: Life on the farm

Life on the farm

Been awhile since the last update! The cows had a nice summer, grazing and just being cows. We purchased a new hay tedder and bale wrapper, along with a Gator for farm projects! It’s always good to keep making improvements. We bought some straw bales for bedding, and also got a cattle trailer so we can save on trucking when we take cows to the vet for AI. No calves this year because they didn’t get pregnant the first time and we just waited for this year to try it again. Lucky that this time it worked and we are expecting calves this Spring. Our herd is growing!

Last August, Dusty and Camila drove home from California for 2 weeks! It was wonderful to have them home so long! They chose to drive because it is much safer than flying during the pandemic. We spent a lot of great family time together- including pontoon rides on the new pontoon we bought when they were here! And we made plans to host a wedding reception for them on July 31, 2021. So awesome to see the newlyweds!

Wintering was easy this year- the shed kept them out of the snow and wind and it was easy for us to feed and water them inside. A good decision!

Phase one of our Fall Plan: We had a concrete slab poured outside our pole shed for the cows to feed this winter. Now we move to the inside of the shed to prepare the base, add cattle panels and then figure out the watering system. Hope the weather holds out a little longer this Fall! We are so excited about our plans!

Showing off the Wagyu to Dusty and Camila!

Taro, another bull calf, arrived September 9th! His mom, #229 Machiko did a great job. Nice to have calves in the pasture again! Masaki is gonna love to have a buddy to hang with!

Late Summer pastures are still being enjoyed! Cows are very content and Masaki is getting used to his legs!

Masaki is born August 22nd

A healthy bull calf born to #223. All is well on the farm!

Farm Visit

Our niece and family from LA visited us in early August! They are the ones that Dusty is staying with- he is house sitting for them while they are here. The kids got to visit the cows! Fun to have them here!

First hay crop

We finally got a break from the rain to get our hay baled. It was a hot humid day, but the hay dried fast. A perfect day for haying! So now we feel better about having a backup if the pastures don’t last. The cows are happy now that they can eat green grasses!

2019- year of the Wagyu

Machiko and Mitsu arrived June 9th at our farm. They look great and fit right in with the Angus herd. They look fat! Guess they have been eating good! Both are due in August and we are looking forward to some Wagyu babies!

2019 Spring cleanup

Our 3 sided cattle shed’s roof collapsed this winter from the heavy snows. We had to clean it up and set if back up. And, we are working on paddocks to do a better job of rotational grazing this year.

2019 Winter

This winter was one of the worst ones we’ve had! Not only record snow amount, but record cold temps! Luckily, we sold almost half of our herd in January to a good friend who wanted to start a beef herd. We were running out of hay and decided to sell rather than spend alot of money on hay. It worked out great for all of us! The cows made it through ok and we have another winter in the books!

Fall Projects- adding a gate near cattle handling area, “Cow Day” went well- have 10 pregnant cows and winterizing the water system- work in progress! In December we put the calves in the coral for weaning. That worked very well! Except we had to carry water to them. But, it was only for about 3 weeks in December!

Haying on our leased land

Summer pastures

June 2018 greens up!

Angus Calves 2018 Akira (#003), a heifer and a bull calf “Rocky” (#19) came June 17

At first we thought Akira was Wagyu, but realized later she was Angus!

And on June 20th came Lilly (#18), a heifer, and Reggie (#20), another bull calf

On July 6 came another Angus heifer- Blue (#21)

Wagyu Calves May- Fumiko (#001) and Sachi (#002)

Spring equals mud!

2018 begins…. and it’s COLD!

2014-2017:

There’s always work to do on a farm! We are looking forward to another year, building our herd and making improvements. Check back for updates on what’s happening down on the farm…

“NEW” HAYBINE

Delivered in April 2015! Should make Craig’s life a little easier this summer! Planning on planting a new hayfield this Spring so we can make more hay for our growing herd.

First 2015 Spring Calf- “Harriet Potter”

Baby Harriet was born on Saturday, April 25th, 2015. She is a beauty! Crazy sideways question mark on her forehead- reminds me of Harry Potter- hence the name! Mama Brownie is taking care of her and the rest of the herd is mighty curious!

Second Calf- “Pearl”

This little cutie was born May 2, 2015. Named her Black Pearl- or just Pearl. Growing like a weed already!

Spring has sprung! Got some much needed rain and the pastures are growing fast. Also planted a hayfield and that’s starting to green up too.

Third time is the charm- got our little bull calf on Friday, May 8, 2015! He is our future! Meet Manney!

Cows are out to pasture on May 14, 2015 (our 38th wedding anniversary!)

FIRST HAY CROP

Chickens on the farm!

As you may have read on my June 2nd blog, our niece Beth and her husband Nick put chickens out in the pasture. They are in moveable pens that are moved every day to a new spot. The chickens enjoy the tasty “leftovers” from the cows and also help with fly control. Cool project!

Summer Begins!

Living in a camper on the farm after our house fire in June 2015. New house and garage construction started in mid-September.

October Colors!

Vet Visit. Had cattle de-wormed for the winter. Picked a muddy day!

Started building Cow Shed… hope weather holds a little longer!

Too late to add steel, and the cold is moving in. Decided to tarp it. We moved into the new house Feb 12, 2016- finally!!

Spring 2016

We named the new bull calf “Skully” because his face is so white it looks like a skull! He was born in April, 2016

Our house is almost done! Just a few details and landscaping to finish this Spring

Memorial Day Weekend 2016- fencing and 2nd calf born- a heifer! We call her “Jersey Girl”

Summer 2016

Fall 2016: Installed new cattle shoot and roofed the 3 sided shed!

Winter 2016-17

Spring 2017

Beau, wasn’t even a day old when he got into trouble! He somehow got on the other side of the fence, and it took about 20 minutes to get him to go back under the fence while I held it up for him! Poor little guy! Mamma wasn’t too happy either!