Down on the Farm!

The kids and I went to visit my sister and brother-in-law on their dairy farm in Southern Minnesota. The last time we were down there, the boys were too little to really remember and Sarah wasn't even born yet! Oh did we have fun!

Within an hour of getting there, it was time to do evening chores, the kids were all excited to get their barn clothes and boots on, and get to work!

Our job was to help feed the baby calves - we had to fill small buckets of milk for the older calves and then a couple of the younger calves still got bottles.

 

Auntie Liz showed the kids how the calves liked to suck on your fingers, hands or anything they could get their mouth on! Sarah got a HUGE kick out of this and was letting every calf she could find suck on her hands, her shirt and yes, even her hair by the end of the evening!

Off to feed the other calves in the barn...

Ready with the bottle!

Everyone got a turn

 

 Michael was really getting into it!

 

The absolute highlight of the evening was, we got word that a calf was going to be born, and they needed to pull it because it was so hot, they didn't want the mother or the baby to get overstressed. We all watched and Michael got to help pull the calf, while David monitored contractions from the side and told them when the cow was pushing on her own!

Everyone was excited because the new calf was a heifer, a girl, and we know that on a dairy farm that is what is important. They don't usually name cows, they just give them numbers, but my sister decided it would be fun to see what the kids would name the new baby calf. Sarah was asked first and of course she wanted the name, 'Sarah', Michael picked 'Bob' for a middle name, and David picked 'Tracy' for a last name.

So the calf was called Sarah Bob Tracy, aka #12:-)

Here she is at 2 days old, she has a nice little heart on her forehead!

David followed Jonathan everywhere and
helped him with anything he was doing. 

He LOVED riding in the tractor to go cut hay! 

I think over the 3 days be probably
spent 8-10 hours in the tractor!

First day out - Happy boy!

Second day out, we went  out to the field to drop Sarah off so she could ride with Uncle Jonathan for a while and then we were going to bring David back with us, When we got out to the field this is what we found, David laying perfectly comfortable in the back window of the tractor!

Even though this picture is fuzzy, I still had to include it!

 

David said there was room for 2 kids,
so instead of taking David back with us, 

Jonathan had two extra helpers!

Out in the woods there was a huge rope swing, 

I even tried it, and it was a lot of fun, flying through the air!

 

 

The last evening we were there, we went for a walk after dinner 

to look at the cool clouds and the sunset colors! 

 

 That turned into running like crazy people in the alfalfa...

 

 

 And that turned into a fun game of Alfalfa tag...

 

 Walking back to the farm - Good Night!

Thanks Liz and Jonathan for such a fun few days!!!