Monday, January 18, 2021

Is it a Boy or a Girl?

 Mama Lily

The vet comes today to do a pregnancy check on my two mama cows which means I have to pretend I know how to handle cows well enough to get them into their squeeze chute. Thankfully my back has returned to a reasonably mobile state. I'll see how it is after an afternoon of pretend cowgirl-ing. I have a chiropractor appointment, finally, bright and early tomorrow morning so hopefully I'll be set to rights either way because I'm still not 100% and I desperately need to get back to action.

My pasture is dry at the moment, that picture is from a month ago, but we're due some snow tonight and throughout the week so I'm hoping very hard the cows are pregnant, I suspect one is and one isn't. I live in hope though because I really don't want to go through any more AI. That will not be fun in the snow. It's not fun full stop, not for anybody. I wish I could keep a bull here but I don't have the fences or infrastructure or really even enough space. Ideally I could find somebody who would bring their bull over here for a couple few days then pick him up but I may as well wish for world peace. The pandemic has severely limited my ability to make connections related to the farming efforts and I'm in a bind with other issues with the cows right now. Made some phone calls today with people I do know to see if they know anybody who can help, we'll see. I hate asking for help. Hate it. It's the hardest part of my new life here, being so dependent in an attempt to gain independence. An interesting dichotomy I guess. 

Agriculture is a really stupid way for humans to live but here we are and I don't see any way out of it. All we can do is try to do it the best ways we can. I feel like humanity is approaching its n-stage, at least from a health perspective. Too many people to be fed properly and too much disagreement over what 'properly' is and too many people who don't care anyway. 

I had to buy some clothes for my chickens because apparently chicken Mean Girls is a thing. The poor Ameraucanas seem to be at the bottom of the pecking order and take the bulk of the abuse. Here's one sporting her stylish new coat to protect the bare patch on her back from her evil step sisters.


Integrating new chickens into the flock this spring will be interesting and yet another challenge to puzzle through. And there's always the exciting chance that I'll win the Rooster Lottery. I'm shocked I never got one in the first round of chicks. Last spring baby chicks were like toilet paper, I'm hoping this year will be different but nonetheless I suppose I should go see if I can reserve some in advance just in case people go out of their damn minds again. Also seeds! I should remember to get seeds early. I saved a bunch from my own plants this summer but there were some things that didn't grow at all because they really needed to be started ahead of time in the house. I guess I need stuff to do that too, I don't want to rely on other people's starts again. The garden was reasonably successful this past year, about what I was expecting, but lots of room for improvement. Hopefully another winter of chicken poop/cow poop/hay compost will enrich the soil even more and kill off more of the pasture grasses. Last year we took the chickens out of their winter area, which is also the summer garden, too early and the grasses and ants took over too quickly. This year I'll make sure they have a good go at the garden area right before I plant. The ants were horrible last year and they make such good chicken food.

I'm off to prepare for cow wrangling. I'm not sure if the vet can determine the sex of the baby(ies) if there are any but if he can I promise there will not be a gender reveal party.

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