Weaning and Pollinators

On the farm this week, we all felt the pressure of heat as a heat wave swept across the country, and we saw unusual temperatures in the high 90s during the day. Chickens were hot, pigs needed a bath, and the humans were somewhere in between. Gratefully, nighttime temperatures still dropped back down into the 70s, so it was okay sleeping weather.

Lovett and I have been working on slowly tapering milk consumption for Butter and Vinegar. Vinegar is such a vigorous and rambunctious calf that she quickly steals the bottle from Butter when she has finished her own ration.

So we devised what we call the Butter Room, where Butter is enclosed and can drink her bottle of milk without any interference from Vinegar. Lovett and I have been testing this design, which was not successful at first, since our first exclusion techniques were not tight enough for the persistent Vinegar.

While waiting in their pasture, I have been admiring all the different pollinators coming to the blooming milkweed under the pear tree where I sit and watch them.

Happy summer.

Nathan