I've been anxiously awaiting the birth of our calves for about a month. I expected them in March, and the first one just arrived today. While I was beginning to doubt that my cows would ever have a baby, the wait time did give me time to think through my milking routine for this … [Read more...]
Six Reasons I Love On Farm Slaughtering
Yesterday was butcher day! Our two steers have lived a wonderful life of eating hay and munching pastures. But alas, our grass is dead and hay is expensive. The steers kept getting out. These cows were meant to be food, not pets, so butchering had to happen. As I … [Read more...]
When Cows Escape: 5 Tips for Bringing Them Home
"The cows are in the yard Mommy!" Ugh. The cows escape too often this time of year, as they adjust to eating hay and not wonderfully fresh green grass. They are supposed to be in our large holding pen, awaiting butchering later this month. They've escaped so often … [Read more...]
When the Pasture Dries Up
The pasture is turning brown early this year. Almost a full month before normal, the green grasses now look like this: The pasture still has length--just not color! There is one section of grass left for the cows. This remaining section is close to the creek … [Read more...]
Once a Day Milking…2015
My plan way back in March was to immediately milk all but one cow once a day. You know what they say about plans... When I went to get Epi for the afternoon milking that first day, I notice Annie was dripping milk. I couldn't leave her like that, so I brought her into the barn … [Read more...]
Taming a Kicking Milk Cow
Look at this: To you, it might just be a cow in a stanchion. But to me? It's my kicking cow without restraints, waiting patiently to be milked. Annie has come a long way in the past several weeks. Here are a few things that were crucial to … [Read more...]
Milk!
After having limited milk consumption since drying up the cows last November, we are once again enjoying an abundance of milk! What did we do with the first milk we kept?Made a gallon of chocolate milk and let the kids have more than one glass... Started another … [Read more...]