I am afraid after the excitement of the election that fall blahs have hit us pretty hard.
First of all it gets dark now at 5:30 PM. That means there is an hour of day light after I get home to do chores and unfortunately cold wet winter weather means more chores for me and the family.
We now have pigs, chickens, cows, a dog, a cat and three kids to feed and water every day. Feeding the animals is one of the things I like to do best because they appreciate it so. The pigs come and sniff your hand and then go back to trying to out eat each other. The cows won't let you pet them but they will sniff at you and eat all of your grain. The chickens just eye you like you're a funny fox of some sort. I think their theory is that if you ignore each other no one will get hurt. I guess we do eat their eggs for breakfast and the black rooster is going to be dinner at Aleah's birthday party since he jumped up on Leila.
Sam the dog runs around during all of this full of bravado until the cows blink and he takes off.
Monday we were going to start the shots to prep the cow for artificial insemination. The shots induce the cow to go into heat and then in 14 days the vet can put a straw of sperm inside the cow. Emily and I took a bucket of grain and the cows followed us out of the pasture, into the barnyard and into the barn. The plan was to put them in a stall so that when the vet put the shot in the cow wouldn't take off or break anything, especially part of the vet or me. Unfortunately just as we got them in the barn Sam the dog decided to show how tough he was and barked at the cows. The cows shot through the back doors and out into the unfenced paddock by the pigs and right into the electric fence. Which caused them both to run around kicking and mooing. Then, they escaped into the corn field. By this time Emily had got Leila to come help and together with Leila's full bucket of corn and me waving my arms we rounded them up and got them back in the pasture. But after an hour or so of chasing them and shaking the bucket of grain the cows were not going into the barn or the stall and the vet went home.
Yesterday I went to give them some more grain and went into the barn to check it out and they both followed me right inside as if they went there every day.
2 comments:
I know you are jealous of Idaho, but I am jealous of all your cool farm animals! Sounds like a lot of work and lot of fun.
And, to go ahead and make you a little more jealous, I saw a flock of trumpeter swans fly overhead yesterday. I actually had my camera IN MY HAND, but by the time I thought to take a picture, it was too late . . . so enraptured was I.
I'm waiting for a new post. Where are you?
anna
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