Meet Our Herdsire’s Very First Progeny!

Meet Aon  (Irish spelling for ‘Ian’) !!

Born 5-15-2014

Sire – FF Freedom’s Artist

Dam – PF No Foolin’ April

He is absolutely precious!  Aon weighed only 45 lbs. at birth.  He’s red in color, and looks sooo much like his Daddy!!

We forgot to check and see if he is polled or horned.  And that will have to wait a bit.  His mother has taken on her mother’s disposition, and is just overboard on the ‘ Protective Mommy’ role right now.  Looking forward to being able to spend time halter training him as soon as we can get Mom to chill out!

We are so thrilled.  He’s so adorable!  Can hardly wait until Artist gets to see him for the very first time!

Cora is due on May 29th – with her 3rd calf – but her 1st with Artist.  We have a feeling she may go early, just like April.  So, we’re keeping her confined to the little yard and the barn.  Her stall is left open for her to come and go at free-will.  She doesn’t share food with others.  But she will gladly make herself at home eating the rations dished for others!  lol

Taken 5-16-2014
(Due with 3rd Calf on 5-29-2014)

Wow!  It’s been over a year since I last posted.  And believe me – there’s been a LOT going on around here.  For one thing – I had to have surgery on both hands in less than a year.

I had surgery on my left hand for Carpal Tunnel Release on July 16, 2013.  And then I had surgery on both hands on January 17, 2014.  Carpal Tunnel Release was done on the right hand.  And they had to go back to the left hand and do a Trigger Thumb Release.  That one had quicker healing.  But the pain following surgery was worse than the Carpal Tunnel Release.

We had 2 steer calves born last year.  We took 1 other steer, Killian and Patty to the meat packers.  Patty has been much nicer in the freezer.  😉  More importantly – you could just feel all the tension go away around here.  Everybody relaxed.

It’s been a year of ‘Live and Learn’ while taking huge steps.  We’re even experimenting with leaving the horns on the 2 steers that were born last year.  Amazing how polite they are around us.  They’re very gentle and so lovable!

We dealt with Dwayne’s father passing away.  His grandmother passing away.  One of my uncles passed away.  All 3 were living in Texas.

It’s so difficult for us, when there’s only 2 of us handling things here at the house, while one of us continues a full-time job 38 miles away, with a schedule that rolls on the calendar.  One of us has to stay behind and take care of the animals, while the other travels for family situations.  But we manage.

The garden is in for this year.  We have 10 Rhode Island Reds, 12 Americauna Hens and 1 Americauna Rooster keeping egg production on a constant roll around here.  And we’re now getting ready to divide our hay field into 3 grazing areas, right after we get the first cutting of hay for this year.

In the meantime, we wait for Cora to go into labor.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to post an update on her new arrival, soon!

Have a great day!