Sassy & Sweet Notes

Dixie's a Mama!

Look who Alan found in the barn this morning! On his BIRTHDAY, even!

How fun is that! Way to GO, Dixie!

This is the first photo I took of the new baby. It was early (about 7:10am) and it's cloudy today, so there was little light coming into the barn. This makes for tricky photography when there's no on-camera flash either!

I was just out at the barn a bit ago and witnessed breakfast. Yay! Seeing a new born calf eating is a very good thing. The sooner they start nursing, the better. It's important for them to get vital antibodies from colostrum that's produced by the mother for only a short amount of time after the calf is born. I also witness some "weeing", so it would seem we've got a little heifer! Yay!!

Thank you for all the congrats! We're pleased! Dixie is cranky...but I would be too.

If you're wondering what breed of cattle we have, we raise Dexter cattle. Dexters are considered to be the smallest breed of cattle in the US, which makes them perfect for small farms. Cows mature to 750-800 pounds, and are typically 36-42 inches high at the shoulder. Bulls mature to 1000-1100 pounds and 38-44 inches high at the shoulder. The little calf born here today weighs about 30-35 pounds. Learn more here.

...and we WAIT...

Thankfully, Dixie isn't beyond her due date. She just LOOKS ready. And probably FEELS ready, too.

In this photo she's watching Alan, who's walking towards her. She's just SURE he's going to bring her some cow cookies.

And he probably did.

Thursday is Alan's birthday. Maybe Dixie will return the "gift", in the form of a little heifer calf! Wouldn't THAT be something!

I won't hold my breath.

I'm too Sexy...or am I?

Well... if you can believe it, Dixie STILL hasn't delivered. Crazy cow... I think at this point, she's milking (haha!) us for treats and attention. If she only knew what a spread she's getting on the blog! I snapped this photo today while Alan and I were out at the barn yard.

We keep waiting to see some signs of actual labor (change in breathing, etc) but nothing yet. The ooze we've been seeing can appear for weeks prior to delivery (we've seen it off and on now for two weeks). So, we wait. She's such a tease...

Progress!

Saturday, April 19 10:15pm
Dixie is showing signs of delivering soon! Her udder is beyond big...it's GIANT! It is noticeably larger than it was this morning. Seriously. HUGE. There's lots o' "goop" in strategically *censored* places. She's uncomfortable... licking her sides, rubbing her head on the nearby chute, standing at the hay bale but not eating. I'll be checking on her hourly with camera in hand, and will be updating this post as the night progresses. Stay tuned!

And by the way, tonight's a 100% full moon phase if you're curious about these kinds of things.

Sunday, April 20 12:20am
Dixie's spending time in the barn now, showing similar signs as earlier. In January 2007 when Dixie gave birth to Chick, she was in the barn.

She likes laying in the barn, so I'd putting my money on another barn delivery.
But I'm not a betting girl...

Sunday, April 20 2:35am
In the barn, out of the barn, in, out. No noticeable change in progress.

I have taken some less than flattering photos of poor ol' Dixie tonight. You'll notice the precision cropping I've done on this one, just for you.

*you're welcome!*

Sunday, April 20 4:15am
Alan goes out to see Dixie. No baby. Anna catchin' some Zzzzz's.

Sunday, April 20 7:00am
Alan says Dixie is a "watched pot". It's true. Dixie kept us up, ALL night.... and nothing. No babies. Just a whole lotta oooze. And big nipples. *hahaha!*

Sigh...

We'll keep ya posted!

we're still waiting...

Dixie STILL hasn't had her calf. She's teasing us! I think she's waiting for the full moon...

All these days and nights thinking about baby cows is to blame for this card.

I'm being EXTRA hopeful that when Dixie finally does have her calf that it's a little heifer, and not a bull calf. If she has a bull calf, he'll eventually (once he's old enough) be sold to another small farm looking for a bull for breeding. But if she has a little heifer, she'll get to stay here with us and be part of our herd! That is our hope. Until Dixie decides to buckle down and have the baby, all we can do is cross our fingers.

The images on this card are all by Amuse. I stamped them in black StazOn ink and painted them with a water brush and Stampin' Up reinkers. I added little blossoms to the tree with various pink Copic markers.

Hurry, Dixie.... HURRY!

Taking Time...

Everything around here is taking it's own SWEET time this spring. The wildflowers are just starting to show their faces in a few spots around here. This same time last year the fields were FULL of color, every where you looked! Hopefully we get some rain this week to help them along.

I need to get out and take photos of the few flowers I have seen around. Until I get around to that, I took this one in the yard yesterday. (...or was it Sunday?) Anyway, I had these in my yard when I lived in Oregon, but I did't know what they were. Alan called them a "Live Forever". They sure are pretty.... and very delicate.

Another thing taking it's own SWEET time is DIXIE! That silly cow is just STUBBORN when it comes to delivering her baby! Good grief... you'd think she'd hurry it up! I did check on her a bit ago, and she's got a little "sign" (you know what that means, Kerry!) of delivery happening soon, but I'm not holding my breath. I'll keep ya posted!

OH, and if you're wondering where all the CARDS are lately, I'll have one for you in the morning. I've been busy, not only with farm life, but with SECRET Whipper Snapper stamping too! It's almost time for another unmounted set release you know! *yahoooo!*

Two Fat Cows

Dixie. Still pregnant. And that's Queenie in the background....also pregnant.

UGH....

This picture of Dixie that I took this morning says it all... get BUSY, Dixie!

I checked on her at 1:45am. No baby.

I checked on her at 4:45am. No baby.

8:45am..... no baby.

Her udder's ready, though!

BIG brown cow!

it's almost time!

Dixie still wasn't showing real good signs of calving this morning, so we put her out in the pasture with all the other expecting cows thinking it was going to be another day or so. She spent the day eating grass and napping in the sunshine (things she does every day).

Wouldn't you know it, this afternoon she finally let us know that she was getting serious about delivering. So, we separated her from the other cows again. She's got part of the barn to herself with a nice bed of fresh straw, and an entire barn yard that she only has to share with the chickens as they wander around the farm during the day.

Alan and I went out to the barn tonight at 10:45 to lock up the chickens and check on Dixie. She's got good signs that she'll be calving soon! Finally! Maybe by morning we'll have a new calf on the farm!

Cross your fingers (and TOES) that it's a girl! Alan's been having talks with all the cows letting them know that it would be BEST if they all had little heifers. Let's see if Dixie listened..... stay tuned! I'm charging up the camera batteries!

Oh, and the goat names are still pending ... thanks for all of your wonderful suggestions! They're being added to the list, and we'll make a decision soon! We've GOT to! We've got a lot of critters making entrance at the farm this month!

A Cardinal and a Cow

I was out at the barn today poking around with my camera and heard a bird singing in the tree above me. When I looked up, I saw that it was this beautiful red male cardinal who just singing his heart out. The wind was really blowing today...he had to really hang on tight!

It was about 5:30, and the sun was still fairly high in the sky. I noticed that the trees are finally starting to bud - it'll be so nice to see leaves on the trees again!

This photo of Pixie is another one of the photos I took today. You can see part of the barn in the background where I took the photo of the rooster earlier this week. The rain we got yesterday is still standing in the barn yard. If we had ducks they'd love it!

Pixie is a Dexter cow and is supposed to be delivering a calf some time soon. She'd better hustle it up or she's going to fall behind schedule! She looks very similar to our other brown Dexter cow, Dixie. Only Pixie is a bit smaller.

I'm getting so excited about having new babies on the farm! They're just so fun! And fun to take photos of too! Hurry it up, girls!

Farm Critters to Share

The setting sun provided some pretty light this evening, so I popped outside with my camera and took some photos. Here are two that I like!

Curly was laying on the hood of the tractor watching the world go by until I showed up. The wind was whipping her L O N G whiskers around! I was only able to get a couple of photos taken before she decided she'd had enough. She's a little on the wild side.

And this is Lucy, our little red calf. Isn't she just a cutie! Edited to Add: Lucy was born July 11, 2007. So, she's not a baby... but she's pretty small, and still has some growing to do.

The light from the setting sun was on her, making her look awfully pretty! We're excited for her to get old enough for having babies of her own. We're hoping she gives us more little red haired cuties! She's the smallest cow on the farm. To give you an idea of how tall she is, her back is about mid-thigh high. She's not very tall. But one of these days her horns will grow in long enough that she can boss ol' Ribeye around. He's the next smallest cow on the farm, standing maybe waist high. Maybe. Edited to Add: Ribeye was born April 11, 2007.

I think it's funny how the grass in the pasture looks like a golf green! We didn't mow it ... it's just coming up for spring. I love seeing the green!

Lucy, miss Lucy...

I thought I'd share a photo of miss Lucy. She's been on the farm for a week now and is settling in just fine. She is brave enough to take cubes right out of our hand now, and I'd say in a week she'll be sniffing around in our pockets for them like Ribeye does. He's such a pest.

Speaking of Ribeye, here he is! He's been out in the bushes getting prickly things caught in his hair. There must have been something worth eating out there, because that's all he's ever concerned about. Mmmm cookies. Mmmm hay. Mmmm chicken food. Mmmm... He loves to eat.

For those of you who might be concerned about Ribeye's fate - don't worry! With a name like Ribeye you'd think he'd be dinner, but he will live out his years happily on the farm as a bull. We will eventually breed him with Lucy and Chick. I think they'll make cute babies! The only thing on our farm that gets eaten by people are chicken eggs. Mmmm farm fresh eggs.

Meet Lucy & Pixie!

Alan and I drove a couple hours southeast of here on Friday to pick up a couple of new Dexters that Alan bought from another farmer at a cattle breeders association meeting a few weeks ago.

This is Lucy, our new red calf. She's so cute! We've got to get her used to being around us though, so she'll be spoiled ROTTEN for the next couple of months while she gets to know us. If you look closely just above her ears you can see the little stubby horns she's starting to grow. She's the first red Dexter on the farm, and we're happy to have her here!

We also picked up our new brown cow who's already bred and should have her calf around April. We're hoping her calf is born either brown or dun, since she was bred to a dun bull. She looks very much like our other brown cow, Dixie, but she's just quite a bit smaller than Dixie. Alan's Dad suggested the name Pixie for her. Works for us! Here she is in the barn yard by the feed shed having some cubes. She's being spoiled already! She's got one eye on me, and one eye on her cubes.

Spring should be a fun time around here, with lots of calves being born! If everything goes as planned, we should have 4 born within just a few weeks of each other. What fun!

Ribeye 84 days, Fitz 127 days

The vet came out to the farm yesterday. We loaded all of the cows into the chute and they all got their vaccinations, and whatever else they needed. Ribeye and Chick also got pretty new red ear tags. The ear tags look pretty big on the little calves, but they'll grow into them.

This is Ribeye...he's 84 days old today. I guess he's telling me what he thinks of his new accessory.

If you're wondering what the letters and numbers on the tag mean, it's LF2T for Lauhoff Farms, Calf #2, and T=2007.

Today Alan separated the calves from their mothers, so now we've got Chick and Ribeye in the barnyard and all of the other cows in the pasture. We do this to wean the calves from their mothers (a benefit to us is that we can love all over them while they're still little), AND so in a couple of weeks we can put the bull in the pasture with the cows and they can "get it on".

I'd thought I'd also share this photo of Fitz. He's such a crazy donkey, and his GIANT ears and wild hairdo don't help.

I think this weekend we'll put him in the barnyard with the calves. Maybe we'll be able to brush his wild hair! He's soooo crazy... he's got dreadlocks! Haa!

He's a very sweet donkey. He loves to have his nose and face rubbed ALL over! The other donkeys think he's a pest. (And he is one...to the donkeys.)

Maybe he'll grow into those ears... some day.

PS: An update on the "pocket picking" that occurred yesterday with the vet: Only Butthead, one of the big bulls, got his pockets picked yesterday. The vet was here for a LONG time, and we just ran out of time to do Billy and Fitz. So, they've still got loaded pockets. For now. (Not that either one of them know what to do with their accessories!) You'll notice I spared you all the photos of Butthead getting snipped... *wink*

Ribeye - 38 days old

I was poking around in the pasture today taking photos of wildflowers and found Ribeye looking very CUTE.

Today he's 38 days old. Hard to believe -- he's such a pest! =)

Alan and I still think he's going to be polled (naturally hornless), and were excited that we'll be able to keep him for a breeding bull. He actually is a very sweet little fella, and I'm sure he'll make rotten, yet cute, babies. Ha!

Critter Update...

Thanks to all of you who've left notes and sent emails wanting to know how the farm animals have been doing. I'm so glad you appreciate them as much as we do! Just for you, I went out this evening and took some new photos. It's been a bit cloudy and windy today so getting photos was a bit challenging, but I managed to get a few good ones.

First, I thought I'd introduce you to a new critter. (Not new to the farm, just new to you.) This is Junior. Spot Junior, to be exact. He's one of the barn cats. He's a very good helper while we're out at the barn -- always making sure we get things done right, I think.

Even though it doesn't look like it in this photo, he really does have two eyes. I think he was just dozing (aka "working hard") when I caught him sitting on the tractor seat. I couldn't resist taking his photo. Of course, as soon as he heard me take his photo he jumped down off the tractor and flopped over on the ground begging for a belly rub. Yes...a real WILD animal. As WILD as they come.

The new calf has a name now... meet Ribeye! He's a wild animal too! So wild in fact, it's very difficult for me to get a photo of him because he has to get so CLOSE to me! I can't focus on something close enough to touch noses with! But he's sure a cutie. He sleeps a LOT during the day, but when he decides it's time to play he sprints around the barnyard chasing anything he can find. Chickens, cats, shadows... I can't believe he's 13 days old already! What a monster!

We don't think Ribeye will have horns. When a cow naturally doesn't have horns, it's called "polled". Polled Dexter cattle seem to have a bit more value than horned Dexter cattle. Ribeye's mother, Princess, is also a polled cow. A lot of people consider polled cattle a bit safer to work with than horned cattle (duh!).

Dixie's Chick is getting BIG, and like the rest of the "hard working" animals on the farm, she's lazy. In this photo you can see her horns starting to come in -- they're about an inch long now. Her mother, Dixie, has long forward pointing horns. Ouchie-waawaa if she were to head butt anyone! We hope Chick's hair continues to lighten up a bit to a nice chocolatey brown. She's so pretty in the sun! And we don't need any more black cows!

Fitz is getting HUGE! Growing like a weed! Still ornery just like his mother. When Ribeye gets a few weeks older, we'll separate Chick, Ribeye and Fitz from their mothers, and keep them in a smaller barnyard where we can work with them a bit more than we can now. They're all friendly enough animals, but Fitz tends to get bossed by his CRANKY mother a bit too much. We don't want her lack of social skills to rub off on him. So we'll put the babies in the barnyard, force affection and critter cookies on them, and teach them how to socialize with people.

Should be a rodeo.

It is about TIME!

We woke up this morning to a new baby donkey on the farm! It's about TIME Jackie delivered! We've been expecting this donkey since the end of January! This baby looks ENORMOUS for only being a couple hours old! No wonder Jackie always looked wider than she is tall, with those long legs in her belly!

But FINALLY! A new baby! And a cute little girl, too! Now we've just got to come up with a name. Suggestions?

While I was out taking photos of the new donkey, I took a couple photos of other critters too. Remember Lefty the chicken? He (yup, a rooster) is still around, as well as lots of others. Lefty is ALWAYS the first chicken out of the barn when the door is opened in the morning. I just open the latch and step aside, because if I'm in the way of the opening, Lefty would run right into me. Crazy chicken. He spends his days with the other chickens eating grass in the barnyard.

I'll try and get a photo of Black-Eyed Pea, Posey and Turkey too. They're still out at the barn. Black-Eyed Pea is a rooster as well. *roll eyes*

Dixie's Chick is growing, and happy.

She has gotten used to the chickens, and isn't afraid to explore the barnyard and pasture without Dixie by her side.  She's got the sweetest face. In the morning sun her red highlights really shine.

I posted a few other photos from early this morning online as well. You can see them in my Farm Animals gallery on pBase. The first seven photos in that gallery are from this morning. Enjoy!

It's A Girl!

We were finally able to determine if the calf is a heifer or bull (it needed to stand up so we could see!) ... and yay!! It's a heifer! Alan will have to give her an "official" name for her registration with the Dexter Association, but she'll have a farm name too. Official names are always so long and complicated since you have to connect them to the farm they were bred on, etc. So, I've decided that I'm going to call her Dixie's Chick. She's the sweetest little gal, and the cutest face! Dixie is proving to be quite the good mama too... Good cow, good brown cow!

Some of you have asked about, or commented on, her size. She's actually a very small cow -- she *might* have weighed 20 pounds when she was born. That's not very big. We have a 16 pound house cat named Zilla if that puts some perspective on things.

Meet Zilla. She's our harp seal kitty...

Addition to the farm...

Today is an exciting day here on the farm! We've got a new addition! Our Dexter cow, Dixie, had her calf this morning. We haven't seen it move from the position it's in yet, so we're not sure if it's a heifer or bull calf. We'll know once it gets its wobbly legs under itself and starts exploring the barnyard.

Yesterday I thought Dixie might have been close to having the calf, so Alan's dad and I put her in the barnyard pasture. Getting her in the barnyard was half the battle -- keeping all the other cows and donkeys out of the barnyard was the other half of the battle! They're always so helpful, and nosy.

We hoped that she'd have the calf in the barn out of the wind, so Alan's dad tossed some hay down from the barn loft ... sure enough, she did!

Good cow, good brown cow.

I'm the only one here at the farm today, so it's up to me to check on the calf and make sure it stands and starts eating. Cross your fingers that all goes well! Pretty cute, eh?

About Dexter Cattle: Dexters are the smallest breed of cattle in the US, which makes them perfect for small farms. Cows mature to 750-800 pounds, and are typically 36-42 inches high at the shoulder. Bulls mature to 1000-1100 pounds and 38-44 inches high at the shoulder. Dexters are typically black, but can also be dun. Dixie is a dun, and her calf is black with dun highlights. Learn more here.