Farm Update

Last Saturday my family and I went to a "winterfest" (basically a winter fair) to hang out with our oxen, Little Bill and Curly Sue. They were on display in the petting farm barn mostly for the sake of experience. It's good for them to get used to crowds of people, different noises, etc. Here are some pictures I took while there:

One thing we don't have on our farm, pigs. This sow had 9 piglets in her litter. Pigs can run up to 15 miles per hour. There have been reported cases of pigs actually eating human children! In one of the stories I read a child fell into the pig pen and the pigs killed/ate the child. I wouldn't want these things on my farm. Plus, my family doesn't eat pork, so there is really no good reason for us to have them.

Here is a Scottish Highland steer who isn't ours. He is 13 years old and about 2-3 times bigger than Little Bill and Curly Sue. I guess they just keep growing and growing! This big guy's horns were amazing!

Ethan watching other children in the crowd while petting some miniature donkeys.

Curly Sue wanted a nap, but Little Bill didn't. This is what happens if we leave them yoked and tied up for 10 minutes or so. Usually only one of them gets tired for some reason! We decided to unyoke them at this point since Curly Sue was getting tired and Little Bill wouldn't lay down with him. It just looks so uncomfortable when they do that to each other!

Curly Sue scratching himself on the yoke after it was off.

Robby trying to feed our oxen.

It was kind of funny, anytime Brad would walk away from the oxen while we were at the fair they would start mooing for him. First softly, then they would do what we call, "The Cow Alarm" - that's where they moo loudly over and over again several times. They didn't like being alone for long at all, which was cute.

Brad and I both talked to dozens of people coming through about Scottish Highland cattle and oxen. By the end of the day both Brad and I were worn out. Not only from talking to so many people and standing all day, but from getting up early (Brad got up in the 5 o'clock hour), driving 1 1/2 hours to get there, and I was carrying Robby on my hip most of the day. It was a good day - tiring, but good. One thing that seemed to surprise many people were that the oxen could not only feel with their horns, but that they were warm as well. For those of you who don't know, the reason for that is horns contain both nerve and blood vessels.

Anyway, with the fair over Brad left on another business trip (one that will last at least two weeks). Wally (the rancher we bought our calves from) brought Curly Sue and Little Bill home from the fair on Monday and picked up one of the little brindle calves we bought from him. That brindle calf had an awful attitude that wouldn't be trained out of him. He was very aggressive - he would try to butt everyone (including our children through a fence) and would do this thing where he would quickly turn and try to kick us with his hind legs. You just don't want to mess around with a calf who weighs a little over 400 pounds doing that. We tried for several days to gentle him, but he simply hated people. So, Wally brought a replacement and took that naughty calf. Here's the new guy:

He is pretty jumpy around people still, but is getting better with each passing day. He comes up to eat the hay as I'm feeding it to the cattle, so that's good. He wouldn't even come that close the first couple of days! That's pretty normal behavior for a calf just weaned from its mother and taken from a field where it hasn't ever been around humans. I'm hoping that Brad has an easy time gentling him when he comes home. As for the other three calves we bought at the same time as the one with a bad attitude...

they're doing great! They all allow me to pet them and will eat hay out of my hands. We finally named the black ones. The black one on the left is Bert and the one on the right is Ernie. The brindle calf in the picture above has been worked with the most out of the three so far (taught commands, pet more, etc.) and he is super sweet. If Brad leans down anywhere near him he licks Brad's hat and forehead over and over. It's kind of cute. He is a very affectionate calf. He also licks me when I'm around - not my forehead, but my arms. I don't mind as long as I'm wearing my farm jacket (I have a jacket I use just for farm work).

I know, this picture is very much like the one above, but in this one you can see Ernie's face better (the black one on the right). Also, you'll notice Curly Sue isn't looking over the fence in this one. :)

This morning the other white Rambouillet ewe we have (you may remember in my Busy December post we had to butcher a Rambouillet ewe since she didn't labor correctly and was dying - the one with a rotten lamb in her) was looking about the same way as the first. I took her to the vet and found out the problem she has and the one who died had is called a prolapsed vagina. There is really nothing you can do about it in the long run. You either cull the animal or keep it from breeding. For short term the vet put a thing that holds it up/in, which should help for when she goes into labor. It's really too bad the two friendliest ewes on our farm have had this problem. Maybe their mothers rejected them for a reason (both of these ewes were bottle babies).

Me (5 months pregnant) loading that ewe in and out of our SUV (twice) would be a whole other story and this entry has already gotten a bit too long! :) Anyway, that's about all that's new down on the farm. I hope you all have a great weekend!