rachels.haven 2026 kidding,lactation&farm journal

[rachels.haven]

If you need anything to do dishes while listening to, this was my fescue education last/this week. You probably already know it all, but hey, better than soap operas or silence. They even talked about where endophyte free came from. The whole channel is fun, but Kentucky is a lot wetter than Texas.

(not recommending you go out and reseed, I just found this part of the story of fescue)

 

[Mini Horses]

Fescue will prevent, reduce, slow milk production...at least for horses. Suspect for goats, too. Might be "some" of your FF milk issues . And birthing problems!! I had 2 c-section mares in one week

 

[rachels.haven]

Hard pull and single buck for Wonderful, not huge but just shy of 9 lbs so big for a FF. IDK if she actually lost her ligaments or softened much-flat rump. Not much room inside. I'll be thinking about what was actually going on tomorrow. It's too late tonight. That is technically the largest live delivery this year-Summer's kid was much bigger but IDK if he was actually alive when he hit the ground.
Hopefully mom and kid will recover. His legs took the burnt of things and his head is a little swollen and mom started bleeding from her poo schute. Currently mom is eating. Baby had 7 oz of colostrum already.

 

[Baymule]

I planted Kentucky 32 in Lindale. Some came back the next year, but not a lot. The first video explained that very well. The difference between endophyte free and novel endophyte, now I know and understand. I've thought about planting fescue here, but haven't gotten beyond a blip in my brain. LOL

 

[farmerjan]

We deal with the old Kentucky 31 that comes up all the time... Hate it.
If I had my way there would not be any fescue growing in any hayfields here. The novel endophyte ones show promise.. but given a choice, the cattle will eat AROUND fescue until after a frost... It makes alot of hay and the toxicosis is lessened with haying the plots...
Abortion, heavy breathing, lack of heat tolerance, major feet problems in the cattle..... NOPE..... not planting it in any field... not any of the fescue plants... Novel or otherwise...

 

[Mini Horses]

Yeah, none planted here! My prior experience & lawsuit (I won) was enough for me! But hay -- you don't always know & some has seed.

 

[rachels.haven]

Edema is crappy. I hope she doesn't blow or frostbite.
This is Lovely's sister, Wonderful. Her son looks nicer than Lovely's. Her edema is worse but her teats are hand milkable. Edema makes the texture like thick leather. She made 25 oz of colostrum. There's no room for any more.
A moment of silence for Wonderful's butt fluff. It fell as a victim to my horrible sani shave. She must not be wet and frostbite.

I messed up her son's shoulder a bit pulling him out, but she wasn't getting him out herself so it had to be. The shoulder is improving but the tendon on the foot is contracted so I used exercise tape and a chopstick to straighten it and he should be right as rain in a day or two. He's already toddling around on it in his bucket.

Party time.

 

[rachels.haven]

Gah! I just googled the name of the lady that ran the wolf sanctuary in Iowa we knew. Apparently in the 70's she kidnapped and murdered her 4 year old step daughter and got away with it likely because the step daughter was half native American (and that's the way that town still works today)...and she tried to burn either the body or the girl to death. Previous to the murder the lady blinded the girl with drano. A few years ago someone dug up the cold case. Later their house burned down with HER twins in it. And then the house they were living in burned down again when she was older, still living with her husband with all but a few wolf dogs inside.

Geeze, I guess I shouldn't be surprised. That was kind of a crappy area. Probably not going back. Where I'm at is fine.

That lady is probably dead or in her 90's now since if they made it past 40 they tended to live to be 90-100 there. I'll probably never find her obit though. It's all about the murder.

 

[Baymule]

Wow, and she wasn't tossed in prison and left to rot. She is probably dead by now and good riddance. Burn in the hot place for eternity.

 

[rachels.haven]

Uh...no. The law doesn't work that way there. Good old boys and their old families get protection, the law doesn't really exist (the place also never changes, it's like time forgot the town, although there was no native American population in the county anymore, can't imagine why). It's like an extreme of gaslighting there. They were living somewhere in Nebraska 3 years ago, probably still are. They probably left town when the 1979 murder thing resurfaced. They had one surviving kid, a son, I think, and he had a daughter, and now the grand daughter gave them great grandbaby. I remember the grand daughter growing up because she was my brother's age. I'd forgotten about that. My dad helped them install smoke detectors in their house before their last fire when we were helping fix their roof while he was volunteer serving at church. We were new move ins because my dad's company put a car battery plant outside of town in the fields.

You know, the more I learn about the place where I spent my teen age years the more glad I am that I got out and my family left. That place had problems. I'm going to leave that rest. That place taught me how to be happy being alone on my own.