Happy Thanksgiving to all

Wanting to wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving "season", as I think Thanksgiving is basically everyday, at least for those of us living in America.
I know I am thankful for everything God has provided for my family and myself: I will not even begin to list all that I am thankful for, but will say that a grateful spirit is a content spirit.

Farm news: had the vet here last Thursday...did the fall pregnancy checks that I have not been diligent in the past with; that and the fact that it is still difficult to confine my animals enough to have them pregnancy checked....which I will be working on this winter, as I have decided that I (and my ever-patient vet)and my beasties deserve a safe, stress-free way of being held in comfort and safety when the need arises.

I found a great manufacturer of comfort headlocks right in Pennsylvania called Zimmerman. If you Google "Zimmerman head-gates" you will find their site; they have all kinds of neat cattle handling stuff, including some of the newer style hay feeders that virtually eliminate waste with the hay suspended above a feeder floor that is accessed through headstalls....really cuts down on the waste. I would imagine this would pay for itself in hay savings alone!

Anyway, the vet confirmed 2 more animals pregnant (yeah!) due spring / early summer, but my lovely cow who gave me Sprite this last April was found to be open (still!!!) after 7 months, which is unacceptable to me (obviously not to her!) but on a good note she was checked, is perfectly fine and was in heat about 10 days earlier, so, if all goes well she is bred , or will repeat to be bred in December, which, may be the case after the time she had being haltered, tied and checked! Just a little stress there,(for both of us...) which I will expound upon next blog!

My thoughts on this late cycling / breeding back is this: (unscientific conclusion>>>) I let the calf stay with her all those 7 months; normally I will wean 5-6 months tops, no earlier than 4 months. The vet mentioned that sometimes the cow is too busy being a good mother and interested in her calf to breed back and cycle at the typical 60-90 days....I had one other cow do that, and it was the same thing...I was lazy, and let the calf stay with momma apparently way too long. So, next year , I will wean at 5 months, and that's it. And, with the new head-gates :), it should be no problem at all having everyone checked in a more "timely" manner!

Happy Thanksgiving to all.
May God bless you!