The Continued Story of Hope

     To relate the next part of Hope's tale, I must leave her and go to our cow herd where calving season was in full swing. One cow had caught our attention, and in a bad way. Her name was Peach, and we were having problems with her not letting her calf nurse. Since this had happened with Peach before, and was likely to happen again, we decided it was time to sell her. Instead of selling her calf with her, we decided to keep her calf as a bucket calf, so Hope would have some company. That was how Faith joined us.

     Hope and Faith became great buddies, growing up together. They also became good friends with our dog, Missy. Through that summer Farm Boy and I spent a lot of time with them. We discovered that Hope led exceptionally on a halter, but Faith was obstinate. As soon as you had the halter on her, she'd flop down on the ground and lie there until it was taken off.

     When late fall came, it was time to wean all the other calves from their mothers, and Hope and Faith were put in the same pen with them. Farm Boy and I still went out every day to see them, and we discovered they worked like cowmooflage. When we were standing with Hope and Faith, they weren't scared of us, allowing us to infiltrate the other calves' suspicions and become friends with them all! That was by far the tamest group of weanlings we have ever had. We even got a halter on one of the steers! Our reasoning was, 'If we get a halter on him, dad will have to let us keep him and he can be our ox and pull us around a cart!' It didn't happen.

     When sale day came, all the steers went and a good half of the heifers. Much to our grief that included Faith. Hope was kept because she had no tail. (Really, just a little 3 inch stub. It's likely a genetic problem, but we aren't sure.) Her lack of tail would dock her sale price a lot so Dad decided we would keep her. He gave her a chance with all the rest of the heifers we had kept for cows, and if she was bred, she would become part of our herd. If not, to sale she would go. A few months later we took all the heifers (first time calvers) to the vet to check whether or not they were pregnant. When he said yes on Hope, our joy was unbridled! (Not to mention everyone in the county deafened by our joyous shouts xD)

To be continued...

The Story of Hope

     It began, well it began as you might expect. In the middle of a windswept Kansan pasture, there was a calf. Not a fluffy, fat and happy calf, but a cold, lonely and hungry one. All the other cows had been moved to better pastures, but she had been missed. No one knew that one cow had calved early and nestled her calf into winter's tall, parched grass. No one noticed her there, huddled down, conserving heat. No one knew that she was left all alone.
     The proprietor of a neighboring pasture saw her when she was still just a few days old. He notified her owner who came and picked her up, but this left him with a problem. What should he do with the calf? His cows were spread over multiple pastures and he had no clue whose offspring she was. She was nearly as likely to die with the wrong cow as with none at all.
     That was how she came to be with us. The owner called our dad up and asked if we'd like her. Being the cow and calf lovers Farm Boy and I were, we said 'YES!' So dad picked her up and brought her home. We raced out to see her shakily standing in the front of the trailer. We mixed up for her some powdered milk replacer and coaxed/pushed her out of the trailer. After a few days she got the whole 'nursing from a bottle' thing down, but it took a while and the intermediate time was filled with milk-drenched clothing.
     The next order of business was what what to name her. Farm Boy and I co-owned her with an older brother who suggested 'Hope', because we 'hoped' she would live. Despite my getting mad at him (somehow I thought that was cruel and callous, I'm not sure why) we agreed it was a good name. So Hope she was dubbed!

Updates and Shame

Jack Sparrow's first day here

Wheat field

     Yeah... I am not too good at the whole 'writing faithfully' part. But I shall attempt to bring you up to date!
     Firstly, we did get that bucket calf! (I personally cannot see how human existence has carried on without knowledge of him, but apparently it has) His name is Jack Sparrow, and he is one of the most fantastical buckies to ever live. Period.

Hope, the cute cow

Marty and Missy

     Secondly, wheat harvest has come and gone. It was... honestly I can't remember much of it. Oh dear. =P

Jack and Jackanals

An Olaf snowman

     Thirdly, we have acquired a new dog! My oldest sister and her family moved away, but they couldn't take their dog with them. So please welcome Marty! Also, if you'd keep them in your prayers, that'd be a huge blessing. =) In the picture on the left, Marty is the brown one, Missy is the black one. And they're playing, not attempting to murder each other. ;)

     Fifthly, FarmBoy and I made some candles. But failed to get a good picture. Anywho, it's a really fun project to try!
     Sixthly. some cute cow pictures. C= The Jackanals thing is a take of of Bacchus and his Bacchanals from Greek mythology.
     That's really all the news to share. We've had a bit of snow, and we just brought the cows home from milo stalks. Other than that... life is just goin'. I missed all the big holidays so I didn't get to wish my nonexistant readers a good one, so I'll have to settle for this: I have been blessed beyond measure the last year and I pray that you and yours may be equally blessed in the coming year!

Of Bulls and of Buckies

Bofur

     Greetings!
     I am painfully aware I have not written recently, but I had spring fever. And then a plain old fever. But I am back now!
     On what is going on here, "life in the wide world goes on much as it has this past age. Full of its own comings and goings, scarcely even aware of the existence of us." Only two really notable things have happened.

And More Bofur

     Firstly, we got our bull! Please welcome Bofur! Cutest Hereford bull on the planet! (But 1030 is right up there!)
     Secondly, we are getting a bucket calf! We don't

know much about it yet, but we hope to pick it up today! =D
     That is all. Thank you. *solemn bow*

A trip to the vet *da da da da!*

Connie

Jaws

     That was supposed to be ominous music. Just so you know. ;)

     But the actual subject of the post is, we took Connie to the vet. We noticed when we worked cows she had something growing on her eye. We had too much on our hands at the time so we couldn't catch her then, but we noticed her up in the corrals yesterday so we ran out and shut the gate on her and called the vet to see if he had time that afternoon. He did, so we loaded her up along with our last cow left to calve, Yosline (Jaws), whom we wanted to preg-check, and headed off to the vet's! We got there and waited until the vet had finished on the bull he was working on, then unloaded our two cows and ran them up the lane. The vet first checked Jaws and said she had a big calf in her. (Yay!) Then he looked at Connie. He said it was a *some word I can't remember* tumor. He then slipped a halter on her and positioned her head so he could work on her. He cut off the tumor with a special knife and then put liquid nitrogen on it to freeze the cells and keep the tumor from growing back. We're supposed to keep and eye on her and if we see it coming back we can take her in for a second treatment. (A note, I thought about posting a picture of her eye, but couldn't find a picture that looked right. If you see pictures of eye tumors, though, that's probably not what Connie's looked like. Her's was quite small)
     Well, that's about it, but I will keep you posted on Jaws' calf and Connie's eye. ;)

A Series of Fortunate Events

     Greetings! I have multiple bits of information  which I am going to try to list chronologically.
     Firstly, we have a bunch of calves that I have not yet told you about! Squeaky had a girl named Princess, Charity had a boy named Dragon Dancer, Connie had a boy named Mortimer Mushroom, Cassandra had a boy named Po, and Maggie had a boy named Thai Lung. (From Kung Fu Panda, to those whom that interests.)
     Secondly, we worked cows! I'm going to give you a short or not-so-short run through. It depends on how much of it I remember. The first thing we did to work cows was to feed the cows up in the big pen right next to the corrals, and then close the gates. Then we did the rest of the chores while they munched away. Next we herded them all into the small pen right next to the corrals. It has a bit of a funnel so that makes it easier to transfer cows from it into the corrals. Then, we herded 'em into the corrals! End of step one. Step two was sorting. With two on the inside, one on the outside, and one on the gate, it went pretty well. We sorted all the calves off into one of the corral pens and then we waited for Farmer to get all the cow-working supplies ready. (This made a good break to get into the calves' pen and pet them!!!) Step three was working the cows. We'd run a few cows up into the holding pen connected to the lane and shoo them up into the lane itself. Then we block of the exit and Farmer gives them all a shot for diseases they're prone to get after calving and pours on a liquid to de-worm and de-lice them and all that stuff. Then, we're on to step four: lunch break! xD Step five was working the calves- the best part! We ran about six of the into the holding pen and one by one ran them up the lane into the squeeze-chute. Although the people who did the job varied, there were four basic jobs. One person pushes the calf up the lane, one person holds the squeeze-chute's tailgate open, one person runs the head catcher, and on person gives the shots. Farmer gave all the shots. The first shot was for blackleg and pinkeye, the second show was for pneumonia and such. We ran all the calves through the chute and back into a different pen. After they all were vaccinated, we herded them into the pen with their mothers and let them back into their normal pasture!
     Whew! *deep breath* And thirdly, after that, Dark Chocolate and Kate calved! Dark Chocolate had a boy and Kate a girl, neither of which are named yet.
     Aaaaaaaaand..... lastly, I've been doing a few things on GooglePlus such as introducing our animals. If you view my profile at the bottom of the page, there is a link to our GooglePlus there.
     And now, I bid you-farewell!
                                                  FIN

Three Bubbies!

     A few days ago Eve had a little girl who is named Caligo! =D
     Miss Combobulated calved yesterday with a boy, but it was backwards so he (Estel) had a rough start. Sadly, He died right before lunch.
     A spot of brightness, though, would be that Hope just calved! She had a girl (a first for her!) that is all black, and we are super excited! =D