BiG bOy - The Ayrshire Calf

Well here is our first calf of the year....he is a beautiful 3 week old Ayrshire calf and he is just as sweet as can be!!!

It will take some getting used to getting up at 5am now instead of 5:45 BUT he will be sooo worth it. 

Ayrshire Calf

So we got contacted about a 3 week old Ayrshire calf yesterday.  The owner is growing tired of him because he won't take to drinking from a bucket and the dairy owner is fed up with bottle feeding him....long story short : he wants him gone.  We were asked if we wanted him for the kids and their 4h projects....so now we are getting an Ayrshire calf in just a couple days.

We are still getting our Jersey babies, but now wondering if maybe we should consider getting a heifer and keeping our Ayrshire a bull to have our own little herd, and 4h calves for the kids instead of purchasing them every year, in the many years to come......

WHAT ARE WE GETTING OURSELVES INTO?!?!?!?!?!?!

Once again, this was unexpected....but what kind of life would it be if the occassional SuRpRiSe wasn't thrown in there at ya???  Pictures will come soon of our new little guy.....and the name is undecided at this point    : P

Just the Beginning.....

Our family consists of myself, my wonderful and supportive husband, our 3 children, and our little farm(hence the name for the blog spot lol).  We bought our little piece of heaven about a year and a half ago....there's been ups, and lord knows there have been downs but we always get back up, dust ourselves off, and keep marching forward into the next chapter of our lives.  If we aren't fixing fence, building a shelter of some kind, feeding animals(or chasing escapee ones), then we love to just enjoy being outside and playing around......

BUT......the kids have decided that being a part of the Saddle Club just isn't enough.  That the 5 horses, 3 dogs, chickens, ducks, peacocks, cats, etc werent enough animals on our farm (more like they didn't think MOM and DAD had enough chores to do!!!).....so we have reserved 3 Jersey calves that are due to be born the end of February and have signed the kids up for 4H.....AAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!

So now I have been preparing for these 3 new little mouths that are going to be joining our family very soon....sooner than I would have initially wanted due to the cold weather, but oh well.....onward we go!!! 

 The plan is to have all of this in abundance beforehand:

*3 different nursing bottles (one for each calf)
*2 water pails for fresh water daily
*an abundance of goats milk
*a stockpile of alfalfa hay and some good prairie
*a couple bags of transitioning calf pellets for weaning time
*a few straw bales for bedding
*halters and leads for each calf
*sterilizing pails
*bottles of A,D, E and Combiotic
*Electrolyte pouches
*castration tools because we don't want crazy bulls : )

and then last but not least......BRING OUR CALVES HOME AND GIVE THEM LOTS OF LOVE!!!!

This is going to be a crazy, hectic, exhausting experience BUT we are ready!!!!  Be prepared for the funny, the sad, the pissy, and the frantic blog posts to follow our new adventure in life with the animals and our children!!!!!!