New pillow case

After my head injury I had gotten an extra pillow from Jan so that when I laid on the floor with Daisy after I started the wood burning stove, I would have something to put my injured head on as I laid.   I didn't have a pillow case so Jan sewed one and gave it to me last week.  It is pretty.

Forehead hay

One of the steer calves today walked around with hay stuck to his forehead.

The heifer calf.   Later in the afternoon Daisy was in the corral looking to see if I had opened the barn's small side door.  I hadn't left the door open since the calves are in the corral.  So Daisy sat outside the door and looked around.  The heifer calf came over to see what was going on.   Eventually she got brave enough to come over and sniff and lick my pants leg.  Then she walked over to sniff Daisy.  Daisy didn't want to be sniffed and with a light growl took a swipe at the calf's nose causing the calf to jump back.  Daisy and I then left the corral.

Weaning calves again

My cows should start giving birth in March.  I have five calves left over from last year.  Two born last March, one born in May, one July 1 and the last born in September (D-14).  I figured the three oldest calves' mothers would have kicked them off of their udders by now but a couple weeks ago I saw the May calf sucking from his mother. I don't want calves sucking on a cow when the cow is getting closer to giving birth to another calf.  The mothers need to only be providing nutrients to their new unborn calf.

Yesterday I put a large hay bale out for the cows to eat.  Not all cows can eat at the same time so I put some extra hay in the corral's wooden feeders.  Donna helped me to get the calves into the south part of the corral so I can start weaning them.  Four calves were fairly easy to get there.  One of the older calves (55's "Panda's" calf) was eating at the large bale feeder.  Around and around and around the large feeder we went as I tried to herd him back into the corral.  Finally I was able to do it.

By evening when I refilled the water trough before bed Diamond (the September mother) and Mama (the July mother) were in the corral calling to their calves.  And the calves were calling back.  The May mother came into the corral and looked around but didn't make much of  fuss for her calf.  Today the July calf and September calf and their mothers were still calling for each other.  The July calf and the September mother were the two nosiest animals.  By evening everyone had quieted down.

The calf born last May.

The calf born last July.  She was the noisiest and walked around and around her part of the corral.

Mama

In the following photo this is Diamond and Toby.  Diamond is the September mother.   Diamond should have been bred by Toby already.  But for whatever reason this morning Toby was not eating and was paying lots of attention to Diamond like she was in heat.

The rest of the cattle posing this morning by their large hay bale.

Shigle vaccine and flu shots

I had told you about what happened to me after I got the shingle vaccine and flu shots at the same time. My neighbor Jan also knew what happened to me.  Well... last Thursday she got both the shingle vaccine and flu shots, one after the other one.   And hours later she started to throw up.  And also felt way over heated.  Three days later, Sunday, she started to recover.  She is much better today as she cut my hair for me (she was a hair stylist before she retired).   I asked her why she had both shots as she knew what happened to me!  She says she now knows it is not good to get both of those shots the same day.