Well, not much to report. The calves are still with Blessing and doing well. They are growing so much faster than our past calves. It's obviously due to the fact that they can get milk whenever they want, as opposed to only twice a day. :) I think we are going to start seperating them a little during the day to give mom a break and get everyone outside more, as soon as it's warm enough anyway.

Oh, some bad news to report. Our rooster, Bob, died. Yeah, he was a favorite. Gracie loved him but he was old and it was time. Maybe we'll get another rooster someday ;)

Everything is going well accept we need it warm up and get green so we can stop feeding hay soon as we are running out. This has been a rough winter.

Flank :)

Ok, so we always two calves together. We figured maybe if we got another calf right away Blessing would let both of them drink off of her so we didn't have to worry about feeding a calf. :) So, we called our awesome farmer friends at the Lawnview Organic Dairy farm and bought a brandnew, but HUGE bull calf from them.

Blessing let Flank (that's the new calfs name) latch on and he seems to be doing well. However, she does seem to be pushing him away now, 2 days later. We'll have to keep an eye on them.

I am also worried that Blessing is getting Mastitus in her back two teets. They aren't overly red or anything but they are swollen. The boys aren't drinking off of them. I guess it's time to stanchion her and milk her out to be sure. If it is Mastitus she isn't gonna like me much though. Oh, I will be getting pictures of the two boys on here soon :)

Settling in

Gus has settled in and finally figured out how to suck. It is amazing watching him. New life is pretty amazing! I have no idea where will put Blessing and Gus though. We can't put them in the large pasture with the horses and the steer so they may have to be alone in the tiny pasture until we get it expanded this spring. It will all work out. They are happy in the barn for now :)

Blessing is driving me crazy!

Blessing, the heifer calf born from our first cow, 2 years ago, is pregnant and we are impatiently waiting for her to calve. She is bordering being late for this delivery and looks like she is going to explode. The anticipation is killing me as this is her first calf and she is a very important pet to me. She was our first birth and now she is giving birth. I am a wreck waiting. I REALLY hope we don't have to pull this calf. We bred her with an angus so it's more than likely larger anyway. Come on Blessing, have this bull calf already. And yes, it better be a bull claf because my husband insists on eating it and I refuse to eat a heifer! :)

Rummagging!!!!

What a day. Busy, busy, busy. I started garage saleing at 8 am and got home at 1pm. I got tons of fun deals. Hey, I even found a pool for the ducks, when they get bigger. :O They will love it! After a brief break at home, we had a little Army wives reunion at one of our army wives houses. The house was loud with laughter and chatter as the woman visited and the children played. It was awesome to see a few of the ladies and to welcome a new one to our little group. I am so lucky to have such great friends.

Overdue update

WOW, it has been so long since I have posted! There has been mcuh going on since I lasted told our story.

Our cow Annabelle gave birth to her calf and died a month later from hardware that moved. We got another cow to replace her. This cow was named Taffy. She was open and we milked her until she started to dry up and than we sold her.

Our two steer are grounded to a wing off of the barn until we finish our new fence and get the electrical up since they won't stay in the pasture. The good news for them is that David almost has the fence done. They'll get a short taste of freeedom before they are butchered yet later this fall.

We had 6 chickens and a rooster but one chicken died this morning so we are down to 5 left. We did get 3 ducklings though, just yesterdady. They are adorable. We plan on raising them for eating but I also hear they give better eggs than chickens. We shall see! :)

We had a goat but that didn't last as the goat was REALLY old and arthritic. He had to be put down. :( We hope to get goats in the spring however, as well as pigs, 2 new steer and some fryer chickens. By the spring it will probably be time for some more laying hens too as ours aren't producing as well due their age we think. We are excited for the spring to start up a whole lot more with this farming stuff. For now, we need to winterize and take care of the apples that are coming out of our ears.

We have found 8 apple trees in all and have been giving apples away to everyone but still have a TON of apples. I am a little frustrated that I don't have a stove to can on so I am not sure what to do with all these apples. My glass top stove wont' work for canning so I am sure I will have to be getting a gas stove here soon so I can eventually get canning again. Until then, we have to take the apples to my grandma's to can and that's no fun.

Anyway, there's a quick update and I promise to update more often again. I have missed it.

Whirlwindnow

It has been crazy around here. There have been so many changes. Let's see, we have a milking cow now. I milk her by hand but we are drying her up right now to have her calf in the