My New Herd Sire

This little guy will grow up and some day be my new herd sire. Isn't he a cutie?

(Photo courtesy of Cape Fear Miniature Jerseys Wilmington, NC)

Cupp's Chicken Chronicles

I have had a "make-shift" chicken arrangement for the last three years. We recently found a storage building for a good price on Craigslist and purchased it. We are having it moved to the house today and it will be my new chicken house! My chickens are free range and only go into the house to roost at night, however, in inclement weather it will be nice to have a big enough place to keep them in if necessary. This new house will also help keep out predators and will be big enough that I can section of a portion for the smaller chicks that I am starting. I am really excited about it!

On a side note, I have eight new chicks that hatched out today! I have not been able to get any hens here at the house to be broody enough to hatch eggs for the last couple for years. However, at the other farm there are some game hens running around that we do nothing with except gather their eggs and eat them! They are the broodiest things you have ever seen, but there is not rooster with them. So, when one went broody, we switched out her infertile eggs for eight eggs from my RI Reds. She hatched every one of them! We put her and the peeps in a cage and will let her raise them for a few days and then I will take them and put them under a light!

New Angus Heifer Calf weighs around 140 pounds!

In contrast to the miniature calves that are being born on the farm, we had the biggest calf Mike has ever seen born on the farm today. Mike, his dad, and a neighbor had to pull the calf but mother and baby are doing fine. Mike and his dad estimate that the calf weighs close to 140 pounds. That's a far cry from the 25 pound miniature that was born here a week ago!

Samantha the Holstein

Seven Months

It's been seven months today since you went away. Although I have learned better how to manage the pain, I still miss you very much. For a moment, yesterday, it was almost as if you were still here. I caught myself expecting to hear your door creak as it opened and to see you come around the corner on your way to work. I miss you, Sweetheart, but I know you are in a better place.I imagine you sitting at the Father's feet and playing your guitar with that big smile on your face. While it seems a long time for us who remain, for you, it is but a moment until we are reunited face to face.

I love you, Josh.

Mom

Too Many Animals

and not enough pasture!

Mike is working on adding another pasture for us and can be seen here clearing the fence line. We are going to have a big bon fire!

It's a Girl!!!!!!!!

After three long years of (not so patiently) waiting for a heifer calf from one of my Miniature Jerseys, I was blessed to wake up this morning and find a healthy, little, Jesey girl waiting for me! She is bright eyed and bushy tailed and momma is doing great! Momma is from original Ralph Martin stock and a perfect girl with an awesome disposition, great udder and nice teats! This new little heifer will remain here at the farm as breeding stock.

Cookie

Cookie is a beautiful Jersey/Dutch Belted Cross cow who came to our farm last fall for a rendevous with my bull, Peanut. When my friend, Elyssa, decided she needed to sell Cookie, it didn't take long for me to realize that she needed to come to our home to live! Cookie's calf is due in June, which will give her plenty of time to get use to her new home before the baby arrives.

Tribute to Emily~My Little Beef Cow

Farming is a roller coaster. There are beautiful highs and then there are the struggles that are just part of the job.

My favorite beef cow, Emily was found dead this morning. We are not sure what happened. Mike just called and told me.

When Mike and I were dating, Emily was born. She was a twin and her mother accepted the bull calf but would not accept her. I begged Mike to catch her for me and let me bottle feed her. That was such a funny day watching him run around the field chasing the little black calf. Mike is incredibly fast (he still plays basektball twice a week in spite of being closer to 50 than 40) and it was all he could do to catch her! Finally, he got her and jumped on the back of the truck with her. He asked me to drive and I did. I was busy watching him and the calf in the back of the truck..........Mike sitting on the edge of the truck and the calf between his legs while he bottle fed it as I drove across the field. I was in love with Mike and the calf and couldn't keep my eyes off of them! Next thing I knew, I hit a big rock and as the truck bounced over, Mike and the calf went flying through the air. In the rear view mirror I saw the bottle in an arc flying through the air, then the calf, then Mike! I stopped and found the calf running across the field and Mike on the ground looking at me and I just started laughing and could not stop.

That's actually when I knew Mike really loved me. He didn't get mad but got up and chased the calf down again and we took her to the house and fed her.

At that time, I was working with a handicapped young man who was in a wheel chair. He loved to hear my stories of the farm and when I told him about the calf, he wanted to know what I had named her. I told him that I wanted him to name her, and he named her Emily.

Mike explained to me what a freemartin is and that Emily would more than likely never be fertile. He told me that she would end up being beef. I just didn't say anything. Eventually, he gave Emily to me and he knew that she would simply live out her life on the farm because she was my girl.

We had her at the farm house and everyone who came to buy produce would pet her and play with her. Finally, when she was big enough to wean, we put her out to pasture with the other cows. Mike mentioned several times that we should take her to the stock yards, but I always talked him out of it. "Maybe she's not a freemartin", I would say.

I remember the day that Mike was working cattle and was running them through the chute. It was Emily's turn. Mike called me over and showed me how to bump a calf because Emily was pregnant! I did a happy dance right there! Literally! All the guys were shaking their heads as I squealed in delight! It was the coolest thing to bump Emily's calf.

Emily ended up due in January and every night for three weeks before she calved I had Mike get up and drive down to the farm to check on her. The last week, he checked several times a night. He knew that we could not let anything happen to Emily because she was my girl.

Early one January morning, Emily gave birth without incident to a beautiful little heifer calf. I named her Lil E and called her "Lilly".

Emily was heavy bred with her second calf when we found her this morning. She was a good girl and my miracle cow. I will miss her.

Emily and Lilly

Chicken

The theme for the day has been chicken. I didn't plan it that way, exactly. It just kind of happened. I had planned on picking up some five week old pullets from my friend who had a nice mixed flock of birds started. As I was getting ready to go, I remembered that today was 21 days since I had put my Rhode Island Red eggs in the incubator. I ran back to the bedroom (yes, I said bedroom) where I have the incubator and sure enough! There were two peeps in the incubator. I later came back to actually see one coming out of the shell! That was exciting. Then, Mike decided to convert a feed room into a chicken house on the end of one of our cow shelters. So, I went down and helped him with that. Afterwards, we took off and headed to my friends house to pick up those pullets. She had about ten whole chickens cooking on her smoker that smelled delicious. So, we got the young pullets rounded up and paid for and bought a smoked chicken as well to eat for supper tonight. Mike also plans on butchering a couple of Cornish Cross birds that we have been needing to put in the freezer today. Seems the whole day has revolved around chickens!