2012 Fair - Our youngest childs 1st Junior fair

Getting the animals settled before show day. (Spring Yearling)

Getting a pep talk from the experienced showperson (big sister)

Big brother here for support!

She showed this cow (Dry Cow) as a calf in Kiddie Showmanship...Here they are together again years later.

Showing something more her size.  She loves this March calf and started walking her when she was a week old.  Too bad the calf came down with a kidney infection.  The only animal she showed that did not bring her a blue ribbon.

More family support...the neice!  Possibly a future showman!!!

 

Mom and Dad...the bigest supporters of all!

Showing off the days ribbons!

Here is what it is all about...Daddy, Daughter time.  Nothing is more precious.

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.

Trainer or no trainer?

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

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)!

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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Tribute to Kenai

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

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!

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

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...

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?

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

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.

First Barrel Race

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?

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.

Classification

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

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

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?!?

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

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!