It just fits....

     Farming fits who we are. I come to that realization more and more these days. Nothing makes me happier than watching Aeryn stroll through the field every afternoon. There was a week recently when I could not go with her to feed our girls in the afternoon because I had commitments helping one of my sisters and I truly missed it. 

     

     Aeryn is bonding with Lola more every day. We still have to keep a halter on her in the field or she makes our lives difficult but she no longer jumps away when it is time to grab her. She is actually starting to lead beautifully. We have worked with her on a show halter a few time at this point and the two of them are starting to work well as a team. Today Aeryn tried using a show stick and got a little frightened when Lola did not take to it as easily as Big Mack did last year. 

     

     Alex loves to go watch us he sits with my mom at the entrance gate yelling "Lala!" and clicking his tongue. He can not say Lola yet but she come to him saying "Lala". She even stands still while he is in the pasture and lowers her head to a level to let him pat her. 

Rachel and Rose are a whole different matter. Since the are not in a barn halter breaking them has been an interesting adventure unto itself. We have worked to gradually gain their trust so that we can get halters on them. So far Rose has a halter on her. Rachel does not. Rose, however, does NOT like the halter. Every time we put the slightest bit of tension on it she throws herself down on the ground on her side. The first couple times she did it Aeryn was scared to death that we had killed her calf. For the next few days, by the advice of our friend Kim, we will just be catching her and tying her up while she eats her grain. We will see how she acts on a halter after a few more days of this. Rachel is the more illusive of the two we have yet to get close enough to get a halter on her yet. But I am sure we will have it done within the next couple of days. 

Crazy times are happy times....

Aeryn and I have been crazy busy working with our new friends. Though I have to admit it took a few weeks for us to reach the "friend" stage. But we are finally there and I am completely in love with this big red cow. Which I am sure that I have stated before. She reminds me of a time in my life when I was genuinely happy. A much simpler time than the one we live in now. My days in 4-H were some of the best days ever. And even though raising beef animals is slightly different than the dairy animals I am used to I am enjoying this every much. I have something to look forward to when I get out of work. No matter how bad a day I have had I can count on this beautiful cow to cheer me up. If Aeryn and I choose to do nothing but sit in the field while they graze she is not shy about coming up and getting our attention for a bit of grain, or a scratch behind the ears. She is loving and devoted to her calves and Lola, who I am thinking she is treating like a daughter. The start of our beautiful herd at Long View Farm, beautiful Roseanna. This happens to be one of the few pictures that I like of myself. Not normally one to like being in front of the camera I like that this pictures captures actual happiness.

It also shows a love that I share with my beautiful little girl. Though she does not look nearly as happy as I do in this picture. Inside she really is happy because this is the first time that she has gotten to lead Roseanna. (Granted this picture was taken a couple of weeks ago) When we first brought the animals home I was not sure that Aeryn would be able to handle a cow this size. She looks so small next to her. But Roseanna has turned out to be such a wonderful girl. At least she has not tried to drag Aeryn all over the pasture, which is an option that she would definitely have if she had the mind to do it. Fortunately that has not seemed to cross her mind. At least I think that it has not. And as long as Aeryn has a bucket in her hands ( it does not even have to have grain in it ) Roseanna is willing to follow her anywhere. It usually ends up being a parade with Aeryn in the front being followed by Roseanna. Lola is usually close behind with the calves bringing up the rear. It is a very entertaining sight. 

Rachel and Rose are growing like a couple of weeds. Even though they kind of blend in with the remnants of the rosebushes that we had to get rid of. They are eating grain full time now and have began to associate the buckets with something tasty. They are just as eager to see us these days as the two older cows are. Which makes me laugh. All of the animals have began to recognize our car as it drives past the pasture to get the grain buckets from the garage. If we choose to walk to the pasture from the house they are usually waiting right next to the fence by the time we get down there.

Lola is also growing like a weed. She is wonderful. And now that we are able to get a halter on her and lead her she makes me proud. There was a week or so when I was starting to get worried that we would never get her trained. But, we were able to get her on a halter and she has been working wonderfully. Aeryn is not quite up to handling Lola by herself yet, but we have avoided being dragged across the field by her as well. We have even gotten a show halter on her, which she has responded very positively too. 

The Adventure Has Officially Begun....

This week was our week to bring both the cows and piggies home. And our adventure has now begun. We headed out in the truck and trailer on Wednesday morning. Aeryn was very excited as can be expected. After a little over four hours in the truck we made it back to the farm safely with all of the animals healthy and sound.

The girls were very happy to be unloaded off the trailer and to munch on some of the fresh green grass. The rain that we have been having lately has really made the grass beautiful . Rachel and Rose did not stray too far from their momma and it looks like Roseanna is going to be just fine in her position of "boss cow". Even Lola is treating her as sort of a mother cow. And I am okay with that. Because it means where ever we can get Roseanna to go, everyone else will follow pretty closely behind.

 Aeryn is really enjoying every minute that she spends with them. She loves to go in the field and sit with them. I stand back and watch. Also loving every minute. This is her project. I want her to be able to bond and do things on her own. It is okay if the animals do not trust me as much as they trust her in my opinion.

 We also brought home Sir Bacon Bottom (the black and white pig) and Delicious (the red pig). Here they are laying in the sun soaking up some rays. They are two of the friendliest, most adorable pigs I have ever seen. They come when you call them, and love to sit and be scratched behind the ears much like a dog. I do  not have much experience with pigs but I certainly think that Aeryn and AmberMae will enjoy these two. The biggest trial however, is going to be in the fall when it is time to turn these two cuties into bacon. Both girls assure me that they will have no problems with it. But we will see.

My new babies....

My mom bought me two beautiful heifers. One of them was pregnant and was supposed to have a calf in April. We got a message from Leasa, the lady we are buying the cows from, on Saturday saying that Roseanna was in labor. I was really happy, and a little sad because I wanted the baby to be born on my birthday, April 27. We were in the middle of Walmart and I was very surprised.

Later than night mom got another message from Leasa. Leasa said that Roseanna had not had a baby. Then she said "She had two!". Roseanna had given birth to twin heifers. I went on the internet and searched for baby names for girls and decided to name them Rose and Rachel.

This is a picture of Roseanna (the big, red momma), Rachel (standing under her momma), and Rose (who is napping). I got to go see them the day after they were born. When I saw them my first thought was "they are so cute"! They are very small. About the size of an average dog.

This is Delicious. She is the pig that I am raising. Isn't she adorable! 

Attack of the roses....

It took two full evenings (and some extra time put in by Jay and his father) but our pasture is completely fenced. And it feels wonderful. Though tonight began the battle with the roses. Wild roses have grown up all around the edge of the field and have gone crazy. So now we have to cut everything away from where we put the fence line.

The first evening of fencing was beautiful. I could not have asked for a better night. Alex toddled around the field and road in the RTV. Tonight was not as beautiful. The air was cold and damp and I left Alex at home with mom. However the three of us, and McKinley of course, had a great time. It was followed up by feeding the horses which is one of Aeryn's favorite activities.

I feel blessed to be in such a beautiful place embarking on such an amazing adventure.

Not one baby, but two...

Yesterday while walking around Walmart, I received a message from Leasa, who we are buying our cows from. It said "roseanna's in labor!!! let you know asap!!!!"

Needless to say we though that Aeryn was going to faint in the middle of the store. We had not expected to get a message like this for about a month. But here it was. The day we had been waiting for. Unfortunately we were not scheduled to make the drive to Nottingham until today. (I am currently blogging to stall Aeryn from wanting to get into the car right now because we are not scheduled to be there until this afternoon) I am sure that there will be a second blog today for Aeryn to describe her excitement. I am in no way capable of describing what she was feeling inside. All I could think to myself was "But we have not strung the second line of wire..."

Fortunately we drove by the field after our shopping trip. (I in my geeky way, wanted to show my mom the beautiful pasture) What did I see as we drove by, the second line of wire! Jay had been out there working without us. Now all we have to do is clean it up a bit and cut down some wild rose bushes that are falling over the line a bit. Aeryn and I have the best partner in this cow adventure that we could ask for. 

So we went home and had dinner and waited patiently for news of the new baby. A few hours later Leasa again sent me a message. This time she said she had exciting news. I asked if we had a baby and she said no. And then after a slight pause she said "We have twins". Roseanna, the beautiful, hard working, mamma, had delivered twin heifers. It was not the bull that we had been hoping for, but we would work with it. 

So we are about to get in the car so that Aeryn can see all four of "her girls". She has named the twins Rose and Rachel. They are beautiful and we can not wait to meet them this afternoon. 

The one that is facing away from us is Rose!

The one that is facing us is Rachel!

And the adventure begins...(Sort of)

Tomorrow the kids and I will be getting into the car, and driving two hours to see the cows that we are buying. I was going to leave it to Aeryn to announce the purchase. But she is a bit behind in her blogging. Do to a connection through a friend we found two young heifers, one who is due to have her first calf in April who were for sale. They are beautiful!.

We have been to see them once already and Aeryn fell in love. I have to admit so did I. I can already tell that I am going to have a fondness for the two year old, Roseanna. I have decided that I really like big red cows. She just looks like she needs a hug. I can not wait to see her calf. This cow is going to be the start of our beef herd and nothing could make us more excited. I just look at her and see all of the possibilities and happiness that she offers my children. 

 This next little girl is Lola. She was six months old when this picture was taken. Aeryn has developed an affinity for big black calves. I guess that should make our herd look interesting. Red and black all over the field. Lola reminds Aeryn of Big Mack which is why I think she likes her so much. She also has the potential to be a really sweet calf. However it is going to require a lot of work. Aeryn got Big Mack when he was a month old and started him on a halter. Lola is quite a bit bigger. As a matter of fact I am pretty sure that she is now the size that Big Mack was when we took him to Cheshire Fair. This is going to be her Fitting and Showmanship animal. I am such a proud mamma right now. Aeryn is such a determined little girl and she really has her heart set on this.

Aeryn is also realizing that getting ready to bring our animals home is NOT an easy task. We started putting up fencing a couple of nights ago. It started with a trip to Tractor Supply with Jay, to get fence materials. I had no idea what I needed to get so I told him to just throw what we needed into the shopping cart. Then Aeryn thought it was a good idea to ask WHEN we were going to work on fence. Needless to say we left Tractor Supply, picked up Alex and went to work on fence. It was a great evening and quite a learning experience for both of us. As someone who has never strung electric fence before it was quite interesting. A bit easier than barbed wire fence.

Aeryn will have more to say about our adventures and we have also added a third author to our blog. AmberMae! She will be blogging about her experiences with farming as well because her Amazing Auntie bought her a pig for Christmas. The pigs were born two weeks ago and she is very excited to see what happens. Watching her and Aeryn oooh and ahhh over the video that was posted of the new born piglets was fantastic. So be looking for posts from her as well. (As soon as I get her set up with a blogger account.) It will be a good experience for her to chronicle the life of her pig "From Birth to Bacon".

~Michelle