The chopper’s roar echoing across the ridges and the valleys has been replaced by the constant purr of the combine. The frequency of trucks rambling in and out of the yard has decreased, but the Jake Brakes are just as loud as they vibrate the earth when the guys pull in with a full load of corn. The bay in the shed is full of corn waiting to be ground and the plastic will go up on the bunker walls this morning. Peter will don his goggles, mask, hooded sweatshirt and ear protection — looking like a character from a horror movie. In reality, it keeps our grinder guru from getting corn dust in every bodily orifice conceivable.
The leaves hit their peak a few weeks ago and we took full advantage of it. We did a “leaf walk” through the woods, collecting all the colors and shapes of leaves we could find. We also filled a basket with nuts and seeds. The leaves are currently being pressed in the pages of a farm magazine, with a set of encyclopedias on top for pressure. We will make some “leaf men” this week with them. Read Lois Ehlert’s book Leaf Man if you and your little ones need some leaf art inspiration. Like a true Wisconsin author, she even made a leaf cow, duck, chicken, and turkey. Ira had to suffer through taking some senior pictures under the canopy of some vibrant yellow leaves. He is not a fan of photos. Is any teenage boy? The photographer was great, the weather was cooperative, and we even managed to get a true Ira grin.
I dried up 35 cows on a Monday a month ago, and every Monday since there has not been less than 14 joining them. The dent that was made in the pens is still felt by the cows. It scares me to think I will have that many freshening in a small window of time, but, at the moment, the cows love the extra space in the other pens. I do not even have to look at the pen count list on the computer to know the pens are down a few cows. All the cows seem to appreciate the cooler nights; lucky for them, they did not have to go in search of a cozy stocking cap last week. The calves have been coming steadily, keeping us creative on our naming, as usual. I did go a bit rogue, not following the first letter of the mother’s name protocol. BeeGees daughter Barry Gibb had a lovely little heifer, so I named her Robin Gibb. Cheerio gave us a heifer as well, and seeing as how we have used every “C” cereal name (except the obvious: Cereal), I named the calf Honey Nut. We have lost a few young heifers to some unexpected happenings, so the incoming numbers need to make up for that.
Our cows seem to go through weird seasons of colostrum production. We try to have multiple bags in the freezer for when they hit a low production point, but we blew through all of it. Sometimes we are overflowing, but the past couple weeks we could barely save enough to feed the new calves. When this happens, we feed colostrum replacer to as many of the bull and beef calves as we can. This allows us to save a little extra fresh colostrum for the heifer calves. It was a milk juggling act. At last count we were back up to three bags frozen and five fresh in the fridge ready for new babies. We also feed our heifer calves a two-quart bottle of second colostrum, trying to get as much of that golden liquid into the girls as possible. This need puts a strain on the system as well when cows and heifers are lacking.
School is flowing along. It is bizarre sometimes to realize I have children at so many different levels of school, life, and development.
Ira has a manageable case of Senioritis already, but, luckily, he has work study two and a half days a week. He works with our custom harvester, Raymond Liska (also known affectionately as Ray Baby), fixing, overhauling, driving, and learning. Like how we ask newlyweds when the baby is coming, the world seems to be collectively asking him what he wants to do after high school. He is not sure, and much like his mother at that age, seems to not be fond of being pushed outside of his comfort zone. Ira will turn 18 this week and I marvel at how fast time really does fly.
Dane is a sophomore who likes to learn. This seems to be a struggle in many classes where his classmates do not have the same goals. He is the go-to guy for me on the farm for help in the kitchen or with the extra animals. His sow, Mrs. Rochester, just came back home after a month-long vacation with Mr. Chester White. Dane shot his first deer with a bow last week on the farm. It was a beautiful seven-point buck with a wide rack and big body. He was elated and I started learning how to can venison.
Henry is a fifth grader, “top dog of the elementary.” He is an operator child. Thankfully his teacher was a farmgirl, so when he didn’t do his reading for September and I mentioned that we were chopping corn a good part of the month, she got it. He loves to trail Ira and learn how to drive new things. Daily, he and Finley are either throwing a football or expanding their sandbox farm after school before chores. He shot a nine-point buck during the youth hunt weekend in October. There will be no shortage of venison in our freezers.
Second grader Cora keeps us all shaking our heads in amazement. From her outfits to her outbursts, we are never sure what we will get. She is a voracious reader, which feeds her imagination and her play. She still farms with the boys. Her play has taken on new levels now. She has show cattle, is breeding her dairy cows to beef bulls, and even has to sell cows sometimes. Her spelling work at school has included the sentences, “Danae is Daylily’s dam. Sequence is Daylily’s sire.” If she isn’t playing Barbies, she is playing farm or working in the barn.
This season of my life has been filled with sights and happenings that make me pull out my phone to snap a picture or my paper to jot down words. There are so many moments I want to remember.
Jacqui Davison and her family milk 800 cows and farm 1,200 acres in northeastern Vernon County, Wisconsin. Her children, Ira, Dane, Henry and Cora, help on the farm while her husband, Keith, works on a grain farm. If she’s not in the barn, she’s probably in the kitchen, trailing after little ones or sharing her passion of reading with someone. Her life is best described as organized chaos, and if it wasn’t, she’d be bored.
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