Novice Farmers

The vet came yesterday to castrate our young bull calves. He asked us to have them in the round pen when he arrived and he would help us sort them out. He has a portable squeeze chute and brought that along to catch the calves for the "procedure". Since we had the whole herd plus a few guest cattle, Dr. Hebel was very instructional in how to drive them around the outside of the pen and then through the chute. If the cows went in, he just let them go on by. We got the biggest guest cow and Gunslinger our bull out the other side relatively easy. Most of the cows were thru the chute when we got our first calf in there. After Dr. Hebel finished with it, he released it and said "I thought you said you had four bull calves". Ward and I looked at each.....could this vet not count? One was finished and three were still left in the pen. "There are still three in the pen"....I replied. "One of 'ems a heifer, but I can still charge you for it", he said. WHAT? But what is that hanging down? "It's her belly button.....it's an outie!" Honestly I'd love to post a picture and get everyone's opinion and see if they wouldn't make this same mistake also. But we laughed it off......and said we promised to know the difference between boy and girl calves next time.

Ward has been digging out a small pond in our back pasture since it is practically dried up. He's taking the opportunity to make it a little bigger. If it ever rains again, it will be a nice addition. If not, it will be a dirt hole.

The donkey and baby donkey "Whiskas" have been hanging out in the pasture with the cattle. I think this arrangement suites everyone well. Whiskas is so friendly. She demands attention and rubs when you come out. She will chase you when you try to leave. We're hoping her mother Annette will let us pet her eventually...or at least take this harness off she has had on since we got her. You can tell by the picture that she is tempted to get in on the action.

Something has got 5 of our broilers chicks in their pen. It is a big mystery to me. It's not eating them or carrying them off, just killing them. And there is an electric fence around the pen. No signs of digging. Can't be an owl, what owl wouldn't eat them? We reinforced the pen with more chicken wire and no losses today. strange.

What the hay

I once worked with a gal in Seattle that said "sunshine makes me angry". I honestly thought that was the silliest thing I ever heard. Now...I'm not changing my mind, sunshine is still one of the best parts of life. But the drought and parched conditions....that could spoil my mood. Everything is dusty. My house, the vehicles, everything sitting outside, my eyes and even my sinuses. I daydream of smelling a rain shower coming and feeling the air cool with the moisture.

In the meantime....the crunchy pasture just isn't cutting it for the cattle. So we bought hay. The land should be providing a bounty of rich food for livestock and they should be putting on weight to get them through the winter. The fields should look lush instead of brown. Instead we're putting out money for feed and taking a whole day to move it. Now that could make a person angry.

On the bright side, when we pulled into the drive I told Ward I wanted to ride up on top to the barn. Brings back memories of being a kid and going on hayrides, especially with the church group. It was a great view, and a very fun 10 minutes!!!

Hot and Dry into July

We had a fabulous 4th of July with a visit to Elgin Texas for the parade (1/2 block long) and a BBQ later with our kids Melissa, Rob and of course.....Mr. Andy. Our friends Jennifer and Harry from slowfoodfarm.com came by. They dropped a few lady friends off for our bull Gunslinger. Everyone is getting along fabulous so far, and one evening Ward and I noticed GunSlinger had setup table with a white tablecloth, wine glasses and a nice candle. Hope it works out for him! We've started the cows on rotational grazing. The pasture is so poor from drought that they're not staying very long in one place. If we could just get a little more rain it would surely help.

We got another batch of broiler chicks in. We don't even have to put a light on them it's so hot!

Frank the LGD has been upping his work schedule. He sleeps with the chickens and spends all but about 4 hours of the day with them also. He's still a little small to actually guard, but he's inside the electric fence with them and so far hasn't harmed anyone accidently. Ward and I have also started tearing out drywall in one of the outbuildings that we are hoping to build out as a processing facility for the broilers. It's so stifling hot to work up there with protective clothing and masks...so the work has been slow.

We've finished our organic certification paperwork. What a challenge! If you like filling out 1000's of forms, please apply for USDA Organic Certification. The good news, the paperwork is complete, approved and has been sent to the regional office for an appointment with the inspector. The inspector will come out and take soil samples, feather samples and go through all the procedures we have set in place. Wish us luck!!!

A few laying hens have fell victim to a coyote attack several days in a row. Predators can't get inside the electric fence or close to the coop, but the hens fly over it and wander around as you can see in the picture. When I go to feed them they trail behind me. You should hear them all softly clucking at the same, yet with so many, the sound is so loud ward and I can't talk to each other. During the day, we don't have a problem. It is the early morning hour right before true sunrise that they are vulnerable. Predators from the night are still out, and the hens are anxious to get an early start on breakfast. So they wander into the woods, and far out into the pasture. Ward and I have camped out several early mornings to avert the attacks. We're trying to break the pattern, and of course we will take Wiley out if we see him. Actually...we did see him one day...but he was too close to the neighbors house to get a shot off.