NEW CALF

It's been a while since I have blogged, so here is the update. Brandy has now escaped many times- she seems to want to hangout with our neighbor's beef-cattle. So on Sunday we adopted her a baby calf. She is about 12 days old now and very cute.

The children have named her Rosie.

Rosie is an A2 jersey cow. We got her from a local A2 dairy. Here is a link to a website all about the benefits of A2 milk: www.a2milk.com

We were given some of her mother's milk and have been mixing it in with formula. The first day we forgot to heat it and couldn't work out why she wouldn't drink it. Anyway, heat it up, just like mamma's udder, and she is into it.

Brandy has taken her in well, licking her and mothering her. But when Rosie tries to suck on Brandy's udder, well, she gives her a kick.

Our thinking is that now Brandy has a friend she wont run away anymore???I feel like the woman who swallowed a spider to catch the fly. I don't know why?

We bought her home in the back of the VW and she was very calm all the way home. We put newspaper and hay on the floor.

We have now run out of her mother's milk. We used it to mix in with the formula to get her used to it. So, as off tomorrow she is just on formula. We bought a big bag of it for $75 and it should last 6-8 weeks. She is also having a little pick at the calf pellets we feed Brandy, but she is not very interested in them.

We are feeding her from a bucket twice a day. So far so good.

The veggie patch is slowing down now that it is getting cooler. I have done a some winter planting and have some potatoes to harvest soon. I haven't had nearly as much time for the garden as I would like. All the marigolds are in bloom but the sunflowers are dying back. The children love running around the little pathways I have made through the garden.

All four chooks are now laying- did I mention chook number five got bitten by a snake- she died. She was the head-chook and after her death it took the other chooks weeks to figure out how to get back in the chook shed. Bill had to run around every night at sunset and carry each one into the shed. It was hilarious. We are going to invest in some more chooks.