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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I am raising our food!

Never in a million years did I think that I would be raising our food rather than getting it at a Grocery Store. Don't get me wrong we also buy food from the grocery store (yes even meat) but in this last couple years it means more for me to raise our food.

To some it may seem mean because I get animals that are abandoned by their mothers or their mothers have died.

I have a bottle fed calf from last year named Princess. She will not be food as she will be a breeder. I love this cow! She is my baby even though she is fat and funny. Its nice when you bottle fed an animal from when they are really young. We got her at 5 weeks and bottle fed her every day many bottles, grain and hay till she was 7 months old. Then she was weaned to just eat grass and grain. When they are bottle fed they are so friendly. She will come running when I call her name. I cant eat her, probably because she was my first but she is for breeding anyways.

We have raised bottle fed lambs last year and again this year. I love them and would feed them four times a day. I put a lot of love and time into these animals. I know eventually they will become food but this way I know what they ate, what shots were given to them and that they had an amazing, loving life. When you buy lamb at the store you honestly don't know what has gone on with those lambs or if they are adding dyes etc to the meat to make it look more fresh.

I know so many people think its mean to raise your animals and then use them for food. I feel that I would rather have my kids eat food that is raised right. I cant butcher them as that would make me sad. My husband or friends take them in for me so when we get meat back I can kind of imagine it wasn't them. I have these animals for that. To feed my family of 6 and to feed them well.

We have four bottle fed calves right now. Minnie was saved by C-section as her mother was dying, Ryan Jr is a bull that its mother died also. Tulu was kicked to the side and Quinny mother didn't want him either. Ryan Jr will grow up to be our baby maker, Tulu and Minnie will have babies and Quinny will probably be our food. I love each of these animals but I have to remember what they are for. It would be silly of me to raise them, feed them 22 bottles a day, grain and hay, put all this money into them just for them to grow old and die as pets. They are surely cute now, I could NEVER do anything to them while they were young of course. They are loved and well taken care of so I know that their lives were good too.

We also have pigs each year. And Chickens that lay eggs. I like that all the stuff is Organic and that my kids will have less hormones in their bodies. This to me if very important.

We also have a big garden with eggplant, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, Brussels sprouts, kale, squash, zucchini, potatoes, onions, carrots, bell peppers etc that we eat and also can to have more organic foods in the house.

We do have animals that we don't eat. Our goats (kids since they are babies still) are going to be weed eaters. Our chickens we wont eat either. We also have horses and they are just for riding and ranching.

Then we have our precious dogs. All six of them that I love dearly! All six of us has our own dog. Seems like a lot but they have thousands of acreage to run and have fun. We wont ever get rid of them. They will grow old with us. I think its important for a child to have an animal that is theirs to take care of and to love.

In the end I think its an amazing opportunity for us to be able to raise our own food. To be able to know where it came from and know it had a good life yet give our kids nutrients that are good for them. We are truly blessed.

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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Worst Chore and My FAVORITE chore!

Most people hate chores that they have to do daily. I guess there are a few that I don’t particularly love like doing dishes and I hate ironing. My favorite chore to do each and every day though is bottle fed my animals.

I was discussing with my husband how we went from one dog to 6 dogs, a cow, a calf, lambs, cats and 5 horses. Then I remembered who I was…an animal lover. It’s a big joke in my community that my name is Farmer Rae. It’s not because I farm that’s for sure. It’s rather for the fact that I have a bunch of animals….a Farm of them.

Our horses we saved them all except one was given to us. Princess, our black angus, we got at 5 weeks and had to bottle feed her for the next 6 months. Minnie, our calf, was a C-section baby that was early and we have bottle fed for months and will continue till she is about 8 months old. I love her! Then we have Stevie, Wooly and Lamb chops our bummer lambs that we bottle fed. And yes….6 dogs….of which over half were rescued and the other ones we just couldn’t live without.

You would think that is the end right but whenever my husband has some time (this is his busy season) we are going to go and pick up some pigs, and two more calves. So I guess I am Farmer Rae. I will hold that title proud. I love my animals! It’s hard not too especially when so many start out bottle fed and I am their momma!

How can you not love this….When they run to you each morning!

 

Or this….when Ryan is actually home late enough to feed with me. That’s always a treat!

 

Or seeing this…My cow Princess who used to be bottle fed. She still comes straight up to me even though she doesn’t even think about the bottle anymore.

 

They graze a lot too of course as you can see.

 

This is one Chore I definitely love. Sure beats dishes or ironing!!

 

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