Swathing

The girls got to go swathing with me yesterday. Before I had Hannah, I used to run a swather all summer cutting alfalfa hay. After I had her, my job changed to Mom and wheel line changer. When she was an infant I swathed for two days but hadn't done any since.


For the last few years we have rented some ground to grow triticale to make grain hay for the cows. Last year we had another farmer put up the hay for us but this year we have decided to do it ourselves. We rented some equipment and yesterday was the day we cut it.



Here they are, ready to go. Hannah was so excited. She couldn't stop talking about the swathers in the driveway. She would frequently drag me out there to look at them.








Our view for several hours yesterday while traveling about 3 m.p.h. It was slow going but if I went much faster I would have spent way too much time unplugging the swather.




The girls loving the ride.

After a few hours Hannah busied herself trying to color on every page of a notebook that I brought. Helena decided to take a nap on the arm that I steer with. This forced me to steer with blood deprived fingers. Boy were they tired when I got done. It's amazing what a Mom will do to keep a kiddo asleep when they know they need a nap.

And then Hannah decided to take a nap behind the same arm. At this point I'm hoping and praying nothing goes wrong with the swather that will cause me to have to get out.

Four hours later we finished with no problems. Up next, a little raking and lots of baling.

Please Feed Me

This is Sunshine standing at my patio as I type, waiting for her dinner time bottle. She is doing well and enjoys being our third "dog" and grazing in the lawn. Yes, this means that now there's more poop to pick up.

The Laborious Beginning

We started calving over a month ago when we came home from church "surprised" to see a new calf. I was only remotely surprised as I knew when I put the bull out, but didn't notice anyone being that close to calving. I guess it caught Ben off guard because I neglected to tell him the fun was about to start.

Saga #1

About a week later Ben went out in the morning to check the cows, and came back in to report that we had two new calves but he wasn't sure who one of the calves belonged to. I offered to go back out and see if I could figure out who the calf belonged to. I felt like a modern day, adult Nancy Drew. I drove around and checked all of the cows and heifers. We don't usually have a problem with a cow taking her calf so I though maybe it belonged to one of the heifers. I looked at everybody. I checked hind ends and hind quarters. I checked the milk factory and looked for afterbirth. I looked for matted hair and dirty bodies from an arduous labor on the ground. NOTHING! I could not for the life of me figure out who this calf belonged to.

Sure, the cow with the calf showed all the right signs but she had her calf. I retreated to the house for a little nourishment and contemplation. Ben suggested maybe she had twins. "Oh duh Erika," I thought. Leave it to the gal that spent four years in college studying Animal Science to miss that a cow had twins. Maybe the fact that I've had two babies of my own helped cloud my brain. As it turns out, the guy that claims to just be the "Hay Procurement Department" of the cattle operation solved the mystery.

I took the calf over to the cow, and they immediately took to each other. Here's a picture shortly after the reunion. A couple of heifers came over to investigate. I think they were trying to find out what they were getting themselves into. I guess it must have scared them because I'm still waiting on them to calve.

This was a good sign but it was dirty rotten cold outside and the cow was having a hard time managing the care of two new calves. We brought them into the corrals for several days and they are all doing well now.

The mama cow is a little unsure about going through this whole pregnancy thing again. She thinks that since she's doing twice the work of the other gals she should get next year off. We are still in negotiations but I'm sure she won't get off that easy, those bulls are hard to convince.

Saga #2

We had a couple of smooth sailing births and then about a week later came my next challenge. I took the girls out in the morning to check the cows. One cow was off by herself so I knew something was up. When I got close I could see one calf leg sticking out. Not good! A normal presentation would be both front or both back feet coming out together, with the calf being right side up. Picture that one with me! So, one foot is a bad sign and my gut feeling was that she needed help. I however couldn't tell if she had been laboring all night long and had given up on pushing, or if she had just started and her contractions weren't very close.

I called some friends for a little bit of advice, a grandma for a babysitting favor, and a guy to come help me pull. This would be the morning that Ben was swamped loading trucks. Everyone showed up plus the friend giving the advice. We made the executive decision to bring her in and pull the calf. She assured me it is better to assist the cow if you think she needs it rather than not assist when she really does need the help. I have heard the OSU Calving School talk twice and you would think I could make a decision on my own. Nope. I really was second guessing myself because we haven't had to pull a calf since 2003. I can count that up as a blessing!

We brought her in, pulled the calf, and the cow mothered right up to the calf. They got to go back out with the rest of the herd that day and are doing well now.

Saga #3

The next morning Ben went out the check on the cows and he came back in and told me that there was a calf wandering around out there trying to nurse off of the other cows, but didn't seem to be with its mom. So I put my Nancy Drew cap back on and went out there to see if I could figure it out. I picked the calf up and kind of waved it around in front of the herd. "Calf for sale, calf for sale! Do I have a taker? Can I get a bid?" Most of them looked at me like I was crazy, but there was one cow off by herself that raised her head. Ah, I've got a taker...sort of. I took the calf over to her and tried to get her to take it. No way! She head butted it and kick the crud out of it when it tried to nurse. Meet Erika fights Mother Nature! I was determined to make this cow love this calf it was the last thing I did. No one wants to have to bottle feed a calf because the mama doesn't want it.

I brought the cow and calf into the corrals. Thankfully this little calf was resilient. He had been alive for about 12 hours, had never eaten, and was giving me a run for my money as I tried to wrangle him. I put mama in the squeeze chute and let down the sides so the calf could nurse. She wouldn't let him nurse and he couldn't seem to figure it out. She would however let me milk her, so I got the calf some colostrum and fed it a bottle. There was alot of persuading the calf to nurse and the cow to let him. Finally the cow got tired and the calf got it figured out.

Here is a picture of the small success. I don't know if you can tell but that's a very dirty look on that cow's face.

It took another day of bringing her in and letting the calf nurse, before she decided to let him nurse and he decided that he wanted to nurse her. Thankfully they are both doing well too. Score: Erika-1 Mother Nature-0. She has a few battle wounds on her right front leg from being a pill in the squeeze chute but they are healing up nicely. Her calf must have been off basking in the sun or frolicking around with the other calves when I took this picture.

We have been enjoying a calving lull for the last couple of weeks. Now we are waiting on two commercial cows and two heifers plus all of the purebred animals. Nine down (10 babies) and eleven to go. I'm hoping all of the kinks were worked out in the beginning and it will be downhill from here.

Feeding the Cows Today

I've been falling down on the job of taking pictures of the girls. I attribute it to the challenge of carrying one and chasing another. I just need another arm to carry the camera. I was feeling particularly adventurous today so I took the camera when we went to feed the cows.

Here's Heléna enjoying hanging out while I feed the cattle in the corrals.

The girls in their Carhartts today. They both have bibs on but Hannah is finally just big enough for a jacket, and she loves it. These are a couple of my favorite pictures that I have of the girls. I just can't stop smiling.

Here are the ladies waiting for their dinner. Just so you don't think we have more cattle than we do, it's just the gals nearest in the picture. The ones in the background belong to our neighbors.

Mmmm...dinner.

If you're low woman on the totem pole you get to eat at the second feeder. All of the big wigs eat at the first feeder. We have one cow that goes straight for the second feeder. I think she's just smart and has figured out that you have to put up less of a fight at the second feeder.

Oh, she beat us to the feeder.

Heléna is checking on Mommy through the side mirror of the pickup.

On our way back to the gate we feed a bale of junky hay for the cows to pick through later. Here's Hannah ready to throw a flake of it off the feed wagon.

And there it goes....

Heléna and Daddy waiting while we close the gate.

Heléna isn't happy in the pickup unless she's "driving."

Some of What Happened in October

We helped with the grain planting on the little place next door. It's just a few acres and we raise grain hay for cattle feed.

Fourth cutting off of the alfalfa field got baled...and sold...such a blessing in a tough hay market.

Hannah got a trim and I think she's about due for another. I had better go shorter next time.

Helena has become quite proficient at crawling. In the last week or so she has begun to pull herself up and try to stand in the middle of the floor. I hope I'm ready for this!

If I Ever Get to Build a New House

...all pastures and corrals will be more than 15 feet from my bedroom window. I have posted before about the joys of having cows right next to my bedroom. Last night it was the bull that was the trouble.

As we are using up the last bit of grass in the pastures, we are playing musical pastures with the animals. The bull has been placed in isolation because his "job" is done for the year. Right now there's just a fence separating the bull from his coveted herd of cows. Last night he was vying for their attention and showing off his brute strength. To demonstrate it, he pushed and tossed an empty water trough around the pasture and into the fence. This wouldn't have been much of a bother anywhere else on the place but it just so happened to be next to our bedroom window.

About 11:30 last night I was sleeping peacefully, for once. Ben was up jumping around on the bed, looking out the window and mumbling something about the bull. I was aroused from what was a very deep sleep and was headed out of the bedroom before I fully realized what was going on. Ben apparently wasn't going to be able sleep with the bull trying to impress the ladies with his trough tossing skills. The possibility of the bull wrecking the fence was a motivating factor too.

Since I was dressed and already out of the bedroom I decided to go deal with the situation. I'm admittedly a wimp when it comes to going into a pasture on foot with the cows after the sun goes down. Because I can't see them very well, I'm sure they can't see me very well, and will take it upon themselves to toss me over the fence. This never happens. It's just an unfounded fear I have. I quickly over came my fear of cows in the dark when it meant I either had to be in their pasture or the bull's.

We were spoiled by our last bull. He wanted to be petted and would eat grain out of our hand. The bull we have now is a little less loving but is of higher quality. Oh the trade offs. The fact that he is halter broke doesn't always make up for his macho attitude.

So, now the dilemma was how to get the trough out without tangling with the showoff bull. I thought the cows looked a little more docile and decided to work from their pasture. I reached through the fence and drug the trough along until I reached the gate. This was going well until my pajama pant clad legs touched the electric fence. For a split second I panicked. Then reality set in. The bull had grounded the fence out somewhere so that it no longer worked. Boy was I thankful!

Ben suggested I take the trough as far as the little concrete ditch right next to the gate. "Not in a million years," I thought. If I'm going to get it within three feet of the gate I'm going to haul it all the way out. I wanted to be sure I didn't have to return to the pasture any time soon. I'm sure the bull would see the trough in the ditch as just a little added interest in his show. I did manage to get the trough out with out any physical contact with a bovine animal. It's possible that being awakened from a deep sleep could cause me to be a bit more dramatic about my fear of cows.

We have no plans to build a house, but should we ever, I think I have it figured out how much personal space I need when it comes to the cows! Stay tuned for the weaning of the calves. I'm sure it could prove to be interesting as well.

Hannah Rakes

We were long overdue to put Hannah in the tractor with Daddy. It was time to rake our field this morning. They are still raking as I type this. As we get later in the season, they tend to rake a bit later in the day so Hannah was awake this time. Hannah got dressed and ate most of her breakfast before repeating obsessively, "I go in the tractor with Daddy." I threw both girls in the pickup and out to the field we went. I IMMEDIATELY took Hannah to Daddy in the tractor. Her mantra was getting a bit old! Helena and I stay at the wheel line mover and waited to move it out of they way of the tractor.


Hannah with Daddy in the rake.

Helena yawning and waiting patiently for me to move the wheel line.

We were originally only going to cut the alfalfa three times but last week the decision was made to cut it four times in hopes that the last two cuttings would be of a higher quality and more saleable. Right now the are raking third cutting. I should be irrigating it one more time and then fourth will be cut some time this fall.

Alfalfa Field (Part 5)

Now that we are back to irrigating the field I thought I would share with you some of the pictures of what that involves.

This is where our water comes from. OK, that's kind of like saying milk comes from Safeway and not cows, but I think you know what I mean. Our water is delivered by a system that includes storage and delivery canals that was developed in the early 1900s. Virtually all of the farmed land in our area is irrigated either through the system in the link above or by wells.

In the bottom right hand corner of this picture is a head gate. The water flows through the head gate and then into a pipe to get under the road.

Next the water flows into the sump. That's the big shiny, round thing you see. It flows out of the sump and into the pumps. They are a dark blue-green color. We have two 50 hp pumps but only use one of them to irrigate the field right now. By the time the water has gotten to the pumps is has been screened or filtered four times. The water that comes down the ditch is nasty! It is filtered one more time before it is pushed out of the pump and into the reddish colored pipe in the background of the picture.

Here's the pipe up close. We call this the mainline. Right near the pump the mainline goes underground. The water is transported underground 1/4 mile down the field to a valve system that is 1/4 mile long.

I attach the wheel lines to the valves/risers and turn on the pumps. It takes me 5 1/2 days to run the wheel lines all the way across the field. I only had to run them across once before first cutting but I'm going to have to do it two times before we get to cut the hay again.

Hannah and Helena had their maiden voyage in the hay squeeze today...with MOMMY! Ben needed to go directly from raking hay to squeezing hay and had taken his pickup with him. We offered up our services and got his squeeze to him this morning. They weren't sure what to think of it but were very good riders.

Alfalfa Field Part 4

I'm really behind on my updates with the field. I guess that's an indication that we are pretty busy around here. Tuesday they raked the hay and on Wednesday the hay was baled. Then the bale wagons hauled it. They are the machines that pick up the bales and stack them into blocks. Then Ben stacked the blocks in the hay shed.

The girls and I are back to changing wheel lines which we started Thursday morning. We have also been doing lots of cow chasing and fence fixing. We have a few acres of triticale that we raised this year for cow feed. Note: There is so much cow-feed quality (junk) hay around here this year that we don't really need this, but oh well. Anyway, the pasture and triticale field are separated by a one-strand electric fence. The cows got out into the triticale and got a taste of it. Apparently Ben did a good job with it because they are willing to endure the pain of scaling the electric fence to get in to eat it. We have spent way too much time out there trying to keep them where they are supposed to be. I'm crossing my fingers they will have the triticale baled soon and I won't have it to worry about.

I'm sorry this is a boring post with no pictures. When you are part of the action, it's tough to get pictures of what's going on. Sometimes when packing two kids the addition of a camera is just too much to handle. I will do my best to get some pictures up soon.

The Cow With the 'Tude

Here's the "redheaded" cow with attitude that I was telling you about earlier. She had decidedly become the boss cow of the other herd. I think she was trying to convince them all to follow her the 15 miles home by jumping the fence several times a day. Well, we couldn't have that, so I brought her home.


She's got attitude. See here she's trying to come after me for taking her picture. Just kidding! She just wants to walk through the gate where I'm standing.

I will however take some responsibility for giving her some attitude. We purchased 8 heifers when we got married and she is out of our first crop of calves. When she was a yearling I was walking around in the corrals and she started to come after me. Just in case you didn't know, yearlings are like junior highers. Maybe this is the teacher in me talking, but junior highers can be squirrely. No offense to any junior highers out there. So back to yearlings. They run around the corrals like crazies that aren't sure what they are supposed to be doing. Hardcore animal lovers please stop reading here.

Well, on this particular day she came after me, and to keep from losing life or limb, I kicked her in the jaw. I kicked her hard in people terms but in cattle terms it was just a little love tap. In no way did I really hurt her, but she hasn't been the same since. So here's to a little spunk from one redhead to another.

This here is the progeny of the redhead cow with attitude. In case you couldn't read it. On the side of this little guy it says "Dinner." Actually the brand is a rocking lazy "D." That's not exactly how you say it in real brand language but I've forgotten the right way. He's one of only two steers that we had this year and we will be raising them up and butchering them in about a year and a half.

Grrrrr.....(Alfalfa Field Part 3)

I don't have any pictures for this post because it seems I'm chasing cows every time they are doing something to the hay. The hay that was cut on the first day has been raked. When they rake the hay, they roll two of the windrows that come out of the swather into one. It didn't get very dry with all of the rain that it had on it so today they had to flip over what they had raked. They flipped it with the intention of getting it dry enough to bale tomorrow morning. But.....it's raining AGAIN! Please someone remind the weather man that we live in the desert!

The hay that was swathed on the second day is getting its first good washing....definitely not ideal. Thankfully it hasn't been raked yet. This makes the situation a little less bleak. Pretty much everyone has started cutting their alfalfa and we are all in the same boat. We all have hay that isn't going to be good for much other than cow feed which translates into not much money. When I set out to chronicle the journey of what happens on our alfalfa field, I never expected it to be so atypical. I promised to not do this again but I might have to, just to show what it's supposed to be like.

On the brighter side we haven't had to water the garden much and the lawn is growing like crazy! Cows are cheap right now too. Maybe we'll have to buy some cheap cows to feed our cheap hay to, with the hopes that when they have a baby it will be worth something! As long as medical experts don't name the next illness that comes along "Cow Flu" we might get lucky.

Alfalfa Field Part 2

Here's a picture of the alfalfa field before I moved the wheel line and they started cutting. These rows of hay that you are seeing are the windrows. Normally they bleach out in the sun to some degree but not usually this bad. This is what happens when it has been "washed" about three times by rain. We were a little concerned that the other half of the field would be a mess to cut with all the rain that we've had. It was a little bit wet but other than that it was OK. Other fields in the area have begun to rot into a slimy mess under the canopy of the plants. Some people are turning it into silage and others are hoping it will dry out enough to cut. Thankfully ours is green and healthy still! Ideally this half of the field would have been cut the day after the first half. Things often don't go as planned so we just have to roll with the punches.

Tomorrow's project-One of the cows that we took to pasture about 15 miles from the house jumped the fence three times today. I guess I'll hook up the trailer that I just unhooked today, and go get her tomorrow. She's our only red cow and I guess she has a wild redhead attitude!