Changes...

It has taken me a while to sit and write this update. Due to Todd's continued health challenges, working off the farm and other economical trials, we decided to sell most of our herd June 5, 2012. This decision has affected us from the oldest to the youngest. While we knew at some point we would need to pass the milking on to the next generation, we never thought it would come before the next generation was able to take over.

A special thank you to all those who helped us during this time (especially Miller & Co. Auctions). We are truly blessed to have had so much input, help and understanding while all this chaos was going on.

We continue our love for dairy farming and have a few heifers, bulls and cows in our ownership. During this time we are focusing on them and our new division...Huacaya Alpacas! Alpacas are entirely different from cows, but have one main thing in common...you need to understand genetics. As with our Holsteins, we plan to focus our alpaca breeding program on QUALITY. With time, we hope to be able to show our alpacas with the same success we have had with our cows.

 

Below are the pictures of our newest farm members.  They currently have just the two lanes and some shelter.  Their new housing will consist of six lanes and a new lean-to style shelter.  We are learning more about these graceful, curious animals daily and I look forward to posting more about them soon.

Our first Alpacas...they are all boys.  Left to right:Machu Pichu, Journey, Kennedy

The boys next to the girls.  This is a temporary home for them.

Manitowoc County Culver's Futurity 2010

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

Cancer Affects Us All

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.