March 22
We’re about to start calving. Andrea put boards over gaps at the bottom of the barn wall where critters have been crawling into the barn —to block their access and stop the wind. There were sheets of ice where water ran into the barn when snow fell off the roof, melted and ran under the doors. She put salt on the ice to melt it and left the doors open to dry it out.
After Michael and his fence crew got the fence rebuilt along the horse pens by my hay shed, I was able to put Ed and Dottie back in their pens.
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Andrea and I started barn-training the heifers so they will go readily into the barn if weather is nasty when they calve. There’s deep snow in the calving pen, so we put hay in there and let the cows in to eat as well as tromp around and beat down the snow.
We moved Sprout and Shiloh to temporary quarters so the crew could tear out and the old falling-down fence on their pens. The fence on this end has been there 50 years while the fence at the top was already old when we moved here in the 60s. Saturday Andrea and Emily hosted a baby shower for Dani. She will be having her baby in late April, and it will be a girl.
The power went off yesterday morning at 2 a.m., came back on for 10 minutes, and then there was a loud crash and it went off again. I couldn’t see much outside because it was still snowing hard. When it was light enough to see, I went out to do chores and discovered that not only had big branches had come off the elm tree next to the house, but the power lines were down, hanging from the pole by our driveway. The lines were down across the driveway, the maternity pen, the horse pens (Dottie and Ed’s pen, and Ed had been walking over them), the field above the house and drooping low in the field below the house where the heifers are.
I fed the horses in the tiny safe space between the fence and the downed lines and came back in the house to call 911, since the power company obviously hadn’t located the problem. A crew came out and I met them in the driveway. They told me to go back in the house and stay away from the lines but I told them I had to move the horses. I put Dottie in the side pen by the house and Ed in the backyard, where they’d be out of the way of the work crew, and lured the heifers into the pen below the barn so they wouldn’t get tangled in the downed lines in their field.
Heavy snow had broken the lines above our house and the instant release of tension pulled hard on the old power pole in that field and broke it off. It was one of the original poles from when the power line was put up this creek in the late 1930s or early 40s. The power guys brought a backhoe and a new pole and were able to drive up past my hay shed and through the deep snow in the field to dig a new hole and replace that pole. It was a good thing Michael and crew had just rebuilt the old fence opposite my hay shed, creating a wider lane; the big trucks would not have fit earlier. With the ground frozen they didn’t get stuck and were able to set a new pole.
March 31
This past week we’ve had more snow but the fence crew finished rebuilding the horse pens and the bull corral.
It was snowing again Thursday evening when I checked the cows before going to bed and noticed a heifer (Biffidy) in labour. Andrea helped me put the heifer and Sweet Pea (for company) in the calving pen and we watched from the house until the heifer got more serious in labour and we put her in the barn. She had her calf (a little heifer) just after midnight.
The next day Michael and crew worked all morning in miserable conditions (windy and snowing) to reset a gatepost by the calving pen so the gate won’t keep sagging. By mid-afternoon another heifer (Dorinda) started labour so we put her in the calving pen. She didn’t get serious until later that evening and we put her in the barn out of the nasty weather. She was nervous and trying to climb over the back panel in that stall, so we put a big pole across it, above the panel.
That weekend we had more calves. We needed more shelter for pairs coming out of the barn so Andrea built more windbreak (screwing pieces of tin to the fence) in pen corners and built a roof over one corner using old boards we’d stored in a covered pile.
Monday morning was the first day the wind wasn’t blowing, so Michael and crew tackled the elm tree by the house. It’s a huge tree with divided trunk, and branches have been blowing off and hitting the roof. It’s only a matter of time before larger branches come through the roof or a window.
Matt has experience climbing towers and trimming trees and he has climbing gear and safety harness, so he went up the tree and sawed off branches strategically, while Michael and Nick used ropes and the mini excavator to hold and guide branches as they came down, to land them in the side pen or yard and not on the house.
Andrea built another roof to make more shelter space in a corner of the lower pen below the barn (since it just keeps snowing!) after she helped me put the old red cow in the calving pen. That cow progressed quickly in labour and the calf’s feet were showing when I went out to take her to the barn. That cow did not want to leave the calving pen and charged at me; I whacked her across the face with a stock stick and she still didn’t quit. I had to leave her there to calve. She calved fast and I had to rush up and break the thick sac that was over the calf’s head, before the cow could get up and charge at me.
If weather had been decent we’d have left her and her calf there, but it was snowing so we decided to sled the calf to the barn. Jim, Andrea, Lynn and I tackled that job but the cow kept charging at us while we tried to get the calf into the sled. After much effort and some near misses wee got them into the barn, dumped the calf out and vacated!
April 9
Last Saturday we had two heifers calving in the wee hours of the morning — Awol, Alice and Defugelty — so we put them in the barn. It just keeps snowing!
Monday morning Michael and crew filled in the old hand-dug well next to the house. We’ve had it covered but didn’t want the risk of anyone falling in, and it’s also a source of cold air under the outer wall next to the bathroom, freezing our pipes unless we keep the faucets dripping during cold weather. That well was probably dug in 1885 when the house was built.
Tuesday afternoon Twanda, our largest heifer, started calving, and Lynn helped me put her in the barn. She took a while in labour, with a big calf; Andrea and I finally pulled it. A huge heifer. We named it Dwanna (like “I dwanna be born!)
That night was cold and windy, but all seemed quiet when I checked the cows at midnight. When Andrea came at 2 a.m. to walk through them, Magnolia (a third calver) had just calved. We got the sled and four-wheeler and took that pair to the barn, just ahead of a nasty blizzard.
April 18
This past week we’ve had horrible wind and more snow. The strong winds would have taken down some of the elm tree, so we’re glad Michael and crew got that tree trimmed.
Wednesday afternoon Sweet Pea started calving and I put her in the barn. She calved fast (her second calf). Last year she had Popeye, and this year’s calf is Pea Wee.
The calves are all a bit larger this year, probably due to the very cold winter. When weather is cold, the cows’ blood is shunted more to the body core to keep vital organs warm, rather than out to the skin and extremities to dissipate body heat. Summer calves are always a little smaller than winter-born calves, and after a really cold winter, calves tend to be five to eight pounds heavier than they would have been, thanks to all the extra blood circulation and nutrients to the uterus and fetus.
We were tired after that all-night job with the heifer, but Andrea didn’t get much chance to sleep; the next morning Dani’s water broke, so she took Dani and Roger to the hospital. Jim helped me and Lynn feed the cows.
Dani had her baby quickly — vonly 17 minutes in hard labour. She had a little girl, seven pounds 10 ounces, 20 inches long, and named her Ammarie Ray Lynne.
We were glad our last heifer had calved and the two older cows holding off. Andrea wasn’t needed here; she could devote her time and energy to help Dani with the new baby.
Saturday morning Andrea helped me feed the cows then went back to town with some things for Christopher’s belated birthday party, and to bring Dani and baby home from the hospital. They stopped here, and Lynn and I got a peek at that new little kid on their way home.
Last night was cold and windy and I kept checking those last two cows. By daylight this morning both of them were restless. Lilligator started kicking at her belly, and the older cow was also uncomfortable. It started snowing by late morning, with a bitter cold wind. Lynn was supposed to locate a well site this afternoon but postponed for a couple days.
We let Lilligator calve in the side pen, but a blizzard hit about that time and the calf was getting chilled as it tried to get up to nurse. So we got the sled and four-wheeler, grabbed the calf and took it to the barn (without the cow, so she wouldn’t try to kill us—since she’s one of the meanest ones), then got the cow and brought her to the barn.
The final cow (Maggeddy) was progressing in labor, so Lynn and I put her in the barn to calve, since it was still snowing hard. I checked on her before chores and there was nothing showing, but 30 minutes later she’d had the calf. We are done calving!
