Another fall Nature Walk, farm pics, and a Wedding!!

Last weekend was a beautiful weekend.  It started off on Sunday a little chilly but ended up being awesome for the week!

We went on another nature walk as a family to see the cows and the fall colors and get some good exercise.  I took some pictures of a few of the calves while we were out.  First up is my Angus x Charolais x Shorthorn bull calf that was born the day before we left on vacation.  He is an awesome looking calf and is growing so fast!!  It was like he was posing for the pic.  He looks like one of the bulls you would see in a catalog for A.I. (artificial insemination) bulls.

Sorry for quality, it was a little dark and my camera phone is messed up!

This is a picture of the famous Pearl.  She is the first grand daughter of Fifty.  I have decided to send her to live on my good friends farm out in Montana near the end of November.  He is married to a great veterinarian and they moved out there to start up their own business and farm when they got married.  His brother is partners with me in the pig portion of my business.  He wants to grow his own herd of cattle out there with a Longhorn x Angus cross.  Originally I was going to just send him a heifer and then he would send one back some day.  After some long days in the tractor thinking things through I decided I wanted to invest in his herd and business instead and help him grow and grow our business as well!!!   I am very excited thinking about what the future will hold for all of us.  If we do this right great things can happen!!!

Pearl, Angus x Charolais.

For our nature walk we all decided to go south this time and go see the cows and let them back out into the extra pastures to eat the grass that finally came back with the rain.  It was a little chilly but we all had fun.

While I was on the south corner of the farm I took a panorama shot looking north.  At the top and mostly right side you can see the hill that I took some southerly pictures from on our last two walks.  I love this photo as it shows the last of the fall colors and a great shot of the whole farm.  

After opening the gates we crossed the small stream on the property line to look at the neighbors corn field on our way back to the house.  My wife decided to walk across a downed tree to cross instead of jump like the kids and I did.  I was waiting for a good pic of her getting wet but she got across without incident!

Later in the day I piled up some leaves for the kids to play in.  The pile is much bigger now but with the rain I doubt they will be much good for playing in for much longer!

 You can see her head in the middle of the pile above.

 I took Friday of last week off from work to get some things done around home and get a much needed break from work.  I also have this coming Friday off as well.  I hope to get some more done then as well.  After putting my daughter on the bus I went over to check the cows since it was sunny and 70 degrees out.  I had a chance to take a picture of Koyuki's little boy   He is looking quite good as well.

Koyuki's Charolais x Angus bull calf.

After getting back from spending time mind clearing time with the cows I stopped in to check the pigs and found them enjoying the mild weather as well.  They are looking great.  I can't wait to see how they finish out!  I was so happy to have the day off as I am guessing this is probably the last T-Shirt day we will have this year.  I like the fall colors and all but I am a warm weather person and I get depressed when winter starts to set in.  Lets hope it is a snowy one so we can at least have some fun this winter!

Our Tamworth x Hampshire x Duroc cross pigs.

Yesterday was a great day for the family as we witnessed my sister and the love of her life starting their lives together with their marriage.  This was quite different for me as I feel kind of like a second father as well as her brother.  She is nine years younger than I am and I remember when she first came home, I was getting ready to take my first calf to the fair, and then helping raise her throughout the years.  I know we have had some really big fights and disagreements but in the end we are still family and it will be quite strange not to have her around as she has always been here for the last 26 years.  The great thing is she has an awesome husband who cares for her and I know that they will do great together.

I do not have any good pictures of the wedding.  I will post some later after I get into my wife camera or grab them off of Facebook.  I do however have an aftermath picture of the second star of the wedding, Alex!  He was the ring bearer and my daughter was the flower girl.  It took us three hours to get him dressed as he has never had a shirt that buttoned to the neck on before and wanted nothing to do with a tie.  They both did perfect at the wedding!  Then, after pictures, we all headed to the reception.  Shortly after eating our food my son got up and started dancing in front of the crowd to the music.  So, the DJ threw on Gangnam Style and he really started getting down!!  In the end the entire group of groomsmen got up and danced with him.  He ended up dancing for about an hour before we got him to sit down again. 

The wedding, reception, and my sister and brother in law's home town are all about an hour away.  So not too long after getting in the car to come home he was asleep.  I brought him into bed and he flopped down like he was hung over from a frat party!  It is scary to think how quickly those days will come.  In the meantime we will try to enjoy every minute we have with them while they are this age because some day they will get married and move away as well.  I just hope we raise them right so they can enjoy a long life of their own.

Kenny