Thankful Thursday

Although our daylight hours are silently 

slipping away as fall approaches,

the hours in September have been packed

with weaning calves and cattle working.

Each calf has received a new ear tag for 

identification, vaccinations, and wormer before

being moved to a new pasture. 

It wasn't a rodeo but it was fun to watch the 

calves kicking up their heels and showing off

as they were released from the head chute.

We decided it was their reaction to the cooler

temperatures we were all enjoying!

Even though we are not milking cows on the farm,

we are still raising babies in the hutches.

These calves are from our cows

 that are being milked at other farms. 

Their care requires feeding milk and grain 

twice daily and monitoring them

 closely for any illness. 

Living on the farm isn't just all work!

As you can see,

Hattie and Breck make life exciting and fun.

                                      I'm thankful for our life on the farm and for the jobs

                                                      of raising calves and kids!

Thankful Thursday

Just before Labor Day, the square baler was pulled out of the shed, greased and

oiled, and sent to the field for what almost seems like an outdated practice.

The making of small square bales is a might more tedious than 

driving the big round baler down the field.  

You have decisions to make on the size of the

bale and the tension of the string. It proves that there is an art

  to farming and a lot of patience and praying with each bale

 that scoots out the shoot!

With the help of  the hay accumulator, a skid loader,

and a long trailer, the job of storing the hay is greatly 

 improved from the days of  a hay hauling crew that 

bucked each bale on the trailer in the field then

 unloaded and stacked  them in the barn on

 a 100 degree summer day.

I'm thankful for all the modern machinery that 

makes it possible to produce food for our calves and cows,

for the rain that we have been blessed with in this 

late summer season,

                                                                                  

                                                                                 and 

                                                 for these farm dogs that love life on the farm!