First calf of 2014

Well I guess March is going to come in like a lion.  Supposed to be cold and windy.  The beginning of February was in the minus -23 degree range then it got mild and into the 50's, even up to 64 in Rapid city. Now we have had 2-3 inches of snow and below 0 with predictions by the end of the week to be -10 to -15.
Last week Sturgis had its Ag and home show.  They had pens of bulls and heifers on display and junior livestock judging contest.  We took some lambs up to be judged in the contest.  It snowed four inches in Strugis during the contest so the kids had to feel and judge wet sheep..  The heifers and the bulls that they judged were all wet from the snow also.  There were even a pen of four goats to judge.

Monday it snowed and the wind blew hard and we had a ground blizzard most of the day.  The temperature stayed at about 8 degrees, so it was cold.  Tammy and I sorted off about ten heifers that we thought were close to calving.  We call them the "heavys", because they are heavy with calf.  We are not supposed to start calving until March 1.  We put them in the sheep barn.  We had to move sheep panels and troughs out of the way so the cattle don't break them.

Tammy checked them before she went to bed and I checked early in the morning around 4 AM.  Lo and behold I had a little "jewel".  A little heifer calf was born in the barn.  The wind had gone down so it was somewhat warm in the barn.

She is a nice little heifer calf that weighs just 55 pounds.  Mother and daughter are doing well.

The ladys-in-waiting.  The ones that are yet to calf, the heavys.

This picture was taken just before sun down.  It shows quite a few holes in our barn. The barn is not all that drafty.  A few warm bodies take the chill off.