Saving Angel who is not so Angelic (pics)

Am I the only one who puts a cow in the back of her car and drives home? Isnt this a normal thing to do haha!

So I got the phone call! The one phone call that I always know I want to say yes to. My friend called and said "We have a three week old Calf that doesn't have a mom anymore". I said YES and she hadn't even finished her sentence. Since I am 2 months post op from surgery however I had to go through a little more than normal to get the calf. Instead of my normal YES meaning something I had to get approval from the hubby and a text from him to her making sure it was him saying yes haha!


Normally its not a problem. I am known as Farmer Rae. If you have an animal that does not have a mother for one reason or another....CALL ME! All of our cows have been bottle fed and didn't have moms. Some moms died, some kicked them off etc. I called my husband up as he was helping someone put in a water heater, asked him if it was ok and he just laughed as if he could ever say no!


So the next morning we went to get the Calf. My good friend Lesley named her this time. I always have other people (mainly my nieces and nephews) name my bummer calves, lambs, goats etc. Lesley named her Angel. What a cute name as its the Christmas season.


Angel however is nothing but an angel! She is spunky!!! You know she is spunky when the first text I get from my friend who gave her to use was "How many times did you get kicked today". Angel is the size of a newborn. When they were loading up cows she had no mom. I am so thankful that they gave me the call. She is actually 3 weeks old but soooo tiny! She was eating grass which is amazing since she is just a baby. I think that's what kept her alive.


It took 3 times of trying at different hours to just get her to put the bottle in her mouth. I didn't want to scare her as she is already jumpy enough. At one point she jumped into her water bowl and got stuck. I had to try and lift her out. I tell yah! Spunky! We had to put in a different water bowl. I mean good gracious.


Its snowing pretty bad outside so we have her inside in part of a barn where the chickens  and goat are. I don't want her freezing to death as she doesn't have mom. Plus it helps her to get use to us and come for the bottle.


The sixth time is a charm? That is when she finally figured out the bottle. I just kept trying to be patient and hold it in her mouth over and over. She was chewing on the nipple like it was hay. Then all the sudden 15 minutes of doing this again she latched on. Then it was ON! Her eyes got bigger and she drank with gutso! She drank down the whole bottle and then head butted me for extra uhmph to tell me how good it was.

Yes I am wearing PJ pants still ha!

Angel will be an angel one day. Even her look she looks kind of mad at the world. She is a sweetheart though. I am so blessed to have her. Once she is bigger she is going to love to hang out with all our other bottle fed calves. Thankfully those ones have been weaned

since Fall. Angel and I will be spending a lot of time together having four feedings a day to start. Just wait till I get lambs...they are coming soon too. Its going to be a busy winter for me with my animals! And I love it!!


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Three New Babies

We have three new babies! The best part about that is we don’t have to change any diapers! I wanted to get some more bottle fed calves because #1 I love them and #2 if I could get a bull that would make Ryan super happy because he always talks about wanting a bull. I looked and looked and looked for bottle fed calves. Ended up finding three in Redding that the lady was practically giving away because her Jersey cow needed a break and she was sick of milking. I am thinking to myself, “This is great! Father’s day is coming up and Ryan will get his bull! Not one but two!”. She had three bottle fed calves. 2 bulls and a heifer. All we had to do was go up there and get them, take them to the brand inspector, get calf milk and go home! Calf replacer is pretty expensive. I think we walked out of the store paying 350.00 for three bags and a couple extra bottles. Going rate for Calves right now is 600.00 someone told me at the auctions so this really was a steal. Glad she got sick of bottle feeding because I never will.

As many of you already know I have bottle fed all of our lambs. Then we have my baby Minnie who was born by C section who has been bottle fed since birth. She is the cutest calf ever! So I was thinking that bottle feeding three more calves wouldn’t be THAT much of a chore! Our lambs are weaned now but Stevie Wonder our blind lamb doesn’t feel like he is weaned at all. He is a fat pig (well lamb) now but he still will push the calves to the side to try and get the bottle. What a piggy! This is my favorite all time picture of him because it cracks me up.

Anyways, we got home with our three new babies. It take about 20 bottles a day to feed all four calves. We will be feeding them till they are 7 months old so about another 4 months. They get 2 bottles in the morning and 2 at night. If they want more they get more. They are also eating grass and grain. They do love their bottles though. It’s nice because it makes them all so much more used to humans.

Princess was our bottle fed baby 1.5 years ago. She is now a big ol girl who will be a mommy come Fall. It’s funny because RJ thinks she is the mom and keeps trying to nurse off of her. RJ is Ryan JR. This is Ryan’s Bull Calf. He is so cute! Great coloring too.  He is 3 months old. His mom had died but he is bigger as he did get some nutrition from the mom before she passed. RJ is an Angus/Herford Cross.

This is Tulu. She is a pretty Heifer. She is only two months old. Her mother passed also. They were at a ranch with over 900 cattle so I am sure this happens a lot throughout the years. I love her eyelashes. Is it weird I am obsessed with a cows lashes?

This is Quinny. He is a Bull and a Herford Cross. He is a sweet little bull. He will eventually become a Steer though. This means he will be “fixed” so to speak and not be able to produce. This is still up in the air though so we will see. My BFF kids named Quinny and Tulu which is super cute. All of our animals have been named by kids in our family. My Nephew is naming the pigs when they come in a month. It’s fun for the kids.

So our little herd is growing by leaps and bounds. I think I started looking the day my teens all left and went to their other parents house for the month because its summer. I have this thing where I want to nurture everything! It took me a couple weeks to find another bottle fed calf that we could get for practically nothing. I just lucked out and got a three in one deal!

I know you are probably wondering why in the heck I would do this. I love it! I can’t help it. I love watching them grow. I was raised a city girl and only had one dog growing up. I want my kids to remember all the animals and be able to bring their grandkids back to see them too when they are older. Like 30 years older ha! In reality too these animals can help be our kids futures too if we ever decided to sell them later on. I don’t see me being able to do that but you never know.

This is what happens when I get bored because my kids aren’t here. They better hurry back because I am looking for pigs and more chickens now. I get excited too when family comes to visit because the kids get so excited to be able to feed. This week my cousin and his family came (that will be my next blog) but here is a sneak peak at my little cousin Brock feeding animals. What more fun for City SlickersJ Next my BFF and her kids are coming and then my Sister and her family! It’s so fun! Who wouldn’t want to do this?

Love,

Farmer Rae J

 

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Rescue Lambs....everywhere

So they really aren't "rescue" lambs per say. If there was a huge operation of lambing in a ranch and the mother didn't take the baby....it might die because there isn't time to bottle fed. The ranching operation that we have friends with though they would feed every last one. Why though....when you have a Rae-Rae!

I love lambs...The first time I ever held or even saw a baby lamb was 2.5 year ago. I did a lot of oohing and aahing. I think I said how cute they were 400 times in one sentence. Ever since then during lambing season I was hooked!

Jackson holding a one day old

I love the bummer lambs. Bummer lambs are the ones that the mom refuses to feed. Bummer lambs also can be "special" lambs like this one that have a small deformity that makes it so the mom doesn't want it. The saddest ones are the ones that are born and the momma dies:( These don't happen that often but they do happen.

Our Rancher friends know how much I love to have the lambs and feed them so when something happens they call me up and I come and get them. I get so excited each time. So much so my kids even grown and say "another one mom?" ha! Our friends would bottle feed them themselves but they know how much I love them so they give them to me.

One of the twins who mom didn't make it

This week has been lambing week so a lot has happened. I ended up with two lambs that mom died during birth. These two I wont be keeping because its another friend of ours who is out of town and we are just helping out.

Our friends lamb

Then we got "Lammie" who is special because she has a cleft palate and one eye doesn't open all the way. She will never be bred but rather become food later in the season.

Our special lamb we named "Lammie"

Today we got twins #16 (just so happens its my favorite #) because the mom passed away couple days after birthing. It sounds like there are a lot of bummers but really their isn't.

Sheep usually have twins but sometimes can have up to quadruplets. We got another bummer lamb who was so precious only half the size of the smallest ones. It was sad because she only made it 2 days:( Its hard because I cry each time.

This lil lady didn't make it:(

These lambs are just so cute and I love them so. When they are new like this they are fed every 3-4 hours around the clock. Most people wouldn't want to do that but I really do enjoy it.

Since now we have more than just a couple lambs....we had to make their own room in the barn. Their first day or two of life though I keep them in a playpen to take care of them. Crazy I know. Once they are a little stronger or eating off the bottle easy then we move them into the lamb barn. You should see how funny I look driving down the dirt road in my pjs in the middle of the night to go feed them. Again though....I love it.

Love Cudding

I don't wish that something happens to the moms or that the moms don't take the babies....but let me just say if I get more lambs it definitely wont hurt my heart. They are just little now. I cant wait till they are playing and jumping. It is soooo cute.

Trust me...you would want one after you saw them in person too! I guess that's why my true ranching friends call me Farmer Rae. I am willing to take anything that is bottle fed. Who knows...calving season will be coming up soon.

Who knows we might end up with a couple more. Our own little flock. Its going to be a lot of work but it is sooooo worth every second of it. Really gives me happiness to see these bummers grow and flourish!

Ryan helping me  do late night feeding

yummmy

They love their space.

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Destruction, Competition and a new Baby

Destruction, Competition and a New Baby must be a normal Sunday night, right? Ok so that sounds a little more than what we did this Sunday but its true! I will even show you in pictures. This picture I will put twice because I think its funny. He was trying to keep a straight face.

We have this shed that is falling apart. Its on old shed that was here before we even got here. Today we decided to work in the yard, weed, mow etc. I kept looking at that shed and finally we decided lets just take it down. The kids cleaned it out of stuff that we didn't even know about and put it in the barn. Then they decided they wanted to pull it down themselves instead of using the bobcat. Crazy teenagers! They had fun though and Ryan finished it off with the Bobcat. Garbage went to the Garbage and recycling went to the metal pile.

My 14 year olds helping

They wanted to do it the hard but fun way

So much fun smashing things

Will recycle into garden boxes

After working in the yard I talked my husband into shooting bows at targets. Ok so if you know my husband Ryan you will know that all I had to do was say "hey do you want to" and he would of already of said yes. Then he heard the word "bow" and probably started to salivate in his mouth thinking I was going to pick it up and shoot it ha! You see I haven't shot a bow but maybe 20 times ever. Cushing's had taken my strength so I wasn't able to really do it. Today was the first time I thought I was strong enough to do it. Before I couldn't lift or pull back 10 pounds now I can do 45-50 so I was in the clear. Jackson decided to shoot with us. I shot two times and did really well. So well that I couldn't tell that it was two shots because it looked like one. I thought to myself "hey I am kind of good at this...who knew". So I decided to have a competition with my son who shoots all the time. We did the best out of four shots. I made sure that he had his bow sited in and made him promise me he wouldn't let me win. Jackson is too competitive to let me win even if it was me lol. So we did the best out of four and guess who won!!! ME!!!! I am telling you I think I might have a gift here hahahaha considering they shoot ALL the time and today maybe was my 30th time ever shooting a bow. hehe...you should see me giggling now because I felt so good about it. I could never beat Ryan but I will take that I did better than my son.

Ryan shooting. He always gets his shot

Jack in competition with me

Yep I have a light bow lol

Winner!! Mom! Rae Rae!

LOL!!

After we were done shooting we got a phone call from our good friends and ranchers the Albaughs. They are lambing and had a bummer lamb that the mom wouldn't take. He has a cleft palate and was just born an hour ago. I started jumping up and down. I get so so excited seeing the lambs and each year we bottle feed a couple for them. You have to feed them 6 times a day so its no easy task but I love it.

First we toured around and looked at all the babies!! I loved it. I just wanted to hug them all. I cant help it. Here are a couple pictures of their place.

Then we got "Lammie" hey why not...Better than what they were calling her before which was "Parrot" because of her mouth. She is the cutest little thing. We will love on her and feed her till she is healthy and big. She has a broken little ear, and a cleft mouth but she is ours to love. :) Our new baby has already had her bottle and doing well. She is sleeping in the dog crate so she stays warm but is outside when she isn't in the crate. She is different but to us she is beautiful. Love her!

Taking Lammie home

So asleep with Cassie

First of Many, Many Bottles!

So as you can see we had a good day! Love family days like this. A lot was accomplished. We had fun. We got a new baby. You know....its just an ordinary Sunday!

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