The end

Frustrated, tired, depressed, mad...
Encouragement would be greatly appreciated!
But in no way do I expect it.

Rainbow

One of our heifers, Becky, in the foreground and one of our milk cows in the background, Pipsy.

Setback / no progress

Found out this week that I have a ruptured disc in my neck and that it will require surgery to repair. It effects my left arm with numbness in some places and pain in others, my muscles in that arm are losing strength. The idea of having surgery scares me but what scares me more is the thought of being unable to support my family financially and physically not being able to do the things they rely upon me for. Don't know what is going to happen to the farm this summer!Can't imagine me being out of commission is going to be very helpful.

Meadow lark nest

Found my first meadow lark nest today, almost stepped on the bird before it flew off the nest.

Hello out there!!!

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I look forward to hearing from you!

Fumbling Solace

They break your heart

Had to have a kid put down this week.
It was only two days old.
Just old enough to worm its way into your heart and break it when it passed away.
When the kid nursed on a bottle, milk would come out its nose. We found out that it had a cleft pallet. Couldn't do any thing for it but to put it down. Photo of colt's foot flowers that I laid on its grave after burying it.

Experiment

The chickens have been let loose. One of them is working on a brood of eggs to hatch. We will wait and see if they will hatch.

Alice

Photo of my daughter walking Alice shortly be fore she had her kids. This photo was totally accidental, but I love the look of it. The only editing I did was to crop it and make it square.

Kid pile

As of this morning we are up to nineteen kids, but wait there's more...
I'll keep you up to date on the numbers.

Too many too fast!

The goats have been popping left and right!
It is hard to keep up with all the things we have to do.
Chores take longer with so many kids to feed, 15 as of today. Dinner ends up being super late because of it.
We end up being tired and irritable from lack of sleep and stress.
You might want to ask me "why do you want to farm when it is so difficult, when it make you tired and irritable?".
Because I love it! It can be challenging and frustrating, but it can be equally rewarding and enjoyable, if not more so!
To be able to work alongside my wife and children on our own land is my dream, and it is slowly coming true!

Up the road

The weather has been warm enough to kick the cows outside so they can "get the stink blowed off them".
That was something I was told as a kid when the dog or I had been in the house vegetating too long, we were told "Go outside and get the stink blowed off".
Photo of the round bale feeder in our little truck before we moved it up the road. The round bale feeder standing on edge makes our truck look so small!

Abby

Abby had her kids tonight one buck one doe.

Not much left

Had a long rewarding weekend!
Photo of my brother Robert's hay mow.

Mamie's

Wednesday night Mamie kidded. Our first quadruple!
Two bucks and two does. One doe with moon spots.
The blurry one is one of the bucks who is constantly on the move. My wife grinning in the background.

It has begun!

The goats are popping left and right now.
Need to tattoo them quick so we can properly identify which kid(s) go with which doe.
Photo of Christina with her kid, shortly after kidding, she was the first to kid. (Monday night)

Horse

The horses have turned the round bale feeder Into a horse bed that they take turns using.

Tanked

The calves getting tanked on the tank.
And then...
One of the nipples came off!
Back to the drawing board and try try again.

Butter

My butter is better than your butter...
Store butter next to our butter,
I think ours has a little more beta carotin in it.

Through the looking glass

I saw and heard a coyote out in the field today when I got home from work. I tried to take a picture of it through the binoculars but it moved out of sight by the time I could get my iPhone lined up with the binoculars.

Curds and whey

My wife, my Dairy Queen made fetta today!

The road ahead...

I don't know what is ahead of me but I will keep beating my head against the wall until I get to where I want to be!

Sick

I have a cold and I don't know how I'm going to get everything done this weekend!

Happy girls

New cows are doing good, and eating like there is no tomorrow!
My wife pampering one of our new cows ( her favorite one )

Excited!

We bring our new cows home on Thursday. I'm anxious to get them in our care so we can start putting weight on them. I can't wait to see them improve and thrive with our care.

Cows

My wife and I went to see some cows that were for sale. We never should have! Now we have to bring home two sorry looking cows. The price was right and with a little TLC they could look good. I hope!

Things I saw while hunting... 2

I have been in our woods many times over the years, but I have never seen this. It reads "BROWN SWISS THE BEST THERE IS !". I could live a lifetime on this farm and always find something new! My mother and father think one of my older siblings carved this in the tree when they were in their early teens, so this could have been done over 30 years ago.
My father is quite well known for his registered brown swiss cows. Multiple people have asked us if we are going to raise brown swiss when they find out that we are getting into farming. I think I would like some.

Things I saw while hunting...

A fungi called a "dog stinkhorn".
I have only seen this fungi in field guides.
I was very excited to see one in person!

Hunting

I went deer hunting for the first time last year.
I didn't get a deer but I learned one thing: sight in your own gun and target practice with it before you go hunting.
I shot and missed multiple deer, very frustrating!
But I did get one thing, this coyote had its eye on the same deer that I was aiming at when it came running up from behind me. We surprised each other and I shot him while he was running straight away from me. I would have taken his pelt but he had mange.

Up the shoot

Photo looking up the hay shoot.
My brother Robert has been kind enough to let us use all of the loose hay in his hay mow.

Strawberry

Our newest bovine addition learning to eat hay already.

Frozen

The water in the barn is frozen!
I am stuck at work until 4:PM.
I have to try and unthaw the hose and pipes so we can water the animals tonight.
I have to find a way to keep the water unthawed so my wife can water the animals tomorrow morning.
It doesn't seem like a lot, but i have to get these things done in a reasonable amount of time because I have more important things to do like:
I want to try and interact with my children in a meaningful way.
I want to spend some quality time with my wife on the couch.
In short, it seems like mission imposable!

Had the wrong angle

The loan for rebuilding our barn was fishy, so we didn't take it. I procrastinated all summer just waiting for something to fall into place and work. Ha! Ha! But wait things did kind of did fall into place, my brother is letting us rent his barn for the winter and to help us get started. Our cows in my brother Robert's barn, going to try to start milking cows (for profit) from here. Wish me luck!