Herford Cattle After A Long Winter

4/19/2013

You can tell the grass is greening up and the cattle held their weight and thrived through the winter.  Our fall calves developed and will be weaned the First of May. Our weather is damp and chilly but I am sure summer will arrive eventually.

I am not too concerned about getting our garden planted, the ground is wet and cold and more rain is in this weeks forecast.   The river bottoms have flooded, receded, and flooded more so all we can do is wait it out.  Farmers have been working fields, but nothing is planted.

At least we are not buried under snow like the northern states.  Winter 2012-2013  has been extremely interesting.

Did Your Dog Get Skunked? Use Hydorgen Peroxide!!!

Plain old hydrogen peroxide really does work to rid your dog of that nasty skunk smell.  Unfortunately I found out yesterday this does work.  Our spoiled rotten Irish Setter was skunked again, for the third time in her life.

It seems she is either territorial or just fascinated with skunks.  When she went to the farm to help feed the cattle yesterday morning, she returned in less than stellar condition.  She reeked. 

Well I have previously used the tomato juice bath, the white vinegar bath, and have not been pleased with the results.

I did have on hand 4 large bottles of peroxide, so we tried that. We poured all four on her and soaked her collar thoroughly.  Of course she had to stay outside for an hour and a half then she received a through warm bath with mild dish soap.  The peroxide neutralizes the effects of the skunk and even when I rinsed her down to apply shampoo the odor did not return.  After a through bath she smelled fresh as a daisy.

I do hope she has finally learned the difference between a skunk and a cat(she is buddies with our cats).

Spring is Finally Here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It has been so nice out the last few days, I have been out and enjoying it.  April has been busy so far, Easter and 2 birthdays.  We have two more this month and then none till June. 

So far this month I have cleaned my kitchen, trimmed my Roses and Russian Sage, repaired my bird feeding station a raccoon decided to vandalize, and cleaned one of the buildings.  It is a 30 x 60 pole barn that we use year round.  It is heated (our outside wood burning stove) and air conditioned.  It is mainly used by my husband but I have a small area that I use.  My work shop was cleaned and reorganized in March so I feel like I am ready for gardening season.  There is still more housecleaning to do but I will keep going and get every thing done.

We have one cow to calve this spring then the rest will be born in the fall.  We still have to have the vet in.  Yes they get check ups also, banding and shots. 

My garden has been ripped and plowed so we are getting closer to my time of the year.  I haven't drug out my flip flops yet but that is not to far off. 

When the sun is shinning and it is warm, it is so much easier to get tons of chores done.  Hopefully we will have a good garden year.