Canning pears!

I was given about 25 pounds of pears.  I canned them in a light sauce with vanilla.  I also made a caramelized pear sauce to put on ice cream.  I'm looking forward to trying the recipe and to enjoying home canned goods instead of store bought preservatives.  I really enjoy canning and am so glad I learned.

Healthy...

So far it looks like our last two remaining calves are doing better and dare I say it, healthy.  The 6 week old chicks are getting to take field trips around the pastures and scratch for bugs.  They loved it today.  Looks like we have more roosters than we need so we will be selling or culling heavily in another couple weeks.  The broilers will be here in about 2 weeks so that will be yet another adventure on the farm.  Never fear there will be pictures when they get here and as they grow and again as we butcher.  There are three different types coming so they will all get butchered at different times.  The Turkeys are ready for processing but we need some supplies.  I better get on that this weekend or next week.  Things are looking up for us, healthy animals, extra money coming in and kids doing good in school.

Chickens

The baby chicks are about 6 weeks old now, and growing big.  Feathers are coming in beautifully and we are even able to tell if some of them are roosters or hens.  Sadly many of the full size chicks are looking to be roosters so they will either find new homes or be dinner.  In the spring with the Blue Laced Red Wyndottes start hatching we will place another order for pullets only instead of straight run so we won't have to worry about as many roosters popping up.  The picture is one of our bantam chicks.  She is a partridge cochin bantam.  Very pretty feather pattern.  Cochin means that she will have feathers on her feet and bantam means half size for those unaware of what all that meant.  Looks like all three blue cochin bantams are roosters so hubby said I could order some full size blue cochins in the spring.  I really love the blue coloring on chickens.  Hubby said the sky in this pictures looks fake, but it isn't, it's just beautiful Texas sky.

Another loss on the farm

About 5 days after we lost Little Girl we lost Johnny.  Things are not looking good for the calves but I am not giving up.  We are doing everything we can to save them.  Sadly the dairy bottle calves are not known for their survive ability.  I am however getting a great lesson in animal care and how to doctor calves.  Which will pay off exponentially in the future.  We have purchased some medicated milk to help with scours and possible pneumonia infection.  We are holding out hope that it will be just what the last two calves need to make it and turn the right corner.  The last two are older than Little Girl and Johnny and stronger.  Both lost their umbilical cords in the last 24 hours.  We are suspecting they are about 4 weeks old which increases our chances of saving them.  And if for some reason we lose them too, we will know that we did everything we could to save them.  And we will try again.  Once Pretty Boy and Patches are on feed we will move them to the "bigger" pasture area and try to bring in a couple more bottle babies before the end of the year.  We also lost one of our 6 week old chicks yesterday which was sad for my oldest.  She was a white polish hen that my oldest had named Blossom.  We also found that out of 10 hopeful laying hens, 6 appear to be roosters.... That isn't great odds but we will get a few more pullets (15) in the spring.  Chicken math at work.

First major farm loss

We lost our first big farm animal last week.  Sadly it was our little heifer calf that we were planning to keep and breed next spring/fall 2016.  We aren't sure what happened.  She was seemingly fine at breakfast and by night feed she was on the ground and died about 90 mins after I found her.  It was for sure hard, hubby was out of town, so I was at home with the kids trying to figure out what to do.  I proved to myself that I am able to handle this farm life we chose.  I was able to pull myself together, dispose of her and still get up the next morning and take care of the other animals.  Had to put my big girl panties on, life and death are all part of being a farmer.  Not every animal we bring on the farm is going to stay and not every animal is going to survive.  It is sadly the way of farm life and one that we are having to learn quickly.  I have proven to myself that I can do it, and while it is hard and unpleasant, I have mustered through it.  We are already planning to get a nurse cow in the Spring (unless we manage to do it sooner) and possibly a couple more calves after these are weaned and on solid food. 

Cute picture

Really just wanted to post this adorable picture of our heifer Little Girl.  We are thinking of naming her Belle since Little Girl will only last so long :).  Soon she won't be little at all.  She is adorable and I am glad she is staying with us for the long term.  She had pink eye when we got her but she is getting better each day.  I can't wait until they start putting on some weight so they don't seem so sad and skinny.

Bottle calves

My dreams really came true this week when we purchased 4 bottle calves. One is a heifer so that is amazing. They are all healthy and eating good. We are blessed that our neighbor is a retired veterinarian and he came and checked them all out.  Our Little Girl has pink eye but it's already getting better this morning.  Doc gave us some ointment to put in this morning and we gave her a shot of antibiotics.  Expect many more pictures of the babies growing up :).  There are three Holsteins and one Jersey calf. I think we have broken all the rules when it comes to meat animals.  We name all of them and love on them LOL.  Little Girl is the heifer, she is the one eating in this picture.  Next to her with a more white/bald face is Patches.  Then there is Johnny (thanks to my oldest) and Pretty Boy is the Jersey.  He is actually a friend of ours that she bought, so that what she started calling him last night.  I've wanted cows for so long I can't even remember when I didn't want them.  That and horses, but we need a barn so it will be a couple more years before horses.