Veteran's Day

We plan on taking this day to give thanks to our friends and neighbors who served their Country. We are blessed to know quite a few unsung heroes. We will celebrate the service and sacrifice of our veterans the Willsboro Methodist Church. This is a small town affair at its finest.
Shaun is in the process of weaning this year's calf crop. We try to plan this "event" when his Mom & Dad leave the farm for a few days. If you have never experienced this drama fest - try not to!
Here's how it goes. We wave bye-bye to Tommy & Cory, as they head on down to New York City. Then Shaun calls the mamas and their babies to the barn yard. The mamas are turned back out to pasture. And the calves remain in the barnyard. Presto, job done!
But wait there's more. After a couple of hours the calves realize that the cows are not coming back to them. And the cacophony begins. The noise they make is incredible and deafening. Of course they can be heard for literally miles.
Frantic and sleep deprived Neighbors call here at the farm and at the 4-H office. They are concerned that we have "gone on vacation" (huh! what's that!) or that we forgot to milk the cows (they are beef -we don't milk) or coyotes, wolves, or panthers are killing the cows. As a side note: Everyone here still remembers the Ice Storm 10 years ago when dairy farmers couldn't get to their cows to milk and it was a horrible disaster. Do you see everyone with in 5 miles is affected but its the in laws we worry about. They like a pastoral farm not the true nitty gritty farm.
Back to the story - Moms and babies can see each other but the babies can't nurse. This isn't such a big issue for the moms because at this point the babies can physically lift their moms off their feet when they try to suckle. Some cows are already dried off (no more milk) and their babies go to another cow to nurse. Its amazing to see three 600 pound calves fixed to some poor cow's udders. As you can imagine this is stressful for the few cows that have milk.
When the calves are born they weigh about 85 pounds but by fall they weigh between 400-800 pounds. The moms have bred back so they need their calorie intake to fatten themselves for the winter and provide nourishment for next Spring's baby. So the crying goes on for 3 days and then stops like someone turned a switch.
We have one baby left to wean. This is going to be the hardest for the dad. Yes, I have talked Shaun into letting His Baby join the other calves and learn to be a cow. "Twosday" have been in my front yard to greet all visitors since she was born. But it is time. This her opportunity to learn with the other youngsters and form bonds. There may be crying and not from Twosday.