Jan 156 min read

80th & 3rd Birthdays--Farmer & Heifer

Week Two of 2024, Allie's FOOTHILL FROLIC FARM POST

Week two here on Foothill Frolic Farm was a full and celebratory week. The weather was either cold brilliant blue skies of sunshine bliss or cold dreary dreadfully cloudy and rainy days. It just so happened on Thursday January 11th the weather was in full and bright picture form. The lighting was so crisp and spectacular that ones eyes where in a constant state of acclamation. Grampy and a saved Baldy Heifer named "Birthday Snowfall" were able to celebrate their birthdays on this brilliant day. Grampy turning 80 and Birthday Snowfall turning 3. Both sincerely happy to be in the moment of feeding and eating hay, I would say! We all think that Grampy...aka Barkley Mills, should be represented in some sort of older farmer attribute as he continues to be ever so capable of doing work day in and day out without missing a beat. Birthday Snowfall was born back in 2021 on a snowy January 11th day, hence the name Birthday Snowfall. She is expecting her first calf this spring and is one of our nine saved Heifers from 2021.

Monday the 8th started the week off in a full quick rush as rains were forecasted for Tuesday. We had a long to do list on this day. Normal hay feeding chores, plus the add ons of leading 2023 weened calves out of their cozy and large barnyard corralled area to their first winter paddock and getting our large herd rotated from the Rolling Lacy Field to the Back Gammon Hillside Field.

The group of 46 calves are all brothers and sisters and they now are their very own herd, as they were separated from the main herd back on Dec. 12th when the moon was at the bottom of the 4th quarter in Scorpio. We always choose the most ideal moon phase and sign for weening, as to put forth the best energies for both the mamma cows and the calves, in this transitional period. The calf group has indeed bonded well and they embody a pretty great calf herd. They will get to rotationally graze and play and live an ever so good cattle life together for the next 18-24 months till they become saved Heifers or Custom Beefs.

Our plan of walking them peacefully out of the barnyard area to the new paddock worked well as everyone stayed calm and collected. Since then, they have much enjoyed having more room to run and play and be fed out in the open.

In order to move the large herd Dad and I had to do a lot of perimeter fence checking and taking down preexisting internal fencing. The main herd has not been in this area since the dry fall back in October, so that is why electric fence checking was a must. We found fallen trees, deer breaks in single line caused by deer, and missing insulators, which all make for quick and easy repairs. I think I walked up and down the large back hill 6 times. Changing around and taking down internal fencing is always quite the leg and arm work. I can hear it now..."Come one come all to Foothill Frolic Farm's internal fencing/hill repeat work out class." All was a check and our perimeters were a successful go for our count of 70, main herds presence.

Of course that day ended in the dark, which is normal on these short winter season days, but all the herds were happy and eating and enjoying their new fields before the rains started overnight.

The next morning, the Ford Tractor that we had been pressing our luck with finally and indefinitely would not start. So as I walked to the barn, Dad was already getting the International 584 out. This tractor is not as handy to feed with as we do not put our hay spinner on this tractor, which means we have to hand pull and spread every bale manually off of the back hay spear. The good news was that the daily hay quantity ration was a little lower than normal, as the large main herd was not going to require as much hay because they had some forage in the larger back Gammon Area they were let into. The bad news was the fact it was a cold rainy day and the IH 584 is cabless. I continue to hold off on getting a full fledged rain gear suit, in which I have no idea why, other than I have seemed to fair well for the past 4 years without one and it seems slightly frugal and challenging to persevere without one. I come from a long line of frugal clothes wearers that take pride in wearing clothes till they are falling apart and making do with what one has or finding a stashed away article. Hence, I absurdly changed clothes three times during the day in between hay feedings and herd water system changes.

I also knew that Dad was dreading having to take off the starter, as it was not in the most convenient spot, not to mention the cold weather on the hands when trying to work on equipment. Matthew jumped in to help feed one afternoon in order for Dad to have the time to get it taken off. Dad chose to have it worked on by the local shop that specializes in starters and they fixed it right up, but somehow it came back in the color of black when it went in the color of blue. It was the original Ford blue too!! This starter had never been replaced or repaired. Of course this was our only complaint, but as the Ford was back and running by Saturday afternoon we had to set aside our petty color complaint and just be happy and thankful that we got the Ford running before the forecasted very COLD and SNOWY week ahead.

The week ended just as it started, crisp blue skies and sunshine, just a nip colder, and feeding herds from morning to night. Just a little introduction to the coming week I suppose. We are all looking forward to the snow as snow is perfectly and appropriately seasonal, where as warmer, rainy winter days are not. Eastenn Dutch is looking forward to the thought of sledding and missing school and I am just excited to see how much accumulation we might get. Eastenn Dutch enjoyed being involved in weekend farm chores and partaking in some Buckwheat and Spelt pancakes earlier in the week, amidst multiple 2 Hour school delays....yeehaw.

CUSTOM BEEF SHARE NOTE

We could not believe the expediency in which the "Veggie Girl" CUSTOM BEEF SHARE POP UP SOLD OUT. The first order came in somewhere in the 6 am hour and her shares were completely sold out by sometime in the 3 pm hour on the Monday the 8th that the Allie's Farm Journal posted. Thanks to the 15 Shareholders that were excited enough to order in a FLASH!!

As our online custom beef shop's offerings are current, it is always recommendable to go ahead and place your PREORDER for the 2024 Custom Beef Season that starts in May. We are about to close out June On Farm Pick Ups, so then the next available will be July. The take away point is the sooner you place your preorder the sooner your pick up opportunity will be. If you put off your PREORDER for two more months, we might by then not have available custom beef shares till September. All our CUSTOM BEEFS are PRESOLD on a first PREORDER, first SERVE/ONFARM PICK UP basis, so get in line and PREORDER NOW!!

We also have added reoccurring share PreOrder options NOW.

For example, if you have enjoyed your 1/8th Custom Beef Share and you have determined it takes your family about 30 days to go through it, you could PreOrder for a MONTHLY reoccurring 1/8 Share.

CLICK HERE TO VISIT OUR ONLINE CUSTOM BEEF SHOP

Foothill Frolic Farm's 3 Generation Cattle Series Feature

This Photo Series is an idea I had to show the relation of generations within a "Birth to Beef" Regenerative Cattle Farm.

This week's feature is Mamma Cow G15, a baldy, and her 2 calves she has birthed since 2022. Mamma COW G15, is currently pregnant with her calf that will be born in the spring of our 2024 calving season.

Mamma Cow G15, First Generation...Look at her unique facial markings and that classic hairstyle Poof!!

"First Sunday" 234S, 2nd Generation, Born on 3-6-22.

(within the last week her ear tag actually got caught in a thicket, so in her photos she does not have a tag. The funny joke is that we accidentally gave her a Steer Tag, hence the S, but she should have been given a heifer tag that would have ended in an H, so we say that she got rid of her tag on purpose because she was tired of being mislabeled!!)