Farm News

​11-6-19  We have a 6 week old kitten that likes to climb the side of the chickens' water tub and get a drink out of it.  She's too short to reach it properly, so she hangs on with her front paws, back legs dangling a couple inches off the ground, and leans way in to drink.  She makes me a bit nervous, but it's not deep and she's in no real danger.  Some years ago, I was standing near the cows' water tank when a young cat, inexplicably, leaped high up in the air and landed in the 3' deep tank.  Before I could hop the fence to rescue it, it surfaced, doggy paddled over to the side, clambered out and commenced to drying its fur.  That was the day that I learned that a cat can swim if it has to!

​10-17-19  "Loop" to the rescue again.  Ron had the cows in an area where they had to exit along the edge of Wagon Creek while making a sharp turn.  Cows do not like obstacle courses and were standing at the edge of the 2 inch deep water pondering their next move.  Fortunately, Loop came through and led them around the bend and up to the barn.  You can see her in the lead in this picture.

​10-3-19  Ron and I were bringing the cows up from the pasture for the milking when we came to the gate across the lane.  Actually, the gate had been opened earlier, but you wouldn't have known it based on the cows' behavior.   Even though it was open and even though they've been through this gate hundreds of times, they kept milling around and circling back just as though it was closed.  Finally, "Loop" made her way to the front of the crowd and led them through the invisible barrier and on to the barn.  "They really do wait for Loop to take the lead, don't they?" I commented.  The next day, we took them through the same route, and Loop happened to be near the front and led them up the lane with no hesitation.  Our herd has way too many followers and too few leaders it seems!

​9-26-19  The ongoing summer weather, good rains, and a late calving season for half of our herd have combined to give us a bountiful supply of milk this fall.  Our milking season will end sometime between Halloween and Thanksgiving--most likely when we have a hard freeze.  In the meantime, we continue to be entertained by the cats who come into the barn at milking time.  Tux the cat is so eager for some tasty, fresh milk, that he cannot wait for us to fill the calf bucket.  He's discovered that he can reach the milk with his paw, so that's how he gets his treat until the bucket is full enough to drink out of it in the conventional way.

​9-12-19  When we go down to get the cows in the morning, we usually see a large flock of cattle egrets.  These white birds spend the day with the cattle, eating ticks, frogs, etc.  When we get close to the herd, the birds will rise up en masse, filling the sky with a cloud of white.  Often they'll roost in nearby dead trees, looking like living Christmas ornaments.  In the evenings, we see strings of them headed north to Salt Plains Wildlife Refuge to spend the night.  Very pretty!

​8-29-19  Ron woke me very early on Sunday morning with the announcement that a huge thunderstorm was coming down from Kansas.  We quickly set up the barn and headed out with flashlights to find the cows.  We got behind them and moved them toward the gate, but some got excited--probably by the changing weather as well as the novel experience of being rounded up by flashlight--and began capering and running back the wrong direction.  We got them circled around again, made it to the barn and got the milking done just as it started to pour.  We were soaked by the time we got into the house, but were sure glad we finished without having to dodge lightning bolts.  And, we got done early enough to have a nap before heading off to church!

​8-1-19  We milk our cows every morning around sunrise and all the farm cats know this.  The largest group of cats and kittens gathers outside the barn door to wait for a pitcher of fresh milk when we've finished.  This place is like Chuck E Cheese, with yowling cats and kittens falling all over themselves to get to the dish--even though there is plenty for everyone.  This summer, a couple of cats have discovered that they can avoid the ruckus by slipping in the back door of the barn during the milking. We catch milk for baby calves in 5 gallon buckets, and they can drink out of those. In this sideways video, you'll see the cat who is so impatient that she cannot even wait for the milk to get into the bucket.  Finally, there is "Tux", who lives up to his elegant name, by waiting patiently outside until the last cow has exited. He then makes his grand entrance and drinks from the calf buckets once they are positioned on the upper floor.  No competition, no noise, just good food!

​7-26-19  On Tuesday, we had a guest from Afghanistan visit our farm.  Nazila is a young lady with a dairy / kitchen business in Kabul. They milk 4 cows and make butter, yogurt, a buttermilk drink, etc.  They also make jams and pickles. She supervises 10 employees and hopes to grow her business in the future.  She wanted to see a dairy that is making similar products. This is the third time we've had an opportunity to meet ladies that are a part of a business training program and it's fascinating to hear their stories.   https://ieew.org/  

​7-11-19  It's quite hot and dry here--though it's still very muggy.  Yesterday, a new calf had gotten separated from Mama when we moved cows from one side of the farm to the other.  It's nearly impossible to find a hidden calf, so we had to take the whole herd back to the previous pasture so the mother could locate it.  It was terribly hot, so on the way down, I stopped by the hose and gave myself a good soaking.  I drove the cattle down toward the creek and was delighted to find the calf waiting there.  So, we needed to turn the cows around and send them back the way they had come.  Well, the calf didn't get very far before she decided she'd much rather just hang out in the shade.  My efforts to get her back to her feet were in vain and I was getting really hot again.  Since we were near the pond, I decided that, despite the snakes, I'd better get in and cool off.  So, I took off my boots and slipped in to the cool water and hung out for a while with Ruby the dog.  Once I was sufficiently cool, I went back to the calf and got her moving.  When she caught up to her Mama, it was easier to keep her on track.  But it was still a long hike.  By the time I'd made it to the stock tank, I was hot enough that I figured I'd better stick my head in.  So, by the time we got everyone where she should be, I was a soggy but cool sight, and the cows were probably wondering why in the world they had taken such a round about walk to their fresh pasture.

​Extra Farm News: Aunt Hope turned 90 this week.  She said she's always wanted to ride in a hot air balloon, and decided to give herself a present.   So, she's scheduled to go up around sunrise on Saturday in Tulsa.  I don't suppose they will fly anywhere near the farmers market, but it would sure be fun if they do!

​6-20-19  Cow Shaming: "Bug" the heifer has wicked horns and has been beating up on her herd mates. Somehow she was missed as a calf when her group was dehorned and it would be hard to do anything now. So, we've wrapped them with pool noodle pieces and duct tape. It won't hurt her a bit, and should protect her companions.

​6-6-19  Since Ron broke his leg a month ago, I have been very disciplined about checking the entire perimeter fence of each paddock before sending the cows in.  With flooding and deer around, fences can get knocked down.  Saturday evening I was getting the next area ready, but I was hot, tired, bug bothered and my socks were full of cheat. (You wheat country people will know about the cheat.)  I checked most of the fence but thought, "That north side is permanent fence, I don't need to check it."  Big mistake!
  Sunday after church, I took a nap, but it was interrupted by the dreaded call, "Cows are out!"  Our friend Jon was nearby and joined Cara and me to round them up.  They had gone 1 3/4 miles and ended up in a pasture with a pond near the fence.  I'm sure they were thirsty after their stroll, and stepped over the low fence to get to water.  There was no gate anywhere along the road, so we tried and tried to drive them back across, even laying the fence all the way to the ground to get them over, but, the cows wouldn't even consider crossing the fence they'd wantonly stepped over earlier.  The three of us couldn't surround them very well because the pond was right by the fence and the cattle kept getting back in the water.  Finally, cousin Joe showed up and found a gate along the cross road, so we were able to get them out. Then it was a mile and  a quarter trek back to our farm.  It seems the old adage is true: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

​5-23-19  Tuesday evening, I noticed one of our young heifers on the wrong side of the fence.  I got her back where she belonged, but realized that another heifer was missing.  It was too late to look, so I hoped she'd find her way back.  As I moved away, I nearly stepped on a newborn fawn!  It was so well hidden in the grass, it couldn't be seen from just a yard away.  Two days later, Tim (summer helper) and I were checking fences and trying to find the missing heifer.  This time it was Tim who almost stepped on it!  Mama had moved it to a different spot.  What are the odds of finding a tiny fawn twice in a big pasture?  Especially when we couldn't find the big heifer?  Happily, it turns out that our heifer got through a washed out fence and ended up at Aunt Hope's place.

5-16-19 We're adjusting to the new routine with Ron's broken leg.  Our summer help is here now and that's a relief.  The young ladies that help me in the creamery have really stepped up to the plate and taken on more responsibility as I'm spending a lot more time with the outdoor work.  The hardest job has been sorting the milking cows from the dry cows each morning, but I finally got smart and "painted" all the fresh cows so that they are easier to spot.

​4-17-19  Since we're running on a skeleton crew until a couple of college helpers arrive next month, I've been doing quite a bit of milking with Ron.  All 30+ milk cows are together in one herd, but only 14 have calved so far.  So we bring the whole group up from the pastures and then sort off the "dry" cows so only the milkers are in the holding pen.  This exercise can be a real test of a marriage as I guard the gate while Ron hollers, "Let the red one out!"  I'm looking at two red cows coming at me.  "Which red one?" "That one!"  "Uhhhhh??"  You get the idea. Fortunately, Ron and I are still good friends; the cows are getting better at sorting themselves and I'm getting better at recognizing them.

​3-27-19  This year, the new heifer (girl) calves will get a name beginning with the letter "E".  Since this baby was born just before my dad's 86th birthday, we named her "Earl Girl". 

​2-28-19  We've had the iciest winter I can remember.  Fortunately it's been very light--lots of days with freezing drizzle or ice fog, so we haven't had issues with power outages.  We're sure glad we aren't milking in weather like this.  Moving cows to the concrete holding pen where they wait their turn to get into the milking barn would be dangerous.  Cows do not like skating rinks!  However, they don't have problems walking around on grassy icy pastures.  The upside to all this ice is that William has had at least 6 "snow days" off school so far.  The bad news may come later depending on how many snow days were built into the school calendar!

​2-6-19  We had enough freezing drizzle to cancel school today, but not enough to cause any power outages--very happy about that!
  We are on track to to be able to feed 50+ cows on 150 acres though the winter without bringing in hay or protein cubes.  Years of intensive, rotational grazing are paying off in improved soil fertility.  There is enough forage that Ron can hold back large areas for grazing as "standing hay" throughout the winter.  Of course, winter isn't over yet and if we get a big snow, we will have to bring in a bale or two of hay!

​1-9-19  We have an upside down feed tub with a hole in the side which sits in a sheltered spot on straw covered ground.  This has become the cat house with more than half a dozen felines sleeping there each night.  When they hear someone open the door to our house, they all exit that cat house in less that 3 seconds, because they are hoping for a treat.  Lately, I've noticed that a few seconds after the last cat is out, a red hen makes a more dignified exit. She has discovered the warmest bed on the farm!

​12-19-18  William has been building a straw bale fort in the yard and marvels over how warm it is inside there.  He put a plastic tank on top as a roof and then covered that with more loose straw.  But chickens cannot resist the temptation to dig through hay, so as soon as he's gone, they come by and knock all the loose hay away.  William finds this aggravating, but I told him that's just they way chickens are.  At least they cannot damage the structure of the fort--just ruin the aesthetics!

​11-28-18   This is the time of year when egg production plummets.  It's fascinating (and a little frustrating) that the less daylight there is, the fewer eggs produced.  Production will pick up again around February as we head toward spring.  Here in Oklahoma we have about 10 hours of daylight this time of year.  Our daughter studying in St. Petersburg has 6 1/2 hours daylight now.  I wonder if hens that far north lay anything at all!

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​11-22-18  I was carrying a bucket of feed to the hens that are out on the pasture.  They are enclosed in electric netting to keep them safe from predators, so I turned the electricity off while I was working.  "Lion" and a few other cats followed me out there, no doubt hoping I had something tasty in the bucket.  Next thing I knew, Lion had slipped through the netting and was hanging out with the hens while I fed and watered.  I'd forgotten about him when I was ready to leave and was just ready to turn the hot fence back on when I spotted Lion still inside the netting.  Fortunately, he always comes when I call, so he slipped back through before I turned it back on.  He would have been a very unhappy cat if he'd tried to slip out after the netting was hot!

​11-15-18  Monday was a "snow day" so William had no school.  He and I had a snowball fight with some good natured trash talking going on: 
William:  "Ha Ha.  You couldn't hit the broad side of a barn!"
Mom:  "Oh yeah!  You throw like your mother!"
Talking about my aim reminded me of an incident when I was about William's age.  A couple classmates and I were walking home from school (Salk Elementary) on a snowy afternoon with a few older boys walking a bit ahead of us.  "Hey Barbara.  See if you can hit them with a snowball", my friends urged.  I barely knew one of the boys and didn't want to start anything, but the girls kept on pestering me.  Finally, just to shut them up, I decided to lob a snowball in the general direction of the boys.  I made the most pathetic, girlish throw I could manage, intending it to go nowhere near its target.  But, I watched in horrified fascination as that snowball sailed through the air in a perfect arc and landed on top of a boy's head.  The boys turned around in fury and my friends helpfully chorused, "She did it!"  I took off running, hoping to get around the boys and to the safety of my house, but I got pummeled.  I learned two things that day--the meaning of irony and that you shouldn't do something just because someone tells you to.

​11-7-18  Often in western Oklahoma we miss out on the fall colors; we just go from green to brown.  But this year has been lovely.  We've enjoyed hiking around the farm taking in the beauty of the season.

​10-18-18   I had bath towels hanging on the clothes line the other day.  One of the kittens was playing around underneath and jumped up onto the towel with claws extended.  She hung on for several seconds swinging back and forth.  I guess it was a lot of fun, because I saw her do it again a few minutes later!

​10-11-18  We had 7" of rain from Saturday through Tuesday morning.  William and I went out Tuesday afternoon to check out Wagon Creek.  A week earlier, the creek was so dry that William and big sister Natalie buried each other in the sand, but on Tuesday, several hours after the rain ended, it was a raging torrent.  Well, that's hyperbole, but it was knee to waist deep and moving very fast.  Since I was there to supervise, I let William wade and explore.  He had a great time marveling at the power of the water.

​9-20-18  We used our all natural lawn mowers this week on the farmyard.  Although they don't do a perfect job, it's pretty impressive how much the will eat.  We'd a lot rather have them do the work than us!  And, the hens make a pretty good clean up crew as they scratch up the cow pies.  After a couple days, you can't even tell that the cows were there.

​9-13-18  We had a 3" rain last week, so Wagon Creek  was flowing again for several days.  William and I hiked/waded up the creek to see all the changes.  It's amazing what the power of water can do, even in a small creek like ours.  Big logs were moved around, areas that used to be deep were silted in, etc.  And, although all the swimming pools in the area are now closed, a boy can still get wet!

​9-6-18   I've been wanting to put some more signage up along our fence by the highway to help make sure our local community knows what we have for sale.  I had time to paint a couple the other evening and had quite an audience.  One dog and a handful of kittens needed to be in the big middle of everything.  They didn't make the work any easier, but did make it more fun!

​8-30-18  This wet summer has been wonderful for grass growth, but has also produced a bumper crop of mosquitoes.  However, we are noticing dozens and dozens of dragon flies around the buildings in the evenings.  This is the first time I remember seeing any this far away from the ponds or creek. We read that they eat mosquitoes, so we are happy to see them!

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​8-23-18  This will be daughter Cara's last market of the season as she leaves next Wednesday for a semester abroad in St. Petersburg Russia.  We're excited for her to have such a wonderful opportunity, though I must admit I feel like I'm losing my right hand since she's been helping at the creamery and market all summer.  For growing up in such a rural area, our kids have been privileged to have had a lot of international experiences both abroad and at home.  Would you believe we've had people from at least 17 nations visit our farm over the years?  Pretty cool!

​8-16-18   Our oldest son and his family were here for the week, so we had a lot of fun on the farm with our 4 grandchildren.  Our youngest son, "Uncle William" is just 3 years older than our oldest grandchild, so it's fun for him to have a house full of playmates.   The grand kids loved feeding chickens and gathering eggs, playing with all the kittens, playing in the stock tank and more.  Now it's pretty quiet around here, but I think the hens are a little relieved not to have little hands checking for eggs several times a day!

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​8-9-18   Today is the first day of school for William, our youngest child.  Like most 4th grade boys, he wasn't ready for summer to end or for school to start.  However, this morning, as he was waiting for the suburban (rural kids don't necessarily ride in a big bus--to few kids to fill it up), Mama cat and 2 of her kittens put on quite a show.  They were pouncing on each other, wrestling, chasing tails and performing acrobatic flips.  So, William went off to school with a smile on his face, thanks to "The Cat Show".

​8-2-18  We only managed to hatch out one chick this season and she's been in a hoop coop with her mama for several weeks.  This week I figured she was big enough to exit the coop.  First I let the two of them out in the evening for a short time.  My biggest fear was that a cat would get her.   After a couple days of short jaunts, I let the pair out for good.  It's been fun to see her around the yard.  She's about half the size of an adult, but still has her baby "peeping" voice.

​   7-25-18  Recently, the link to this article on the crisis in dairy farming was passed on to me.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/best-advice-u-s-dairy-farmers-sell-out-fast-you-n887941
 One of the most telling sections of the article is: 
At Walmart, shoppers in Kentucky can buy a gallon of milk for as little as 78 cents, but that’s far less than what the company paid for it or even what it cost the farmer to produce. Stores often sell milk at a loss since it’s a staple and customers may pick up more profitable items as well.
On average, farmers spend $1.92 to produce a gallon of milk and make $1.32 when they sell it to processors. This is the fourth year in a row that farmers’ milk prices have dipped below the cost of production.
“We could buy all the gallons of milk out of the grocery store, bring them home to our bulk tank, pour it in there and sell it back to them and make more money,” said Carilynn Coombs, Curtis’s wife.
 How grateful we at Wagon Creek Creamery are to be out of the commodity game and to have the opportunity to sell dairy products directly to our customers.  It's not easy, but we have many more options than the farmers in this article.  Thank you  to those of  you who make the effort to support small, local farms!

​8-8-19  I was hanging laundry and idly watching a hen nearby, when suddenly she jumped straight up and snatched a ripe sand plum off the bush.  "Hey!" I hollered, annoyed that she should steal one of "my" plums.  But, immediately, I had to laugh at my selfishness.  We have thousands of sand plums this year and it doesn't hurt me a bit to share with the birds.  Besides, she'll probably turn that plum into an egg!

​7-18-19  At long last, the final calf of the season has arrived.  "Nora" produced a baby girl, sporting a mustache and panda eyes, this morning.  This was a strange calving season because the 3 bulls brought in last spring gave up on the job only half way through.  Once we realized that half the herd wasn't bred, we brought in another bull who cleaned up.  Now, all the 2019 babies are on the ground, and we have 27 cows milking. I wonder if the later calving means that we will be able to milk later into the fall.  We'll see what happens!

​7-4-19  I got a photo of the ripening sand plums, put my phone in my pocket and commenced picking. Almost immediately, I heard a loud, angry "buzzzzzzz" and jumped back in alarm looking for the offended wasp. Before I could spot anything, my heart nearly stopped when a man started singing "Shoo fly! Don't bother me....." The buzzing and music were coming my phone which had randomly set itself on "music" and had chosen a song from "Children's Favorites". No other song on that phone would have made me react like that!  

​6-27-19  It was a day of multi-tasking.  I needed to make deliveries to OKC, but the red van was having issues. It was time to look for a van with fewer than 250,000+ miles on it.  Additionally, the favorite farm cat needed to be dropped off in Enid to be neutered.  Since we had some leads on vans in the OKC area, Ron and I decided to go to OKC together in case we found a van to purchase.  But first, the cat.  The vet had given us a cardboard cat box to transport him in.  We got him securely enclosed and headed out.  We weren't 2 miles from the farm when we heard him scratching and tearing.  By the third mile, he had torn a hole in the side of his "cage" big enough for his head to stick out.  I was driving, so Ron was petting the kitty's head trying to keep him calm.  Didn't work.  By mile 4, the cat had torn his way free and was loose in the van and somewhat distressed.  Ron (who tolerates cats, but isn't particularly interested in them) did a good job of trying to keep the cat calm and away from me.  But a couple of times, the cat ended up on my lap, and once on my head!  We were glad to get that passenger dropped off!  We got all the deliveries done, and, we found a good used van in Moore, OK!

​6-13-19  I found a newborn calf Tuesday morning when I went to get the cows for milking.  Mama had cleaned it off good, but it was too weak to stand.  It had been a tough delivery.  The calf was in rough shape and couldn't stand up to nurse.  Cara brought a bottle of colostrum down and was able to get a little nourishment in him.  Later in the day, she tried again, but the calf wouldn't drink.  I didn't think the calf would survive, but in the evening, I took another bottle down just in case.  To my surprise the calf was alive and drank a little more milk.  Mama cow had abandoned the calf by this time, and the calf was totally unprotected in the pasture.  So, Ron hopped (literally) into the pickup--crutches and all--and drove down.  The calf was so big, that it took Cara, William and me to lift it onto the flatbed of the truck.  We put it with the other new arrivals.  Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, we had to tube feed the calf to get enough nutrition into him to give him a chance of survival.   Cara has been giving him a lot of TLC and has him nursing from a bottle well now and he even stood for the first time today.  He's still pretty wobbly because his legs are crooked and weak, but Cara is giving him some physical therapy and we are hopeful that he will make it after all!

​5-30-19  When I went to get the cows yesterday for milking, I noticed a cow was starting to give birth; the forelegs and nose were visible.  The herd was most uncooperative, and it took me 30-40 minutes to get them headed toward the milk barn.  In that time, the pregnant cow hadn't made any progress.  I wasn't sure if I should interfere or not, since I didn't know how long she'd been working at it, but decided I'd better try to pull it.  I calmly approached the cow and sat down behind her, gripped the slimy legs of the calf and pulled.  No movement.  I tried again and attempted to see if I could tell when she was pushing.  I couldn't really, but kept pulling and after a few minutes out came the head, quickly followed by the rest of the calf.  I was afraid it was dead at first; it looked really rough.  I rubbed on it and saw that it was breathing and then got back to let mama take over.  She wasn't overly attentive at first, but finally got serious, and the calf looks great now.

​5-9-19  Last Friday, after I was already in Tulsa, Ron called to let me know that he was headed to the ER because he'd fallen in the pasture and had injured his leg.  We found out he'd fractured his fibula, so he's in a soft cast and on crutches for the foreseeable future.  So, my workload has increased dramatically.  However, we've had wonderful folks helping out with chores, meals, etc.  Our daughter Cara just got home from college this evening and our summer milker arrives next Tuesday.  So, we're grateful that the injury wasn't more serious and that we've got a good support network.   

​3-20-19  Today we had the first milking of the season.  We have 8 fresh now, but 6 are heifers (first timers) and only 2 are experienced cows.  We thought that having so many youngsters in the barn might make things---exciting---but, fortunately, most went in easily and stood still for the milking.  However, one heifer turned on us and hopped right over a gate.  Tomorrow, that gate will be higher!

​2-21-19  We finally got snow!  It was the first good sledding snow we've had in a number of years.  School was let out early on Tuesday and cancelled on Wednesday, so William got to enjoy the winter wonderland.

​12-27-18   Christmas day was lovely, so the kids were able to try out their Christmas hammocks.  Ruby the dog decided to join Cara in hers!

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​10-31-18  The cows are on maternity leave now.  Production dropped by half from Oct. 15 to 22nd, so it was time to call it a season.  Ron still has to move the cows around to fresh pasture regularly but doesn't have to get up for that 4:30 milking!  We're both ready for a slower pace for a while.

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Summertime!  Photo by Natalie Crain
June 14
Farm News:  We had a broody hen, so I set some eggs under her 4 weeks ago.  Last Saturday, one egg hatched.  It was an eggs from the white hen, so it will be interesting to see what color this chick ends up being.  The rooster is red and the hen is white, so I told William that the chick will probably be pink when it grows up.  He doesn't believe me. :-) ​
May 31
Farm News:  Rain! Rain Rain!   We've had 3 good rains this past week, totaling over 6".  That's more rain that we've had in the past 8 months total.  We are very grateful.
More Farm News:   The mama cat, Ginger Claw, hid her 3 tiny kittens about 10 days ago.  We looked everywhere we could think of, but couldn't find them.  We tried following her when she came to the house for dinner, but she was too wily.  I assured the kids that she'd eventually bring them here when she got tired of being their only source of nutrition.  Sure enough, she brought them out yesterday.  It's amazing how much bigger they've gotten.  They're still too young for cat food, but in another week or so, we'll be able to help mama cat out with the feeding.
May 24
Farm News:  Our county continues to be in extreme drought conditions.  We have a portable pasture irrigation system that Ron is using to keep an area of bermuda grass growing.  But what we really need is rain!
Better Farm News:  We got our first pullet egg this week!  Our group of 175 young hens are getting close to producing now.
May 16
Farm News:  Ginger Claw, the black cat with an orange toe, had her first litter of kittens this week.  I spotted them under the a.c. compressor.  Not a very good location, so we fixed a nice box and our daughter Natalie gathered up the kittens, put them in the box and then put the mother in with them.  She carried the box of cats to the shed where they would be much safer.  Once the box was back on the ground, the inexperienced mama jumped out and went back to the compressor, searching for her babies.  Natalie picked her up and took her back to the shed and put her in the box with the kittens again.  Natalie said it was funny because the cat seemed delighted to see the kittens, even though they had made the original trip in the same box together just a couple minutes previously.   Happily, she's settled in and taking good care of them. 
May 9
Farm News: In honor of Mothers' Day, I will tell you my favorite "Farm Kids Say the Darndest Things" story which happened about 15 years ago.  
  Ron and I had been discussing a story in the news in which a hiker had survived a mountain lion attack by fighting it off with a pocket knife.  A few days later, we had all 5 kids in the van when Ron stopped to check on the cattle.  While the kids and I waited in the van, the bull came up to the gate near us.  I took this as a teachable moment to remind the children that they were NEVER to go into a fence with a bull because he could kill them. 
 "Not if you have a pocket knife," piped up 5 year old Cara from the backseat. 
"Oh honey," I replied, "Do you really think you could kill a bull with a pocket knife?" 
"Well," she reasoned, "You could cut that part off and make him a nice boy!"

April 18
Farm News: After cleaning the dairy barn, I got the basket and went out to gather eggs, still wearing my clunky barn boots.  While stepping over the hot wire, my heel caught and the eggs and I went crashing to the ground.  Only my pride was hurt, but the half dozen eggs I'd already collected were a smashed mess on the ground.  Ruby the dog quickly came up and started eating the eggs and a bit later, the hens came over and ate all the shells.  So, at least I didn't have to clean up anything!
April 11
Farm News:  This year all the heifer calves are given a name starting with the letter  "D".  Our little neighbor is named Lily and I was teasing her that she was going to have to wait until she is 20 years old before she would have a calf named for her.  We had a heifer born a few days ago and Ron asked me for a name.  With a burst of inspiration I said, "Day Lily".  Now we have a beautiful calf and a happy little girl.
April 4
 Farm News:  White Hen, who lays the bright white egg, has been sneaking into the barn to lay in one of the old feed pans.  The other day, we milked earlier than usual.  She sauntered in expecting to go to work, but the cows were in her way.  First she looked with one eye; then cocked her head looked with the other eye.  Then she stretched her neck as high as she could to try to see her "nest", but couldn't.  Ron and I were quite amused, wondering what was going on in her brain.  Finally, she got brave and walked between the cows' legs and jumped into the pan.  Of course, this startled the cow,  which startled the hen who made a hasty escape with much flapping and squawking.  I guess she came back a little later, because I found her white egg in the pan some time after the milking.