Down On The Farm

Memory Monday

2011-10-24T00:00:00.000-05:00

My last Monday's post was of middle daughter and her circus leggo language. We are now going to fast forward about a year and a half. At the ripe old age of 3 and 9 this is the scene I came upon...

The kids rooms were downstairs and I didn't hear enough noise ( both of them were down there). I get to the bottom of the stairs and I see my daughter's profile in the doorway. One hand on her hip, the other shaking a finger at her brother. Her words...don't piss me off!

This time brother is clearly not in trouble. I sent him from the room and don't belive that I even questioned what what going on. This time she was in for a talking to. It turns out that her new babysitter (my next door neighbor with a son; daughter's age) used that particular saying.

Not sure what is worse...sending them to school or daycare!

Have a great Monday! :)

Memory Monday

2011-10-17T00:00:00.001-05:00

With the birth of a new (and 1st) grandchild and reading a fellow bloggers post I have decided to create...Memory Monday. I will do my best to post a memory from the kids, farm or life in general each Monday.

I decided to start with the crazy things kids learn in school.

My daughter was about 2 years old and my son was in second grade (7 years old). He was sitting at the kitchen table doing homework while I was putting away laundry. Daughter was in the entry to my bedroom just off the kitchen. She had a little lego set that had cirus animals and a train that connected and fit the animals in. She sat on the floor saying F --K, F --K, F --K. I was not paying attention (never thinking about what she was saying, just glad she was playing happily). My son shouts out...MOM do you hear what she is saying!?! She is saying...and he spells it out. I dropped the laundry and hurried to the kitchen table.

Here it comes...you guessed it...he got in trouble for knowing how to spell that word. I knew quite clearly that my husband and I did not use that type of language, nor did any of my daycare providers. Poor kid had to explain that he doesn't talk like that, but learned the word from the bathroom walls.

I sat on the floor next to my daughter, who was still making these particular epitaphs; explained to her that trains say...choo, choo, choo. She said ok mommy...from then on she used choo, choo, choo with her train sets.

Meanwhile...son got A's in spelling. :)

Trainer or no trainer?

2011-10-02T16:32:00.000-05:00

In the last year I have gone from 6 horses to 2. The last two horses I have are 3 years old; with all my other responsibilities, they are not broke out. In the past I have started a couple of young ones, both of them I worked with from the time they were born. This time, however, even though these two were born here, I have not really worked with them. They are terrible for the farrier and don't have the best manners. Mind you, they aren't horrible to be around when you lead them with a halter or if you are working in the pasture. The dilema is this:

1. Can't seem to find enough time to get out daily and work them.
2. When I do work them, I am not sure that I am doing it right. I just don't want to train them with a cue and have them be re-trained because I did it wrong (different).
3. I need them to be "kid" safe as my daughter wants to show next year. I don't expect that she will be showing either of these two, however, I am trying to keep in mind that it may be possible that one of them (or both of them) will end up in the show ring.
4. Brings me back to #1; I know I HAVE to find time to work them daily.
5. Can't afford a trainer right now...maybe late winter? Please note the word maybe... :)
6. If I do find the money for a trainer...how to choose one? I have had a couple of trainers and most of them were not the best experience for my horses (or me). There is a good trainer locally that I used once before, but she is very busy and now she works mostly with Andalusions/Crosses.

I have access to RFD TV where I have been watching a lot of different trainers...I find that I really like Ken McNabb and Clinton Anderson. I try to pick up different tips and tricks from them, but not easy to do from a short show. Clinton seems to have a great way of teaching, but I can't seem to find the money now...his DVD's are very expensive.

What techniques or trainers do you use and reccommend? I know that your trainers are probably nowhere near me, but how do you choose a good trainer? It seems every time I ask other people around here, no one has anything nice to say about anyone else. If you do your own training, did you have a mentor (how did you find one) or are you self taught and where is the best source for information?

1st Grandchild

2011-09-24T08:19:00.000-05:00

I really don't know if the whole thing has settled in on me yet. There have been so many changes in our lives...and now, a new granddaughter.

She is beautiful and precious, we are so greatful that mother and child are doing well after a VERY scary delivery (an emergency c-section).

New Grandma with New Granddaughter

With our lives in constant turmoil on the farm, with off-farm jobs AND starting a new business; I am not sure how I am going to find time to drive an hour (one-way) to see her, but you can bet your bottom dollar that I am going to find a way!

I want to be a wonderful Grandma, but I don't want to get in the way of the new parents...any advice out there?

Ugliest Chicken Coop (EVER)!

2011-09-20T00:00:00.000-05:00

If you have been reading my blog, you know I am a city girl gone country (AND LOVING IT). Herein lies my problem. I don't have the construction knowledge or know-how to many things done. Mind you, this does not stop me.

My daughter wanted to try a new adventure and my local Co-Op was doing a 1st annual (which means I had a chance at not being the only "don't know what I am doing" person) jackpot broiler. In case you don't know this means a meat chick raise (in this case) 90 days to show date. All chicks had to be purchased from the Co-Op. The Co-Op provided them all at the ripe old age of 10 days old.

So we go to get these babies...

Unfortuneately for my poor baby chicks, I am not much of a builder and know nothing about what a chicken coop is supposed to look like. Fortuneately, the chicks didn't care what their home looked like, just that it was warm, they were fed and watered AND they had protection from the cats and dogs.

Feel free to laugh at my idea of a home for these babies...

Let me see if I can do justice to what I have done here...in the background is a dog "igloo". There is large tarp that covers a section of their "pasture and a sort of t-post holding the tarp up. Again, it is ok to laugh...I am laughing as I write this. The chicken wire that you see, well, it is in a sort of triangle shape. No kidding this is the CRAZIEST, UGLIEST thing I have ever seen used as housing for a chicken.

My daughter was very happy, she took 4th place in her age division (she would have done better if I had know that it is ok to get chickens wet and/or give them a bath).

This year, she decided that she would like laying chickens. We went out and bought a used coop. I am in the process of fixing it up and refuse to get any chicks until I am done. Our layers will be around a lot longer and will have a much nicer house.

In case you are interested, Murray McMurray Hatchery has been the best source of information for me. It has helped with bird selection, feed and shelter. I even ordered a book about chickens so I could learn how to keep them the healthiest and make certain they had enough in their diet so the egg laying would not deplete their systems.

Hope you enjoyed my ugly coop! Have a great day and God Bless.

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2011-09-17T12:15:00.001-05:00

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Update

2010-09-19T15:57:00.001-05:00

With multiple jobs and no time to spare, I find myself missing the blog world more and more. I wish I had the time to comment on all the great blogs I read (in a few spare minutes that I should be doing something else...like cleaning my house).

I thought I would take the time to do a quick update...

Tabby Bar Leo (my favorite horse in the whole world) is sick. Still running tests, but she has dropped so much weight that I hardly recognize her. The vet has been out repeatedly. Obviously we are going to keep working on this until she is feeling better and gains back her weight (this is a must before we get a full blast of winter).

My husband and I are still working off the farm and on the farm. This is frustrating for me as there is still never enough money to go around. The kids are back in school...my youngest is in the 2nd grade, my middle child is a senior and my oldest graduated 6 years ago. I don't understand how so many moms out there can be so happy when their children are gone. I still miss my son so very much and am already missing my daughter as she is always so busy with work and school.

For the first time we raised some chickens (for meat) and just brought them home from the butcher. I am looking forward to baking one in the near future. Now we have three little pigs that we are raising. This is also a first for me.

Well, it is time to head back out...hope all is well with all of you out there. Feel free to leave how you are doing in the comment section.

Miss you all!

Manitowoc County Culver's Futurity 2010

2010-09-04T13:01:00.000-05:00

This year has been so hectic for us that we did not bring our usual numbers to our county fair. We did, however, participate in the futurity show.

Our futurity show is for 3 year old cows that have hopefully calved for the second time. For those of you who have never been involved in a dairy futurity we will be registering our babies, born this year, to show in three years time. The thing that seemed the most different for me is that all the people leading the cows are dressed in formal wear. At our farm, we usually sign up as many of our babies as possible, so that when they are 3 we have choices. You are not required to send every animal that is signed up, however, you can not take a 3 year old that wasn't signed up as a baby and now looks great.

One nice thing is that we sold 2 cows to a young couple that are just starting out. Since they are just starting out, they would normally not be able to show until they have babies that are registered and have grown for three years. In this case, both cows we sold them were entered in our county as babies and will be eligible to show for them next year.

My sister-in-law, Brenda, is just starting her third trimester so we were all a little concerned about her leading a cow, but as usual, she did a GREAT job! Our cow, Cava-Lanes Durham Mary stood third this year in a group of 26. Below are a couple of pictures from our futurity and county fair.

Brenda leading Cava-Lanes Durham Mary

Luke with Cava-Lanes Durham Marika

Our youngest child with Cava-Lanes Pronto Shantel

Tribute to Kenai

2010-07-28T20:38:00.002-05:00

This is a hard one to write…

My tribute to Kenai

Kenai was our beloved King Charles Cavalier. He loved life, chasing Koda and warming my feet. Kenai was my faithful companion and always shared whatever space I was in. My mom always said that he had all knowing “old soul” eyes. Those eyes were always following the action throughout the house as he laid on the couch. Kenai did not think that playing “fetch” was a thing to do…he left that for his friend Koda. Kenai felt his place was on the end of the couch until I came home, when it was time to sit on my feet or lay his head in my lap. My true and faithful friend.

We will (and do) miss him forevermore…

Staying with my youngest when she was sick

Kenai with Koda

Waiting for me to come home

Time Off

2010-04-18T13:57:00.000-05:00

I took Saturday off from the farm to clean the house for my daughters' Junior Prom. She invited her friends over for a dish-to-pass dinner and then they were off to prom. I am so blessed to have such wonderful children. My only sorrow is that they grow up so fast.

I will hopefully find time to update everyone on all the changes on the farm, for now...have a great weekend!

Hectic, Hectic, Hectic!

2010-04-11T08:10:00.000-05:00

So many changes and so little time. For the winter we had to drop from milking over 60 cows back to the low 40's as we do not have enough space in the barn for everyone. This was done by drying a few off and sending them to another facility to winter and selling a few. Over the winter we had so many calves born that we had them everywhere. I even put a few upstairs in the hay/straw mow. We have now moved back all the dry cows and have three bred heifers left to bring back home.

Eric (our milker that took over for me) has decided to move on to a larger farm and we have had to find a replacement. Our first replacement was just not for us and thankfully Eric gave us enough notice that I had time to try out another person. Jason is our newest member, and so far a GREAT fit for us. He has a great attitude and loves the farm! We wish Eric all the best in his new endeavors.

Our favorite farm dog, Koda, has had some allergy issues and this spring has gotten to the point that I can no longer think that Benedryl is going to help. I have taken him to the vet for a very expensive allergy test and am waiting for the results on pins an needles. After his allergies are identified, they (a lab in Colorado) will develop a program of shots especially for him. I hope this gives him the relief that he needs as this year he is putting holes in his skin. Until all this is done, we have put him on an anti-biotic and steroids for quick relief.

Hubby is settling into his new position and I am still enjoying my job at the Co-Op. It gets hectic with the jobs off the farm and then trying to catch up on the farm every chance you get. The house seems to be the last on the list, oh well as my mother always says...the work will still be there when I get home.

Easter

2010-04-04T09:39:00.000-05:00

May you, one and all, have a Blessed Easter! I will try to come back and catch up soon...

Don't just count your blessings...share them!

Love and Peace to everyone,

Cava-Lanes Holsteins

Rambling, on and on, and on...

2010-03-29T20:33:00.000-05:00

There has been so much going on...since my last post "Where's The Beef?". The steer, Melinko, has gotten out 3 or 4 more times; today being one of those times. We went to our first sale this season...the River Falls Dairy Club Sale. Where we sold Diva, a calf by our Debra cow. Diva found a new home and will be staying in Wisconsin.

We held another Dairy Farm Management Team Meeting and there is so much to do before the next meeting in April. All this along with the new jobs and cleaning up for spring...whew! How is your week going?

Where's the beef?

2010-03-04T17:52:00.001-06:00

I was sitting at my computer in my living room trying to catch up on reading everyones blogs. The dogs started barking like someone was in my driveway, so my youngest went to look out the door. She starts yelling "the beefers are out!" I look over and yep...both the show heifer and the show steer are looking into our front door windows.

I grab a coat, shoes and bolt outside. They stand in my front yard just watching me as I run to the barn to grab halters and a bucket of grain. As I approach them (shaking the bucket of grain), the just watch me and Melinko (the steer) starts to eat my little apple tree. They let me get all the way up to them, I put some grain on the ground and walk up to Melinko...he takes one look a the halter and walks to the other side of Arianna. She looks at the halter, puts her tail in the air and runs...oh C#%P!

I decide that if I stay with Melinko maybe Arianna will come back; and she does. This time she snorts and runs past Melinko, circles back and heads down the driveway to the road. Melinko takes this as his queue to run with her.

I run for the garage to get the truck; get my phone out and call my father-in-law. Last time the steers ran on me he was a great help. No answer there. I call my Dad; he doesn't know much about large animals, but any help will do right? Nope, he is out of the area. The beefers headed west...I only have one neighbor to my west and I just saw them come home. I call them...their line is busy.

Meanwhile...I get the truck stuck in the driveway AND it will not go into 4-wheel drive. I jump out of the truck (grabbing the halters again) and run down the driveway hoping they hadn't gone onto the next road.

As I get out of my driveway I notice that they are in my neighbors ditch and turning back towards me. I called to them and Arianna stareted towards me.

I started backing up, literally walking backwards with Arianna jogging towards me and Melinko following. As they got to the driveway I walked forward forcing them up the driveway. I had purposely left the door to the barn open with the thoughts that they might return to their comfort zone. Which is, luckily for me, exactly what they did. I followed them into the barn and put them into their stalls. Believe it or not, they went to their own separate stalls with no help or issues.

I went out to check the fence. They did not break it...the horses did.

My farrier was out on Monday night and told me that Ellie had a cut on her front left. No suprise to me, I looked at the fence and it was still up. Ellie is notorious for going through the electric wire. Today, however, in the daylight I can see that at the corner by the gate, where the snow is almost over the fence, the top wire is down. I go over and find that the fence is not only down, but stuck in the snow! The horses could have walked out at any time over the last 4 days, but just didn't choose to. They know where the hay is...the beefers, however, thought the grass might be greener on the other side of the fence.

I fixed the fence and all's well that end's well.

County Fair Weigh In

2010-02-20T17:21:00.000-06:00

I have got to learn to carry my camera wherever I go! Everyones blog is so filled with beautiful pictures; and my blog is usually picture free because I never seem to remember to grab it or it isn't ready.

Today was county fair weigh in's for the beef project. My daughter has a beautiful black steer that she named the Great Melinko. He is a Maine Anjou crossbred and weighed 940 pounds. For us that means he is right on track and should weigh between 1400 and 1500 pounds for the show.

We usually raise a show steer with a freezer steer so they have each other as company. This year due to our economic situation we decided to raise this years' show steer with the heifer that was shown last year. The heifer was bred after fair and is due on June 24th. We are very excited as we have always had steers...this means we will be having our first beef baby! Is anyone else getting ready for the upcoming show season?

Last year's show steer on left; last year's show heifer on right.

Is it me...?

2010-02-17T07:05:00.000-06:00

Is it me? Lately, as I am responding to posts, I hit the submit button and ... nothing happens. I wait and wait, then finally I get tired of waiting and hit the button again. This time it works, great right? Nope, now my comment is posted multiple times. Very frustrating! Any ideas (besides being patient)?

While I have your attention, I am also wondering what blogging etiquette is for comments. I read so many great blogs, but by the time I get to them there are so many responses that anything I have to say is already said. I truly want the author to know that I am reading (I read about 99% of all the blogs I follow), but don't want to sound like I am copying someone else or dumb.

I would love to hear if any of you have ideas on these subjects! Are there etiquette rules for blogging? Thank you for your responses!

First Barrel Race

2010-02-05T17:24:00.001-06:00

I was just reading A&MD Ranch's post about DD's race last year. It totally brought back memories of my daughter's first barrel race.

I bought my mare (Tabby Bar Leo) as a six year old. Her history was barrel horse from two until she was about four then she was sold to a farm for breeding purposes. I found her there with a very pretty paint filly at her side.

A side note about me. I was buying my second horse as I had made the common mistake of buying a green horse through someone who was going to help me "train" him. Another story for another day. Anyway, I love color breeds and while I was there to look at their paint selection, they suggested Tabby. She was proven to throw color. She was bred back to the same stud (next beginners mistake...which did turn out well). I rode her and asked about her background. They told me that a 14 year old girl had been using her as a barrel horse and that she was not fast enough for her.

Tabby is 16hh, which makes her a bit tall for me, but her disposition was just what I was looking for. The breeding farm she was on, really wanted me to buy her with the filly at her side. I knew I didn't know enough to handle the baby, but thought I would learn enough by the time Tabby foaled. Again, another beginner mistake. You cannot learn enough without help and living on the farm, which we did not.

Back to my daughters first ride. We knew that Tabby was used to shows and arenas and both my kids wanted to show. No problem! We had a great 4-H leader, she took Tabby in for 30 days for reminder training and my kids went there for lessons. They learned to set her up for halter classes, and walk, trot, lope, patterns for western pleasure.

Tabby was always level headed and very even tempered. Where we boarded her, there were always people practicing their shooting with various guns and we were right off a busy highway with motorcycles and semis passing by. Nothing ever seemed to bother her.

We get to the show and she is her usual self, until...my son, who has shown before but is still very green himself, takes Tabby (at halter) into the INDOOR ARENA.

Tabby gets about 4 steps into the arena and decides this just isn't for her. She rears up, my son keeps hold of her. Gets her back down, starts to move forward, she does it again. This goes on about four times. The judge has now backed way up and I am on pins and needles...what to do. Well, after the fourth rear, my son shakes the halter (he may have said something, we couldn't hear) and she just walks forward. Completes her class and places middle of the group. Next up...my daughter. She is 6 years younger than her brother and I am not sure what to do. Well, she takes Tabby and walks right into the arena with no problem. Does not place as well as her brother, but who cares...she is just learning.

Tabby did fine in all her under saddle classes, they were held outside. The last day of fair are the speed and fun classes. My daughter only entered in the walk, trot classes which meant she could only enter the walk, trot speed groups. She signed herself up for the egg race and barrels. None of us thought anything about it. During the egg race she dropped the egg early and was out. Getting a little down as she did not get a blue ribbon all week. She got herself ready for the barrels by watching some of the others go first. Then she mounted Tabby...

OMG!!!! The mares ears went forward, she tensed completely up and I grabbed the 4-H leaders arm and said sh#$#. The gate opened and the mare NEVER broke the trot. My daughter won the trophy for best time in the walk, trot group. We all went home happy.

I must say that moment when I realized that I just put an animal with competition experience and my daughter with no barrel experience in that situation I was paralyzed. I was 5 months pregnant and trying to figure out how I was going to jump the fence and save my daughter. We laugh now, but at the time...wow!

Sorry about the lack of pictures...my scanner went down today and these were taken over 8 years ago. Before I had a digital camera.

Thanks to A&MD Ranch for taking me down memory lane!

Do you have friends and neighbors like this?

2010-01-30T11:00:00.004-06:00

How do you ever repay the kindness shown to you? We have had a very stressful year (as most people did), yet many positive things also happened.

One of the stressful things that happened was one of my husband's favorite cows injured herself. The vet called the injury a "stifle". Most cows do not recover from this type of injury. She was on a flush cycle at the time and the vet said all we could do was keep her comfortable, continue with the flush and see how she feels. After a couple of weeks, her leg did not seem worse so we continued keeping her on stall rest.

About a month after the flush we had the vet out to check her leg and give her an all over physical. We routinely check the cows for pregnancy after a flush to make certain that no embryos mistakenly remained. The vet liked the way her hip and leg were moving but informed us that she was not only pregnant, but it was twins.

This gives us some extra problems. With a leg injury do you want her pregnant? Much less trying to carry twins? She needs a pen to herself, with winter coming, we wont have that kind of space available...now what?

As we discussed all of this with our vet, he assured me that the leg was coming along better than expected and if we could find her the right situation, he felt she had a good chance of maintaining her health and the babies.

Since it was still warm outside we had some time to find the right "situation". My husband gave it a lot of thought and came up with an interesting idea. Spicey didn't originate on our farm, she was purchased from a farm that was no longer going to milk Holsteins, but milk Jerseys. He called the farm and asked about their winter situation. They, of course, remembered Spicey's dam and said they would love to help.

Spicey's pen is made out of concrete and we used several bales of straw to make her a pack. The pack was very thick, which is why her leg was not as stressed and she seemed to be improving. The Jersey farm had an outbuilding with a dirt floor and straw pack. This would be even more ideal for her leg. We were very excited to take her there. I was a little nervous putting her on a trailer because there is a step to get in or out.

We got her there and she got out of the trailer very well. She walked over to the feed and checked it out before looking around at her new herd mates. I am pretty sure she was wondering why they all looked like solid color heifers to her. She is a very large Holstein and Jerseys are a smaller breed.

While watching her to make certain that she would settle in without any issues, the Jersey farm owner told us that they would be happy to keep her until after she calved. This is a huge responsibility for the farm. Twins are difficult for the cow and the farm, but we weren't sure when we would move her during her pregnancy since we wouldn't want to stress her or her legs.

Incredible that they would want to help us like this! For those of you that farm, you know how difficult it is to find enough space for your own animals, much less make room for someone elses' larger animal.

We were on their farm last week and Spicey is doing great! She has good body condition, barely limps (you really have to look for it and know which leg to watch) and seems really happy.

They said the only time she shows her injury (or age), is when it gets really cold outside. Being 10 and a grandma, she gets a little stiff when getting up at first.

We are so very lucky and blessed that this has all worked out so well. I will try to come back in the spring and let you know how she fares during the birthing process and if the twins survive.

These are not the only amazing friends and neighbors we have...

We had a ton of help from people during our recent classification and Dvorak Farms has been instrumental in keeping us going since we took over from my husband's father.

I would love to hear from other people who have GREAT friends and neighbors that have helped them. In closing, remember to thank GOD each day for the great things and people in our lives.

New Website

2010-01-27T18:24:00.003-06:00

I have created a website for our farm...I would love to get some feedback! I had a website once before...when I was in real estate. The last provider I used seemed much easier, this time things are not going as smoothly.

For one thing...I can't get through the process of optimization! Driving me crazy! Adding pages and changing content is soooo much slower than it was a few years ago...is it me?

Anyway, I would love feedback if anyone gets time to look at the site. I really would like the site to be user friendly and easy to navigate.

http://www.cava-lanesholsteins.com/

Thank you!

Classification

2010-01-23T08:39:00.016-06:00

With both of our new jobs off the farm, my impending surgery and classification all in the same week; I wasn't sure how things were going to go.

Classification happens for us every 7 months. Before we classify we clip, wash and primp our cows. On classification day, we get up very early (or stay all night) to do finishing touches. Even though the cows were washed, tails are done separately. As you can imagine, the cows continue to produce manure which has to be cleaned before the classifier gets there.

Due to my new schedule, I was not able to get pictures of the cows getting clipped. I do, however, want to thank Anthony Fischer (Fischer Heights Dairy), Jim Neuser, Eric Haupt and Luke Lindsmeyer. These guys came in and clipped all the cows for us.

I did make it to the barn for the first part of washing. Each cow is rinsed with warm water, then we add a whitening soap, and a final rinse.

Yes, that is a pressure washer, that our good friend Jason Miller of Millercrest is using. We are very careful about how much pressure is used as well as how long the spray is allowed on each cow.

A HUGE Thank You to Jason for all his time and effort.

Again, I was so busy during all this that I didn't get any pictures of us doing tails. For their tails we get a bucket with warm soapy water and hold it up to them while soaking the tail. Then we wash away all the manure, rinse and comb them out. Imagine how many times we have to change the water in the pails!

Finally, the classifier arrives! This is important to us and our herd because it gives us an idea of how our cows are doing against other registered holsteins that are the same age. Our goal is to improve our herds BAA each time we score. This is not an easy goal to acheive. A "BAA" is Breeding Age Average. Each cow is looked at individually and scored based on her age, height, leg confirmation, udder capacity, udder placement, teat placement, and so on. There are 17 traits for the classifier to look at; broken into 5 scorecard breakdowns. If you look closely, she is holding a hand-held computer for her to enter the "breakdowns" into. The paper she is holding below the computer is the individual cow's registration paper. The registration paper will be stamped with the new score and date that the cow was scored.

As she scores each cow, she explains to us what she views as the cows strength and weakeness. The score is based on a 0 to 100 scale. In our herd we have 2 cows at 92; 2 at 91; and 3 at 90. I stopped there as these are our excellent scored cows. The breakdowns for these scores are just as important as the overall score.

Having a herd of young cows will make your herds BAA a bit lower than someone with an older herd of cows. Young cows will typically start out with a lower score as they don't have the maturity that the older cows have.

There are many facets to being classified. There are some exceptions to this, but, each cow starts classification with their first lactation. Usually they are between the age of 2 and 3 years old. The score they receive each time they are scored can go up OR down, based on how the individual cow has matured. At the time the cow becomes 5 years old, her score becomes permanent. This means her score can no longer go down, she can, however, earn more points IF she continues to improve with age.

Each classifier has their own views, but are screened regularly by the Holstein Association to ensure that they are all as uniform in their assesment of cows as possible. Each time we have classified (since Todd and I have taken over the farm), we have had a different classifier. Classifier's are sent by the Holstein Association and we do not get to choose the person we get. This ensures that each herd is viewed by quality individuals that have a wide range of experience, but that don't see the same cows every time. Again, this helps to acheive the Holstein Association's goal of uniformity.

All in all we had a good day (January 19th). We won't know for a while what our new BAA is, but we were very excited to be listed, for the second year in a row, in Holstein World's list of top 200 herds in the USA for our BAA.

When One Door Opens...The Final Story

2010-01-01T19:04:00.003-06:00

We are truly starting 2010 with a BANG! My husband is starting a new job on the 4th AND so am I!

I am very worried as I will still be responsible for the farm, the house, the kids, the new job and my husband is sickly most of the time. Feels like a lot of things going on, but I am certainly going to try!

With the farm, we have had a guy working part-time for us for the last 2 years; he has always wanted more hours. We don't take an income from the farm, I don't get paid for my time there. My theory was that if I worked off the farm and paid someone a little less than what I was getting paid, I would be farther ahead. We will see if this works.

My problem is letting go, I am a bit of a control freak and it is difficult to not be there for each milking and trust that everything will be as good then as it is now.

When we first started milking my SCC (somatic cell count) was usually below 100 (this is very good for most farms), then we had some equipment issues that took me too long to diagnose and caused our SCC to average 180. This caused me a lot of stress as I believe that keeping control of the SCC means my cows are comfortable and I am producing a high quality milk. Now our SCC is averaging in the high 90's again and I just don't want to lose that.

Regaining control of the SCC is like trying to lose weight. It is soooo easy to go up and soooo hard to bring it back down.

Enough of my fears, I just wanted to put out the "DOOR IS FINALLY OPEN!!!!!" post. We are excited and I will let you know later how we are at juggling all the new things.

County Fair 2009

2009-12-21T21:09:00.006-06:00

This may be a bit late, but we are proud of our kids and how we did at Manitowoc County Fair.

My (middle) daughter is learning a lot in the beef project and this year joined a 4-H group to compliment her FFA group.

This year she took a heifer and a steer. The red one is her heifer, she took Reserve Champion Market Heifer and her steer (the black one) took second in his class.

We are VERY Proud of you Midget!

Our youngest daughter showed in the "kiddie showmanship" class for the second year.

We also had three cows in the "Culver's Manitowoc County Futurity". The problem is that I am usually holding the manure bucket so I didn't get any shots. Sorry, I know pictures exist, I just don't have them. Hope I have better luck getting them next year. :)

Government Money?!?

2009-12-21T20:26:00.008-06:00

Hmmmm, as a dairy farmer I am loathe to accept help from the government. Many reasons for this, just take a look at the "Price Stabilization" proposal. What a mess, anyway...

A new program was just rolled out. Dairy Farm Management Team. In this program, there is room for 50 farmers in Wisconsin to enroll. If accepted you would be able to spend up to $2000.00 in grant money to learn to manage your farm better. There is a 10% fee the owner has to pay towards the expenses incurred by this project.

We, Cava-Lanes Holsteins, were extremely blessed to be selected as one of the 50 farms.

What does this mean for us? Well, for us it means we get to have a group of people that are normally involved in our farm, come together, and discuss (very candidly) our farms' strengths, weakness and how we can better strengthen our positives and create fewer vulnerabilities.

As a beginning farmer, this is extremely valuable to me. I have so much to learn and so little time to learn it.

We are extremely lucky to be in Manitowoc County, our extension agent is the best! We have only had our pre-meeting and first meeting so far, however, many things were discovered and I can't wait to see how this ends. We only get 3 meetings on the government, then the rest is up to us.

A Great Big THANK YOU to all who are involved in helping us make Cava-Lanes Holsteins a better busines!

When One Door Closes...Part 2

2009-12-21T17:09:00.010-06:00

This is my update as I have not written in the last six months. I truly thought with my husband being laid-off that I would have more time, not less.

Well that has not been the case. I would like to start by THANKING all of you who sent me messages and I am sorry I was unable to respond.

Since my last post "When One Door Closes", my husband has been hospitalized twice (I seriously thought we were going to lose him this last time), my daughter had to have an outpatient procedure and I had my own procedure done.

If all that is not enough, my husband has still not found a job. I have started to apply off the farm, but don't have the earning potential he does.

On the bright side, my sister-in-law got married. She is now a part of Gildale Holsteins!

We are very proud of her and happy for both of them!

Thank you again to all who have kept us in their thoughts and prayers! I hope to send another post soon!

Just in case, have a Merry Chritsmas and a Happy New Year from Cava-Lanes Holsteins!

When One Door Closes...

2009-07-14T08:11:00.005-05:00

My mom always said, when one door closes a window opens. Yesterday was a strange day of happenings...

At 3:00 a.m. as I am leaving for the barn, my 6 year old comes to me to tell me she can't sleep. I explain that 3:00 a.m. is no time to be up for little girls. She then explains to me that "sometimes little kids have bad dreams"... I start to say "bad dreams", she cuts in "I know, are not real". So I tuck her in to bed with her dog Kenai and some cartoons, then head off to the barn.

I start milking with a million things on my mind. The compressor is not working right (can't cool my milk fast enough); bills; 5 different places to go before chores in the afternoon and how many things I need to pick up at those places; I am taking Tuesday (today) off and need to explain all the things that are different from usual to the guy milking for me; wondering if my little one made it back to sleep...etc.

As the morning helper is coming down the middle aisle I stop him to remind him that the cow in the pen is treated and how to care for her. He looks at me and says..."if she is treated why are you milking her in the line?" I scream for him to cut the power to the milkers and run to grab the unit off the cow. You see...treated means she as been given antibiotics and gets milked into a special bucket that we dump her milk from. Not a good start to the day...milk price is so low that the bills continue to stack up while I keep getting notices of "Thank you for paying on you bill, but we still need you to pay more!"

I called my milk representative and the milk hauler. Mind you it is just after 4:30 in the morning. Oh well, can't have the hauler pick up the milk without it being tested for drugs. If I had contaminated the milk haulers truck...I would be responsible for ALL the milk in the semi.

I feel horrible at this point, but keep on going. I call my husband at 5:00 to get him up for his day and let him know what happened. My husband works off the farm as a manager and is supposed to be gone for the next 3 days doing inventory for his field reps.

He is supportive and I feel worse. Keep on going I tell myself. As I continue I decide I can't go on without heading to the house for a bathroom break...no potty in the barn. I head home and guess who greets me? Yep, my 6 year old. Now she not only can't sleep, but she is hungry. I explain that I have to get back to work and have her dad give her some cereal. I once again head out to the barn.

My milk representative (Dairy Farmers of America: DFA) shows up, again another supportive person and I feel that much worse! She tells me she will know if I need to dump my 3000+ pounds of milk or not in about 10 minutes. I have to tell you that is one long ten minutes! She comes in and lets me know my tank is not "hot". Hallelujah! I feel GREAT now! I finish chores and head home.

Just after I get home my husband comes home for a few items he needed to pick up. His first inventories are local so it is no big deal. I find my daughters are both fast asleep and I decided to take a quick nap. After I get up, my 6 year old comes out. Great timing, the day is getting better...or so I think.

My 16 year old daughter gets up, my mom calls and says she is coming over to help me and I explain that I have to leave...5 places to go with about 15 things to pick up. My mom comes to help me with laundry and dishes (without her I think we would go nude). Just as I hang up with my mom, my husband walks in.

I say, Hi! I didn't expect to see you again. He says "I'm done". I say..."done, done with what?" He replies with his job. The president of his company is waiting outside to take his company car, cell phone and laptop. It turns out due to the economy, he is being laid off.

Now what!?! I know I mentioned large bills and low income for the farm earlier, but now no income for the personal stuff? Wow!

Over the weekend we had borrowed a baler from a friend...it promptly broke down while my husband was using it. We are told that the part is probably going to be very expensive. Since that happened I made sure to call our friends and let them know why they would not be able to call my husband and give them an alternate phone number to reach him.

My friend says to me what are you going to do now? I say...When God closes one door he opens a window. Her reply...Where's the window?

Actually I laugh at this point because I don't know where the window is. I know that no matter what happens...if we lose the farm, horses, cows, house, whatever...we will still have each other.

Have You Ever Said This...?

2009-07-09T08:25:00.010-05:00

Have you ever said...No More Animals In The House!?

I must have said this time and time again...so what happens? I start looking for a small dog for my mom. I don't particularly care for small dogs. They seem to be more difficult to train and keep on track (just my opinion).

No problem finding a dog for my mom right! Well, there was this fenced area in the yard with 3 puppies...I asked what was up with them and the owner said; those puppies were from her friend who thought she could breed and sell them. It turns out she is not a good breeder and didn't have the puppies advertised or sold. The puppies were then dropped off with her and she was trying to sell two of them, but the third one was larger than the standard for the breed. Hmmm, which one do you think I was holding? Yep, the one that was too large. Of course I had to ask what she was doing with him! Her response was IF she could find the right home for him, she would just give him up.

She is what I would call the ideal breeder...all the bitches were living in the house and the studs had plenty of room in custom built kennels that were clean. All the puppies were whelped in the house and cared for in the house with separate pens for outdoor play. Her requirements for people are that the don't get to go home with a puppy on the first visit and you don't have to call before you show up. I like that you can see they keep the kennels in pristine condition at all times. If you have to have an appointment, they probably cleaned just before you got there. This particular breeder also showed that she was responsible by taking in the puppies that her friend had bred. Her friend had purchased one of the breeders females and bred it to one of her studs. Thus the resulting litter that ended up with this breeder.

Any way, as I held this young pup I wondered how he would fare with my Koda. Knowing my retriever had been missing Snickers (he passed about a year ago), I thought maybe since Koda is still young he might like someone else to play with. I checked with the breeder to see how she felt about living on a farm...the Humane Society frowns on me. She said it would be fine if she could speak with my vet. I gave her my vet clinic and she was excited as it is the same clinic as hers.

Time to get on with this story...I took Kenai home. For those of you without children...Koda and Kenai are the main characters of "Brother Bear". By the way, mom did not get a dog.

I should mention...Kenai is a King Charles Cavalier (most people think he is some sort of Cocker Spaniel).

Nothing against the Humane Society; I understand that they need to be careful about who they let adopt from them, but not all farm owners keep their animals outside.

Kenai and Koda spend 95% of their lives in the house...winter is too cold and summer is too hot, they like the temperature controlled house AND sleeping in bed with us.

That means we have 2 dogs and 2 cats in the house full time and whatever stray cats show up in the barn get to stay and get fed.

I had been looking for a home for my indoor cats for a while...no one wants to help me clean the litter box, the hair is out of control and Kenai loves to torture them...which means that Koda has learned from the young one to play "chase the kitty". My daughter's boyfriend's mother (what a mouthful) was looking for a smaller pet for her youngest child. Teach him responsibility (supervised of course) and give him something to cuddle of his own. She loved the fact that the cats were used to staying indoors, were "taken care of" and trained. Tada! They had a new home.

Now, down to the two dogs, right? Nope! I seemed to forget that every spring/summer there are many babies that seem to need us.

If you look very closely, there is a towel with a tiny kitten head sticking out.

This poor kitty's leg looked like Swiss cheese. It finally let us pick it up about a week after I noticed it was injured. We have 2 barns...the milking barn and the horse barn. The horse barn has all very friendly cats and the milking barn has all feral cats. This kitten learned to be scared of humans from its mother. They day we caught him the vet happened to be on the property. While examining the kitten my daughter asked the vet what the "white" thing was. The vet grabbed a tweezers and pulled out a long white worm. Poor kitty! Needless to say we had a new "pet" for the house.

Sadly, the kitten only made it with us for 3 days.

We are sorry he didn't make it, but I am certain we will have other visitors from time to time. I guess I should never say "never". So the house has too many hairballs and never seems clean, I guess it is best to count my blessings and be happy we have the ability to help those in need.

Firemans Picnic and Parade

2009-06-29T08:28:00.009-05:00

Reedsville, Wisconsin - Fireman's Parade June 28,2009

Every year the Reedsville firemen put on a fundraiser - Picnic and Parade. This year my 16 year old daughter was supposed to be in the parade with her 4-H group (Taus Livewires). It turns out the parade was the same day her dad had tickets to the Brewer's game. So she was unable to attend.

We volunteered our newly renovated tractor to pull the float for the group and placed my youngest child on the float in place of her sister.

The tractor is special to us because it belonged to Todd's (my husband) Grandfather. We had to have it overhauled and then painted it. We think it looks Great!

Here is Bryanna (my youngest) on the tractor...

We had a good time at the picnic too. There was food, drinks, games, and a petting zoo complete with pony rides!

We had loads of fun and hope that our fire department made enough money to keep them going another year!

Time Off; A Refreshing Twist

2009-06-27T09:30:00.007-05:00

After many weeks of working I have finally taken a couple of days off in a row. My husband and I joined our friends (John and Rose Ebert) on a Brewer Game outing.

I have only been to a professional baseball game once before. It was with my husband, who wasn't feeling well that day...so we arrived early and left early. I think I saw a total of two innings.

The Ebert's know how to do things right...we tailgated, we stayed for the whole game AND the Brewer's won!

I spent quite a bit of time showing my friends that I know nothing about baseball...things like: Fielder; is that left fielder, right fielder or center fielder? Braun; it that like Braun Electric (we use them for our farm)? Not too impressive for my friends!

Another thing I learned is, that there are pom girls at the baseball games...never knew that before. There were a few in the crowd and 2 in Bernie's Dugout (I didn't snap a shot of them, sorry).

I just know that it was very refreshing to have some time off and I truly enjoyed spending time with good friends. God Bless and have a great weekend!

Stress, Stress and Heat Stress?

2009-06-25T09:00:00.017-05:00

With all the stresses of dairy farming...milk price, feed price, illnesses, breeding, cleaning, labor, and inspections. There are many more, but I am certain you get my point. Now, there is heat stress.

You see, happy cows are comfortable, well fed cows. Happy cows are the ones that make milk (it's true and not just a commercial). So what is my problem? The heat index has been over 100 for the last two days. Since we raise Holsteins, most of my cows are black and white. The more black they have the hotter they are.

The problem is I can't afford an air conditioned barn, keeping the cows in just makes them hotter as they emit large amounts of heat, keeping them outside gives them the opportunity to catch a breeze and some shade. A breeze would be nice for them right? Well it would be, IF, they didn't bunch up like this...

There were 3 groups like this all on the concrete, giving each other a ton of heat, foaming at the mouth and panting like dogs.

This is a huge problem because as they are foaming and drooling they are becoming dehydrated. Milk is primarily water and if they become dehydrated it depletes the amount of milk they produce. We keep our water tanks full with "floats". As the cows drink the water the float refills the tank until the tank is full and then quits until the water is depleted below the float line again.

Most of our cows have been "shown" at some point in their life so they know all about water and getting washed. A couple of years ago when we had some sweltering weather, I decided to put a sprinkler on the wood part of the fence. Of course I attached it with twine...that and duct tape keep the farm running you know. :) After a few days the cows decided to pull the sprinkler from the wall and that was the end of that.

This year I decided that I would try to find a tripod system like the commercial landscapers use. Fleet Farm just happened to have 3 kinds to choose from. My fence is 5 feet high so I decided on the tripod that extends to 6 feet and "mists" up to 1900 feet. Here is a picture of my new "cow sprinkling" system.

The one thing I miss using this system as opposed to the cheap up and over sprinkler is that I can not stop the water from going 360 degrees. I would love to set it at 180 degrees and keep the water just going into the cow yard.

While my cows seem to enjoy the shower, my horses do not appreciate such things. Most of the time they don't even care for the fan I have in their shelter. The nice thing about my horses is that they do enjoy going to the wash rack, having a nice bath and munching on my lawn while they dry. It also helps that I only have 6 horses; not like trying to hose off an entire herd of cows.

I hope all of you have a GREAT summer and find creative ways to keep our creature friends cool and happy!

Cancer Affects Us All

2009-06-20T08:58:00.011-05:00

These pictures are from the 2007 Wisconsin State Fair...both of my daughters are sitting with Miracle...the calf from "the first walk" picture.

In January of this year (2009), Miracle gave birth to a heifer calf. From the time she gave birth she just didn't seem right. She lost weight, she seemed depressed but kept a great disposition.

The veterinarian came out repeatedly for a couple of months, then over Labor Day Weekend, her brisket started to swell.

Swelling in the brisket is not a good sign but could be several different things. She was treated for hardware, a throat infection and indigestion. Eventually, the vet said she didn't have long to live.

We don't like to lose an animal and definitely to like them put down on the farm. We kept her for a few more days and the swelling started to present itself in her legs. My husband and I made the decision to take her to a farm that will use her meat to feed other animals (a mink/fox farm). They scheduled putting her down with when our vet could be there to do a necropsy. The necropsy found she had a very aggressive cancer.

We made the right decision to put her down and end her misery as there was no cure for her cancer. This cancer affected our entire family as we all loved her and miss her terribly.

My Meme...Thanks to GREYHORSE MATTERS

2008-01-31T10:09:00.000-06:00

First and foremost I would like to thank Greyhorse Matters for tagging me for this fun and informative game.

Here are the rules for this–Once you are tagged, link back to the person who tagged you. Post the rules on your blog. Post 7 random or weird facts about yourself on your blog. Tag 7 people and link to them. Comment on their blog to let them know they have been tagged.

1. I believe I have the best kids in the world! No weird fact here...however, their age differences are: 21 (son); 15 (daughter); and 5 (daughter).

2. I purchased my 1st horse when I was 30.

3. My goal for blogging is to become a better writer.

4. In September of 2007 I started to milk my husband's cows...the weird part of this fact is, I am a city born and raised girl and was left on my own with the farm by week 2.

5. Cleaning manure in the barns is more fun for me than cleaning the house.

6. I love to cook, but hate to do the dishes.

7. My father was in the Army; therefore, I have live in many places.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as I have enjoyed reading so many others! Now...who shall I tag?

Wooly Pigs

I know this is not seven, but the best I can do on short notice. If you are reading this and have not been tagged, please consider yourself tagged and send me a note (as well as link back to me) and I will be happy to check out your meme and comment. Happy BLOGGING!

Down on the farm...Lethal White Part 2

2008-01-28T13:44:00.000-06:00

Lethal White Part 2...

How the stallion breeder handled this situation.

While all the heartache of losing my beautiful baby (my daughter named Flicka) was going on; it didn't occur to me what was going to happen next.

I contacted the breeder and she did inform me that her stallion had been tested and confirmed for lethal white. What she didn't know was if the results had been back at the time we bred my mare. Her opinion was that I knew about the disease and was willing to take the 25% chance that I could end up with a lethal white baby.

I assured her that I did not know those risks and knowing the risks I would not have chosen another Overo. I most certainly would have chosen a Tobiano stud. She let me know that there is a live foal guarantee and that a lethal white baby is not considered a live foal. I then asked if what that did mean for me as my mare was no longer alive and my Quarter Horse mare was already at the breeder's. I had no other mares or options.

Kim was very flexible. She told me that I could "lease" a mare, have a baby already on the ground or she had a mare that had not yet foaled. The colt on the ground was going to possibly have dental issues, I could not afford the lease option so we worked out a deal for me to take the baby that had not yet been born.

After many discussions, I asked about bringing the mare to my property for foaling. Many people thought I was crazy. This option made me responsible for feeding, vet care, hoof care, and all other daily management of the mare. My thoughts were; if I had the mare, I could control the nutrition of the mare and foal as well as get to immediately bond (imprint) with the baby.

We trekked over 2 hours to pick up Ginger and here is the beautiful gift we received about a month later...

I was supposed to wean Misty around Thanksgiving and return the mare, however, I received a call from Kim in October saying that she was ill and having to reduce her herd. For a very small fee would I like to keep Ginger? Needless to say, we now have two additions instead of our one.

Please do not misunderstand this post; there is nothing that will ever replace the beautiful Flicka for me.

I would also like to thank the breeder for her support during this very difficult time for me. I am just sorry that a life was lost due to my lack of knowledge.

Down on the farm...What a day

2008-01-26T14:19:00.000-06:00

What a day!

It all started when the roller mill would not work. This put the morning helper I have behind...he has to leave for school by 7:00 a.m. Then, I don't get the chores done, but have to get home in time to take my middle child to school...my youngest is going to stay home sick and my oldest is so old he moved out.

2007 Manitowoc County Grand Champion Steer

Raised by my daughter

I get home and my 5 year old greets me at the door. Instead of hi mom, I get; Sissy is staying home today, sick. I check on my 14 year old and sure enough, she is staying home sick. I say ok, this will give me an opportunity to get a few of the undone chores done right?

I go back to the milking barn, finish a few chores, go back to the house where I start chores in the horse barn. Keep in mind the day before the hydrant was frozen in the heifer shed and I had to have a specialist come out and thaw it. Here we go...

I unload some cat food, horse grain and leave the garden hose for later. The door was left open as I had to go back out to get the hose and it let more light in. I decided to start with grain...gathered the amount needed for my daughter's beef steer project...open the stall door and instead of using the usual bucket, I used the grain bag. This spooked Patches and he and Cowboy bolted past me and out the side door.

Panicked, I ran to my front door and beat on it until the kids answered. Told my daughter to get her stuff while I grabbed the truck and headed down our road. The steers had already gone quite a ways away.

I called information and tried frantically to reach the neighbors about a mile down the road hoping to cut the steers off from the highway. No answer, tried information again for the neighbor's on the other side of the road. This time the operator did not speak good English, nor did he understand the spelling of my neighbor's last name. After trying to spell for him 5 times; I said "never mind" and hung up. In between me and my neighbor's at the end of our road (where the highway is) there is another neighbor (my husband's father). I, however, do not get along with this particular person at all. Now what? The steers are already more than a 1/4 mile from home with my daughter trailing us on foot.

I swallow my pride, say a prayer and call...he says he will come! Prayers do work people. As I hang up the phone the steers seem to be mellowing, they turn and look at me so I slowly get out of the truck. My best hope is to get around them...I think!

Just as I get around the truck, the steers start heading back towards our place. I look down the road and see my daughter coming towards us, I try shouting for her to get back and stop them at the drive way; she is too far away and can't hear me. Finally, we get close enough and my daughter starts to move back. At this time, we have more than 6 inches of snow on the ground and the steers had been staying on the paved areas. My thoughts were that they might go back up the driveway. Just as they turn up the drive, my husband's father comes up behind me. I park the truck at an angle in the drive to block the steers exit, open a gate to the south pasture and start running around the side of the house, circling the steers.

I shouted for my daughter to get some grain and sort of cornered the steers between two fences. The south pasture is vinyl fencing and the north pasture is electric wire. Patches, the larger of the two steers, decided to bolt through the wire fencing to visit the horses.

What Patches doesn't realize, is that the paint mare (Ginger) does not like strange animals. Ginger starts chasing Patches and Cowboy has not decided which way to go yet. My daughter comes out of the barn at that time and Cowboy then commits to running through the fence where Patches did.

We get the animals separated and all is well...I send everyone back to their homes and try to calm myself enough to finish chores. I get them all fed, go out to the truck for the hose and find that in all the excitement the hose has already started to freeze. Not that it ends up mattering as the hydrant is now frozen as well.

I guess having the hydrant guy out is much cheaper than having to replace my daughter's steers.

The moral of the story is, prayer works and NEVER leave a barn door or gate open!

Down on the farm...Life With Koda

2008-01-20T12:40:00.000-06:00

Life with Koda

Last year my daughter started asking for a puppy. You need to understand that I need another animal and responsibility like I need a hole in the middle of my head. We already have 1 farm dog, 2 inside cats and numerous barn cats. The barn (shed) is filled with dairy heifers and horses.

The previous summer (2005) I had to put the farm dog (he adopted us when we moved here) on joint medication. During the winter he became increasingly stiff and I knew he would not be able to make it for very much longer. So, in the spring I started contemplating a puppy to ease the children's inevitable loss. I was not looking for a replacement for Snickers, but something that would take their mind off Snicker's passing when the time arrived.
In July my middle child's best friend got a Golden Retriever puppy. The puppy, of course, was adorable and my husband fell in love with the idea. Naturally, he doesn't take care of the animals, so why not?

We set out to find a Golden Retriever and all the kids came along. There was an advertisement for a puppy that was last in his litter, no papers, price reduced. I am no rookie when it comes to puppies so when we got to the home and the puppy was completely obnoxious, I had no problem saying no thank you. Not far away there was another litter and off we went.

The puppies were placed on the floor and the kids (18, 13, and 3) all joined them. As I watched, the kids begged for their favorite puppy. My 13 year old decided we needed a female (so she could have more puppies) and my 18 year old acted like he didn't want to be there (not his choice in breeds) and my 3 year old just wanted a puppy to love.

Well, after about 30 minutes of watching, a particular puppy kept sitting quietly behind my 18 year old and was not shy or upset about my 3 year old picking him up or petting him. We took him home.

On the way home, my 3 year old decided to name him Koda after the little bear on Brother Bear. Koda settled in quickly and learned to stay out of the way of our Snickers (border collie). My 3 year old really wanted a dog that would fetch with her and chase her, poor old Snickers just couldn't do that anymore.

Well, this February Snickers passed away. We miss him daily and remark about him regularly. I don't believe that once your pet dies that you just forget about him. We all talk about how we miss him herding the cows and horses away from the fence when we come home and his incessant barking.

Koda with my youngest child...he sat there for 2 hours while she slept

As I said, Koda was not a replacement for Snickers, but he is a new addition and is living up to my (now 4 year old's) expectations. He fetches, chases and even drags Bry around the kitchen.
We are approaching 1 year with our new puppy and feel that the experience will be lasting for our last child to grow up with her own dog. He is the best baby sitter, friend and companion we could have found. We know that dogs are not immortal but the unconditional love and adoration we get and give from our pets is priceless.

Down on the farm...Lethal White

2008-01-20T12:25:00.000-06:00

Lethal White

I was so happy last year (2006); I found the perfect stud to breed my beautiful (yet old) Paint mare to. I happily drove her 150 miles dropped her off, before leaving I whispered to the stud that I wanted a loud tri-colored filly. A few weeks later, I picked her up and took her home to wait the 11 months and 5 days. Her due date: May 17, 2007.

I brought her home and started to have some troubles...she was losing weight, having trouble walking on all four of her legs and seemed to be cranky no matter what I did for her. I got her weight back up with the help of three nutritionists and a great feed mill. For her legs I called in three veterinarians (one was a chiropractor) and an equine massage therapist. She hated the massage and all that the veterinarians could tell me was that she was suffering from severe arthritis. I started her on some Bute (a pain reliever), glucosamine and several other joint supplements. The Bute seemed to help but did not stop her from limping. Needless to say the mare was not feeling well and if she was not pregnant I probably would have ended her suffering as I hate to see any animal suffer. As winter progressed Classi had good days and bad days but the good seemed to outweigh the bad. Winter progressed into spring and I finally stated to think that Classi would make it to the foaling date and I would just have to try and hope she would make it through the nursing portion. Nursing a foal takes a lot out of a mare and I was hoping she was up to the task.

On Saturday (May 5th) I went out to the barn to find that Classi had foaled two weeks early. At first I was elated that the baby seemed to be alive; then I looked closer...there was only white on this foal (Paint horses are supposed to be a combination of at least two colors or a solid red, brown, black etc.). I had heard the term lethal white and was so scared that I ran to the house and called the veterinarian.

While waiting for the veterinarian, I ran back to the barn to get a closer look at the foal. I turned the baby over and got her to stand up...no other color, then I looked at her eyes, they were not only both blue, but a very light blue. I thought, okay, this might not bee too bad...an albino. I can live with that; I wanted a filly and that is what I got...Right?

Wrong...
The veterinarian came out and checked the baby over, I asked him about the difference between lethal white and an albino. I was shocked by the answer. The difference is the lethal white baby would not have intestines that worked properly. A portion of the intestines grows together instead of being hollow; in essence the baby could not pass any digested foods. He gave the baby an enema and hoped for the best. This poor beautiful baby could not pass anything. She had to be euthanized.

I called the stallion owner only to find the answers to questions I did not know to ask. Lethal white is a gene that is specific to Overo Paints. My mare was an Overo and so was the stallion. This does not mean that you can not breed Overo to Overo; but it does mean that you should know if your Overo carries the gene. Her stallion had been tested for the gene after the time my mare was bred and he tested positive and I knew nothing about the gene, but now know my mare is positive.

I hope that my heartbreaking story will help others learn from my tragic mistake. If you own an Overo paint horse and plan to breed it. Have it tested for the gene or make certain that the other horse is either negative or not an Overo.