Meet Beth

A couple weeks ago during evening milking, our neighbor and a couple of her family members from out of state came over to watch milking. Our neighbor's nephew's wife, Beth, had never visited a dairy farm before.

Beth had lots of great questions. And since she's a nurse that works with newborn human babies, many of her questions were about lactation and baby calves. I answered Beth's questions and helped her milk Harley, one of our cows. When milking was done, Beth and her sister-in-law, Kayla, took turns feeding one our newborn calves his bottle.

Beth asked how we come up with names for all of our cows. I explained that we name all the calves when they're born, most of the time with a name that starts with the same letter as the calf's mother's name. Calves' names often reflect what's happening in our lives at the time of their birth.

Beth then asked if we would name a calf after her. I told her I sure would; Bloom, Belle and Bitsy were due to calve in the next couple weeks and at least one of those calves should be a heifer.

On October 12, Bitsy had a heifer calf and we were able to grant Beth's wish. Beth, the calf, is off to a great start. She's a curious, spunky calf.

And she's a constant reminder of our visit with Beth, the nurse, and the opportunity to introduce her to dairy farming.

Kids, then cows

For the past four years, we arranged our kids' schedule around the cows' schedule. I used to tell myself that our kids were learning adaptability and flexibility by living their lives around the cows' schedule. And, honestly, I think that's true. It wasn't a disaster if our kids didn't go to bed exactly on time or have their snack on time.

But now that Dan is in school and we have to abide by the rest of the world's schedule, a lot has changed. The kids' schedule comes first now.

It became clear after the first couple weeks of school that Dan couldn't just go to bed early on the nights before school. Going to bed early one night and going to bed later the next night was like having a kid on a yo-yo.

So now bedtime is early every night, with an occasional exception. That means I handle bedtime by myself most nights and Glen ends up finishing chores by himself. I wasn't in favor of this type of division of duties, but it's actually working out quite well.

Dan and Monika have adjusted to the new schedule. I'm still adjusting to them waking up earlier on the days Dan doesn't have school, but that will come. The improvements we made to the heifer facilities this summer make it a lot easier for Glen for finish chores alone and allow me to focus on the kids without worrying about how chores are going outside.

"We'll figure it out when we get there," is one of the mottos I live by. And as much as I fretted about how we'd adjust to Dan starting school, I held to the belief that we'd figure it out. And we have.

Halloween fun

Dan and Monika had a blast trick-or-treating this year. (I had fun, too.) We made a record number of stops to see our friends and family, and we didn't have any incidents involving tears, tantrums or tired kids. At least until we got home; the minute Monika got out of the car, she refused to take another step and insisted that I carry her to the house.

Sneaky salamander

Last night, just before we started milking, Glen went to round up the kids and bring them back to the barn. When he found Dan, Glen asked his usual question: "What have you been up to?"

Dan's reply caught him a little off guard.

"I put a dead salamander in the fridge," Dan said. (Thankfully, he was talking about the small, dorm-style fridge we have in the barn, not the fridge in the house!)

"Come look, Dad," he said next.

Glen said he only half-believed Dan, so he followed him to the barn office to confirm the story. When Dan opened the fridge door, there wasn't a salamander there. Glen was starting to think maybe Dan's imagination had run away with him again, until he saw the look of pure shock on Dan's face.

"Where did it go?" Dan asked.

It didn't take them long to find it.

Right after Dan asked the question, the boxes of vaccine in the back of the fridge started moving. Soon, the salamander had crawled to the front of the fridge.

Dan snatched him up, saying, "How did that happen? I thought he was dead!"

Glen told Dan he couldn't leave the salamander in the fridge, so Dan took him back outside and put him in the grass.

When I got back to the barn to tie up cows, Glen was still chuckling about the sneaky salamander.

Ride of a lifetime

I spent most of this week working with the Dairy Star at World Dairy Expo. This year's theme was Around the World in 5 Days. I feel like I've been spinning around for the past four days; this Expo was filled with projects. One of those projects gave me an opportunity to see the world from a new point of view — or at least the world around Madison.

On Wednesday, the Dairy Star had an opportunity to take aerial photos of World Dairy Expo. I was the one who got to ride along in a Cirrus SR22 while Ed Shaw of the Canadian Forage & Grassland Association took the plane for a test flight. Chad Friedrich of Cirrus Aircraft co-piloted the plane.

 Sadie Frericks

Sadie Frericks

We circled around World Dairy Expo a couple of times so I could snap a few shots and then flew up to Wisconsin Dells for a few touch-down landings. The Wisconsin countryside was breathtakingly beautiful.

Sadie Frericks

Sadie Frericks

Sadie Frericks

Sadie Frericks

It was really neat to listen to Chad and Ed speak in pilot tongue. It reminded me of dairy farmers talking to each other in farmer lingo. Since Ed was test driving the plane, he did a lot of things with the plane — like banking, stalling, and the touch-downs — that I'll probably never experience again. It was absolutely the ride of a lifetime.

Until one has loved an animal...

"Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened." ~ Anatole France

If there's one character trait I want our kids to develop from growing up on a farm, it's a deep love and respect for all animals. I don't know how to teach kids to love animals. I think loving animals comes from living with animals and caring for them. Dan and Monika spend countless hours outside with our animals and, as the pictures below show, I think they're well on their way to becoming animal lovers.

 

Dan and his favorite cow, Love. He insisted that I take their picture together one night in the barn. Love is the cow Dan always wants to milk and the first one he identifies out in the pasture. I think her red neck strap helps Dan pick her out. She is as docile as her name implies.

 

Dan and Monika with two of the pullets we raised from chicks this spring. They absolutely loved watching the chicks while they lived in the stock tank. After we moved them to the chicken coop, Dan and Monika were always in there playing with them — Dan trying to catch them and Monika sitting in her little blue chair like the Poultry Barn Superintendent.

 

Dan and his favorite kitten, who doesn't have a name other than 'Dan's Kitty'. Dan was the first one to find this kitten after it wandered out of the nest one day. It's been his ever since.

 

Monika napping in the stroller with her favorite kitten, Black Kitty, who napped with her for quite a while before she wiggled her way out of Monika's arms.