Loads of Trouble

So things are starting to pick up again around the farm.  It's harvesting time and although the deer ate just about every bit of our crops this year, we still have our non-gmo corn to pick and non-gmo silage to make, which should be this weekend.  Two of our sweet corn patches did not do well due to the excessive rain, so we will have a bit of time off from corn before our Silver King comes ripe at the end of September, just in time for the fishing tournament.  So the deer was the first bit of trouble this year and they are still ongoing.  Then we have the piglets, that before temporarily putting them into the barn to wean and castrate, were leaving their pasture in search of adventure.  They loved playing with the kids' toys in the yard and in true toddler fashion tasted and chewed on everything in sight.  Luckily this batch had a lot to play with in our yard, so the rooting/digging was very minimal unlike past litters.  Here are some pictures of the piglets:

Just 4 feet away from me as I sat in my chair drinking from my water bottle which they tried to steal when I put it down.

David luring them over!

Out our back door!

The "queens" of our farm were also picking up tremendously as poor Dave was washing at least 25 dozen eggs a day!  Though thankfully they were for once staying out of trouble.

Just one day's worth!

Finally, onto our cows.  Dave just bred a dozen or so of our ladies for spring calves while the fall calving season just started underway.  Just our second calf in, we were saying, "Ugh."  Our first calf, a little girl, came into the world with no troubles.  The next, a little boy, at most, all of 30 pounds, the size of a baby goat and weighing less than my youngest son, was born 2 weeks early.  We are not sure why, but Mother Nature knew it was time.  Momma's milk was just about nonexistent and she was reluctant to let the calf near her.  Dave had to lock her into our headgate and open the side so that our little boy could nurse.  Then Dave supplemented with a bottle until her milk came in.  Those middle of the night feedings again!  Glad it is not me having to get up this time!  After a few days where it would look like momma would accept this adorable little boy, we let her back out into the pasture where the little guy had to chase mom around to be allowed to feed.  Finally, with mom getting tired, she would let him nurse.  However, this won't work for our little bull and we can't have him not gaining weight because he has to do laps every time he wants a meal.  So back into the barn they will go so he can feed freely and grow up to be as big as the others.  And just this morning, our red angus momma had a little red angus baby boy (with no difficulties).  So we have 3 calves currently and are expecting many more in this upcoming week!  It's a load of fun having them all so close together as they have playmates and tend to get into lots of trouble with their mommas.  Since they refuse to settle down and return to their mothers for meals, we tend to hear a lot of mooing as the mothers try to reel them in and gain control. 

Our little guy did not want his picture taken and finally Dave had to hold him so I could get his picture.