Monday, April 3, 2017

I had a cow...


for a few minutes today.

I had just got to town and my husband calls. There's a cow in the yard, he says. A cow in the yard? Yeah, a cow in the yard. Not a big cow. Looks like a baby, maybe 3 feet tall. White with black spots. I said it sounds like a Holstein. So I told him to see if he could get it over in the small yard with the hay bale. It had been raining since early this morning, with thunder and lightening. Anyway, he got him over there.

I called a few neighbors to see if it was theirs. No.

So I called on the way home to see if it was still there. He said it's now way out in the hay field next door. Didn't know how he got over there. So I am about a half mile from home and see the calf walking north on the road. I go to the driveway and start walking back, hoping to run it back here and put it with the sheep in the front, hoping someone might come by and see him. I get to the calf and he starts running north, not south the way I want him to go.

Then here comes an ATV with 2 women in it. They hop out and said it was theirs. They had just got 5 calves yesterday. They live BEHIND us over the ridge to the west.  3 of the calves are still there. So 1 is still missing.

We get him back to my place and put him in with the sheep and alpacas til they go back to get the trailer.



This is what the sheep thought about the whole situation. They ran to the front. The alpacas did their scary screeching noise. I told them he wouldn't be here long, so hang on.




And they came with their big ole trailer. The younger lady backed it in herself. I was very amazed with her. Said she did this all the time. So the cute little calf is gone. I was going to keep it if no one claimed him. The older lady asked how much for my trouble. I said nothing, that's what we do out here, help each other out.

So another fun day in the country!

Saturday, March 25, 2017

The boys...




I was walking over to the studio and saw the boys laying by the new hay bale I got the other day. They do like their hay. They are going to alpaca shearing day at my friend Susan's farm April 14th. I have another friend who is loaning us his truck and trailer to take them over there. Last year, I couldn't find a way to get them to the shearers, so they didn't get sheared til mid June. Poor guys were absolutely miserable. I don't want that to happen again. I am so thankful for good friends.

The sheep now, that's a different story at the moment. I'm so glad they were all (except for Amarillo) sheared in September, so they aren't too bad right now. But I think they are all pregnant and I'm worrying about their back ends and udders right now. They aren't due til the middle of April and I'm not really sure if my shearer will be able to come before that. So I'm trying to think of a way to get each one in a place where I can cut the wool from around their udders and back ends. Sure would be nice to have some sort of shute (?) they could go into, that I could also get into to do this. Hmm...