The third of our three heifers freshened a couple of nights ago. Lucky and Smarty Pants are done and trained, now we will have to start getting Dolly into the barn and get her used to being milked. I hope she is a dear like Lucky and not a drama queen like Smarty Pants!
Finally got around to taking pics of the new calf today, but they are still not uploaded. Funny, by the time the fifth calf is born, it is getting to be old hat.
We thought we were done with new arrivals until late June, but it looks like Buttercup isn't taking her full two month rest. She freshened in July last year, and I expect her calf to be born well before June 1. Maybe I'm wrong, but she is looking very ready!
But I'm not. I'm exhausted. We are putting in two new pastures, with a total of 12 paddocks in them. This has required planning, meeting with the contractor, picking up materials and taking them to the job site, and making a drawing to fax to the contractor. Time consuming, and hauling around 5-packs of six-foot T-posts is hard work.
Making more paddocks was not optional. We need more fodder for the girls. April was extremely dry, so dry that I had to tell the people who subscribe to my garden produce that their first market basket will be a couple of weeks late. No rain means no grass means less milk and hungry cows. So I'm opening up new frontiers. Off to Middlebury to pick up locust corner posts Sunday. That wood doesn't have to be treated, so it is good for organic farms like mine.
We will put in two large pastures, one divided into four paddocks, the other into eight. So that means a dozen days of rest for our other 18 paddocks, and they really need it - and a good rain. It's threatening right now. I watered, Phyllis washed windows and lit her grill - we've done everything we can to tempt the rain gods to pour it on. Now it is just up to them!
Will try to get the new calf's picture uploaded soon. But tonight I need to crash.
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