Bottle Calves

I am happy to report that all the babies are doing well so far and we have acquired another one.  This time it is a solid black bull calf.  He seems to the be the strongest eater we have had yet and he needed the least amount of help nursing from the bottle.  The heifers we really had to help get them started nursing by getting the nipple in their mouth and then squeeze on their mouths to get the suction started.  We had to do that for about a day and a half on Blackie and 3 or 4 days with Red.  So far, bull calf has needed no help at all!  Below is a picture of Blackie meeting Ace.

                I had a funny moment last Friday as I was talking to my dear friend Meghan as I was headed over to feed the bottle calves.  We finished a great conversation and I said I had to run because the babies were crying for supper.  She laughed and said, “Wow how our lives have changed!  I am leaving from supper at a bar in Boston and you are going to feed cattle!”  I have reflected on this a lot since then.  It makes me laugh every time I think of it.  It also makes me think of how many different paths there are in life.  I never thought this would be the life I would live but I love every second of it.  I always thought I would be right along there with Meghan and my other friends that I grew up with being young socialites in the city and someday settling down in the suburbs to raise my 2.5 children in my white picket fenced yard.  When I was little I told my mom I wanted a job where I could wear “click-clack” shoes when I grew up and my dreams have come true.  My cowboy boots go click-clack every time I wear them.  Although this is not the same click-clack we imagined (I thought it would be high heels) I wouldn’t change it for the world.

                On that note, I am off to feed calves, chickens, dogs, horses, the cat and the fiancé.  Have a great Tuesday!

Living on the Funny Farm

There has been so much activity lately that I can’t even think straight let alone make myself write for the blog so I apologize for the huge gap in news.  To start off I have some sad news that our dog Gabby has disappeared.  She has been my family’s dog for years and when my parents moved overseas she came to live with me.  Sadly, I think some predator or something may have gotten her.  We have had a lot of fox sightings recently and also coyotes roam the area frequently.  On the bright side my life has been filled with many other animal adventures and distractions.  Tulip, Michael’s bulldog has been getting chewed alive by Buster, the Boston Terrier pup.  He plays plenty hard and she doesn’t care but she was looking really tough so she made the move from Michael’s house and the pecan orchard over to my house for some R&R.  The barn cat, Yellow Cat, also got into a scuffle with an unknown creature and has been in poor shape for weeks.  We finally brought it to my house to recuperate and it has gotten so much better.  It also helped taking it to the vet for some more formal TLC.  Hopefully before long she can move back out to the orchard.

This past weekend my chickens arrived.  There are two groups, some larger than the others.  The oldest were born on or around March 29 and the other group was born on or around April 12.  They are so cute!  There are also SO many of them!  With being so small they have to be taken care of and watched pretty close so the solution for that was they have moved into my house.  They live in different sized large Rubbermaid containers in one of my spare bedrooms.  Let me tell you, they are fun but make racket all night!  Their chirps are cute and the babies sleep a lot but the bigger ones do not!  The bigger lot will move outside to the chicken house this weekend.  It is time for them to go!  With a bulldog, an injured cat and 25+ chickens my house is getting a little crazy. 

To add to the madness I have also gotten 2 bottle calves.  One is about 4 days old now and the other was just born yesterday.  These calves are very hard to care for and their chance of survival is sadly not very good.  However, I am doing my best to keep them going!  They get bottle fed twice a day with milk replacer and a colostrum supplement.  They are about the cutest things ever.  I am not naming them until they are at least a week old because I want to be realistic  about the situation.  They are doing so well though!  The older one is especially looking great.  She is a big heifer calf that eats like an elephant (If you would let her) and is already drinking water out of a bucket.  She even comes when I call her.  The younger one was born a little premature and is defiantly going to have a bigger hill to climb.  I just got her yesterday afternoon but so far she took a bottle last night and had one again this morning.  As long as she keeps eating like that things should stay positive!  It also helps that Michael is experienced in all of this.  On day 2 with the older calf she got sick.  The stress of the move and everything gave her a cough and a runny nose.  Michael was able to treat her twice though and the next day she was 100 times better.  We were a little more proactive on the younger and treated her right when she got to the house so hopefully we stay ahead of her and her very likely poor health. 

All of this combined with a visit from my mom, wedding planning, a full time job, church activities, a garden the size of Rhode Island and 4 horses to care for I am pretty darn pooped out.  Thank goodness tomorrow is Saturday!  We have an LWML (Lutheran Women’s Missionary League) rally so that will be a fun morning of fellowship and Bible study!  After that it is back to work with more garden planting and finalizing the chicken coop for move in!   It seems as though my life is quickly transforming into a funny farm/future petting zoo and I love it!