On the way out to milk yesterday morning we were greeted with a cheerful little shower of powdery snow. 
Just a little. 
Then it melted before our eyes. Ah well. 
When I counted the hay bales the other day, and after doing the rather rudimentary maths associated with this exercise, which frankly is as far as my mathematics will take me, I concluded that we have enough feed to last through to the end of February. Not long enough. With supplements like beet shreds and alfalfa cubes I can drag that through to mid march.
Still not long enough. So Daisy and I (oh please admire Daisy’s fringe, she is getting quite vain with all her brushing lately) anyway Daisy and I sat down to continue with our sums and she whispered in my ear that she did not want to be mean (actually she did but we will give her the benefit of the doubt) but she is a milking cow and 
Queenie is not. So Daisy should be eating almost twice as much as Queenie (according to Daisy) and once again she did not want to be mean, but Queenie is a bit of a pig and eating more than she needs. No offence, Sheila. She said to the pig who was wondering if the notebook I was scribbling in was food, 
So I reshuffled the paddocks. Daisy is now living in solitary splendour next to the milking parlour getting the full amount of hay. Queenie is next to her in another field getting half that. 
Can we pause for just a moment to admire Big Dog, he was going with an 50’s Egyptian theme, hence the soft focus.
Daisy has suggested that The Bobby Blanc be isolated from the big sheep so that he can also get his whole quota without Hairy and Mama pushing him out of the way. She has observed some ovine bullying in my absence. Also Mama and Mia are expected to be breeding so in a short while their diet will change too and Bobby Blanc does not get to share their grain. So they have been seperated as well.
Now that I am home we can manage a more high maintenance regime upping the work a little, running things more economically. Maybe we can save some hay. This is the plan anyway. When it gets cold they will all need more to eat. 
I’ve got men!
Then last night a friend of John’s called with a question and Our John idly asked him if he had any spare hay. Sure, the fellow said, (John sat bolt upright and made pointing gestures and optimistic hand signals towards the phone). I am selling it for Eight dollars a bale. John’s mouth dropped open … but I can do you a deal. He shut it again. Buy it, I said. Do you have twenty bales? asked John. He nodded to me, the phone to his ear, the guy could spare that much. Twenty more bales with slim healthy animals should get us through to the spring grass. Hopefully we can get it for less than eight dollars a bale though. 
Good morning. Why do we panic about ordinary stuff? Things really do have a way of always working out. One way or the other. This is why I am not having a hissy fit about having all these chickens and NO eggs at all. I am unable to cook anything that has eggs in it at the moment. Thats Ok. I have a plan.
Have a lovely day.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
71 responses to “Shuffling the cards of cows.”
We’re just hardwired for panic…it takes a lot to overcome it.
Around here, 8 dollars is a good price, sadly. It’s 10 from the feed store.
Have a good day, C. And I love Daisy’s ‘do!
TEN! horrors.. c
Never a dull moment with farmy life C. Always so much to think about and take care of. Please do tell Daisy that her fringe is very becoming.
Have a beautiful farmy day C.
🙂 Mandy xo
Brushing the fringe is Daisy’s favourite part. Morning mandy! c
Things always do seem to work themselves out…especially when you have a plan. Curious to hear about that one. And Daisy is looking quite lovely. So is Big Dog-very handsome.
BIg Dog is doing so well, though i am going to have to wrestle his coat off him for another wash soon! c
Oh my, that’s one handsome pharoh dog! I’m curious about your egg plan. We’re in the same situation here because of the lack of daylight but also some of our hens have decided on a late moult. There’s one poor lassie whose bare bottom makes me shivver just to look at it!
Christine
moulting chickens are never pretty to look at.. oo she must be chilly.. c
Morning Celi. So glad you found some hay. I know you all out there had a rough haying year. We’ve had to buy hay but have found a good source of round bales of grass hay that’s not too expensive and not TOO far (about an hour drive) away. We can only haul 2 at a time but they last about 3 weeks. Come on Spring! Daisy is beautiful as always. I have some new layers from chicks hatched out this summer so we usually get at least 1 egg a day (when we can find them). I hoard them for special stuff! 🙂 Have a great day!
my easter chickens should be laying by now too, I have been searching the sheds but still i have not found where they are hiding them. Today they were locked back up in their chicken coop for a while.. c
Here’s our strategy with the chickens: Egg production starts falling as the light fails, and we let them rest as the darkest days of December approach. They deserve this rest after a summer of production. Once we get past the 21st, we rig up a timer that turns on a light in the chicken coop one hour earlier than sunrise. That way, the chickens go to roost naturally as the light of day fades, (no sudden turning out the light before they find their roost.) Egg production goes up a little better with the earlier “daylight.” I am not comfortable with pushing their production too much, plus, we sell fewer eggs in the coldest months, but this is a compromise which seems to work for us.
I agree, mine have had a big holiday and from today I am increasing their feed and a light goes on when we milk at 6am and off again when we milk at 6pm. .. Though also I suspect they have been laying elsewhere as they have been free-ranging the whole time I was away so their door is shut now too. They always come out of it though I have never been completely without eggs before.. morning maggie.. c
Good Morning C, I grew up on a farm in Georgia and you are absolutely correct in that everything does turn out. Don’t worry; don’t fret…you will make it through to spring. Have a lovely ending to 2012.
Morning sabra, i hope you are having a good few days off from work.. is new years soon? I must check the calender. I am not even sure what day it is!! c
It’s amazing to me that you are going to be short on hay but then I think about the drought you guys had and understand. We had about 70 round bales left from summer 2011 and had an abundance this year. We started feeding out the older hay first and when the snows come hubby puts a couple in each patch of woods that the cattle are in and feeds the good hay first thing in the morning. The cattle move from the fresh to the older as the weather turns bad. The calves like playing and nibbling in the older hay too. I wish I could send you some from Virginia!!
My older hens have quit laying but I also raise late chicks in June and they’ve started laying for me. I guess it’s a type of rotation laying in our henhouse. I never use heat lamps or special lighting because I think they need a rest too. I make sure they get a tablespoon of vinegar in their fresh water each morning, lots of grit in one feeder, and cracked corn to put on some fat on their bodies which will help them make it through the winter. I don’t let them out of the henhouse when there’s snow/ice on the ground The biggest problem I have is the younger hens want to sleep in the nest at night because the older hens (pecking order) run them off the roost. Hubby fixed that by building an additional roosting section to the existing roost and all but one hen now uses the roost. She tends to make a nasty mess in the nests during the night and by the time I get to the hen house in the morning another hen has laid her eggs in the mess. I have 38 chickens of which three are young roosters. I’m only getting 6-8 eggs a day now but it’s more than enough for us to use and share with the kids as they visit.
I long for one of your big round bales, that would do daisy for a while.. I am off out to do the waters now and often add a little vinegar too, I must remember to do that today.. I also have a problem with someone sleeping in the nesting boxes, we have too many old hens, they will have to go this winter I am afraid, and i will start another lot this spring as well. Our young ones should have started laying by now though. Thank you for such a lovely message too, tons of info for us all in there.. c
I never realised that chickens could be so wilful. I thought that their gift was eggs on tap, so to speak. It appears that chickens are fair weather operators. Having no eggs in the kitchen would be a bad thing for me, that’s for sure. I’d have to eat one of the chickens “pour encourager les autres”:)
In fact there is a plan to ‘move along’ a few of these older ones, maybe i should hang a sign, i wonder if my chickens can read french?! c
Gosh, I think every city schoolroom in America should be tuned in to these lessons in husbandry. We city slickers are woefully ignorant in the ways of farm life.
Still, we can at least admire Daisy’s fringe–I love that SHE loves that brushing part best–as for Big Dog–maybe you can dress him in John’s royal red robe to keep him warm while you give the blue coat a wash. (I’m remembering TonTon in it.)
I remember, that was his nephews dressing gown, good idea, now where did i put that?!! c
What? No eggs? I sure hope those chickens don’t read this blog (looks at previous comment)
Maybe they should! (laughter).. c
I may not be remembering this correctly. But I believe I heard recently on the radio that hay is selling for $14/bale. So you may be getting quite the deal.
Wow, i told that to John and he is appalled, maybe we are getting a deal already! c
$8 is the norm here now. There was a time $4 was the norm, not anymore, not this year anyway, with the drought and all. One feed mill charges $12, the other place is a store and charges $11.50….the first place is the nicest so most people go there. What is $.50 when the person who owns the feed mill also loads for you and the other store has you do it?
I have three bales left until first cutting of our new alfalfa next September. I hope I don’t have to buy any. I use my bales for the chickens, they love the green leaves!
Linda
I would not mind someone doing the loading for me, we will be picking up our hay tomorrow.. sore back time! c
Admiration for you c. Love how close you are to seasons,reasons and thererfore
REALITY ! planning. organization.reorginization. and then there’s Mother Nature
with a giant stir stick mixing it all up….isn’t there something about sustainability
in all this too. YIKKEESS Again admiration ……have a farmy day…full of glorious
sights and sounds ! I love that you share with us.
trying to be sustainable that is for sure.. not succeeding quite yet though.. and yes, the planning has to be very thoughtful.. c
Things really do have a way of working out. I love the details in this post and the Egyptian photo of Big Dog!
Isn’t Big Dig funny, he sat like that for ages! c