Farm Flops

There are times when life doesn't go as planned. There are times that things fall apart. It is tempting to show and discuss only the good things about owning a farm and living our weird life, but we are going to be transparent here and share a few problems that we have experienced lately. We hope that it will inspire others to keep going in their pursuits even when things get tough. 

Rabbit Cannibalism

Our doe, Patty, had baby bunnies in February. They were adorable babies and she appeared to be taking care of them.

It is known that rabbits are not known for being the best mamas and will do some strange things. Rabbit cannibalism has happened to us before but very soon after birth. It is said that this happens with the mother needs more protein in her diet and all recommendations point to giving her raw bacon. This sounds weird at first, but it has worked in the past. However, Patty was protective of her babies and didn't show any signs of problems. Life continued and things were going well as the babies were growing.

... until the day I got the phone call. I was at an FFA event with my oldest when I received the call that made me feel like a horrible rabbit farmer. The rabbits were checked the night before and no problems were seen. However, that morning showed three of the smaller kits with significant damage to their paws. It was obvious that something was slowly eating them. (I have pictures, but I will spare you the blood and gore).

My first thought was to give her bacon. It still didn't make sense to me. These kits were over two weeks old! She hadn't shown any signs of malnutrition or issues before now. Could this occur at this stage? I did as much internet research as possible with my phone and found all sorts of suggestions. Some sites suggested that she could do this if she felt that she was in danger. She was located in the hoop house with the chickens and that combination has worked well for us as they are both animals of prey and look out for each other when paired together. We didn't have any issues with security in the hoop house. Was the wind scaring her? She had been in this environment since December. 

Despite the cause, we had to do something. We removed the babies and brought them into the house. We treated their wounds and housed them in our bathtub with a heat lamp overnight. We returned the kits to mama in the morning, and she seemed happy to see them and immediately jumped into the box to nurse them. We monitored her closely and removed the kits when she appeared to be done nursing and placed them in a neighboring cage. We returned the kits twice a day for a few days while their wounds healed. We gave her raw bacon slices for several days in a row. Patty began to show more protectiveness and obviously wasn't a fan of our new arrangement of supervised custody. We left the babies with her and monitored them all very closely. She has shown no further signs of problems. It has been noted in her records and if we breed her again, we will know to provide this extra nutrition throughout several weeks of postpartum. 

The bunnies have healed but they will have some lasting scars with deformed front paws.  

This issue happened very quickly, and I am glad that we caught it early and that the bunnies only suffered minor injuries. Sometimes you think you have things under control when the animals will prove you wrong.  

Cold Seedlings

I started our seeds indoors on heat mats. They were growing great, and I was running out of room. We had some warm days, and it was feeling like spring. In Kentucky, we always get at least one "false spring" and I fall for it every year. I moved my seedlings into the hoop house and even planted a few in my garden area. "False spring" ended, and winter returned. I forgot about my small plants. They died. 

Runaway Calf

Bessie had her calf in late March. The delivery was uneventful, and we even got to watch it. She claimed her calf easily and he was proving to be a very good calf. We named him Smokey. 

Bessie was obtained through the stockyards and her history wasn't clear. We suspect that Smokey is part Charolais. He is healthy and has a spunky, curious personality. 

Prior to the birth of Smokey, we developed routines with Bessie where we took her into the stanchion to be brushed and then walked her out to a section of pasture. This time of year, things were becoming greener but there wasn't a lot of great growth, so we were moving her pen daily to provide her with the best, fresh grass. She did well with this routine and looked forward to her time outdoors. 

After the baby was born, she was not a fan of leaving him. She enjoyed the walk to the pen with fresh grass. Our intention was to leave her on pasture for a few hours and then return her to the calf. As time progressed, we would bring the calf with her.

Bessie was not aware of our intentions and did not appreciate being separated (even for a few hours) from her calf. She was showing signs of tearing through the electric netting fence. This fence structure is not strong enough to hold her if she decided that she didn't want to be there. We were afraid that she would hurt herself if she attempted to go through the fencing.

So, we brought the calf to her. It was easy! He went directly to his mama. We were patting ourselves on the back for being such great farmers. We learned later that day that our celebration was premature. 

In the evening, we went to bring both cow and calf back to the barn as was our routine prior to the birth. When the hubby attempted to place a halter on the calf, he ran, and this only made Bessie upset. We started for the barn with Bessie on a rope and the calf following. He followed her all the way to the barn. Again, we felt the triumph of a job well done. Until...

We had them both at the barn doors and were ready to go into the pen, when Smokey bolted. We don't know what scared him, but he refused to go into the barn and sprinted out into the field. We forced an upset Bessie into her stall, called reinforcements from the house and attempted to return this calf to his mother. Over time, we had him walking towards the barn. Bessie was calling for him and he seemed to be listening. He got to the barn doors and bolted again. Apparently, this calf doesn't like the color of our barn doors. I have no other explanation. 

When I say he bolted, it mimicked the behavior of a deer. Catching this creature was starting to seem impossible as we were trapsing up and down our hills with him and he wasn't listening to his mama.

Things got worse. Fencing supplies are expensive. We have been upgrading our fencing structure in pieces and set up electric wire in areas where the physical barrier wasn't ideal. This has worked well for our dogs and has allowed us to focus on other projects. It turns out that the space between the wires may deter our large dogs but was simple for a small calf to squeeze through. The next thing we know, Smokey is sprinting through the brush covered woods into our neighbor's property with no sign of stopping. 

We stopped to gather our wits and formulate a plan. It was getting dark and following him wasn't working. Those that were barefoot obtained shoes, we obtained flashlights and walkie-talkies (our cell phones do not always work out here). I returned to the house with the girls while the hubby and the boys continued their trek through the woods. 

Eventually, I received the call, "We have him!". Smokey had tired himself out and gotten caught in some thorn bushes. They were able to catch him and place a halter on him. He was tired and didn't feel the need to walk anymore, so the men carried him most of the way home. Mama and baby were happy to be reunited. It was a long day! 

The Contrary Dairy Cow

I have been wanting a dairy cow for over a year. It has taken a while to convince the hubby of the necessity of having one. He finally agreed and we started looking this year. We are novices in the dairy cow world. Our ideal cow is a calm, older Jersey or Guernsey that may not produce the quantities that a traditional dairy farmer would need but would be ideal for our small farm. We wanted an unruffled, practiced milker that could tolerate our learning curve.

We weren't having a lot of luck in finding our ideal cow. We did find a black jersey heifer through the stockyards that was bred 6-9 months. We knew it would be a gamble. A heifer is a female bovine that has not yet delivered a calf. Bessie was younger than we originally wanted but if this worked out, she had the possibility to be our family cow for many years. She was pregnant and due soon.

We took the time during her pregnancy to work with her. We let her get to know us and our mannerisms. We taught her how to enter the milking stanchion and receive her treats. She learned to stand still for a brush down and allowed us to wash her udder with soapy water (similar to what we would do when we wanted to milk). She learned that walking with a lead rope would lead her to fresh pasture. We worked together for about six weeks prior to delivery. She was so comfortable that we simply opened the gate, and she would walk straight into the stanchion for her treat, receive her brushout and then proceed to her pasture without issue.

Bessie delivered her calf in late March without incident. He was a great looking calf that we suspect was a cross with Charolais. We named him Smokey. We were excited to start our milking journey. After a female animal has a baby, her personality can change. This was true with Bessie. For the first time since the beginning, she was hesitant to enter the stanchion. We attributed this to losing sight of her calf and allowed him to be next to her during this time. 

We experienced multiple issues with Bessie. First, I felt that she was difficult to milk. We called in a pro. My dad grew up on a farm that milked family dairy cows throughout his childhood. He was kind enough to offer assistance since I was struggling to start the milking process. He confirmed that she was not what would be considered an easy milker. 

Next, we noticed that she had some udder swelling but no other signs of mastitis (infection). My dad confirmed that he didn't feel that mastitis was a concern at this time. He stated that her teats were plugged. This required the insertion of a needle to drain the teat. We did this procedure twice and the swelling decreased. We were hopeful that her sensitivity and kicking would decrease with her marked improvement.

We were wrong. Instead of getting easier to milk, she was becoming more contrary every day. Her kicks were becoming more aggressive. She broke the stanchion and kicked the hubby (he suffered a bruise but is fine). Then, she refused to enter the stanchion at all. Her calf was very friendly, active and outgoing. Bessie would become uneasy whenever he wandered towards us. Her personality was becoming what we called "squirrely". 

We were sad to admit it, but we did not have the properly constructed space to handle a cow that didn't want to be agreeable to our enticing or coaching. We are also not experienced enough with milking to train a difficult cow. After about ten days of frustration and hours of work, we gave up. 

Bessie and Smokey were sold as a pair to a farm that has no plans to milk her. She should make a good field cow and has the milk to raise her calf. Her early issues with plugging have been resolved and the calf was nursing from all teats prior to leaving our farm. 

While we didn't find our family milk cow, we did make a profit by selling the cow/calf pair. Our gamble taught us a few things and we are still looking for the perfect cow for our family farm.  

Broken Technology

In early April, our area experienced some significant weather threats. Tornado watches and warnings were announced. We waited until the last minute to secure our outdoor items. While we were scrambling to finish morning chores and stabilize our mobile structures, we experienced a pouring, sheeting type of rain. It was one of those drenches that makes you think you would have been drier stepping outside of the bathtub than we were running to the house.  

The hubby had his cell phone in his pocket. It was ruined. We spent a week trying various solutions to dry it out and make it functional again. It didn't work. We later discovered that we were missing out on business-related calls and messages during this time. This became a very costly mistake to replace the phone and possible loss of business. 

It is difficult to admit to others (especially online) that you have failed at anything. People can be very judgmental couch critics. However, with the flooding of social media with beautiful, flawless appearing farms it can be intimidating to someone that may not get it perfect the first time. We have to remember that we cannot judge our "today" against someone else's "tomorrow". We all have our path to take in life and we will inevitably fail at something along the way. We hope that this story will encourage you to continue to try difficult things.