Weaned!

The bottle calf (aka booger butt, kiddo, butthead and many more loving nicknames) is finally weaned! Yeah for me! No more messing with the dang bottle every morning! He was born September 2 - so he is about 3 months old now. He'd probably make a good butcher calf if anyone is interested? I complain, but he has been a fun project. Really, he almost like a pet to me. If you scratch his backside, he squirms around toward you like a dog would! He nuzzles me and he's cute for about a half a second - just as long as you are prepared to dodge the headbutt because it will come if you spend too much time in the pen with him! These pics are a few weeks old now, but the latest I've got...

Biggest Buck Yet

Jarrod tried his hand at bowhunting this year. He enjoyed the new style but never got in a position to get a buck using the bow this first go-round. But opening day of rifle season came along and he found the biggest buck he's got so far. The weather was miserable again this year on opening day. I personally don't understand how it's fun to sit and shiver your ass off waiting maybe for something to come along. But it makes him happy hunting deer so I do my best to encourage him and not roll my eyes too much when I've heard the umpteenth deer hunting story. His eyes sparkle when he tells the stories. If only he put so much effort into pursuing me - then we might have something in common to talk about! ;-)

November Skies

I have noticed lately a change in the colors of the landscape in central Kansas. When I am driving, the distant hills have a subtle purple tone and the fields are all different shades of greens, red, and tans...sorta like a country quilt. I have been wanting to take the camera out again, but my free time during daylight hours has been limited, although the light has been favorable for good chunks of the day lately. We moved our cows home for the winter on Saturday and helped uncle John move his cows on Sunday. I took the camera along and was able to steal a few minutes to capture the clear blue sky and the landscapes as best I could. The sunset even cooperated...the horizon was ablaze with color at precisely the same time I had nothing to do but admire it. The moon must have been in the perfect phase this weekend because the cow moving went the best it ever has and the photos...well you'll see what I mean about the colors!

The Bottle Baby's Growin'

At the beginning of September we had a cow have twins. She claimed one calf and didn't want anything to do with the other. Which happens sometimes, and even when she claims them both, a lot of times she just doesn't physically have the milk to support both calves. So I became a momma to one of the twins.

The first picture I took of him on the second day he was alive only shows his wee wittle head. Nothing in the picture to indicate his true size (maybe 75 lbs max - probably more like 60 lbs). He had a cute black mark on his head shaped like a heart.

















We've been feeding him a bottle of warm milk replacer twice a day now for almost 8 weeks. He has started eating protein pellets consistently (maybe a couple lbs per day in 2 different eatings) and likes alfalfa eventhough he hasn't had much of anything in the way of grass or traditional feed so far.

Here is a picture at about 4 weeks:

And now he has grown considerably. It's hard to say what he weighs now. A LOT more than the 60 lbs he started at! He's had a bad habit of ramming his head into my backside if I take the bottle away from him when its empty. I'm much better off to let him continue to try and suck air out of it while I'm making sure he has pellets and fresh water. We will be trying to wean him off the milk and onto grass and pellets here in the next few weeks. We'll see how that goes...then maybe my bruises can have a break when he stops looking to me for his dinner (how many times do I have to tell you I don't have an udder)!

Talkin' Turkey

There is a flock of turkeys that lives in the area near our small pasture/winter lot. Since I've been feeding my bottle calf twice a day, I have an almost daily adventure with the turkeys. They are pretty comfortable with me so long as I don't make any loud noises or move too quickly. I got gobbled at one morning when a couple acorns fell out of the tree the same time I tried to open the gate! I took my camera with me one evening and laid down in the yard and took pictures as the turkeys did their usual rounds.

Calves are growing...

Well we've had the same ten calves for about a month now. Had a new one just this morning in front of the front that came through. Expecting a few more yet before we're done with our fall calving season. Here are a few pics of the curious little boogers that are growing well!

Lil' Squirts & Tall Drinks

3 babies now (and some bugs too)

Spent a lot of time in the pastures this week...still only 3 babies. One of these days we're gonna head out to the country after work and find all the cows calved on the same day! It rained this morning, so Jarrod and I checked cows together tonight. I got to take the camera along since I didn't have to drive! As much as I enjoy the chore of carting the 4-wheeler around to the pastures when we are calving - loading and unloading it and driving it - I do like to sit back and just enjoy the scenery and let Jarrod do all the work sometimes! Here is a picture of each new baby calf!

p.s. To my friend who takes the bug close-ups - I tried tonight - but I don't think I did as good as you! I did see the biggest nastiest hornet up close that I've ever seen in my life. And I don't know what kind of bugs are screwing in the other picture but I thought it was funny to catch them making baby bugs on camera!

Pictures of everything BUT the new baby calf

We had our second baby tonight - at dark - about 2 mins before the rain came pouring down. Thanks to my honed 4-wheeler racing skills, we made it back to the truck JUST before we would have been soaked! I think I ate 10 lbs of brome grass seed in my rush to keep from getting wet! It was a fun adventure and it was nice to witness a successful birth for once, instead of always only seeing the ones that need assistance. Dark chocolate (might turn out to be red) baldy baby was up and found some milk while we were there. Twinmaker didn't make twins this year. I didn't get any good pictures of the new baby, but I got pictures of other wildlife tonight.