Echo and Stormy

 Our mama cow, Echo, had a calf on August 20. Tim named her Stormy because the day was a bit stormy.

Cooler weather is always nicer for calves. Sometimes they overheat and get sick when they are born in the middle of summer. It can be hard to keep a new born calf warm in the cold, dark winter.

Fall and Spring are my favorite times to have calves.

Echo and Stormy did well for a few days, but then Echo got very sick.

The vet said that sometimes things happen when the mama cow is having a calf. The vet can't always tell what happens, he or she can just see that they are sick and help the cow try to recover.

We took care of Echo for 12 days, and then she passed away. We had lots of help from many neighbors and friends as we tried to save her life. Friends brought watermelon and corn for her to eat. Other friends built special equipment so that we could lift her up to see if she could build strength in her legs. Other friends brought fly traps so she wouldn't have so many flies sitting on her. We built a tent to keep her out of the hot sun. We gave her all the right medicines at all the right times. We were all very sad when she died. We cried a lot!

Stormy is doing very well. She gets a bottle twice a day. She loves her adopted mama, Sadie.

Sadie never had her own calf, but she loves being a mama cow.

In the spring she fed a lamb! That's very unusual! Cows don't usually adopt lambs!

Sadie adopted Stormy, too. Sadie doesn't have enough milk to feed Stormy all the time, so we make sure Stormy has bottles every day.

Stormy loves humans!

Stormy and Sadie hang out together on the farm. Sadie thinks she is Stormy's mama. That works for us! Last night Sadie was yelling because she couldn't find Stormy. Stormy had fallen asleep by the fence out in the pasture. It was dark, and Sadie couldn't find her. 

Stormy is a fun, easy going calf. The neighbors love to come visit her. If you come to Cider Day in a few weeks, you'll be able to see her out in the pasture.

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We decided to get another goat to help feed Stormy. She drinks between one gallon and 1 1/2 gallons of milk every day. That's a lot of milk!

This is Leia. I call her Princess Leia because I thinks she is very pretty. It looks like she has no ears. She does have ears, but they are tiny! Leia is a LaMancha dairy goat.

Princess Leia loves getting milked! She's waiting her turn. Sometimes she waits patiently. Sometimes she gets excited and jumps up on the stall gate to see if I'm ready for her.

There are lots of different kinds of goats, just like there are lots of different breeds of dogs. 

This is River, our other dairy goat. River is a Saanen dairy goat. She gives about 3/4 of a gallon of milk every day. Leia gives 3/4 gallon of milk every day, too. 

We have plenty of milk for Stormy because of our two sweet goats.

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We've had some new chicks born on the farm this fall! It seems unusual to have chicks in the fall. It's a good time because it's not very hot. It's not snowy and cold yet, so the hen can keep the chicks warm without any trouble.

This hen hatched 2 chicks from all those eggs. I decided to put her and her chicks in an old water trough so that they would be safe from the other chickens, and predators like hawks.

A different hen hatched out four chicks, but only one survived because of the predators that seem to be circling our fields so often.

I hope you have a wonderful week! I hope that you will learn to read so you can read all about the things that are interesting and fun for you!