Slowly Getting there. New Additions to the Family.

[David Clark]

Greetings Everyone,

Woke up to our 2nd of 3 Calves this morning. Stripe had her Calf this Morning. Runny Nose, Had her Calf on the 12th and we are still waiting on Poopsie to drop her Calf. (Hey, my 5 yr old names the Cows, cut me some slack here LOL).
These are our Cows 2nd set of Calves. Last year we had 2 Bull Calves and one Heifer Calf.
We started out with NO cows and are now up to 9 (10 When Poopsie Drops hers). We got our Cows from a Sublease deal that we made by Subleasing 220 acres that we lease to another Rancher up here in exchange for one calf a month while their's were on pasture (and that's also how we got the 1976 Dodge Dart Sport, Traded One Calf that we would have gotten, for the Car).
We've since Stopped Subleasing to that Rancher because it wasn't that great a deal considering we were the ones paying for all the Fencing, Well repairs etc... while we had NO livestock on the place. We now Sublease to another Couple that Provides all the Fence Repairs, Maintaining the Well, And Any Supplemental feed and Vaccinations as well as providing a Bull for our Cows and One of their calves per season. We got one calf from them last season and this season when we get their calf, that will bring my Piddly little herd of Cows up to 11 Bovines. We'll have our Original 3 Cows, First 3 Calves from them, plus the Sublease Calf, 3 Calves from our Cows this year, plus another Sublease calf. So far we have 7 Females and 2 Bull Calves that will become Butcher Bulls Eventually. Although We may Keep one Bull Calf to Rent out.

Still Waiting on our Big Sow to Farrow and have her Piglets though LOL.

Some pics of the new Family Members this month.
Runny Nose's 2nd Calf, Born 12th of April

Stripe and her 2nd Calf born this Morning.

Another of Stripe and her Calf

Stripes Calf.

 

[Jack Meoff]

I so envy your lifestyle.
Congratulations on the new members!

 

[Justwondering]

David,,
we have these things down here called 'trees'. Its what the cows stand under to chew their cud.
wow your land is flat.
My goats always seem to drop babies in the worst weather (storms, freezing cold, thunder rain, etc.) Did your cows drop on easy days?

 

[David Clark]

Fairly Easy days and Heck, we didn't even know they dropped. LOL. We usually check on them every hour or two when it gets close to them dropping and they always Drop with no problems (Knock on Wood) as soon as we are in the house.

Piggies on the other hand, we've seen 2 of our 3 sows Birth and have helped them both time with getting the piglets to the nipples asap because all they wanna do is wander around.

Tree's?? I'd give anything for Trees Up here. Most of the Morons up here cut the damn things down. We have some on our South Side and East Side but the damn things are 5 feet on the OTHER side of the fence LOL. I've Planted over 200 trees out here and so far, we got 2 left out of the 200. The Soil up here really sucks butt. And Barbwire makes a really Shitty Wind Break.

 

[Justwondering]

http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_PLANTMATERIALS/publications/ndpmcpu9423.pdf

Doesn't look like you have a lot of options, but here is some info. Course with your cowherd, now you have to fence them off from the trees if you plant more. Sigh.

 

[David Clark]

Yeah, plenty of Trees will grow up here, problem is getting them to grow. Soils suck so much butt up here it isn't even funny. Slowly getting some good soil on some spots on our place after collecting Piggy and Cow Poopy but it's a slow going process.
--- Post updated ---
NEW additions today too. (still waiting on that last damn cow to calf LOL).

Queen, our 600+ lb Sow, is finally farrowing today. 6 Piglets so far today and she is still grunting and groaning (her usual litter size is 12-14). 16 Damn Nipples and the First 2 out had to fight over One of the damn things LOL. Here's a pic of 3 of them. Hope she pops out at least 4 more.

 

[Justwondering]

Bacon is a lovely thing!

Yesterday my aussie dog was chasing a wild hog across the front of the property. 15 year old dog could not keep up, but he had no give up in him. He just kept trucking after that hawg as it ran squealing.

Came back about 30 minutes later completely tired out. Poor guy. I didn't have my gun or we would have had some fresh meat. Course I hate the smell of wild hog. You could come down and butcher it ... just sayin

 

[David Clark]

Yeah, wild Hog Can stink, especially if it's a Boar. Boar Taint is what they call it and usually doesn't get really bad until they hit the 220 lb mark and sexual maturity. Hence why Most Male Pigs are Cut if becoming a butcher hog. Boar Taint can make the meat taste like shit and definitely make it STINK to high heaven while cooking it.