Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Road trip..........


This is a view of Mt. Washington as we drove by on our way to Northern Vermont on Monday morning. Dad and I traveled with my Uncle and his girlfriend to a large farm in Barton, VT to deliver a draft horse, pick up a draft horse and a cow and calf.

This is the view from the farm in VT, looking towards Canada. This was an incredible 180 degree view. It was a beautiful, clear day and you could see for miles. The entire trip took about 9 hours from start to finish.

The folks at the farm had a variety of animals. They had many sows and many litters of piglets. They are just adorable!!
Very photogenic :) I am getting so anxious for Charlotte to have her babies - we have a while to go but imagine cuddling one of these little creatures......
This little guy has the markings of a wild hog. These marking help to camouflage them in the wild. Handsome isn't he? They had dozens of them in every shape, size & color. They were very happy to answer my questions about sows, baby pigs and farrowing pens (where Charlotte will have her babies).

The main reason for the trip was to swap around a couple of Belgium draft horses. Tom, the first draft I posted about awhile back, has gone to live at this farm and the horse on the left, who will now be called Tom has come to live here. The horse on the right, Tyler is his mate that my Dad brought home last week.

Tom, Dad & Tyler

These two are very well behaved, very well matched and get along great. They are also very comfortable around people. The first Tom we had wasn't all that eager to work double nor was he all that eager to make friends. That doesn't work so well when you have to work side by side with another horse all summer long in a public environment. All in all, a good solution for everyone. Now they have to be worked in harness everyday to get in shape for a summer of carriage work at Acadia National Park.

My Dad had told me that this farmer had a cow and with a calf that he wanted to sell and that the price was right. So..............well, I guess you can figure out the rest :)

This is Molly and her one month old heifer calf, Annie. The farmer believes she is a shorthorn cross. She appears to have a beefy type build and so does her calf. I'll know more when she gets her new hair coat and sheds a few manure tags. She has hard a pretty tough winter and needs a couple of weeks to just eat, relax and chew her cud. I've got her quarantined until we have a vet check. This will give her plenty of time to eat her fill and regain some of the weight she needs before she meet the other cattle here. The calf is in great shape. It's pretty obvious that all Molly was getting was going right to her calf. She has a good temperament and I think she will fit in just right around here :)

10 comments:

Unknown said...

Sounds like a great road trip! A friend and I climbed Mt Washington when we graduated from high school...just absolutely beautiful! You know I love those cows of yours and the horses are just awesome:)

Gayle said...

Absolutely stunning drive. Amazing how you can take a road trip like that and go somewhere. If I drove for nine hours I'd still be in Alaska! The piglets are adorable. I hope your new family additions work out.

Joanna@BooneDocksWilcox said...

Just love those beautiful work horses.

thecrazysheeplady said...

What a fun trip! The scenery was gorgeous, the piglets too cute, the horses are quite handsome together and you rescued a darling cow and calf. Good day.

threecollie said...

Wonderful photos! What a lovely pair...
The baby sure is the right color for some shorthorn blood. That is just about the exact color ours are.

DayPhoto said...

Those views are amazing!! Stunning really.

We used to raise pigs and I still love them.

I'm glad for your new additions and for you posting about them.

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

Jinglebob said...

Great pictures!

Callie Brady said...

Love the photo of the matched horses! That must have been a nice trip,

Unknown said...

Debi,
your horses look just like mine. Say hi to Uncle David for me.
I see farming runs in the family.
Donna

A New England Life said...

Isn't Vermont beautiful?! One heck of a long trip though! My husband and I were just there a couple days ago, up by Burlington. It doesn't take us as long as it takes you, thank goodness.

I like the picture of your dad. He kind of reminds me of mine back when he was a little younger. Even now it's jeans and LL Bean flannel shirts on a daily basis.

Here's another ranch blog I follow that you might enjoy. http://www.the7msnranch.com/ Or maybe not.