Preparing for Daisy's Baby

Daisy (on right) will be calving in about a week

Daisy is carrying a calf and her due date is November 3rd.  She is fatter than she's ever been.  We are watching her very closely.  She was born in 2007 and has given birth to 3 calves - all bulls!  She's never had a heifer, but we're hoping that she ends that streak.  She has never had any trouble while calving, but we still will watch her very closely as her due date approaches.  Things can go wrong, and we want to ensure that we are prepared and observant.

This afternoon it rained and it was welcomed.  It hadn't rained in about a month and in the past 24 hours it has rained 3 inches.  We were happy about it and the cows were too!  Daisy was so frisky. As fat as she is, she was running and jumping and kicking!  While I was watching her, I checked her closely to see how far along she is in her pregnancy.  I noted that her vagina was 'flabby' and swollen and this is a sign that things are moving along.  Her bag is just starting to swell slightly, but isn't all big, tight and full of colostrum yet, and that lets us know that we have a few days left to go.

We have a stall in the barn that we can put her in with lots of hay for her to eat, but also to provide dry bedding for her and her calf.  But we also do a few things to prepare for potential problems.  We have a tube of calcium paste that we can give her if she shows any signs of milk fever.  We also have some frozen colostrum ready to thaw and bottle feed the calf if for any reason, the calf can't nurse within 6-12 hours.  We always save some colostrum for future use by milking out some each time we have a momma cow deliver a calf and then we freeze it.

We will post as soon as she calves and of course, we're hoping for a little heifer as opposed to a bull.
 

North Winds 'A Blowin'

Proverbs 27:12

“A prudent person foresees the danger ahead and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.”

According to the weatherman we have some cold weather blowing in tonight. Actually I didn't need to rely on the weatherman - I just walked outside and brrrrrrr!  It is 32 degrees right now, but there are 30 mile per hour wind gusts blowing through giving wind chill readings of 20 degrees.  That's a little chilly for South Louisiana.

And that means that precautions need to be taken to protect everything.  Lots of work to do before I go inside and light a fire in the fireplace.  First I went into the attic and rooted around until I found some foam pipe insulation that I had purchased last year.  I cut off what I needed and wrapped an exposed white pvc water pipe to protect against a hard freeze.  Benjamin and I then got one of the trusty blue tarps and covered some plants around the back patio.

Next I harvested some nice Red Romaine Lettuce that's growing in the garden.  This stuff looks pretty now, but a hard freeze will really knock it for a loop.  Most of the other stuff in the garden is hardy and will withstand very cold temps.  There was a good bit of romaine that I didn't have room for so I'm going to try covering it with a tarp.  I weighted it down with some T-posts.  We'll see if I was successful in salvaging the crop tomorrow.

Red Romaine Lettuce

Then I turned my attention to the animals.  After milking we ensured that they had all the hay that they wanted to eat.  If a cow gets too cold, they'll start burning their stores of fat to keep warm.  After haying the cows and goat, I got the staple gun and stapled the blue tarp around the pullet tractor. They have plenty of feathers that give them good insulation, but I want them to be comfortable.

I had to laugh at this pitiful fact of Amy.  Can't you just tell she's begging to get into the barn?

Please?

After seeing the cows in South Dakota doing just fine in much colder weather, I don't feel as sorry for our cows.  They are pretty spoiled.  Actually I feel more sorry for me and Tricia.  Tomorrow morning will be one of those mornings when we walk out to the barn in the early morning to milk and when we squirt the warm milk into the bucket, the steam will rise.  Everyone's taken care of and unless I've forgotten something (like we forgot a couple of the ficus trees last year), we're prepared for the weather.