Helena's Birthday Party

We had a family party for Helena's first birthday last Saturday. I decided to go with lady bugs for a theme. It's Mommy's choice when you are too young to have an opinion, and I'm taking advantage of this stage while it lasts. :)

Here's the cake. At one point I would have thrown it in the trash and ordered one from the grocery store, but it was too late for that. Overall, it turned out fine.

Helena is not too sure about fire. Daddy blew it out before she decided to touch the flame.

Here she is sort of enjoying her cupcake. Our girls, for what ever reason, have not really eaten the cake at their birthday parties.

Time to open presents. It's a good thing she has an older sister to show her how to open presents by opening most of them for her.

We had a great time and Helena got lots of nice things. Hannah can hardly wait for her birthday to roll around!

Happy 1st Birthday Helena

You are such a sweet and precious girl. We love your smile and laugh. It has been a great first year and look forward to what next year brings. Happy Birthday!

Sunshine in the Morning

After a long day with the cow and calf, and a long night with the heifer and calf I didn't sleep well. I was worried about this calf all night because I wasn't ready to lose her after losing her mother. I was greeted with this (albeit out of focus) sunshiny face in the morning. I was so thankful.
We got her some colostrum and got her into an outside pen...the dog kennel for the time being.

Gus our nurturing cow dog spent a tremendous amount of time licking her yesterday. I thought it was just the poop on her that he liked but I think it was more than that. He knew she needed some love.

I was a little worried about her yesterday. She was a bit lethargic and was beginning to develop diarrhea. I was so encouraged this morning. She jumped up to greet me and quickly consumed all of her breakfast. As long as we can keep her healthy we should have it made. Who knows "sunshine" might just make it into her registered name. Her happy face is just what I needed when I woke up.

Not All Peaches & Cream

I don't want this blog to be a place where I post depressing stories or unhappy pictures. I do however feel like you are getting a glimpse of our life through rose colored glasses and that's not quite right either. So here goes...a reality check.

The calf that I posted about earlier today never did nurse. We finally put the cow in the squeeze chute after dinner, milked her and got the calf a bottle. For what ever reason he had an aversion to the udder. He has since been convinced that good stuff comes from the udder and that it's his friend. When I checked tonight all was well with the pair.

In the meantime the cow's older daughter (a bred heifer) went into labor. I didn't see her and think maybe I was so preoccupied with getting the calf to nurse that I missed it. About 10:30 pm I went out to check the cows and when I found her my heart sank for the second time today. She had prolapsed and was a mess. I called Ben and had him get dressed so we could go out and asses the situation. This heifer was uncomfortable and doing poorly. I wanted to put her down because she was in so much pain, but Ben suggested we try to put her back together. If you have never seen a prolapse you can click here. I have purposely spared you the pictures.

I gathered some supplies and we worked to push her uterus back into place. Amazingly we put a relatively clean uterus back into the heifer and it stayed. Only one thing was missing...a calf. I had scoured the pasture before coming upon the heifer and didn't see a calf. We decided to look some more and then come back to check on the heifer. We found the calf, which had gotten through the fence and was in another pasture. I scooped her up and threw her in the back of the pickup. We went back to check on the heifer and in less than five minutes she had died. I was disappointed I hadn't gotten to her earlier in the day. We have been working to build a purebred herd of cattle and this gal would have been a nice addition.

Right now her calf is resting in the mud room in the house. Thankfully I was able to teach her to take a bottle in a relatively short amount of time and she seems to be doing well. There's work to be done tomorrow. Colostrum to be hunted down, a place for the calf to set up, and dead heifer to be taken care of. Some people envy farm/ranch life, but it's not for everyone. Some years it seems like things are smooth sailing. And then some years is feels like the bovines hand you every trick in the book. But it seems there's always a bright spot in everything if you just look for it. I think the girls will absolutely love bottle feeding a calf. I hope I can learn to love it as much as they will. :) I'm off to bed to rest up from today's excitement and prepare for tomorrow's.

Happy St. Patrick's Day and a Day on the Farm

This morning started out great. I was fueling my Irish blood by putting corned beef and cabbage in the crock pot and listening to bag pipes on the TV. The misty fog was adding to the mood. I was running around the house doing laundry and dishes, making an occasional glance out the window at the cows. I had dreams of listening to bag pipes all day and getting lots of work done around the house.



At one point I made more than a glance and realized one of the cows definitely had something hanging out of her rear end. In my haste working around the house I had forgotten to load up and take a drive through the cows...oops.
We checked on the cow and a calf seemed to be eminent, but she wasn't working at it. At this point though, Helena needed a nap and I was working hard to fight my gut feeling that she needed help, and tried to talk myself into giving her more time. I got Helena down for the count and I couldn't stand it anymore. I had to bring her in. This was the best cow on the place bred by artificial insemination to a great bull. I WAS GOING TO SAVE THIS CALF!

I got her into the corrals and waited. The Manager of the Hay Procurement Department (aka Ben) said she needed more time. The Cattle Manage (aka me) said she needed help now. I would argue that having actually been in labor myself I might have had and advantage, but was swayed and gave her some time. I got some bread going in the bread machine. "This could turn out to be a long day," I thought. And then I busied myself getting the supplies and tools ready just in case I had to pull this calf. Later Ben went out and checked her, and he too thought she had given up on this whole having a baby thing.

This might be a great cow but she's a jumper. She has tried to jump out of every alley that she's ever been in. Today was no different. I got her contained. Ben was at her head trying to keep her from jumping out of the alley. The girls were in the pickup laughing and eating graham crackers. I got her rear end cleaned up and tail tied back. I dove in bare-hand first, right through the calf's exit door. It was really a stretch to reach down and find the calf. Once I did my heart sank. The calf was laying in there belly up. Calves don't come out that way so it was no wonder she had quit trying.

My next step was to call the vet. Thankfully he came right down. We got a halter on her and got her tied in the corner. He reached in and found a calf sitting in the perfect position for birth. Oh what a bunch of fighting and jumping around will do to help a calf get in the right position. With a some work on the vet's part and me on the end of her tail (holding it out of the way) we had a live calf. I think it's a bull but don't hold me to that. I haven't inspected too closely yet. The cow has been a great mama.

The calf is up and trying to nurse. I couldn't be more thankful or feel more blessed.

Now I'm looking forward to that Corned Beef and Cabbage and fresh bread. Have a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hannah Speaks in February

Ben wasn't home one evening at dinner time and I was getting the girls set at the table to eat dinner. I got Hannah's meal to the table and she got up to eat. She apparently didn't want to wait and said, "I'll just pray." Some of the things I overheard were, "Thank you God for this day. Thank you God for this food. Thank you God for Daddy...." I finally had to help her finish because I don't think she's got that part down yet.

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On one of the roads that we travel often there's a herd of cattle composed of several breeds. This year they have had quite a few Charolais calves, which are all white. For two years now we have been driving by this herd and when Hannah sees the calves she says, "Look Mom, sheep. Baaa." I have tried to convince her that they are calves but she can't be persuaded. I guess she thinks cattle are black or red.

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One of Hannah's favorite things to pretend to play is "Sunday School." She is of course the teacher, and Helena is the student. They go into Helena's room and Hannah pounds out on the piano and sings "Jesus Loves Me". Then she gets out one of their little Bibles and she "reads" Bible stories to Helena. She gets kind of frustrated if Helena leaves before Sunday School is over.

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Papa Lee was quizzing Hannah with several questions. She came to one that she didn't know the answer to and she whimpered and said, "I thought I could answer that."