More Snow


Oh, yay!

Yesterday we got about 12 inches of snow. In one place I measured 11 inches, in another 13, so we figure somewhere in between. Hubby had to get out his little bulldozer and clear our driveways and all. He had to doze his way out to the field and make paths for the 4-wheeler so he could do round up and get hay out to them. He had to doze his way down to the little heifers out in the woods so we could feed them.

This time Ellen isn't so enchanted with snow. Just a bit ago, while we were out doing chores and she'd clambered and stumbled and slipped around, she said; "I hate snow." Poor kid. It's tough when you have short little legs. Not to mention that it's currently in the single digits out here, with a nippy wind blowing the index down below zero. But nothing will do but that she come out with me and then have one of us take her down to her grandma's place. Last night, before hubby'd been able to doze a 4-wheeler path down there, she had to stay home. She wasn't happy.

As is usual when we have any kind of big storm; one of the cows just HAS to have a calf. We knew she was close so on Monday we brought her back down here. She could have had it then, BEFORE the snow, but NO, had to have it now. At any rate, it's a little heifer and she's doing well; just slugged down her bottle.

Our road still hasn't been completely cleared. The snowplows made one pass this afternoon and blazed a one lane trail, but it's still iced over. This morning as he was putting out hay hubby saw tracks of neighbors who'd tried to get to work and had had to turn back. Someone even landed in the ditch. He had to steer the tractor with the brake; it's a mess out there. And this isn't even half as bad as what other places are getting.

We are praying for a warm-up and a fast thaw.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Oyster

It isn't even halfway through the month yet and I have run out of lists or anything amusing to tell you about the dairy. So here is a poem I picked up on a homesteading forum. It does deal with ag issues, just of a different sort... Enjoy! The Oyster Baxter Black The sign upon the café wall said OYSTERS: fifty cents. "How quaint," the blue-eyed sweetheart said with some bewildermence, "I didn't know they served such fare out here upon the plain." "Oh, sure," her cowboy date replied, "We're really quite urbane." "I would guess they're Chesapeake or Blue Point, don't you think?" "No ma'am, they're mostly Hereford cross . . . and usually they're pink But I've been cold, so cold myself, what you say could be true And if a man looked close enough, their points could sure be blue!" She said, "I gather them myself out on the bay alone. I pluck them from the murky depths and smash them with a...
Read more

Like Cats A'Fightin'

Image
That's a local saying when it's snowing hard. Snowing like cats a'fightin'. You can look out and see the fur flying. Ellen had never been outside while it was actually snowing. She was enchanted. She had to have a bucket of it to carry around. It was in the mid-20s but we took a bit of a walk before coming back in for a nap. The snow is still too dry to be able to make a snowman, it is really powdery. So far we have somewhere between 3 and 4 inches, I would suspect.
Read more

The Blind Calf Story

Image
This happened last month. I thought it was an interesting case. Wed Aug 15th 2007 8:30 AM: Went out and brought new heifer calf and cow in from field. Not too sure how old calf was; umbilical cord sort of dried up, but calf still seemed damp. Left her with cow all morning ‘til maybe early afternoon, then separated them. Beautiful, normal calf. 6 PM Fed calf bottle. She slugged back the whole thing. Thurs Aug 16th5:15 AM (approx) Calf comatose. Or as near as I could tell. She was on her side, non-responsive, drooling, head on ground, eyes closed or just barely opened. I tried to feed her bottle but she only swallowed convulsively once or twice, then milk just drained from her mouth. 5:30 AM. Husband went out and looked at her. Drug her out of pen and out of the way to be taken to boneyard later after chores were all done. She was barely breathing and as I said, totally non-responsive.This was a real grief as the cow she came from is a great milker and to get a heifer from her was a joy....
Read more