What Every Woman Wants........

.........to feel beautiful and a wall mount mini wet/dry shop-vac! That's right a shop-vac. I sent Zoie into the hardware store to look for a shop-vac. When she was checking out, the friendly salesman said to her, " I have to admit, in all the years I've worked here I've NEVER sold something like that, to someone so young.......... for their Mother! " Lately while milking it has become a real pain trying to sweep up the stray bits of grain, and mineral dust, and there are a few spider webs in the corners, it got me wishing I could vacuum the milk parlor. I think the wet application will be handy in there as well, I'll have to read the manual tonight. It is a nice womanly touch that the thing is small, wall mounted and comes with 7 accessories!
After our trip to the hardware store our next stop, logically, would be the cosmetics aisle at Rite Aid! Of course ! You know I didn't get out of there empty handed, having gone in with my 4 daughters in pink sundresses! Somehow, Zoie and I get this HAIR brained idea we should color my hair! Mom, are you panicking yet? ( My Mom is a hairdresser, and gets nervous when I pick up scissors because she knows I will and have cut my hair several times actually )
So we hurry home and giggling, send Dante out to work on the fence for another hour and then get busy. This photo is AFTER. " Brown Sugar " is the name and it is desribed as a light golden brown. I thought it would be fun to go brunette for the winter. My hair was already some kind of a dirty blonde, light brown anyway so nothing drastic but it was fun nonetheless!

Charlottes Web and The Blue Hill Fair

In case you didn't already know, The Blue Hill Fair was the inspiration for the fair described in E.B. Whites famous children's book, Charlotte's Web. My Mom and I took all 5 kids to The Blue Hill Fair today. It is a tradition. We went every year when I was a kid, showing up as soon as the gates opened. Now my Mom and I carry on the tradition, and while we don't make it there quite as early as we did when I was a kid, we still get there at an impressive hour and try to wrap it up by lunch, just when the crowds thicken.
My favorite parts are the dairy cattle shows, horse pulls, and sheepdog trials. The kids like the rides. I'm becoming an older goat each year. I actually am embarassed to admit that I got a bit nauseous on the ferris wheel! When I was a kid I went on the highest, fastest, wildest rides and now I'm panicking on the ferris wheel. Maybe because my life is the wildest ride and I don't even need to buy a ticket to ride!
The kids have grown so much, Ayla is finally 36 inches and can get on some rides without me ( be still my pounding heart! ) and Zoie was actually too tall for the bouncy house. This brought a few tears for her and the realization even closer to home for me, that she is growing up.
I got a delicious spinach wrap and an iced Chai tea from my favorite little coffe house in Ellsworth that I rarely get to visit. Now I am exhausted, and am gonna take the easy way out and finish the day with another child pleasing meal, english muffin pizzas. Even Ida May is down with that.

Rambling

I enjoyed myself today. nothing much exciting going on. My Mom and I took the 3 little girls to a playground. Ironic isn't it? We live on a 150 acre " playground " farm, but they still like to go play on a little playground. Yes, I climbed the rock wall and went down the slide a couple times, much to Veda and Ayla's delight. The sun was shining, cows were well behaved. Henerietta is still too cute, but getting to be a pest! Luckily Happy is an overbearing Mom, much like myself, and keeps a tight rein on her.
I am working hard on Ayla's numbers, and it is paying off. I want this pump so bad, I dream about what Life will be like after! I'm not kidding, I had dreams last night about all the little pockets I will sew on the inside of her dresses and pajamas to nestle her little pink pump safely into.
Now this IS exciting news, my sister Erika and husband Ken welcomed their second baby into the world. Little Lelia Claire. 8lbs and 19.5 inches long. Can't wait to see her!
Tommorrow its off to the Blue Hill Fair. I'd prefer to spend the whole time at the cattle barn but I guess I'll cave in and take the kids on some rides too!

My Milk Fever Prevention Experiment

Here's an explanation of " Milk Fever " or Hypocalcemia in Cattle, courtesy of The Merck Vet Manual.
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/80302.htm

Here's a dramatic video. You can see why we milkmaids, dairy farmers, and family cow owners have the hair stand up on the back of our necks at the very thought of it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFf8BjU2p8U

I bought a cow last December,Happy to be exact actually, from my very favorite little Jersey dairy. Somehow we got on the the topic of milk fever and I asked them how they treat it, etc. and they said, " Oh we don't see any cases anymore since we switched to dry cow minerals". I thought, that's it? Dry cow minerals? No anionic salts or low calcium feeds or prophylactic tubes of calcium? Nope. I decided to do some things differently for the cows calving in 2009, knowing I had some big producers calving in that would be good candidates to test this theory.

In the past I had not given them any grain during the dry period, no alfalfa, and tried my hardest to catch them in labor and force the calcium paste down their gulletts while sweating bulletts the whole time about milk fever. For the record I haven't had a bad case previously, but Gale tries to go down and always requires extreme vigilance, and usually gets ketosis a couple weeks post calving.

Here's what I changed this year and so far, 3 for 3, have had excellent results.

I bought some minerals specifically for dry cows. This is the big part obviously. Starting 3 weeks before calving I have been bringing the cow in, feeding a scoop of grain and mixing in a handful of dry cow minerals. 2 weeks before due date I up it to 1 scoop twice a day with a handful of dry cow minerals. Depending on her condition, I might increase it to 2 scoops twice a day but ALWAYS with a handful of dry cow minerals mixed in. The key is to use minerals SPECIFICALLY designed for dry dairy cows.

Here's what I use. http://www.poulingrain.com/pages/3246/Poulin_Dry_Cow_Mineral_II.htm

Anyway, I really feel the combination of feeding them well leading up to freshening, with proper mineral balance has been making a big impact. When Gale calves in January it will be the ultimate test. She is prone to both milk fever and ketosis as she is tiny, 700lbs right now at her biggest ever, and being a VERY high producer.
I was afraid that feeding them grain before calving would leave them even more susceptible to milk fever but I think it is the inclusion of the dry cow minerals, and the fact that it is any easier transition from dry to lactating, that there is less stress on their system. I've had no metabolic issues, didn't even need a single tube of calcium paste, the cows effortlessly transition to lactating and have calved in with the best body condition scoring I've ever achieved! No fresh cow mastitis either. Anyway, I'm becoming a believer.
I've certainly spent many sleepless nights over calving Jersey cows the last few years and it was the thought of finding one of my beloved cows in a state such as that poor cow in the you tube video that kept me awake.
Won't you try this experiment with me?

Pump Visit

Today we had a visit with a diabetes educator CDE, concerning our desire to have Ayla on an insulin pump. Man, it was like a test. We were questioned, quizzed, and graded. Overall we were in pretty good shape, need to work more on our record keeping. We also need to have a visit with the Dr. next week, and I think they will order a pump after that.
We got to get our hands on the animas ping, the pump we've chosen and feel it, push buttons, we even each got an infusion set inserted. I'm happy to say firsthand, that it hurts more having your finger pricked for a bg check than it did getting the set inserted. She will have a pink pump and pink infusion sets. Best of all rarely any shots after that. I cannot wait! We are 2 1/2 hours from the diabetes center, and pump start is intensive, with quite a few training visits, so it will be difficult but the rewards are many......................
..........................Okay, just getting back to finishing this. Ayla fell headfirst into an impossibly small crack in between my bed and hers trying to climb into bed. Really scared us! I thought she broke her neck or at least would be bloody when we pulled her out by her feet, but she is apparently fine! I swear, these kids are trying to scare me and prepare me for every conceivable emergency imaginable. I think I have aged so much in the last 2 years. A couple days ago I found my first grey hair. Are you kidding me? I'm 31 years old.

Washouts from the Rain

Here's the old farmer himself. Who just said he doesn't want a pic of him on here, but alas it is in the name of good journalism so I will prevail. He was retrieving a wayward water trough that got washed away when the brook flooded the cow pasture.


This is May's Brook. Our Friend or Foe depending on the season. She waters livestock during times of drought, and frequently washes away our road at her fancy.

Got some good rain last night. Actually it started yesterday morning, continued all day and of course intensified around the time we needed to milk the cows. Zoie and I decided we better lock Happy and Henrietta in the calving stall because on our property we have not 1 but 2 brooks that converge right at a low point of our driveway and usually flood with heavy rain. You wouldn't believe how much that water rises and flash floods. It's dangerous. Anyway, last year we had a scary situation where it flash flooded and left the milk cows on one side, bellowing, and their calves on the other side, bawling. There was nothing we could do, and the calves kept wading out into the fast moving water. That's how fast the water rose. Obviously I wasn't feeling up to a repeat of that performance.

Last night, it was raining horizontal and the cows were freaking out a little, somehow Happy left the field and Henrietta got separated and then Ellie and Chia panicked and chased her headlong down the field over the rising brook. GREAT! We had to rescue her, get her back to the gate, by this time Happy had turned around and was like a steam roller charging through the rain, then Chia went crazy and again tried to chase Henrietta away! I made a grab for Henny's collar and the safety released, leaving me sitting in you know what with a little collar in my hand. Luckily Zoie was onto this game and gave Chia a good " escort " away from the area, Happy reclaimed Henny and away we went. These pics do not show the flood stage at all, and for the record we've had MUCH more severe flooding. This was pretty insignificant, but made it a little interesting anyway.

Olde Sow Bookshelf......

Well, I'm one of those people that always has 3 or 4 books going at once. One just isn't enough, I've always been a voracious reader. Here's what I'm currently reading:

The Birth House by Ami Mckay
http://www.amazon.com/Birth-House-Novel-P-S/dp/0061135879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251502064&sr=1-1

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Anne Shaffer and Anne Barrows
http://www.amazon.com/Guernsey-Literary-Potato-Society-Readers/dp/0385341008/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251502415&sr=1-1

The Master Butchers Singing Club by Louise Erdrich
http://www.amazon.com/Master-Butchers-Singing-Club-P-S/dp/B000Q6GY1M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251502554&sr=1-1

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
http://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Saga-Book-1/dp/0316015849/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1251502797&sr=1-1