Calving activity is winding down here on the farm. We had two baby calves born during week 4. We only have one calf left to be born! There is always such anticipation leading up to the calving season and then in a whirlwind (or so it seems), you have a farm full of baby calves. You wonder where those weeks of waiting went!
Although our calving season is almost complete, the farm is busy, busy, busy. Springtime is an incredibly busy time on the farm. After such a long, cold winter, it is SO nice to be working outside, without the snow and ice. Our spring has been a cold and rainy one so far, but we have still gotten started on some spring projects. Right now, we are busy building a second woodshed, cutting down trees and chopping, hauling and stacking firewood. We heat our home entirely with a wood-stove, so securing our winter’s worth of firewood is our #1 non-cattle related priority in the spring.
We also plant a large vegetable garden every year. We preserve our vegetables through canning or freezing methods as well as storing root vegetables, onions and potatoes in our root cellar. We are just starting to till our large garden patch, and we will be planting in the coming weeks.
Please be sure to check out week 1, week 2 and week 3 of Observations from THE PASTURE – 2019 Calving Season.
Monday, May 20 – Sunday, May 26
Monday, May 20th – At this point in time, we are down to only three cows left to calve, with two of those being first-calf heifers. As has been the case many times, I could see that we probably had a new baby calf upon entering the back pasture gate. I was doing the first check of the morning and the entire herd was up and grazing with the exception of one cow, whom was laying down. I was pretty certain that the dark spot next to her was a baby. I wasn’t sure yet which cow it was but I knew it was one of the first-calf heifers. Sure enough, we had calf #17! Mama and baby looked good.
Tuesday, May 21 – Wednesday, May 22 – No babies born during these days. Lots of fun had by the calves!
Thursday, May 22 – The kids and I had early morning dentist appointments, so Jer did the check. Sure enough, baby #18 from our last first-calf heifer!
Friday, May 23 – Sunday May, 25 – Our sole pregnant cow is still holding on. Hoping we get to meet our final calf – calf #19 – next week!
Be sure to check back next week for Observations from THE PASTURE – Week 5 – FINAL WEEK OF THE 2019 Calving Season.
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