“A warm spring rain and a new baby calf are always welcome.”
On May 21st, we welcomed a new heifer calf to the farm. Our Jersey cow Daisy, had her around 12pm. We had been at church, and had just gotten back home when I ran to check on them, we just barely missed her birth! We decided to name her ‘Delilah’, and my goodness is she so petite and dainty!
I am always so amazed at the goodness, and miraculousness of God, when one of our cows’ calve. It is truly an experience I hope everyone would get to have, at least once in their lifetime. There are truly no words to to describe it.
With Daisy newly calved, that means she is now back into our daily milking routine. We had a little bit of a rough start, the few days after Delilah made her appearance. Daisies teats were sore, hormones were raging, and she now has a new calf to take care of. So it took about a week for her, and I to get back into our routine. After a week or so, we picked up right where we left off!
I always hear people talk about getting a “Bred heifer” as their first milk cow. But, for me, I would advise against it. If looking for a dairy cow of your own, in my opinion I would get a well – seasoned cow. One that has had two or more calves, and knows what she is doing, and knows what to expect once she has that baby calf. When you have a first time heifer, just know that she has never done this before. She’s never birthed a calf, never felt what it is like to be milked, never had a large amount of post-birth hormones. So, it will likely take some learning, patience, and gentleness on both ends.
With Daisy back in our milking routine, we’ve got an abundance of milk! So I have been making mozzarella cheese, lots of butter, and will be trying to make some yogurt soon.
In other updates:
We’ve got the garden planted!! Which is a huge deal around here. My husband and my father in law, got the garden tilled, and planted within two days. We are getting so excited to harvest tomatoes, cucumbers, green beans, squash, beets, and a few other vegetables.
I have also started something brand new this year a “Cut- flower garden” in which I plan to sell bouquets of flowers! I will post a few other blog posts with a step-by- step of how I made it and what seeds I sowed. It has been so fun to see the beauty of what can grow from a tiny tiny seed. I am learning so much this year, and I cannot wait to teach our daughter and future children to have these new-found skills I have acquired.
And lastly, in some not-so-great news:
A fox got NINE of our chickens!!!! We free range our chickens, so that they can have the best/healthiest life possible, and with doing so, comes some disadvantages. Like a fox prowling around waiting to eat one. We haven’t quite decided on what our next steps will be to protect our girls, and enclose our current coop. We’ve changed the hours that we let them free range, as well as try to be outside with them most of the time they are out and about.
Eventually I would love to get some replacement chickens, although some are irreplaceable. Like one chicken we named Speckles, she was my daughter and I’s most favorite chicken. She loved sitting on my daughters water table in the yard, and sitting on the front porch steps.
We haven’t purchased new chickens yet, but we do have a hen that has decided to be broody! Which basically means she wants to be a mama, so she’s sitting on fertilized eggs for around 21 days until they hatch into baby chicks. I will share updates on that, as I have them.
That just about sums up some farm updates I have been meaning to share for a while. Next up will be a ” homemade coffee creamer” recipe that my husband and I have been loving, we haven’t bought coffee creamer from the grocery store in months! So, be on the look out for that.