Life on the farm

It’s that time of the year again when we take a look at our cattle and see who we can keep for the summer and who will have to leave. 

Well we’ve been talking about getting rid of Ed for sometime and I guess that time has come. I don’t know if it’s fate or what, but now that I have the big picture of Ed in our kitchen, he will be off to the sale barn this weekend. Note to self: don’t make any more pictures of our cows 🙂

With Daryl and I in the cow yard, the cows knew that something was up. And finally we got everyone separated but Ed, Suny, and Charles and  it was time to bring in the cattle trailer and get them loaded up. 

Let me just say that No Ears was not happy! We had the worst time with her standing by the trailer and just making the worst noise and very obviously upset. Well this wasn’t helping anything because we needed to get the cows loaded and brought to the sale barn yet tonight. 

Finally we had gotten them loaded and now to get out of the yard without No Ears freaking out. She literally followed the trailer just bawling and following us through the yard until Daryl got out of the gate. I couldn’t even leave the cow yard to shut the gate because she was trying her best to keep following the trailer in our farm yard. She was so upset. Even if you don’t like cows as much as I do, I’m thinking that you would still think it was sad. She ended up bawling late into the night. 

So we got to the sales barn and when the worker there saw Ed, Daryl said that he was kind of scared. Well Daryl told him not to worry because he’s not a mean bull at all and that I feed him apples by hand. 

Ed ended up weighing 2,320 lbs.  

Good Bye Ed, Charles, and Suny.

It takes a long time for me to figure out just exactly what I wanted on our kitchen wall and after about a year to think about it, I finally knew just what that should be. 

With the walls with a fresh coat of paint on them it was time to make a decision. 

So what better choice then to find a picture of our cows to hang up on it? We had chickens on our kitchen walls for quite a few years that William took that is now in the Roadhouse, so it’s time to give our cows the front stage for awhile. Especially since our time with Ed will soon be coming to a close and we’ll be selling him at a local market. 

With this great idea in my head, I asked Kyle if he had any pictures of the cows that I could use. After checking them out, I decided on one that should work just perfect. 

Well off I go to have it blown up to a poster size, and then over to my favorite business that mats and frames pictures.

And guess what? I LOVE how it looks. I was worried that the picture was going to be too big, but after it’s been hung it’s just right. 

Check it out – it’s a picture of No Ears and Ed the bull. Just exactly how I wanted it to look. SCORE!  Now I know that having a 36 inch cow poster might not be the exactly what everyone might want in their kitchen, but I am pretty happy that it’s in my kitchen. 

Even my corn and soybean planter plates made it up on the kitchen wall. Daryl looked a little confused when he saw me washing them and was wondering where I had found them. I think he might have thought that I took them off of something out in the shed or something. But I bought them at a garage sale and them stored under the attic steps for quite a few years just waiting to be used somewhere in the house. What a good job done, and now to finish decorating the living room. I think I’ll take a look at what else I’ve got stored up by the attic. 

Now everyone knows that I like our cows. OK, I really Love our cows and when Daryl said that Scarlet needed to go into the barn because she was getting close to having her calf – well I couldn’t be more excited! 

But why would she want to have it on one of the coldest days that we’ve seen for quite awhile? I guess as long as she’s in the barn and the nipco heater is close by, everyone should be fine. 

And guess who’s close by watching over everyone? Our dogs of course. They’ve been around our cows a lot and I think they know when something’s up. Here’s Kaiser just staying close to the calf pen. 

They always say that when a storm blows through there are more babies born than normal, and that was the case for us. During the day I got a text with a new baby calf picture on it. Very cool! When Daryl took a first look at him he thought that a good name for him would be bandit because he looks like he has a mask on. This name is perfect! Bandit it is. And guess what? He is SO cute!

With apples in tow, I’ve visited Scarlet many times and just can’t believe how attached I am to this cow. I know that probably sounds kinda weird, but it’s our life on the farm. We’ve taken care of her since she’s been a baby calf and have seen her have her have calves of her own which is so cool. 

So for tonight, check out Bandit and see how cute he is! I wonder if he likes apples?