Working on Day 3

Snow in South Carolina is a big thing...

an event to be celebrated, enjoyed, and then...

gone when you wake up the next morning!

it's a weather related one night stand...

not this time...

it began snowing late Sunday night...

snowed most of the day Monday...

began sleeting last night..

this morning we woke up to a total forest...

it looked all nice and pretty...

like fresh snow waiting to be enjoyed...

but it wasn't...

one look at my porch steps told me differently...

it was 6 inches of snow with 1/2 inch of ice on top

being a farm wife i didn't have the option of hanging out inside the house all day...

someone has to feed baby calves,

check on ewes,

 and make sure all the kids are accounted for and okay

(goat kids people).

i began my morning by filling up 5 1-gallon jugs

 to haul hot water to the barn to mix milk ...

i loaded the jugs

my soon to be 3 year old

 into the make shift wagon/sled

and pulled the whole contrapation

kid and all to the barn...

the path was slick

my son thought it was WAY more fun to go fast than i did

but we made it...unharmed down the hill to the barn

the calves were happy to see us

as the milk warms their tummy

for the most part everything was fine

we did have a calf that needed special attention

he wasn't doing good last night and this morning was worse

he wouldn't get up or drink...

tubing him was useless

its discouraging...

i have spent the last 5 days morning and night

feeding him

ensuring his health

but the weather has gotten the better of him

you learn that with the gift of life comes death

you deal with it and move on

the ewes however were fine...

we are starting to see many of them bagging up...

preparing for lambing

the kids crazy as ever...

jumping all over their mom...

the hay bales...

and my son

and one of the previously weak calves had greatly improved!

I am happy to report i didn't have to

tube a single calf this morning!!!

For you non-farming folks..

To tube a calf you mix up a bottle of milk

pour it into a hard plastic iv bag kinda thing

this bag has a long semi stiff plastic tube on the end of it

you must keep the tube bag right side up

until you are ready to give the calf milk

otherwise you are wasting...

time...

milk...

and money!!!

You then take the semi stiff tube and place it in the calf's mouth

making sure the tube is on the left side of the calf's mouth

you ease it down the calf's throat

the entire time you have to make sure you are on the left side

the left side goes to the stomach

the right goes to the lungs

once you are certain you have the tube in the calf's stomach

your turn your bag upside down and milk gravity feeds into the calf's stomach

this is a great way to feed  calves that aren't doing well

it helps ensure the calf is getting enough to eat

with weak calves it is also good

as the calves don't have to use up all their energy sucking down a bottle..

so after my morning rounds...

we headed back up to the house...

going up hill is much harder than walking down hill...

especially if your little man rocks the make shift sled thingy.

he enjoyed playing outside for a while...

we attempted to venture out to pick up

milk for us...

another bag of milk for the calves...

feed for the calves...

and a few other random supplies...

no such luck...

we are stuck again...

this time in front of our porch door...

William's not going to like this...

(he had to pull us out last night too)

i spent the rest of the day...

doing laundry...

catching up on emails...

hanging out with wild man...

(who is teaching teddy bear to ride the rocking horse)

and explaining why we can't go outside

and ride Bartow or Force today...

instead i caught him with a bottle

of apple barrel paint...

redecorating his chalkboard wall...

the chaise lounge...

and himself...

we are looking at day 3 of being at home tomorrow...

i got the call about an hour ago...

no school tomorrow...

I suppose i could do some lesson plans...

but really i plan to sew...

i don't know what yet but i will be making something!!!

Until then have a great evening!!