Oct. 4th Photo a Day

Spent Tuesday in Madison for the World Dairy Expo with the Shell Lake FFA Dairy Judging Team. It was perfect because I had enough time to get to the boothes that I wanted to visit, bought what we needed, and still got home at a decent hour!

Oct. 3rd Photo a Day

I'm drawn to outside fall color pictures! This little lake is a mile and a half from our house, it finally has some water in it again after all the drought. We are off to the World Dairy Expo tomorrow, Shorty coaches the FFA dairy judging kids and their contest is tomorrow.

Oct. 2nd Photo a Day

This photo shows off some of the beauty that surrounds our farm in this little valley.

Oct 1st Photo a Day

Katie told me about a pretty area nearby that the bus goes by. So, off we went in search of a photo op.This pretty little spot is about 2 miles from home on Sand Road. My first photo for a Photo a Day in October. Practicing for next year when I want to do Project Life.

The October Stamp of the Month, Holiday Magic, is available during October, and can be purchased for just $5.00 with a $50.00 purchase. You can also buy it outright for 17.95. I love the sleigh and the stocking! I will be placing my order soon! If you are interested in this, or any other Close To My Heart products you can order from my website( at right), or by calling or e-mailing me!

Circle of Life

We have had a run of bad luck with our dry cows(cows due in the next 2 months) lately. We had one that was sick, the vet couldn't find what was wrong with her. She was dying right in front of us, and the vet was still there. She wasn't due for 4 weeks, and was having a calf that had outstanding bloodlines. We made the decision to have the vet try an emergency c-section in hopes that the calf's lungs would be developed enough to breathe. We had a very poor outcome from that one, the calf, a heifer, had already died inside mom, so we lost both of them.

2 weeks later we had another dry cow come up sick, also with 4 weeks till her due date. Got the vet out right away and were given the diagnosis that she was dying from a long term internal infection, the best we could hope for was to keep her alive long enough for the calf to develop.
Very sad news since we had lost her mother at the age of 13 1/2 this spring. The decision was made to wait as long as possible then give her a shot that would prepare the calf's lungs for birth. The shot would also put her into labor within 36 hours, so we needed to wait as long as possible. A week later the decision was made to give the shot , as she was declining rapidly.
When I went to check on her again, before we'd given the shot, I could tell she didn't have 36 hours. I would have been surprised if she lasted 3. Another call to the vet, only to find out that he was in the Twin Cities, and couldn't come out.
Having seen the last one done, my hubby decided to try it on our own. Our hired hand mercifully ended her life as my husband cut and went in after the calf. He was able to get him out and the little guy gasped for air. I toweled him dry and we put him in our calf warmer for the night.
He did take a couple days to be able to stand, and took a VERY long time to finish his bottle at first. He is the one that I am feeding in the above photo with my niece, Emily, and also in the other photo wearing his jacket.

Hoping to post more often.....

Sunshine

The sun is shining and its a beautiful day! My "aged" girls have had their calves, and both seem to be doing well. Unfortunately, only bull calves, three of them actually. 812 had her twin bull calves on May 1st, as predicted by me, (both the date and twins!). I was hoping they were twin heifers though. Theresa had her bull calf last night, he's very cute though!

They are all three gone already, went to Granzin's for boarding as we will have too many calves for my hutches in a very short time.

Still dealing with the loss of my Sputter cat. Its been very hard for me, as he was almost a constant companion in the house. I miss him so much. The other two don't fill the space he had in my life, he was very special. Always on my chest/shoulder if I was on the computer, always on my lap if I was watching tv and always on my pillow with me when I was in bed.

Above is a picture of Sputter with my dad. He didn't really care who was in the computer chair, he wanted to be on their chest/shoulder! Love and miss you Sputter!