Mud Season Anticipation

All is quiet in the barn yard.  No new calves.... yet. I know one will be here before the weekend. Maybe even tonight.    I was surprised there wasn't one waiting for me this morning. Violet is ready to pop any moment, but I realize I am the one who is always the most anxious during calving season... but photos don't lie.  I made my daily inspection of the entire herd this morning and this is what I found:

This is Violet. Her bag is swollen and her vulva is loose and getting larger by the moment. There is no doubt that she is next to calve and it will be soon.  As this is the official Vermont mud season, the entire barnyard and 3/4 of the field the herd is in-- is mostly mud.  The wind today is drying some of the mud out and it is suppose to drop down to 20 degrees tonight with a possibility of snow, so maybe that will help the current situation and firm up the ground a bit. However, down by the stream there is a nice sunny, dry area that some of the cows were napping and sunning themselves in this morning.

The herd is relaxed and peaceful. Well fed and comfortable.  The sugar makers are praying the temperatures get colder at night and warmer during the days so the sap will run again before the first buds start coming out on the trees. Once the buds appear on the maple trees then making maple syrup is over until next March.  This weekend is the BIG sugar makers Open House all over the state. Hundreds of small sugar maker's sugar shacks will be open to the public for tasting of all their products. You haven't lived until you have had maple syrup, just made, in its many forms: candy, ice cream, coffee, brownies, the list goes on. Lots of taste testing this weekend.   All the mud season rutts and roads will make the trip to some of the more isolated sugar shacks that much more adventurous.  If you are around our area of Vermont, please come visit the herd.    Wear your boots~!         

Remember to support your family farms and buy local.