New Calf Comes Home

Last week I told you we were headed north to get a new bull calf. Everything worked out!

We brought up a cage in the back of the truck, but it was too big for him. We decided it would be better to bring him home in the back seat instead. He is only 2 weeks old when we brought him home. He was born on 10 April 2020.

We gave him some Calf Calm before we left. It's a special type of supplement that helps calves calm down so people can work with them more easily.

We lined the back with a big tarp. Calves don't wear diapers, and they don't know how to let people know they need to go to the bathroom. Better to be prepared and catch whatever mess they happen to drop.

He stood almost the whole way home!
I thought it was funny that a few times he wanted to look out the window like a puppy.

By the end of the trip he was sooooo tired that he finally lay down.

The Calf Calm definitely worked, but it took a little more than an hour
before he decided to lay down.

Echo, our milk cow, adopts every calf we bring home. She had to check him out, like every good mama does. She loves him, just like she loves all the babies.



It took Echo 2 days to teach him how to eat. He still takes a bottle, but we can let Echo feed him during the day so that takes less time for me.



We decided to name him Burger King, and call him Burger for short. He follows me around when I'm in the barnyard. When I'm not out there, he's good about following Echo. She looks out for him and makes sure he stays where she can keep an eye on him. He's learned to go into the stall when the weather is bad. He's still young so staying out of the hot sun, or out of the rain, is a good plan!

He is 3 weeks old today! Happy Birthday, Burger!

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Guess what is hiding in the dog house that we keep in the stall for the baby goats.

It's a broody hen!

She decided that she wants to hatch out some chicks this spring.

I tricked her.

I took away the chicken eggs......

and put turkey eggs underneath her!

They should hatch in 21 days. I'll keep you posted!

I will probably have another broody hen this spring. It seems like we always have two or three each spring that decide they want to hatch eggs. I'll let the next one hatch out a few eggs.

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My seeds are growing!
Not all of them sprouted. It might have been too cold in the mud room.
The ones that are growing are doing well.
I'll probably plant some of them in the garden and cover them with
milk jugs to keep them warm at night.

We had a lot of old buckets from the food storage we got a few weeks ago.
Bryon cut the bottom off the buckets, and I tied the lid to the bucket.

Six buckets fit well in a raised bed.
I planted tomatoes inside.

The tomatoes are doing really well!
I put the lids on the buckets when I go out to do the evening chores.
I take the lid off when I go out to do the morning chores.

I also spent some time filling more of the raised beds.

Did you plant your garden yet? The old-timers in our area told us to never plant summer crops before the snow is off the Oquirrh Mountains. Often that is right around Mother's Day.

We can plant a little earlier if we're willing to make sure the plants are protected if the weather gets cold at night.

The weather has been wonderful for working outside! I'm excited to have raised beds this year, they will be so much easier to take care of! 

We went to Leland Mills to get grain yesterday. I'll have some videos of the big trucks filling our barrels. And I'll give you some updates on Burger and the rest of the animals.

I hope you have a great week and spend some fun time outdoors getting some sunshine!