Our days in January and February were quite different compared to 2017. Our third child arrived at the beginning of January; therefore, the majority of January was spent nursing, cuddling, playing with the oldest two and adjusting to our new life! The busy time of calving season is about the start.

Morning Chores on the Ranch During Calving Season

However, our life is about to change! On February 27th, my day started with making beds, getting breakfast ready for the boys and nursing the baby. I tidied up around the house and got everything organized that I had to take down to the barn. After bundling up the three boys and putting our baby in the Ergo carrier, we headed outside. Our middle son hoped into the Chariot and we headed to the barn. We absolutely love the chariot! It makes it so easy to get around with children in deep snow!

A bred heifer was starting to calve when we walked through, so we went to clean the barn and continued to check her. Once she calved, we grabbed our calf sleigh and pulled the calf into the barn with her following.

We then went to halter break the yearling bulls. We have been working with them for the past few days and hope to have them halter broke before calving gets too busy.

As we were finishing up, my dad came over and asked “Have you checked the bred heifer, because now there are 2 calves!” Twins out of a bred heifer…that might take a bit of work! Since these are her first 2 calves, we had to watch closely that she accepted them both and made sure that she produced enough milk for them.

A cow in the far field had also calved we took the Polaris Ranger to bring in the new calf. The cows follow our trailer so well as they can still see and smell their calf and the calf is safe on the trip into the barn, especially when they are already walking around. Keeping a new calf on a sleigh, when they are already walking, isn’t very easy.

We decided to feed both of the twins a bottle of colostrum to make sure they got a good start. Needless to say, my oldest son was in there right away! That is one of his jobs!

Afternoon Time for Homeschooling During Calving Season

We headed back to our home for lunch and after lunch we checked on the twins to give them the rest of the bottle that they had not quite finished. In the afternoon, I worked on a blog post about The Starfall Home Membership while the boys played inside. My oldest also worked on some school using Starfall and some amazing Usborne Books!

My parents did the evening feeding while my husband and I prepared supper. We had a family supper and then the boys had a bedtime book.

I took some time in the evening to cuddle our new baby, reply to messages about beef sales and my book business and to work on a few things for my blog.

Learning on the Go

The learning that takes place on the ranch during calving season is amazing! Our children are learning a ton of responsibility, how to organize and plan their time while working hard! Nothing can replace hands-on learning!