Updates

So, it has been a while since I last posted, for which I apologize.  I was sick for three miserable weeks :(

We now have water spigots and power hookups right next to the cow's pen.  We also got new self-watering containers.  They are metal, which you'd think would be a bad thing this time of year, but here's the the thing... we also got tape heaters.  Basically you plug in the tape (looks like two wires connected together covered in rubber) and then wind it around whatever you need to heat.  We used this successfully for the pigs, which have a nipple system that requires constant water, so we are going to use this method for the cows and the horse as well.  We will have the heating tape wind around the water spigot post, along the side of the hose, and around the self watering containers, so the water will never freeze.

While we were working on getting water lines to everyone, the cows got a new stall mate.  My horse Paige.  Unfortunately that did not work out on a long term basis, so the moment the ditches got covered, I put Paige back out in the big pasture.  The horse and cows get along great (though I had to guard the cows' buckets during feeding time because Paige kept trying to sample their food instead of eating her own) but while the cows pick one corner of the stall to pee and poop, the horse pooped EVERYWHERE.  To add to the chaos of the poop problem, the chickens come in during the day and scratch around looking for bugs and worms hiding in the straw, and the combination left the poor cows with nowhere to lay down :(  I picked their stall as best I could and laid down a ton of fresh straw, so they got a warm place to lay again.

During this period of time when the ground is constantly frozen, and there is frost all over, I have been leaving the cows in their stall.  Because the stall is so large, they have plenty of room to move around, and I've seen them play together in there.  It is nice to look in and see them laying so contentedly, chewing their cud, just being.  You know they're happy when they look at you with their big deer eyes and chew away at their cud :)  They are still getting grain while the weather is so cold, as well as extra hay, but I plan to cut down quite a bit when the weather warms up, especially as we get closer to the time that they will be able to be bred. 

These breed of cows have their first heat around 9 months.  They're 5 months now, so that means they could potentially be old enough to breed in about 4 months.  However, Susan and I would like them to get a little more physically mature so that they will have a much better chance of holding the pregnancy while remaining healthy themselves.  The older the better.  So we have determined (with the help of our resident milk cow farmer) that a good age to breed them will be about 13 months.  So we will probably start getting reading in about 8 months, which will be about August of 2014.  Cows gestate for around 9 1/2 months (similar to humans), so that means they will be delivering their babies come the following May or June. 

We have talked about breeding our girls to our neighbor's meat cow.  Dairy cows, on average, are quite a bit bigger than meat cows, and my neighbor's cows are about two thirds the size of  a Jersey (which are a smaller type dairy cow).  For a first pregnancy, this means that the baby will be fairly small, ensuring an easier delivery.  Plus, since we don't plan to add to the herd right away, we will be able to butcher the new calves after a year and put meat in our freezers.  A yearling cow will feed a small family for a year, with consistent meat additions to the menu.  So this is a huge plus as well.

The New Calf Pen

The new calf pen is finished!  They have been staying in a pen approximately 10 ft by 12 ft, layered in straw, and being let out into the big pasture during the day.  It's pretty small for long term, but for the short term it was sufficient for their size.  The new pen is 20ft by 25ftish.  It still has grass in it, so for now we are just putting a small amount of straw in one corner for them to sleep on, and they can graze grass.  Which has been handy, because I am not letting them out when it is raining, and so they are still able to graze, as well as having access to grain throughout the day, which they don't usually, and they don't have to share their hay with the horse.  I have been sick so my husband has been feeding them.  When I feel better I'll get a picture.

In the meantime, Jim has been putting in water and power hookups next to the animal pens, one set on the pig/chicken side, and one set on the calf side, so that it is easier to take care of the animals.  The calves are still on formula, though they will be getting weaned over the course of this next month, and the formula mixes best with hot water.  Each calf is getting 2 bottles of milk.  I mix all the milk up in one bucket, which I then distribute evenly between their two feeding buckets.  So I have been bringing the bucket over to the house, where there is a water spigot, for both hot and cold.  Because the cold water has been hooked up to a hose going to the pig pen for their constant water access, I only have access to hot there.  I mix up 3 bottles of hot water with the formula there, and then go to the other faucet on the other side of the house where the cold water is hooked up to a hose with a nozzle at the end, and add in another bottle of just cold, and this makes the temperature just about perfect.  As you can see, if you were able to follow that, it's quite the process, as well as rather time consuming.  So with the new hookups, it will be right there by the calf pen, both hot and cold, available at any time, and with the proper attachment, I can just have it tuned to the right temperature at all times.

On the business side of things, I may have a source for essential oils for the sheep's milk soap that Susan and I will be making from her sheep!

The Mooey Girls

It has been a week and a day since we brought the calves up to our house so that the sheep could go to Susan's.  The girls are doing great!  Every morning I get up and feed all of our animals.  After Fawn and Cocoa are done with their milk, I halter them both and lead them over to the pasture to be let out with our horse.  They are both doing a lot better at halter leading, except Fawn has discovered that after I let her go, and walk back to get Cocoa, she can turn back around and come back out, because, of course, the grass on the OUTside of the fence is MUCH sweeter and tastier than the grass on the INside.  So I have been getting my husband to help me lead so that they both go in at the same time.  This morning he was still in bed, so I haltered them both and tried to lead them both at the same time.  Hmmm... One great leader who likes to trot alongside me, and one not so great leader whom I have to place a hand on her backside, at which point she'll trot along just fine.  So I had one calf trying to race to the pasture, and the other trying to go eat the grass on the other side of the barn... that doesn't work so well lol  I finally got them both pointed in the same direction, and through the fence, where Cocoa immediately tried to race off to say hello to Paige, and Fawn immediately tried to race off to eat the hay.... with me in the middle, trying to hold on to both of them!  Oops!  They both quickly realized they were still attached to me and waited patiently for me to undo their halters so they could walk off.

By the way, we obviously need different fencing in the lower pasture.  We have 3 pasture areas.  One is at the top and not fenced in yet, one is where the horse is and where the calves spend their days, and one that is fenced with hot wire fencing instead of stock fencing.  We opened the lower pasture up the other day because it was nice, and my husband and I were working on the barn roof so figured we could keep an eye on them.  Suddenly a lady came running into the yard yelling out to find out if we owned the baby cows that were... halfway down the road.  Great.  Race across the yard, grab the lead lines, and go try and catch the uncatchable. Seriously, the pigs were easier to catch!  But we finally got them back into their pasture and closed the lower gate.   Those girls sure are inquisitive!  But so sweet.  There is nothing quite like hearing the low mooing sound they make when they hear me coming, and nothing quite like a rough yet somehow slimey tongue coming your way when they can't quite reach the bucket you're trying to mix their milk into.

9 1/2 more months until they can be bred :)

Meet Jennifer!

My name is Jennifer Maesner.  I am 30 years old as of the time of posting this, and am the mother of 3 beautiful children.  I grew up in cities, but it has always been my lifelong dream to live in the country, and have a huge farm, with sheep, and pigs, and cows, and chickens, and horses, and big garden, and I would live off of these things.  

Well, at the age of 30, I can say that I have realized a part of my dream.  I bought a horse when I was 22.  He was the most perfect horse I could have ever asked for.  I have raised a cow, and had her butchered.  I have raised a lamb, and saved other lambs from almost certain death.  I have raised chickens.  I currently have 8, and we get between 5 and 7 eggs a day.  I am not sure who is not laying, or if they are hiding their eggs.  The sneaky things.  I have 2 pigs that are being raised for meat, and one that I plan to breed.  But there was something missing. 

My husband and I get raw milk on occasion from a neighbor in Chehalis, and I started making butter.  And then pancakes from the butter milk.  And I started wanting more.  So I started looking into getting a milk cow.  And then I got a call from Susan, telling me that there were two female calves for sale at our local dairy, and that she was getting one for her daughter.  I asked my husband if he was interested and he said yes.  Then Susan and I started talking, and a seed was planted.  

From that seed sprung the idea for Nature's Family Farms.  Stay with us on our journey, as we work towards our goal of making Sheep's Milk Body products, and raw milk dairy products.