Cows in the Yard

 The grass in the backyard got really long over the last few weeks. The cows love coming in the back yard and grazing for an hour before the lawn gets mowed.

It's fun to see the cows right in the back yard.

Sometimes it's funny to see the cows in the backyard
because they peek in the glass door!

We haven't turned on the sprinklers yet. Many people have been watering already. We've had rain, and we also use a soil conditioner 3 times a year. 

We don't need as much water or as much lawn fertilizer as most people do. We like that! So do the cows and the sheep! Our grass grows so well so they have lots of snacks!

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Sadie is tied between the two fences so that 
the tech can check her.

Our awesome tech came out to check on Sadie because she still hasn't had her calf.

Unfortunately she isn't pregnant. She had some positive pregnancy tests, and she had milk in her udder. We were all a little confused because that usually means the cow will have a baby.

Our tech will come back on Monday and breed her again. We're really, really  hoping that she gets pregnant this time! She's such a good cow that we think she would make a good mama cow. Echo, her mom, has great milk so we think Sadie's milk will be delicious, too!

It was evening when I took this photo of Gracie 
so it's a bit dark

Do you remember a few weeks ago that Gracie hatched out a duckling? I think a mouse or snake snuck into the nest and grabbed the day old duckling. When I went out the next morning it was missing. I looked around but couldn't find it anywhere. 

So, no baby cow and no baby duckling this spring.

I still have two baby lambs!
Bunny loves morning snuggles!

Usually lamb tails hang down. 
When Bunny gets snuggles, her tail goes up.
Sometimes she wags her tail when she's snuggling.
Little wagging lamb tails make me smile!

Do you see all the hoof prints in the garden bed?
Bunny follows me everywhere.
She was in the garden with me while I was planting onions.
She traipsed right through the bed where I planted.
 

Bunny will probably be going to her new home in about 3 weeks. I'll miss her. The farm where she was born is so excited for when she's old enough to come back! They are looking forward to a snuggly little lamb that comes when she's called.

Do you see the row of little plants at the bottom of the fence?
Those are peas! I planted peas more than a month ago.
I didn't think they were going to come up at all.
They were just waiting for the weather to be good enough for them to sprout.

I have to keep Bunny out of the garden now. She'll nibble all the pea plants down, and we won't get any peas for our family. 

The weather is nice enough that the new little apple trees 
are sprouting leaves and blossoms.
It's hard to see the little pink blossoms. 
I won't let any apples grow this year because I want the tree to spend
all it's energy growing branches and roots.
It's really fun to see the little blossoms, even though
 I'll need to pick the little apples that will grow there.

We're so happy for Springtime! It brings lambs and blossoms and a new garden and lots of chicken eggs!

I hope you have a wonderful week full of life and learning!

Farm Day Fun

 We had so much fun on Farm Day this Monday that we forgot to take pictures!

I have some videos of past Farm Days. Some of the videos and pictures you see will be from a few years ago. I'm so sorry about forgetting to take photos!

The sheep shearer was here to shear 6 sheep. He sheared 3 white sheep, one brown sheep, and 2 black sheep.

This is a sheep we sheared 2 years ago. Have you seen a sheep getting sheared?

This sheep looks floppy, doesn't he! Sheep shearers put the sheep on their tail. When the sheep sits on it's tail, it almost falls asleep. It's easier for the shearer, and it's much easier on the sheep. 

This is Cocoa with all his fleece.

Our brown and black sheep have lots of fleece! People who spin wool and weave love their fleece because the 'hair' is so long.

Do you see Cocoa between the two white sheep?
His horns look the same, but his body looks very different.
He's not skinny, but he doesn't look as big and fat as he did when he had his wool coat on.

This is what Toby looks like without his wool coat. He's still cute!

All the sheep are so much happier now that their winter coats are gone. They were getting so hot! 

This is what one of the white sheep's fleece looked like.

The white sheep don't have very nice wool. There are different breeds (kinds) of sheep, just like there are different dog breeds. This wool gets used in the garden around the plants to help keep the weeds down, and to help keep the soil cool and moist. Plants love it!

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My friend was here with her spinning wheel. She really enjoyed meeting all of you who stopped to watch and talk with her. She had some very good questions, and liked being able to answer questions.

This is a video of me spinning wool. It's a few years old, but spinning wool hasn't changed. People have been spinning wool like this for hundreds of year. My friend has the same kind of spinning wheel. She was spinning outside, and letting everyone get close enough to see just what she was doing.

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We had a station where children could felt soap. I really wish I had a photo of what the finished soaps looked like. I hope yours turned out great! 

If you have a picture of your felted soap, send it to your teacher and I'll put it here for everyone to see.

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I put a little sweater on the new little lamb when it got cold. Little One (the mama sheep) and the new baby stayed in a stall for a few days. That helps the mama keep track of the baby. Baby lambs sometimes get lost, and the mamas don't like that at all.

Lots of families liked visiting the two new lambs. Some people got to feed Bunny a bottle. They thought that was so much fun! Bunny is a very soft lamb, and she loves people. You got to see a video of Bunny eating last week. 

Bunny and the new lamb are getting along well. They are old enough that they like playing together. Little One (mama) doesn't mind Bunny at all. She won't feed Bunny, but she keeps an eye out for her, and lets her play with the black baby.

The new lamb doesn't have a name yet. I'd love to hear what your ideas are! You can leave them in the comments below, or write your ideas down and give them to your teacher. 

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We had a children's book exchange table. All the books that were left on the table were donated to a new teacher's classroom. We were so glad to be able to find a good home for all those books.

A lot of children had fun walking the chickens. 

My neighbor was at the station with the chickens, turkeys, and ducks. She did a great job over there! She had harnesses and leashes for two chickens. Have you ever walked a chicken?

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Guess what! Gracie, the turkey, was sitting on duck eggs.
She hatched out a duckling yesterday!
I'm not sure how she will do raising a duckling. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks for coming to visit the farm!

Friday Surprise!

 Some days we have surprises on the farm.

We're still surprised that Sadie hasn't had her calf. We're wondering if the tests were wrong. We'll wait a few more days to see what happens. Maybe she really isn't pregnant!

Our Spring Break surprise was a little lamb. My friend had a lamb she needed to find a home for. The lamb will be raised here for a few months until she goes back to her farm.

We named the new lamb Bunny because when I first saw her in the little dog carrier, she looked just like a big bunny.

She was born on Monday, April 4th.
Her mom loved her very much, but couldn't feed her.
Bunny needs to be bottle fed so she could get the milk she needs to grow.

Yay for new lambs in the springtime! Bunny is so friendly, and she's so much fun to feed. Yay for dogs that like to help around the farm!

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Snow on April 12th was a big surprise, too! 
The wind was fierce the night before!

The doorknob to the barn was covered with snow and ice.
We're so grateful for the water that no one at our house complained one bit!

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Gracie is still sitting on her eggs.  That's not really a surprise.
I hope they will hatch next week. I've got everything ready to take care of baby turkeys.

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The biggest surprise of the week was what I found when I fed the sheep this morning.

I found a new lamb!

That was a BIG surprise.

Last year my friend gave me two bummer lambs like Bunny. Last years lambs were very small, and very sick. I wasn't sure I could keep them alive. 

She told me they were both boys. She didn't check them closely because she was so busy lambing on the farm, and with her regular job. She just wanted to get the sick lambs to a new home where someone could take care of them.

I didn't check, either!

Instead of having three rams (boy sheep) I have two rams and a ewe (girl sheep).

I checked closely this time.
The baby is a boy!

They can't stay out with the boy sheep. Boy sheep are not good dads. 

I moved Little One (the mama sheep) into the spot where we train Mishka.
She and the new lamb will be fine there for a while.
Do you see Bunny, the other lamb?

I wanted to see how Bunny would do with Little One, and the new lamb. Sometimes new mamas don't like other babies at all. Sometimes they chase them away and are very mean to them.

I'm hoping that the three will get along well. It would be very nice for Bunny to have another little lamb to play with.

No, I haven't named the new lamb yet. I think I'll wait a week and see what names everyone comes up with.

As soon as I let the cows out of their pen they came over to check out the new lamb.
Echo, the brown cow, is such a good mama.
She loves everyone's babies. Whenever we have a new lamb on the farm
Echo wants to give it a 'cow wash.'
She wants to lick it clean!
The lambs don't mind, and we think it's funny.

I hope you have a wonderful week!

No Calf Yet!

 Sad day! I was hoping that Sadie would have her calf on Monday. Echo always has her calves close to the due date.

She's sitting around a lot. I think she's feeling uncomfortable.

I talked to my friend who also has cows. She said that Brown Swiss cows don't usually deliver on their due date. They often have their calves late.

Cows can have their calves about 10 days early to 10 days late. If the cow is late, often it is a bull calf (boy) so we're hoping she is having a boy. 

She is also a 'springer.' A springer is a cow who is going to have her first calf. This is Sadie's first calf. Since she's never had a calf before, we really don't know how late she will go.

While we're waiting for Sadie to have her calf, we've been getting the garden ready for spring planting.

Our neighbors are, too!

Our neighbor came and dug up a lot of old manure.
Old manure is great garden food!

Their garden is huge! 
Those dark piles are the manure he dug out of our piles. He tilled in all that manure and his garden dirt looks beautiful now!

They like to try new things in their garden, just like we do!
This new tire will be filled with wood chips and dirt so they can grow sweet potatoes. 
That's a BIG tire!

Your teacher helped me plant seeds on Monday.
This type of gardening is called "Winter Sowing."

We planted the seeds and put them in jugs and containers. We leave the jugs and containers outside until they are ready to plant. The seeds will sprout when they are ready! It's so much easier than growing plants inside. I don't have room inside for starting that many plants, so this is a perfect way for us to start seeds.

I'm also starting some new grape vines.
Those sticks don't look like grape vines, yet.
Hopefully they will grow some roots in the next few months.
The ones on the left are Concord grapes for juice.
The sticks on the right are Pink Reliance grapes. They are just for eating, and are type of 'table grapes.'

They will stay in this spot for about 2 years. The ones that grow the best will be moved to a permanent spot where they will grow for many, many years.

I got my grape starts from some of these grape vines.
These vines are 40 years old. They belong to a neighbor around the corner.
He is a grape expert and showed many neighbors how to prune and take care of their grapes.

I use old crib parts as trellis' in my garden beds.
I planted a lot of peas on Monday.
The peas will grow up the crib side and make it easy for me to pick.

I also dug up the dirt in another garden spot so the soil will be looser.
I'll plant some melons in this spot.
It has been nice to be working outside again.

Even Stinky, our 21 year old cat has been outside enjoying the warmer weather!

I hope you have a wonderful Spring Break! 

Hopefully Sadie will have her calf and you can see photos of it the next time you see Farm Friday.

Goats Love Macaroni!

One of my goat's favorite treats is old noodles. Sometimes my friends bring me old pasta noodles that they don't want to eat. 

https://youtu.be/XE-MUhxJD9A

I love hearing River crunch the noodles. I think it's so funny!

Do you have a cat or dog that likes to eat hard noodles? Your teacher does! 

River has sore hooves all the time. We're not sure how she foundered, but she did. I give her some aspirin every day. She loves taking it. I think she knows that her hooves feel a little better after she eats it.

https://youtu.be/dytQoGtDY_g

Sometimes it's hard to give animals their medicine. Sometimes it tastes horrible! I'm so glad that River likes aspirin because she has to take some every day.

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Yes, I like having chickens!
I love watching them run around in the field. I think they are funny when they run.
I also like that they scratch up bugs and eat them all summer long.

Chickens usually eat chicken food.
We feed our chickens higher protein in the winter.
It helps them keep warmer in the cold winter months.

We feed them pellets because it doesn't go to waste.
Some chicken food looks like cornmeal. It's good for the chickens, too.
My chickens scratch and push it out of the feeder. That wastes the food, and the mice love it!
I'd rather not have too many mice in the barnyard.

About once a week I give them the same food that the cows and the goats get.
I add some calcium so that their egg shells are strong!
The white powder is calcium. I mix it in, and put it in a different feeder for them.
They think it's a special treat.

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No, we don't build forts for our pets.
We make sure they have shelter in the barn or in small shelters around the farm.

Like many farms, we have an old truck parked in the back. It doesn't work.
Sometimes the chickens and turkeys like to hide underneath it.
Maybe they think the old truck is a fort.

We're fixing up that old green truck this year. We hope that we can get it running again. It would be so much fun to drive around and use on the farm!

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If you've been keeping track on your calendar you know that Sadie is supposed to have her calf on March 28th! We're so excited! We're making sure everything is ready for her. She'll have a clean stall, and Echo will have to use another stall for a few days.

Today I brought her into the barn to start training her to stand where I milk the cows. 

Have a great week!

My Friend's Calf

It's so much fun to have friends that also have farms! We get to share the happy days and the sad times with each other. We get to help each other out when we're having trouble on the farm, too.

My friend just got a new calf.

It's different than my cows. Her calf is a Holstein.

She's black and white, like most milk cows. My cows are brown and tan, not black and white.

Her son brought her home from the dairy because the dairy didn't want her. She probably needed more care than they wanted to give her.

She was a little bit sick when she got to her new farm. Her poo is runny and doesn't look like it should.

She also has some blood showing in the whites of her eyes.

My friend thinks that it must have been a difficult birth for the cow. This calf needs a little extra care and special milk right now to help her get healthy and grow to be an adult cow. 

Dairies don't have time to take care of sick calves so they usually sell them.

She's really sweet, so my friend is happy to take on the project!

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My friend found a big animal track at her farm this week! We're trying to figure out what animal is prowling around her barn. She wants to keep her animals safe, so it's always a good idea to be able to know an animal by the footprints that it leaves.

We think it might be a wolf or a big dog because we can see claw marks. Big cats, like mountain lions, don't usually leave claw marks. She's asking some other people that know more about animal tracks than we do. 

I'll let you know when she figures it out.

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I think Gracie is trying to hatch some eggs. I see her sitting on this nest pretty often.

She's been on the nest at night, too. She's usually in the chicken pen with the other turkeys, but not the last few nights!

I hope she's sitting on turkey eggs! It would be so much fun to have baby turkeys again!

Sometimes turkeys are good at staying on their eggs and hatching them out. Sometimes they are terrible sitters. 

I'll let you know if Gracie stays on her eggs, or gets bored and wanders off.

Just do the next right thing, Gracie. Stay on your eggs.