Friday, February 6, 2015

Lack of Sleep

We are in the midst of calving. Which means, very little sleep, lots of string cheese and coffee!
There are 27 calves in the heifers, as of now. The cows are just getting started.
The weather has been somewhat cooperative. Its been very mild and wet. I'd rather slime around in the mud, then slip around on the ice! I'm sure the cows would too. During the late night checks its been foggy. The heifers have been very good mamas and easy to deal with, until today! What a flippin' disaster! Last night we got home at 2am. Today headed out at 8am to feed cows, didn't get home until 5pm. ugh!
We lost a calf in the heifers. The heifer was a total loon! Had to get a horse to bring her in. She jumped the cattle guard! She tried to eat us for lunch! Geez. She ended up loosing her calf. Then we had two heifers calving, they tried claiming one calf! Had to bring them in. Did I mention it was POURING down rain!? and windy. But a balmy 60*!
I did get the whole barn cleaned! :)
And my bottle baby is not doing well. I think the milk replacer is bad. So, we had someone head to town to get a different brand. I am going to contact the company and complain to them about the sour milk. I've had issues with this brand before. sigh.
When we got home, I was cooking dinner and the sun was setting. Cant beat this at the end of a long, tiring day.
Hoping tonite and tomorrow will be better.

Bottle baby and Spook.



A rainbow to the east. Sunset to the west.



Thanks for stopping by. I'm taking a nap! HA! :)

16 comments:

  1. And it's just going to get a lot busier. I hope things go well and you don't lose anymore calves.

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  2. I hope you enjoyed your nap! Sounds like you deserved it. Beautiful rainbow and sunset photos. A nice way to end the day.

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  3. Beautiful photos, especially that last one! Now get some sleep!!

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  4. Your bottle baby has such a sweet brockle face. I hope he recovers.
    Busy time. You guys get some sleep NOW!!!
    Smooth sailing from now on.
    MB

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  5. I had been thinking of you and hoped all was going well.

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  6. Cheri,
    I was wondering if you got any moisture off the "pineapple" system?

    J says there is differences in milk replacer. Hubbard brand is what he prefers, J's cousin likes vigortone.

    Hope you can catch a catnap!

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  7. Any chance you could graft the bottle baby on the heifer that lost its calf or is she too looney for that? Calving time is tough, but that's why God made cowgirls!
    Beautiful shots of the rainbow and sunset. Gives you that moment when you can just take a deep breath and give thanks.

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  8. Oh, gosh! A goofy first year cow what a mess and to lose the calf on top of everything! I love that rainbow! Your skies are like ours more brilliant than summer!

    Good luck with the rest of the herd!
    Linda ❤⊱彡
    http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
    https://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com/sherlock-boomer

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  9. Oh you are busy you poor girl. Rest when you can I am hoping for at least another month before I do not get any sleep. Bossy2 was a bottle baby and I have had bad milk replacer before, not fun. Rest when you can and be careful with mean Moms:) Hug B

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  10. Oh, I wish I was there to do something for you/to help you. Even if it was to do errands and feed the bottle baby. You sure sound busy and tired!

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  11. Do you AI to get so many of them to calve at once? We are down to 7 more heifers, and the cows have just started. (The cows were set to begin around February 10.) We were hoping to have a bunch of calves over the weekend, since the daytime temperatures were in the 70s, but that would have been too easy. Much of the rest of the week is not typical February weather either. We will take it! Good luck with the rest of calving!

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  12. Wow your work is never ever done is it? That's one of the most amazing sunsets I've ever seen. Wow. And you had me at string cheese :)

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  13. Calving season always consists of long hours, sleepless nights and great rewards!

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  14. Wow, that sunset is spectacular! You are lucky to be having that warm weather. We unfortunately won't be seeing that too soon.

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  15. Holy smokes, how in the world do you do it all? I am totally amazed by you!

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Thanks for visiting. Hope you enjoyed the ranch.