The Ups and Downs of a Farm

   Last week was a stressful week for me. When I went out to the barn last Tuesday morning for morning chores I was greeted by one of our silver laced Wyandotte chickens savagely killed. Feathers were all over the ground and her head was totally gone. This is nothing anyone wants to see at 6 a.m. to start their day. She was one of our young chickens who was being kept in a large dog crate with her little flock at night, because they haven't yet learned to go into the chicken coop with the older chickens at sunset. Whatever got her tried to pull her through the spaces of the wire cage, pretty successfully. The rest of these little chickens are now living in the chicken coop with the big chickens at night courtesy of me chasing them and personally putting them in the coop each night. What a workout! I hope they get the idea of going in on their own soon.
   To further add to my stress Annabelle, our then 2 week old calf, needed to be dehorned. A job I hate. All dairy calves should be dehorned so as not to injure themselves by getting their horns caught on something, injuring other animals on the farm, and especially their handlers. Although a simple process if done at a very early age ( it involves shaving a spot where you can feel the horn buds coming in and then applying a caustic paste to the area the size of a quarter) it does really burn the poor calf for about an hour after applying the paste. After that they forget about it and the result is no horns. Annabelle was a wonderful patient with hardly any complaints. She held up better than I did. I actually didn't sleep well the night before, anticipating the deed. How silly!
   This week seems to be going much better, all the animals are happy and healthy. The gardens are doing beautifully with sunny days and weekly rain showers. We have even enjoyed our first beets and are still picking strawberries. The cut flowers are abundant, with different varieties coming on each week. Homegrown rewards for all the hard work of gardening!

At 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. Annabelle drinks one 1/2 gallon bottle of raw milk from a local farm

And oh how she loves that bottle of milk

She also loves grass and clover

Our new barn star