And the tag means???

Posted on September 11, 2010 by wagfarms

I had a question asked of me on Twitter today, or should I say I answered one that was being discussed. Someone was wondering how we decide what tags go on which cows. I had never thought of it before. Sometimes, when you’re on the inside, things seem so obvious that you forget that others don’t know why you’re doing it…it’s an epidemic in agriculture, and one we’re working on fixing.

To answer the question, yes the tag does mean something. When calves are first born (or at least soon after), they get a tag in their ear with the same number their cow has. The white tags mean that the calf is a bull, the yellow tag means that it’s a heifer (a female that hasn’t had a calf yet).

Separating the two sexes of calves helps make giving the calves their vaccinations easier. Plus, you don’t have to worry about trying to castrate a heifer! 🙂

This cow has a purple tag, you can see the one in the background has a blue tag.

Now the cow tags are different colors for a different reason. Each year the cows get a different color ear tag. Tags come in tons of different colors, so it works pretty well. Cows are normally only on the farm for 10-12 years, as long as they have a calf, they stay. You can look at the cows tag and know which year she was born in. (We have a closed herd, which means every cow that’s on our farm was born and raised here…I’ll explain that more in another post some time.)

Another benefit of having different colors is so that you can easily determine which cow you need to bring in (sometimes looking at a sea of red faces is confusing, but the color of the ear tag helps), during calving season…or any other time of the year, if there is a health issue.

There’s a lot more to it then that, but that’ll do for now. I don’t want to overwhelm you with cow information!

If you have any questions, please, feel free to ask. I love talking about our farm…and I’ll gladly take a video or some photos to help out the process! 🙂

My canner is smoking!

Posted on September 9, 2010 by wagfarms

Literally my canner was smoking earlier today. In the last few days I have made a TON of salsa and stewed tomatoes…including 26 quarts of salsa today. I am exhausted! My feet are aching and if I see another tomato again within the next few weeks, I’m likely to hurt someone.

Just as I was getting done with my last batch today, I decided that next year I will either do my canning during the dead of night, or send the little troops to daycare. They managed to destroy the house in the hours that I was some-what distracted. Little turkeys.

But with all the mess, I did find that EJ has finally found a really good use for those double-page farm ads that drive me nuts in the magazines. Check it out:

I took this ad out of the middle pages of a farm magazine, because EJ wanted to farm it.

I wonder if they sell a farm-themed laminate for the kitchen floor…like wheat stubble, or corn? Maybe then I could even talk EJ into washing the floor! 🙂

Entering a new era

Posted on September 8, 2010 by wagfarms

Guess what??? I’m laying in my bed right now.

Now, before you go going all sicko on me, I’m not trying to be one of those 900-number blogs (do such a thing exist?)…I’m just excited to share the news that I have finally entered the 21st century. I have a laptop!

Now for most people, that wouldn’t mean much, but to me, this is monumental. Not only can I blog from the comfort of my room, while rocking a stubborn 3-year-old to sleep, but I can also stay connected while on the road.

The opportunities are endless, and I plan on taking advantage of them!

So be prepared world…Val Wagner is now unplugged…

Fish are patient

Posted on September 6, 2010 by wagfarms

Big brother was invited to have a sleepover at Grandma B’s house last night, so that he could go fishing with my family today. Scooter was a little peeved about this, so I promised him that we would go fishing this afternoon. Little did I know what it would all take to get there. Here’s the rundown:

$45 – money spent on snacks, drinks, etc.

$11 – money spent on in-state fishing license

25 – number of minutes spent waiting for someone able to sell me a license, since apparently they wouldn’t just let me fill it out myself and leave them the correct money

2 – number of children I took with

3 – number of poles that I took with

1 1/2 – number of worms used…don’t ask about the 1/2

15 – number of minutes spent fishing before I was told it was too cold, they were too tired, they were too hungry, etc., etc.

26 – number of minutes spent on the road, driving to and from the lake

1,376 – number of times I had to recast after both kids reeling in the fishing line as soon as I gave them their rods

1,377 – number of times I told them not to reel in the line as soon as I gave them their rod

Oh well, a good day fishing…you know the rest of the saying. The quote of the evening goes to Scooter, who looked at me after about 27 seconds of fishing and said, “Boy, these fish must have lots of patience.” Yes, my son, they must…and it’s a good thing your mom does too!

Full day

Posted on September 5, 2010 by wagfarms

I can’t believe how today went. Well, I can, but I’m exhausted thinking about it.

It started out this morning with EJ waking up, heading outside and coming in to tell me that his kitty was dying. Nothing wakes a mom out of her morning fog like a 3-year-old sobbing hysterically about his kitty. I headed outside to assess the situation, and indeed it was dire. Unfortunately Pip passed on this afternoon. I’m not sure what happened, but she was a runt of a litter that we brought home from the fair, and she had been sick off and on. Just another lesson that nature taught us.

After that, boss man decided that today would maybe be a good day to can. Now, to tell you the truth, there are NO good days to can, but today wasn’t going to be any worse than any other. So after breakfast I started the process of canning 10 quarts of salsa.

Once those were done, I took the boys out to the hay field about 15 miles west of here, to do some video of Mark loading up a semi of small squares for a trucker out of Wisconsin.

Next we checked the cows, then I took the boys past the house I grew up in. We don’t go there often, even though we own the land now. It makes me kinda sad to see the house…but that’s another story.

My house

Then we enjoyed supper with my folks and sister, came home, got the boys ready for bed, and now I’m canning another 7 quarts of whole tomatoes. Yeah, I’ll get to bed late, and I’m sure tomorrow will be similar to today, but that’s the beauty of it all.

The day’s are always full.

My problems start with Y

Posted on September 3, 2010 by wagfarms

As in the XY chromosome…yep, you guessed it…males.

Yeah, I know, I’m gonna get flak for it. Men don’t cause ALL the world’s problems, but they do cause most of mine! 🙂 Of course, most of that is because I’m surrounded by them…completely.

Let’s take today for example. I had a hair appointment at 9:45 this morning. This appointment was rescheduled from Wednesday, when two of my boys did not make it home on time on the bus (which is also driven by a male, might I add). Hair appointments are kind of a big deal for me. I usually only get into town once or twice a year, since you need to schedule these things in advance, and let’s just say that my life doesn’t allow for advanced scheduling that often!

I woke my lil’ boys up and got them ready to go, so I would make it into town in time to drop them off at the drop-in daycare and get my haircut. After fighting with EJ to get dressed, changing George twice (he’s allergic to clean clothes…makes him poop right through, I swear!) and putting gas in my van, I take off with a few minutes to spare.

Then another version of the XY chromosome got in my way. This morning our bulls decided to take a leisurely stroll down the road. ARGH!

So me, two boys and my minivan did some off-roading, got them going in the right direction, I turned around, came home and called the boss man to let him know what HIS bulls were doing, and headed back to town. I was NOT going to take the hour or so it was going to take to get the bulls back in the pasture. I was NOT giving up my hair appointment! Not this time!

Needless to say, my hair is shorter, the bulls are back in and all is well, even though I was a few minutes late.

Seriously, I started out on time…and I truly TRIED to get there when I should, but that stinking Y had other plans. *sigh* It’s a good thing they’re so darn cute…the boys, not the bulls.

P.S. I’ve even added a category for running late, ‘cuz I know I’ll be writing about this often!!!

There’s always a why

Posted on September 2, 2010 by wagfarms

I was aked to write a few words about why I started blogging. After thinking about it a bit, I decided that I should probably write this in my blog, so that when I think I’m too tired to write, or feel that no one is paying any attention anyways, I can come back and read this letter:

Dear blogworld,

Thank you for giving me this opportunity to step into your world for just a minute…and in return, I’m asking you to step into mine. I want to explain to you why it is that I’m writing and why it is that you should care.

I could give you a thousand reasons why I shouldn’t be here. I have 4 boys for pete’s sake, that should be enough right there! I have a house to clean, laundry to do, rooms to straighten, errands to run, cows to check on, calf replacer to retrieve out of a washing machine, etc., etc. Yeah, I’m really that busy.

But I have four main reasons why I’m taking this time…the first was born in June, 2002, and the fourth was born in April, 2009.

Right now the world is being run by those who are in the media, spinning stories to their liking and making the general population afraid of things that they never thought about before. People are doubting the safety of their food, questioning the practices that my family has been using for generations and using a magnifying glass to determine if I’m doing a good enough job raising their food. That scares me. I don’t doubt for a minute the safety of the food we are raising, but I’m scared that those who want to see me out of business are out there telling everyone what it is I’m doing, instead of me telling them.

Laws and regulations are being passed and forced upon society without thought as to the science behind the practices. Emotions are being played with and people are being forced into questioning one of the world’s safest food sources…my farm.

I have a story to tell, and I don’t want it ending with me. I want my boys to have their own stories to tell. I want them to have the freedom and opportunities to pursue whatever careers their hearts decide on…and if the world is lucky enough, one of them may decide to be a farmer.

So, long story short, why am I here? Well, I’m hoping that if someone has a question as to why I do what I do…perhaps I’ll be lucky enough for them to actually ask me, instead of a reporter in New York. And if that luck holds out, perhaps my boys will too.

And they’re off…video

Posted on September 2, 2010 by wagfarms

Video of the release of birds on YouTube…Yeah, the duck wasn’t keen on leaving. He actually stuck around for a few days, but he’s found his friends now and is happily back at the pond.

And they’re off!

Posted on September 2, 2010 by wagfarms

Earlier this summer, we started on an adventure. We hatched out pheasant and duck eggs that were at risk during haying season. (You can read the history here: http://www.fb.org/blog/index.php/2010/07/06/a_duck_duck_here_and_a_duck_duck_there )

Well, last week it finally became time to let them go. We started with 13 pheasants and 9 ducks, but a lot of lessons were learned. For example, pheasants are extremely predatorial…ducks, on the other hand, are not. This is why when we let them go, we were down to 4 pheasants and just one duck…but he was a TOUGH duck! We also had some that escaped, with the help of a black lab that liked to dig. (At least, I told the boys that they escaped…)

The boys are planning on doing it again next year. I’m actually glad that they were interested in it. Sometimes on the farm you become so used to nature that you actually forget what a beautiful and complex world we live in. It’s great to have these reminders…especially in our own backyard.