Another Elusive Birth

The second oldest daughter of Chloe had her calf (a bull with black on the inner ears) off in the far corner sometime early Sunday morning.  I had followed her Saturday afternoon and knew she was in that birth walk mode.  By Sunday afternoon she was up with the rest of the cows eating hay and I found the calf under a birch tree where he was born.  Didn't bother him lest he run off and complicate things for mom.  Yesterday, Monday, they were back together but she is still keeping him away from the other cows.  She did a pretty good job of keeping him away from me.  I went around the pasture three times before finding them huddled down beside the extreme east fence.  This cow lost her first calf last year and we never saw it so I'm keeping a close eye this year.

Busy Woodworker

In the process of looking for calves I noticed a woodpecker at work, probably also busy making a place for babies.  The amazing thing was the amount of wood on the ground.

White + White = Black!

Normal genetics predict that white genetics are dominant.  Normally when a white bull breeds a black cow the calf is white.  One would expect even more to get a white offspring from a white bull and a white cow but here is living proof that recessive genes stay in the gene pool.  Our most skittish cow dropped this little black heifer during an afternoon snow flurry in the farthest corner of the pasture.  I found yesterday's little bull tucked down on a southern slope about a mile from mom who was getting dinner at the hay pile.

Black and White

Probably the most profitable cow in my herd right now is this 900 lb black galloway cow that will wean a 600 lb calf every fall.  This little bull was born the moment the neighbor kids happened to be walking by.

More Snowballs

This little heifer  showed up while I was in Juneau the 17th or 18th.  The morning I left I followed the mom through nearly knee deep snow for over a mile before I found her.  She was obviously looking for a place to give birth.  She is one of those kinds of mothers that will stay away from the rest of the cows for at least a week to bond and give that calf a solitary start.  She obviously has plenty of fat to support that lifestyle.  Unfortunately her calf will probably also inherit the  independent wild spirit of her mother.

Number Three

Last night we had the second highest snowfall for the month of April on record.  Nice weather to welcome a new little heifer to Arctic Tierra the Beta Matriarch of the band.  No cattle I know are better equipped to be born into this kind of an environment.

2010 Babies are Here!

Imagine the shock of coming from the womb to three inches of snow!  The first calf was a bull with red points.  The second a heifer with dun points daughter of Arctic Chloe the Alpha matriarch.  We will begin feeding them away from the barn site which is beginning to get too sloppy for new calves.

New Generation Farming

The equipment that will transition Wolverine Farm  dry hay to high moisture hay and the first commercial berries is on this load of equipment that came in from Lynden Washington about a month ago.