Some of the girls

I felt that I shouldn't leave them out

 



Reba

 

 



Dog

(She is my favorite)

 

Suzi

(My son's favorite)

 

Nora

(Our Normande heifer)

 

Some of the little girls

 

(Another little one)

 

Miss Chicken

(She isn't with the others because they tried to peck her eye out)

 

Sadie

(Doesn't that look like a I wish it was spring look)



Cows or kids?

   Don't you just love when the cows act like kindergarteners! When we are done milking, the cows leave the milking barn and go up to the free stall barn. I am not usually the one who takes them up but I wasn't busy and I said I would do it. Well they all went in but Hannah. She was determined she was not going in. I chased her from one side to the other, back and forth, back and forth, past the door each time - look at the funny farmer she likes to run. Then Hannah ran into the area where the manure is pushed out from the barn until it can be loaded into the spreader. Into the manure she went and was ready to jump the wall and head for the road. I ran and jumped over the gate and in front of her and headed her off - look the funny farmer likes to jump too. So back she went.
 
   Well the skid steer  is parked up there and of course enough room on each side for a cow.  I went to one side she went to the other, went to that side she went back to the other, back and forth, round and round - I like this funny farmer she likes to play games. Why does she look angry this is fun! At this point the ability of my blood pressure medicine is being tested. I was able to get the attention of the girl that helps us and she came up to assist. Her on one side me on the other. There now Hannah was headed in the right direction and headed to the barn door, good right! Wrong!!!

    The bad cow likes to jump too, right over the gate and out into the pasture ( of course ruining the gate in the process). Now my son has come up to help also. So the helper stays to block the manure and wall and we go out to get her. Bad cow likes to run also, farther and faster then the funny farmers but my son keeps running after her - look this funny farmer likes to run too! All of a sudden she stops, turns around and heads back. Great, she runs past me and me and funny farmer son are able to herd her to the entrance to the barn, We got her now, we got her blocked there is no where to go except to the barn. Wrong again!!!

   Funny farmer bowling- cow = ball, funny farmers = pins. Bad cow turned around and we tried everything but finally got out of the way before she ran us down.  Bad cow on the run again but funny farmer son was determined and a little mad by now and ran after her again, farther this time. When he caught up he would go right and she would go left, side to side, back and forth (this scene looked familiar). I yelled to funny farmer son to never mind, leave her, I hope a bear comes out of hibernation and eats her!! Funny farmer son gives up and funny farmers go in for breakfast. About an hour later funny farmer son goes to check on bad cow and bad cow must of realized it was her breakfast time too and was ready and waiting to come in the barn. By now the other cows ate all the good stuff and only hay left for bad cow.

   In the milking barn we have a gate in front of a door so when it is nice we can open it and let the breeze in but no cows out. Hubby had to take that gate to replace the one bad cow ruined. We would put plastic bags behind that gate, seems I am the only one who knows how to take them to the dumpster but I have been busy so behind the gate for now to keep cows out of them. Well no gate and big pile of bags so when the cows were done and were leaving they would jump in the pile, spread them everywhere and we would go pick them up. More cows done more jumping go pick them up again ( more funny farmer games). Cows watching are thinking don't you love when funny farmers act like kindergarteners! Hannah actually was brave enough to come on my end of the barn to get milked tonight. Hey Hannah how was breakfast? Was that grain yummy? That's right you didn't get any, aww that is awful I feel so bad for you( yeah right!)   I swear if cows could they would cut each others hair, eat paste and stuff marbles up their noses!

  Well this funny farmer has to go take blood pressure medicine and get ready for bed so I can be spunky if we play more funny farmer games tomorrow. Cows love to play in the snow and it looks like we got quite a bit headed our way. Toodles!

Some pictures - The men of the farm

 

 

 

The man of the barn

(not very photogenic)

 

 

The men of the pen

 

 

The man of the heifers (really not photogenic)

 

 

The man of the coop

 

 

He thinks he is man of the house ( the real men of the house were unavailable at the time of picture taking)

 

 

And Sapphire - not a man at all but followed me all around begging me to take her picture! She was very photogenic !!

 

Chores and cooking keep me busy

  Oh this computer is driving me crazy. I don't know if it is my computer or the satellite service but everything is taking forever, so haven't got on here much the last few days. I will have to have son #1 look at it when he visits.

  Well since it was warmer yesterday I was going to go out and take some pictures but plans changed. They finally started combining corn ( so many things went haywire and cause huge delays) and I had to make lunch for the guys. I whipped up egg salad since I always have plenty of eggs, made some homemade potato chips and some orange n cream drop cookies. Once that mess was all away and afternoon calf chores done then I made chicken and slicks ( got that off the cooks country show) and homemade dinner rolls for dinner. After that it was the Syracuse basketball game then bed. So no picture taking, with the computer it might have been a pain to get pictures on anyhow. Hope to soon though.

  I don't watch too much TV but when I do I like sports, cooking shows and one of my favorite shows is Alaska the last frontier. Thank goodness for the dvr so I can watch them on my schedule and not theirs. This week is the Olympics so I will be watching all of them I can and of course tonight is the super bowl. Football is my favorite. Making meatball subs and peanut butter bars for tonight. I love to cook just wish I had more time for it. Making things homemade takes more time then the already prepared food.

  Well a couple of the dry cows look like the might be having little ones sooner then I thought. Maybe I will get a picture of one of them. Well if my computer lets me I am going to read some other blogs then get things around for the game. Toodles!

I am on a roll

  This is my third post in a few days, that is more than I did in the past 2 years. I did miss posting and reading blogs and I have found some new ones I enjoy.

  It is still quite the same on the farm. Cows- still no one looks like they are going to have a calf anytime soon, Pigs- still driving me nuts when I go to feed them. I will get in there with them and move their feeders close to the fence and put their feed in and go back out to dump in their milky water and cause the ground is frozen those buggers have moved the feeders where I can't reach them,UGH! If I had a couple of more hands I could take everything in at once. Chickens- still laying a good amount of eggs, although found one dead chicken today. Poor thing and never the one that pecks at me when I gather the eggs. Barn cats- too many, want some!!! Farmers- cold!!!! and the male ones get a little grumpy, lol.

  Well sat down last night and attempted to get some crocheting done but about 2 minutes in to it eyes got heavy. I fought long and hard (about 2 minutes too) and finally gave in to that horrible thing called sleep. Oh the torture, but sometimes we just have to make some sacrafices now don't we. Unfortunately the football afghan I am working on still only has 2 of the 60 footballs done that are needed for it. Hope the family has good patience it may be awhile.

  The girl who helps us made dinner tonight. She brought chicken patty penne parmesan so no cooking for me. Well I said I would make dessert, whatever she wanted and she requested homemade cinnamon rolls that made my hubby happy. So during the time I would make dinner I watched a couple of cooking shows.

   Well that sleep thing is calling me again. Got to be all bright and bushy eyed for the girls in the morning. Toodles for now.

It's a heat wave - Sorta

Oh I can't stand this cold, single digit highs and below zero lows-PHOOEY! Today I suppose is a heat wave compared to the last week or so, it was 26 for a high, woo hoo! Of course we live on a hill so with the wind chill it didn't always feel 26 but an improvement it was over past days. Unfortunately right back down tomorrow for awhile too but it is cold all over. My husband keeps saying just think it is 1 day closer to spring but when it is -5 when he says that it really doesn't make me feel any warmer. Hope you all are keeping warm as possible.

I actually get 2 night milkings off in a row, tonight and tomorrow. What will I do with myself. Actually I have a million things to do, never a dull moment, but I just wonder where to start. I could do a nap, I have heard about those but never quite get to try them out,lol! No better not, besides I am a light sleeper and people are in and out of the door all the time and it wouldn't work for me.

I did put beef stew on for dinner so I don't have to worry about that. I probably will catch up on some book work and maybe later when the guys are watching tv get out my crocheting.

Well going to do laundry, got to get all those layers done so tomorrow morning I can get all bundled up to go milk the girls. I always tell them I am glad I am not a cow cause I get to go in and snuggle under the covers to sleep and they get the barn. If I had to choose, hanging out with the chickens would be better. Their coop is not to bad when I go in to get the eggs. Well toodles for now, keep warm!!!

Back again!

   I know over a year ago I said I was going to start posting again and only got one done. Well I hope to be better this time.

    It has been busy on the farm. We now are milking about 85 cows about 20 dry cows ( sometimes they dry some off when I am not there and I lose count), and about 20 bred heifers. It has quieted down in the new calf department. From the end of October into the beginning of December we had 30 heifers freshen so there were new little ones all the time and boy was I busy with the bottles. No bottles right now everyone drinks out of a bucket and I am happy. Although we did switch towards the end to the acidified milk replacer and the self feeding nipples and that saved a lot of time. I don't think it will be too much longer though before new calves start again just not as quickly because they will be just from the dry cows right now, the heifers won't freshen till spring.

  I have been doing a lot of make from scratch cooking lately. I usually get Sunday night of from milking and I try to make something new from scratch. I have made homemade mayonnaise, tater tots, ketchup, of course lots of bread, chicken soup, beef stew, soft pretzels, lots of bake goods anything to try to eliminate some of the preservatives and such in premade processed foods. Of course we still have our own milk, beef pork and eggs and when the chickens are past egg laying time the go in the pot for the chicken soup. Some probably need to go now but I do love my chickens so they stay longer then they should.

   I hope to get some pictures on and hope I do get the time to keep posting and of course reading some of my favorite blogs too. Gotta to go check on things, so cold here right now going to make sure things are not frozen and such and told the family I would make homemade mac and cheese for dinner so I better get that going. Toodles!