Spring Flowers

Farm Update for August 2nd, 2020

by Uncategorized

 

First and foremost, Cow Cow is doing great! He has come so far from where he started! He is eating great, gaining weight, and enjoying the pasture. CJ even taught him how to drink his milk from the bucket instead of nursing with the nipple. This makes his milk feeding much faster, he slurps it up in no time! It is kind of funny watching CJ go in. If he has the milk bucket, Cow Cow will almost knock it out of his hands trying to get to it. CJ has to do a little dance and spin around, blocking Cow Cow before he can set it on the ground for him.

I have not been going inside the pasture because, and I cannot stress this enough, dying via cow does not appeal to me. However, my time has come, and I must overcome my fears. CJ has drill this weekend so it is up to me to care for all of the animals. I went in yesterday with CJ to see how Cow Cow reacted to me and he did fine. Of course, he has gotten used to CJ feeding him, so he mainly harassed him (which is fine by me). I went in to feed him his grain at lunch, but I took Lil CJ with me. He stays outside of the fence though. I do not know what I expect Lil CJ to do should Cow Cow come after me, but at least there will be someone there to hear me scream and alert someone of my demise. Lil CJ being outside the fence distracted Cow Cow long enough for me to sneak by like a ninja, dump the feed, and sneak back out. I had to go in again this evening, but he was further down in the pasture and could not see me. I opted to climb through the fence as it was closer to his feeding area and the sound of the gate opening would have alerted him to my presence. So, I climb in, tiptoe over to his shed, dump the feed, then run back to the fence as fast as I can and climb through trying not to fall or get hung up! I may have done a little ”Woohoo” upon my successful, unnoticed, escape. I can do this, even if I must do it ninja-style!

The egg laying chickens seemed to have taken a break in laying eggs. I think the heat is just getting to them. I can hardly blame them! I would not want to give birth daily in this heat either! CJ tried to get the hens to be fed purely on foraging alone, but this did not seem to go well for them. Even though they have a generous area to free range, it may not be enough to sustain them completely. We will continue to give them feed.

We do have a hen that is not feeling well. We are not sure what is wrong with her, only that she is weak. She can stand up but does not move much and when she does move, you can tell she is struggling. She also just falls out of the coop in the morning when coming out instead of going down the ramp or flying out. She can not get back up in the evening. We moved and isolated her in a pen in the barn for a few days with her own food and water close to her. She improved so we put her back in with the other hens. She quickly became weak again. I am thinking that because the other chickens can move faster, they are eating all the food and she is not getting enough. So, we moved her back to the barn. She seems to be doing well there, so we will keep an eye on her for a bit longer and see how she does.

We have two new additions to the farm! A couple of bunnies and one guinea pig for Lil CJ. We had great success with using bunny droppings at the old house to fertilize our garden, so we plan to do the same here on the farm. Lil CJ has wanted a guinea pig since he was little. We found one for free and can’t exactly use the excuse of no room now that we have the farm! He has a nice cage in Lil CJ’s room and Lil CJ has been taking good care of him.

Jasper the donkey seems to have a hurt leg (or hoof). He was limping the other day and I could see nothing visibly wrong. We called a farrier and made an appointment to have him come look at his hooves and deliver any care necessary since we are not experienced in that area. I also really do not want to get donkey-kicked in the face, so I will leave that to the professionals to handle! He does seem to be walking better now so he may have just sprained his leg or had a rock stuck in his hoof that eventually came loose. We will keep an eye on him until the farrier can arrive on Monday.

Things are moving right along here on the farm!

 

Cow from Front

Swollen testicles, Dehorning, & Strange Lumps

by Uncategorized

We had a situation where we had to call a veterinarian out for Cow Cow.

He was banded when we got him. His testicles had been drying up and it was progressing well. However, one day we noticed that his testicles were, um, quite rejuvenated. The area around his scrotum looked red and inflamed. This did not bode well. We were worried. At the same time, we noticed a large baseball size lump that popped up overnight on his hip. CJ and I agreed, he needed to be seen by a Vet. Problem was, 1: we have no way to GET him to the Vet and 2: being new to the area, we do not have a livestock Vet.

I figure since we live in the middle of cow country, surrounded by cows, there must be one nearby that does emergency home visits. This proved more difficult than I thought. None of the Vets near us handled livestock or did home visits. Seriously? There are more cows here than people, I am sure of it… there MUST be a Vet for them! I resorted to what I normally do in these situations and reached out to my local Facebook community page asking for help. This worked (again) and a lady was able to give us the number to her Vet that she uses. I do have to say that Facebook has been a great tool to connect with others when help is needed! We made the call and she came out that day.

CJ was working but told her to call when she was on the way so he could meet her here and help with the cow. Of course, this did not work out and she arrived here before him. Here we go. We grab his halter from the barn. Her and I go up to the pasture and the first thing she asks is, “is he friendly”. I think to myself “Depends on who you ask”, but politely reply that “Yes, he is friendly, but can get a little pushy, especially if you have milk”.  She asks if he is halter trained. “Nope, we haven’t got to that part yet”. So now we must catch the cow and get his halter on. Oh fun! I am secretly panicking on the inside while trying to not look like the big sissy that I am on the outside. She has the halter, so I am hoping that she is prepared to take control here. We coral him into his shed and she informs me that I am going to have to stand guard and make sure he does not escape. I almost laugh out loud, but instead just say “Um, ok” and stand there like a soccer goalie, silently giving myself an “I can do this” pep talk. I fail miserably as he runs by me, escaping into the field. I feel like I should be apologizing for my weakness to this woman who shows no fear whatsoever. She does manage to get him and get the halter on him though and we coax him into walking to the barn. He does not approve of this adventure and knows something is up. Once in the barn, she hands me the lead, and leaves to go get her stuff from the truck. She has no idea of my trepidation with this cow.

I am alone… with the cow. Holding him so he does not escape. I do not know if I should panic or laugh at this point. He looks at me and I look at him. He pulls on the lead and I pull back. He is calculating. I see it in his eyes. He knows he can take me. So, I do what I must. I call CJ and beg him to hurry up and get here. I inform him that I have been placed in charge of the cow, whom I fear, and the Vet has no clue that I am a big sissy.

He arrives minutes later, and I am yelling, “In here”. The Vet was back so I could not yell “Please come save me from the scary cow-beast”.  But no, I must continue holding him because CJ needs to clean out a stall for him and the vet. This poor lady must be thinking we have no clue as to what we are doing with this cow, and well, she would not be wrong. However, she is extremely nice about it.

Once everything is situated, I can thankfully hand over the lead. We get him into the stall, and she looks at his testicles. She informs us it is not as bad as it looks, but she will have to castrate him. She will also need more light to do so. The lead comes back to me (oh great) and CJ goes off to find another light source. She brings out a needle, filled with a sedative, and informs me to be careful because he is not going to like it when she sticks him. Uh, I am not exactly sure what she wants me to do. I am in a closed stall with no escape AT ALL, with a cow that is about to be stabbed. So, once again, I just stand there and say, “Ok”, while I mentally plan to scale the darn wall like a spider if I have to.

She sticks him quick and surprisingly he does not freak out. Whew. I think I jumped more than he did. She then leaves the stall to go get what she needs and tells me, again, to be careful because he will stumble around and then fall. She informs me that when he does, I must keep him in a sitting position because cows cannot lay on their sides. They will not be able to breathe if they are on their side. For the love of all things holy, why me? What exactly led me to this point in my life? At what point did the big sissy exert any level of “I am confident in my abilities with the cow” to be placed in this situation? He wobbles a little, I stand back as far as I can while holding his lead. I try to give him reassurance that everything will be ok. He wobbles a little more. I ask him very politely to just lay down and let it happen. I also remind him that I am not the one who stabbed him in the butt, and ask not to eat me, please and thank you. Then he promptly falls over. Thankfully, the Vet is back at the same time, takes control of the lead, and positions him correctly for me. No drunk cow manhandling for me!

CJ comes back in (took him long enough) and I run outside the stall, so I do not get volunteered for anything again. She takes the lead, wraps it around his leg and pulls it back out of her way. She has CJ hold the lead, as I closed the door and stood outside to be sure I am in a safe position. She tells CJ to make sure he holds it tight because she is going to charge him extra if she gets kicked in the face. I like her!  She makes a snip, ties off the tubes hanging out of the cow, and with a quick cut, his testicles are off. Then she unceremoniously throws the sack in the corner of the stall. She asks us if we want to dehorn him as well. I speak up and tell her that he is going to be a beef cow and that I thought his horns would not grow enough to worry about before he goes to freezer camp. She informs me that is absolutely incorrect, and we should remove the horns. Thanks, stupid internet, now I look like a sissy and an idiot. We agree to remove them.

I must tell you. I was in no way, shape, or form, emotionally prepared for what happened next. She pricks him again to numb him. She pulls out this thing and plugs it in. It looks like a large electric screwdriver in shape except the end of it is circular with nothing in the middle of the circle. It starts to warm up and gets hot. It clicks in my brain that she is going to burn the buds. Oh my. When she does this, I realize why the end is a circle. It does not burn the actual horn like I thought. It goes around the horn. She presses down and it BURNS the area around the horn. His poor little flesh is BURNING! He starts to breathe a little heavier. My barn is filled with smoke and the smell of burning flesh. I can hear it sizzling! My face is stuck in a position of absolute horror! She must see me, because she explains that the horn does not grow from the part that sticks out, but the part that is under the skin so you have to kill that part of it for the horn to stop growing. My face does not budge from its position of horror. She finishes one horn and then uses the same tool to kind of knock off the top of that horn and starts on the other. My poor little Cow Cow! I may be scared he is going to eat me, but I still love him, and this is just not what I was expecting. I do not know what I was expecting, but I know this was not it! 

Cow from the side
He constantly tests the fence

She finishes up and checks the lump on his hip. She drains it and lets us know that it is not a cyst. The lump is gone after it is drained. She is not overly concerned about it. It could be that he was bit, stung, or he could have just hit that area against the fence.

They come out and I still have the look of horror on my face. CJ quietly asks if I am going to be ok. I can only reply “No”. We go to settle with the bill, and I try to make my face go back to normal. She helps with this when she tells us the bill is a whopping $72.00.  What! I expected it to be hundreds at least! I am shocked and my face shows it! This lady, drove out on an emergency call, helped me wrangle the cow, gave him a sedative, numbed him, castrated him, dehorned him, gave him a tetanus shot (somewhere in the middle of all of that), and gave us a booster shot for us to give him later. For only $72.00!!!! I cannot even take my dog to the Vet for that amount and he is as big as the cow!!!! Wow. We obviously agree that she will be our vet from here on out.

We keep Cow Cow in the barn

as she suggested for 24 hours, until he is up and moving the next day. He seems to do fine and does not seem to be in pain. I still feel bad for him though. The lump on his hip did come back the next day, but CJ and I agree to just keep an eye on it. We take him back to the pasture and he seems to be happy to be back out there.

What an experience! I am learning that there is always an adventure around the corner with Cow Cow!

Also, I think his sack is still in the corner of the barn-stall. Gross.

Chickens Growing on Grass

Update for July 9th, 2020

by Uncategorized

Hello Everyone!

Processing day has come and gone, and it was very successful. Our initial expectations were to raise chickens that approached the pastured broiler industry standard of about 4 lb., but we blew that out of the water, and we believe the credit belongs largely to the stress-free environment in which the birds grew, as well as the delicious (to chickens) smorgasbord of bugs and fresh grass made available to them each day. The paths the chickens followed in our pasture are now significantly greener from the nitrogen they spread, so the benefit is symbiotic.

Our average bird ended up weighing 6.3 lb. dressed! Although this efficiency of production was a pleasant surprise for us, it did produce some mild sticker-shock for some of you that bought from us. That shock was quickly abated once I was able to convey that, yes, the birds were more expensive than anticipated since we sell by the pound, but we are essentially selling 2 chickens worth of meat with each broiler. We have received plentiful feedback and everyone is pleased with the taste and texture of the finished product. It was a pleasure to raise these chickens, and that pleasure is only increased knowing that they are bringing pleasure to the people enjoying them with their families.

We are considering creating some sort of discount program for people that buy in bulk, such as buy 6 get one free, or possibly a subscription program that allows us to better forecast sales and reduce costs.  We are absolutely open to suggestions on what would work for you since, right now, our customers are literally our friends.

We will be ordering the next batch of chicks in late July or early August, and likely will produce a small batch of turkeys just in time for Thanksgiving.  There will be very few of these this year and some have already expressed interest but by all means, if you are interested, let us know.  The turkeys will obviously need more time to grow compared to the chickens.

Again, thank you to all who purchased our broilers, and thank you to all who have already committed to buying more!  We hope to become your alternative to the grocery store for chicken and maybe more in the coming years!

Cow looking at camera

Cow Update June 19th, 2020

by CowGetting Started with the Farm

Happy Friday!

Cow Cow is still improving and doing great! We almost had an adventure here today, but thanks to my quick thinking (ok, maybe more like begging God to have mercy), the crisis was averted!

Calf from side
My ribs are no longer showing 🙂

Today brought a slight issue with me being able to check on Cow Cow while also not going into the pasture. Mother Nature decided to bring the rain. It was bound to happen. Typically, I keep his feed bowl right by the fence so I can keep track of how much he is eating and refill easily. I can not do this if it is raining. His food cannot be out in the rain. CJ moved his food bowl into the shelter. This means I must go in there to check on it.

Since his recovery, Cow Cow has much more energy, and for some reason only acts up when I am in the pasture. He also will not listen to me if I try to get him to stop acting up. Basically, he is a toddler. He acts like a little crazy, rambunctious, little demon for Mom, but then acts all super sweet for everyone else. I do not think he is being aggressive. I honestly think that he is trying to play. I am the one who cuddled him, gave him love, and cares for him. Now that he has energy, he just wants me to play with him. While I would love to play with him, I cannot allow him to play in that rambunctious manner. When he is grown, this could be very dangerous. Since (like a normal toddler), he pushes the boundaries, and does not listen very well, I think that it is best that I stay out of the pasture until I can get him to respect me and my personal space. Also, I do not want to die via cow.

So, I came up with a plan. I filled his milk bucket with water and just enough milk replacer to give it flavor but not too much that it would cause any harm through over-feeding. I had

Fencing in need of repair
The gaps in this fence are enough for a calf to fit through

Alayna feed him over the fence as normal, while I ran in the pasture and refilled his food. This worked well, I was able to get in, do my thing, and get out. Once out of the pasture I took over holding the milk bucket for Alayna and she walked back to the house. Cow Cow finished, I took the bucket away, and started walking away. Cow Cow decided to test his boundaries at this point and was pushing THROUGH the fence. To get a better picture of this moment that sent panic throughout me: the fence was in the active process of giving birth to the cow and he was about to be outside of the pasture and running free in the wilderness.

There are many things that went through my mind in this moment. Some I will not type here, because, well… CJ would frown upon it. But the general idea, is that I was about to have a rambunctious cow on the loose. I was going to have to chase this thing all over. I do not know how to catch cows. I do not know how to catch them with a leash, or a rope, much less my bare hands! I panicked for a moment. He had most of his upper body through the fence and I saw the realization on his face. There was that moment where it went from “I am going to try this” to “Hey, this is actually working, I can do this”. He had but take a step and he would be free.

My heart dropped and my mind sent up a prayer, an oh crap, and a here we go, all at once. I puffed up my chest, bent my arms inward (kind of like a body builder flexing), jerked forward in the most threatening manner I possess, stomped, and bellowed in the most aggressive, deep voice that I could muster:  “Get back, Back, don’t you even dare, don’t do it, back, go on, GET BACK IN THAT FENCE!”

I must have sounded somewhat threatening, because Alayna came out yelling “What is going on, are you ok?”. Cow Cow stopped and had a look on his face that said, “What the heck was that”. I continued my jerking and bellowing for him to get back, and thankfully it worked! He started to slowly back up. Even if he did look at me like I had gone bonkers. I do not care, it worked!

Lord, have mercy. I thought I was going to have to chase a cow! I can, not, even! However, the crisis was averted, and all was well in the end. I will have to use my newfound threatening skills when I am inside the pasture to see if that works on getting him to respect me. Of course, only if CJ is in there with me, should he not find me threatening enough. HA!

Fixing that fence, has now moved to the highest priority. It shall be done. We will also have to come up with a better way to handle feeding during rainy weather.

As you can see, he has his energy back! He is eating great! He is getting more used to eating the dry feed and eating the amount that he should be eating. He has gained a little weight, I think.  I did buy a cattle weight tape so we (I mean CJ) can get an idea of how much he weighs, and we can track how much he is gaining each week. I believe he needs to be gaining at least 2.5lbs/week. He may be a little slower at first due to him trying to catch up to a healthy weight, but we will get him there!

Chickens Growing on Grass

Farm Life

by Getting Started with the Farm

 

Things are going great here on the farm!

Cow Cow on the move
Cow Cow likes the attention

Cow Cow is doing much better and getting heathier every day! Once his nutrition is under control, we need to move on to other things with him. At some point we will need to bottle break him and get him to drink milk from a pail instead of a nipple. He knows how to drink water from a pail, so you think this would be easy. Wrong. He refuses. If it is milk it must be consumed via nipple. There is no other way in his mind. Set the bucket in front of him and he will just continually search for the nipple. We will also need to get a halter and halter break him. He has a large pasture to roam freely and a shelter to bed in, but there will be times when we may need to get him from the pasture to the barn, or from point A to point B. We have some time before these things need to happen, but it is something I should spend some time researching now.

The broiler chickens are doing great! They are living life out in the pasture in their chicken tractors. They get plenty of fresh grass each day and fresh bugs to eat. They are getting bigger each day. I do not think we will have any problem reaching our weight goals for these guys. Butcher date is approaching soon (June 25th) and so far, we have only lost 4 birds. This is much less than we expected, especially being first timers! I believe it is typically expected to lose about 10% of your flock before butcher date. So, we must be doing something right! We are getting everything lined up for butcher day and are looking forward to seeing everyone at pick up!

Little CJ has done a great job of helping with the chickens. I am so proud of him! It is quite difficult to move the chicken tractors in that pasture as the grass is taller and much bumpier. The chickens add to that by being lazy. They do not move quite as fast as our larger egg layers. Those chicken tractors are heavy and with the birds not moving as fast when you drag the tractor, it can be very easy to accidently run over a chicken. For these reasons, Dad has been moving the tractors each morning. Then, Little CJ goes out to feed and water all tractors. Little CJ checks on them throughout the day and goes back out at 3pm to feed and water again. He is also in charge of checking on the egg laying birds during the day and collecting eggs. He gets up with Dad around 6-6:30am every morning and does his job without complaint. I cannot express how impressed I am with his commitment to help!

Alayna does not have such an interest in the farm yet. I was hoping she would with Cow Cow, but since he went all crazy that day, I am hesitant to have the kids go in the pasture alone to help with him. He will get bigger one day and I do not want them to feel overly confident and end up getting hurt. I am thinking of having her put her artistic skills to use and design something for us. Even if its just labels for the shrink-wrapped chicken. I want to find a way to include the kids on the farm, but I also want it to be something they enjoy doing and take pride in.

Jasper the donkey is doing great! He is very low maintenance. Grass, water, and an apple treat each evening is about all he needs to stay content. I do try to include the kids when giving treats in the evening. He is a little jealous of the cow. I have been spending quite a bit of time with Cow Cow up at the other pasture, and Jasper has noticed! If I spend too much time over there and do not give any attention to Jasper, he will run to the gate braying as loud as he can, ending in a big ole huff and puff! He demands I come give him some loving and I always oblige. He is a good donkey.

Jasper Smiling
Jasper smiling for the camera

The egg laying birds are doing great as well! The new coop is working great out in Cow Cow’s pasture and they get to free range in a large area each day. Today they rewarded us with 7 eggs! We only have 6 hens! Guess someone was working overtime! HA! The rooster is settled into his routine and is doing well with the girls. He is a talkative fellow and crows quite a bit during the day. They have a poultry net fence that surrounds their area to protect them from predators. It is charged by a solar powered battery that connects to the fence. Cow Cow decided they no longer need this since he was there to protect them and chewed through the battery wire. I have no idea how he managed to do this as the wire was live and would have been shocking him. At least CJ thinks it was Cow Cow, we do not have proof that it was him. Either way, thankfully, CJ can fix the wire so that we do not have to replace the battery. We will have to come up with a way to protect the wire from future chewing though. We may end up just blocking off one end of the pasture so Cow Cow can not get to it. We shall see.

All in all, things are coming together nicely here at the farm! It is not always easy, and things go wrong (almost always for me), but we are taking things one day at a time! We can do this!

Did I say we? I totally meant CJ… I will be in the house not dying via cow.

Cow eating feed from bucket

Cow Cow Update

by CowGetting Started with the Farm

Good things to report!

Cow Cow has improved significantly in only a matter of days!

We started off with 2 quarts of milk, twice a day. I do have to mix the formula carefully, since the milk replacer is so rich. We do not want to upset his stomach further after being deprived of the milk. We will get him up to the proper mixing proportions as soon as we can. Right now, he is getting about a third of the normal amount of milk replacer, mixed with water to equal the 2 quarts at each feeding.

The calf feeding bucket I bought is working out beautifully! CJ put up a board on the fence to hang the bucket and it works great! Sometimes Cow Cow can be a little aggressive with it, so we must stay near incase he jostles it too much. He knows where his feeding station is now and will come right on up when he sees the bucket. He is still learning the routine and often comes to the station begging when we walk near that section. I know he wants more, and my heart wants to give him as much as he can eat, yet we must continue to take it slow with him. We do not want to overdo things and make things worse!

He also gets free choice of calf feed throughout the day. We must be careful of how we do this as well. While he can eat as much feed as he wants during this time, he needs to eat it in smaller amounts. Again, its all about keeping his stomach settled.  I give him about 1 – 2 quarts at a time and go out about every hour or so to check if he has eaten it. If he has eaten most of the feed, then I will give him more. If not, we check back in the next hour and go from there. He does not enjoy the feed as much as the milk. He does not seem to have a routine yet either with how much feed he is eating daily. Sometimes he gobbles it down, and sometimes it sits almost all day. I created a feeding chart for him, and it now hangs by the back door for me to be able to keep track of exactly how much he is eating and when. I feel like a mom with a newborn all over again! At least this one lets me sleep at night!

I am comfortable that we are on the right path as he has turned into a whole new cow! I cannot believe the difference in him! He has so much more energy. When we first came to us, he stayed in the shelter and hardly moved. Now he is up, moving, and roaming around the pasture. If he sees you outside the fence, he will come up to the feeding station. If you do not give him milk, he will follow you all along the fence line, mooing, as if to say “um, hello, maybe you don’t see the hungry cow here!”. Yesterday I saw him even run! I had no idea cows could move that fast! Imagine a young deer running through pasture, at full speed, that is what he looked like!

His behavior has improved as well. He is calmer; however, he can still be a little pushy when he is hungry. He associates me now with food. I am mom. I am the milk bringer. He perks up when he sees me. This also means, when I do not have what he wants, he can throw a little tantrum and try and get pushy with me. I have seen what this little guy can do, and I no longer underestimate him. He has my respect (and trepidation). He does not behave this way with CJ (of course). He is always on his best behavior when CJ comes in the pasture. At first, I fully believed that the little stinker was trying to make me look foolish. Encouraging CJ to continue to believe that I exaggerated the cow attack. (I most certainly DID NOT!) I no longer believe this is the case, even though I swear, I can see him laughing when CJ is not looking. He just knows that I am mom and I have control of his food. Just like my human kids, when they are hangry, I get the brunt of their meltdowns. I am cautious around him because of this and make CJ go in the pasture with me now just in case I need saving.

Once he is settled in his feeding routine, and knows that he will always be fed, I expect him to calm down even more. He is still a hungry boy and you cannot blame him at all for that! He is obviously improving and getting healthier by the day. That is all that I need for now.

Cow Attack

by Uncategorized

So we have had yet another adventure here with the cow.

The adventure requires a little back story…

We were upfront and honest with the farmer we got him from about our inexperience with cows and
trusted that he has the best intentions for the calf in mind. While I admit fully that we should have done
more research on our part BEFORE getting a cow, we did trust that the farmer would give us the correct
info on the calf and that his instructions on how to care for him were correct. We were wrong.

We were told this was a 10-week-old calf, that he was weaned from mom and eating grain, that he
would be fine eating only grass, that he needed nothing else (other than water of course). We were told
our pasture was more than sufficient for him.

We noticed that this calf was not grazing. We noticed that he had diarrhea. We noticed he was getting
weaker. I dove into research, trying to find out anything I could. Problem was, Jerseys are primarily dairy
cows. All my research was coming up for a milking cow, which have different nutritional requirements
than a steer. I could not reach my feed mill for advice as they were closed until the next day. I was
stressing out. I knew he needed something more, but no idea what to do for this little guy.

I visited my feed mill the next day. I was told there that this poor young cow could absolutely NOT
survive on grass alone. His stomach cannot even process grass properly yet! We basically, in our
ignorance, had been starving this little guy. My heart breaks with the thought! The feed mill got me
squared away with the correct feed that he needed. I was also informed that the diarrhea is called
scours in cows and can be just from the change in diet or something more serious. Scours can take a cow
down very quickly if not treated. I was given a syringe filled with probiotics and electrolytes to help his
stomach feel better and help the scours. I was advised to give him this before he was fed.

I came right home, went into the pasture, and gave him a dose from the syringe. He took this like a
champ, just like he was eating from a bottle. I was surprised. I had thought it might be a challenge. This
is where the next problem started. I tried to take the syringe away. I was NOT prepared for what
happened next.

This little cow, smaller than my dog, who is very weak, went absolutely crazy. He wanted more of that
syringe and he was determined he was going to get it! I had been sitting on the ground feeding it to him.
He tried to go after the syringe and was repeatedly head butting me, almost knocking me over. Now, he
does not have horns, but he has the buds where they should be. And I found out that they can indeed
still hurt when a cow is head butting you at head level. I managed to get up, but he did not stop. Then,
then… he started biting me! He bit me right in my rear end! At this point the cow was full on attacking
me, ramming me, head butting, and trying to bite at me! There was really no way to get away from him.
I was out in the open. His shelter does not have a pen, it is open as well. I try to move away but he is
relentless and continues to come at me. I know he wants the syringe, but I cannot drop it and run. I do
not want him to chew on it, eat it, and hurt himself further. Honestly, I panic. My instinct was to scream
for help. I realized this would be useless because I live in the boonies now and no one could hear me,
not even the kids in the house. I am all alone. In a field, with a crazy, aggressive, biting, cow. Of course,
this would happen, of course! I come up with the best I can do. I hold the syringe out behind me and run
like hell to the gate. It works. He is hot on my tail the whole time, biting the syringe. I get to the gate and

I figure since Tank is on the other side that the cow will back off since he is afraid of tank. Wrong. Cow
don’t give a crap about Tank. I open the gate best I can, and cow gives Tank a look that screams “come
at be bro” and tries to charge through! Now I have got an angry cow trying to get out (as well as myself)
and a giant challenged dog trying to get in! I manage by the grace of God to get out and keep those tow
where they belong.

It is over. I am out. I am safe. The cow is glaring at me through the gate. My whole body is shaking. I
almost died. By a cow. Almost eaten by a strictly herbivorous animal. Not even a huge fat cow, but a
little baby cow! I tell Tank “Thanks a lot, for not jumping that fence, which I know you could have done
easily to save me!”.

I walk, shaking, back to the house and call CJ. I recount the story and he laughed at me. I yell a little, he
laughs some more. I do not think he understands that the cow was aggressive and biting me. I reiterate
several times that he BIT ME IN THE REAR END! More laughing. I declare “no more animals”, ‘I’m never
going in there again” and we end the call with more laughing from him.

I do have to go back in there though. I must give him the feed. UGH. He is going to eat me; I just know it.
I go back in but have Lil CJ stand by the gate. I dump his food in his bowl. He eats a little and then comes
at me again! Here we go. I’m a tad more calm this time and hold the feeding cup out over his snout and
back towards the gate, yelling for Lil CJ to open it. Lil CJ opens the gate too far and Tank comes running
in, straight for the cow as if to say “Wanna talk smack now?”. The cow darts in the other direction. I do
scream this time, but somehow manage to grab Tanks collar as he runs by and swing him around. We
both run for the gate. We make it out fine.

Once I am calm and thinking clearly, it hits me, that he thought it was a bottle. The poor thing is here
starving to death and he thought I was giving him a bottle and then taking it away! No wonder he went
berserk! I would have too!

I do the best I can and dive back into researching calves. I join a Jersey cow group on Facebook and post
pics and describe the whole situation. I get a lot of help from these people, and spend hours sorting
through the comments/advice, but I also get conflicting advice. Do this, nope do not do that. I get a
message from a lady who works on an all Jersey cow farm. She sees all the conflicting advice;
instinctively knows I am stressing out and offers to call me. I gladly accept. I am so glad that I did!
We talk and I send pics. Her job at the Jersey farm is taking care of over a hundred baby calves. She is
very knowledgeable and helpful. We talk a great deal. I find out that she is from upstate NY. She even
offers to drive down this weekend just to look at the cow and help me out! Wow. We come to the
realization that:

1) We were overcharged for the cow. This is not as important as his health, but lets just say it was
highway robbery.
2) This calf does not in any way look like it is 10 weeks old. He looks much younger. More like a 2 or 3-
week-old calf.
3) He was too young to be taken from his mother and not weaned. He should not have been taken off
milk yet.

4) This was basically a back-yard breeding situation with cows. Someone looking to make a buck, not
caring at all about what happens to the animal. (This infuriates me!)

We work together to come up with a plan on how to get him back on milk. It must be done correctly.
Since he went for a while without milk, jumping right back on the bottle would upset his stomach even
more. He needs milk, free choice of proper calf feed, and of course free choice of water. I run out and
grab the milk replacer he needs, but they do not have any bottles. Crap. They do have a bucket that
hangs on the gate with a nipple. This, this is God answering my prayers because he knows I do not want
to go back in that fence!

 

Get home and thank God, CJ can come home early to help me. I prepare the milk replacer (which smells
delicious, just like a vanilla bean milkshake). Go out and it will not hang on the fence. Crap. So, we hold it
for him and good lord this cow is violently attacking it. Sloshing milk everywhere. I can hardly hold the
bucket! He falls into the fence while drinking and almost falls through the fence! I feel so bad for him, I
know he is starving. I promise him there will be more. He does not like when the bucket is empty, and
we must take it away. He contemplates coming through the fence but stays put, thankfully.

Later, CJ and I go in the pasture together, upon his promise to save me should the cow attack. The cow
has a full belly of milk and feed. He is already showing improvement. He is coming out of the shed,
roaming, and even lets me pet him again! Yay! Oh, my heart is happy! Demon cow has been dismissed
and my sweet cow cow is back!

I promise him again, that more food is coming, that there will always be food available and that he will
never have to go through that again. He will never have a need to fight for food. I promise that he will be
healthy.

I also may have thrown in a reminder that he no longer needs to eat me, just in case.

Meet Cow Cow

by Uncategorized

 

So, we did a thing! We bought a Jersey Calf!

This has been a crazy year, even outside of our farm! I noticed meat prices going up as I was buying
groceries during these crazy times so CJ thought it would be good to raise our own cow. Not only
because of the prices of meat, but to know where our meat comes from and how it was raised. So, he
looked online and found a 10-week-old calf for sale. We visited the farm, and talked with the farmer,
and bought him!

Let me be clear here, we know NOTHING about raising a cow. This should be entertaining!

The guy delivers the cow to our home and we put him in the pasture. The poor grass is taller than this
little guy is! Of course, if someone had of listened to me when I advised we should keep the pasture
mowed, that would not have happened! HA! The cow seems content, however and does well finding the
shelter and water. He is so cute! I can not imagine eating this cute, adorable, sweet, animal. It is official,
I am going to make the worst farm wife EVER!

I know the rules that you are not supposed to name animals that you plan to eat, but I must call him
something. I settle on Cow Cow. It was the best I could do.

Cow Cow spends the first night out in the pasture and does fine. The second night is where our
adventure began…

The sun had just set, and rain had begun. CJ and I were walking tank and checking on all the animals
before bed. He checks on Cow Cow, while I check on Jasper. Cow cow is in his shelter dry from the rain
but follows CJ out in the rain when CJ tries to leave. CJ tries to get him to go back in the shelter, but he
refuses. He just stands there in the now pouring rain, mooing very sadly, as if to say, “Don’t leave me”.

CJ comes to me and we start to finish up Tank’s walk so we can all get back inside. We walk maybe 10
steps before CJ asks if we should put cow cow in the barn for the night as he is little, alone, and now
soaking wet. I say it will not hurt anything, (I personally think the cow and Jasper should go in the barn
every night). So, CJ heads back up while I finish with tank and put him in the house.

I go to the barn and CJ comes back, without the cow. Its now storming. CJ says the cow will not go in the
shelter and will not leave the pasture either. He just stands there in the rain mooing. We do not know
what else to do and figure he will go back in the shelter on his own. We wrap up everything in the barn
and start to head back to the house.

We did not even get out of the barn, when CJ says again, “You think he will be ok, or should we try again
to get him in the barn”. He is worried about Cow Cow… awwwwww! We decide to try again. Maybe If I
go with, he will follow us out of the pasture. I suggest talking some sort of lead for the calf, but CJ
dismisses this idea. We jog back up to the pasture. Mind you, it is now pouring rain, thundering and the

lightning is lighting up the sky. The sky flashes and thunder booms. I yell to CJ as we are jogging “Hey!
Stay next to me… Lightning always strikes the tallest object, and I don’t want to die”. I am, if nothing
else, an honest woman. HA! We make it there and Cow cow is still standing there where we left him, in
the rain. CJ opens the gate wide open and tries to shoo him out to me.

 

Me: “What are you doing! What if he bolts and runs away!”
CJ: “Then we will catch him”
Me: “With WHAT? We don’t have ANYTHING! I don’t know how to catch cows!”

Too late, Cow Cow sees me and comes running out of the gate. Lord have mercy, here we go! CJ is
slowly jogging beside the cow, and I follow bringing up the rear, trying to herd this little calf, in a
thunderstorm, all the way to the barn. Which I might add is at least 100 yards. Not a far distance, but in
the storm with a loose calf that could bolt at any moment, seems extremely far to me!

We manage well though. Then, a bolt of lightning that flashes bright stops both CJ and I in our tracks. I
do not prefer standing out in storms so; I quickly start moving again. However, Cow Cow thinks this is
the perfect opportunity so stop, sniff, and check things out. I, in my efforts to not die via lightning bolt,
pass the two of them.

CJ reminds me that I am supposed to be behind the cow. Oops, my bad. I do not take up my position
again, because, well… death by lightning, does not appeal to me. So, I call the cow to me. “Here Cow
Cow, here Cow Cow”. How else do I call a cow? I may have moo’ed. It is totally possible.

Cow Cow finally makes it into the barn. CJ puts him in a stall, but it has a lot of stuff in there that we had
stored. I do not want him knocking things over or getting hung up on something so suggest moving him
to the room we used for the chicken brooder, as it does not have much in there. CJ acknowledges that,
“That is a much better idea”. Of course, it is, that is why I said it! We quickly clean out the area, lay some
blankets down, and put a water bucket in there. We get Cow cow in there and I dry him off with a towel.
He seems happy to be in there and our cow adventure of the night comes to an end.

As we are about to leave, CJ decides to show me the biggest spider on earth hanging out on the door
frame, that I must walk through to get out. Um no. I am not walking by that tarantula! I make CJ stand in
front of it so I can run by safely. Now I know my husband, he is going to wait till I run by then jump at me
to scare me. So, I spend several minutes begging him not to do so, before I realize it will be of no good.
So, I make him stand in the barn, behind me while I hold up a towel and run by. This was a mistake as
well. As I do so…. This man of mine screams and grabs me from behind! I, lacking all common sense….
Jump thinking the spider has me. I take off running and screaming obscenities at CJ, straight out of the
barn, through the storm, all the way back to the house!

What a night! Only us! Always an adventure here at Skyline Pastures!

Almost Completed Chicken Coop

We needed a new Mobile Coop for our Hens

by Getting Started with the Farm

The chicks are almost ready for the pasture.  Their feathers are coming in and they are no longer the fragile little yellow chicks we picked up just a couple weeks ago.  They will be divided up amongst the three chicken tractors we built and moved through the pasture under the supervision of Jasper the donkey starting next week.  In the meantime, we needed to build another structure for our 6 egg laying hens to live in since they have been living in one of the chicken tractors for the last month.

Side vies of partial mobile coop
Initial framing of the mobile coop.

Enter the mobile chicken coop.  We purchased an 8×10 utility trailer and built a chicken coop on top of it so that we can move the birds throughout the pasture allowing them to range out and gather more of their own nutrition.  They will not have overhead cover, so hawks could be a problem, but in anticipation of that potential predator, we are picking up a Jersey Giant rooster to watch over them.  The mobile coop has plenty of roosting space as well as nesting boxes with outside access which should provide ample space and protection for the hens while allowing us to collect eggs without disturbing them.  We just have to install the door and then the coop is ready to go.

The hens have been providing more than enough eggs for our family and we are excited to get them ranging even farther out into our pastures to eat pests and spread fertility!

Nesting Boxes on partially built coop
Here you can see the access point for the nexting boxes.
Happy Chicks in the Brooder

The Chicks Have Arrived!

by Getting Started with the Farm

New Chicks!

Chicken Brooder Set Up
Our initial setup for the brooder based on guidance from Darby Simpson

 

Today has been a day, let me tell you! This post is long. Just like my day. There is just no short way to describe it. Buckle in and enjoy the farm life ride….

Tank laying outside brooder
Tank is laying outside the brooder waiting for the chicks to arrive.

Yesterday we picked up the adorable little chicks! We brought them home and set them up in the brooder. They seemed to be doing great! We hung out with them for a bit and then let them be. Checked on them before bed and in the morning when we woke up. 

I actually didn’t sleep well last night because I kept worrying about them or dreaming bears got into the barn and ate them all. We don’t even have bears here…but a mama’s thoughts always go to the worst case scenario! I woke with CJ at 6am to come out and check on them. This is very unlike me! I don’t get up early if I don’t have too! But I needed to make sure they were safe. 

Upon checking on them we found that they were safe. Although, we did lose one chick. He had a difficult time in transport and just didn’t recover. All of the other 99 chicks were safe though.

 

We did notice this morning that the temperature was dangerously low in the brooder. It should be 95 degrees, but it wasn’t even reaching 80 in there. CJ placed a foam board outside the brooder and some wood on the outside of the barn to help with the draft. He had to leave for work so advised me to keep an eye on them.  As I checked on them the temperature was not coming up. We have two heat lamps in there. One is a regular heat lamp that produces a red glow, the other lamp provides heat but no actual light. Under the regular heat lamp, the chicks looked comfortable, moving around, not huddled up in a pile. Under the other lamp though, they were huddled directly under it, trying to stay warm, often piling on top of one another. 

 

I tried to get in touch with CJ, but as life with an Army guy would go, he was working in an area with no cell reception and I am all alone on this one. This dream of his is now in my hands… this dream, these chicks, that he has told me will absolutely die if they get too cold and I don’t know what to do. 

 

I know what I’m not going to do though… let those chickies die! Commence Operation Warm Up! This is not the 1st time I have been left alone with little ones depending solely on me for survival… I do have two real children, they lived. I can do this. 

Chicks in the brooder
The Chicks are finding the most comfortable place under the lamps

First, I join at least 10 chicken groups on Facebook. Use what you got! Posted pictures and asked questions. I did get some good help there, it was unanimous that I close up the brooder area. CJ had used a square area that was walled on two sides. He enclosed only the bottom of the other two sides with wood to keep the heat in. However,  the top on two sides were still open with nothing but hardware cloth (which is just wire to keep predators out). It was NOT holding heat. 

Ok, so I look around trying to find anything I can to enclose the area. A boogie board, random piece of foam board and a wood board. That made the one side a tad taller and did raise the temp to 82, progress but not enough. 

Ok…  new idea… Blanket fort here we come! I run in the house and get two old comforters. Now I am a short woman, and I knew this was going to be difficult so I got the kids out there to help me. Lil CJ climbs up on the top of it, (there is space above for storage) and Alayna and I throw the blanket up. He moves all of the items up there in a rather haphazard way (sorry CJ, lives were at stake here) and places some heavy items on top to hold the blanket. On the other side of the brooder there were some nails already up so Alayna and I draped each end on a nail and hung something heavy over the blanket/nail to hold it on. I have no clue what that heavy thing was, Alayna guessed something to do with putting horseshoes on horses??? I just know it was heavy, metal, and it held the blanket. Use what ya got! This raised the temp to 84. More progress but still not enough. 

More looking around outside for random material. I notice we have some aluminum sheeting that’s nice and toasty warm in the sunlight. I also notice that there is light coming through the outside wall of the barn allowing draft to enter the brooder. I have a plan. I go to lift six of the sheets to move over there. Ummmmmm…. These things are pretty heavy for thin sheets! Also, again, I am short so I can only lift them so far off the ground. Ugh. So I have to move 2 at a time, I get them there though. Only to find, of course, that they are too long. There is a wood stack in a metal holder in the way. Why can’t anything be easy?   I know what I have to do. I unstack most of the wood and call Alayna out to help me. I slide the metal frame out just enough that we can get the sheets behind it to fit the area. Alayna has to hold each flimsy sheet up with her butt while I get the others. Once they are all there, we realize that we don’t know how we are going to keep them there. Oops. didn’t think that far ahead. Alayna has the easy job of standing there butt holding them while I brainstorm. I can’t drag the metal holder (still has enough wood in it to make it too heavy to drag) and even if I could Alayna would be in the way, if she moves, they fall. Sooooooo I slide it back over just the end of the sheeting and Alayna uses a tall board and Tanks 5 gallon bucket of water to hold the middle. That worked surprisingly well so we added some more boards and water buckets. Of course the water bucket I chose had holes all in the bottom that I did not notice until it was full and leaking everywhere. Ugh, thankfully we have a surplus of random buckets here on the farm. This works great and increases the inside temp to 86. UGHHHHHHH…. Still not enough! 

 

Ok, I can’t enclose this thing anymore than I have. Something else has to change. The source. It’s walled, covered, and still not enough, let’s look at the source of heat. They are still huddling under that one bulb. I don’t like that bulb. I get out a ladder and go climbing around the storage area of the barn looking for more bulbs. Of course, I find more of the bulbs I don’t like and none of the ones I do like. Fine. In the car and off to Ace Hardware I go. I buy another bulb. 

 

On the way home I listen to (or rather blare) “Staying Alive” by the BeeGees and changing the words to “ I I I I will keep you allliiiivvvvveeee” and emphasising “somebody help me, yeah”. I can admit this. I was stressed. 

 

Just moments before I get to my driveway, I get a notification on my phone that a package was just delivered from Amazon. Pull in and yep…. Can you guess what it was???? Replacement bulbs for the bulb I just bought. Seriously? 

 

I get in the house, grab the gloves that we keep by the wood stove (to handle the hot bulb) and head out to the brooder. I unplug the heat lamp, wait a min or too and go to change the bulb. Now I know that it is a heat lamp. I know that bulb is hot, BUT I figure these gloves that we purposely keep by the stove are designed for really hot things. They are not. Not at all. Smoke forms, and I feel the heat. Gloves are burning. This is my life. Ok, I wait a little longer. I chill for 10 minutes or so playing with my chickies. The bulb is safe to handle now. I do set it outside the brooder on the concrete just in case though. Change the bulb. Now we wait. No use going back inside the house. I’ve already got so many pine shavings stuck to me that I look like a chicken myself. I need to make sure the temperature rises and holds. It takes about a half hour for the temp to rise to 95 and another half hour of it holding at that temp.

 

Operation Warm Up is a success!!!! I have single handedly saved the lives of 99 chickaroos! I shall henceforth be known as Chicken Master. I saved the farm! I am incredibly proud of myself, in case you didn’t notice. 

 

CJ arrives home and I advise him of success, my name change, and inform him that these are now MY chickens. I also inform him that I really really deserve that new Samsung fridge with interactive display that I have been wanting! (can’t hurt)