05/21/2026
God blesses our life and raising our kids on our cattle farm. Our lifestyle allows for lots of time outdoors in the fresh air, running around, doing outside chores, learning responsibility by taking care of animals and our land in our care. Other life lessons that just come naturally with this way of life are learning about love, life and death.
My kids have experienced watching baby calves being born. They have watched the mama cow lick off and dry the baby, urging it to stand and start sucking to get that important first milk—colostrum.
The most exciting calves are the ones out of heifers or cows the kids have shown. We have always included them in discussions about genetics and breeding their cattle. They look at the pedigree and EPDs, and decide which would be a good mating. It’s always fun for the kids to see a cow they have invested a lot of time into—time in the barn (the barn we did have before the fire), washing, drying, clipping, haltering, leading, showing—have her calf. Many times it works out great. A healthy, strong calf hits the ground and is ready to go.
But sometimes, it doesn’t.
My kids have also seen when mama cow has experienced problems, the baby bovine comes early, or just isn’t quite right. We worry, sweat, and curse because even though we know it happens, every calf we lose, regardless of the situation, still hurts. We blame or second guess ourselves, even when there was nothing we could do. So much thought, care, hard work, time and money go into raising animals that every loss is felt.
There is life and there is death.
Times like this are hard, but thankfully they aren’t the norm. You have to love this lifestyle to continue doing it day after day. There’s not a lot of recognition for the work farmers do, which is fine. We don’t do it for the praise.
We are creating a legacy that hopefully lives on long after we are gone.💔
Lorelai lost her bred and owned heifer calf Tuesday morning. She was 30 hours old. She called emergency vet Sunday evening and between the vet and our family of 6 we did everything we could to save her. Unfortunately we lost. RIP sweet girl♥️
Red Power Valley Farm