Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Welcome to the World, Reeses!

Welcome to the world, little Valentine!
.
Reeses was born early this morning. We milked her momma and gave her almost 4 quarts of colostrum to help her get started right.
.
She is also the first calf born on our farm in 2017! 

Image may contain: outdoor


- - - - - - - - - -

These are 2 quart bottles.
.
Reeses drank almost both of these (a total of 3 quarts) for breakfast and again tonight for supper.

(It's important for Holstein calves to have 2-3 quarts of colostrum to get them started in life)


No automatic alt text available.

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

January 2017 On the Farm


Happy Moo Year!!!

Image may contain: outdoor


- - - - - - - - - -


Image may contain: cat
They think the milk is just for them...
Haha


Image may contain: outdoor
January 17 - We had time to get e brush installed today.
The ladies weren't too sure about it at first...


Image may contain: sky and outdoor


Image may contain: sky, cloud, house and outdoor


Image may contain: cat, meme and text
January 19 - We reached 200 "Likes" on the Facebook page!!!
Charlie wanted to tell everyone thank-you!

- - - - - - - - - -

January 20

Inauguration Day - President Donald Trump!!!

How awesome is this!!! For (I think) the first time ever, tractors and American agriculture were a part of the inaugural parade! <3 Go Ag! #FarmsMatter


- - - - - - - - - -

Image may contain: horse and outdoor
This is the "just brushed" look...it's all the rage in the barn these days



Image may contain: cat and outdoor
Missy climbs the gate to get up over the robot room to go hunting

- - - - - - - - - -

January 26 - Today was preg-check day!


Once a month we have our vet come and check a list of cows that have been bred to see if the pregnancy took. He uses a special wand ultrasound that goes in the rectum. He then looks for a calf in the monitor he has on his head.



It's important to keep track of pregnancies on a farm. On our dairy (like most farms) mommas are given at least 2 months maternity leave before their due date - cows have a 9-month gestation.
We dry them off (hence the name "dry cow") and put them in a separate group for some R&R before calving.


Image may contain: sky, horse and outdoor



Image may contain: cat
All snuggly in the calves' bedding


Image may contain: 1 person, cat and indoor
My little shadows - Pia and Bubba


Image may contain: sky and outdoor


Image may contain: sky and outdoor


Image may contain: sky, tree, cloud, outdoor and nature