Preparations - Heifers Arriving!

The time is drawing near.  I can feel it within me.  I am filled both with excitement and dread...calving season is approaching.  Since we are a seasonal dairy (described in "Our Cows" tab), that means that we will have 207 cows calving from the beginning of March to the end of May.  Technically our first calves are due February 26th, but since when did any babies abide by a proper schedule? (grin).  We have quite a bit of preparation left to do, but things are underway, and today we took a big step towards being ready:

In preparation for calving season, we are bringing up the springing heifers from my father-in-law's farm (he raises the weaned heifers and brings them back to us right before they calve).  I am excited to see the once little babies that I named and cared for about to be mamas! 

Peeking out to see their new home...

Off the trailer they go!

Uno is looking at me suspiciously...

this is one of Dad's Normande/Ayrshire crosses...like all part Normandes--
she just wants to know where the food is (grin)

Danny shuts them in

We use electrified poly tape for our gaps into the laneways and fields.

It is always important to close the gates!  As one of our fellow farmers, Glen Moyer, remarked, "You can have the best and most expensive fences that money can buy, but if you leave the gate open the cows still get out."

A few heifers are still at Dad's but we are counting down...the babies are coming soon!