Moving Bubba

The story of our lives: we have been really busy. Recently with the cold snap our lives have revolved around getting chores done, hauling firewood and staying warm. Last week the newest member of our Dexter Cattle herd was delivered, a 15 month old- born Oct 2007, black, dexter heifer, we named Autumn; we will have pictures of her on soon.

This week we borrowed a trailer to move Bubba our Angus Beef steer, to the neighbors farm where he finish growing out until butcher time. The story with Bubba: he was abandonded by his mom, and adopted by one of our dexter cows("Sassy Sally") that had a calf die. They are very attached to one another, he has been impossible to wean, he now towers over her by about 6-8 inches and is 9 months old and still trying suck off mom. We have to wean him, because his mom "Sassy Sally" is carrying a calf to be born this spring, the calf needs the nutrients to grow. He was tough to catch, we ran him into the barn, and then he entered the trailer easily, and unloaded at the Sayres easily. Pulling the full size stock trailer with a Toyota 4 cylinder truck in the snow is another story, LOL. Pictures following of: Farmer Jay and his new farvorite boots (can you tell he is mine?) and moving Bubba following.

Hay Day

This winter we have been feeding a combination of round bales of hay- available to cows all the time and small square bales- which we feed at night. The small square bales are of higher quality ( higher protein) and have been stored inside. This is one of my neighbors tractors, for green and yellow it gets the job done somewhat well. We also went to look at cows this weekend and have decided to purchase one- a yearling heifer, the other two- 2 y.o. cow and yearling bull are headed to the Sanders Farm, another local couple.

Goals for 2009

Goals in 2008: Cows, Barn, Clear fence rows, Wood Stove, Larger garden, More canning. As you may know from my posts some of these were completed and others went by the way side. Farm Goals for 2009 Include:

1. Have fun, enjoy family and seasons more!- I want to spend more time with Cayla and Jay enjoying our farm the outdoors (camping, fishing, bon fires, hiking) and mother natures seasons. I will hopefully be back down to one job; one or the other, 2 is too much, as working two at between 64 and 90 hours per week is alot to be gone: 3 out of 6 nights; even if some of those hours are night time with a chance at sleep; I'm still away from home.

2. Firewood Shed & Firewood- Tarps over firewood suck, they leak, they're a hassle, not to mention the wood shed will be multi-purpose, used for storing misc. including our lawn mower which will make more room in the garage. The shed will be 20 feet wide and 12 feet deep, a lean to off the back of our current garage. We have the lumber and metal to complete the shed when the weather breaks. We had to buy some firewood this year, we learned our lesson and will be more prepared for next winter, HAHAHA!

3. Cow Shed on Barn- The shed we currently use, was not intended for cows but instead hay. Our "Barn"- originally a 24ft x 6ft corn crib, now with a 12 ft deep x 24 ft long lean-to off the North West side making it 24 ft x 18 ft, and soon to be a South East facing- south sloping shed- intended for cows, size to be figured out still.

4. Expand Cow Herd- We want to buy at least a single registered Dexter cow to breed to our bull so we can possibly sell registered calves.

5. Fence- We have cleared most of the pasture and fence rows of brush and old debris, we have also started our permanent fencing. This fencing needs to be completed, some is barbed wire- 4 strand at perimeter and 3 strand in the woods, rest is woven wire. Hopefully electric fence wont have to be moved as much to rotational graze our cows this year with some permanent fence in place.

6. Pig House & Pens- I want to set up a movable pig pen, with a permanent shelter on skids that can be moved with a tractor.

7. Chickens- Keep a small flock for eggs, hopefully the raccoons wont get this flock we are better guarded now, with a closing and locking coop. We just got a dozen or so Rhode Island Red laying hens last month, they lay great brown eggs. Picture of one above.

8. Flooring for sun room- As my wife would tell you we need a solution, some type of easy clean flooring for our sun room, which for now has carpet. It is constantly dirty, being our main entrance into the house, this is where we hang our coats and take boots off. The dogs also stay in here when were gone, so dog hair is also a problem but only secondary to mud.

9. Garage Door- Our garage door was damaged prior to our ownership then fixed, a horrible wind storm then re damaged it beyond fixing. It is functional but only by hand, and its a timely process. I would like for Cayla to be able to park inside during in climate weather.

10. Garden & Canning- Larger than last year and hopefully better tended, as last year we had a moderate production garden due to ground conditions, mainly ground not prepared we enough, this ground had not been garden before and our tiller was no match, it will be bottom plowed then tilled this year. We want to can alot more off this garden, to store for winter, as we canned very little last year.

Have fun. Please leave comments or ideas, thanks.