Princess Lucy pitches a royal fit

Photo:  Lucy, all grown up and posing for the photo Until now, the cows have been relatively quiet.  Once in a while Lucy the heifer would startle us with a sudden "moo", but nothing more than that.  When I would milk Bessie, Lucy would get a small amount of the better quality hay off in the other corner.  No problems, until Bess figured out that when HER good hay was gone, she could back out of the stanchion and move into Lucy's pile. NOW, with mama Bessie suddenly giving voice to lots of different moos since baby Ruby was born--soft urgent moos, sharper warning ones, exact duplicate foghorn-style moos, "where are you" questioning ones--Lucy seems to have found her voice as well.  Lucy is also about full-size now, and trying out her place as the dominant wanna-be.  What we have on our hands is a full-grown cow with a calf (Bessie) and also a year-old heifer (Lucy) who is trying to throw her weight around for the first time. Lucy's behavior has been bothering me, but I'm learning to work through it and anticipate what she'll try next.  Her moos are on the temper tantrum scale, though.  The first time, I couldn't stop laughing--not really all that concerned about Lucy's delicate emotions at all, I'm afraid to say.  :)  A little background from the past few weeks:  I have to be quick and sneaky when I call Bess in to be milked now.  Lucy has decided that Bessie's grain and alfalfa is equal to tea and crumpets in a posh Victorian castle's sitting room--intended only for the privileged few, and she desperately wants to be one of the privileged few! She tries every time to outwit me and barge past Bess into the stanchion.  Bessie will be quietly but determinedly walking to the milking room, and here comes Lucy, full speed.  I put up my palm and smack Lucy  flat on the middle of the forehead, and she falls back just enough to let me close the door behind Bessie.  Visual description:  Bess is not even trotting to come into the barn. There's no attempt at competition from Bess at this point.  "Ambling" is a perfect word for it:  Udder swinging, head stretched forward, patiently intent on getting to the stanchion.  She knows what is waiting for her, her udder is telling her that it's time for some relief, and the stanchion is the place to be.  Lucy, on the other hand, is rather frantic---looking up in surprise from her grass hay in the feeder or from the fresh grass in the yard, and erratically kicking, running hurriedly and even haphazardly to try to get in front of Bessie.  Bess, of course, is single-minded when it comes to getting her grain and alfalfa to munch on, and doesn't even pay attention to Lucy's bold and stubborn jostling.  Lucy pushes, shoves, and gets smacked in the forehead as the door is closed in her face.  The princess is thwarted and the queen gets the delicious treats.  That does not make for a happy princess! Back to the first time it happened:  I had closed Lucy outside of the electric fence around the cow-pen because of how persistent she had been to get in the way and cause a problem.  Bessie was in place for milking and calmly munching, head down in the bucket and tail swishing contentedly.  Suddenly, the most ear-splitting screechy "MOO" burst through the wall of the barn and into the milking area.  It started in rather a normal way, and then became high-pitched and rather crazed with no warning.  I shook my head in amazement and went on with the 30-minute milking routine.  The ENTIRE TIME I was milking, Lucy was making all kinds of horrific versions of "moo", from low and angry to high and desperate and demanding and other-worldly as she circled the electric fence and voiced her displeasure.  Queen Bess was happily munching on her imaginary tea and crumpets (bucket of grain and a section of alfalfa from a bale), while poor Princess Lucy was shut outside in the cold (98 degrees), with only a crust of stale bread (fresh grass and lovely green clover) to munch.  It was a full-blown temper tantrum!  I could NOT stop laughing as I imagined Lucy stamping her delicate front hoof as she demanded to be let in at any cost.  ;) Funny thing was, though, by the time I finished cleaning everything up and opened the door again, Lucy and baby Ruby were happily munching, side by side, on the opposite side of the pasture.  It seems that Lucy's tantrum had the effect of luring Ruby out of the electric fence (she stumbles through sometimes, getting shocked as she tries to squeeze out instead of passing me by the gate.  She'll learn....) I brought the milk back into the house, and asked Michael and Jeremy if they'd heard Lucy.  (It should be noted that they had been playing video games, which usually means that they are oblivious to anything else around them).  Michael said "Is THAT what it was?  It sounded like a monster or something in the back yard."  We all had a good laugh at Lucy's expense. I have learned a little trick, though.  Lucy still doesn't like to be shut outside, and still lets out a crazy-cow moo or two, but now she knows that when I open the door again, I'll have a couple of hay-cubes to hand-feed her.  She is much happier just getting that tiny treat than when her imagination runs wild picturing all the finery that Bessie is enjoying just on the other side of the closed door.

Update, or better yet: "God provides, part 2"

We have an offer on the house.  The prospective buyers must really need their closing costs covered, because their counter offer was still a bit low and still included having us pay closing costs.  We countered with $10,000 less than our asking price plus agreeing to pay closing costs. I felt no anxiety at all as we waited to hear if the buyers had accepted or rejected our counter-offer. (And that's saying something, since I tend to be just a bit of a worry-wart--you can all have a good laugh at that.....!) They accepted!  So we just need to sign contracts tomorrow to get the ball really rolling. After 2 years of paying 2 mortgages (ouch!), a lot of that purchase price will re-pay the money that has been sapped from different bank accounts to keep up with mortgages and outrageous property taxes on both properties. Again, I can only say "God provides!"  It's amazing sometimes how things can just seem to fall into place, but when I stop to really think about it, it's always on God's timing.  And always after we step back and scratch our heads at the inefficient efforts we've been putting forth, God comes through with "Try trusting Me FIRST next time!" ("In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths" and "Lean not unto your own understanding")  The learning process--in ALL areas of life, ALL the time! Thank-you all for your prayers today.  Praise be to God, who works all things for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose!  ;) Laura.

Potential to sell the house in Palatine

Please be in prayer for this, and once again for our patience in waiting on the Lord for guidance.  We put our old house up for sale last year in September, starting at $325,000 and knowing that amount was a real long-shot.  Like everywhere else in America, the same house would have sold for a lot more just 5 years ago.  The builder of our house and 4 almost duplicate houses behind it had estimated that his homes would have sold for well over $425,000 if he'd taken them out of the rental market and tried to sell them 5 years back.  ;(  If you're curious to see the listing, it can be seen on the redfin website.  Just type in the address 617 North Maple Avenue, Palatine, IL 60067.  The house was definitely given to us on God's timing back in 1995, when we'd decided to stop looking at any other houses and stay in our townhouse.  Jeff saw the tiny ad in the paper and we almost passed it by, except that the price was $50,000 less than everything else we'd looked at back then, and it was NEW--hardwood floors, lots of windows for natural light (which I love), lots of room for a family of 4 to spread out and grow.  It had been built specifically for another family, whose financing fell through because he was self-employed and couldn't get a loan (still not sure why).  The house fit our needs perfectly! We spent 16 or 17 years there, and we all have fond family memories of times spent in that house, in that neighborhood, with friends and family....  It was a great house in a great location for us, a very spacious place for a busy family, and just a mile or so from the Lutheran school and church.  Jeff would walk the mile to the train station to catch the shuttle-bus to work. We've lowered the price gradually since September.  A few weeks ago, we lowered the price again to $279,000 (sounds like a lot, but that price is a deal in the northwest Chicago suburban area).  Someone offered $245,000 and wanted us to pay closing costs.  We counter offered to $270,000 but declined to pay their closing costs (about $5000).  They made another very low offer, and our real estate agent had some choice words to share with their agent.  The house has been shown numerous times before and since then, but  we have just started looking at paperwork to try to rent it.  Not our first choice, but we decided that if we need to rent instead of lowering the price again, we'll do it.  Now our real estate agent has said that the clients who offered the almost insulting low price might be ready to come back with a more reasonable offer.  Did I mention that in the almost-year since we listed the house, this has been the one and only offer?  Lots of showings, but only this one offer. If the house would sell, we could invest our time and resources completely in this little farm venture, not to mention the huge change in the stress level on the budget and on our poor overworked brains.  ;) Like with the hay situation, it IS in God's hands, and we've been praying all along for the right buyer, for God's timing, and for patience during the wait. Also like the hay situation, and similar to when we gave up the real estate search and THEN the right house came available (both in Palatine, and in looking at farm properties), and even when we were looking at buying cows and everything seemed to be falling through until I gave up trying to control the situation, God works when we finally admit and realize that we can't possibly orchestrate what is needed. If you'd like, would you join us in praying, specifically for the house to sell, but even more specifically for God's will to be done (and for us to trust Him and leave it in His hands!) Laura.

God provides!

If you read the last few blog entries, the topic of worry and concern lately has been "How will we buy enough hay to get the cows through the winter?"  It's been so dry, and any available hay is snapped up before I can even call the person advertising it, plus the exorbitant prices!  Here's the last paragraph or two from Sunday (and the rest or that entry is below today's e-mail), plus the little admonition to myself that I added at the end of Sunday's story: "After today's sermon (5 loaves and 2 fishes, coupled with the 23rd Psalm, and how God will provide all of our needs), I'm attempting to put my worries aside and trust that the cows won't go hungry, or that Lucy will be bought so that we can feed Bess and Ruby, or that a bounty of hay will suddenly and unexpectedly come available at a price we can afford. After all, if God knows every sparrow that falls to the ground, and every lily of the field, He is really the one who is going to provide for the cows' well-being.  My part of that is to be a good steward of them because God has placed them in my care, and follow every lead to buy the hay that might be available, and be a good shepherd who pays attention to their needs both now and for the long winter.  God will ultimately fulfill those needs....right?  Have faith, Laura!  Stop worrying!  ;)  It's all part of the learning process!" http://dykstrasfarm.blogspot.com That brings us to Sunday night and Monday morning:  I felt peace instead of worry, slept through the night instead of waking up and feeling panicky about not having feed for our animals, and woke up rested and....not worried!  A nice feeling on a Monday morning. Still no idea where the hay would come from, but the schedule of the day called for a trip into Wisconsin to get the 12 butchered ducks and roosters, so that's what I did.  Chatted a bit with the friendly guy who runs the butchering business out of his garage--it's a spotless operation, and he and his wife are fun to talk to, so I'm never in a hurry to leave. On the way back, I SORT OF needed to stop at the feed store in Harvard.  The couple who own it had put in a hay field last year, and another one this spring.  When I checked with Sue two weeks back, she said that they might be able to spare a bale or two of alfalfa for Bessie.  I decided to follow-up and see if they still had just one or two.  Nothing big, just a humble request to see if they had any extra after they put up all that they needed for their animals.  Sue called back to Bruce, who took me out to see the trailer full of clover-grass hay that he'd just harvested last week.  He estimated 60 bales, at $7.25 a piece!  OUCH!!!  But it was available, which was the key word. Then he also offered me a full wagon of all-grass hay at $2.25 a bale, because the top bales were bleached from the sun and because it was supposed to be for his daughter who had never come for it.  The low price of the lesser-quality hay offset the high price of the clover hay, so I said I'd take both.  After more than a month of trying to follow leads and coming up with no cow-feed at all, I couldn't pass up the chance at two wagon-fulls. And things started falling into place, with solutions coming quickly after each short-lived mental road-block: --The hay was on two different wagons.  Bruce offered to haul one wagon to our house.  That left a questionably-road-worthy field-wagon that needed to be either unloaded and reloaded into our small trailer (would have been several trips!) or needed to be hauled slowly by someone else. --Our friend Jonathan has been willing to help us in any we need, because he has a huge pick-up truck and is looking for ways to put it to good use.  He had even been following Craigslist leads to try to find hay for us.  I called him, he was at work, but he called me back and said that it was a really slow day, he was headed home, he would check in with his wife Patti and baby, and then would be at our house ready to go. --Bruce casually mentioned that he only accepts cash for hay, so I had to figure that out on the way home.  I ended up driving to Crystal Lake to the bank to get enough cash from my checking account (bringing it dangerously close to needing to close it altogether!)  Jeff had some money from Carrie that was repayment for college tuition, so that cash was on hand, too (unexpectedly!) --Michael had been planning to spend the day with his girlfriend, but was willing to wait and go to a movie later that night so that he could be home to help with the hay. By 3:30, Jonathan was at the house, I had the cash, and Michael and I hopped into the truck with Jonathan and we headed to the feed store in Harvard.  In true country fashion, Bruce spent quite a bit of time proudly showing off his new clear-sided bee-hive, which will be installed inside the store.  Then he showed off all the new bee-keeping supplies which are new this year at the store.  THEN we headed out to look at the field-wagon with semi-flat tires and rickety-looking boards. It took a bit to strap the hay down, make it as sturdy as possible, before Bruce kicked the tires and declared that he would haul that particular flat-bed wagon and Jonathan should haul the hay-wagon up by the store. It was a slow ride, with a huge wagon behind us blocking all views, and other drivers waiting for their chance to speed up and zip around us. Our driveway isn't really set up conveniently for livestock or hay deliveries, so it was a bit difficult to get the wagon in and up close to the barn.  Jonathan ended up driving in forward and pulling the truck off to the side so that we could unload the wagon.  We didn't know how far behind us Bruce would be, and tried to be done before he got there, but there were just too many bales.  Turns out that there were about 100 bales total of good quality, clover-grass hay.  We 3 (Jonathan, Michael and I) stacked the hay outside the barn, trying to work as quickly as possible.  Bruce arrived and parked across the street, then backed in when the first wagon was empty.  He had brought a helper, which made things a little easier.  The grass hay had been rained on at some point, probably last week.  We'll have to air it out in the hay-mow before stacking it for the winter.  The hay off of this wagon went into the barn right away, and a quarter of the first floor was stacked with hay in no time--floor to ceiling.  It turned out to be another 100 bales.  I was $100 short, but Bruce was OK with having me bring it by the store this morning. Jonathan and Bruce's helper were talking trucks and looking under the hood of Jonathan's truck, Bruce and I were chatting, Michael was texting Taylor.  I mentioned having a dairy heifer for sale, so Michael went out with ear corn to lure the cows up next to the fence.  Bruce's helper has a few friends with dairy cows, and said that he'd ask around to see if any of them would be interested.  Jonathan asked Bruce about any possible land to put a few beef cows on, and Bruce had a few leads.  I offered a few of the freshly butchered chickens to Jonathan, and offered some fresh milk to Bruce to take back home (Bruce has hundreds of chickens, so fresh chickens just wouldn't have been the thing to offer!).  After all that work, and having the hay available AND bringing it to us AND helping us unload it into the barn, Bruce still asked "How much do I owe you for that?"  :) A bit more chatting, no real hurry, and Jonathan headed off with one wagon while Bruce headed out with the other. 200 bales of hay, half of it inside the barn, the other half (the good half!) outside the barn, and a few drops of rain began to fall..... Michael and I moved as much as we could before our arms felt like jelly and we were dripping sweat everywhere.  Poor Jeff came home about that point and must have felt like we planned it to leave him to finish everything up as soon as he arrived home. It was a bit of a whirlwind day, but at the end of it all, we had 200 bales of hay in the barn, new contacts for selling a heifer or land to graze cows on (for Jonathan) or a field of alfalfa waiting to be cut by Bruce who can't use alfalfa for his own animals (for us, maybe in August). The prayers of the past few weeks have been:  Please Lord, provide the feed for these animals....and....Please provide a possible buyer for Lucy if we can't get enough hay. We still don't have enough hay for 2 full-grown cows for the full winter.  There is a slight chance that Lucy will find a home with a friend of our new acquaintance who came with Bruce.  A lady contacted me by e-mail this morning, too, asking about the ad I put out there for Lucy.  Despite the exhaustion last night, and the fact that my deal with Michael kept me out until midnight picking him up after the movie, I don't think that my smile could have been any wider, or my gratitude any deeper. Remember that line at the end of Sunday's e-mail?  "I'm attempting to put my worries aside and trust that the cows won't go hungry, or that Lucy will be bought so that we can feed Bess and Ruby, or that a bounty of hay will suddenly and unexpectedly come available at a price we can afford." Was this a bounty of hay that suddenly and unexpectedly came available?  Yes.  Was it a a price we could afford?  Well, if you average the high price with the low price, yes. Does God answer prayer?  Absolutely!

Bessie the Milk Machine

The Milk Machine is in business again. I've been milking Bess once a day since a couple of days BEFORE the calf was born.  The milk has gone from an icky rosy pink color  to a beautiful ivory white.  The rosy color:  broken blood vessels inside her udder as it swung against her back legs pre-delivery.  (It WAS pretty big, and looked uncomfortable to walk with) The white creamy color:  the best milk I've ever tasted! She had been giving a little at a time--one quart, then 2 quarts, then close to a gallon for the past 4 days or so.  Part of that (I think) is that she and I needed to work back into a routine, with Lucy outside, and with Bessie sure that little Ruby wouldn't be in danger if mama Bess concentrated on her bucket of grain for a half hour or so....  Today, if I'd had a second bucket, I think she would have given at least a gallon and a half if not 2.  I had to end at just over a gallon because the bucket was full, and there was lots more waiting to be milked out.  I haven't had to take Ruby (the calf) away from her in order to get milk for the family--she is giving enough for Ruby, for us, and then some.  So it's time to play with milk again, and to satisfy my craving for cream, and whole milk, and home-made stuff with Bessie's delicious milk.  I've made a batch of butter so far, and have a gallon of milk in the Crock Pot right now, making the easy ricotta cheese recipe (one gallon of whole milk, 1 tsp citric acid dissolved in 1/4 cup cool water, stir together in a Crock Pot, let cook on high until the curds separate and the whey is clear rather than "milky".  Then you drain it in cheesecloth and eat it fresh, or refrigerate it, or salt it.....my favorite is a small bowlful of cold ricotta with a scoop of home-made blueberry jam mixed in.)  Yum.....!) So my thought today is to milk all the extra that she is giving, because she is fully capable of feeding Ruby AND giving us 2 gallons a day if I work her up to that (that's probably a conservative estimate, if she can truly give 6 gallons a day at her peak milk output).  I can freeze the extra, or make cheese, or share it with friends who also love her milk.....I'll just have to be prepared to milk a little bit longer to relieve the pressure inside her udder and harvest all that rich raw milk.  ;) The pasture is greening up, and the clover that held on through a month of dry weather is putting out tiny little leaves and even a few flowers.  With rain forecast throughout the next week, we should be OK as far as pasture grass for the cows.  I've been keeping them off of it since the rain on Wednesday night, just to give the pasture plants time to grow the tiniest bit.  The chickens are still not happy to be kept from the "free-ranging" (although truthfully, they have WAY more area to freerange than any bird in a typical chicken farm!).  They'll adjust, and will be happy when they can pick through taller, more lush grass and not the short stubble that's out there now. The hay situation still looks bleak, but the fields that I pass are growing again.  I have ads for Lucy the heifer to be sold in two on-line sites, but no interest so far.  (That's Lucy in the photo above).  I don't really want to sell her, and I think she'd sell better if she was bred or if she'd already had a calf and was being trained as a family milk cow.  (When she's bred would take us until November or December if I can afford the artificial insemination and...ahem..."supplies" for both cows.   When she would have her first calf takes us to fall of 2013!)  We can't keep all 3 cows indefinitely, and the boys agree with me that Ruby the calf and Bessie are the 2 that we want to keep.  If we keep Lucy through the winter, then we need hay for 2 full-grown cows, plus a small amount for baby Ruby who is already starting to grind hay between her baby teeth to see what it tastes like.  For one cow, the guideline I've found is 1 ton to get through the winter.  Not sure how accurate that is, and our cows seem to waste a good part of each bale.  Both cows are going through a little more than one full bale a day (50 pounds or more average per bale, so 25/30+ pounds of hay per cow per day), plus Bess gets alfalfa hay and grain when she is milked.  I think we'd need 400 bales to get both cows through the winter with a little extra.  $5 a bale puts that amount of hay at $2000!!!  I think if money was no object, we'd get about double that in case next year is as dry as this year is, or at least to have more than 18 bales in the hay mow and depleting that supply fast!  Our "hay guy" had promised me 80 bales a couple of weeks ago, but his phone is not accepting new messages.  Hmmm..... Change of topic:  16 of the young roosters or young ducks met their "day of reckoning" yesterday.  A friend came out and took 4 of them, although his method of killing them was something I'll advise against if anyone else comes out to do the dirty deed on our property.  "Humane" was not the way I'd describe it, and it may have been quick, but I think we'll specify that a stump and a sharp axe will be used the next time he comes.  ;(  Plus, he took the headless birds back to his house, 45 minutes away.  I wonder if he had a difficult time getting their feathers pulled after that amount of time. The other 12 were driven to Walworth Wisconsin to the butcher there.  Jeff was gone to Michigan with the boys, and there were too many roosters for us to do even if we'd all been home.  I'm mentally and emotionally stuck at the point of being able to do everything to process birds except the actual act of killing them.  I think that since this was the first time we'd had ducks to butcher, it was a little harder for me than it might have been otherwise. The ducks are the ones which were born right before Easter.  They grew quickly, but never filled out to be very full-bodied.  We separated out the males, who were starting to cause problems and were very flighty and distracting, and the barn is so much quieter and calmer without those 6 ducks dashing all over and getting the other birds agitated whenever I walked in. Back to the hay topic:  Let me just put in a little plea for anyone who might have a friend or contact with extra hay that they'd be willing to sell:  I need to buy at least a ton of it, maybe not all at once because that's a lot of money.  Grass/alfalfa mix would be great, but at this point, grass hay would get the cow(s) through the winter with the minimum amount of nutrition needed.  One friend with a full-size pick-up truck is willing to pick it up and bring it to our farm.  Also:  If anyone knows a farmer or family member or friend who wants a dairy heifer for an eventual milk cow, Lucy is available.....I'd be willing to trade her to a good farm/home in exchange for hay at this point. After today's sermon (5 loaves and 2 fishes, coupled with the 23rd Psalm, and how God will provide all of our needs), I'm attempting to put my worries aside and trust that the cows won't go hungry, or that Lucy will be bought so that we can feed Bess and Ruby, or that a bounty of hay will suddenly and unexpectedly come available at a price we can afford. After all, if God knows every sparrow that falls to the ground, and every lily of the field, He is really the one who is going to provide for the cows' well-being.  My part of that is to be a good steward of them because God has placed them in my care, and follow every lead to buy the hay that might be available, and be a good shepherd who pays attention to their needs both now and for the long winter.  God will ultimately fulfill those needs....right?  Have faith, Laura!  Stop worrying!  ;)  It's all part of the learning process!

Finally....rain!

(Typed on Thursday, July 19) The rain was glorious....spectacular....refreshing.....an answer to LOTS of prayers! It started first Wednesday afternoon, with big fat drops, thunder, but half-sun and half really black clouds.  I pulled up a chair under the trees and didn't care if the rain dripped through the leaves and pine needles.  The raindrops were so big that they were visible as they fell across the 75 acres around our small 2 acres.....  Then it stopped, and I thought that was it.  Still, I was thanking God for an amount that thoroughly wetted the ground, at least for a while. By evening, a bank of very black clouds was on the horizon to the north, and the weather radio confirmed severe weather headed our way.  We've had "severe" weather pass us by numerous times in the last hot-hot-HOT month, so I was skeptical, but prayerful as well.  By the time we sat down to dinner, it was looking like dusk, more than an hour early.  By the time dinner was over, I was headed out to milk Bess and close in the birds for the night.  Getting caught in the barn while a thunder storm raged around it was a real possibility.  I didn't care, and would have been happy to hang out in the barn as wind and rain whipped all around.  The wind had picked up, the black clouds had completely rolled in, and I was back in the house filtering milk before the lighting show started.  It was....amazing....tremendous..... and spectacular, again!  We had settled in to watch a movie, and at one point Jeremy said "The lightning outside is even better than the movie!".  He was right. I made mental notes of where the extension cords were coiled and stored in the barn, did we have the generator ready to go if we needed it, was the small water pump and a hose in the basement in case water started backing up from the drain in the old floor.....and still felt thankful, not anxious. Falling asleep later, the rain was beating on the house.  My feeling was one of exhaustion, but nearly extreme gratefulness for the rain that we've been needing in the area. Once in the night, the power flickered.  There was a bright flash of lightning and the fan tried to give out before the thunder even sounded.  It quickly recovered, and the power stayed on for the rest of the night.  No water in the basement, to my knowledge..... The ground was totally soaked this morning---we had enough rain to wash all the dust and dry leaves down the slope of the driveway.....to flow at a high enough rate down the slope of the yard to expose bits of ancient glass from barn windows that had shattered at one time or another.....to wash the oil and dirt down the sides of the cows until they had orangey stripes at the bottom of their bellies (where the streams of water found their way, carrying all that summer-grossness off of the cows' backs)..... Any buckets or open containers under the overhang of the barn or house were full to overflowing.  Made me wish for some of those 50 gallon barrels to catch as much as possible (no gutters on any of the buildings, so a row of 50 gallon barrels under the drip-line would catch a LOT of water!).  The pasture was soaked enough that the tiniest leaves of clover and alfalfa were greening up and looking promising.  I decided that the chickens and cows would NOT have the run of the pasture until the grass gets a chance to start growing again.  The rush of chickens and geese in the morning was cut short by the poultry netting that I'd hurriedly set up before letting them out.  The frustrated chicken-noises and loud flapping of the geese's wings let me know just how irritated they were that, finally, when there was something worth nibbling at, their normal path to free-ranging was thwarted.  They quickly forgot, though, due to the small size of their brains......and fell to scratching at the newly saturated compost and sparse grass in their own smaller area. The cows don't mind one way or the other.  We gave a few old apples to Bess and Lucy, who had to find out what they were first by taking them and dropping them in the soggy manure, then couldn't get enough of them when we hand-fed them more (they would only eat the clean ones!).  That will have to take the place of munching dried-out grass in the field today, along with green corn husks from the local produce stand. The general feeling today is one of refreshment--I could see it in the faces of people I pass as I ran the errands---smiles instead of dragging heat exhaustion, chatty people instead of worn out and hot people.  Everyone seems to have been revived by the fresh rain and relatively cooler weather. It WAS interesting--just yesterday morning, I had talked to cousin Vonda and her husband Greg in Minnesota, and they had rain all of Wednesday morning.  I said something like "I sure hope that storm is heading our way."  We had rain by that afternoon.  Then, the next day, my brother Marc said that he'd heard that storms were raging all the way in New York.  No idea if the same storm system can sweep across the country that quickly, but it's interesting. The corn this morning (Thursday) didn't look dry and the leaves weren't curled as tightly as a needle:  it looked green, fresh, as if no lack of rain had affected it at all. Made me think of the verse in the Bible:  "Behold, I make all things new".  Everything looked renewed and rejuvenated.  Thanks to our God for providing what we needed the most! Laura.

The price of hay.....

Some thoughts and worries about hay and feeding the cows through the winter on what little is available..... With the lack of rain for almost a full month now, the price of grassy hay is higher even than last year ($4.50 so far this year), and I just paid $8 a bale for alfalfa. (Less than half an inch of rain the other morning.  It was wonderful to wake up to the sound of cars on the wet pavement, smell the wetness in the air, the big cracks in the lawn and pasture swelled shut for just a little while.....but it dried up so quickly and just got humid.  Things did green up just a tiny bit.) The price of alfalfa is what worries me.  For good milk production, Bessie needs alfalfa with each milking, and should probably have more.  At $8 a bale, I only got a dozen bales for almost $100!!!!  Yikes! The cows go through a bale of grassy hay between the two of them each day.  Grassy hay doesn't provide enough nutrition for Bessie, who needs alfalfa to produce the best milk.  A bale of hay is getting up towards $5 now, and that's from our "hay guy" Dan (who works on his own timetable....), who is potentially selling me his last 87 bales of grassy hay from the first cutting.  He's not usually sold out even by the end of the season, but this year I was lucky to be the one to buy the last of what he has.  If we don't get rain soon, what should be the third cutting will be in danger.  The second cutting didn't happen for a lot of hay/alfalfa fields around here.  Dan said that McHenry county is in danger of needing to truck hay in from other areas of the country, like Texas had to do last year.  So let's compute the necessary hay for the winter and next spring: I have 24 bales in the barn.  That takes us through possibly to mid-August.  The 87 grass bales will give less nutrition but will still be food, in case there is no third cutting and the prices sky-rocket some more for trucked-in hay.  Approximately 3 more months taken care of, if I figure in a flake or two of alfalfa for Bess to supplement her dried-grass intake.  That's only until mid-November.  Not nearly enough to get us through to next spring and the first cutting of hay (in May, I think).  Scary..... I could have the mill mix up a supplement with grain, alfalfa meal or pellets, and other stuff to compensate for the lack of nutritious hay, but I don't think it would be cost-effective in the long run. It puts a bit of reality in what we've decided to do here.  We know we don't have enough land to support even the grazing needs of even one cow, let alone the hay we'll need to supplement that very scant fresh grazing.  We knew it when we made the decision to try having a milk cow and a young heifer back in December.  We now have 2 adult cows (although the one-year old heifer still doesn't eat QUITE as much as Bessie the milk-machine) plus a baby who will be eating hay soon.  We said from the beginning that 2 cows would be the maximum number that we would keep.  The general consensus is that, if we can't afford the hay or can't buy enough, Lucy (the heifer) will need to be listed on Craigslist or BestFarmBuys.  It's a hard call in some ways, easy in others.  Bessie is the older cow, and at 8 is still producing milk but certainly doesn't have the years ahead of her that Lucy does.   Bess is a proven milk-producer, and now she's proved that she can easily have a calf and care for it, plus providing almost a gallon a day for the family in addition to what Ruby is drinking.  She'll give more as Ruby needs less, and as I continue to milk her regularly, up to 5 or 6 gallons a day (if I want to do that much milking, which I don't)  If we want to try for the Dutch Belted "breeding up" program, (where with each new calf's breeding at the age of 1 1/2 or 2 the percentage of Dutch Belt genetics get closer to 99% and can be registered as such) Bess is the one to keep.  She has official papers that document that she is 75% Dutch Belt.  But the idea would be we keep her until her next calf is able to have an even higher percent DB calf, and then Bessie is sold and we keep the calf.  (Ruby is half Holstein, so that concept doesn't work quite so well for keeping her). Lucy is younger but is almost ready to be bred.  She is still untamed to a certain extent but certainly is accustomed to being around people.  She just doesn't like to be handled unless it involves brushing.  She is trying to establish dominance now.  Nothing major, but I don't like Bessie the boss cow being challenged by Lucy the young upstart.  Lucy is not bred yet, and not producing milk.  She's not tried-and-true....yet.  Lucy's value is OK now (I think!), but could possibly be better if we could advertise her as a "bred heifer" in a few months, maybe even better if she could be sold as a family milk cow a year from now, but we might not have the time to wait for her to get to that point.  (These are all based on my inexperienced guesses.) Lucy would come with the advice to a potential new owner "You'll have to work with her if you want her to become a good family cow" (I'd have to do a lot of research and ask a lot of questions so that we could get her to that point, too).  And Lucy is half Dutch Belt, but doesn't have any papers or registration, so in the breeding up program, she would be considered the same as any non-Dutch-Belt cow--starting at square one. Ruby might sell more quickly, because she's so young, and she could be bought for less (better value for a farmer, maybe?).  A bottle-fed 2 week old heifer calf was just listed on Craigslist for $200.  No telling if that's what it will really sell for. Someone might be interested in buying Ruby for a 4-H project, or to raise as a dairy cow, or to even try to put on their own milk-cow to be raised by another cow-mom.  Maybe she's already too old for that last one.  A lot of these are guesses on my part, too, having never been through needing to sell one of our cows. We all agree that out of the three, Bess is the most important to us right now, because our milk source is with her.  Lucy has more value than Ruby at this point, because of how much closer she is to being bred, and having a calf, and possibly being a milking cow or even a family cow.  Being bred and being fed until she has a calf involve more hay and more money than we have to work with at the moment. Ruby, though, is the cutest by far, gets along with Bessie, is eating far less food than Lucy, and has the potential of being trained by us to be the kind of cow we would like to have eventually (or the kind of cow we'd be happy to eventually pass on to another family).  Ruby's pedigree is less-than-stellar if we're looking for good Dutch Belted genetics, though.  Bess the mom is 75%, but the bull father was Holstein (I'm pretty sure), so Ruby is less than half Dutch Belt.  Not a problem if she becomes a wonderful milk-cow in 2 years or so, but we really like the idea of breeding towards that higher and higher percentage as we go.  Keeping Ruby for that purpose puts us back at square 1 instead of working with Bessie's genetics of 75%. One other twist:  We bought Lucy and Bessie together, because, if we were needing to A.I. (artificially inseminate) in the future and not bring the cows to a bull, cows would indicate quite obviously when each other is in heat.  So if we sell Lucy too soon, then it will be more difficult to determine when to have the vet come out for Bessie's pregnancy deposit. Sigh....too much to think about.  The price of hay may decide it.  If friends or family still want the extra milk, the donations from what they pick up here on the farm may help the costs a bit and give us more money to put towards hay (again, assuming that there is hay to buy!).  It's a bunch of kind of random thoughts to try to figure out what to do and how to go about it.  Sorry if it's confusing--it's kind of confusing to keep it all straight in my own head, too! Reality seems to be what we knew from the start--we simply can't afford or support more than 2 cows, and that's really stretching it as it is.  We don't have the grazing land for even one.  We will always have to buy hay and grain unless the land around us comes available at a time when God provides the money we would need to rent or purchase more acres. It will be hard to say goodbye to any of the 3 ladies, no matter when or how.  Maybe we list Lucy on Craigslist, go ahead with A.I. breeding plans when we have the money and when it's time, and keep listing her until a buyer steps forward......We'll see how things fall into place, I guess! Sad, but necessary, and out of the 3 cows back behind the barn right now, Lucy is the best candidate to move on to another farm so that we can feed the remaining 2, unless I'm missing something. Sigh!   Reality.....!  And I guess on a real farm, the inevitable turnover of types of crops and of animals and everything else is just part of life as you deal with successful years and not-so-successful growing periods.

Helicopter mom

Bess instantly became a "helicopter mom" when Ruby was born last week.  I thought it might ease up a bit as the calf got past the hours-old stage, but Bess is still surprising me with her over-attentiveness.  Any time little Ruby kicks up her heels, Bess is instantly on the alert, mooing, trotting over, and basically, well......"hovering".  If the dogs are outside the electric cow-pen fence, Bess moos to Ruby and trots over to stand guard.  If the chickens make a commotion while I'm milking Bess, she swings her big head around, realizes that she can't see her precious baby, and lumbers backward out of the stanchion while milk continues to stream out of her full udder. I was telling Jeff that it's like some moms at playgrounds who can't let their child just play.  "Careful, Ruby, that chicken might GET you",  "Careful, Ruby, there's a step there--don't trip", "Careful Ruby, you don't want to get your pretty fur dirty now, do you?", "Careful Ruby, that fence might SHOCK you!", "Careful Ruby, if you run I might not be able to keep track of you, and we all know how bad THAT would be."  Bess is just doing what ages of mother cows had to do to keep their children alive, but it's funny to see (and hear!) the watchfulness that is part of Bessie's mothering. Ruby IS like a kid on a playground.  Think of all the kids on playgrounds everywhere who can't walk, they have to run.  It's like a switch is turned on and they're either going full-speed or sleeping.  That's Ruby.  She doesn't trot serenely like Bess and Lucy, Ruby has to RUN!  You'd be surprised how fast a week-old calf can be! The manure pile is her favorite spot.  If there was a dirt pile on a playground, the kids wouldn't have any choice but to scamper to the top of it.  Ruby HAS to be on top of the manure pile.  Bess moos, Ruby frolics, Lucy looks on with great interest, Ruby trots around for another run at the pile.  She's King of the Hill, but there's no other calf to vie for that position or try to butt her off. Just this afternoon, Bessie came out of the cow pen and into the pasture for the first time since Ruby was born.  Ruby was zooming around the pasture like a speeding comet!  Bess was trying hard to enjoy her grazing, but finally she gave one tired "Moo", rounded Ruby up, and all 3 cows trudged back into the safety of the cow-pen.  (At least the depth of the manure is dwindling out there, as we rake up all the dry and scratched-fine bits of cow-pie and hay and use it to fill the holes that the dogs have dug in the pasture.) Ruby has tried to dash at or romp with chickens, and it just doesn't work.  The chicken gets all frantic and dashes off with a lot of aggravated clucking and flapping of its wings.  No playmate for little Ruby.....  Rocky likes to "play" with Lucy, who responds with running and bucking in a playful way.  Maybe Rocky will be the closest thing to a playmate to little Ruby when she gets bigger.  Bessie hasn't let the dogs get anywhere near her baby, which is probably a good thing until Ruby weighs about double what the dogs weigh. I don't know yet how the artificial insemination will work with Bessie and Lucy this fall.  I had thought that we might only want one of them pregnant at one time.  Makes sense--one calf at a time, one cow to milk at a time, one pregnant cow to stress over instead of two.......and I'm not trying to kid myself.  I'll be every bit as anxious about Lucy's first calf as I was about Bessie's delivery of Ruby. We might not be able to afford having even ONE of them impregnated--it's a sizable extra cost on top of the hay that we need to buy for their daily needs.  It might take the eventual sale of Ruby to pay for the articifial insemination costs which would result in the next calf/calves.  I'm thinking again about only letting one at a time have a calf, though. Not that a calf NEEDS to have a playmate, but it would be so amazingly cute to see two little black-and-white comets streaking around in the pasture.  Plus, Lucy tried so hard to adopt Ruby (lack of milk was a contributing factor to Ruby sticking with her real mom, thank goodness!).  Lucy actually exhibited signs of WANTING to act in a maternal way.  If either Bessie or Lucy is serviced by the vet (for lack of a more sensitive word), we'll have to start with Lucy anyway, because it doesn't make sense to keep feeding a 1 1/2 year old heifer without the goal of a calf and the milk that comes along with it.  Not sure how it would be to have double helicopter-moms out there a year from now, though.  It might be too much stressful bovine mothering for our little cow-pen and one-acre pasture to hold in!

Random bits of info

Just some updates and items of interest: Bats:  Out in the pasture last night so the dogs could run, one little bat kept fluttering above the open area.  I had just seen a yard where a telephone pole stood with no lines running to it, only a bat house at the top of it.  We have an empty telephone pole by the chicken coop--probably for when they intended to run electricity from the house to the coop.  I'm going to have Michael help me with getting our bat house installed up there. Geese:  The geese are old enough that their little gosling noises have given way to ear-splitting honks.  The noisy ducks were annoying before, but that pales in comparison to when a goose just lets loose with a resounding "HONK!"  Almost sounds prehistoric! Bessie:  Poor Bess is having trouble with the back quarter of her udder (one udder, 4 quarters, each quarter has a "teat").  It was always tricky to milk, but now I see that baby Ruby is having trouble getting milk from that one, too.  Bess wouldn't let me milk it at all yesterday, and I saw her flinching away as Ruby tried to get milk from that one. Ruby:  Speaking of getting milk, Michael and I watched in horrified amazement as Ruby nursed yesterday.  She head-butts Bessie's udder so hard that Bess's whole body rocks.  And poor Bess with that hard and inflamed quarter--no WONDER she flinched when Ruby jammed her nose hard into a sore spot.  ;( Halters:  We are determined to halter-break Ruby.  It's become even more of a problem that Bess and Lucy aren't halter-broken.  Milking is a dance of which-cow-goes-where, when-do-I-try-to-milk-Bess, how-do-I-keep-her-where-I-want-her, where-can-I-isolate-Lucy-so-she-doesn't-interrupt-the-milking-session..... Michael and I made rope halters, with varying lengths of "lead" (the rope between the halter and the loop that we hold).  Ruby definitely inherited every speck of Bessie's stubbornness.  The first time the halter was on her, she refused to get off the ground but just went limp.  The second time, she planted all fours, pulled with all of her 85+ pounds, and Michael pulled back with all of his teenage-boy strength.  Not evenly matched, but soon will be!  Ruby needs to walk nicely on a lead and let us tie her where we want her, or it will be crazy trying to use any of these 3 cow ladies as milkers.  I'm working with Bessie, too, and it's not as bad as I thought it would be (meaning I haven't gotten kicked yet, or butted backwards into a pile of manure).  Bessie and Ruby wore their rope halters all day yesterday, and at least Ruby's is still on her this morning.  Kind of cute last night--Ruby knew that I wanted to grab the end of that lead, and she did her little calf-gallop to keep just far enough away so that I couldn't reach her.  When I gave up in exasperation, she trotted right over to sniff my hand. Fly-eating-chickens:  The chickens are loving the cow pies this time of year.  What a great combination--the cows leave enormous droppings, the flies try to lay their eggs, and the chickens scratch a cow-pie into tiny little bits in no time.  (The cow-pies left earlier in the spring are still smothering the grass under themselves).  The whole flock rushes into the cow pen as soon as they're let out of the barn each morning, and make quick work of scattering any big ploppers into tiny little shreds.  Gross, but they're getting bits of grain AND flies.  That's half their diet right there! Cow-bird chickens:  Two of the younger chicks have decided that they will hang out with the cows and pick flies right off their bodies.  They run to the cows first thing in the morning and don't leave until it's time to roost at night.  One little white chick hasn't quite gotten the hang of it yet, and the flies get away before his little beak reaches where they were.  He's determined, though, and must be getting enough to stay around, because he doesn't leave his post all day. Garden:  Sad, sad, sad.  What's growing is fine.  Strawberries are putting out runners, green beans have given us a few handfuls of beans, corn is actually growing despite the dry weather.  There are blossoms on the squash and cucumber plants.  This accounts for about half of what was planted.  Some was just dried up as soon as it sprouted, some never sprouted because I was using up my old seeds.  Jeremy saw the beans and was excited until he found out that they aren't peas.  The garden needs much more work next spring to be something that will provide us with a larger portion of the food our family eats. Corn:  Bessie's new favorite treat is fresh corn.  I got some nice corn from a farm stand for not too much money.  Bess eats the husks, then as a bonus she gets to munch the juicy corn.  That's how I'll break her to the halter--by bribing her with fresh corn! Well, time to get the shovel out and move a few wheelbarrows-full of manure.  Joy! Laura.

Bessie speaks

Pre-calf, Bessie did maybe one "moo", and I can't even remember for definite that she did.  Lucy sometimes lets a moo escape, and one time I even shrieked, because it was so unexpected.  The cows simply aren't that noisy for a large animal.  (The geese and ducks on the other hand.....they could be sent packing for all the noise they make, if I didn't like them so much!) Good mom that Bessie is turning out to be, she is carrying a running conversation with the calf.  All sorts of "moos", from anxious and urgent (when the calf slipped through the turned-off electric wires around the cow pen) to soothing and reassuring (when the newborn calf tripped and landed in the dirt), to warning (when the dogs try to peer in through the triple-strand electric wire fence and get too close to Bessie's baby). I have to say, both dogs are terrified to get too close, so there must be some underlying tone in that moo-ing that says to a predator "I'll get nasty with you if I need to, don't even think about tempting me or I'll take you out!" Michael has named the calf "Ruby", which is a really cute name for her.  "Sparkle" or "Sparkie" were my ideas, but Michael is supposed to be taking care of this calf.  The eventual idea is that when we eventually sell her, Michael can use some of that money to pay for teenage-boy driver's insurance.  So "Ruby" it is. Milking Bess was a joy last night.  It made me remember the first few times that I tried to milk her, unwilling as she was back in January.  This time, the reason was different, but my frustration was the same.  Her sweet little Ruby was curled up and sound asleep on a pile of dry manure, and no amount of prodding or rattling grain in the bucket would persuade Bess to actually walk away from her baby.  I had to hoist Ruby up off the ground, guide her into the milking room, get Bess to follow, and then close the door after all 3 of us were inside.  Bess immediately went into the stanchion to munch her grain, and Ruby curled up to take another baby-nap.  Bess mooed a few times to make sure Ruby was nearby.  ;) I truly love watching farm mamas with their babies.  The hens with their little chicks, the duck with her ducklings, and now Bessie with Ruby.  Even if the mothering techniques aren't all the same, there is an obvious God-given maternal instinct that makes me smile every time. Ruby should be the last baby for a while.  No hens on nests, no dogs or cats capable of having babies, no ducks trying to set up housekeeping this late in the summer.  It's OK, and I have to admit that the anxiety that I sometimes feel is greater when there are farm animal babies to keep track of.  I think that the absence of farm babies all winter will make it that much sweeter when the babies start making their appearance next spring. Welcome, little Ruby, and thanks to God for a healthy calf, an uneventful delivery, and a wonderfully attentive Bessie! Laura.

It's a Girl!

She's a little girl.  I took the opportunity to check while Bess was busy munching hay over by Lucy.  There are 4 tiny little pink spots where the future udder will grow.  Hooray!  She won't be dinner someday! Once again, I'm kind of surprised how much like deer cows can be.  Bessie left little Sparkie (or whatever her name will be) under the tree where she was born, and went to eat.  Sparkie resisted being moved, and curled up into a tighter ball when I tried to pick her up and stand her on her feet.  It took a bit of effort to move her, and by then Bessie's full attention was on me.  She has this warning look in her eyes when I mess with the calf, but hasn't acted aggressive.  When the dogs ran in the back acre this morning, the term "cowed" or "cowered" made sense.  Bessie hoisted herself up off the ground, stood guard over little Sparkie, made a few mooing sounds and (even though the dogs were on the outside of the electric fence around the cow pen), both dogs cowered and wanted very badly to be taken out of the back acre.  ;)  I take that as a good sign that Rocky won't go after the calf as if it was prey.  One more relief! Bessie's milk is still pink.  When it's frozen, you can see just how much blood is really in it.  Not pretty!  The vet said that the blood is probably from the large udder swinging against her legs for a few days, and it's just from a few broken blood vessels.  I'm keeping an eye on it, just to be sure. I thought that my stress about Bessie's pregnancy would end with the calf being born.  Last night I woke up and almost couldn't go back to sleep.  The pictures running through my head were:  Sparkie tangled in the electric fence strands.  Sparkie getting THROUGH the electric fence around the pen and Bessie not able to get to her.  Bessie getting milk fever and lying in the field all night without me there to help.  All silly, imagined, middle-of-the-night fears.  This morning showed a content and very much thinner Bess curled up near a sweet little calf.  Both happy, healthy, and ready for Sparkie's first full day on the farm.  The chicken/goose/duck/turkey greeting squad streamed into the cow pen to scratch in the manure or eat bits of hay.  Bess watched warily, and little Sparkie perked up her ears and took it all in.  VERY cute! Laura. You are invited to view Laura's photo album: 2012 07 06 New calf 2012 07 06 New calf Jul 6, 2012 by Laura View Album Play slideshow If you are having problems viewing this email, copy and paste the following into your browser: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=dykstrazoo1&target=ALBUM&id=5762417066827941329&authkey=Gv1sRgCL2zvajSoI66-AE&feat=email To share your photos or receive notification when your friends share photos, get your own free Picasa Web Albums account.

Sparkie has arrived!

One calf has arrived!  I was worried while I was watching it being born.  It seemed like such a long time that the water sac was coming out, and I had no idea if the calf's nose was inside of there, needing to take its first breath.  But Bessie knew just what to do, and despite all I've heard about dairy cows having the natural instincts bred out of them, she immediately started licking her little baby and mooing to it as soon as it was delivered and she could reach it. I called Jeremy to come out and look.  He was only a little bit excited, because Bessie having her calf today (of all days!) meant that his plans for having a couple of Palatine friends over were being changed.  There will still be a sleepover, but his friends will ride here with Jeff, instead of Jeremy and me meeting them at a waterpark/playground.  Jeremy was looking forward to that! I have no idea if it's a boy or a girl.  It does have a beautiful belt, marked like Bessie but with 4 white hooves and a little white spot on its forehead.  It's 50% Dutch Belt (actually less, since Bess is only 75%) and 50% Holstein.  It could still be named "Sparkie", especially with that tiny white mark on its face, but Michael will have to weigh in on the name when he gets home from Canada tomorrow night.....  If it's a girl, it will eventually be a good milk cow. I had to wait around to make sure that it got some milk.  Bessie kept circling it, licking it all over.  Then Lucy came up and tried to play, but got very still and maternal when the calf tried to nurse from Lucy.  I had to shoo Lucy away, because the calf had already tried to bond with me when I wiped it's face clean with a towel.  No reason for a newborn calf to bond with a heifer who has no milk to give! About an hour after it was born, I finally gave Bess a bucket of grain to distract her, and guided the calf to her udder.  After a few sprays of milk into its mouth, it started looking for the source.  Unfortunately, it thought that my finger was where the milk was coming from!  It took a little more working while Bessie was still munching, and then little baby got the feel for it and really started sucking.  Bess didn't seem to know what to do, and did a few questioning moos at first.  Seemed to be going OK by the time I headed inside to clean the bottle for dipping the calf's navel in iodine. I just came in to get a break from the heat and to download the photos.  The vet says to keep watching for a second calf, because this one isn't much bigger than Rocky (the husky).  I know that Dutch Belts are supposed to have easy deliveries, and 80 pound calves, but the vet thinks that its a small enough calf that there could be another.  So, enjoy the first few photos of this little sweetie, and I'll write more if there's another calf to introduce!  ;) Laura.

Calf on its way....possibly twins?!!!

So hot again today.  This morning seemed the worst, with no breeze and instant sweat at only 8 a.m.  All week the weather radio has been suggesting that the heat wave could break today and we'd have temps in the 80's for the weekend.  We'll all have to run to the closets for winter coats!  80's will feel heavenly.  The vet came out a few hours ago.  Bess put up an admirable fight, but he got her into a rope halter and tied her to a tree to examine her.  He could feel the calf's feet and nose, and "pinched" the nose to make sure the calf was alive.  She was "dilated" and ready to deliver any time.  His comments were that the calf is almost in position, should be born today, is quite small, and that.......unless Dutch Belts as a breed have very tiny calves, there could be twins.  I'm supposed to be on the lookout to make sure that Bess takes care of the calf, and if she doesn't, then I need to milk her and feed the calf by bottle within two hours.  The calf also needs its navel dipped in iodine to prevent infection.  If Bess doesn't clean the calf, I need to be ready to dry it with towels and make sure it's breathing. (It can be tickled inside the nose to force it to take a breath, if needed.) And if the calf is as small as one of our dogs, then I need to call the vet back, because then he expects there to be a twin needing to be "taken" to make sure it's born in a timely manner. We sat and had some iced tea while he answered my questions, then he looked in on Bess again and said that she's "starting"....and if there isn't a calf born by first light tomorrow, to call him. Update:  She is lying in the shade next to Lucy, her tail held high, clear discharge coming out.....so I'll be outside in the shady, trying not to bother her, trying to stay cool, but ready to step in with towels to dry off the little one and a piece of straw to tickle it's nose if Bess isn't an attentive mother.  More later..... Laura.

Waiting on the little one.....

Again, thought it would be today because of one little detail:  she started dripping milk.  At least she's getting closer. Friends Ben and Susan stopped by en-route to Chicago from Door County, and we were watching Bessie look very heat-stressed while Lucy relaxed nearby in the shade.  I called the vet. He was surprised that she hadn't had the calf yet.  She's been holding her tail off at an angle longer than just a day or two, which concerned him a little.  He advised me to milk her because she had started dripping.  Said something about how milking her might even start her thinking about having that calf.  And asked me if I'd felt inside her to see if there was any progress!!!!  No, I haven't.  I politely explained that I wouldn't know what I was doing even if I tried.  He works with people who have large herds of dairy or beef cows, and I imagine that a seasoned farmer would just do it without thinking twice, and would even have a few of those up-to-the-shoulder gloves ready for just such an occasion.  It's a little intimidating to me.   I'm sure the dairy men out there would have advised not to interfere (re: the milking), and that was my first reaction.  I've read so many pros and cons for milking a cow before she delivers her calf (to relieve pressure, to keep bacteria from going up into her teat through the open and dripping duct.....there was something about edema, too, which I'm not really sure how to describe or even what it really is, but the photos were almost gruesome of udders hanging almost to the ground...more info that you wanted, I'm sure.  Bessie's doesn't look like that, by the way.)  I had to weigh the advice of the vet against all the cons I've heard....and since the vet said he'll come by tomorrow to check on Bess, decided that I'd better follow his instructions. After luring Lucy out of the cow pen so she couldn't trap me in the corner as I tried to milk Bess, we settled in with Bessie's grain and a bucket of garlic mustard, red clover, and other green weeds from outside the fence (didn't have alfalfa hay yet.)  Bess didn't flinch as I started milking--like we haven't even had 10 weeks now of non-milking.  I was thinking this:  we could have had fresh milk for at least 2 weeks longer in April, and next time will have a closer idea when she was actually "bred" and a good idea of the due date, which is even more important! The milk was the color of strawberry milk-shake, about 3/4 gallon of it, so I called the vet again (colostrum is supposed to be brownish, if I understand it right).  He was very pleasant, didn't sound too concerned, and said that I should freeze it for the calf, but replace it with tomorrow's milk/colostrum if that comes out "cleaner".  Today's might have blood in it, and the word "edema" came up again.  He assured me again that he'll be out tomorrow to check on her if the calf doesn't come tonight. So we wait again.  Lucy was "mounting" Bess today, which caused a bit of commotion throughout the day.  Poor Bess--hugely pregnant, wanting to just stand still,  her nose perspiring, breathing heavily, dripping milk from an uncomfortable-looking udder, and Lucy is acting dominant for various fun reasons and causing physical exertion for the 8 year old cow who just wants to have her calf and get it over with..... Let's see what excitement tomorrow brings!  If nothing else, I'll be relieved that the vet has come and checked things out, and that everything doesn't hinge on my guessing game about what Bessie's symptoms might mean.

No news is non-news

Poor Bess.  She seems so miserable.  Some days it seems that the calf's birth must be imminent, and then others (like today), it seems that the pregnancy will just go on....and on....and on.....  Yesterday seemed like a more likely day than today.  Uncle Duane was right--it will be a July calf! Bessie's udder is now larger than we've ever seen it.  She was giving 3 gallons a day when we got her in January, 2 gallons a day soon after (when I started hand-milking her).  No idea how much she could hold in an udder the size that it is now.  When Bess lies down, she shields that huge udder with her curled up leg to keep the flies away.  It truly looks like a water balloon under her, about to burst.  The flies have been terrible!  I can spray both of the cows with fly spray, and just a few hours later it isn't doing any good.  I bought the less potent kind, because of how they groom each other (and how the calf will be drinking from an area that gets misted with fly-spray).  I've been debating whether to dust them both with diatomaceous earth, which I have for the chickens' dust bath and to add to chicken-feed once in a while for an internal worm prevention.  It's kind of a crazy and horrible idea, but apparently, the cells of the diatoms that make up the powdery diatomaceous earth are so sharp that any soft-skinned insect gets "cut up" by the sharp edges  (fleas, lice, internal worms, maybe even flies?)  Next time I'm at the farm store, I'll check the label of the expensive fly-powder that is used in hanging bags for cows to brush past, and maybe diatomaceous earth is in the ingredient list.... There is no grass to be grazed out in the pasture.  The bottom of the fence is showing signs of the cows pushing against it to get at the dry (but still greenish) blades of grass growing outside the fence.  The chickens are pecking at the small and dry leaves of clover that was struggling to grow.  Creeping Charlie (a weedy ground cover) is almost the only thing green out there, and even that is wilting away.  I water out there once in a while, but the sun dries it up almost as soon as the day gets going.  We'll probably have to re-seed in the fall in hopes of getting some grass established before winter sets in. I'm making mental notes of where rain barrels could be placed next spring.  We don't have gutters on the house or barn, so a lot of rain could be caught in a long line of connected barrels, and then doled out for gardens.  There's something that can be added to rain water if it starts getting scummy, too, that would make it safe for animals to drink.  If this heat is going to be a yearly trend, then saving all the water possible would be a really good thing.  It would help, too, to have a visible limit to what I hose onto the grass or gardens:  One barrelful per day, if we had a whole line of barrels, and the idea of priority would make sense, rather than turning on the sprinkler without really thinking through whether that well-water is being wasted or not.  Gardens for food and water for animals: first priority, flowers would probably have to dry up unless they could take the heat, and lawn grass would be at the bottom of the list.  The pasture grass would be dry but OK if it had had time to grow in this spring..... The ducks would need to stop wasting so much water by swishing their food around in it, so we'd have to come up with a better watering system than the open hog-pans with water in them.  Each day, sometimes numerous times a day, I have to empty out those water pans so that the gunky duck-water is replaced with fresh water that isn't going to make the chickens sick.  We also have to run a dehumidifier in the basement almost non-stop to keep mold from starting.  That water could be collected, too.  Right now, it's all wasted as the hose takes it right down into the sump pump and it gets pumped out of the basement.  There's some saying that laziness is the mother of invention, or something like that.  But I think that God gave us analytical minds that can reason out what would have been a good strategy in any situation, and how to put that in place in the event that the same situation is replayed another time.  I don't think that I'd call that laziness!  Next year, whatever large barrels I can scrounge up will be used to catch all the rain-water we're able to contain. Back to the animals:  We've only had 2 heat-related deaths.  They wouldn't really be classified "heat-related".  Two chicks tried to drink from the half-barrels that are filled with cow water, and I found them drowned at noon one day.  The chickens have plenty of water, but not in that certain area.  So now there's a hog-pan of water near the cow water, too. Sad but kind of interesting:  One chick which drowned was one of the last 3 surviving chicks from Solomon's hatch (black and white hen raised 4, brown cochin raised Solomon after the black and white hen stole the hatching eggs in the clean nest).  Solomon (who seems to be a young hen, needing a more feminine name) is still grazing side-by side with his mama.  The black and white hen left her 4 chicks to fend for themselves weeks ago, about the time I complained about the brown hen neglecting her baby.  That situation totally turned itself around, with the black and white hen's chicks hanging out together and no need for their mama to coddle them.  Two died when the sickness went through the flock.  That left 2 who roosted together each night.  The gray one drowned, leaving one forlorn little rust-colored chick.  She has decided that she wants to be a cow-bird, instead of a chicken.  She hangs out by the cows, follows them, picks through their piles, and even nips flies off of their ankles as she miraculously avoids being stepped on.  Last night, when all the chickens were rounded up and into the barn, she was spotted by the cows, not paying any attention to what the others poultry were doing.  I had to actually chase her down, because she didn't want to leave the cows.  Cousin Vonda had pointed out that chickens roosting near milking areas isn't a great idea for sanitation, so I don't want to let this little hen get the idea that she can curl up with the cows (or even worse, roost above them).  I'm sure she's back with the cows today, getting tasty flies and learning to dodge those huge hooves as she identifies more and more with cows, and less and less with birds of her own kind.  ;) Happy 4th of July, everyone.  If the calf is born today, I think it's name will have to be "Sparkie" in honor of sparklers and fireworks!  ;) Laura.

Fw: Laura shared an album with you.

Here is the clover/flower album again, with more than just the one photo.....Sorry. You are invited to view Laura's photo album: 2012-06-27 2012-06-27 Jun 17, 2012 by Laura View Album Play slideshow If you are having problems viewing this email, copy and paste the following into your browser: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=dykstrazoo1&target=ALBUM&id=5759842832645426929&authkey=Gv1sRgCIK299a_ruzfLw&feat=email To share your photos or receive notification when your friends share photos, get your own free Picasa Web Albums account.

Fw: Laura shared an album with you.

It would be better if I sent more than one photo in an album (technical difficulties!) Here is the "frog" album again: You are invited to view Laura's photo album: 2012-06 Frog 2012-06 Frog Jun 17, 2012 by Laura View Album Play slideshow If you are having problems viewing this email, copy and paste the following into your browser: https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=dykstrazoo1&target=ALBUM&id=5759841909203689649&authkey=Gv1sRgCIKjt_vvqPyiYA&feat=email To share your photos or receive notification when your friends share photos, get your own free Picasa Web Albums account.