Month: February 2021

It’s the big one, folks! The news I have been waiting to share! Last night beautiful Charlotte had her calf! What an incredible experience. This whole time there have been two cows here and they have been so much fun to get to know. We knew Charlotte was expecting a calf, but we couldn’t see it and we had never had cows before, so it all seemed unreal. But now the little darling is here and both mom and baby are doing well.

Naturally, the big event started without me. I was thirty minutes away from ending my shift at the part-time job I work in town and my husband was tending to the farm chores in my absence. I got the text…. “Birth!!! Can’t talk!!!”. I couldn’t believe it. Did I mention, years ago, our chickens laid their first egg while I was away and Marcus was home? It’s a thing. Nonetheless, I was thrilled to hear the news and rushed myself home as quickly as I could. About 40 minutes later I huffed and puffed as I ran through the pasture to the barn and arrived just in time to see a fresh, steaming calf laying on the ground taking those first few breaths. I had missed the actual birth by about thirty seconds, but most importantly, everyone looked okay when I arrived , so what more could I ask for?

Standing by, watching this brand new little cow experience the world for the very first time, were my husband and our neighbor down the road. Just the night before we had been at his farm watching one of his goats have two brand new kids, so when my husband saw the moment was upon us, he put a call in to Jeff.
So, the story goes, Marcus went to go put out a fresh bale of hay for the horses and just happened to think he should peek at the cows while he was out. As he approached the barn he heard first one moo, and then another. Uh, oh! Sure enough, when he looked in, there were some hooves starting to appear below Charlotte’s tail! The problem was, so far there was no sign of a snout. From what we had learned so far, that could mean one of three things. The snout hadn’t come out yet, the calf was backward, or its head was turned. Neither of the last two are good things, so after sending me his initial text, Marcus made his calls for help.

Bu the time backup had arrived, the snout had appear and things were looking good, but Charlotte had already been pushing for about half an hour, so Jeff said it was time to pull the calf. That’s right. Pull. I am now counting this as Marcus’s official farmer initiation. You don’t get much more “in it” than a good ole calf pull. So, Jeff and Marcus tied a rope to that baby and set to help with arrival. It turns out what you don’t want is for the sac to break, because once it does, you have to move. Time is of the essence. What do you think happened on the first tug? The sac broke. Yep. So they hustled and pulled that baby out! Flop! That baby cow hit the ground and huff and puff, I arrived.

Everything was pretty tense when I ran up. I’m sure Jeff was calm as can be, having done this a hundred times, but to Marcus and I, it looked like the calf wasn’t breathing. How long was it supposed to take for those first breaths to come? Charlotte was standing still facing away, undoubtedly exhausted. We could see the pulsing of the tiny heartbeat beneath the new baby’s black fur. Jeff said, “Ya got some towels? You can start rubbing on it and get it’s blood moving.” Thank the Lord for someone with experience. Sure enough, we started rubbing that little cow and it started moving, which seemed to prompt Charlotte to snap into action. She turned and started licking the little steaming blob of a calf. And here it is folks, the big reveal. I lifted the little wet tail and confirmed we had a little bull on our hands!
About then, as Charlotte licked, her little boy took his first real good breaths and we all relaxed a bit. Things were all coming together. Now, we had dreamed of having a cow long before we had our farm. We had actually picked out our cow’s name before we ever had an animal to attach it to. When we got Charlotte and Rosie, they were already named, so our chosen name would go to the calf when he arrived. Well, the time had come and we christened the little bull, Bundle.

For the next four hours, we all stood around staring at little Bundle. Charlotte was wonderful about letting us be near. She kept a watchful eye and didn’t let little Bundle out of her sight, but as long as we moved slow and respectfully, she didn’t mind us letting him or her.
It took about an hour for Bundle to fully figure out his legs and get those first, real solid steps. He would stand and wobble and plop back down. But being no quitter, he would try again, until finally he seemed to start getting control of those lanky limbs. Unfortunately, once Bundle started to move around Rosie our heifer, found him to be VERY interesting and wanted to play. So we had to put the poor playful girl out to make sure she didn’t accidentally injure the baby.

The last milestone you have to hit to ensure the calf’s health is on track, is to make sure he knows how to feed. The good news was, Bundle seemed plenty motivated, he just needed some time to get it right. We watched for another few hours as he stumbled around investigating his world, and trying to figure out where exactly milk would come from. He started out licking his mom’s face. Nope, not it. He tried her leg. Not that either. But eventually, much to our joy, he got it right. It was then we knew he was going to be just great. Bundle was walking around, eating and looking full of life. So, after watching just a bit more because we could hardly tear ourselves away, we finally turned in for the night and let Charlotte and Bundle enjoy some time alone.

This morning, I was a little nervous going out to the barn to check how he did overnight. That little calf was just cute as could be and bouncing around like he was just pleased as could be.

That was without a doubt an incredible experience and quite possibly one of our biggest farm adventures so far. I am thankful the Lord surrounded us with some wonderful, helpful and experienced people and put Marcus in the right place at just the right moment and allowed us to have this unique farm experience. It was amazing. What a day!

Thanks for checking in and come back for more updates on out newest member! Have a beautiful day!

Hello, February! About the time I start hearing people talk about how mild the winter has been this year, is also about the time when we usually receive the coldest blast yet. No straying from the formula this year. These last few days, I have heard stories of some beautiful snows in nearby areas. Thick, fluffy drifts that are just perfect for snow angels and snowball fights. Not here. It seems, we have been designated as the ice zone. No snowball fights here. Not unless you intend to actually kill your opponent, which I do not recommend.

However, while we may not be sledding over powdery drifts here at Gentle Breeze Farm, we certainly aren’t being left out of the magic. From yesterday afternoon through the night, we received a steady stream of freezing rain and this morning when I stepped out the doors, everything I laid eyes on, was covered in a smooth, glassy shell. As I stood there in the morning quiet, as the sky was just starting to lighten, I could hear the trees crackling as the breeze worked its way through their crystalized limbs. A rare and beautiful occasion.

When things really started to come down yesterday, I wanted to go check on the horses and just make sure they were handling it all okay. Two out of three have well adapted, curly, winter coats and I really don’t worry about them. But the third and newest member of our herd is a little different. A little less hardy perhaps, and coming back from a few injuries. Mostly, I wanted to see with my own eyes that he knew there was a shelter present and stocked with fresh hay. My intention was to catch Toby and walk him to the shelter for good measure. Whether he stayed there or not, was up to him, but at least I would know he had experienced the lack of ice pelting him as he stood in it, and the existence of dry hay. I don’t know what it is, but something about the cold weather and the blowing wind, has a way of making horses extra goofy. At least mine. Smokey, my biggest and certainly goofiest horse, was feeling downright wild. As soon as I would get near Toby, Smokey felt the need to chase him off. I spent over an hour out there chasing those beasts. In the end, I determined I would catch the trouble maker and lead him to the shelter, with the expectation that the other horses would follow us. When it came down to it, I led Smokey all the way up, only to find the other hoses hadn’t followed a single step and seemed not to care one bit that Smokey had left the bunch(something I am sure he is in denial about). When I finally trudged back into my house, all I can really say I accomplished was a good bit of cardio and a new hairstyle, I like to call “the icicle”. Even so, I can say I am glad for the experience as a whole. Being able to look back on that ordeal as one of the things I can say I have done, is totally worth it. Of course this morning, I had to go straight out and confirm everyone survived the night. And as you might have guessed, they were all just fine. The Lord took perfectly good care of them without my meddling.

My morning horse check, also yielded some unexpected fun. I found a set of coyote tracks along my walk and when I looked up ahead, there was the animal itself. I had the rare opportunity to follow it a while and be able to see it clearly up ahead in the distance before it realized I was there. Eventually, it caught sight of me and made haste to the nearest stand of trees. One icy morning I won’t soon forget.

Wherever you are, I hope you stay warm and cozy and safe, but bundle up now and again to take in the magic of this frigid, winter world.