Thursday, May 31, 2012

Caution Caution Caution Caution Caution Caution

The past week my dad has been working on a new patio for the back of the house.  Up until 2 years ago there was incredibly uneven rinky-dink brick patio.  That was until my dad had to dig up and redo their sewer.  That was one stinky job!

There is a running joke in my family about the "stair incident" from way back when my dad built that brick patio.  I was little, probably 3 or 4, and my mom had just gotten out of school for summer vacation.  My dad decided to move the concrete steps that led out of the back door but didn't tell my mom...  Uh Oh, you can probably see where this one is going.  My mom came flying out of the back door, fell, and tore  the front of both of her shins down the back of the steps (my Dad had only moved the stairs out about a foot).  OUCH!  All I remember is lots of blood and lots of cursing!

So now that my dad is finally redoing the patio, he has wised up.  He draped some yellow caution tape across the back door to make sure this time around no one ends up at the doctor getting stitches.

Monday, May 28, 2012

Mo's Mad BBB Skills

It's been a busy week here at Nacke Farms.  We had 2 of our heifers calve!  For those who don't know, a heifer is a cow that has never calved before. Calving is an odd cow rite of passage.

When heifers calve you have to be a little more watchful because:
1. It's their first time calving
2. You don't know how big their calves will be

Large or small calves are linked through genetics. Simply put, my Momma had HUGE calves and my Daddy had small calves so I'll have a medium sized calf.  In reality there is a numbering system set up which is referred to as a Birth EPD.  This gives a numerical value to the cow's chance of having a huge painful birth or an easy happy one that everyone enjoys. 

The first heifer that calved had a BEPD of 2.3 which isn't high, but isn't low either.  It is stuck in the middle with you, but a little high for my dad's likings.  The second heifer had a 3.9... that's a big YIKES from the Nacke family... stay tuned to find out if she successfully had a calf! (dun dun dunnnn)

Last year we had a heifer with a 3.0 BEPD that had a 110 pound calf.  A calf that big is ridiculous for a cow to have let alone a poor little heifer.  We had to call the vet out and when I thought the worst was about to happen via C-section, the vet finally was able to yank the baby out.  Sadly it was too late, the labor had been too long and the calf didn't survive. *sad face*

So you can image why we were a little anxious about the 3.9 BEPD.  Luckily our bull (Mo) has a very low score (.5) so in a way he acts as a Big Baby Buffer (we'll call it the BBB!) and can help counteract the higher BEPD of the cows.  Mo's mad BBB skills worked this time and I'm happy to report both heifers had calves with out the slightest problem!

Now for some pictures!

Here is the older of the 2.  It's a heifer all red and very very resilient!

 Little Red and her Momma.

And here is the baby that could have been huge and instead, while being a bigger calf, was not too big.  It's a roan bull.  Isn't he the prettiest!

Big Roan and his Momma.

 Little Red's Momma, Big Roan, and Big Roan's Momma

In the excitement of it all, Big Roan's Momma had gone a little nutso and wouldn't let anything near her calf. The other night I let Little Red and her Momma in with Big Roan and his Momma.  Big Roan's Momma became crazy hostile towards Little Red and kept shoving her around.  So, we separated them again.  I have never seen another cow go after a calf like that.  Like I said above, Little Red seems to be very resilient and took being shoved into the fence very well for being such a little calf.  Hopefully, with time this new nervous ninny Momma will calm down and take a chill pill.

Update: Both families are now co-inhabiting our front pasture very happily.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

If You Give a Pops a Polaroid

Much like the loved children's book If you Give a Moose a Muffin, If You Give a Pops a Polaroid there are bound to be repercussions!

OK, maybe for the sake of rhyming I got carried away and stretched the truth a little bit...

1. I've never called my Dad "Pops" in my life
2. It's actually an old Canon digital camera I had lying around


But none the less, per my Dad's request, he now is in possession of one of my old digital cameras.  He was going to start buying the disposable kind (yes, ones that need developed).  So, I insisted he take mine instead of spending money on those crappy things.

After a short 5 minute tutorial he's now a self-proclaimed picture guru and snapping up photos like they're hot.

He even managed a self portrait!


All this taken into account, the quality of photos in the Green Acres blog may not be the best, but trust me when I say there will be lots (and lots) of them!

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

It's a Bird!, It's a Plane!... Oh, Nope it's a Bird

A sad event has taken place at Nacke Farms.  First, I should explain that we have several different pastures for our cows and one has a big plastic water tank sitting near the fence.  Dad made the gruesome discovery the other day of birds floating, dead in that very tank.

OK so I guess if a bird mass suicide is not your cup of tea then turn back now... you have been warned!

That fateful day my dad removed 20 dead bloated nasty birds from that water tank.  As he retold the story my mind immediately raced towards the worse thought possible.  This was the work of a birdy-cult and our plastic water tank was their Kool aide... too much?

Actually, what happened was this... 

As the birds were flying along they spotted a nice clean cool place to take a little birdy bath.  Once in the water, and feeling mighty fresh and clean, they discovered to their unimaginable horror that the sides of the plastic tank were slick.  Alas there was no escaping the water tank that soon became their death trap.  So, that's where the 20 dead birds floating in the water tank came from.  (I still think a birdy-cult mass suicide seems to be a better explanation.)  My brave dad had to fish them all out... ick.

This leads to another painfully gross story.  The one where Elsie finds every single dead bird and proceeds to drag them up to the front yard.  So now you not only have to watch for dead bird land mines throughout the yard as you plug your nose when the wind wafts the lovely decaying scent of bird into the air, you also have to dodge her tongue as she lunges toward your face to give you lots of doggie kisses.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Greetings from the Farm


Hello all!

My goal here is to fill in all you amazing readers on the countless fun and exciting things happening at the Nacke farm.  I feel like there have been some great stories that have transpired in the past but sadly no documentation of said great stories.  So I've decided to take it upon myself to be my parents personal historian, documentarian, and photographer. 

I've entitled the blog Green Acres to pay homage to an old wooden sign that hangs in my parents machine shed.  And who knows, every once in a while I might have to throw in a story from Petticoat Junction, the town formally known as Arcola.

I know what your thinking... this girl is crazy, how the heck can these Okie from Muskogee stories be that thrilling... But hold on to your pantaloons folks, it's about to get real up in here!  I promise to only blog about the most exciting and most heart stopping drama you've probably ever seen read.  Plus I'll thrown in some pictures of cute baby animals too :)

So with out further ado, It is my pleasure to present to you...


Green Acres
A blog witnessed and written by Nat