasm!)

Huskies trying to "play" with a cow have the same intense look in their eyes that a pack of wolves trying to bring down an elk have.  Kind of unsettling to see that much intensity in his startling blue eyes as he jumps around such a huge animal.  The pup will no longer be allowed to be in the cow pen (not that he was allowed to be there in the first place)!  I thought he must be jumping the fence, but he'd found a tiny "seam" in the wires to squeeze through.  Hopefully closing up that seam better keeps the wolf-like stares to a minimum.

Just took Shadow out for the last time tonight.  She had to go over and greet the cows.  Two sets of big, soft brown eyes peered out from around the barn door to watch what was going on.  Nice and curious, not scared, as if they'd always belonged there.  It would make a wonderful Christmas card photo with all the white snow in the background.  A beautiful sight!  ;)

So this is a big surprise to some of you, since we haven't talked in the past....oh....3 weeks or more.  We (mostly me) started liking organic whole milk more and more, and one thing led to another, which led to checking Craigslist ads, which led to a massive internet search when I couldn't find what I wanted.  We went to look at cows between Christmas and New Years, talked about it for a couple of weeks, thought we couldn't do it when transportation seemed impossible, and then everything fell into place.  The cows arrived on Wednesday when the weather felt like early summer, and yesterday the big and (so far) only snowstorm of the season hit. 

Day 3 Starts Out Right

Date: 

First, back to last night.  The milking went better.  I got 2 1/2 quarts into the bucket and filtered it, but hadn't sterilized her before milking, so I shouldn't have had a glass of it....but I couldn't resist, and it was.....wait for it......Amazing!  Delicious!  Not earthy like I expected, and not like one type of organic milk that I tried that tasted like the smell of cows.  Blech.  This was pure white and absolutely wonderful.

At the advice of a friend who grew up on a farm, I decided to milk her one more time last night. I figured if the cow was usually giving 2-3 gallons of milk a day, hadn't been milked the night before, and there no way of knowing how much my blundering attempts in the morning had milked out of her, 2 1/2 quarts accounted for still left her very uncomfortable and in danger of slowing or stopping milk production eventually.  I want to keep getting milk from her until she needs to stop milking in preparation for that calf to be born in June!

So by that time, Jeff had made it home from California, fought his way through the snowstorm, and he stood in the doorway of the barn as the wind whistled through, watching me milk.  Got another 1 1/2 quarts before she got restless, and this time I remembered a bit more of what had worked the past few attempts, so it seemed to go easier.  Don't know if I'm right on this, but that last quart seemed much creamier than what milked out before dinner.  Jeff tried a polite sip, and Jeremy tried it and exaggerated a gag reflex.  I finished off both glasses.

This morning, back to normal schedule, except with milking a cow thrown in.  Jeff and Jeremy left for Palatine at 6:20, I drove Michael to Crystal Lake at 7:30, and then came back to milk  (can't decide on the name....I alternately called her Bessie and Fergie, although "Bess" for short was better than anything short for "Fergie"). 

I was pretty pleased that I'd thought of getting everything ready and easy to carry out to the barn.  And I was resourceful, too.  I didn't want to spend money on a stainless steel pail, so I cleaned up 2 stainless steel compost buckets (sounds gross, but I did scrub them down thoroughly.  I'd only ever used them to carry kitchen scraps out to the chickens.  They will no longer be used for anything other than milk!) and had them ready, plus they had lids and a nice handle for easy carrying. 

I  gave both of the cows some new hay to munch on, scooped the BIG cow pies out of the room that will double as their shelter and milking room for the winter, and came back in with the bucket of oats and cracked corn and a section of a hay bale (someone told me it is called a "flake", but that makes me think of a tiny leaf of alfalfa.  This is a hefty section that "flakes" off as you separate the bale).  She was ready to follow me as soon as she saw me heading to her corner. 

So, no problem.  I didn't attach her to anything because the stanchion is still not anchored back to the wall.  She moved around a bit, but nothing bad.  I brushed her and sterilized the teats just like I was supposed to, and then the milk was flowing.  Kind of neat--my hands ache from yesterday, but when I worked into a rhythm, it was easy to not think about sore hands and just marvel at the steady stream of pure white milk that this huge animal was giving.

I sat on a milk crate today--much better than crouching down so as to be ready to spring away if she swung her head or stamped her foot, which I had to do a few times yesterday.  My friend Jane had suggested leaning my head against her as a way of letting her know I was there (and to remind her that she didn't need to be moving all around) and that worked.  It was actually comfortable, although I was waiting to be kicked by the little calf in her belly!  Big cow moved around a little and shifted her weight a couple of times at the risk of hitting the bucket, but I didn't lost more than a cup of milk when she hit the bucket at first. 

It's kind of satisfying to see the bucket filling up with milk and know it's coming from YOUR animal, for your family.

Followed the proper procedure, even though she walked away as I was doing it.  Dipped the teats again to sterilize them and to keep any of my germs from making her sick, then (suburban folks, get ready to laugh) rubbed some Bag Balm on my palms and then on her to make sure she was not going to chap.  :)

Filtered the milk once in the barn because some bits of straw fell into the bucket, then brought it in and filtered it again into quart canning jars.  There were almost 3 full jars, so just a bit short of a gallon.  She could have given more, but my hands were giving out and she was getting restless.  The husky pup had gotten into the pen and was trying to play with (harassing) the young heifer, so it was time to stop anyway and reprimand the pup.

Seems a shame, but the milk from yesterday will go to the chickens.  It wasn't properly clean in the first place (her udder was not clean when I milked her that time), AND we will have trouble going through the fresh 3 quarts, especially since there should be at least 3 MORE by tonight.  Those chickens and the barn kitties are going to be loving the excess milk that will come their way.

Time for a long-overdue shower.  I was driving Michael to school and he said "smells like cows".  I was sure it was me, but it turned out to be my gloves that I'd worn in the barn yesterday and had grabbed this morning when I went out to shovel snow.

Then, I think I'll try to cobble 4 wooden pallets together with 2x4's to make something to hold their hay in.  Yesterday I had to just dump it from the 2nd floor down into their room, but so much is wasted.  We'll see if the pallet idea works, and if not, it will become a nice compost bin in the spring.

Oh, by the way, we had 9 chicks hatch in the incubator the day the cows arrived,  and Rocky (the husky) had just been picked up from the vet's that morning after being neutered and was supposed to stay calm that day).  And Jeff was in California!  My mom was right:  It IS a wild ride. 

Thanks, everyone, for following along and sharing my excitement.  We already have requests to come and see the cows, to come and milk the cows.....to view the cows from outside the fence........! 

It's fun to be able to share the farm adventures with you.

Laura. 

Day 2 of Cow Ownership: Getting Better

The big cow finally let me corner her in the little pen in the back of the barn this morning.  She went in, looked at me as if to say "And just what do YOU want?", and started nicely eating her grain.  I did what I was "supposed" to do, according to everything I've read.  I secured her in the stanchion that Jeff built.  Then I skipped over brushing her side and udder, and skipped sterilizing her...um...teats with the iodine dip.  Didn't worry about the loose hairs or manure that was caked on her back leg and stomach.  And I milked straight into the straw, because the bucket wasn't there.  No idea how much came out, but she balked after the milk started flowing, pulled the stanchion off of it's supports, stepped on my foot, luckily didn't freak out so much that I couldn't quickly untie her, and out the door she went (not out the OPEN part...no!  She pushed against the bottom, and the whole sliding door lifted up and out as she pushed her way straight out.  )

Anyway, by then she had a steady stream of milk coming out of 2 quarters, and seemed to really want to get back at that alfalfa and grain, so she gradually worked her way back into the back room (can't quite call it a milking parlor yet) without making eye contact with me.

There wasn't anything solid left to attach her lead to, so I let her munch while I tentatively squeezed and kept an eye on her head and back foot.  This also went into the straw on the floor, and, although she should have given at least a gallon and a half (probably much more since she didn't milk last night!), I have no idea how much was wasted.  She ate a bit, looked back, noticed me there, and backed out.  That happened again after she came back, and after she left the second time, she just stood in the doorway looking out at the snow.  Milk was still dripping, so I took a chance and squeezed some more.  No problem this time, except my hands felt like they couldn't possibly grip anything again!

She let me brush her, but only on her left side.  Yuck--lots of powdery dirt and lots of hairs just falling off of her.  A little more milking, still wasted in the straw.  I was waiting for the kitties to come around, but they were left out last night and didn't show up yet today.  The cow (last night) was doing a good job of chasing them out of the pasture and acting really annoyed whenever she saw them.  (I'm pretty sure they were trying to follow her because she was dripping milk--and she just saw them as an unknown little sneaky critter that wouldn't go away.)

Shadow and Rocky have decided that they LIKE the little heifer, who is still on the loose in the back fenced part.  They like her so much that they want to bark at her and chase her, and the poor thing was bellowing for the big cow (who doesn't want anything to do with her).  Shadow is now continually whining to go out there, but at least she tried to make friends with the big cow, which seemed to like the presence of a dog better than anything else so far.

If the kitties come back (lots of coyotes out here.  It would be sad to lose the kitties on the same night we got the cows!) and when we all get home safely from California (Jeff), Palatine (Jeremy) and Crystal Lake (Michael), we'll be much better off tonight than last night! 

And maybe I can even catch a bucket of milk.  Even if I can't get her cleaned up enough for it to be milk that WE drink, I'm really curious to see how the kitties and chickens like it.

List of things for the next time I'm at Farm and Fleet:  a roll of electric fence wire and clips/other supplies to attach them to the existing T-posts by the silo and milking parlor area (I already have a nice solar charger).  The cows don't need to use the WHOLE fenced area all the time, especially since the little heifer just walked across Jeff's ice rink project on the south end of the barn and the new ice cracked into big pieces under her weight! And a small collar for the little heifer for when I can actually get close to her.  She'll have to warm up to me eventually or she'll be out in the winter weather all season, without fresh water or hay.

I'm thinking "Fergie" for the big cow (in honor of the "Milkshake" song, if I'm remembering the right group for it!), and Michael suggested Kan-ye for the little one (some song with a line about being wild and free, although I think that Kanye is a guy)

Hope you all enjoy the snow.  Feels like winter is finally here!

The Girls Arrive

Ok....so I should start a blog or something.

Hour 2 of cow ownership:  I've gotten past the initial panic and have located the cows again, way out in the pitch blackness of the  one acre pasture (which seemed really big before!). 

My first thought was "They're beautiful!"  That was before the driver got into the trailer with them and tried to coax them to let him put a rope around their necks.  First the young heifer leaped out and made a dash for it, with the rather solid driver hanging on to the end of the rope.  Luckily the dash was in the direction of the open gate, so Dan (the driver) stopped trying to stop the little cow's panic and let go.  She quickly ran to the opposite end of the fenced area.

Dan got into the trailer again and worked gently to get a collar around the neck of the pregnant cow.  She didn't like it, but eventually he got it on her and hooked a rope through the ring.  She made an even more spectacular leap out of the trailer, but didn't head for the open gate.  I had a moment of sheer terror at the thought of MY cow running wild through an unfamiliar neighborhood (for her AND for us!).  Dan headed her off and again, gently pursuaded her that she wanted to go through the gate instead of off into the distant cornfield.

The fenced acre immediately looked as small as our backyard in Palatine.  She was much bigger than she seemed in the farmer's field.  In fact, the young heifer was about the size I expected the pregnant cow to be!  So, Dan tried to get her into the room in back of the barn, so I could try to milk her.  I had two people who were going to help with the first milking, but,,,,it turned out to be such a gorgeous sunny day that they were in the middle of trying to finish a greenhouse before the snow hits (supposedly tomorrow).  Dan got her into the stanchion that Jeff built, and I botched it by not securing her quickly enough.  She pushed against the big sliding barn door and I realized why that huge rock had been "in the way".  It held the door from being pushed up and out from the bottom by something big, like the cow.  'Guess that's going back into it's place. 

So she was free in the yard with the young one, and not about to go back into the room (which also looked WAY too small after she was in it.)  And I hadn't been able to milk her, which the farmer said was very important, even if she didn't like it.  She had already been dripping milk when she got away, so I felt terrible that she would be uncomfortable all night.

By then it was about dark, and Dan made one more try to get the rope off from around the young ones neck, but finally declared that she must like it too much, because she wouldn't let him near her (she was a bottle-fed calf...apparently she forgot how much she used to like people in all the upset of today!)

I had to meet Chris who had helped out tremendously by driving all the way from DeKalb to pick up Michael from basketball practice in Crystal Lake.  We met at Culver's for dinner, and I found myself feeling exhausted with a rising sense of panic......

Driving home, I started to believe myself that it could be OK.   Sure, they were big.  Sure, the fence suddenly looked like it SHOULD hold them, but I had no idea what they were capable of.  Would they lean against it, butt against the gates, try to escape in the pitch blackness?  Dan had told me that some of his steers escaped one year and it took 2 totalled cars, lots of angry neighbors, and his first flight ever in a 2-seater airplane to locate them.  But--Russ had built a solid fence, and I had seen lots of cows grazing contentedly behind much rustier and wobblier fences than ours.  Dan had lifted a huge rock to block the gate from getting pushed loose or open outward, so they couldn't barge through the gate, either. 

Getting home, Michael wanted to see them, so we got flashlights and Michael located the cow right in the middle of the field. She didn't look so huge.  She looked back at us without panicking.  She even looked gentle, like she had in Bob the farmer's cattle yard.  I decided to be brave and try to lure her back into the milking room with a pan of grain.  She didn't run, but she and the heifer both watched until I got close (did I mention how black it gets out here at night?).  Then they effortlessly took a small leap over the unsubstantial chicken netting (which DOES work to keep chickens in), but didn't try to bust out of the big fence.

They are now standing by the fence, back by the south end of the barn.  Shadow panicked when she saw such big shapes in the darkness, but I could look at them again and think how beautiful they really are.  Luckily there's a bit of confidence for trying things again tomorrow.  And Jeff should be home tomorrow night, so I won't be doing this completely alone after that.

Hope you all find this interesting.  :)  It helps me to just type it all out and make some sense of all the different emotions and thoughts that got all jumbled up during the course of the afternoon and evening!

And she just moo-ed in the back yard by the barn.  Rocky (Michael's husky) freaked out and Shadow is barking because she doesn't know what to think.  We'll see if the big cow is ready to be lured in so that she can be milked a little.

And the adventure will continue tomorrow (My mom called it a "wild ride")  ;)

The Adventure Begins

Here are a few photos of our cows, which will arrive sometime in the next few days. 

Still to be named:  I picked "Mabel" and "Bessie" because it sounded better in the text that I sent to some of you....but Jeff thinks that those are too cliche.

The bigger cow is 7 years old, expecting a calf in June, and giving up to 3 gallons of milk a day.  She isn't used to hand-milking, so I may have a challenge ahead of me!  A friend of a friend is planning to come to help, IF the transport day works with his schedule (and the friend would come too--she wants to know how to hand milk almost as much as I do!)  She is 75% Dutch Belt breed, and her calf will be a percentage Dutch Belt, and 50% Holstein (the black and white cows you see at most dairies).

The smaller cow (a calf from this year--smallest in the last photo) is to keep the older cow company, because cows apparently don't do well alone.  This calf is 50% Dutch Belted and 50% Friesian (like a Holstein, but better at grazing grass and not needing as much care and special feed and grains as a Holstein).  She would be bred this coming fall, and probably have a calf in late spring of 2013 before she will begin producing milk.

The cows are from an organic farmer who grows his own feed and alfalfa hay, and produces milk for Swiss Valley and Organic Valley.  He has a herd of about 50-60 cows and one HUGE bull.  The bull was a little too friendly and curious, like a big overgrown puppy that might accidentally knock someone over (and into the cow poop!)

Name possibilities.....?  Mabel and Bessie, "Bertha" (Jeff thought his grandma would have gotten a kick out of having a cow named for her), Liddy, Milkshake (as in...."My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard" from the song....a little questionable for a family farm, I think), Oreo, Gracie, Hamburg (probably a name to reserve for a bull calf!)  :(

Anyway, yes, we should have more land....but we know that we'll be supplementing with a lot of hay, and will have to set up a very tight grazing schedule by fencing off smaller portions of the back fenced area or tying the cows out so that they only graze small portions at a time.

And yes, for the next few months, I'll be tied to the farm for twice a day milking.  I can "dry up" the cow by mid-April in preparation for her to calve in June, so I'll have 2 full months of NO MILKING AT ALL!  (Of interest to the Westenburg side which is planning Marc and Joyce's wedding for the end of May!)

Then, after the calf is born, the calf will stay with the mom, and we'll just milk once a day. 

And yes, it's a big jump from chickens to 2 cows, but.....I've researched as much as I can, Jeff and I have talked about it to the point where I think Jeff is thinking "just get it over with, already!", and we drove all the way to Port Byron, IL just to look at these cows (and that was 3 weeks and MANY detailed conversations ago).  So, if it doesn't work out for some reason, their resale value on Craigslist is about the same as we're putting into the purchase, minus the hay and grain they'd eat.  Not wanting it to turn out that way, but....I had to also be realistic about all the options.

The delivery date isn't going to be today, but will probably be Wednesday, due to scheduling between the transport guy and the farmer. 

And did I mention that this is the week that Jeff is gone to California?

Enjoy the pictures.  :)

Laura.

That's the newest whirlwind venture at the farm.