We had a fun weekend with Granny and Grandpa Steed. The calves are coming in full force and we are half way done, so Grandpa came down to have some fun. (he came to give Ryan some help, which was most appreciated) We were all out there milking cows and bottling cows and helping cows stand up. It was a beautiful day, no wind. The calving season started out with some unexplained losses which isn't very fun. We have had three sets of twins (only two sets survived) so with the loss of some other calves, we tried to graft each twin to a new mother (they used the skin method, I won't go into details). It seems to be sort of working. My kids think twins are so fun and that it would be so exciting to bottle feed them, but I think it would be even better if we didn't have to bottle them and they were accepted by their new mothers. (less work in the long run). Calf number 35 is a very large bull who had to be pulled, unfortunately something went wrong with him and he loss the use of his front legs. So the kids have been bottle feeding him all weekend and nursing him back to health. He eventually regained the use of his front legs and it has been so much fun seeing him gain strength. He doesn't stand for very long but he can stand up now, hopefully he will keep improving. Reuben's favorite thing to do is snuggle the struggling calves, so Ryan will let the Mom's out and he will just lay there with them. It is very sweet.
So last Sunday, it was March 1st and we hadn't had many calves lately. After church the wind started up and we had a crazy blizzard, of course six calves decided to be born that day. Ryan went out after church and he didn't come back in, meanwhile the weather was getting worse. Finally he comes in all covered in snow. He was out there all day actually running around (we presently don't have a truck that will drive in the field) trying to get calves to shelter. At one point he wedged a calf into the tractor, brought it back but then he couldn't get it out of the tractor because its hip was stuck. His Dad and brother came out and helped out with their truck, this was a bit easier to move calves then on foot. It was quite an adventure, Ryan and his red backpack running chasing cows like a crazy man. But they all survived. I have to say it was a rougher calving season this year, we lost more calves. We had six set of twins, I thought that was really weird. Lots didn't survive and no one ended up with two calves, we put them on new mothers and it worked. It was pretty much a crazy few months with calving, basketball and a new baby.
The first calf of the season.
Everyone snuggling the first calf.
Ryan couldn't find the calf bottle so he used Mary's, I guess it worked.
Reuben's favorite thing is to snuggle baby calves.
Ryan found this calf one morning all cozied up in the hay, keeping warm.
Here the ranch hand is. He is equipped with his hockey stick and red back pack. We didn't have a truck that could get into the field, so he walked.
Reuben is teaching baby Mary how to snuggle calf.
The kids tried milking a cow.
Rosie was the big helper. We bottle fed this calf a little and she would bring the milk out in her backpack to her Dad, then feed it. She wanted to do it, of course, by herself. The calf liked her.
Here is one of the last calves born (it was born to a sick mother, who we didn't know was pregnant) It is standing beside a calf, not a Mom.
Branding was a great success. Beautiful day.
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