Frosty was born in the snow Thursday morning. But her mother, Missus Hamilton (so named because her surly demeanor reminds us of our elementary gym teacher), is a very good mother so I wasn’t worried. Missus H stood right by her baby, licking her up and down to get her warmed up, patiently waiting for her to get up on her feet.
It’s interesting that every year Missus Hamilton’s calves have face markings that are near mirror images of her own.
Mama, bull calf, and obligatory chicken
So this was interesting. A week ago Friday Matt and I were on our way somewhere, and as we turned around in the driveway we noticed that the 6-year-old cow we purchased in February was laying up by the fence. And it looked like she was in the middle of giving birth, so we stopped to wait and make sure everything came out okay, as they say.
But after a few minutes it was apparent that something wasn’t right. She had a vainal prolapse. So the vet was called. But by the time he got there, which wasn’t much time, everything had returned to its proper place and she was standing there calmly chewing her cud.
Vet said as long as everything went back in, it was okay. She’d likely calve within the week, so just keep an eye on her. (And then he made Matt promise his picture wouldn’t appear on this here website.)
As I said on Tuesday, storms bring on labor. And sure enough, Wednesday morning this little guy greeted us. She’d had him in the barn, no problems at all, and everything is still in its proper place.
It’s hard to tell by this picture, but Simba is a huge calf. At birth he was bigger than his herdmate, Dot, who was 8 or 9 days old at that point.
So not everything around here is gloom, despair and agony. (Thank goodness!) 2 more calves to show you, with 4 more to drop yet. Stay tuned…
Cows in fog
11 months. 11 months of hope and expectation. And of course financial investment. 11 months comes down to so much loss.
When Matt & Madeline went out for chores this morning, the 3rd gilt was laboring. There was one dead piglet in the corner, and the gilt was passing the placenta. Matt wondered why she’d be cleaning already when she’d only had one pig. Turns out she had 10 pigs and was laying on every last one of them.
Once he got her up there turned out to be 3 survivors. He stuck them under the heat lamp with the other litter and then had to get to work. He stuck his head back in the house, told me what happened, told me to go out and put up a heat lamp…or not, whatever I wanted to do. He was clearly exasperated.
I’m really nervous when it comes to sows with new litters. They can be very protective, and suprisingly fast and nimble when they want to be. I think I was warned too many times as a kid not to go near the sows.
But I pulled on the coveralls, gritted my teeth, and headed out. Find some twine string, climb up the fence, stand on top of it, shimmy across it and string the heat lamp up from the rafters. Grasp the pigs around the throat, cutting off their windpipe so that they can’t squeal and get mama wound up. Stick them under the heat lamp and pile straw up around them.
The mama had absolutely no interest in her babies.
Madeline was out there with me. We watched helplessly for a few minutes, then she said to me, “Come on, Mom. Let’s go in the house and let nature take its course.” We were both in tears.
I went back out a couple of hours later. They seemed warm enough under the heat lamp, and one was actively looking to nurse. The sow was lying there taking a nap, and just a few of her rear tits were exposed. I grabbed the piglet and stuck it on there. It seemed to be finding something to eat so I grabbed the other two and stuck them on there as well. She let them nurse for maybe five minutes and then got up and walked away. I grabbed them again and got them back under the heat lamp.
Another check at noon, and they looked pretty spunky. But a check at 2:30 brought tears again. One of them had been stepped on and had a huge, gaping open wound in its side.
After work Matt and Madeline and I watched, still feeling helpless, as the remaining two piglets tried to get their mama to let them nurse. After a while we just had to leave, it was getting too painful to watch. And of course we’re wondering what we’ll find in the morning.
As crappy as our outbuildings are, I know these pigs would have been fine if the gilt had mothered them. We bought these gilts because the breeder was highly recommended by Niman Ranch. I guess the lesson learned here is, don’t buy gilts from a confinement operation for a non-confinement setup.
The question now is, now what? Buy different breeding stock($), put up a better building($$), or get out of pigs altogether?
After the weigh-in
Spring, O Spring, wherefore art thou O Spring?
A winter storm is upon us, expecting up to 11 inches of snow.
And you know, storms bring on labor. Somebody’s going to have a baby tonight. Let’s just hope they have the sense to do it in the shed.
How about a couple of new calf pictures to start your week?
The first calf, a week old in this picture, is a little heifer named Dot:
And the second, a bull calf named Wrigley:
Can I get an “awwwwwww”? He was just hours old in this picture. Look at those little splayed front legs!
Today I looked out the window and saw both of them running, jumping and kicking up their heels. Kill me with cuteness.
This is about as good as I could do for a baby picture. Once this cow had her calf, all it took was for me to step out of the house and she got that wild don’t you come near my baby look in her eyes. They know that Matt’s the boss, but I don’t hang out with them enough to be trusted.
Then Monday night the temperatures dropped, the winds came up, the rain poured down. I tossed and turned, worrying about the baby, hoping her mother had taken her inside the shed. She hadn’t. Tuesday all I kept thinking was, I wish I could just go out and put a little sweater on her.
I looked out my office window Tuesday afternoon, and saw Matt out there trying to shoo her and the baby inside the shed. That made me nervous. At one point he was able to get right up and pet the calf, and I was thinking “Just grab her, and run her into the shed!” and then five seconds later, “No, don’t do that, you’ll get stuck in the mud halfway there and that cow will have you for lunch!”. (Later he told me that was exactly his thought process at the moment.)
I stopped watching, and he did evetually get mama and baby into the shed.
Thank goodness, because now it’s started snowing. I hope mama has the sense to stay inside the shed.
And unfortunately, more death to report as well. Madeline purchased 6 feeder pigs for her 4-H project. One of them came down with some sort of respiratory thing and despite several days of treatment he died this morning. Needless to say, she was really bummed even though she had purposely bought 1 extra to cover death loss.
Nobody is allowed to have anymore babies until the snow stops and the weather warms up again! Nobody else is allowed to die for awhile either.
Not that they listen to me. sigh
So next post I bring you…chicken decorating! Stay tuned.
Bellied up to the milk bar
Updated: the gilt is taken. Thank you!
The second gilt farrowed on Saturday, and had somewhat more success than the first. She had a litter of 12, with 11 born live. 3 got layed on right away, and 2 more in the next 24 hours. So at this point we have a litter of 6. Could be better, could definitely be worse.
Snoozing under the heat lamp
And on that note, we’ve decided to cull the first gilt. She is young enough that she will still be very good eating, and will yield more meat than a regular market pig. So if you’d be interested in a half, or the whole, shoot me an email. themillers92 (at) osage (dot) net. Our pork prices have gone up effective April 1st, but we will sell you this gilt at last year’s price.
We will probably keep this second gilt and rebreed her. She’s done okay for a first-time mom, especially considering the sub-par conditions we’re dealing with right now.
Still to come…calf pics!
This is one of the cows – the 8 year old – that we bought at the sale barn in February. These cows are taller and framier than what we have, probably some Simmental breeding here. That means that they’ll probably eat more than the others. But they have really nice dispositions. It will be interesting to see what kind of calves they throw.
And speaking of throwing calves – the first SCF calf of ’07 is on the ground! More on that cute little devil later, and piglet news later as well. Stay tuned!
Spring buds under gray spring sky
I had an experience this morning that kind of got my panties in a bunch, so to speak. When I dropped Rafe off at preschool, I asked his teacher if she’d like me to bring baby chicks in for the class to see. And without going into the whole conversation, the short answer was, no, because of avian flu concerns and immunization concerns, etc. But some pictures of the chicks would be okay.
Before I go on, I want to make it very clear that I am not upset with the teacher. I’m not faulting her at all. She’s a dear woman who does a wonderful job trying to prepare these little people for kindergarten, teach them some manners, and bring a Christian perspective to it all. I feel for her, and all of the government mandates that she has to try and work under.
But it got me to thinking about society in general, and it seems like we’re afraid of the wrong things. We’re afraid of baby chicks, God’s creatures, of avian flu which has never yet manifested on this continent. But we happily gobble down corn chips made with GMO-corn. Or lunch meat with laboratory-produced bacteria sprayed on it. And probably soon, meat and milk from cloned animals.
We’re letting the government tell us what to be afraid of, and what not to be afraid of. And who is the government these days? Sadly, not our elected representatives but those with the money to influence those representatives. How much of Monsanto’s budget do you think goes to lobbying efforts to keep their products in the food chain?
I’m sure I’m not the only one, at least in this blog’s readership, that’s more afraid of what a food chain comprised of genetically modified organisms, so-called “good” bacteria, and cloned animals is doing to our bodies than of a baby chick. And I’m sure I’ll be labeled the odd girl out, a hippie, and just plain un-American because of it.
But why do we need bacteria sprayed onto our hot dogs and lunch meat? Because we are so far removed from our food source. Someone else is making our food for us. Someone else that we will never meet. Is it any wonder that people don’t trust each other anymore? The person making our hot dogs doesn’t have to see us on the street, look us in the eye, and assure us that they took every proper safety precaution at their job that day.
The person that drove the truck carrying those hot dogs to the store doesn’t have to see us on the street, look us in the eye, and assure us that the truck was properly refrigerated that day and the hot dogs went immediately from refrigerated truck to refrigerated case.
Unlike our local meat locker, these people’s jobs do not depend on the consumers being happy (and healthy) from their products.
In typical government style, we won’t fix the problems in the food supply chain. Or better yet, encourage local food systems. We’ll just spray bacteria on the food, a bandaid to cover up the problem and make the unthinking consumer feel safe. And best of all, they don’t even have to tell us what we’re actually eating. There is no requirement that foods made from GMO’s or clones, or foods sprayed with bacteria, be labeled as such.
Do you think it’s because they’re afraid we won’t buy their food if we know the truth?
But we who direct market food do see our customers on the street, do have to look them in the eye. We feel a responsibility to our customers to provide nourishing food, safe food, with integrity and honesty and complete transparency.
More than angry, it makes me sad. Sad that there will be children growing up having never held a baby chick. Another generation, now even further removed from the source of their food than the last. Only experiencing farm animals in pictures.
I called Matt at work and told him about the exchange. His response? “That’s why we have to keep on doing what we’re doing.”
Those of you who are already our customers know you have a standing invitation to visit the farm, get up close and personal with the animals. Now I extend that invitation to any others of you reading this blog. We get baby chicks in April and August. Bring the kids out to cuddle them. Or yourself – have you held a baby chick? During the months of May and September you can come check out our protected free-range system of raising the broiler chickens on pasture. And there’s always a pig here needing a scratch behind the ears, or cattle to just stand around and admire.
Two of my dearest friends share this happy day.
Go wish Lisa a Happy Birthday, today!
And also Mindy!.
Happy birthday girls 🙂
