Spring has finally arrived at The No Lack Farm…
Greetings from The No Lack Farm!,
Spring is in the air… quite literally! I don’t know about you all, but everything on the farm is covered in pollen. While I despise pollen, it is a necessary component of spring. My favorite part of spring however, is that it is also calving, lambing, kidding, and chick season. I absolutely love the arrival of new life on the farm! It’s not all sunshine and rainbows though. This time of year I am consistently mentally, emotionally, and physically drained.
Why? Well, pretty much the same reason most farmers and ranchers are… This time of year we are on high alert, because while incidents should be few and far between, they still occur. And what happens when a mom is giving birth and the few hours after the birth are critical to both the health of the mom and the baby. So we are constantly watching the herds and flocks making sure everything is ok.
Let me give you an example. When our third calf of the year was born it was one of those times. I noticed the behaviors of the first calf heifer out in the field were those of a mom about to calve so I began to check on her throughout the morning. A couple of hours later my hunch was confirmed. There were two small hooves protruding. And so I stopped everything and began to watch. I watched this first time mom struggle for about 30 mins with no progress. So I made the decision to intervene. I walked her calmly into the corral and into the chute so that I could secure her and help pull the calf.
Once in the chute, I could see the issue. The calf was big and the mom is kinda small and so she couldn’t clear the calves head. I tied soft poly rope around the calves front legs and watched for the mom to have contractions and worked with her so that it would be as natural as possible. About 20 mins later “Sir Loin” was born. Pic below.
There are a lot of life lessons we can draw from this story. For me, the biggest is to be prepared. You never know what life will throw at you, so be as prepared as you can. Be prepared spiritually through regular prayer and reading of the word. Be prepared emotionally with family time and things that reduce stress; and be prepared physically through proper nutrition and exercise.
You never know what this world is gonna throw at you, so be prepared!
My lovely wife has pointed out all my punctuation errors, so I’m going to work on that. In the meantime, at least you know my content isn’t written by A.I. bots.
I’m considering doing occasional consultations. My time is admittedly limited however, I also know that there are many out there who really want to get started, but need a helping hand. So while I am working out the details such as cost, let me know if you guys or someone you know, might be interested in my services. I have been doing informal consultations for years, and now feel like I have the resources at hand to offer a professional product.
I would love to see what you guys have going on this spring, so please send me emails with pictures and details of what you have going on and lets GROW together!
Until next time, stay strong in your faith, love your family, and support your local community farmers!
Kevin
