Sunday Stills ~ New Beginnings

The definination for Spring should be: "New Beginnings"...which happens to be the theme for this week's Sunday Stills photo challenge.

Dawn is the beginning of a new day

New beginnings of life come in spring...like cute lil' calves...Paddy was born on St. Patrick's eve.

Milk Face Paddy

Tumbleweed arrived three days later...and tumbled into this world as you can see on her previous posts of when we witnessed her birth and how she got her name.

Tumbleweed bats her pretty Jersey calf eyes for the camera...look at those eyelashes!

Robins have arrived, but we haven't found any nests yet. The photo below was through my dirty kitchen window; yes, it snowed last Wednesday. He's sitting in the Lilac which is just getting some leaf buds.

All Puffed Up

The elm trees will be a while before the leaves start budding out, but they always get these brown, round things in early spring (not sure what they are).

Elm tree in spring

And the beginning of our farming year...the alfalfa is finally coming out of dormancy...it won't be long before we're back to irrigating!

Frost on the Alfalfa

Well, this happens to be my 600th post...I have no idea where I came up with that much to say...I'm actually a pretty quiet person ;~)

Thanks for comin' along on this ride...I appreciate your comments and friendship...you all sure have made it enjoyable...we'll see if I make it another 600!

Rural Thursday ~ Spring Calves & Introducing Tumbleweed

I'm so jealous of all the spring flower photos everyone is posting...but we got newborn calves!!! Maybe you don't think like me, but I think calves just as sweet and cute!!!

Hi! I'm Tumbleweed!

We're all done calving for the year...our two cows have done us proud! Paddy, a lil' heifer out of Ellie Mae, was born last Friday, then Tuesday afternoon Annabelle delivered a heifer which My Man named Tumbleweed.

There's a story behind her name. We saw that Annabelle was close to calving, her water broke and it was quite obvious from the looks of her back end that delivery was soon. Camera in hand, we hung around for a while, but Annabelle just stood there and stared at us. Well, can ya blame her?!? We left her alone and went to feed the other horses at the big barn.

With all the evening chore done, we went back down to the cow paddock to check on Annabelle. She had found the spot she wanted to calve, which proved to be a precarious place to calve, and proceeded to deliver. Trying to keep out of her way but still get the moment on film, I got above her on the hillside (photos posted in yesterday's Wordless Wednesday).

The delivery went well, and Annabelle, being the good momma cow that she is, proceeds to lick and clean up her newborn. My Man, our friend from the TI Ranch and I are watching her from a ways away...and pretty soon, the lil' calf slides about 20 feet down the hill around a huge boulder through the sagebrush!

There was a narrow flat spot where Annabelle calved.
What a way to come into this world!

Between Annabelle licking the calf and the calf starting to move around, the calf got herself headin' into a downhill position...and gravity took over!

My Man to the rescue!

Everything probably would have been alright if we'd left the calf where she landed, but it was still a pretty steep spot, so My Man went in and picked her up and brought her down to level ground where it would be much easier for the calf to find its legs when the time came.

We left them to finish up...but My Man went down about an hour later just before dark...the calf, who has earned the name Tumbleweed, was up and nursing...the end of a great day!!

This was my first experience to see a calf being born. I've witnessed and assisted with dozens of horse births from working on a breeding ranch, but it was very exciting to see our own cow give birth!

So that's how Tumbleweed got her name!

The next mornin' our happy lil' herd is back into the normal routine...feedin' mornin' and night...ahhhh life is good!

Our herd.

Next year, Number Three (the yearling heifer in the middle) will give us a nice calf too. And what are we going to do with Paddy and Tumbleweed? My Man and I have decided to keep both of them as breeding stock for our herd...and that will be about as many head of cows as our grazing land can handle.

We're truly blessed~

I'll leave you with this cute lil' video...Paddy is very excited to have a new playmate!

Thanks for stoppin' by today! I'm linking up with the Rural Thursday blog hop...come on along!!

Meet Paddy!!

Yep, we got a calf yesterday!!

Hi...I'm Paddy

Ellie Mae didn't come in for breakfast when My Man fed, so I went out after it got light to check on her. Nothing was happening yet, but I knew it would probably happen before the day was over.

I worked at the Post Office for half a day starting at noon and as I was driving out, I checked on her again...

Up 'n nursin'

...and there they were...the lil' calf was still wet, but was up and nursin' at 11:30 AM. Ellie Mae still had the placenta hanging out, but everybody was doin' good.

Number Three and Annabelle were right there givin' her moral support I guess...maybe Number Three was watchin' and learnin' for next year...poor Ellie Mae couldn't get any privacy!!!

And, YEAH...Paddy's a heifer!!! So, she'll be added to our herd...that'll make four!

Well, I named her Paddy because of St. Patrick's Day...she wasn't born ON St. Patrick's Day...but it's close enough for a cow don't ya think?   ;~)