New Year, Never Dull
☆ January 9, 2018
The following is a compilation of my recent posts to Instagram & Twitter, in case you missed it….
Here’s Daisy following me to the house so I could put her in the front yard. Sir Baby broke out of his quarters on March 31 and bred Daisy when he WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO. Nine months from March 31 = now!!! Daisy’s in labor and I made a nest for her in the yard so I can keep a close eye on her.
I’ve tried to keep Daisy and Sir Baby apart the last few years because she’s had a lot of trouble with his calves. Nervous and hopeful. Emergency number of my vet on speed dial. Thankful for the mega moonlight but ughhh about the negative temps. Currently 12° and the sun just went down. Thinking of live tweeting since I’ll be up all night….
• • •
Hauling drinking water for Daisy. Yard water is shut off during winter so I tote gallon after gallon from kitchen sink to a tub in the yard for her.
Moon is rising….
Currently 5°. Maybe it won’t get below zero tonight! Daisy is still standing up with her tail out. Early stages.
She’s lying down and chewing her cud and I’m making tea and it’s still 3º
So many stars even with the bright bright moon
Feeling sleepy so I went outside. Brisk! Nothing new to report.
Zero degrees, cold enough that it hurts to yawn outside. Daisy just wants to be brushed! “Brush my moonbody in the moonlight,” she says.
Charlie’s dancing for us. He doesn’t sleep if there’s activity outside. And he has SO much fur, the cold doesn’t faze him.
So Mike has this trick where he feeds his cows in the evening and then they don’t calve at night. It works surprisingly well. I gave Daisy a lot of hay this evening…Would not be mad if she waited until the sun came up, it would be so much easier on the calf. Still watching tho!
No news is…. no news. Took a few 40 minute cat naps and they were delectable
All the other cows are coming up to say hi to Daisy in the yard. They’re having a proper gossip sesh over the fence.
Daisy is still in a (somewhat frustrating) holding pattern btw but feeling quite good about herself and sunbathing.
Daisy Update: She was in labor, but never to the point where I saw hooves, and then the next day acted like she wasn’t in labor at all. But she didn’t show any desire to be with the other cows, wasn’t mooing to them, was happy to be by herself. Which is a labor sign – they like to go off alone to calve. But she was no longer showing the physical signs of labor. None this is how it’s supposed to go if it’s going right. So yesterday I took her in to have an ultrasound.
I’m very sad to report that her baby was dead inside her. She was fully dilated so the vet was able to deliver the calf. The calf wasn’t properly formed and its death triggered Daisy’s labor (versus labor issues causing its death). Daisy has a low fever (her body’s response to the dead calf inside her) but she is OK and will be OK. This makes me OK.
The saddest part is that Daisy loves being a mother…. she made the “Mommy moo” when she birthed the placenta and it totally broke my heart. But I’m milking her twice a day to keep her body producing milk and perhaps she will adopt an orphan calf when calving season begins. They say rural life, farming life, ranching life is the simple life. It’s not simple at all.
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I have a story for you!! Just as soon as my hands uncramp from milking four gallons twice a day….
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21 Responses to “New Year, Never Dull”
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January 9th, 2018 @ 9:26 am
So sorry about Daisy’s calf. I’m glad that you and the sg were there for her.
January 9th, 2018 @ 12:13 pm
Oh Shreve, that was a tease. I thought your hands had finally un-cramped and we were getting the promised story. No rush I’ll be patient.
January 9th, 2018 @ 12:36 pm
OH! Goodie! She has adopted a calf. She is such a good momma!
January 9th, 2018 @ 2:16 pm
Happy New Year!
You might not be posting as regular as you had been, but it seems to me, that whatever you write becomes more and more essencial.
I´m following this site for some years, and there ist so much learning, changing, getting down to the heart of things, people and life… it simply amazes me. Amongst all those bad news, I take it as a good sign for all of us, that there are also people like you who try to get down to the basics and use the internet to really make a change.
Also, your website always reminds me of my own yearning for country life, like we used to have when I was young: goats (you would love them!), chicken, horses, dogs and cats, geese,… I guess, my aunt would be called an animal-hoarder nowadays. But they had a fairly good life on our old farm in northern Germany – nothing like your farm, of course. Not the space and wilderness, that are such a contrast to german landscapes, that have been cultivated intensively for hundereds of years.
Now, I´m living in Berlin, having my own business. Wich is very fulfilling too, tailoring bridesdresses and evening gowns… but on a totally different level, and reading your posts makes me yearn for that still much more real life. But I guess what intrigues me most and a lot of other people, is how you your posts get around lives´ basics to more intellectual zu really complicated questions, across politics and back to books that need delivery, and there is always your strong and vibrant personality that will seemingly overcome any obstacle and just gain more strength. Yes, there has been hurting… but you keep finding ways to heal.
You can move to tears (like the last entry about your stalker), make laugh and wonder (how I love the miss-piggy-entry!) and sometimes be just normal, wich seems to be a special gift nowadays. Like your entry about the Las Vegas-Killings… isn´t it just normal, to ask those questions? But who does, nowadays. Maybe it takes the distance and every day tasks, wich you cope with, to stay sane.
Please go on posting, remind everybody of what is important and what is not.
Greetings from Berlin!
PS: Bees are amongst the coolest insects on my balcony. They are never aggressive, just a little more cautious than the bumblebees, that are just like flying teddybears. :)
January 9th, 2018 @ 3:43 pm
Cant wait to hear what’s up!!!
January 9th, 2018 @ 4:17 pm
Poor sweet Daisy. Glad she has you to give her such great care. Keep warm, hug Daisy and we anxiously await the next instalment.
January 9th, 2018 @ 5:38 pm
Love the photo!
Previously read Daisy’s sad story.
Looks like Daisy has a new pale, foster calf?
January 9th, 2018 @ 6:13 pm
I’m so sorry that she lost her calf, she’s such a good mommy.
I hope that’s her new foster baby! A girl?
January 9th, 2018 @ 11:45 pm
Dear Daisy, I share in your sadness of the moment and wish you joy for the future. (Also don’t trust Sir Baby and his sweet talk).
January 10th, 2018 @ 6:55 am
Poor sweet Daisy and her calf. God handles things like that for us. It is better than the baby be born, struggle, suffer then pass.
Give Daisy extra treats from all of us. I hope she accepts a baby-in-need later on.
January 10th, 2018 @ 6:56 am
If that pic is of her and her new adopted calf….YAY!!!! What a sweet little baby!!!
January 10th, 2018 @ 12:35 pm
So sad to hear the news about Daisy’s calf. But so glad she herself is doing well. Looking forward to reading the story soon.
January 11th, 2018 @ 10:09 am
Ahhh the anticipation of a happier ending. Eek. Eagerly awaiting.
January 11th, 2018 @ 11:20 am
Thank you so much, Shreve, for the pics of Daisy following you to the front yard, her sunbathing in all her royal-ness and that beautiful little blondie nursing. So very sorry about the stillbirth; sad, disappointing and exhausting, I know. Looking forward to hearing about this beautiful little calf who looks like she/he came straight from Fairyland. Please give Daisy a big hug from us, have “The Talk” with that shameless lothario Sir-Baby-Don-Juan, and enjoy a hot bath and a nap as soon as you can.
Enjoyed your post, Friederike from Germany (#4). You have a lovely writing style. All the best to you as your business grows and prospers.
January 11th, 2018 @ 2:26 pm
As always, moving and powerful! and thanks to you Daisy is fine! Naughty Sir Baby tho……in a way for me it’s kind of a metaphor for a lot of things right now, where it isn’t what you expected and it almost seems OHNO! but turns out to be, still and all, positive in the end….
January 11th, 2018 @ 7:32 pm
Dear Shreve, I’ve been keeping you and sweet Daisy in my thoughts. Rest in peace, little calf.
January 16th, 2018 @ 7:49 am
Dying for the conclusion. Assuming you found a calf and daisy accepted it, but I want more!!!
January 19th, 2018 @ 12:35 pm
Daisy got her new calf! She is such a good foster mother.
Do you save the colostrum for the orphans or put them right on milk?
January 19th, 2018 @ 4:55 pm
I’m sorry about Daisy’s calf. That mother’s moo <3. Do cows not get cold? I guess I am surprised.
Also want to do a shout out to Friederike's post. I enjoyed reading that. ; )
January 25th, 2018 @ 1:09 pm
The last picture make my heart smile! Tell us she adopted that baby and I’ll be over the moon and dancing with Charlie!
February 19th, 2018 @ 4:24 am
Hello! I haven’t visited here in a long time, but am so pleased to learn that you and Charlie and Mike and Daisy and the Farmily are still all doing what you do best.
Congratulations on Daisy adopting Mara, and many best wishes for their health in the future. I remember a pic of another little calf in a pickup truck, off to be adopted by the ever motherly Daisy. The wonders of Nature. — Pat in Colorado.