Friday was a busy day. ACT test; finding newly-born, half-frozen Faline; two new lambs and one still born and having to hurriedly build the stanchion to hold Elsa to milk now that she calved. On the man’s last trip here we built the stanchion and now had to install it in the stall. The window of nice weather was small, and a rain/snow storm was coming, so we had to kick mama and baby out of their warm shed for a while.

First the backhoe had to come in to dig the hole for the poles because the ground was hard and frozen. Then the bobcat with the stanchion.

There was a slight traffic jam to maneuver through.

Twin crossing.

Next came the big beams which everyone had to investigate.

Tiny Tim was born a few hours before and though his brother did not make it, he is strong and insisted on being a part of the action. The tiniest lamb with the loudest lungs, “MAMAMAMAMAMA.”

Maneuvering the poles.

Getting that thing in the hole.

“I’m warning you. You better get this thing out of here, now.”

Now to fill it in.

Making adjustments on the stanchion legs while Becca and Siegfried wonder when all this mud and manure are going to get cleaned up..

“I mean it! Clean this s#*t up, now! Our feet are getting all dirty and there is more snow coming,” bellowed Siegfried. “and give me a snack while he is doing all the work.”

“Ok. ok.”

Elsa, “You call that a gate? Ha! I crawl through your so-called gate like it wasn’t even there!”

Elsa, “You call that a stanchion? Ha! I pull your stanchion out of the wall and snap it in two, like a toothpick! When I lived at James Ranch they had a lovely metal stanchion and we would walk up clean concrete and stand there to be milked in the fresh air. I bet they have green grass growing right now.”

Elsa, ” Well I guess I’ll give it a try. I’ll be real nice for the man, but when he is gone, I’m going to rip that lady’s head off. Haha.”

Faline, “I know I’m hungry, but I just can’t seem to figure this out.”

“I think I get it.”

“Hey Mister, thanks for all the help. I had a hard day.” Faline.