2 cows left to calve...

'Freebie' (on top) the feedlot calf that had some exposure to the winter elements when born, her nose has peeled and her ears are starting to curl up...she'll be left with short stubs for ears. This was the calf given to me , hence her name. She ended up surving just fine despite first set backs.

Hereford calves part of this years crop. One above with a 'milk' face ( typical look on each calf ) One day I'll have to catch the calves racing with their tails up....each year an oval trail is plowed for them in the pasture which ends up being their race track of sorts..even their mothers join in with their antics on a feel your oats day.

Sheep...

My old lead ewe ( Border Chev cross ) who is from the first lamb crop here...the last one from that 'era'. The family above are last years lambs with this years dorper x lambs. Top picture is 'Nick' first born or perhaps would be considered last born of the year since he arrived at Xmas.

Pups left on Tues...

A long day this past Tues, made longer by a growing errand list since no one here makes many trips to the city.The list made of things like going to specialty shops which makes custom made hydraulic hoses since finding parts for the Kabota tractor with offsized metric parts a hard find where a person would typically find stocked on the shelf...came up empty on that one.

Started the day at 0430 as I hate being late for any appts and figured I had an hours grace for glitches on the way....my intentions
started out good but ended up with missing turns ( could it be because there was too much visiting with the person riding shotgun )
which resulted in being pressed for time as each stop had their own delays...and another missed turn off ( gabbing again ?)

Sent off a Derby love package to the States and hopefully the timing is right for the receiving end..then dash across the city to the
next clinic visit for pups for eye exams...all clear. Met one pup's wonderful owners who agreed to take back a 2nd pup with them since
it's now become difficult to fly dogs out of Canada ( printer bomb scare has changed a few regulations ) so 2 pups packaged up to fly to
California ( which ended up with flight cancellation until the next day )

On the way out of the city met up with Lucy's new owner who flew in from Ontario...Lucy bonded instantly with Larry and was his girl from the get go. I love it when that happens.

No lambs or calves born while gone. Tucked in to bed by 2315 ....house very quiet without the 'girls'.

This wk spent trying to catch up ( ...is there such a thing ?) laundry ( home and grooming shop ), house cleaning...since more time has been spent cleaning the barn than the house.
Catching up on paperwork, a few priorities emails dealt with first, still on the hunt for the offsize metric end of a hydraulic hose

Crosby

Thanks Lynde & Bob for sending a nice head shot of Crosby. Love that soft look in his face.

More gifts...

Nothing like getting the flu bug to put a person out of commission for a few days. The weather is balmy 'for here' ...finally.
Pups fly out on Tuesday...have had several baths/nail trims as well a few outings to the building. They love the freedom of the entire upper floor , new toys at the building make for many a game of 'keep away' .
Vet check with health certificates & tattoo'ed on Friday. Vet commenting on what a nice job the docks were...which lead into more docking conversations.
Wild cat population thinned down here ( caught in a dog crate 'trap' ) and given away to someone wanting cats for mouse hunting in their barn ) think we had over 20...made sure a tom cat or two went with the 'gift' of cats...
No more lambs. 3 cows left to go.

Tired of the weather....grumble , grumble

Gosh a little sunshine today only to be followed by another spike down in temps :(
http://www.theweathernetwork.com/fourteenday/caab0248

Thanks Candice!

He's growing up from last summer...1st birthday in one wk!

'Kaiser shares our passion for hiking and snowshoeing and patiently waits at the door whenever we pack our backpacks up to head to the mountains.'

The girls...more end of the wk

More Snow....

Down to 4 cows to calve and 5 ewes to lamb....
Finally got a few back outside...keeping in the barn makes a ton of work cleaning/scraping and hauling away. Esp when the manure spreader ended up breaking from sitting from a full load that froze down good....couresy of the tractor breaking down 'before' it could be emptied...love those domino effects that keep creating yet more work :)
Derby's girlfriend safely returned to her owner and with good luck pups arriving in March.
Quade helping to move the new lambs and moms to the outside pen...takes more than a little finese and patience to move moms on the fight to protect their babes and a dog not getting into a confrontation from the get go....got 'er done with out much incident.
Pups date set for thursday for photo session, tattoo and Vet visit/vaccinations...just might get some decent table stacked shots
this time around with a puppy wrangler. For anyone looking for updated puppy photos check back on Friday due to the time it takes to download / process RAW files.

The big deep freeze...

Will be glad to hit the sack when I can....came off nites this am with one set of chores ( morning ) blending in with the afternoon ones.
Yesterday met up with Shea's owner on the road to switch dogs ( Derby has a girlfriend visiting ) ...the recent storm throwing a kibosh
in the original plans meeting several days ago...so the progesterone test on Monday indicated we were getting into a time crunch.
Calves and lambs born prior to leaving and came home to more babies to deal with along with chores before running out the door to work.
Barn is crowded now with all pens filled. My little black orphan calf going great guns on the bottle ...infact 'she' is a royal pest now to work
around in the barn. Right now she has a space created in the pen of square bales for her to keep out of harms way.
A couple of ewes w/lambs in one pen with cow/calves in the other free pens. Was able to kick out one pair today....just have to keep pushing the calf into the calf shelter until he realizes it's a nicer place to get out of the elements.
Parts for the tractors not here yet...the weather man is right about more snow on the way...it's starting up again. Havent caught up on the last
heavy snow fall...cattle feed bunks , gates, sheep feeder need snow removal (again ) Bedding and rolling feed needs to be done in next few days.
Hose snapped off the diesel tank used for filling the diesel heaters in the barn...has happened before when it gets this cold. Cold weather creates
additional problems to deal with....there is always something.
.... 6 cows left to calve.

Three day storm...

Just finished up with a three day prairie storm with another one on it's tail in a few days...then we drop into a big deep freeze of that 40 below stuff.
Storms translates to living outside ensuring all livestock are well bedded and fed as they dont lie normally lie down in a storm until really tired of standing bucking the wind/snow...nor do they seek out feed and eat....so a person beds, knowing they'll need to re-bed again the next day. We used up some old hay bales for their beds this time around. Gates are shoveled out only to be reshoveled a few hours later.
Both tractors are down with various problems. Glad the snow blower on the one tractor did the majority of the grunt work past few days before the drive shaft went.
On top of the added chore work/calving, was milking the cow that lost her set of twins until we found a replacement calf from a feedlot...then grafting takes several days for mom to take a new baby. Thank goodness for good moms as it didnt take long, just takes up time to supervise. Someone gave me a little black newborn calf from a different feedlot, this one ended up with some exposure ( feet, nose...going to lose parts of her ears ) before coming here, so will see what I can do with her. Not easy when they get behind the '8 ball'. Jury is still out on her survival, I'm not having much luck with bottle feeding.
Trying to get Shea back home with all this crappy weather. What a super nice temperament he has. Great job Laurie , he's an easy dog to live with !
Pups getting into the usual puppy stuff. Love to play in their water, drag anything around be it chore boots, dog dishes, toys....walking through the kitchen is guaranteed in having at least one pup hanging on to the side of your pants only to be joined by a sibling(s).
No more lambs but have ewes bagging up. The first one doing well with the flock.
Around the clock pen checks catching up to everyone as they lose sleep, suppers ate late in the evening, I'm always glad when spring hits. As much as I grumble about winter calving and the extra work...so glad we are done once march hits when it's cold and wet with snow & rain with mud.

5 wks old

Bathed and outside for really quick photo session. First time seeing snow

or being outside.

Gifts...

Picture taken on the 31st of a rainbow seen one morning when checking pens. One of those cold days where the snow has a hard crunch and a wind chill to go along with it. Lost a set of twins several days ago, every one in a somber mood as we rarely lose a calf since we literally seem to live with the herd with around the clock pen checks added to the chorework of feeding / bedding etc. A malpresentation with the twins and cell messages not received in a timely manner when I felt something was 'off'. Farm visit from the Vet to deliver them as unable to get the head into place.
So have been milking the cow for past several days in hopes of finding a spare calf somewheres....not many people winter calve. Cats come
out of the woodwork in the barn when they hear the first few pings of milk hitting the bucket.
Some of the kids able to come home this wkend to make it 'our Xmas' with the last of the gift opening. Weather turned out nice. 3 yr. old grandson Cohen a big help with making deserts as well socializing the puppies. They got along just great, kitchen was strewn with puppy toys from one end to the other...play sessions ending with the pups all piled asleep in his lap much to his great pleasure. A visit to the barn to see the new calf as well to the sheep pen and see 'Nick' the lamb.
Something pretty special when you watch a young person interact with baby animals and the natural gentle care towards them.
Children learn so much about life in general given a chance to share their lives with a companion.
That gift is priceless.