2024: Calf 7 - Lightning Picasso's

Saturday morning when I took out a small hay bale for the cattle in the middle pasture I found Little Buelah already had a calf.  I also saw that Lightning Picasso had a fluid bubble coming out her back end.   This was a sign that she was going to have a calf in the next few hours.  She ate some of the hay so the calf wasn't immediate.   I came back a few hours later and the calf was licked off and was now up wanting to drink from her mother.  I tried to check if the calf was a boy or girl but Lightning Picasso kept backing up and the calf would follow.  I didn't want to lay the calf down to check as I wanted it to get its first drink of milk from her mother.  So I waited.  And waited.  And waited.  I think the calf drank her other dry as she drank and drank, and drank from each teat.  I bet it's a girl as the calf is already very active.  When it was done drinking I laid the calf down and checked.  Yup.  A heifer.

In the afternoon when Donna, Michael and Kari came over to band Little Beulah's calf, we also ear tagged the heifer.

After I laid the calf down to check if it was a boy or girl it immediately got back up.

Later when I put a large hay bale in the north pasture the cattle walked over to the bale.  Lightning Picasso followed once the other cattle reached the hay bale and she saw what was going on.  Her calf remained laying in the middle pasture.  I wanted the calf to be with the other cows and her mother in the north pasture.  I opened another fence gate and the calf got up and walked over to me and the open gate.  Once she came into the north pasture she went the other way and not towards the hay and her mother at the far end of the pasture.  I tried to help the calf walking in the correct direction.  But she didn't want to walk where I wanted her to go.  So I quit.  Let's see if she will follow me.  She did.  So we walked and walked and walked until we reached her mother eating from the hay bale.  The mother then took a break, backed away from the hay and other cows, and stood and let her calf drink from her.  All is good.

Earlier while I sat on the ground and waited for the calf to drink and drink before checking if the calf was a boy or girl another cow walked over to check me out.   She has yet to have a calf this year.

2024: Calf 6 - Little Beulah's

This morning when I took out a small hay bale to the cattle in the middle pasture I discovered that Little Beulah had a calf a little earlier in the morning. A boy calf.  Another big calf.

Late this afternoon Donna, Michael and Kari came over to help me band and ear tag the calf.  Donna let Kari do the banding as Michael and I held on to the calf.  Donna supervised as Kari never banded a calf before.  The calf's scrotum was on the small side.  But his testicles were down which was good.  Kari had to make a few attempts as the calf's testicles would slip up before the band was released.  But she got it done.

A beautiful calf.  I wish it was a heifer as I would keep the calf as a replacement heifer.

Bicycle cat and wheelbarrow

I repaired the bicycle cat wind ornament.  This Winter the strong winds broke the previous wind ornament. Now that the ground has thawed I cobbled together the broken ornament with another older damaged ornament.  The little bird in the basket had blown off the damaged ornament and I still haven't found it even after the snow melted.  So the fixed ornament doesn't have the bird in the basket part.

In the photo the rear wheel is spinning in the wind.  The front wheel doesn't turn much.  That is why they look different.

I also replaced the wheelbarrow wheel.  The previous wheel had gotten many punctures last year when I was cleaning up the cut hawthorn branches.  I had fixed all the punctures last year.  But eventually the fix didn't last.  Time to buy a new wheel.

Calf 5 banded

Donna come over before noon to help me band calf 5.   This time both testicles had dropped.  The calf's scrotum is on the small size so it was some effort to get the banding done.  The calf was laying under the barn's side roof on the gravel I had placed there.  Without the gravel the area would have standing water after the Spring melt-off.

However, kneeling on gravel and rocks is hard on the knees.  After a few attempts in trying to band the calf I moved the calf out to the grassy area.  Then it was easier to kneel on the ground.  After some effort and time and re-positioning Donna got the band on the calf.

Newly tagged.

Yes, the calf does have a tail.  Unlike his mother.

A few hours later in the afternoon the wind picked up and the snow started.  Winter has returned.   In the morning I had let the cattle into the main corral and gave them a small bale of hay.  Instead of putting a large hay bale out late afternoon I gave the cattle a few small bales.  I'll put out a large hay bale tomorrow after the wind dies down and the snow stops.

With the warm weather we had earlier this week the grass is greening up and starting to grow.  Here are the tulips starting to grow.

2024: Calf 5 - No Tail's

When I checked on the cattle after 5:30 pm, no calves.  But I noticed No Tail.  She doesn't have a tail so one can't see when the tail rises at the hip bone when a cow gets closer to having a calf.  But she was standing while all the others were laying and chewing their cuds.  And No Tail's udder was larger than normal.  So she was getting close.

Before 8:30 pm I checked again.  No Tail was laying with her calf.  The calf was licked off but not completely dry.   The calf is a male.

Our weather is cooler lately and there is snow in the forecast this weekend.  So I got the plastic sled and put the calf on it.   He only got off the sled once.  Otherwise he just laid there as I pulled him along.  No Tail followed us.  They were in the middle pasture and I wanted them in the south part of the corral overnight.  They could get out of the wind.  And out of the snow if it snows.   Tomorrow Donna will come over and we will band the calf.   Hopefully both of his testicles will have dropped.

In the corral.

Trees. Tree branches.

The past week or so I've been chain sawing trees and tree branches.

First I cut up the small branches from the tree that fell in January.   I hauled them back home and put on my pile of branches to use next Winter in my woodstove.   I also cut up some of the branches I had gathered and stacked last year but never cut.

Then I cut some smaller trees in the middle pasture.  These are younger trees that are growing close to one another.  The past few years I have been cutting down some of them to give the others room to grow.  I only do a few in a group each year.  Years ago I cut all but the few I wanted to grow in one area.   Then later when it got really windy the remaining trees broke off.  They weren't used to swaying in the wind.  Now I do a tree or two at a time so they can get use to swaying in a strong wind and can get a tolerance to do so.

Another group.  I left the stump a little tall.  The cattle like to rub on them when they get an itch.

Not a lot of tree trunks to these young trees.  Here are the trunks of the three trees I cut here today.

An example if I didn't cut some of the young trees.   See how these old trees are split or how two trees grow so close together.

I got 10 of these young trees cut in the middle pasture. I'm done doing this type of trimming this year. I also need to replace my chainsaw chain. The chain is stretched. They just don't last long these days.

One bicycle shift lever broke

Friday when I was out riding my bicycle I had to shift when going uphill.   The shift lever broke!    That has never happened to me in all these decades of riding my bicycles.   The lever was for the rear derailleur.    The derailleur moved to the lowest cog on the freewheel.  The hardest gear.  As most of my ride home was flat and not downhill I needed the chain to be on an easier cog to ride.  I hand positioned the chain and derailleur and then wrapped the shifter cable around my water bottle cage.  It held and I was able to ride home.

Sunday I "fixed" the problem. Kind-of fixed.  The shift lever is mounted in the bicycle frame.  It was not mounted on a band that goes around the frame.  The shift levers I have in my extra parts odds-and-ends box are mounted on a band.   But the band is for old steel framed bicycles where the frame tube is smaller in size.  The band would not reach around my bicycle's frame.

To make things work I moved the cable over to the other shifter as that still worked.  I wasn't using that shifter as I never got around to replacing the front derailleur as I never need to use that one.  Now my rear derailleur works.   On my to-do list is to see how I can replace/fix the broken shift lever.

Messed up bicycle

Broken shift lever

How I wrapped the broken lever and cable around the water bottle cage.

The rear derailleur

How the shift lever is attached to the bicycle.

Since the day was nice - temperature of 63 F and sun - I did more work on my bicycle.  The chain and freewheel is wearing out.  I've babied it along since early February as I didn't want to put a new chain and freewheel on the bicycle when it was still cold and there was snow and muck on the roads.   So I replaced them this afternoon.

I also noticed the two hard plastic cogs on the rear derailleur had worn their "teeth" down.  So I found an old rear derailleur in my odds-and-ends box and took its cogs and put it on my bicycle's rear derailleur.

Now my bicycle rides better and tighter.

Panda's calf is banded

Larry came over this afternoon and he got the second testicle to drop.  Donna hadn't arrived yet so I had to put the band on the calf.  It took me a bit as I wanted to make sure both testicles were beyond the band.  Then I had a problem removing the bander.  In my attempt to remove the bander the band started to come off the calf.  So I had to do it again.  This time it worked.   I got both testicles banded.

That's done.  I now allowed Panda and her calf to leave the corral and join the rest of the cattle.

The banding tool

The banded calf

Panda's calf still not banded

Early afternoon Donna and I attempted to band Panda's calf.  Still only one testicle has dropped.  Later Donna's daughter's husband, Michael, came over at 4:30 pm to help.  We worked and worked and worked.  We had to put Panda in the other part of the corral as she was crowding us trying to check on her calf.  Rusty and Max (Michael's dog) were in the corral also.  Panda was not happy when the dogs approached us to help.

We tried working on the calf when it was laying and when it was standing. One testicle down, no problem.  They eventually found the other testicle up high.  It is a smaller testicle.  They couldn't get it to come down.   I later called Larry.   He helped Donna and I a few years ago when I had the same thing with two calves.   Larry, Donna and I will try tomorrow afternoon in getting both testicles down.

In between the times we tried to band Panda's calf I went to Donna's to chainsaw and cut a few tree branches.  I had to climb an extension ladder to reach the branches.   I was halfway through one branch when the branch split and partially came down.  The end where I was cutting bent and trapped my chainsaw blade and chain.   The branch was still up high so I couldn't reach the end to put it down enough to release my chainsaw.  And I didn't want to do so as I didn't want my chainsaw to drop to the ground from on high.  I had to use a handsaw to cut the branch enough so it would release the chainsaw.  This was a hassle as I was up high on a ladder; I had to reach around the chainsaw to cut the branch, had to ensure the chainsaw didn't drop when released, and had to ensure the whole branch didn't drop and fall a certain way that would hit me or the ladder.   I worked slow and got it all done successfully.

I took a break and petted and rubbed Rusty.  He was so happy.  He got so relaxed he looked like he may be falling asleep as his eyes were closing.

2024: Calf 4 - Panda's

This morning I found that Panda finally had her calf.  Probably late last night or early this morning as the calf was clean and alert when I first saw him.  This calf is a boy.

Donna came over by 3 pm.  Panda and her calf were at the far end of the middle pasture.  I almost got to the calf before it jumped up and took off.   Panda and the calf then walked along the middle north pasture barb wire fence.  The calf tried to get through the fence.  Failed.   We continued to walk along the fence.  The second attempt.  Success.  The calf walked along the fence in the north pasture and Panda along the fence in the middle pasture.  When we got to a point where the top fence wire was broken I was able to get to the north pasture and grab the calf.  I sat on the calf and waited for Donna to reach us.  Panda was upset I had her calf.  She reached through the fence to her calf.  Just before Donna got there Panda jumped over the fence.  So I now had Panda and her calf around me.

The calf's scrotum was on the small side.  Normally Haynes' calves have large scrotums and it is easy for Donna to band them.   Donna found that only one ball - oopps, Donna will correct me once again - the testicle had dropped.   We need two testicles down before we can band the calf.  We tried and tried and gave up.  We will try again tomorrow.   I did put the ear tag on the calf today.

Since Panda and her calf were in the north pasture we herded them into the corral.  That way tomorrow we won't have as much running after the calf to do.  The calves get stronger and faster each day.

When I first saw Panda and her calf this morning.  It looks like the calf has Haynes' hairdo.  I should have guessed it was a boy calf before I looked.

Donna in action when we were herding them to the corral.  Panda didn't want to go into the corral.

We wanted Panda and her calf in the south part of the corral so Donna herded them out of the loafing shed.