Sunday morning saw the arrival of my first calf! She was born outside, because in this weather, it is much less stressful on the calf and the farmer. It was +6 degrees! I gave her the traditional sleigh ride into the barn that as usual just stirs up the entire herd of cows as they all follow along thinking that it just might be their calf! Like I said the ride into the barn is much more pleasant when you don’t think that every minute the calf is freezing its ears off. The calf was born from a second time mom and we like to see our second time moms calve early like this as they often struggle to get bred back quickly. It was a nice 75 lb heifer calf that was up trying to nurse before I got her in the barn. This year instead of a needle for Vitamins A, D & E we are tying an oral vitamin that we did use with our lambs last year. Ideally you wait to administer until they have had they first drink of colostrum. This eliminates two needles so the only pokes they get at birth are those for the ear tags. I am in a bit of a dilemma here with the fact that I should be heading to Toronto next week for the Beef Farmers of Ontario AGM. I have help lined up, but it causes me stress that I am putting too much pressure on others. It looks like the weather is going to cool down for next week but still reasonable.
Our Annual 4-H Awards night was help on Friday night. It was great to see a full house. Once again, we were lucky to have the Kiwanis club of Fort Frances making a nice donation towards our Awards night. Robin Wright & Aly Pilon had some great points of interest from the early days, and it is looking like they have supported our club for very close to 100 years! Congratulations to Kennah LeBlanc who was the recipient of the Degagne / Tompkins Outdoors award this year. This award itself has been around for many years with the first winner being Telford Advent.
The RRFA has announced their Ag Day Event will be held on May 6. If you are wanting to be apart of the Trade Show for this even you should reach out to Tracey Haglin or Lisa Teeple. Last year it was a big hit and the Trade Show was very impressive.
The Rainy River Soil & Crop Improvement Association are hosting their AGM next Tuesday February 21 at the board room of Emo Feed. The meeting will begin at 7 p.m.
The Rainy River Ag Society is planning to host a Gala Event on May 13th to fund-raise for the new 4-H Food Booth and Exhibit Hall. Mark that down and let’s plan to make it a great event! 4-H is excited to think about making those tasty fries in a new space for everyone!
