Greener On The Other Side

Sky High, the very young new sire of our farm is beginning to settle in with his newly acquired role. He has scouted out every inch of the large acreage that he, his first love heifer, the eleven cows and the eleven wild cavorting calves have to roam about in between feedings.

He has also spent time at the fence line where the nine other animals of the main herd reside while they await their time to be moved to the nursery field and back together with the other critters. He is still trying to figure out why we are tempting him with more females for his harem, while  at the same time, blocking him from really getting up close and personal by having a fence between them.

Springtime will bring much more fast growing grass and the turf will firm up enough to not be quite so boggy as it is right now. Once we figure that the herd will not damage the soil with all those big extra feet tromping through, the main herd will be consolidated back into one herd to pasture together in assigned fields. Until then, the ones on the outside, the remaining cows to calve plus September-born Francie, have to watch from afar as we feed first in the nursery field before going on to the outside feeders for them to feast.

Between Sky High spying out and the outliers that are looking into the nursery field, there seems to be a lot of agreement that the grass is greener, the girls prettier, the new sire more intriguing and life in general is better on the other side of the fence.

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Browning Fields

It is hard to imagine just a month ago when we had finally finished up with hay season, the regrowth of the field grass was astounding. So lush and green.

The main herd enjoyed the fields as the grass regrew in the the mowed sections. We moved the herd around to the different fields for them to graze. Now, just a month later and much less moisture, the fields have turned to a crisp brown without any regrowth until the next big batch of rain comes along.

We are still only feeding once a day for the main herd, but before long that will change and we will have morning and night feedings to keep everyone happy and properly caloried.

You gotta see the pictures! They are posted with this story on SchmidlinAngusFarms.com. While you are there, if there is any online shopping you plan on doing, please go through my picture links. By doing so, I may make a small commission without a charge to you! The commissions help pay for my user charges for this site, Thank You for supporting the farm

What Day Is It

As I check in on family, friends, loved ones, acquaintances, and customers, I keep hearing the phrase ‘what day is it’? It’s as if once the daily routine of our lives changes, our sense of time alters. I have noticed this in the past when taking a few days away from the farm, the change of routine while seeing new sights doesn’t kick in because there are other demands like being on time for planned excursions like car rentals, hotel stays, vista views, etc. It is when I return home when I notice that my internal clock is skewed, my nights don’t seem restful and my days are unsettled. It takes me time to get back to my normal routine, sometimes it is just a day but it usually takes more than that for my internal metronome to get clicking on a regular basis.

With this new experience of sheltering in place,  people I talk or computer chat to, are in that unbalanced state. Days of the week seem condensed or stretched, sometimes at the same time!

So I figured I would give you the day of the week in cattle-speak…today is dirt day. Dirt day is the holiday for the main herd when we move them to a new area that has new smells and the opportunity to get down and rub to their hearts content. The dirt the herd found on this day was near the side-hill where we fed them their breakfast. The calves, ranging from a couple days old to several months of age happily joined their mothers in the cut of the skid road where the logs are dragged off the hillside to the landing.

Within an hour, nearly every member of the main herd had a smear of dirt on their legs, heads, necks and backsides.

Welcome to dirt day, I hope this story finds you able to find your balance with a bit of soil.

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Checking In On The Twins

Nyad with her twins, Little and Piddle, have been quite spoiled over the last couple weeks. The trio has had the barn with free access to across the whole side of bedded areas for the first couple of days while the twins got used to the idea of nursing at the same time and laying together as Nyad moved around the barn. Then we opened up the gate so the family could have the barnyard to have extra space to learn running and napping in the sunshine. At first the barnyard was only opened for the daytime and securing the cow with the twins in at night but that only lasted a couple of days before we had the gate open day and night.

With the main herd across the river in the far, far field, Nyad and her babies were isolated from the community of other calves and big mamas. Nyad would watch the main herd from across the fields but most of the time she was too busy with her twins to miss being out of the group.

When the twins were a week old, we opened up the small barnyard so the trio could have a small, fenced field of grass. The twins figured out electric fences and boundaries quickly while Nyad enjoyed the larger grazing and lounging space. As with the small barnyard, the first few days the larger space was only accessible an hour or two at a time but before long we had the pens opened up so the family could meander at will from the barn to the barnyard to the fenced field.

At two weeks old, the twins had strengthened and stabilized. It was at this time we also moved the main herd from way across the way to the large field by the barn.

The twins got to watch the main herd for 24 hours from their area before we ear-tagged them and turned the family out with the rest of the cows and calves. Little, the heifer, is officially #4 and her brother Piddle is #11. We wanted the identification tags clipped in before we mixed them with the main herd so it is easier to monitor their acceptance into the main herd.

Since mrssusanschmidlin.wordpress.com is nearly out of data, the complete story can be found at SchmidlinAngusFarms.com. I encourage you to check it out, get your information in on the FOLLOW button spot, and get every story in full color. I would be grateful if you did want to do any cyber shopping to use my links on the stories on that site. By using my links, I get credit for directing people to shop and may make a small commission without any cost to you! Your support helps support the website to be available for the daily stories. Thank you for supporting SchmidlinAngusFarms.com

I am delighted to announce that the new book by MaryJane Nordgren, Nandria’s War, is available to the public and can be purchased through my website, SchmidlinAngusFarms.com!

 

Early Conditioning

With all the signs pointing toward an early spring, Mike started putting lime on the hayfields.

We like to spread organic lime each year in the spring to return optimal Ph levels for grass growing.

When we add the lime (pelletized limestone) to the fields, it is best to let the nature dissolve the granules before letting the cattle back onto the field for grazing. The lime would not hurt the herd, but the idea is to let the lime work its way into the soil and sweeten the ground where the nutrients can go back into the grass that will be growing there.

To get the herd away from the fields we wanted to lime, we had moved the main herd to the far, far field a little over a week ago and that is why we have been doing the morning and evening feedings with a dash up the county road on the Gator. Those 20 degree mornings were a frosty drive indeed, but the couple of mornings when we had snow or sleet-y rain were downright uncomfortable since the Gator does not have sides, roof or windshield.

The weather that was uncomfortable for us was good to break down the lime and very few bits can be found as we examine the  ground in the hay fields. We will be ready to move the herd back from the far, far field possibly today except for we do have a calf that is nearly due and plans may change.

Since mrssusanschmidlin.wordpress.com is nearly out of data, the complete story can be found at SchmidlinAngusFarms.com. I encourage you to check it out, get your information in on the FOLLOW button spot, and get every story in full color. I would be grateful if you did want to do any cyber shopping to use my links on the stories on that site. By using my links, I get credit for directing people to shop and may make a small commission without any cost to you! Your support helps support the website to be available for the daily stories. Thank you for supporting SchmidlinAngusFarms.com

I am delighted to announce that the new book by MaryJane Nordgren, Nandria’s War, is available to the public and can be purchased through my website, SchmidlinAngusFarms.com!

Switching On Both Sides Of The River

It is not as wet around here this month as it was last month. We have still had measurable precipitation each day, but the daily volume is down to only a few hundredths each day rather than inches. The ground is still saturated and a muddy mess, but at least the standing puddles are not as deep as they were. Two big things were planned for this day. One, the bull that had been sold last week was going to be picked up and Two, the calves that have the green weaner clips installed across the river needed to be moved into the space in my show barn where the sold bull was penned.

I had to give you that setup in order to visualize how the day went yesterday. We were scheduled to have the bull buyer arrive sometime between 9 and 10am with his stock trailer to pick up #43 HeartThrob. You may remember, he was born on Valentine’s Day last year (hence his name). Since the road to the show barn where we housed HeartThrob for the night is fraught with deep muck, we attached our trailer to our tractor to load him. Once loaded, we planned to back the trailers together in the driveway with the back doors open to create a ramp for HeartThrob to walk from our trailer to his new owner’s trailer.

Five More Ear Tagged

Our main herd of cows across the river have been giving us clues that it is time to move them to new grazing areas. Some of the more mature, senior cows stand at the fence line longingly looking toward greener pastures. But before we moved the herd there was a little housekeeping in the veterinary sense that needed to be taken care of. The older calves have ear tags already and now there are five more that are old enough to get their own number.

Doing a Double Take

 

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, large animals are not as dumb as they may seem. Although normally they abide by the rules of the farm and get along with their fellow critters(including humans), they can also be quite conniving when they  decide to mutiny or if they just get into a ‘mood’.

Pressure and Pirelli

Pressure had a bull calf we named Pirelli,  born 3/26/2017 and he weighed 75 lbs.

It was a miserable rainy day, but when we found Pressure and her baby, she had him all cleaned off, fed, and laying down for a nap.

Rather than disturb the new baby, we gave Pressure a couple of slabs of sweet grass hay next to the fence and under a large fir tree so the rain wasn’t too uncomfortable for the pair.

Pirelli, didn’t rouse from his nap and Pressure was able to get filled up before settling down next to the baby for a needed rest.

By the next morning, Pressure had moved Pirelli across the field by the hillside which gave the little one even more protection from the weather. Once the rain let up, she moved Pirelli out to the middle of the field and in with the main herd.

Bringing Home the Loaner Herd

The loaner herd has completed their work for the year. From the group of animals we took to the neighbor farm to keep the grass pastures trimmed down, Topanga and Scratch with their babies are the four that were left to work through the summer and early fall.

We moved those last four home to be with the rest of the herd since the grass will not be growing much through the rest of the year and early next  year. They had successfully managed the grass in several pastures and around the barnyard.

As we pulled the stock-trailer into the barnyard area, the cows with their calves came running to the barn, bellering the whole way. It sounded like they were happy to see us and they were ready to go home. In reality, the farmer at the loaner farm, called the herd up daily for a bite or two of sweet grass hay and a few molasses pellets.

Topanga, the biggest momma cow, seemed rather indignant that her run up the trail from the woods to the barn didn’t end in a delicious meal. But that only lasted a little while. All four animals were loaded into the trailer and hauled home. Mike pulled the trailer over the bridge to the far side pasture where the main herd had been moved into the 6 acre field. The back door of the trailer was opened and the four loaners ran out to meet their long-lost family.

There was a bit of scuffling, snorting and general mayhem for about 10 minutes while the herd restructured with the returning members. The pecking order was decided and peace again reigns on the farm.