I was leaving the house last Saturday at noon to pick up the rest of my Christmas lights when I heard a cow bawl. That made me very suspicious, because generally, right now, they have no reason to make much sound. I headed straight out and I was greeted with a brand-new calf.
Thankfully, the mom was tucked in the windbreak and the sun was shining brightly. I had been out earlier doing chores and did happen to look for that cow, but at that point she was laying down peacefully with a bunch of others.
The new calf is 70 lbs (32 kg) and she’s smart. She arrived on my cousin Shanny’s birthday. One of Shanny’s favourites drinks being Fireball whiskey, we named the new calf Fireball.
She was kind of an accident. Last spring when the new Red Angus bull was delivered, we put him out with Stacey’s heifer, as she was set to breed. The problem was, the Red Angus didn’t respect our fence and quickly made his way quickly over to a group of cows. He was trying to breed this cow – and another one – and I marked it down for this very reason. According to my gestation table, the birth should have taken place somewhere around Jan. 14, but she arrived yesterday.
Of course, I am out of town this week Monday to Friday at a board meeting, so I am very nervous and anxious about leaving. I never find leaving easy, but this adds another element. My mom is planning to hold things together for me while I’m gone, but then I get feeling bad about that as well. All of my friends are willing to help – and would in a minute – but it’s not the same as being there. With only a year left to sit on this board, I’ll eventually put all this travel behind me and hopefully that means less pressure for mom and me.
Our ski club had a busy week of skiing last week, but it’s looking like we might have to reroute my trail again as something opened up part of the beaver dam along our pathways and it flooded our trail. It wasn’t bad one day, but the following day it was worse and ice froze on the bottom of my skis and I didn’t realize until I went to slide – and didn’t.
I was able to save myself from falling flat on my face, but it was close. With the full moon arriving this weekend we decided to do a night ski on Saturday night. It was really nice and very fun! We all had headlamps, but for the most part the moon was bright enough we didn’t need them. It was such a great time, we’ve decided we’re going to do it again.
I will arrive home Friday from Nashville. I am lucky to have the opportunity to attend Cattle Con/NCBA but I also have to participate in the NOFIA Conference in Sudbury Saturday morning at 8 a.m. Thankfully they agreed that I can join the panel via Zoom, but I have been trying to have my presentation ready to do before I leave. I look forward to sharing my experience with you!
