The Best Response to PETA

I was paging through the Progressive Dairymen the other day and came across their top 25 Most Read Articles. #2 really caught my eye. The article was about PETA's new welfare standards for dairy animals. PETA was proposing an effort to end taildocking and dehorning. The favorite reader response was this: "It would give me great pleasure to place Amber Driscoll (PETA's corporate liaison) in a holding pen with a herd of Ayrshire cows with their long, sharp, horns."

All I have to say is me too!

Santa: Part Deux

We didn't go see Santa on Sunday. We would have, but I was sick, Pat didn't really want to go, and his parents were gone for the afternoon. We hadn't mentioned it at all to the boys, but I think Grandma did on Sunday morning. They didn't seem to care too much that they missed it.

I've been trying to figure out where Cole stands on Santa. He told me he knows Buddy the Elf (Elf on the Shelf) doesn't go to the North Pole because he isn't real. I asked if Santa was real, and yes, he thought Santa was real. But, if you ask him who fills his stockings, he answers that I do. So I don't really know if he thinks Santa brings him presents or not. At this point, it doesn't really matter. I'm not going to push a lie on him for a couple of years of "magic" at Christmas.

I was chatting with a friend the other day. Her family never did Santa, so for her, she doesn't really get the hype. For me, my first grade teacher sat us all down in the front of the room and told us all that Santa, the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, etc. weren't real. I'm fairly certain she made it clear we weren't supposed to tell anyone we knew the truth because I didn't tell my parents until I was in 4th grade. She was kind of a manipulative person and none of the kids liked her. Anywho, so I don't remember being overly excited about Santa, just the presents.

For those of you wondering about our Christmas chain, here are a few sites with Bible verses. Since we didn't start ours until a few days ago, I kind of pieced a bunch of verses together. We just made a simple one out of construction paper. I let the boys cut the red and green strips, so it definitely has a "homemade" look to it :)

This one has very short and sweet verses each night, which would be great for younger kids.

This one has longer passages.

This one is my favorite. It doesn't have the verses listed, but I may attempt to make a fabric chain for next year.

If you simply google Christmas countdown chain or Advent chain or attach the words Bible verses to the end of your search, you'll come up with tons of them. There are even some ready to print for you.

Santa

I'm not a huge fan of Santa. *Gasp* I know. I mean, the guy's got all the fun stuff. The fun songs, the cute decorations, and of course, the presents! But he isn't what Christmas is about. We do Santa, but my kids don't really buy it. Not that they aren't gullible enough (Cole still occasionally calls Long Johns, Long Bobs), but we apparently don't sell it hard enough. I wanted to just skip Santa all together, but Pat claimed we do all "my" traditions, so he gets Santa. I relented. We decided that Santa would fill stockings, but the big stuff under the tree comes from us. We try not to go overboard on our kids either. This year, I think they are each getting 4 gifts from us and a few little things in their stockings. I digress.

So what's not to like about Santa? I think he hides the true meaning of Christmas. We try to teach our boys that Christmas is Jesus' birthday and why he had to come as a baby, but they are constantly bombarded with Santa movies, Santa stories, and toys, toys, toys. Suddenly Christmas is about what they want and not about the Baby in the manger.

I'm also a hypocrite. Tomorrow we will take our boys into town to see Santa and I'm sure I'll even post a picture of them (Cole anyway) sitting on his lap. We also do the Elf on the Shelf, although my boys don't buy it. For them it's just a find the elf game every morning. That's fine with me. They have fun finding him and if I forget to hide him the night before I get to hear "Mom, you forgot to hide Buddy!" They don't think for a minute that he's real. I'm honestly not really sure what they think of Santa. Cole started saying things like "that doesn't look like the Santa we saw before" or "how can Santa be over here and over there?" Magic doesn't answer the questions either because magic isn't real. When people ask them if Santa is coming to their house, the boys give them a look like they're crazy and have no idea what they are talking about. I'm ok with that.

I am trying to find ways to phase Santa out and Jesus in. Every year we make a Christmas countdown. This year I added Bible verses to read each night. We are starting with verses from the Old Testament and we'll read the story of Jesus birth closer to Christmas. I didn't start it right away on the first, so I'm improvising and the first week we are actually working on their lines for the Christmas program at church. What kind of things do you do to make Christmas about Christ and less about Santa?

The Chicken or the Egg?

Raising chickens is not pretty. Anyway you slice it, chickens are dirty birds. A few weeks ago McDonald's and Target announced they were dropping Sparboe Farms as their egg supplier. Why? Well, Mercy For Animals launched an animal cruelty campaign against them. My problem lies in the reasoning McDonald's and Target dropped SF. Do they honestly believe SF is treating their chickens inhumanely? Probably not. If abuse was the norm and not the exception, they wouldn't be one of the largest egg suppliers. Frankly, if their chickens were abused so badly, they wouldn't produce that well. So they dropped SF because Mercy for Animals says they are abusing their chickens and has video proof! Then the media comes in to play and suddenly you lose consumers. You can't believe everything you see on youtube. If Mercy for Animals is really out there to stop animal abuse, why is their agenda so political? Why not report the abuse to the higher ups in the company and then come back to see if anything has changed. If nothing has changed, then sure, release your video. Instead they videotape livestock producers for months, gathering footage, and then smear the companies name. How is that helping the poor chickens, pigs, and cows on the farms they are taping? Suddenly the company has no market so where do you think the excess goes? Not to some rescue farm where the animals live out a happy life roaming a pasture in the sun. No, the excess probably goes to slaughter.

Ugh! I'm so tired of animal "rights". We have to have licenses and permits and inspections for nearly everything we do, but my drug addict neighbor can have gobs of children and no one bats an eye at the squalor they live in (my neighbor is hypothetical by the way). I want to know that my food supply is safe, but we waste millions of dollars on useless programs because of these "humane" organizations. We have to fight for our right to produce America's food supply. These groups don't care about animals. They care about their pocket book. They care about their agenda. I guarantee that the leaders of these organizations have never taken a moment to ask the question "why?" Why do you dehorn cattle? Why do you clip pigs tails? Why do they debeak chickens? It's not fun. It's not pretty, but there is a reason. When it comes to animal production it's not about cruelty, it's about practicality. We don't do unnecessary chores. We've got enough to do without taking time to figure out new and unusual ways to hurt animals. We can solve our own problems. If people would be willing to spend more for locally raised products instead of the fastest and cheapest it would lessen the need for corporate farms.

My parting thoughts. Do you know what free-range and cage-free really mean? Free range: USDA regulations apply only to poultry and indicate that the animal has been allowed access to the outside. The USDA regulations do not specify the quality or size of the outside range nor the duration of time an animal must have access to the outside. You may now dispel any image of chickens running around happily in someone's yard.

Cage free is simply that, they aren't kept in cages. It does not mean they are not packed just as tightly or even tighter into a barn to produce eggs. This is often why chickens are debeaked, so that they cannot peck their cage free neighbor to death.

My final thought: think the HSUS and Mercy for Animals aren't connected? I found this post interesting.

Freemartin

I apologize for the confusion about freemartins. I thought I'd explained that and I probably should have linked to that post, but I'm lazy. So this Friday, our lesson will be about freemartins.

There is an excellent article that goes in to specifics here, but for those of you who just want the basics, I'll explain. A freemartin is the female of a set of male-female twins. During their development in utero, their hormones mix, making the female infertile. Since over 90% of these females will be infertile, they are typically raised as feeder cattle from birth. Some farmers keep them and check them at breeding age (typically 14 months), but it is rare to get one that can be bred. It is more expensive to raise a heifer than a bull/steer, so knowing that a female is a freemartin saves money in the long run. However, since we are unsure, it's better to err on the side of caution as a heifer makes more money in the long run.

So there is today's lesson! I had no idea what a freemartin was when I was dating Pat.

Sickness, Be Gone!

Our house has become an infirmary the past week. First Tate ended up with a double ear infection. Probably my fault. I was telling his teacher how he's never had one, so I doubted that's what his cold was. Less than an hour later he was complaining his ear hurt. Thankfully it didn't burst and he's been doing much better, although I think his cold is returning to his eyes. The poor kid looks like a raccoon.

Next up was me. I finally broke down and went to urgent care last night to discover I have bronchitis. Apparently my limit is 4 nights of no sleep before visiting the dr. Let me tell you how not fun bronchitis is. I'm hoping it clears quickly. I'm exhausted. I finally got an hour of solid sleep today, which is the most I've had in about a week. Fun stuff!

Today was Cole's turn. After complaining to everyone else, except me, that his ear hurt, I finally took him in. He too has an ear infection.

My goal is to make it through Thanksgiving with no impromptu visits to the doctor. I do have to go in next week, but that's when we should find out all about #3!

School Daze

I don't know if I've even blogged about school yet. Sigh, it's November already...

The school year started off a little rough for Tate. I think it was the combo of school 2 mornings a week and swimming 2 mornings a week. For about the first month we were on the go every day. That and me being gone with Cross Country every afternoon and trying to take away the nukkers, was probably not a good combination for him. He was rotten! He threw fits, refused to nap. Ugh! He was less than pleasant. Once swimming lessons were done, he seemed to do much better. He's actually kind of fun to have home alone.

He seems to be doing well in school. I haven't heard otherwise, so I'm assuming he's doing fine. I know he doesn't talk much, but he makes up for that at home. I'm still not sure about his teacher. She seems ok, but I have no idea what goes on at school. That's another blog post though.

Cole is doing fantastic this year. I am so glad we gave him another year of preschool before sending him to kindergarten. He is so much more outgoing and independent. He can name nearly all of the kids in his class. Last year he could barely name one. He even has a little crush on one of our neighbor girls in his class. The highlight of his day is if he gets to play with B~. He answers questions in class where last year he preferred to sit back and watch. I went to his pumpkin party at school last week and it was actually fun. Last year I had a clingy boy that didn't want to do anything if I wasn't right there. This year I got to watch him play the games and his excitement at all his candy and prizes. He's a completely different kid. His teachers agree too at how much he's changed from last year. I certainly don't regret that decision at all!

One of These Is Not Like The Other

Now that you have that song in your head...

We've had a lot of twins this past year. It's starting to slow down, finally, but twins come with problems. Yes, there are the typical difficult birth, etc. problems, but we've had a couple of unusual problems. Below are 3 calves, in order of birth. The first one was born 2 days before the last 2. First problem? These 3 calves are from 2 mothers. Which 2 would you guess are twins?

Second problem? The last one is a bull calf, which means one of the heifers is a free martin and no good. But which one? Unfortunately, this is the second time we've had this problem within about a month of each other. We'll raise both heifers as heifers and find out in about a year which one is good or not. Welcome to life on a farm!!!

Child Labor

Yesterday, I was paging through the the Farm Journal and I came across an article about proposed changes to Child Labor laws. This is what I read.

"The proposed changes prohitibt children under the age of 18 from working with animals in pesticide handling, timber operations, manure pits, and storage bins. They also prohibit youths at grain elevators, grain bins, silos, feedlots, stockyards, livestock exchanges, and livestock auctions.

Children under the age of 16 would be prohibited from operating most power-driven equipment as well as connecting or disconnecting an implement or any part of the machine. All youths would be prohibited from using electronic devices while operating equipment as well."

Now, I agree that revisions probably need to be made. The last revisions were done in 1970 and the world has changed just a bit since then. Here's my major problem: our country depends on agriculture, yet these labor laws leave us no way to draw interest from a younger generation.

In high school, our youth are encouraged to try out careers of interest. Want to go into the medical field? Intern at a hospital for a summer. Want to be a journalist? Work for the local newspaper. Want to try farming? Sorry, you have to be 18.

In our area, non-agriculture jobs for high-schoolers is pretty limited. Without being able to work with animals or at the local elevator, they are limited to the gas station and hardware store or having to commute to work in retail.

Agriculture can be a dangerous place to be. Large machinery + large animals + teenagers can be a recipe for disaster. However, if taught and supervised properly, it can be a very rewarding job for a high school kid. We've employed high school kids on our farm for years, long before I came into the picture. We have never advertised for help, taken applications, or conducted interviews. We have always had kids approach us about milking cows. Some are better at it than others, and some enjoy it more than others, but every single one of them has stuck with it until they graduated. Maybe they learned that dairy farming isn't for them, but they all learn the value of hard work and the time and effort we put in to caring for our animals and producing a quality and safe product.

My question is this: is 18 that much different than 16? So they have 2 more years of growing, but are they as easily taught as a 16 year old? The older they get, the more they know, and the less they have to take instruction from others. It's really not about 2 years as much as it is about common sense. You have to know the kids working for you and what they are capable of. In this day and age everything is about time, but if we slow down just a bit to teach proper safety, to show the proper way to do things, and explain the dangers, maybe we can avoid some of the tragic accidents that happen. Changing the law to 18 is really just about changing statistics. Now the kids getting hurt fall into the adult category and that's not really changing anything.

These laws don't apply to farm owners' children, which is probably where the majority of farm accidents happen. Having 2 young boys, 1 of which would live in the tractor if I let him, safety is very important to us. Our boys have been around cows and machinery since the day they came home from the hospital. That doesn't mean we get lax on safety. Our boys don't go into the cow yard alone. They know to stop and look whenever they hear machinery on the move. Most importantly, we created a safe place for them to play. Our backyard is fenced and they know that they can go play in there whenever they want. We are very lucky. Our oldest child is very cautious and is teaching his less than cautious brother good safety habits. We still try to be vigilant. The moment you aren't is when accidents happen.

I encourage you to comment on the proposed changes. Go to www.regulations.gov and identify your comments as RIN 1235-AA06. You have until November 1st. The whole article is linked at the beginning of my post.

Shocking!

It's very dry here. We've gotten a few sprinkles this morning so I left my car outside hoping for rain. The dryness has been great for getting the crops out of the field, although they are much drier than is optimal. This is the first year that anyone in the area can remember harvesting all of their soybeans without being interrupted by rain. We finished up our soybean crop on Tuesday and started taking out corn Wednesday afternoon. The combine broke down yesterday afternoon, so they spent that time fixing and headed back out this morning. We're hoping to get our corn out before the wind knocks it all down.

One of the biggest issues here has been fire. In the past week nearly every fire department in the area has been called out for a field or combine fire at least once. The process of combining builds up a lot of static electricity. Throw in heat, dry air, and wind, and you have a recipe for fire. In fact one area dealership called all their customers and told them to start dragging chains behind the combine to dispel some of the static electricity.

A few months ago, I would have laughed if someone suggested we'd be praying for rain this year. Now, we are doing everything we can to get it to rain. We've left equipment and bales in the field. About the only thing we haven't done is wash the car!

What Happened to Friday?

Oops, so much for my Fridays on the Farm goal. In my defense, it was a very busy day. So busy, I didn't even get a nap. Ya, I know!

So your farm update. This past week brought the start of soybean harvest. With the heat, wind, and no rain, things are drying down very quickly, almost too quickly. When harvesting crops, they allow for a certain percentage of moisture. Too wet, they dock points, too dry, they dock points. Usually too dry is not much of an issue, this year it is. The crop isn't great due to the early September frost and the super dry weather. It is what it is, that's farming!

We crop farm with Pat's dad and his uncle. Last night I was helping them move equipment from one field to the next. We're starting to look like big time farmers with 2 combines, semis, and a grain cart. It sure gets the job done faster.

Weekend Warriors

We had a busy weekend. We had been talking for months about taking the boys to Chuck E. Cheese. The closest one is in Sioux Falls. So Friday night we headed out, stayed in a hotel and spent Saturday shopping. We don't really need to do an overnight to Sioux Falls, but it's a nice way to get away. Saturday morning we got up. My husband, who apparently was on a strict time schedule, decided we needed breakfast by 7:30. Luckily that's what time the hotel's breakfast opened. My plan was to plug the kids in to some cartoons and sleep in. I figured we'd swim and hang out and check out around 11. Then head to Chuck E. Cheese for an early lunch and do our shopping. That way we could still hang around and have supper at some place decent before heading home. Apparently, Pat was not thinking so leisurely. We did do some swimming and hang out, but I think we were out of the hotel by 9ish.

Our first stop was Target, where we bought $100 worth of stuff that fit into one bag. Talk about depressing. After that, the hunt for clothing was on. Tate has outgrown nearly everything in his drawers and since he and Cole are the exact opposite body type, a lot of Cole's hand me downs don't fit. He also outgrew his shoes, again. Cole was a little upset that he didn't get new shoes, but he survived.

My big search was for a baby book. I got both boys's books from Walmart, but can't find them anymore. I checked everywhere, nothing. We stopped at Hallmark but I wasn't about to pay $50 for something that wasn't exactly what I wanted. Finally at the second Hallmark, I found this...

It's a little more boyish than Pat would like (he's threatening divorce if it's another boy. He's kidding of course, I hope:). I think it's cute. It was a little more expensive than I would have liked, but it's basically the same as the boys's baby books, just a different style. This one is an actual Carter's brand, where the boys's are the Walmart Carter's.

Anywhoodle, that was our shopping excursion. We did look at new computers, and DIDN'T buy one! That's a miracle in itself.

So on to Chuck E. Cheese. The boys were super excited. I think they watch a bit much PBS, but I suppose there are worse things in the world. We ordered our pizza, got our tokens, found one of a handful of tables not reserved for birthday parties (I think there were 6 or 7 that day), and headed off to play some games. Cole wanted to try a game where you pop balls into a red bulldogs mouth. Tate wanted nothing to do with it, so he tried something else. As we were sitting, attempting to eat the most disgusting pizza and breadsticks ever, Tate was freaking out over something. We thought it was the robotic Chuck E. or the noise. Finally we got out of him that it was the red dog. He was absolutely terrified of the game that Cole had played.

It looked something like this, only red and with it's mouth open, but it was terrifying to my 3 year old. We finished up our tokens on games far away from the red dog and left. On the plus side, Tate keeps reminding me that we don't need to go to Chuck E. Cheese.

We managed to kill enough time shopping that we headed for an early supper at Red Lobster. I don't like fish that much, or even shrimp, but I love crab legs and I've been craving them since I saw a commercial for Red Lobster this summer. It was delicious!

Bear with me, one last story. While we were at the mall, we stopped to let the kids play. A woman came up to me and goes "you were in the NICU." I remembered her instantly. She had twin boys about a month after Cole was born. It was kind of neat. Pat didn't really get it, but there were a group of us that were there for about a solid week together, right before Cole was discharged. I spent a week with these women who were going through the exact same thing I was. We all had babies at different stages, but we shared our stories and understood what it was like. I often wonder how their stories turned out and it was really neat to see a couple of the other 5 year olds who were a part of that journey.

Fridays on the Farm

I realize my posts have been very few and far between. I am determined to do better (at least for today:). In an effort to keep my blog slightly more organized, I am going to try a feature I call:

Wait for it...

Fridays on the Farm.

Bet you didn't guess that!

So every Friday (or at least every Friday that I get to it) I will post a bit of an update on our farm or tackle some agricultural issue that puts me on my soap box. Aren't you excited? Are there any of you left anyway?

For today, I'll give you an update of what we've been doing the last month around the farm. August and September are always busy months for us. August brings the 4th and final crop of hay for the year. We do 2 things with our hay. We chop it and bag it to make haylage. Haylage is fermented alfalfa. Due to the cows multiple stomachs and complicated digestive system, they like fermented food. That's keeping it overly simple. We bag as much of the first and second crops of hay that we can. We use the third crop of hay to fill our quota for the year and usually bale dry hay from the 4th crop and whatever doesn't fill a bag from the previous 3. The hay is sealed in the bags and needs at least 6 weeks to ferment before we can use it.

These are bags of silage (haylage bags are the same).

We chopped our silage a little over a week ago. Silage is chopped corn, stalk, husk, cob, and all. Silage time is much busier than hay. We get 4 crops of hay to make enough feed for our cows for a year, but silage is done in one shot. It took us about 3-4 12 hour days to get the silage put up for the year. (When I say us, what I mean is 6 guys chopping, hauling, and bagging, and my MIL and me making dinner).

Now that all the hay and silage is put up for the year, the wagons are cleaned, greased, and put away, it's time to focus on corn and soybeans. Pat has been busy working on his new grain storage bin.

A crew of guys came and put it up in about a day and a half. Pat has been busy working on the augers to put the corn in and to take it out. The corn stored in the bin will be used throughout the year for feeding. They will auger it out, run it through a roller mill to break up the corn, and use it for feed along with ground corn, dry hay, haylage, and silage. The goal is to harvest the corn for the bin, starting Sunday.

After that we may get a bit of a break while the soybeans die off and dry down. Of course, that break will be used to haul manure and catch up on maintenance of everything else that's been neglected for the last month.

In the meantime, the 4 1/3 of us will be heading out tonight for a much needed trip out of town. The boys and I are in desperate need of some better fitting clothes. I'm already wearing my one pair of "fat" pants and I think I only have 2 pairs of maternity jeans. Well, I'm off to pack!

A Little Bit of Big News

I've been exhausted lately, and feeling poopy, but I've got a good reason.

Yep, Baby 3! I'm officially due April 8, so we are expecting the little one sometime in March.

Cole is super excited. I had an appointment yesterday, along with ultrasound, so Pat brought the boys to the ultrasound. Cole was so excited we thought he was going to cry. The tech printed pictures for each of the boys to have. Cole wanted to take his in to Pizza Hut so he could tell the lady at Pizza Hut. He tells just about everyone he sees. He's so funny! Tate is excited, but mostly because Cole is excited. I think it will be a rude awakening for him, but he'll survive. He's definitely got the middle child gene.

We are going to do things a little differently this time. Hopefully the end result will be a full term baby. My next appointment is with a high risk Dr. More than likely that consultation will result with me being put on progesterone shots starting as early as 17 weeks. I'm not excited about that, but I would love a full term baby. (I may regret that when it comes time to deliver a 9 lb baby). I'm not really excited about the high risk Dr. I've met her before, post partum with Cole, and she's very matter of fact. My regular doc is very easy to talk to and to ask questions, and this one is very my way or the high way, this is the way it is, type. Not my favorite.

As for the inevitable question? Yes, we are going to find out the sex this time. We didn't with either of the boys because I didn't want to know. Pat has always wanted to know and he's always wanted a girl. I figure this time he can get his way (finding out, I can't make it a girl :). We are obviously ok with a healthy baby of either sex, but a girl would be nice. A boy would be easier, but a girl would be a nice change! Don't worry, we won't keep it a secret. If Cole found out the secret is blown anyway! As for the name, that we may keep quiet. We've got a girl name picked out, which is odd because we could never agree on a girl's name for either of the boys. We had a boy's name set, but never a girl's. Maybe that's a good sign?

Would You Do It?

Before I started cloth diapering Tate, I bought my diapers online. I got large quantities and I didn't have to go to the store to get them. It was great. Now I'm just plain lazy and wait until the last minute hoping I won't really need to buy more diapers, but alas the second child is very stubborn.

Anyway, that's not what this post is about. So I "liked" my online supplier (diapers.com) on Facebook. They post a question of the day. About a week ago, the question was "when did you tell everyone you were expecting?" What cracked me up were the posts of "I'm so many weeks but we haven't told anyone yet." Um, you just announced it on facebook, idiot.

That isn't what this post is about either. Yesterday, the question was "If you could buy your child anything, what would it be?" I was surprised that the top answers were a big swing set/playhouse, a house remodel so the kids could have their own rooms, and a college education. Now, I'm not opposed to any of those things, completely, just partially.

The swing set/playhouse I have no issues with. Who wouldn't love a playground conveniently located in their back yard?

My boys share a room. They probably will for the rest of their lives in this house. Our house is set up so that even if they had separate rooms, one of them is far from private. I'm ok with that. My sisters and I shared (rotated every year, so one year alone, 2 years sharing), but only until I was 7. I think there are many benefits to sharing rooms, especially when the kids are young. Privacy is important, but sometimes so is the invasion of it.

Next, a college education. We fully intend to help our kids pay for college. The key word is help. I don't want college to put my kids into eternal debt, but I don't want to give them a free ride either. I know many kids who were given a free ride by their parents and wasted it because they didn't have to pay for it. I hope my kids have a better work ethic than that.

One commenter even remarked that they give their kids everything and how very blessed they must be. *gag* Sometimes denying your kids is the best thing you can give them. Don't get me wrong, my kids have plenty of stuff, way more than they need. The things I want for my kids, money can't buy: a strong faith, a good work ethic, respect, education, etc. That's what I want for my kids. Everything else is just "stuff."

All In A Days Work

Today we:

• went to swimming lessons
• picked up vet supplies
• watched them start our new grain storage bin
• helped bale our 4th crop hay (more Cole, not so much me)
• started chopping corn silage (again, less me, more everyone else)
• were followed for the feature A Day in the Life for the Dairy Star

What can I say, life is never dull around here!

Houseboat Vacation

Our houseboat vacation was a blast. It was the perfect weather for a few days on the lake. It was so nice to not have anywhere to go or anything to do.

The kids did a little unsuccessful fishing

and a lot of swimming. Who needs to stop for snacks when you can eat it in the water?

We found a little time for relaxing. Tate was fake coughing in this picture and it cracks me up every time.

Our attempt at a family photo. In hindsight we should have tried this on the first day instead of the last.

My sisters and me on gorgeous Table Rock Lake.Our home for 4 days.

I'm Baaack, For Now.

I realize I've been on quite the blog hiatus. While I can't promise you my return is permanent, I want to reassure you (if any of you are left) that I didn't fall off the face of the earth.

What can I say, it was a busy summer. I was hoping for a relaxing one, but I should know by now that such a thing does not exist.

At any rate, summer is over and the kids are back to school. I for the first time, since I was 4, am not back to school. At least not back to taking classes. I didn't want to feel completely left out, so I picked up a fall coaching job. I'm coaching our local cross country team. It's been fun, but tiring and frustrating at the same time. I am anxious for our first meet this week.

I will try my darndest to give you a few summer recap posts, but for now I will leave you with this. My boys started school last Friday.

Birthday Cakes

Growing up, my mom always made us a special birthday cake. I remember having a Winnie the Pooh cake at some point. I'm sure there Strawberry Shortcake cakes and who knows what else, but every year it was something special. If I had a picture from way back when, I'd post it.

Anywhoodle, birthdays just aren't birthdays without torturing myself into finding a little creativity and making a cake for my boys. This year, Cole wanted Spiderman. I talked him out of a Viking cake because I had NO idea how that was going to materialize. Spiderman has his own special cake pan with instructions.

The second child is always a little more difficult. He likes what his brother likes but I wasn't about to do Spiderman twice. Instead, he came up with an airplane cake. Should be simple right? It wasn't actually too bad, thanks to google. I found a bunch of different ideas, and decided to try some fondant. It could have been better, but it looks like an airplane right?

At least I can take a break for another year. That's one nice thing about having birthdays close together!

The Belated Birthday Post

My baby is 3! Don't worry, I didn't forget his birthday. Blogging has just taken a back seat to just about everything else for a while.

Hard to believe that 3 years ago we got to meet this guy, 6 weeks earlier than expected.

But he grew and grew and loved to show his personality right from the start.
He loves to push the limits and get into trouble,
but it's been so much fun (mostly) watching him go from baby to little boy!
Happy Birthday, Tate! We love you!

Happy 5th Birthday, Coley!

Happy Birthday, Coley!

It's been an amazing ride. From a rough start...

and another bump in the road...
to a pretty awesome 5 year old!
Happy Birthday, buddy! We love you lots!

If You Marry A Farmer

I read this on Facebook today, courtesy of my SIL. It's originally found here and is too good to not pass on.

Be patient.

When he tells you to go to the Lone Tree Quarter and you go to the quarter of land that has the one tree on it and he tells you that he meant the quarter of land that had one tree on it when his grandfather was farming ... well, that's just how farmers think.

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Be flexible.

When he says he'll be in the house in 20 minutes for supper and then two hours later he walks in the door ... well, maybe he should be the flexible one. That way he can duck when you throw the plate at him.

Be willing to laugh.

When he's mad that the 3-year-old had “helped” Dad by putting all the parts he needed in the handle of the floor jack ...well, that's just plain funny. Even if he doesn't think so.

Be willing to change your view of norm.

Walking into church 10 minutes early, enjoying the prelude music and visiting with a few people is no longer a normal part of life. Walking into church 10 minutes late, realizing your 4-year-old is still wearing his “rubby” boots and wondering if anyone else smells cow, is.

Remember that he relates to new situations by connecting them to ones he knows.

For instance, when you're having a child and the doctor says he might need to assist in the delivery and he says something like, “But where do you hook the chains?” Well, he's just trying to relate. Or if your children are on the bigger side when born, and he calls the Select Sires rep to try to figure out what his calving ease score would be but isn't feeling too bad because he's not breeding heifers any more anyway ... well, he's just trying to relate.

Throw out the calendar.

Yes, it may be your anniversary, your birthday, Thanksgiving ... but since the weather is perfect for ______ (fill in blank) you might need to celebrate tomorrow or next week ... or maybe three shindigs in one. Happy Anni-birth-giving!

Keep your temper.

When he calls - as you're feeding four children, giving one a bath after eating, trying to get some laundry done, washing dishes and trying to find the cat that someone let in the house - and he asks you if you're “doing anything” ... well, just count to 10 ... slowly. Then backwards. Breathe.

Remember that cows and children are different.

When he comes in the house covered in manure, yet the smell of baby poop makes him gag ... well, isn't that just sweet?

Be willing to love - whatever life throws at you. With a farmer it will be a lot. You can't change the weather, the conditions, the fields, so you might as well look at it with a light heart.

Thank God for each day.

It's not always easy, but even the tough times can be good experiences.

GPMS

Last fall we received a "free" GPS from one of our seed dealers. I think it actually cost us about $2000 in lost yield compared to the other brand of seed we bought, but I digress. I was super excited. I was hoping to have it in time for our trip to New Orleans last summer, but that didn't happen. Since then we really haven't gone anywhere we didn't know how to get to, until this spring.

A few weeks ago we headed to a wedding in Nebraska. Now, we both know how to get to Nebraska, it was just a matter of picking which route to take. We decided, since we had plenty of time, to take the scenic route, against the GPS's wishes. Normally she calmly recalculates and moves on. Apparently GPS's have limits. After a couple dozen recalculations, she, like many women would, started giving us the silent treatment. Despite her silence, we made it to the correct location without a problem.

She's not always moody. Yesterday, the boys and I headed out to stay with my mom for a couple of days while my dad is gone. Instead of stopping for fast food, I decided to pack a picnic lunch and stop at a park. Wouldn't you know, she found the perfect park for us. Just off the highway, with a bathroom even! The equipment left something to be desired, but that was ok since that meant my boys wouldn't want to spend forever there.

So maybe she's redeemed herself from her silent treatment. I'm hoping she'll guide us to our houseboat vacation without incident :)

A Little Slice of Heaven

I am kid free until tomorrow night. I am also a farm widow unless it rains today. It's like a vacation without having to leave home!

The boys took off with Grandma and Grandpa for a wedding in St. Louis. I would love to have gone, but such is life on the farm. I am thoroughly enjoying being alone. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids and will be happy when they are home, but everyone needs a break.

So what did I do on my first night off? I mowed the lawn (heavenly, I know). Then I sat down and read a book, WITHOUT interruptions! That's a very rare thing.

My plan today is to run errands, BY MYSELF. I have to go activate my new phone (thanks Sam!) and I thoroughly look forward to going to Verizon without having to corral my kids every 30 seconds. I'm also washing sheets since I don't have to worry if Blankie will be dry by nap time.

Speaking of washing sheets. I went up to strip the boys' beds this morning and discovered the Farm Industry News in my son's bed. I guess if we keep with those kinds of magazines as he gets older, I'll be a happy mom ;)

Myth Busters: Dairy Edition

Myth #1: Only bulls have horns.

Ok, so I'm going to embarrass my sister with this one. She was under the impression that only males have horns. In fact, all Holsteins, male and female, are born with horns. However, we dehorn them at a young age. Horns can be very dangerous, to us, and to the other cows. Dehorning isn't full proof, and occasionally you'll get a cow with a bit of a horn or two, and they know how to use them. That is why we dehorn. There are breeds of cattle that do not grow horns, but most Holsteins do.

Myth #2: We have a calving season.

I get a lot of comments and questions about how our calving season is going from family, friends, etc. Those who raise beef cows typically have a calving season in early spring. However, in the dairy industry we need to supply milk year round which means we need to have cows calving year round. There are a few dairy farmers that can time their calving so that they have time off from milking, but it's tough to do. We tend to calve heavier in the spring and fall, but we have baby calves year round. Ideally, you milk a cow for 10 months after calving. We try to breed them 2 months after calving, so they should have a calf every year. That's ideal. Of course, like humans, cows don't always get pregnant as planned. It takes some longer than others and some cows we decide not to breed anymore. Once a cow is pregnant we milk them up until 2-3 months before their due date. Then they get a vacation where all they have to do is sleep and eat. We've had cows that we didn't breed back that have milked for years before they dried up. So we always have calves and we always have milking cows. That way you always have milk to drink!

Random Ramblings

Ok, so here's our life update, in bulleted form:

• I finished student teaching and it's been really nice being home, mostly.
• I did not pass my licensure test, so I have to wait until July to retake, which means I won't be able to get my license by the beginning of the school year, so no teaching job for me next year (I wasn't planning on getting one anyway, but I was hoping to go through the interview process this summer). I missed by 9 points, which is like 2 questions.
  
• Tate is potty training. Any suggestions on how to get a kid to poop in the potty?
• Cole is super excited for his birthday (June 10) and the houseboat. He tells EVERYBODY about it.
• We've had way too much rain, so much that our sewer backed up in our basement. Fantastic! It also means we need a new septic tank, to the tune of $10,000. Just when I thought we were starting to catch up again with $!

I've been in kind of a pessimistic mood lately (if you couldn't tell). It's not been a fantastic couple of weeks, but the sun is shining. The boys and I are heading up to help plant the rest of our garden. Maybe a little dirt will lift my mood!

Nebraska...the good life

If you've ever been to Nebraska, that is the sign that greats you as you enter the state. I always loved that. Nebraska is where I really found myself. Sounds cheesy, I know. The 2 years I spent in college there are the years when I came out of my shell and met some of the most awesome people.

This weekend, we got to go back. Ironically, it wasn't for friends I knew in Nebraska, but for a wedding of one of Pat's NDSU buddies. It was a blast. As is typical of Farmhousers, the wedding party consisted almost entirely of FH guys, nearly all of whom are married with kids or expecting kids. It's kind of nice that we are all in the same place in life. One thing that struck me this weekend is that of all the FH wives of Pat's pledge class, I've been around the longest. Apparently, as usual, I'm the trend setter :) We got married first, and had kids first. It just strikes me as odd for some reason. At any rate, it was a blast to be together, dance, drink, and have fun.

This morning we headed to church nearby. The pastor there was my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade teacher. His wife also taught with my parents many years ago. It was fantastic to catch up, even if it was brief. They have a very friendly church and I'm sure we could have spent all morning visiting. Instead, we had to head for home. Getaways always seem to be too short. Such is the life of a dairy farmer. Off to chores...

Surprise! It's Triplets!

It's Monday. I only have 2 more Mondays left! The weather is finally a little nicer out. When I got home today I asked Pat how his day went. His response: "you'll see when you feed your calves." So I wandered back to feed my calves and discovered these:


Not just one...
or two...or even three...
but four new baby calves.

Two sets of twins, or so I thought. Turns out, we delivered our first set of live triplets today. Two bulls and a heifer, so not quite Dairy Star newsworthy, but still exciting.

Here they are, about 5 hours old.

My Perfect Child

I often wonder how God decides to give us the children He gives us. Sometimes I wonder if He was so unconfident in my parenting skills that He gave me Cole. Then I look at Tate and think He must not think we're total failures and decided to challenge us a bit.

For instance, how many of you have children that put themselves down for a nap?

The boys have had a little more (ok, a lot more) screen time than I would like. Cole is constantly asking to play the iPod and Tate knows way more cartoons than he should at age 2. I'm trying to limit it, but sometimes it's just hard.

Sundays are typically nap days. For me that means a nice long nap curled up in bed. For Pat that means sleeping in the chair in front of the TV. We've tried the whole "go play downstairs" thing, but Cole will typically hide behind a chair and sneak a peak at the TV. If the TV is on, he cannot focus on anything else. He's starting to be able to tell time (the hour anyway), so we're working with that. Last Sunday he was watching cartoons while Pat was sleeping and I was ready to head in for a nap myself. We typically make him lay down for an hour on Sundays. I realize this won't last forever. So I told him after his cartoon was over to go lay down until 3, and HE DID IT!

I'd love to say it is all due to my phenomenal parenting skills, but I'd hate to make you laugh so hard milk comes shooting out your nose and ruins your computer. All 2 of you are drinking milk while reading this right? Anywhoodle, I do not know where this kid came from. At times like these, it's fantastic raising a 60 year old in a 4 year old body :)

Goodbye March!

Look! An update! From me!

Amazing, I know.

How is it that time can seem so slow, yet go by so fast? I only have 4 weeks of student teaching left. 4 weeks! I'm still teaching a full load, but am hoping to drop a class next week. I am so ready for life to return to "normal."

I've missed being home. There are days when I wonder if I really want to work full time and at this point, the answer is no. I enjoy teaching, but being a farm mom is a full time job and one that won't go away just because I have a "real" job. We shall see what life brings down the road.

My farm chores have gotten a little bit easier. My Kubota calf feeder is up and running. We're still working out the kinks and trying to figure out the most efficient way to feed calves, but so far, so good. Right now my biggest time consumer is washing my pails. That used to be the quick and easy part of feeding calves. Once I'm done student teaching, I'm hoping to adjust the routine a little bit more.

The boys are doing great. We had Cole's parent teacher conference last week. He's made steady improvement throughout the year, which is great. He loves going to Mrs. O's room. She's the special ed teacher and pulls out 5 kids from his class. He does well in the small group and they also see it as a special treat since they get to go during rest time.

Tate is still 2. He's full of stories, most of them not understandable. His favorite phrase is "but, Mommy..."

March Mudness

Ok, so I stole the title, but it was too good not to use, especially with what I woke up to today. Last night's storm brought in a big nasty mess. Snow on top of slush on top of mud. It would have been really handy to have my Kubota this morning, but someone buried it in the shop this morning and then someone else caused a few more issues (that weren't totally his fault) so I can't use it tonight either. My wagon doesn't work very well in this junk.

I'm hoping this is winter's way of saying farewell, but you never know around here. Today was by far the worst commute I have had all winter. That's saying something compared to some of the junk I've driven in. Today was so bad I actually came back home. I drove through roads flooded with slush (not smart, but there was no way to turn around), a highway that felt like a field, a county road down to one lane of tracks. The best part of the trip was the gravel roads back home, and they were no picnic either.

This is what our farmyard looks like. There really isn't a way to clean it. The snow/slush is so heavy it's hard to move. Underneath that is soft gravel/mud.

Come on spring! We need a little heat and a whole lot of sun!

The Kid Who Failed Preschool

I remember talking about that kid and just this week my students were talking about it and asking how do you fail preschool?

Cole is going to be that kid. Kindergarten round-up was a couple of weeks ago, and we didn't go. I feel awful knowing that some day he may be teased for it, but on the other hand, it will be so much better for him in the long run, and that is what is important.

I've had a lot of people question our decision. Most of them try to do the "but he's smart!" comment. It's not about being stupid or smart. It's about being ready, and he is not. I've answered the questionnaires and we've gotten his spring progress report, and according to all the standards, he's ready. But he's not. He still struggles and I don't want school to be a struggle. I want him to be challenged, but I don't want him to struggle.

I'm sad to see this group of peers move on without him. He's not particularly attached to anyone, but I've known a lot of these parents since our preschoolers were babies. Some of them we'll meet again with Tate, but others will move on without us. It's the right decision, but a sad one too.

My New Toy

Sorry for the bloggy break. What can I say? I've been busy.

School is going well. Only 6 weeks of student teaching left. I've been teaching all of the classes for the last 2 weeks and will probably give up a class in the next week or so and work my way back down to nothing. It's been exhausting, but I'm having fun.

Life on the farm is much the same. I get up, feed calves, go to school, come home, feed calves, feed kids, sleep, and repeat. My calf barn is still a no go, but today we did go shopping for a new farm toy, for me! I never get any farm toys. So since they gave me a big NO on my calf barn, we've been coming up with other ways to make my job easier. Not that my job is tough, but there has to be a more efficient way to do it.

Currently, we mix all of our milk replacer in individual pails and haul it in a wagon to our calves. My wagon holds 13 pails, so it usually takes a couple of trips. The wagon was a new feature just a couple of years ago. Before that we carried everything, 4 pails at a time. That worked until I ended up making 5 trips and my fingers were calloused and sore, hence the wagon. The wagon works, but the plan is to move all my calves to the back side of the barn. Currently we have 8 pens in the front. That means up to 34 calf pails, or 3 trips with my wagon. I don't mind the exercise, but when there are a million other things that need to be done, time becomes an issue. Which brings my to my new toy: the Kubota RTV. The plan is to build a tank so I will mix up all of my milk replacer in the tank and then fill pails at each individual calf pen.

We had discussed this plan earlier and my father-in-law currently has a Polaris Ranger to drive back and forth. We thought we could just use that, until my FIL realized that it would mean losing his Ranger. Suddenly getting a new vehicle was a brilliant idea! Amazing how that works. So today Pat and I went shopping. We tested out the Kubota first, and then headed to check out the new Rangers. For our purpose, the Kubota was the better option. We aren't planning on doing a lot of off-roading with it, although in the spring, it sometimes feels like it.

The down side to our new toy is that we are getting rid of some of our other toys. Pat sold our 6-wheeler, which isn't a huge deal. It was only ever used for spot spraying and rock-picking. He's also trying to sell our snowmobile. We're both having a tough time with that. On one hand, we hardly use it, but on the other hand, the boys really love it. I imagine another one will be purchased in a few years.

At least this week I have something to look forward to on Monday: a new toy!

Spring?

The first sign of spring on our farm is almost always kittens. Unfortunately, I think our cat, Peanut, jumped the gun a bit this year.

These 3 greeted me with lots of crying early Sunday morning. It was not what I was expecting as I rushed to feed calves and go to bed after chaperoning our church lock-in. Digging them out of the calf hut and moving them inside, to a safer location, slowed me down a bit, but they are still living! It took Peanut a bit to settle down in her new home, our vet supply room, but she's adjusted now. We certainly don't need to add to our cat herd, but I feel bad just letting them die. Their chances may not be great, being born so early in the year, but at least now they have a chance.

My Beat Up Babe

After a trip down the stairs that ended with the train table, and discovering how hard a school cafeteria floor really is, this is how my baby fared.

What the HSUS Is Good At

A friend of mine recently forwarded this interview to me. If you don't have time to watch it, the article is most of what goes on. The interview itself is fine. The president of HSUS is very good at his job, which is to be a smooth talker. He really doesn't say anything of substance other than he wants to sit down with the agriculture community and talk. You see, that's worked really well for them in Ohio.

When I think Ohio and the agriculture community, my mind immediately goes to the Ohio dairy abuse video that perused the web last year. Now, the HSUS wasn't behind that video, but like-minded individuals were. I'm not about to sit down and have a calm conversation with anyone who treats their animals like that, or stands by and watches it. After negative media what choice do you have but to sit down with the most notorious group and try to redeem yourself? To me, it feels like blackmail.

There's been a big push for the agriculture community, particularly the dairy industry to fight back, promote ourselves, and assure consumers that our animals are well cared for, and our products are safe and healthy. That's easier said than done. We aren't just selling a product, we are selling ourselves. Our product is our life. It's what we do from sunup until sundown and beyond. We don't leave the office at 5 or take Sundays off. Most of us prefer to mind our own business and keep doing what we've been doing, but suddenly we are pushed into the lime light and have to answer to people who have no idea what a farm looks like, let alone the work it takes to run one. The industry hasn't had to defend itself before and isn't quite sure how to react. I'm not saying people don't have a right to question where their food comes from. Everyone has that right, and should question it, but you should also think for yourself.

I don't think we should have to sit down and have a conversation with the HSUS. If legislation on animal and food safety is going to be made, it should be made by the people who know what it takes on a daily basis. That process is happening. The CEO of our milk cooperative is currently sitting on a board in Washington, D.C., that is trying to figure out what is best for the dairy industry and our consumers.

So to the HSUS, we don't need to sit down with you because we don't answer to you. You are not the one who should decide what is best for our animals and our products. That is our job and I think we do it pretty well.

A Letter to Your Legislature

So if you've read my blog at all, you know I feel very strongly about a few issues; organics, car seats, and breastfeeding. So today I will once again be standing on my breast feeding soap box. So Michelle Obama is trying to promote women to breast feed as part of her health initiative.

I have never had an issue with weight. I've never been past 34 weeks of pregnancy, so I never gained a ton of weight with either of my boys. What I can tell you is that my oldest child is now 4 1/2 and has been to the doctor for illness maybe 5 times. My youngest has been once, that I can recall. During their first year of life, while they were being breastfed, Cole went to the doctor once and Tate never went. I firmly believe that was because I breastfed them.

Michele Bachmann, who I'm ashamed to say is from the same state, thinks that providing support, and tax cuts for breast pumps to women who want to breastfeed, would create a nanny state. Wait, what? Heaven forbid breastfeeding become the norm. I mean, that wouldn't be fair to people who choose to formula feed. Only, isn't the government currently the largest buyer of infant formula? It's called the WIC program, Michele! Yes, they "try" to promote breastfeeding, but giving a voucher for cereal, juice, and carrots, isn't exactly the best promotion. Can our politicians get any dumber? Let's use just a wee bit of common sense before we open our mouth next time, ok?

A Little Taste of Spring

This weekend has been gorgeous! The temps topped off in the 40s. Long johns were shed, and coats were replaced with jackets. Of course, I've spent plenty of it catching up on my sleep. Today, about a dozen of our yearling heifers decided we had been inside long enough, so they decided to unhinge a gate and go wandering. I got a nice little jog around the yard out of the deal.

The boys took advantage of the temps to sport caps and jackets instead of their stocking hats and coats.

Even the mikhouse cow made an appearance. She has only been seen one other time this winter.
Granted, I wasn't the only one to take a nap today. King Tate also zonked out with his BK crown from yesterday.

Losing Ground

I've been subtly pushing for a calf barn for the last few months. I almost had them convinced. We were to the point where we were picking out a spot for it to go and researching what type of barn we wanted.

So what happened?

Well, in the process of finding a spot for my barn (our farm yard is full of buildings, so anything new pretty much either goes in the yard of the house or in the field) the guys found a spot to build a sick pen and a bathroom. They decided they could move some of my existing calf pens and add on to the holding pen for the parlor. Their building needs take precedence over mine.

If that wasn't enough, they looked at my death loss and it's something like 1% and most of those were things I couldn't help. A couple of them were illnesses that I didn't catch in time, but the others tended to be things like clostridia, which has no treatment. So I'm losing out on my building because I do too good of a job. Go figure.

I'm still fighting. Our calf hutches are wearing out and some are in desperate need of repair, but at this point I'm fighting a losing battle. It's not a total loss though. They did decide to buy a milk mixer that I can haul on a golf cart instead of making numerous trips with pails in my wagon. I don't mind the wagon some times. We could all use the exercise, but for about 9 months out of the year, I'm hauling the wagon through mud or snow and that is tiring.

My hope was that a calf barn would make my life easier and be better for our calves. Our calves stay clean and dry in our hutches, but it's hard to see if they are in need of bedding, or if they are sick when it's dark out. In the winter, animals also drink more water, but it's hard for me to get them water. It means hauling water in pails through the snow and mud and then dealing with pails full of ice. That was my biggest hope for a calf barn, that I'd be able to give them water every day since I could fill the pails with a hose and it wouldn't be such a long haul to thaw out the pails later. For now I guess I'll just keep doing what I'm doing. There's always next year!

Snow Day #2

I've been student teaching for 4 weeks now. We have yet to have a full week of school. Last week was close with only one late start. This week, we are on our second snow day, and it's only Tuesday. Next week, there is a chance for a full week and the weather, so far, is looking ok. We shall see. I'm perfectly fine with the shortened weeks, but it makes it really hard to go back.

At any rate, we've been enjoying our time off. I've been avoiding folding laundry like the plague but did manage to clean floors yesterday. It helps that we bought a new vacuum this weekend. Nothing like new stuff to make you want to clean occasionally.

The boys and I headed out early for chores yesterday afternoon so we could have some time to play. The idea was to go out after dinner yesterday and wear them out so they would take naps. Neither one of them ate so that ruined my plans. Cole has been complaining of a sore throat, so he actually wanted to take a nap. He's a weird kid.
The puppies also enjoyed the snow. Angus and Juno both love the cold and snow and love to play with each other. I think Yogi actually hates Angus. He's taken after him a few time and hauled off and bit him a couple of times. Not a nice playful bite either. It took him a while to warm up to Juno too, so I'm hoping by this spring Yogi won't hate Angus quite as much. At any rate, our playful snow dogs: