Holiday Chores

At our farm we do lots of things on rotations. 


We rotate bookwork amongst the girls. 


Cooking meals amongst the girls. 


Sunday chores among the boys. 


And holiday chores among the families.  (I say this because I try and pitch in on holiday mornings and do whatever needs to be done so things go faster!)


Today, even though it was Easter, was like every other morning at the farm. 


Last night I got home from visiting my family in Indiana at around 11 P.M. Hubby was very gracious and took my 2 A.M. cow check for me another night. (I needed some serious sleep!)


Anyway, we both got up this morning at 6 A.M. My husband went to the farm to help his Dad with feeding the cattle and I set off to feed the cows we have housed in various barns around the farm. 


The weather was really cruddy while I was gone, so this meant bringing in new babies and mommas to barns so they would be more comfortable and out of the rain and cold. 


Before 7 A.M. I had accomplished these things. 
*Fed and watered two barns of cows 
*Threw hay bales down from the loft and hauled them to one barn
*Checked the cows that have not yet calved 
*Fed and watered our dogs and cats


Then I hurried home, showered, went and hid Easter eggs at my in-laws, then rushed back home to slice up fruit for our family breakfast at 8:30 A.M.


I was really excited for spending Easter with my South Dakota family. It was the perfect end to my “vacation” that I spent with my Indiana family. (I love family time!)


But, the fun didn’t end there. 


Through out the day today we had 5 new calves.


Our first calf of the day was having some problems entering the world so we had to assist the cow by pulling the calf out. 


After you pull a calf it’s really important to clean out the airways. Which means wiping the nose clean and sticking your hand inside the mouth to get out all the mucus. This little calf was raring up and ready to go by the end of today. 


The other four births went pretty smooth, other than one very protective mother.