05/29/2026
Farm Blog
I had a very eventful day yesterday!
It started off with Mikey pulling out at 6am to meet a feller. And was going to be gone all day.
I get my coffee (gotta have coffee)! So as im getting dressed im putting my socks on and look out the windows and there are 4, yes 4 donkeys introducing themselves to Patches! Im like WHAT THE. ....
I thought I was dreaming! I've got half a sock on and get the binoculars and yup 4 donkeys!
I scramble to finish getting dressed and run out the door. Throw poor Max in the garage because I know nothing about these donkeys. By now, they are up at the barn. I close the gate on the bridge so they can't escape. They see me coming and come right over to me. They are the sweetest things! 💓
I immediately call Betty Hauger. Nope, she doesn't know who they belong to. I post a pic on our town community page inquiring if anyone is missing any donkeys. The only one I know of who has multiple donkeys is Emily and Stuart, but they are in Carmel. Can't be them!
So I feed the cows that are in the barn, and when I come out, the donkeys are heading around the equipment barn! Crap! The property is completely fenced in at this point, but I didn't want to have to chase them up back when I find who they belong to. So I sprint around and cut them off. Actually, they spooked when they saw me running! 😆 I grabbed some temp fencing to put across the road, but when I looked up, a vehicle was at the gate, and a woman was trying to open the gate. Must be the owner!! So I waived her in. Yup she had been driving up and down the roads looking for them! She was panicking because some person posted a pic of them running down the road with LOL like it was funny. And when the owner replied, "They are mine, where is this?" they never replied back! When farm animals are on a public road running, it is NEVER LOL!
The owner just happened to try driving down our driveway and saw them after I had spooked them running.
We managed to get lead ropes and halters on all four of them. I found a c**t halter which worked perfect the one of the minis but had to use the cow halter rope on the littlest mini. Then the fun began! We pulled and hugged and pulled and hugged them all the way home! Taylor, myself and her boyfriend. I have decided donkeys do not lead like horses! And of course it started to rain! Go figure! But we got them home safe and sound. Which was no feat because I guess people driving have forgotten that there is a law that livestock have the right of way and you need to slow down when approaching not fly by!!
I felt bad for Taylor because now she is 3 hours late for work!
After all that excitement, I head out to run my errands.
When i got back, Genie was calving! She had a BIG bull calf. Had just a little bit of trouble, but no problem. The calf was tight inside, so his front ankles were knuckles over, so he was having trouble getting up to nurse. I managed to help him up, and after a few falls, I got hum nursing! He was a hungry bu**er too! Drained all four quarters! Mom had him outside, and since it was raining on and off, I put him and mom inside on a bed of hay. Of which he was very happy to lay down and sleep! Happy baby boy!
Then I see Edith is close to calving, too. Probably she will have it today because I have two markets! I only have 3 more cows waiting to calve, and then we are done for this year! It's been 28 days since the last calf was born! We have been keeping the cows and babies in to wait for these last 4 but we ate almost out of hay. So this weekend, the girls will be put out, and we will have to send the last 4 out after they are all done. I have already put up temp fencing inside the coral to fence train the little ones before they go out. I did that last year and it worked pretty good.
Well I better get the donuts cooking.
Have a blessed day! And remember to always treat others the way you would want to be treated! (Even though, in some cases, it's a challenge!) 😊
