I was reminded this morning that while I was writing about Bud…I forgot to tell you about the calf. Krissy, the heifer in yesterday’s story had a bull calf. Bobby went out to check on her at about 10 that night and he ended up pulling him. He’s healthy and happy in his spot next to Molly…another calf.

It’s a warm 20 degrees out on the Knolltop this morning. Lot’s of snow, but it’s all cleared out so now I’m cleared to head to town today for some shopping.

Okay…I’ll admit it, I’m a last minute shopper and I hate that about myself. If I see something in July that would make a great Christmas present, I can’t wait to give it, I have to give it right away. If I don’t give it away I hide it somewhere never to be found until well into the next year. So with that kind of track record, it’s no wonder I haven’t bought a Christmas present yet.

Today I will get started because tomorrow is Sarah’s birthday. That will get me to the store and I will hopefully be inspired to buy some gifts. I also have to get her some black slacks for her Christmas concert tonight.

Last night we had a pictionary tournament. Jake and I won. We were in the last round against the two biggest competitors of the tournament…JW and Luke. We had to win…we just had to…and we did. But I have to come clean…we cheated. While they were up doing their shuck and jive thing getting psyched for the last play of the game…..being really loud and obnoxious, I quickly told Jake the answer. Yes, it was wrong…totally wrong…and I’m feeling really guilty, not only did I cheat but I taught my 10 year old how to do it! I’ll have to confess at dinner today….oh the pain of conviction!

Better get to breakfast!

I finally made my way to the computer today. With the kids off of school because of the snow, it’s been a full day with not a whole lot of quiet time on the computer. The weather is clear and the snow is beautiful. I think they will have school tomorrow…but no one had it today.

Last evening, JW and I milked while Bobby plowed more snow and Luke mixed feed. While they were working, a car got stuck down the road so they were busy pulling the neighbor out of the snow drift. Before Bobby left the barn he instructed me to get the heifer in who is in heat and to get the other heifer in who was calving. I left JW with the milking while I started on my orders.

The heifer in heat was easy…for some reason she was very willing to get real friendly… 🙂 So with her in and tied up, I went back out in the deep snow for the calving heifer. All the heifers and dry cows were up at the bunk eating. With flashlight in hand, I started checking behinds. Nope, not her, nope, not her….nope, not her….where was she? After looking through the bunch two more times, I noticed the horse wasn’t up at the bunk. Now that was strange. So I headed out through the snowy pasture to the steer barn to look to see if the heifer was in some corner having a calf. I walked in and their was Krissy, laying down trying to calve with Bud standing right next to her. I laughed at him, asking him if he thought he was the “midwife.”

I got the heifer out of the barn and headed her towards the barn. Bud was right next to me as if he and I were a team….as if I needed him. He walked every step right next to me and we got her up to the barnyard. When she stopped for a snack, I yelled into the barn for Sarah to open the barn door and watch the gate while I headed her in. As I stood there and waited for Sarah, I felt a nudge on my shoulder, I knew it was him…I turned slowly and Bud just looked at me as if to say, “What are we waiting for?”

I rubbed his neck and played with his soft nose and we put the heifer in all safe and sound out of the snow.

Now, I know in last week’s column, I discussed the idea of putting human feelings on an animal and how I don’t approve of elevating pets to human level….and I still don’t. But, I also know there is a certain level of communication between animals. I think Bud knew there was something up with this heifer….and maybe he was just trying to figure it out….I don’t know. I do know that I like that horse and he has made me laugh many times and made me wonder on many other occasions.

Now, I have to go milk!

Yesterday was absolutely crazy! The kids got up early and helped finish up chores. Then we dashed up to East Lansing for the Top Ten sale while Luke went to his scrimmage. (Luke’s team is still undefeated) We had a great time at the sale and I even got to get in the auctioneer’s box and do a little selling, actually fund raising for the spring jackpot show. More on that later. After we drank lots of eggnog, provided by Mooville Creamery and ate lots of free donuts and visited with lots of great cow people…we headed back home to milk the cows and head to JW’s game. It was snowing pretty good on our way to Jackson Christian and we knew we would probably get the 12 inches they were predicting. After watching JW’s team beat Jackson Christian and the varsity team lose to them, we ventured home through the blowing snow.

Back home in our warm house we visited about the events of the day and analyzed the games of the day and then we all burrowed under our covers on the blustery winter night. We woke up to a bunch of snow and it has continued to snow ever since. At the moment, all the kids are outside playing in the snow and having a good time. I think I’d better get on hot chocolate detail.

By the way…there wasn’t a church in the area that had services today…well except a handful had services for the town folk who can walk to church.

Well I’ll post a few photos for you to see what it’s like outside and give you a glimpse of yesterday’s sale and then I’m off to bake a few Christmas goodies and make some cocoa for the kids! I love being snowed in!

Mark up another win for Dub’s team. Last night they beat Waldron and JW only had 2 fouls. I have to laugh at the dads who sit up there and everytime a foul is called they’d yell…”Good Foul! That was a good foul!” Since when are fouls good? I really don’t know much about basketball.

We have a night off tonight…no basketball, Christmas programs, rehearsals…nothing! We can come in from chores, relax by the fire, enjoy the Christmas tree and eat popcorn. Now that sounds good, but I’m sure Luke and Jake will be playing basketball in the livingroom while Sarah yells for them to stop and I’m in the kitchen packing a lunch for a busy day tomorrow and making sure all the uniforms are washed.

Tomorrow is the Top Ten Invitational Sale at MSU. Burton and Fellers are putting it on and Aaron Jorgenson is hosting it. This is more than just your average Holstein sale…this is an event in the Holstein world. Anyone who is anyone will be there to see and be seen and spend lots and lots and lots of money on high profile cows. This is an annual sale and is one of the more prestigious events. So of course since it’s only an hour away, we will go and I will take pictures and notes and try to get a good story out of the deal. I spend most of the time asking Bobby, “Who’s that, he looks familiar? Do you know him? I want to meet him, come introduce me….Oh, that’s her?”…and on and on and on. I love to watch people at these kinds of events. And no, we won’t be taking our checkbook!

While we are at the sale, Luke has a scrimmage with Climax…so he will go with our friends to that. Then on the way home, we will drop JW off at our Pastor’s house. Our Pastor’s son, Brandon, is on the Jackson Christian basketball team and we play them Saturday night. So JW will ride with Brandon to the game and we will come home, do chores and drive back up north to the game. I think I’m tired already. This game stuff on Saturdays is new…we’ve never had to do this but since girls basketball is going at the same time as boys this year, they’ve had to really work in games where they can because the gyms are being used so many time. Used to be the girls basketball was in the fall and volleyball was in the winter but not now.

Well, today I’ve got to get some groceries and make sure all the uniforms are clean.

Thanks so much for your Christmas memories…they will make a nice column….a long one…but a nice one.

It’s snowy here on the Knolltop. It looks and feels like Christmas!

Last night Luke’s team racked up another win against Litchfield. Luke had a great game and was the high scorer with 17 points. Their team has pretty much skunked everyone they’ve played so Luke hasn’t had to work too hard at getting better. So last night when he was cleaning gutters before going to the game, his father told him he needed to shoot for being above average and work on getting more offensive rebounds. Well, Luke did exactly what Bobby told him to do…and it paid off. He just looked like he was trying a bit harder instead of just doing enough to win. Tonight Dub has a game against Waldron…I guess it’s going to be physical…I have bets that JW will foul out before the third quarter. He loves to foul people.

On another note…cooperation was the name of the game yesterday. I went to pick up the kids from school and swap JW’s truck for my van. I ran out of gas in his truck half way there. I pulled into a drive way and called JW at school. He collected the kids and picked me up and we headed for the farm. I told Sarah to put the hamburgers under the broiler and gave her the rest of the dinner preparation orders. I told Jake to set the table while JW and I got his pickup gassed back up. We went and got the gas, JW went to practice and I got back home just in time to sit down for dinner. After dinner I picked up Luke from FFA practice and got back home to put the milkers on just five minutes late. Luke cleaned the gutters, Jake cleaned his heifer pen and Bobby ran them to the game. JW got home just in time to do the rest of Luke’s chores, Sarah did the rest of Jake’s chores and we got done in time to clean up and head to the basketball game where we saw the last few minutes of the 7th grade game and all of Luke’s game.

I told the kids how important their cooperation was and that we couldn’t have gotten it all done on time without their good work and great attitude. I think when you expect good things from your kids….you get it….most of the time.

A reply to horse slaughter and pack envy all to come…if I get to it today! Gotta get to chores.

Now that the bad weather is passed, we can get back to normal…whatever that is.

It’s overcast and cold…well, in the twenties…so I guess it’s not that cold. Last evening JW’s basketball team won, but the Varsity lost. JW had two points and four fouls. He’s proud of his fouls…I don’t think this is a good thing….but what do I know about basketball? Luke’s team continues its trek to be undefeated tonight as they take on the Litchfield Terriers…the only team in the league so far that has given them a run for their money. It should be a good game.

For those of you who commented on my column…thank you so much for your kind words. For those of you who don’t get the Farmers’ Advance, my column appears every week there next to Val Farmer and Baxter Black and the one and only Amanda Nolz from the Chewing the Cud fame. I’ve been writing that column for nine years now and it’s more fun now than when I started!

Speaking of Amanda…..I was a guest on her radio program, Chewing the Cud, yesterday…if you want to hear me talk about how great dairy products are then hit her blog link on the left of this page and navigate through her blog to her radio show. She’s a junior at SDSU and boy is she one ambitious chick! She is an inspiration to me.

Today I will start on my column for next week which is where you come in. This will be my Christmas column that I use all of your Christmas memories on the farm stories. Thank you to all who have written in…and if you still have one in the back of your mind that you haven’t posted….hop to it! You have until 2 pm today. That is your deadline….I know, some of us thrive on deadlines and at 1:55 pm, you will be running to your computer to frantically type up your memory…..that’s fine…just get it to me!

It’s raining ice this morning. We are now in the middle of freezing rain and the kids had school. Several around the county were closed, but not us. I almost expect them to be sent home early if this freezing rain keeps up.

Well, I promised my column so I’d better put it in today. Here it is:

Truth from the Trenches
By Melissa Hart

If farmers want to continue to farm and produce food for the world, they must change their strategies. This is according to Dr. Wes Jamison a University of Florida public relations researcher.
Last week, I began writing about a consumer who thought the American farmer needed to visit Europe to learn how to treat their livestock humanely. Remember? The lady with the green beret and matching cape? She had a lot of opinions but no research to back up the false claims that were spewing out of her mouth.
A few days later at the Michigan Farm Bureau Annual Meeting I had the chance to listen to Dr. Wes Jamison speak on animal welfare issues and how farmers should combat the growing wave of consumers who like to eat meat but want to bring livestock into the house too.
He basically said the animal welfare voices are defending a moral cause. They want to control how farmers treat their animals. While they buy their pot bellied pigs for pets and house train them so they can sit in an easy chair with them, they also want to make sure the average pig farmer raises a consumable product but do it in a way that in consistent with their humane practices. I guess they think we need to let our pigs have the run of the house while the farmers sleep in the barn and then make sure they get slaughtered…humanely….so they can have bacon with their pancakes.
Dr. Jamison said that farmers have a lame defense. He said they state research and bring out veterinarians to explain to everyone that they produce food the best, most efficient way and in doing it this way they maintain lower prices to the consumer.
Apparently this is wrong and we need to change our strategy. In a country where $75 billion dollars is spent on companion pets and every possible drug that is prescribed for humans is now available for our pets and there is a growing organization called the Human Society of the United States whose primary goal is to abolish animal agriculture and is growing in members and power daily, farmers need to take a stand and be loud about it. Incidentally, the Humane Society of the United States is a completely different organization than your local humane society that shelters homeless pet. They are not affiliated with each other in any way, shape or from.
Because we grow the best, safest, cheapest food supply, and because of this there is no room for inhumane care of livestock we need to start getting squeaky about these facts. One of the best statements Dr. Jamison said was that humans are at the top of the food chain and we have to stop wringing our hands about the fact that we won.
You don’t have to be a God believing Christian to buy into this, evolutionists can even admit the fact that humans are at the top and we need to eat animals to live a healthy life.
So armed with the evidence that we as people are charged with being the best stewards of this earth and the creatures that crawl, swim and fly around it, we can stand up, unashamedly and say, “Yes, I am a farmer and I harvest animals in order to put human consumable product on the tables of Americans and the rest of the world to keep you and your children and your grandchildren alive!”
Let’s get squeaky!

Well, the kids got their wish…no school today. We had some freezing rain over night. Actually, yesterday our road was icy so we were well on our way to no school before the weather turned even worse last night.

You know, I’ve learned one thing as my kids have gotten older….I had a whole lot more freedom when they were little. When they were toddlers and babies, I could throw their clothes on, load them up in the van and run the country side. I could shop when I wanted to, meet a girlfriend for lunch at McDonalds when I wanted to and get our Christmas tree whenever it suited me.

I decided last week that Saturday would be the designated day for Christmas tree shopping. All the kids would be home and we would go and have a great time tromping through the trees selecting the perfect tree. On Saturday morning, JW and Luke were called to work for the neighbor, Jake informed me he had basketball practice at 12 and Sarah at 1:30 pm.

When I came home from my grocery run I promptly hopped back in the van, alone, to rush to get a tree before I had to be home to cook dinner. I got about 100 yards down the road and thought to myself, “Hey, there’s no one in this van with you, this is no different than a week day, why are you busting over there to select a tree when you could do this next week?”

I made a U-turn and went back home to put my groceries away and cook dinner. I even got a cat nap in. All my planning went down the drain because of older kids working and playing basketball. Although it’s nice to have them toilet trained and out of car seats….there are days when I wish I had a runny nose to wipe, a sippy cup lid to find and some children’s silverware to put on the table. This getting older thing is for the birds!

Better go give out the work assignments before they make their own plans! I don’t have to clean heifer pens today! Oh…have you ever heard of pack envy? I’ll explain that tomorrow!