New Calves on the Farm

The new calves are so fun to watch. This is one of our dairy calves that we stuck on a beef cow to nurse. Actually, it was a dairy cow, but has a couple of bad quarters so we are using like a beef cow!
At first glance, it almost looked like this cow had two heads!

This cow just barely had her calf when the picture was taken. The calf already knows what to do and the cow is getting ready to (this is really disgusting if you don't want to read it!) eat it's placenta! Sounds awful, but God put it in the cows to do this as a way of protecting their calves. If a wolf smelled the placenta it would know a newborn calf was around. It hides the evidence of a newborn. Smart, huh?

Here's a couple more of the beef calves. And yes, they do have nicer pasture but they like this logged off area because it's more protected from the wind. So far we've had about 25 calves in the last couple of weeks.

Silas took the camera out when checking traps with Isaac. This is a beaver dam. We're going to be doing a lesson on beavers at VBS this summer and show how God made them diligent. They build their dams with sticks and mud that provide great insulation so it's cool in the summer and warm in the winter. The only way into the dam is to go under the water and up into it which is great protection from predators. Aren't they great engineers? God also designed the beaver to warn other beavers of danger by slapping it's tail hard against the water. They say it creates such a shock wave that the sound can be heard a half-mile away! Isaac will be teaching this lesson and has some neat beaver furs and feet and tails to show the kids.

There's geese everywhere you look, now that they've returned from down south. I love to hear the sounds of them fly overhead and can't help but stop what I'm doing and watch them. So until summer hits in full force, we still can enjoy God's creation all around us.

This evening, the guys from our church have their annual Father/Son Campout deep in the forest somewhere. They do some sucker fishing, eat lots, play games, stay up late, and just have a great time fellowshipping. Tomorrow morning sometime they are all heading over to the Jeffrey place to help on their house. So have a great evening enjoying God's creation wherever you might be!