Romero Family Farm

Momma Goat and her kid

We had this goat that was in labor. We watched her from a far, just to monitor her and ensure all was well. I had to go run an errand and later my husband called me and said she was still in labor but she looked tired. I hurried home and at that time we knew she had been in labor for at least 12 hours maybe longer. I referred to my book Storey’s guide to raising goats and read about labor and possible issues she could be having. We figured that the baby was breach, or stuck somehow. I cleaned my hands really good (since I had the smaller hands) and I reached inside her to try to see if I could help her. I found the hoof was forward, and the head was turned back. The baby was stuck in the birth canal. I worked gently to arrange the head in the canal properly and found the other hoof and placed it forward. The kid was born within 20 seconds after I arranged him the right way. I was able to save both momma and baby.

Visit from a Bobcat

We had a bobcat visit our goat pens. The result was a dead baby goat (kid). Later that day my boys saw the bobcat return for more. The boys ran to the house found their bb guns and went after the bobcat. They and the dog followed it, cornered it and killed it with their bb guns.

Annabelle and her calf

We had a cow (Annabelle) and when her calf was a few days old Bonnette got a bright idea. We had not been able to get close enough to the calf and she wanted to know what the sex was. We were all out in the pasture close to the round pen, and the baby walked fairly close to me, so the bright idea pooped in to her head. She grabbed the calf and headed for the round pen so she could inspect the calf. No sooner did she grab the calf, the calf starts whaling, the momma turns to see what’s going on, she tripped and fell, with baby still in her hands. Momma heads straight for them, She couldn’t crawl, or get up. Everything was in slow motion. Somehow, She ended up in the round pen as we see momma lift the calf with her horns to throw him out of the way. She barely escaped the wrath of a mother that day.

Brahms and the trailer

Fernando was trying to load a bull into the trailer one day all alone. The bull had been bottle fed and was gentle up until the last few months about the time he became a bull. We needed to take him to the auction. So as Fernando was trying to guide him into the trailer when all of the sudden the bull turns on him, he fell backwards to the ground. The only thing he could grab was the whip and he was close to the trailer. He used the whip to keep the bull back and the trailer to give him some protection. He decided to wait until he had reinforcements to load the bull onto the trailer.

Bottle fed babies

From time to time we are able to get a calf from another farmer that has been taken from or abandoned by its mother. In these cases, we bottle feed them. This is a very involved responsibility as we have to feed them on a regular basis. In the beginning we bottle feed them a few every few hours. Then, three times a day, and after a few weeks to twice a day until they are fully eating grass and grain.

Saving the piglets

One year my son Isaiah went out to check on the new piglets and found momma laying on them. He was not a very big boy at the time and he lifted the sow as much as he could and removed the piglets. He was so happy that he was able to save the piglets.

Inseminating sows

We know someone who has raised pigs for quite some time and was willing to help show us the ropes of reproduction. He had a boar that would do the job for us. We took our sow over to his farm and let the two of them get to know each other. Well he did not seem to be able to get the job done, so during one of his unsuccessful attempts at mounting this man yelled at Fernando to grab that hog’s penis. Fernando looked at him and was thinking’ NO WAY”. He continued to yell at Fernando “We are pig farmers, get that thing”. We decided to go about this process a different way. We quickly learned about mail order semen and how to artificially inseminate a more civil way.

FFA preparation

One year we had some missionaries from our church ask of they could help us with anything. We told them that on Saturday we were going to castrate, and prep the piglets for show. They were so excited and offered to help us. We explained the process and gave everyone their job for the project. I was assigned to the castration and one of the Elders was to hold the piglet for me. He quickly was overcome with pain in the process. He was unable to watch and hold the piglet at the same time. The faces they were making was so funny. My husband had to assume the job of holding the piglet so we could finish the project. All of the males were castrated, and all the piglets got their ears notched, tusks removed, tails docked, and their iron shot. The project was completed and all piglets went back to their momma. The Elders may have been changed in the process.

Roosters Attack

When Isaiah was 6 years old, he loved to go out and mess with the hens. He would chase them, try to catch them, hypnotize them and just be a boy exploring on the farm. He was learning and testing his boundaries. Well one day the Rooster had had enough of his shenanigans. He started to run at Isaiah, when he saw him coming he took of running. Isaiah ran back to the house as fast as his little legs could take him. He rounded the corner and slid in the dirt. The rooster took full advantage of the situation. He jumped on Isaiah and scratched his face from just below his eye down to his upper lip. We heard the commotion and ran outside to scare the rooster off. Well the rooster went into a cage so we could figure out what we were going to do. The next day Isaiah was at it again and went back to the hen house. Isaiah must have felt very big with the rooster in the cage and decided to kick the cage. When he kicked the cage, the door opened and there he went running again. We were outside that time and able to stop the attack. This time Isaiah got the talking to for his shenanigans.

Helping the neighbors

One of the neighbors called to inform us that he had 3 lambs in his field. He asked if there were any sheep in the area that might be getting into his field. I assured him that I was positive that he was the only one in the vicinity that had sheep and lambs. He told me that he castrated his male last year with a band and he was sure he got both testicles. I told him that either he lost one in the process or the ram had 3 testicles. So, we as a family went to help him round up the ram and the sheep. He brought them in with feed and the boys caught the ram. They turned him over quickly and found a very large testicle. We laughed and told him the “One Nut Wonder” was not lacking any testosterone. We grabbed the goat/lamb bander and quickly found it was too small. My son ran home to grab the bander for the cattle. The bander was even a little small for the job, but with a little finagling we were able to band the ram and help our neighbor stop any more unwanted births.