Instagram Week in Photos

I love Instagram!

Here is my week in photos from using Instagram on my Iphone. Follow me at djharker!

A sunny mirror image I took at a four way stop. The sun is gorgeous!

The Squirt Update

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a picture of Squirt and his story of being a premie in the cattle world.  Well, Squirt - as Bugs and Squirrel emphatically call him - is still alive and doing great. This little Aberdeen Angus bull calf five weeks old and weighs about 35 lbs. - or about as much as Katie - our 5 year old Red Heeler dog.

Temporarily Out of Service

I have been gone....for a while. I call it "temporarily out of service". 

I wasn't broke down, sick, or stressed.....just busy.  But that's what happens when you go through the holidays and calving season starts.  There are things in my life that are more important than blogging and that's just how it goes.

In addition to the hustle and bustle of the holidays and calving season, I also got an Iphone and an Ipad, so I have been a little busy playing with my new toys.  Or should I say, battling for time on my new toys.....seems I have three men in this household that seem to think they get first dibbs on mom's new toys!!

I love this time of year.  We have roughly 50 baby calves on the ground. And I must say.....odds aren't looking real good right now.  There's three times as many bull calves as their are heifer calves.  For an operation like ours that sells purebred heifer calves in the fall.......the odds are not in our favor. 

Meet Squirt. 

Miscellany Monday

Here are my random musings on this dreary, rainy Monday.

1. I love cattle shows.....but I hate the laundry that comes with it.  So and I just spent eight days on the road at the North American Livestock Expo showing cattle. It was a great trip for us.....kind of.  The good part was breeding and exhibiting the 2011 NAILE Grand Champion Percentage Bull and exhibiting a Reserve Division Female in the Purebred Simmental Show.  The bad part......the Louisville Crud!  It was also Bugs' first time showing at the North American.  A proud moment for all of us.

Mother Nature and Her Six Legs

Mother Nature aka God can be a little unpredictable.

Hurricanes.....for example, Katrina. Who knew that a single hurricane would have destroyed New Orleans?

Tornadoes.....Greensburg, Kansas is a good example of a tornado's strength.

Well, Mother Nature delivered a shock to the Harker farm this morning.

A few weeks ago, So attended an Angus dispersal sale to buy some cows for recips. Recip cows are what we use to put our frozen embryos in.  They are our surrogate mothers. Some day I'll provide a better explanation of embryo transfer.

Anyhow, So purchased about six fall calving cows. All were carrying embryo calves.  The cows started calving the beginning of this week and all were successful births. Everything was going great, until this morning.

Then I get the phone call from So.

"Come see my newborn calf."

"Oh, is it a good one?"

"Well, if you call a calf with six legs a good one, then I guess."

"Huh? What? Six Legs?  The boys and I will be right over."

Save Your Feed Bags

My seamstress has been really busy as of late.

Really busy.

Wordless Wednesday: Docility EPDs

Docility EPD - a tool for temperament.

As a cattle producer, we often worry about the temperament of our animals.  Researchers have been studying cattle temperament as it is related to beef cattle production. Poor temperament can be associated with reduced performance, carcass qulaity and health. Termperment is often how cattle react to human handling.
So you ask - why do you need an EPD for docility? Let's think about human genetics for a moment. I've often been described as an A type person - methodical, orderly, logical, planned, controlled, organized, efficient,  and systematic or in other words @#$%. Did that gene pass on to my children? You bet! Why wouldn't the same be true for animals?

If an animal A gets nervous being handled in the best enviroment possible, then what is the probablity that his or her offspring could be the same way. Thus, what led to the development of the docility EPD.

Do we use the docility EPD? Not extensively.

Farm Kid Saturday: When you buy the country......

You get the country smell that comes with it.

Yes folks, part of being a livestock farmer is spreading around some of that "fresh" country air. That is exactly what So, Bugs, and Squirrel did this weekend.

Wordless Wednesday: Bovine Beauties

Does your food taste better if you stand in it?

Uh Oh, somebody left a gate open.....

There it was. On the road.

Perfect. Brown and circular in shape.

Not more than a few hours old.

It shouldn't be on the road.....and look that nice.

This could mean really big trouble with lots of headaches involved.

Not a good sign!

Just a cowpie in the road. Why should I be panicing?

Of course, it's from the neighbors Holstein's....not our GOOD beef cows. Our girls wouldn't go through an open gate and walk around aimlessley.

WRONG!

Like father in the Twas Night Before Christmas poem, I sped up the drive, came to a screeching hault, thru open the doors and looked anxiously around.

There.

In the middle of the barn.

Three momma cows and their babies.

And lots and lots of hay and straw strewn all over the barn.

And one open gate.

Bad Girls. Bad, bad, bad girls!

You have no business being on the road. There's enough food right here!

Bad, bad, bad feed man for not double checking and making sure the gate was latched.

But no one was hurt! WHEW!

Lesson of the day: Note to self and everyone who was in the barn.....don't just make sure you close the gate, make sure it latches too!!!


Thanks,
The Management

Wordless Wednesday

Wouldn't you like to know what he is saying?

And finally.....what is she thinking?

Just a day in the life of Bugs and Lucy!

Paranoia......it sets in everytime.....

Paranoia.

It sets in everytime the weather man says "several inches of rain".

It sets in everytime I hear the words "flood warning".

I have come to have a strong dislike of rain.

Why?

I lived through the flood of June of 2008. So did many other people in the counties of Shelby, Bartholomew, Morgan, and Johnson counties.

We were fortunate. We didn't lose much but soil and fence.

Our bovines were safe.

Our boys were safe.

Our blessings were too numerous to count.

A car that was swept off the road in the terrential rains.

9 inches in a few hours........didn't know what Mother Nature's furry was really like.

The elderly man that drove this van was rescued. The dent in the door is from the rescue boat ramming it to open it. The elderly man had no injuries.

The dam and the road along the edge of the dam at Schaeffer Lake.

Jaw dropping.

Amazing.

Squirrel was two at the time. The ditch washed out more than his heighth in inches.

We live in Indiana....we think we live a relatively safe life when it comes to Mother Nature's events. Not so.

After living through that flood, I have a reason to be paranoid, on edge, and alarmed, when the weatherman says "several inches of rain".

Jill



And he says I have too many clothes.......

This is the time of year when a majority of the wives of livestock farmers start noticing a certain aroma in their house. They search high and low.

Is it a mouse?

Did someone forget to take out the trash?

Who stepped in dog poop and didn't clean their shoes off?

And then it hits them......like a ton of bricks!

The barn clothes!

The layers of baby goo, cow poo, water, feed, medicine, and who knows what other kind of juices are becoming their own science experiment.

They been collecting since November! There's probably some new type of mold growing on the leg of those coveralls!

I also take count, inventory of my So's collection of outdoor clothes.

Often I hear, you needed another sweater? Another pair of shoes?


Shall I give you the inventory of barn clothes hanging on the wall:

2 pairs of coveralls
2 hooded sweatshirts
3 hooded coats
2 jackets
6 baseball hats
2 sock caps

And that doesn't count what is in the closet! More coats, jackets, fleeces, windbreakers, ski pants and coveralls.

Can you guess what I am going to do this wonderful Saturday? Give my washing machine a run for its money and break out the Oxyclean, ammonia and degreaser!

But I wouldn't trade my life for anything! I love the poo, goo, and the aromas that come with it!

Jill

Thankful Thursdays

Foster Parents


This week at Harker Simmentals, we are thankful for foster parents. It has been a rough week. We don't like to have baby calves that don't have mommas. The best milk they can get is their mother's milk. But when their mother's aren't able to do the job, we step in....as foster mothers.

One momma cow dried up.


No more milk.


Gone.


Nada, nothing.


So, her heifer calf became orphan #1.


Met Violet.


And met Violet's foster parents - Squirrel and Bugs.

The other momma, well, she's batting 0 for 2. A year ago, I had a post about Sweet Pea. Sweet Pea's story


Her momma didn't want her.


Her momma tried to kill her.


So, Squirrel and Bugs took her under their wing and memories were made. But, Harker Simmentals likes to give animals mother "one more try".

Well, yesterday, Sweet Pea's mother calved again. Only a few words can describe what happened yesterday.


Disaster.


Repeat.


Near death experience.


Repeat.


Yet again, she didn't want her calf. To avoid any injury to the calf, my hubby pulled him from his mother and gave Violet a play mate.


Ladies and gentlemen, meet Bubba.


Met Bubba's foster parents - Squirrel and Bugs.

Violet.


Bubba.


Now Squirrel and Bugs don't have to argue over who gets to feed the calf because they each have one to feed.


I have never seen two little boys in heaven.


Pure bliss.


Excitement.


More memories.


They are already talking about giving them bathes and chasing them around the barn and loving them and haltering breaking them.....just like a couple of mothers talking about their children.


This is what life is all about.


Violet and Bubba.


The small, simple things in life.....being a foster parent.

Jill

Wordless Wednesday

When I grow up.......

I Love Calving Season

Most families live through the winter for the basketball season or the beginning of the NASCAR racing season, but at Harker Simmentals, we live for calving season. Living on a cattle farm doesn't get much better during January, February and March. Why? Babies! Lots and lots of bouncing baby bull and heifer calves.

Imagine being a nurse working in a maternity ward with a bunch of mothers who can't talk. Twelve to thirteen hundred pound mothers who have more estrogen running through their bodies than an average woman! That's why So deals with every day. Momma cows who don't want you touching their baby!

What mother can resist a face like this? Serioulsy, don't you just want to hold her and squeeze and love her!

They are no different than humans. The older they get, the more intrigued they are by this creature on two legs. Are you bringing me feed? Are you going to pet me? Who are you and what do you want?

There is no better love than the love shared between man and animal.

Jill

Miscellany Monday

Miscellany Monday

1. Birth Day - We celebrated a lot of births yesterday. Five to be exact. I just love this time of year. Nothing is more exciting that watching the birth of a baby calf!

2. Calcium - Attention all ladies, girls, chicks, mommacitas, and gals. If you are not getting your regular dose of calcium intake, then I you should be taking a calcium supplement. Osteoporsis is not fun....and neither are broken bones.

3. Super Bowl - And yet another super bowl has come and gone with me starring at the back of my eyelids. Yes, I prefer sleep over football.

4. Vegetables - The Harker Family is on a new adventure....trying new vegetables. Last week we ate parsnips. Not bad. I could eat them again. This week, turnips. Next week....definitely NOT brussel sprouts. I was warned of a potential divorce by SO if I served brussel sprouts! I have two words for my beloved SO - FUN HATER!

5. My ipod - Is on it's last leg. Fellow readers - do you have one, which one and do you like it? Advice greatly appreciated!



The Joy List

As a working mother, I can't function without a list. Grocery list. To do list. Calving list. School work list. Bucket list. Laundry list. List for packing items for cattle shows. It feels as though my life consists of nothing but marking off items on a list and making new ones. I'm tired of lists! Or wait, maybe it's an addicition?!

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of hearing Mark Mayfield speak. He was captivating and comedial. He talked about the differences between men and women...number one, of course, being how we handle the remote control. He talked about distancing yourself from the stress of life and from the negative daily news. Mark also talked about making "Mirth", adding comedy to your work and daily lives. But the one piece of information Mark talked about that stuck in my brain was a "Joy list".

Joy List. That sparked some thoughts. Joy List. Why haven't I created a Joy list? Joy List. Wow - I have so many things to be thankful for in my life. Joy List. I think I'll start one this week and keep it going. Joy List. This is the kind of list. Joy List. An ever-going list of things that lift me up, bring joy to my life and put a smile on my face.

Here is the my Joy List.

1. My husband - I can't imagine living one single day without him and his remote control habits! His brings such joy to my life!

2. My boys - There is no JOY in the world that can replace the joy of giving birth and being a parent!

3. My rural upbringing - Oh the country life! How sweet it is to smell fresh mown hay or to have the wind blow in your face while you work cows or to see a thunder storm roll in.

4. Angus cows - I am a 7th generation Angus breeder. My Angus cows have taken me places I would not have traveled had it not been for my love of these black beauties.

5. Scoliosis - I am thankful that 22 years ago when they discovered I had scoliosis, that it was just scoliosis itself making such a sharp curve and not a tumor, like the doctor had suspected. I am also thankful for the experience of wearing a plastic brace for four years. It made me realize the truth in knowing that a person's real beauty comes from within.

6. Flower Garden - I love flowers! I have flower gardens all around my house. Each spring I look through my files, my magazines, and my books. I tear out one small garden and plant new flowers. I can't get enough of my flowers.

7. The pond - my grandparents have a small farm pond on their 200 acre farm. My child hood memories are filled with trips to "the pond". The fishing, cookouts, sleep overs, the outhouse, catching frogs at night or tadpoles during the day, and seeing the deer tracks in the mud. I have made sure that my boys are making memories of "the pond".

8.?????

My Joy List is just starting. I encourage you to start your Joy List today!

Thankful Thursdays

Have you thanked a livestock farmer today?

Most farmers have two seasons...planting and harvest. Those farmers would be called grain farmers. They have long hours during planting season and during harvest season with a little down time in between. There's a different kind of farmer who doesn't get much down town...the livestock farmer.

 This is the time of the year when I am in awe of how giving and selfless my husband is. From mid-December through mid- April, it's all about his "girls".  He has 117 momma cows that will calve between now and late April. That's 117 bouncing bull and heifer calves to care for, 234 mouths to feed, and 234 piles of cow droppings to move in the spring. If you think an infant is demanding, try taking care of a cow and her new born calf. No one is more protective of a newborn than a cow!



This cow calved over the weekend. She's 14 years old. Good ole #25!

 The physical exertion it takes to work outside from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. each day is unmeasurable. Imagine taking care of that cow in 7 degree weather, in a 20 mile per hour wind, with wind chills 15 below zero, all the while dressed in about 20 lbs of winter clothing and boots and in knee deep mud. Few of our beloved critics (yes, this is in reference to PETA and HSUS), realize just how devoted, dedicated and giving a livestock farmer is.

There are evenings when my SO eats supper and is asleep in the lazy boy by 7:30 p.m. He's physically and some days emotionally and mentally exhausted. For example, yesterday he moved a cow and her new born calf to the barn...but he moved them with the skid loader. Momma didn't like her baby being messed with and my SO didn't want a trip to the ER, so he jumped in the skidloader, quickly, with lightning fast movements, laid the calf in the bucket of the skid loader, jumped in and move to the barn. Of course, momma was hot on his trail the entire time but they got to spend the entire evening in a fresh pen of straw with a roof over their heads.




Feeding cows silage. My husband grinds silage every day.  These are due to calve in February.

 Then there is last year's success story...Sweet Pea. Her mother didn't want her, so Squirrel and Bugs adopted her until another mother cow was able to adopt her. Despite the frustrations and extra work my husband went through to keep Sweet Pea, the joy two little boys experienced having a bottle calf far outweighed the work. Sweet Pea is now an official member of the family!



Nothing more exciting that getting a three day old calf to walk up and check you out!

 As you sit down at your supper table or lay your head down to sleep, say a little prayer for the livestock farmer. He or she could use a little extra boost to get them through the next few months and don't forget to say "Thank you" the next time you see one!


Don't ya just want to come give me a big ole hug!



Thankful Thursdays

The Teachings of Montana...

My SO (significant other) and I called the great state of Montana home for almost two years. SO was presented with a great job opportunity for a large purebred cattle ranch and we decided that there was no better time than the present. We had no strings tying us to the Hoosier state, so we packed up our Featherlite trailer and moved 1600 miles away from home the week after our first wedding anniversary.



SO and I in our younger years!



Were we crazy, nuts, insane...not for a a minute. We both ended with job opportunities that helped us grow and mature, not only as individuals, but as a married couple. The year we moved out there, was a year full of traveling. We figured out by the end of that year that SO had been in 29 states in the US, plus Canada and I had been in 23 states...all in one year.

Montana had so much to offer us, but it's beauty is like no other state. There is a reason they call it Big Sky Country. The sunsets, the moutains, the wildlife, the storms...there was so much to see and experience.



Please note...this pictures is more than 12 years. We could not afford a digital camera then!



The stories we have to tell our children are too numerous to count.



Felipe

How many people can tell their children the story of the young man from Brazil that had aspirations of being a veterinarian? Felipe lived with us for a few weeks during his intership in Montana. We learned a lot of Portuguese and he learned a lot of inappropriate English words (thanks to SO). He spent an entire week taking scrotal measurements on yearling bulls...over 1000 to be exact. The blue jeans in the picture of above were torched...I've never see this much bovine poo on one pair of jeans!!!



Quake Lake



There's the anniversary trip to Quake Lake. Fishing in the snow...that was a sight I will never forget!!! There is a unique story about Quake Lake. It's not a natural lake, persay. An earthquake hit Yellowstone National Park in August of 1959, measuring 7.3 on the Richter Scale. The earthquake killed 28 people and caused a massive landside. The 80 million ton landslide, traveling a 100 miles per hour, created a dam on the Madison River. When you see Quake Lake and you read it's story, the feeling you experience is one of awe. Never underestimate the power of Mother Nature.

Little Known Facts about Montana:

1. As of 2009, there were not a million people that lived in Montana.

2. The Montana Yogo Sapphire is the only North American Gem in the Crown Jewels of England.

(I own some too!)

3. 46 out of Montana's 56 counties are considered "frontier counties" with an average population

of 6 or fewer people per square mile (Some days I would love to NOT see my neighbors.)

4. As of 2007, Montana had over 2.6 million beef cattle. (More cows than people?)

5. It's home to the Little Bighorn Battlefield, where General George Armstrong Custer lost

in a fierce battle to Lakota-Northern Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians.

What I loved about Montana:

1. It's breathtaking beauty.

2. My allergies were much better in the dry climate!

3. I could drive for miles and only see a cow!

4. The slower pace of life.

5. What Montana taught me about marriage, life, love, and business. I could

never had learned so much at any other school!

Part of my heart will always belong in Montana!