Bottle feeding

Savanna got to feed Alma's calf for him when he went out of town. It is her favorite thing to feel the soft fur of a new calf. I don't blame her. There is nothing quite like it.

Toni's baptism

My beautiful niece Toni, was baptized on March 7, in Malad. She looked so darn cute! She was so excited. She is such a fun girl to be with. She is always happy and so kind to her brothers. She looks so much like her mom, my sister, I can't believe it! We are so blessed to have her in our family!

New babies

A calf going to the warmer.

Remember that cute picture of our first baby hiding from me on my horse? Well she is now 2 weeks old.

This calf is huge, probably 90 pounds at birth! I love these "smokey" babies

Boon was trying to nibble this tired baby's ear. The calf didn't seem to mind. He is our first bull calf.
We get the ear tags in the calf within a day or two of birth. (while we can still catch them) It has their mothers tag number and color in it so when we have to pair them up, it makes the job a lot easier.
We still have eagles flying around when we arrive to feed on the East. I think they are cleaning up the after-birth and stuff. That is just fine as long as they aren't cleaning up a calf. They will be gone for the season in about another month. I'll be darned if I can get a good picture of them.

Spring?

I love this time of year.
Really, I don't love all of the mud.
I don't love the snow coming and going and coming again.
I do love my job.
I love going out to feed and check for sick ones in the pens.
I love to feed the cows and check the new babies. They are so cute. Their fur is so soft and they smell good. (Crazy, I know)
We had a bolly-faced smokey calf born this morning that was so fun to watch.
We also had to doctor 3 calves that are weighing about 300 lbs. Alma was a good catch and held the rope so I could give the shots to them. They didn't hold still very well. I think I'll have a sore big toe in the morning. Good thing it wasn't a 500 lb calf!
I love how the sun feels so warm on my face (which is already too tan) despite the fact that it is only 40 degrees outside.
I love not having to wear my heavy coat, vest, hoodie, and turtleneck. I'm down to the turtle, hoodie and vest!
Could life get any better?
New grass, new babies, new birdies.
I hope to become new too.

Final D. A. day

Today is the final day of Banna's Dairy Ambassador days. She has had a great year and so have I. The other mothers could not have been better to work with. I am so lucky.

We have been putting together the program for try-outs and that has been fun and exhausting. We decided it would be better if they were in for two years, that way you could learn it one year and do a good job the second. But, that is not the way it works.

I will be glad when today is over and it all goes well.

There are 15 girls trying out this year.

There were 19 when Banna tried out last year.

I used ten dozen balloons to decorate the venue. Have you ever tried to put that many balloons in one car?

Well, we put five dozen in two cars. That is still a lot of balloons.

I hope to have some teary eyed photos after it is all done and new girls are picked for a great adventure.

Freeze your Buns!

SiSi thought it would be fun to run this 5K appropriately named the Freeze Your Buns Race. It held up to it's name. It was a whopping 10 degrees as the race started. February is not really spring here. Banna and I totally enjoyed sitting in the nice warm car cheering her on.

You Go Girl!

She finished in 25 minutes and then won a $5.00 gift card in a drawing which made the whole thing worth it!

Cute baby!

This is our first calf at home! Isn't she cute. She is trying to hide from me on my horse. She just lays there with her head down trying to get warm on this south-facing slope.
I say at home because we've had others born out to Malta, but she is the first one that I am taking care of here.
She's gotten up, nursed (which is a miracle because of her mother's udder)and is now resting peacefully! What a day!