Today is a special day for me.

We are gearing up for spring calving season here on the farm. We’re making sure we have some frozen and ready-mix colostrum, as well as ear tags and bands. 

For those of you who are new – I LOVE calving season! Watching a birth is new and amazing to me every time, and seeing the little ones struggle to stand and nose around their mom, getting their first meal, having their mom low softly (it almost sounds like a grunt, but I would recognize that sound a new mama makes anywhere) as she cleans her new precious one off is pretty much the best part of my job.

Of course, it can be a little hair-raising to tag and band the new ones, but last fall we did something that makes it a whole lot easier – we bought a few ranch horses that were specifically trained to herd cattle.

What a difference it makes. My two youngest girls (actually, it only takes one of them) keep the mama away with their horses and my job is now tagging and banding if Watson isn’t there or holding the calf while Watson does it if he is.

This spring, we’re also looking forward to welcoming some foals. We’re hoping for five. Horses are not as sturdy as cattle and we’re keeping a close eye on our expectant mothers. I’ll definitely be posting pics on Facebook.

Thanks so much for spending time with me today!

Hugs and love,

Jessie ❤️

2 Responses

  1. Unrelated to this blog post, but a book comment.

    I’m enjoying reading the Flyboys series. Just an FYI, at any Scottish festival I’ve been to and when we visited Scotland, the adorable big hairy cattle were called a “Highland cow,” not a “Highlander cow.”.

  2. And the “cow” is actually a steer. I adore your books and would love you even more if you would change cow to steer in the above mentioned series. I have read them all and they were terrific. Flyboys series.

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