Trixie Finally Had Her Calf

Monday, October 26, 2020
Hello friends,
              The calendar clearly says fall, but outside it is definitely winter!  We have sleet, snow, rain, freezing rain, and what else is there???  No hail.  I brought out all the warm clothes for chores:  insulated boots, long johns, wool socks, heavy gloves, coat with hood, umm, basically everything except the coveralls.  Bill put out hay for the cows, and they dug into it!  We covered the chicken tractor with a shade cloth to give them more shelter, and put some boards inside for them to climb on.  Snow/sleet is covering the cloth, making more insulation.  The compressor fan for the bulk tank froze up so Bill had to climb up on the cheese cave berm and pour hot water on it to free it from the frozen rain.  Then he put the cover on it.  Yeah, we forgot that yesterday.  Now the cows have fresh straw in the loafing shed so they have a dry place to hang out, and hay to warm their bellies.  Leftover soup for us!
              Trixie FINALLY had that calf!  Yesterday morning marked 9 days overdue, but she acted like it was right on time!  Thankfully, we didn’t have to worry about her calving out in this nasty weather.  She had no problem with her medium sized male calf.  I was worried that the calf was going to keep getting bigger and bigger, the longer past her due date she went.  Now all the calves have been born for this year.  Next up is February…..