More Cute S Pictures

S is 3 months old today! He was 11lbs 11oz on Sunday and has been gaining an oz a day so he could be 12lbs today! He smiles, laughs and coos. He loves to stand up on your lap or wherever. He really enjoys kid watching from his chair and the fan and the bubbles on the computer too :) He normally sleeps 5 to 7 hours straight at night now and has two nice naps during the day. He loves to fall asleep on people and hates baths. The kids fight over who gets to hold him and G will often come sit beside me and demand to HOLD AM! (She can't say her S's). They all try and make him laugh which makes them laugh and our house is full of laugher. They love it when he farts and quickly wipe up spit ups. He hasn't peed on anyone recently :) 

Asleep on my shoulder. 

With Mrs. M. Also asleep

Checking out Mikey.

Chilling with L on Granny's rocker. 

On the way to church...I love the hat! 

Loving some floor time in his little auzzie outfit :) 

Cow Update

The calves got moved to the back where the pigs have been and given the pond and the lease. Milton is looking awesome but Patch is still a mere shadow of what he could be. He is finally out of the 'bag of bones' category. He just doesn't seem to be a good keeper no matter what we do.  

Our friend S came and AI'd (artificial insemination) Maggie last Sunday and we did get confirmation that Isabel is bred and should calve right before Christmas. They are both AI to brown swiss and we are hoping for a heifer :) The cows are looking wonderful. Sleek and fat. They have the last hay bale on the place as they are out of grass.  We've fed 4 bales this summer including the one they are eating now. Our place is just too small to feed two milking cows. We only have the 2.5 acres in grass :) you see. Oh and M's acre :) They cannot go in to the lease as it is too much bush and their bags would get torn up. Our winters hay is already arranged, we trade meat birds for hay, and we just need to make delivery arrangements and get the storage spot ready and stack and tarp it when it gets here. 

Pig Update

The piglets are doing really well and gaining weight. There was one that we were watching as we think he got stepped on last week in the excitement of a piglet getting stuck in the electric netting. Papa turned the fence off and the piglet got out on its own but this little guy of Big Mommas got caught in the mix and was limping badly. He could still get around but he's slow and competing for food. We were going to take him out and bottle feed him. Big momma was stressed enough to try and take a snap at Papa. Totally unlike her and Papa smacked her for it and she looked repentive but we are more careful now. He disappeared a few days later and we are assuming he is dead. It's really too bad but its reality. 

Ham and Bacon are doing really well and are out of the 'cute' stage. Ham is probably 75lbs.  Papa wants to butcher them before winter as we cannot house them with the other pigs in the barn this winter. So we are feeding them hotter then we normally do. They are getting lots of milk and 2.5 gallons of soaked feed a day and growing like crazy! Pigs you see are not color blind and are racist. The white pigs being smaller would not fair well with the big black pigs and the black piglets. It would be too much stress for everyone so we must keep them apart. UPDATE: we may have one sold! 

The butcher pigs for this year, the 8 we kept from our sows last year, are doing really good. Papa spread corn in the cows winter feeding area from last winter and let it sprout and then put these 8 pigs in there. They love it! Papa went out and taped a couple (using a tape made to weigh pigs, you just get two measurements and it tells you about how much the animal weighs. They have them for calves too) and the biggest one is 280lbs! Great news as I took a look in our pork freezer and its pretty empty in there! 

E's Great School Day!

E has been really working on her school work this year. She's been making sure she reads the instructions and follows them, writes neatly and checks to make sure it all makes sense. It's paying off! The other day she did 14 pages without a single mistake! This is a big improvement from her normal and we are very proud of her! Good job E!!