Eventful

  

   

 

 Saturday we hosted our annual "Christmas in July" picnic for the Newman side of the family.  40ish people, some all the way from Virginia, were anticipated.  We did get a surprise guest though- right smack dab in the middle of the party, Andrew (who has been on constant watch) came running from the woods saying "The calf is born! The calf is born!"

I thought he was joking because, well, he's done that a time or two.  ;-)

But sure enough- the whole party trekked through the woods to discover a little fawn-like calf curled up next to her robust Mama.

(Because, you know, hosting a bunch of people for an afternoon isn't eventful enough.)

All week Matt had been out of town and I was petrified that Penny would give birth during that time- and her being a first-time heifer, I was certain there would be "issues" (which I was certain I would be completely inadequate to resolve by myself!)  Needless to say, I was more than a bit relieved when Matt came home and no calf had been born.  And more than a bit relieved when, as the calf was born, all worked out without a hitch.  We weren't even there.

  After nine months of waiting- the last two being almost unbearable for the boys in this family- Penny had her calf.  (A good sized calf, too!)  Without any problems.  She cleaned out perfectly fine.   She is just an angel at milking time- she stands still as a statue and never kicks or dances around.

The calf was having a few issues with scours but she is on the upswing now.

We've gotten 16 pounds of milk at each milking (about two gallons)...making four gallons a day.  I really wish we had pigs right now to feed the milk to since a calf can only drink so much colostrum and I sure won't!

Oh- and by the way... her name is Ellie.