Wednesday, April 11, 2007

WORKING WITH WHAT YOU HAVE

With the recent April snow, we are finding out that we don't quite have the setup for calving during the cold and snow (hence the reason why years ago we changed our calving from March to April).

We are trying to work with what we have, which has been pretty trying on all of us, even the cows. We don't have the barn space so we have been pulling the calves from the cows right before dark and leaving the calves in the barn overnight. It doesn't take long before the cows know what you are up to and they are really starting to get testy! It's a good thing we only have 9 moms that we are dealing with right now. Chad gets mad at the cows (I know that because of the words that come out of his mouth during this time) but being a mom, I would put up a fight if someone were taking my baby from me too! For those of you that think we are being mean, the calves love it! As soon as we get them in the barn, they start running and jumping around and could care less that the moms are bellering like crazy. In the morning, they are all cozied up on the warm bed of straw that they slept on. This endeavor has been taking all 4 of us as of late and the kids have been real troopers about it. I think it's because there is just something special about this time of year with calving. Seeing the new life and how fun and spunky those little beings are. Now, if Mother Nature would cooperate with us just a little bit, we would have time to enjoy them even more!

3 comments:

Susan said...

Hi Frazzled - love your name!! My husbands sister and husband raised a few cows in Tennessee so I found this post interesting and informative. Your kids are cute. I know what you mean about them knowing so much about the computer. Fortunately I have 2 grown sons that are IT and Network Engineers so I am always bugging them with some question. They still can't quite believe their Mom is blogging!!!

Welcome again to you.
Susan

kristi at everyday woman said...

welcome! I noticed the name right away and thought...now who could that be? Love the calving stories. Ours are calving this week (they were synchronized) and I realized today after two calves were born that I don't have a calf puller. We're living dangerously!

Momma Roar said...

Hey there Frazzled! I am so glad you came out of lurkdom to join us in blog land. I know you'll love it and make many friends here! I saw your post at Penless Thoughts. I'm not up on the cow terms, but I live in a very rural part of Penn and we are surrounded by farms. My hubby works at a limestone quarry, so I can talk stones if you like. Just kidding! Again, welcome and please stop by my blog sometime, although, you may have already been there, I guess! Glad you're here!!