Up and Up...

 

Whether you have livestock or pets or even a single, solitary relationship with a human being, you already know that life is full of ups and downs.

So the last month or so has been a little rough in and around the calving barn. Nine months of anticipation and planning and dreaming about what some of these calves or pairs may be and when it ends just this side of epic failure on a few occasions, even I can get a little down.  (Like call-the-trucker-I-can’t-take-another-disappointing-moment ‘down’!)

 Disclaimer: Having an on-staff veterinarian does NOT make you exempt from the "downs" either.

Really???

February is a bummer of a month if you ask me. Yep, I blame it on February. It is in the middle of winter, often the coldest, most miserable and there hasn't been a decent day yet that gives me hope that spring is actually coming. Well, besides that unreliable groundhog...who believes an animal in a top hat when it comes to the weather anyway?! Okay, okay, it is probably our latitude in reality...just another Wisconsin winter at 44° North.

I do believe though that the energy you put out into the world is what comes back to you...and my whining and complaining about February or our GPS coordinates or Punxatawny Phil isn't going to make time go faster or make the ice melt. The beginning of this week was rough and I thought how in the world are we going to overcome this?? A wise man told me though, in amongst all my carrying on this week, to "keep our arrow pointed in the right direction".   Pretty sound advice and it arrived with perfect timing...two live heifer calves and a third born late last night that we all watched arrive on the cameras!  Happy Birthday little girls!  We have been pretty heavy on the bull calves so far.  I might have had a little help from an angel this week too but however it happened or whoever is responsible...many thanks from your friends at Next Gen for ending the week on the up and up.