.
.
I think it’s time to write about Buddy. Sometimes I find it hard to write about our cows and our little farm because it is such a small scale farm and despite the fact that I grew up with generations of cattle ranching in my blood, I still feel that I really don’t know anything about cows! And sometimes writing about things on the farm are emotionally hard. But what I do know is what my heart tells me! And so I’d like to introduce you to Buddy!
.
.
I think it’s time to write about Buddy. Sometimes I find it hard to write about our cows and our little farm because it is such a small scale farm and despite the fact that I grew up with generations of cattle ranching in my blood, I still feel that I really don’t know anything about cows! And sometimes writing about things on the farm are emotionally hard. But what I do know is what my heart tells me! And so I’d like to introduce you to Buddy!
Cyndie Gray says: Sweet thoughts to go with your sweet precious grands!!
Diann says: I have had Baaaaell since she was less than eight hours old. Her mama and her twin died in delivering. Every hour and a half around the clock I fed my little lamb and she follows me everywhere. It has been interesting. However my other three ewes were also orphan, so, I guess I’m just a sucker for orphans. The same day I got Baaaell, I took three two week old puppies who’s mama died….see what I mean…sucker.♀️
We had a cow that had twins as well and we lost the male. I tried my best to keep him alive, but could not. I have also had bottle calves recently and let me say they are so cute but so pushy when it comes to their milk. My almost 4 year old granddoll knows the purpose as well.
Brenda Cervantes says: This is a sweet story. Honest with the reality of farm life. I understand the bittersweetness of Buddy’s life. But you are enjoying the sweetness and sharing that with the young.
Thank you
My Dad and a neighbor raised pigs for a year and I was the one to nurse the ones that got hurt by the mamma. there were two over the course of that summer, one lived and one didn’t make it. the one that made it we named Arnold, very original! but he was a big pet and then he grew and grew. My Dad wouldn’t let us get in his fence but he was still a big baby only REALLY big and could hurt us at that point because of his size. so when Arnold topped 400 lbs he had to go off like all piggies do and it was hard but yet we knew that’s what had to happen. but it is fun to be able to raise an animal like that and see it thrive no matter what happens later on. enjoyed your story!
Julie says: This is an amazing story!!!! You are a fabulous writer and you captured my attention! While I know you have very hard work daily, I can’t help but wish I worked on the farm with you!
Thank you for sharing!
Kathleen Rinta says: Oh my how your story hit home! I raise grassfed beef in western Washington just 30 miles south of Mt.St. Helens (the view we have, fantastic!) and had a Hereford cow who had twins 3 yrs. in a row, by different bulls. The first set the heifer was dead, the second set were heifers(score!), the 3rd set, a bull and heifer. Friends raised the heifer and returned her the following year, knowing that being a freemartin her purpose in life was to feed us. They’re lots of work but also so rewarding. Thanks for sharing!
We raised 3 girls on our farm with 4-H FFA and it was hard to sell them and through no fault of their own at times a tragic end to an animal. But I feel very strong about the facts of life. I couldn’t protect them from hardship. They now r parents and all have pets and continue on loving and caring for their animals. I think it’s made them appreciate how precious it is to care for another “fur being” Made them better human beings
Mary Rauch says: How difficult it must have been to find the words (which you did beautifully) to tell this sensitive story of nature and love and being a good steward of your knowledge and experience to the children.. The lessons learned from you will follow them forever. You are a GOOD WOMAN!
Nancy says: Hi I love reading about your crafts and flower garden but I am so sad reading this post. Poor buddy thinks he’s a beloved pet only to be sold and butchered. That is a part of farm life that I can do without..
Dori Troutman says: Awww Nancy,
I’m sorry to make you sad. It is a very hard, real part of farm life. And even amongst all the hard things, I wouldn’t trade it for anything!
I promise a crafty, sewing, flower garden post next month! 🙂
~ Dori ~
Marilyn says: This is a sweet story. The bond and caring your granddaughters have for Buddy is precious. It is sad how one twin can be ignored.
Marilyn
Meredith Williams says: Hi Dori!! I have another trick to add to your arsenal of tricks to get bottle calves sucking! With a tough calf, I have found that using a lamb nipple/bottle (with the hole on the end of the nipple made a bit bigger) can sometimes be just the ticket! A small calf ( which as you know, twins can be) sometimes just finds the normal calf nipple a little too big at the beginning. I love your posts and know just how you feel about writing about your farm. Even though we farm full time here in Virginia and have a beef herd of about 170 head, we look like nothing compared to the ranches out west! But even if we are small, we have many of the same kind of experiences with our animals, right?
Sandi King says: Hi Dori; Crying, emotional sap, that’s me. All animal’s I have loved and lost, tear my heart out, but I keep having more and more. Two dogs and 5 cats now. I have always from the time I was a small child had pets, from chickens to calves, to dogs and cats, fish and birds. I loved them, doctored them, protected them, some I killed with my doctoring (mom said it was the birds and fish), and I buried them and gave them a funeral. I teared up over Buddy, though I understand the reasoning of his purpose, and I am glad you know how to raise your grandkids to understand about life and death. Enjoying what you can when you can, feeling sad, and going on from there to the next event in life. The circle and cycle, for every joy there is sadness and for every sadness there is joy. Thanks for writing about farm life. We all need that perspective on how things are in life. Until next time, God Bless you and your family.
Cindi J says: I LOVE your stories ~ crafty, flowery, full of friends and fun, or emotional real life like this one. Yes, it is sad knowing that a beloved farm animal has a purpose other than being cute and loving to us, but your story is and unpretentious look at what all rancher and farm families experience each and every day. It is good for all of us to remember the cycle of life and respect the teachings that it offers. You are blessed with a very good and full life 🙂
Kim D. says: Hey, I’m that friend!….and he eventually got it! I’m so proud of how he’s doing. You not only saved him, but got him thriving and are also teaching a very valuable lesson to two precious girls.
Melisse Christine Mossy says: We had a calf named Buddy too, as a 4H project for our daughter. She eventually moved on to other things and our Buddy now lives with a Vegan in Placerville. We now own 50 acres outside San Diego but the woman who took our steer is very bonded and doesn’t want to give him up. I’m looking for a pasture mower, and would be willing to buy your Buddy if we could get him to So Cal. Let me know . Melisse@me.com
is a certified farmgirl at heart. She’s happily married to her beach bum Yankee husband of 20 years. She went from career gal to being a creative homeschooling mom for two of her biggest blessings and hasn’t looked back since. Debbie left her lifelong home in the high desert of Northern Nevada 10 years ago and washed up on the shore of America’s hometown, Plymouth, MA, where she and her family are now firmly planted. They spend part of each summer in a tiny, off–grid beach cottage named “The Sea Horse.”
“I found a piece of my farmgirl heart when I discovered MaryJanesFarm. Suddenly, everything I loved just made more sense! I enjoy unwinding at the beach, writing, gardening, and turning yard-sale furniture into ‘Painted Ladies’ I’m passionate about living a creative life and encouraging others to ‘make each day their masterpiece.’”
is a “MaryJane Farmgirl” who lives in a large metropolitan area. She is a lawyer who has worked in both criminal defense and prosecution. She has been a judge, a business woman and a stay-at-home mom. In addition to her law degree, she has a Masters of Theological Studies.
“Mustering up the courage to do the things you dream about,” she says, “is the essence of being a MaryJane Farmgirl.” Learning to live more organically and closer to nature is Rebekah’s current pursuit. She finds strength and encouragement through MaryJane’s writings, life, and products. And MaryJane’s Farmgirl Connection provides her a wealth of knowledge from true-blue farmgirls.
an old-fashioned farmgirl with a pioneer spirit, lives in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. As a “lifelong learner” in the “Live-Free-or-Die” state, she fiercely values self-reliance, independence, freedom, and fresh mountain air. Married to her childhood sweetheart of 40+ years (a few of them “uphill climbs”), she’s had plenty of time to reinvent herself. From museum curator, restaurant owner, homeschool mom/conference speaker, to post-and-beam house builder and entrepreneur, she’s also a multi-media artist, with an obsession for off-grid living and alternative housing. Cathi owns and operates a 32-room mountain lodge. Her specialty has evolved to include “hermit hospitality” at her rustic cabin in the mountains, where she offers weekend workshops of special interest to women.
“Mountains speak to my soul, and farming is an important part of my heritage. I want to pass on my love of these things to others through my writing. Living in the mountains has its own particular challenges, but I delight in turning them into opportunities from which we can all learn and grow.”
Dori Troutman is the daughter of second generation cattle ranchers in New Mexico. She grew up working and playing on the ranch that her grandparents homesteaded in 1928. That ranch, with the old adobe home, is still in the family today. Dori and her husband always yearned for a ranch of their own. That dream came true when they retired to the beautiful green rolling hills of Tennessee. Truly a cattleman’s paradise!
Dori loves all things farmgirl and actually has known no other life but that. She loves to cook, craft, garden, and help with any and all things on their cattle farm.
describes herself as a goat charmer, chicken whisperer, bee maven, and farmers’ market baker renovating an 1864 farmhouse on an Ohio farm. With a degree in Design, Mary says small-town auctions and country road barn sales "always make my heart skip a beat thinking about what I could create or design out of what I’ve seen.”
Rooted in the countryside, she likes simple things and old ways … gardening, preserving the harvest, cooking, baking, and all things home. While you might find her selling baked goods from the farm’s milkhouse, teaching herself to play the fiddle, or sprucing up a vintage camper named Maizy, you will always find her in an apron!
Mary says, “I’m happiest with the simple country pleasures … an old farmhouse, too many animals, a crackling fire, books to read, and the sound of laughter … these make life just perfect.”
is a budding rural farmgirl living in Palmer, the agricultural seat of Alaska. Alex is a graduate student at Alaska Pacific University pursuing an M.S. in Outdoor and Environmental Education. She lives and works on the university’s 700 acre environmental education center, Spring Creek Farm. When Alex has time outside of school, she loves to rock climb, repurpose found objects, cross-country ski on the hay fields, travel, practice yoga, and cook with new-fangled ingredients.
Alex grew up near the Twin Cities and went to college in Madison, Wisconsin—both places where perfectly painted barns and rolling green farmland are just a short drive away. After college, she taught at a rural middle school in South Korea where she biked past verdant rice paddies and old women selling home-grown produce from sidewalk stoops. She was introduced to MaryJanesFarm after returning, and found in it what she’d been searching for—a group of incredible women living their lives in ways that benefit their families, their communities, and the greater environment. What an amazing group of farmgirls to be a part of!
Suburban Farmgirl Nicole Christensen calls herself a “vintage enthusiast”. Born and raised in Texas, she has lived most of her life in the picturesque New England suburbs of Connecticut, just a stone’s throw from New York State. An Advanced Master Gardener, she has gardened since childhood, in several states and across numerous planting zones. In addition, she teaches knitting classes, loves to preserve, and raises backyard chickens.
Married over thirty years to her Danish-born sweetheart, Nicole has worked in various fields, been a world-traveler, an entrepreneur and a homemaker, but considers being mom to her now-adult daughter her greatest accomplishment. Loving all things creative, Nicole considers her life’s motto to be “Bloom where you are planted”.
Sweet thoughts to go with your sweet precious grands!!
I have had Baaaaell since she was less than eight hours old. Her mama and her twin died in delivering. Every hour and a half around the clock I fed my little lamb and she follows me everywhere. It has been interesting. However my other three ewes were also orphan, so, I guess I’m just a sucker for orphans. The same day I got Baaaell, I took three two week old puppies who’s mama died….see what I mean…sucker.♀️
We had a cow that had twins as well and we lost the male. I tried my best to keep him alive, but could not. I have also had bottle calves recently and let me say they are so cute but so pushy when it comes to their milk. My almost 4 year old granddoll knows the purpose as well.
This is a sweet story. Honest with the reality of farm life. I understand the bittersweetness of Buddy’s life. But you are enjoying the sweetness and sharing that with the young.
Thank you
My Dad and a neighbor raised pigs for a year and I was the one to nurse the ones that got hurt by the mamma. there were two over the course of that summer, one lived and one didn’t make it. the one that made it we named Arnold, very original! but he was a big pet and then he grew and grew. My Dad wouldn’t let us get in his fence but he was still a big baby only REALLY big and could hurt us at that point because of his size. so when Arnold topped 400 lbs he had to go off like all piggies do and it was hard but yet we knew that’s what had to happen. but it is fun to be able to raise an animal like that and see it thrive no matter what happens later on. enjoyed your story!
This is an amazing story!!!! You are a fabulous writer and you captured my attention! While I know you have very hard work daily, I can’t help but wish I worked on the farm with you!
Thank you for sharing!
Oh my how your story hit home! I raise grassfed beef in western Washington just 30 miles south of Mt.St. Helens (the view we have, fantastic!) and had a Hereford cow who had twins 3 yrs. in a row, by different bulls. The first set the heifer was dead, the second set were heifers(score!), the 3rd set, a bull and heifer. Friends raised the heifer and returned her the following year, knowing that being a freemartin her purpose in life was to feed us. They’re lots of work but also so rewarding. Thanks for sharing!
We raised 3 girls on our farm with 4-H FFA and it was hard to sell them and through no fault of their own at times a tragic end to an animal. But I feel very strong about the facts of life. I couldn’t protect them from hardship. They now r parents and all have pets and continue on loving and caring for their animals. I think it’s made them appreciate how precious it is to care for another “fur being” Made them better human beings
How difficult it must have been to find the words (which you did beautifully) to tell this sensitive story of nature and love and being a good steward of your knowledge and experience to the children.. The lessons learned from you will follow them forever. You are a GOOD WOMAN!
Hi I love reading about your crafts and flower garden but I am so sad reading this post. Poor buddy thinks he’s a beloved pet only to be sold and butchered. That is a part of farm life that I can do without..
Awww Nancy,
I’m sorry to make you sad. It is a very hard, real part of farm life. And even amongst all the hard things, I wouldn’t trade it for anything!
I promise a crafty, sewing, flower garden post next month! 🙂
~ Dori ~
This is a sweet story. The bond and caring your granddaughters have for Buddy is precious. It is sad how one twin can be ignored.
Marilyn
Hi Dori!! I have another trick to add to your arsenal of tricks to get bottle calves sucking! With a tough calf, I have found that using a lamb nipple/bottle (with the hole on the end of the nipple made a bit bigger) can sometimes be just the ticket! A small calf ( which as you know, twins can be) sometimes just finds the normal calf nipple a little too big at the beginning. I love your posts and know just how you feel about writing about your farm. Even though we farm full time here in Virginia and have a beef herd of about 170 head, we look like nothing compared to the ranches out west! But even if we are small, we have many of the same kind of experiences with our animals, right?
Hi Dori; Crying, emotional sap, that’s me. All animal’s I have loved and lost, tear my heart out, but I keep having more and more. Two dogs and 5 cats now. I have always from the time I was a small child had pets, from chickens to calves, to dogs and cats, fish and birds. I loved them, doctored them, protected them, some I killed with my doctoring (mom said it was the birds and fish), and I buried them and gave them a funeral. I teared up over Buddy, though I understand the reasoning of his purpose, and I am glad you know how to raise your grandkids to understand about life and death. Enjoying what you can when you can, feeling sad, and going on from there to the next event in life. The circle and cycle, for every joy there is sadness and for every sadness there is joy. Thanks for writing about farm life. We all need that perspective on how things are in life. Until next time, God Bless you and your family.
I LOVE your stories ~ crafty, flowery, full of friends and fun, or emotional real life like this one. Yes, it is sad knowing that a beloved farm animal has a purpose other than being cute and loving to us, but your story is and unpretentious look at what all rancher and farm families experience each and every day. It is good for all of us to remember the cycle of life and respect the teachings that it offers. You are blessed with a very good and full life 🙂
Hey, I’m that friend!….and he eventually got it! I’m so proud of how he’s doing. You not only saved him, but got him thriving and are also teaching a very valuable lesson to two precious girls.
We had a calf named Buddy too, as a 4H project for our daughter. She eventually moved on to other things and our Buddy now lives with a Vegan in Placerville. We now own 50 acres outside San Diego but the woman who took our steer is very bonded and doesn’t want to give him up. I’m looking for a pasture mower, and would be willing to buy your Buddy if we could get him to So Cal. Let me know . Melisse@me.com