Monthly Archives: September 2018

Growing Livestock

Since, when we began raising livestock, we were not allowed to have pigs on our property, I never thought we would have any. But the zoning laws changed last year, allowing a maximum of two. Still, I was surprised when we received a call from a good friend asking if we would like a free, lame pig and even more surprised when Daddy and Mommy said, “Sure, if someone wants to take care of it.” So, Bacon took up residence in the old sugar shack. And his leg has vastly improved to the point that he now comes running if he thinks you have food for him!

Two other new barn tenants arrived even more recently, but they were neither free, nor unexpected: Honeycomb and Apple – two purebred Finn ewe lambs. Though quite skittish and nervous at first, it didn’t take them long to get friendly and sociable. Appealing to the stomach goes a long way with animals!

Honeycomb

Apple

And Bounty is growing by leaps and bounds – quite literally. She has already succeeded in jumping her stall wall which is higher than her back! And the photography session last week was an active one!

It was hard to get her not moving!

Bounty!

So far, Hershey has always calved early. Since her calf was due today, this year it looked as though she might not. But late yesterday evening she had a surprise for us!

Unlike last year, the calving went very quickly – so quickly that we missed the whole thing! When I checked Hershey at 6:30, she looked normal: eating happily. When, at 8:30, I heard her bell ringing continuously, I went out to check and found Bounty already trying to get to her feet.

Yes, Bounty is a little heifer! With a birth weight of 61 lbs, she’s one our our largest calves. And she has energy to match! A straw bale “fence” is easy to jump even at only 12 hours old!

Aren’t I cute?

We chose the name Bounty (the name of a chocolate bar) to combine her parents’ names: Hershey and Profit Driven. And after losing two calves last year, we feel bountifully blessed to have such a lively, healthy calf this year. Praise the Lord!