Sunlight dancing across heavy dew laden fields. Sprigs of green dotting the hills and trees. Song birds a-singin'. All signs of new life and a new Spring season on the farm. Personally, Spring is probably my favorite season, even with all of the rain it brings, because.....it's not SNOW! It’s so fun to watch the rushed and bitter cold winter days of chores change to lingering by the fences, watching the cattle a little longer, & enjoying the sunrises. Something is always stirring in the air during the spring as there is so much to get ready for. One big project we were able to complete this Spring, was laying concrete in our loading corrals and chutes. No more trying to load cattle in a foot of mud! This will create a quicker and easier process, for both the people and livestock. I would even venture to say the wives of a few certain farmers will be happy for this change as well, because maybe, just maybe there will be a few less mud splatters to stain stick come laundry day. 😊 I had the opportunity of rising early to catch the concrete pouring process. It was fascinating and I was surprised by how quickly R&M Concrete was able to get it done!
Along with new projects being completed, there is the newness of life in the Spring that comes in the form of 4 wobbly legs and soft sweet noses. So far our count is at 5 new calves, and all perfectly healthy! During the thick of calving season, we try to ride through the farm each day to keep an eye out for soon to be new or new calves. It’s important for us to vaccinate each calf when they're born, so they can get a jump start on a healthy life. We also ear tag them with a number that corresponds with their Mama, so we always know who belongs to who. This also helps our year to year records in that we know which cows had bigger calves, healthy calves, easy births, and so forth. We always hope each calf is taken good care of by their mama, but if not, there are plenty of willing hands ready to bottle feed if necessary. Calving time has just begun, so be sure to check back in later this Spring to see how our calves are doing as we head into Summer!
