CG Heartbeats Farm Archives - Page 8 of 8 - A Country Girl's Heart -Beats that Matter

September 22, 2017September 23, 2017

Scottish Highland Cattle Show 2016 St Joseph County Fair

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I discovered Scottish Highland Cattle(SHC) online, while searching for miniature cattle. I came across an article describing SHC’s dual purpose as a producer of both meat and milk. Intrigued, I read that this gentle breed was known to originally inhabit the houses of Scottish families. Conveniently located in a gated section of human residence, one did not have to exit into the cold to obtain milk. I am sure to some the smell may have negated the option to avoid the cold. Their long hair provides protection from extreme cold and promotes a less fatty, healthier meat. A large horn spread provided a strong defense against predators. Bulls too were known to be on the gentle side. Of course, like any animal, how they are raised, handled and selective breeding plays an important role in developing attitudes. SHC milk is high in butter fat, while meat is high in iron and protein, but lower in cholesterol. If need be, the breed ha been known to survive on brush. Survive, but not thrive. Cows often produce calves until the age of 20 or longer. All of these details were positives as I desire to produce my own food.

I researched online, looking at sale posts and breeders websites, FB pages, ect. Excited, I attended the 2016 SHC show at the St Joseph County Fair in Centreville, MI. I learned more about the breed as it presents now in the United States and met breeders from different areas in Michigan.

Scottish Highland Cattle in the United States today are less likely to be used for a family milk cow. While some do, the primary goal for most breeders is to raise SHC for beef (meat) and to excel in the show ring. A SHC that produces too much milk presents a problem for the breeder that does not desire to milk a cow out. If she produces too much milk for a new born calf, mastitis can set in and create illness and or death. Damage to a quarter of a cows bag would create a cow that is no longer desirable in the show ring.

The breeders I met were kind in sharing knowledge and even allowed me to show in a couple classes. Not only was I privileged to pick their brains as I begin developing my eye, but I actually was allowed to lead and show the cattle. Skyler Anderson of Skye High Farms gave me a crash course in showing cattle. Pat White allowed me to show cattle she raises and owns with her husband on LEA-White Farms. Eddie of Dundonald Highlands provided a Scottish Highland for me to show as well and shared stories of raising Highlands depicting his dedication and love for the breed. All contributed to my wonderful experience and learning about this fantastic breed. Click on the links to any of their farm pages to learn more about Scottish Highland Cattle.

LEA-White Farms earned the titles of 2016 Reserve Grand Champion Scottish Highland….

and 2016 Grand Champion Scottish Highland….Congratulations!

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September 21, 2017October 8, 2017

And the Greatest is Love

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Along the lines of keeping my farm/homestead experience honest I am moved to write this post. I have been struggling to stay positive and it began the night of my aunts passing on July 31, 2017. Grieving is expressed through various emotions over time and loosing my horse McCoy added a sadness of its own. I needed to look deeper for the root of my heartache and the Lord is showing me a little at a time areas I need him to heal my heart in. Sunday I was feeling better, nothing like sitting around the campfire with friends Saturday night to ease ones pain. But a series of events had me reeling back into heartache by Tuesday morning.

Finding one of my grow out Silver Gray Dorking birds dead Sunday night had me perplexed. Finding another Monday morning and then Monday night was upsetting me! I found a clue though. Blood in the stool of the living birds in that pen lead me to believe they were fighting cocidiosis. Not completely uncommon for chickens to acquire. I felt self loathing creeping in. I had not kept their pen clean like my heart intended. For over 2 weeks upon returning from being gone for over 4 weeks, I had been able to do only what was absolutely necessary. I want to insert here that I struggle with low functioning adrenal glands, leaving me easily exhausted. I am learning to pick and choose how and where to expend my energy. Also these chicks were hatched to sell, not to keep. The intended buyer was unable to take them and I found myself raising chicks I had not planned on. Monday night I began treatment for cocidiosis, removed them from their pen, and began cleaning the pen they had been housed in. No rain was forecast to my knowledge. I looked.

Tuesday morning I had hopes of attending the Scottish Highland show at the St. Joseph County Fair in Centerville, MI. Attending the 2016 show taught me basics of where the breed is today while providing an opportunity to meet SCH breeders. I awoke to realize that it had rained overnight on the Silver Gray Dorking grow outs and one of the newly hatched chicks did not make it. (That chick was in the barn) No cattle show for me, I was staying home to attend to the animals I have. I am not sure what happened to the one little chick. Perhaps another hen had killed it? Not sure, but I had believed it to be safe. Lesson learned! That being said I am still working on a plan to move the momma and baby to a different area. So far as of Wed morning the other chick is doing well. New pen for them is in the works. I felt horrible the grow out SGD chicks had no cover from the rain and dealing with an illness to boot. By Tue evening I had 6 left. I doubted some of them would survive, but at that point I only wanted to show them love. I do not like to play God and decide who lives and who dies. Although I have in the past culled diseased chickens.

One protocol for not spreading disease is to care for the sick chickens last. I practiced this yesterday, spending my energy first cleaning waters and caring for the healthy chickens to help prevent future illnesses. After that I brought the sick chickens into my house. Some I warmed with a hair dryer. I have saved kittens that way in the past. One in particular I spent well over an hour removing eggs from it’s feathers. It seemed like it had some fight in it. Little thing woke me up chirping during the night. The only way to quiet it was to sit by it or hold it. I opted to wrap it in a towel and sleep with it sitting on my chest on the recliner. I don’t know if it is going to make it or not, but I know I showed it kindness and comfort by holding it.

These events have me questioning my goals and my ability to achieve them. My head knows, setbacks are common and no failure only feed back. My heartache and feelings of failure threaten to overtake my thought patterns. Oh, but I know I can change my thoughts. I am reminded that the Lord says He loves me in spite of my shortcomings. That I am more than my failures. I am reminded of 2 Corinthians 12:9 (NKJV)

It seems the more I have been hurt, the harder it is to put myself out there. For instance, I felt hesitant to put forth too much effort to save those growing SGD yesterday. I felt, what would it matter, they might die anyway. After all, I had pushed myself beyond what I felt capable of to try to save McCoy and I lost him anyway. I prayed and found peace in the simple act of showing these birds love even if I knew they probably were not going to make it. Translate to human relationships. I find it easy after being wounded by people or circumstances for me to withdraw and give up. It feels safer to stop putting my true heart out for all to see. Truth is my expected outcome is not the most important when relating to others. Knowing that I showed someone love while maintaining healthy boundries becomes more important than my personal expectations of a particular outcome.

I am still discovering take away lessons from the first half of this week. I tend to feel like things are my fault. I strive to look for what I can do differently. I see several areas that a different choice on my part would have provided a different outcome. Feeling like a failure seems to follow. I need to remember NO failure, only feed back! Have you ever felt like you were not enough? That it might be easier to give up on a dream or plan? Or perhaps give up on yourself? Leave me a message or a comment about how you went from a valley to a mountain top. If we are honest, we all have both in our lives, don’t we?

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September 15, 2017September 16, 2017

When a Chapter Ends

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I do not like failing, loosing a battle, giving up or quitting. I like to set high expectations for myself and those around me. I do fail, loose battles, give up and yes as hard as it is to write theses words, I do quit sometimes. Honestly, whenever I do, I hate on myself. I work hard to regain my self esteem after knowingly committing any of the above actions. I can reason through the act itself, knowing why I do not further pursue an action or goal, but not giving my all does not sit well with my heart.

I recently experienced the loss of a horse that I possibly could have prevented. I will always wonder. As I write these words I cringe inwardly, wondering. Did I do the best by him? Am I at fault for the loss of his life? I want to cry typing this. Nobody has said it was my fault and yet I wonder if I could have done more or made different choices. The Lord clearly reminded me on multiple occasions that I am more than just how I care for my animals. I strongly believe that caring for ones animals is an important and worthwhile task. However, my sole identity needs to lie in who the Lord says I am and I am still learning about who He says I am.

I have said I would share both the heartache and joys of my homestead adventures. Last week was a struggle when dealing with an ailing horse while fighting a short term illness along with 3 chronic diagnoses I battle daily. I felt alone. I prayed for the Lord to save him. He didn’t. My faith knows He sees a bigger picture than I do. I am watching to see what is next since He closed the door on the life of my dear McCoy. For the record, I also almost immediately reached out for help from an equine veterinarian.

This horse I called McCoy was registered as Jaywalker Frost and for good reason. As a foal he often found his way into other pens, pastures and generally anywhere he was NOT supposed to be. This trend continued until the last day of his life at 10 years old. He was the horse who thought through his next move. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again described him accurately. At times one could see him thinking.

He loved adventure, going somewhere new. He was often brave, more so before he was gelded at 5 and 1/2 years. McCoy found pleasure in going swimming and bossing other horses around. He wasn’t mean, but he had a way of persistently keeping after what he wanted. I have always had a soft spot for the uniqueness of people, horses, trucks, dogs, chickens, ect. I am attracted to the ones who stand out because they are different. Don’t expect me to be like everyone else either. That was what I loved most about McCoy, his uniqueness. That is also why it hurts so much to loose him cause in believing he is special I know I will never find another quite like him.

I come back to my belief that when one door closes another will open in the Lords perfect timing.

Note: The pictures I am sharing in this post are a memorial to McCoy sharing some of why I found him beautiful. The earlier stages of his training can be viewed on his FB page. I have a vision of new growth rising out of ashes, flowers to be exact. I am not clear on which flowers, but beautiful color rising out of ashes.

Have you lost a beloved horse? Or other animal? Feel free to leave a comment sharing your heartache or reach out with an email.

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September 14, 2017October 8, 2017

Silver Gray Dorking Hens go Broody

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I did not get a picture of all three hens in one nesting box, but that is what I came home to when returning from my trip out west. I am excited to share my trip, but that is for other posts. They had been setting approximately a week when I returned on August 29th. I have been rather impatient checking under the hens. If one left the nest another one would gently use her beak to pull the exposed eggs under her.

Sunday morning at feeding time I found a lone Silver Gray Dorking chick out with the adults birds. I placed the chick back in with the setting hens after offering it a drink. I knew I needed to set up a pen for the coming chicks but was still working out ideas in my head. There was only one chick so far. It was going to need a momma and access to water and chick starter.

This is what I came up with. I pulled out the closest broody hen and placed in the cage with the little chick. The chick could get out of the cage, but I was hoping with time it would bond with the hen and remember where the food and water was located. I was confident the adult birds would be kind should it wonder out of reach of Momma hen. Earlier on Sunday I observed the chick had left the broody nest (again) and was following one of the roosters around. The rooster was talking to the little chick! My heart loved that!

Yesterday, as in Tue, two days after the first chick had hatched I was being nosey again and found that a chick had piped under the die hard broody hen. I still have two hens broody but one is definitely more dedicated to her position. I was excited and impatient. I know it is best to allow nature to run its course. I have had enough heart ache to last me for quite some time and I was looking for some positives around here to ease my broken heart. More on that in another post. Last night, at last, I felt the tiny legs of a chick under broody momma.

This morning I removed it from the broody nest and gave it to momma hen. Kind of like natures version of an incubator and a heat lamp when I am presented with 3 broody hens. Oh yes, I have tried moving the hens to other boxes and giving them other eggs. They left them. Perhaps, if I placed them in a separate cage I would improve the outcome.

I never get tired of watching babies. Check out this video.

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August 9, 2017November 2, 2017

Roots and Wings

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I have spent more of my life soaring around if you will. I realized in the last couple years I have been gradually growing roots. This land I have been living on has been my home for 9 years. Prior record for living in one spot was 3 years. I moved 15 times in 16yrs.

Today I was reminded how these roots started growing long before they were planted. Like a sweet potato or a grape vine has the ability to grow roots in water, my desire for all things country began as a child. I grew up loving to be full of movement, and the fresh air brought peace to my soul. Caring for animals was a large part of my life at an early age. I have realized that it simply does not come natural for me to harvest, kill, cull and animal. I can and I have, but it feels like a round peg being shoved in a square hole. I am all about eating meat and better yet meat that I know how it was raised. But the actual act of taking a life makes my heart cringe. I enjoy the gutting, skinning and dissecting of parts into cuts of meat. But the taking of life leaves me feeling down. I want to give, nurture, care for and bless others. My aunt told me a story today of how I could not stand the idea of killing a mole in her yard when I was a little girl. I guess I was quite upset over the issue and my Moms response at the time? Oh she cannot stand killing anything not even a fly. I believe God created me for a specific purpose, perfect in design. I love these little titbits into the little girl. I am looking at roots for who I was created to be…before all the lies, hurts and disappointments.

I was reminded of how different my world was as child, who I was as a little girl watching old family videos. I have lost her somewhere. From time to time I have seen a glimpse of her when running on a sand bar in a low area of the Yellow River with a 6 yr old girl, or giving a 3 yr old a short bareback ride on McCoy and seeing her determined little face that she would keep her balance and stay with that horse when it moved even if it scared her a little. Recently via an old family video, I actually saw her running around in her aunt’s yard and sitting on a metal swing with her sister, being pushed by her aunt and mother. I had to ask myself….what happened to her? At what point did she become someone who wanted to give up? Who felt defeated and hopeless? Who recently wrote…I let people down and I am always late? Who feels overwhelmed and like she is not enough? What kind of lies has she bought into that led to this shift? More accurately is the defeat and hopeless beliefs what she focused her energy on? Cause they were always lurking in the little girl. Where did 30 years go?

I have flown when adventure called

I have soared when I wanted to fall

I have tripped when I misunderstood

Wanting, longing if only u would

I seen what I wanted to see

Truth was not what I wanted it to be.

Inspired by King Solomon I prayed for wisdom as a child

I found parts of mine after living in the wild

My desire to grow keeps burning in my heart

I am a seed planted, Growing roots …..a start!

Follow along via this blog as I discover the layers of the heart of a country girl and build a homestead lifestyle.

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