Cool Weather

Today brought overcast and cool. Baby Reggie (Oregano), a little Nubian buck bottle feeder that belongs to Griffins' Ark, is starting to settle in.  The doe we were hoping would foster him is not interested, but the micro flock he is with is accepting him well.  So he's being bottle fed, and cuddling up with the other goats at night.  Yesterday, he only played with the chickens.  Today it was good to see him following my older, Nubian nurse maid doe around, and pretending to play with the other goats.  They are all stodgy "old" ladies, mostly pregnant, and find his shenanigans mildly amusing and mainly irritating.

So here he is -- the chickens made a nice heap of hay, and he curled up in the middle.  One of his half brothers is supposed to be coming here from the farm to keep him company.

Poor Fawn is still very pregnant -- wishing every day, but no more than I, that she would kid.  I hope your Thanksgiving was full of feasting, friends, and other good things!

Have a lovely day.

Moving Right Along

The days fly by, with new births and growth.  Since I last visited you here, we have new chicks and new baby goats.  This is Nightfall, the mama Nigerian Dwarf, and her two doelings, Eve and Dawn.  Eve is dark and Dawn is light!  They are miniature dairy goats, and the little girls have already gone to be bottle fed at their new home.

Nightfall is coping fairly well, and we expect her sister, Fawn, to kid any day now, and she looks like there will be babies enough to share!

You can see how broad she is in the beam!  Her mother had 4 the first kidding, 5 the second, and 6 the third.  She has genes for multiple births!

And little Nightfall milked a pint today, about half of what she had, which is super in a goat her size. This is her udder.  She had never been on the milkstand and wasn't thrilled about being milked, but it did make her feel less uncomfortable.

Both of the silkies that were broody on the porch have hatched their babies. One has two, the other has one.  I'm not quite sure whose eggs the one mama hatched -- one is tiny and black like the old English game, and looks nothing like a silky.  The other is yellow, with wings barred in black, and looks nothing like a silkie!  She is the hen I transferred from the broody pen together with her eggs when I sold her pen mates, so I have no idea what the breeding of the babies is -- The other hen has a beautiful silkie chick.  With the onset of cold weather, she, too, has moved from the porch along with her baby, back to the pen with her flockmates and the baby.  She is the hen I kept in my kitchen last winter, who hatched babies there in the spring!

Four new goats are being delivered from Night Sky Farms on Friday (Thanks, Jennifer!) Two of them are LaMancha grade does for my milking herd and breeding program.  The other two are Boer and Boer/Nubians bred to a Nubian for Pam's farm, and the babies will probably go for a breeding program Chris (Griffin's Ark) is looking into.  Because they have been de-horned, and are pregnant, I'll keep them here with my hornless herd for now.  Later they will likely join the herd in Union Hall.

Weather has been good, friend Neil has been busy with shrub trimming and leaf blowing so my yard looks fantastic.  There's a new shed being built down on Pam's farm to house the tractor and haying equipment.  Another friend stopped by today and offered me truly awesome hay at $2 a bale -- a blessing from God!  Because my pastures are small, I feed a LOT of hay, and prefer to mix different types for my girls.  We have several different grades of hay from Pam's farm, and I am happy to be the beneficiary of that, too -- but I like having some "gourmet" hay available for my girls as well!

Friend Stephanie brought a wealth of half gallon canning jars and an old metal washtub that I am planning to paint with enamel paint and put to use.  I think it will be a water container for the goats, since they jumped on the (admittedly sun burned) plastic tub and broke it.  Five gallon buckets need to be refilled too often!

Last Sunday we held our Harvest feast at Pam's.  Good friends and family came, everyone ate until they were very full, and we enjoyed one another's company in between visiting with the horses, goats, and chickens outdoors.  And never being in favor of wasted trips, Chris and Tina brought the feed order Sunday, too.  We're so glad you joined us!  There was Waldorf salad, Black Eyed Pea salad, Green bean and mushroom casserole, birthday cake (Happy birthday Pam, Stephanie, Chris, Claire!).  Sweet potato pie, pumpkin pie, and Tina's homemade cheesecake headed up the dessert list.  Oh, and there was ham and turkey in abundance and some roasted sweet potatoes, along with a wild rice and a brussel sprout casserole dish.  It gave us a chance to celebrate the blessings of the year and pray for the blessings for next year!  It should be a fruitful one.

Ducky Duck has suborned the turkeys -- he likes them, they like him -- but he is teaching them to leave the pasture and stand around the truck bumper to look at their reflections.  That is Ducky's only duck friend. The rest of the day he spends trying to tempt them to fly up onto the farm building roofs with him.  I think he was just trying to be nice, but it is not good to have turkeys in the driveway.  So I gave them a mirror of their own: 

Of course, if you peck the mirror hard enough, you can get it to flip around!  It is more important to me to have it available from the pasture side, as they free range through the day and I prefer them to be in the pasture instead of in front of the truck bumper.  The longer they stay in the pasture, the longer they get to stay out free ranging.  Once they make the trip to the yard, it's time for them to go back to their pen.  They have a small outside run and a large inside coop.  Thanks for the beautiful birds, Stephanie!  Tommy and Chelle (Shelley) are not destined for anyone's holiday table.  I am looking forward to their spring eggs for hatching.

Have a lovely day, and come visit!

Tricky Turkeys

It has been a busy week.  Our friends, the Griffins, had their first kidding today, which means the two of their girls I'm hosting shouldn't be far behind.  But then, I've been expecting them to kid any day for at least 8 weeks!  Babies are expected NOW, from the Nigerian Dwarf does, end of November/first of December for the Toggenburg doe, and end of January for the Nubian, the Alpine, and one of the LaMancha/Saanen does.  The rest will all be due middle to end of March.

The turkeys were in full dress regalia today.  This is Tommy, a Red Bourbon.  He and Timmy are quite confused by the warm, sunny weather and are fighting to the point of bloodying each other.  So I've made arrangements to rehome Timmy and the older Royal Palm/Naragansett cross hen, Patience, to a pet home.  They are waiting for their new owner to come and get them.

 

 This is Timmy, the smaller of the two gobblers.  He usually ends up on the short end when it comes to turkey wrestling matches.  They fluff up and show, they drum, they circle, and then they grab each other and pinch and bite.  If I stand in betwen them and tell them to behave, they just reach around me and snap at each other.  Both of them are this spring's babies, as is the other hen I have. 

A few nights ago, dusk was gathering and suddenly I heard splashing in the creek.  It sounded like whales breaching, but I'm too far from the coast for that!  And my creek is deep in spots, but mostly too shallow for whales.  So I eased down across the pasture to see what was going on.  There, in the deep pool by the big rock, was Ducky Duck, my lone Muscovy drake.  (He likes to hang out with the turkeys, too!)  He was splashing and pumping wings and kicking in the pool. Then, he'd make a sudden dive under the water.  Apparently, he was stirring up minnows for his late night snack!  He'd pop back to the surface, then cruise over to the sandbar and swallow his treat.  Then he'd start all over again.  It's hard to believe that one duck could make such a big ballyhoo!

Bev, my ballerina doe, (jumping and dancing all the time) thinks that fences are only mere suggestions.  She only jumps back and forth between the two pastures, but yesterday she missed her footing and caught one hoof in the fence.  Neil had to help her get loose.  She is being more cautious today, choosing an alternate route for her "secret passage."

I trimmed the feet on two of my pregnant LaMancha cross does today.  They are both pregnant, and need to have sound feet to carry their added load.  Gracie, who is due the end of January, has decided to dry up already.  She would be due to dry off the end of November, anyway, so she is only a couple weeks early.  Keelee, on the other hand, the Togg that's due in two or three weeks, is STILL producing milk from her last kidding.  I am trying to convince her to quit, but she's not sure about that.  All of the girls are pregnant, I think, so they are all always hungry.  They are going through a bale of hay a day, not wasting it, but eating it.  And of course they get a ration of sweet feed, as well.

I hope your day is as entertaining as mine have been this week!

Farm Circus

There are always plenty of things to do on the farm(s).  Yesterday we were blessed to have great help to get up the hay from second cutting -- the first time we've used our own tractor and equipment to cut our hay.  Some of the bales weighed nearly 100 pounds early in the day, and took gargantuan effort on the part of the men "liftin' and totin'" them to get them into the wagon and from there into the hay stacks.  We have two more small fields to cut and bale.  We put up around 200 bales on Wednesday.  It is nice hay, with plenty of lespedeza in it.  My part of the job was to fill in wherever help was needed, and to fix a warm supper for the hungry "hands".  That, and picking up the trailer from a neighboring farmer kind enough to share, was enough to tire me out completely.

While I was at the farm I got to visit with Andy and Rudy, which is always a pleasure.  Rudy is getting spoiled, though.  He thoroughly checked ALL my pockets looking for treats!  Poor baby -- no treats from mama yesterday.  I came home with muddy mouth prints on the top pocket of my overalls.  The other day, friend Neil was working on the tractor in the pasture and Rudy came by to "help."  He started by stealing Neil's hat off his head when he wasn't looking.  That situation resolved, he grabbed one of the plastic jugs Neil was using, and made off with that, instead.  A personal escort out of the pasture lasted only long enough for Neil to get back to the tractor.  Boys will be boys!  Rudy is a 15 year old Morgan cross, 14.5 hands.  His friend Andy is a 16 hand Appaloosa.  They loved the new hay.

Hungry hands dinner was simple.  We call it goulash.  Sauteed onions and ground beef mixed with diced canned tomatoes and combined with cooked pasta.  They worked hard enough and it was cold enough that everyone enjoyed eating when they were done.  No fancy spices for this crew, they like "just plain food."  Another neighbor brought home made corn bread.


The turkeys took a wild turn last night, (berating mama for not feeding them before dark) and three of them spent the night on top of the garage, one huddled next to the dusk to dawn light.  This morning they had come down and were wandering by the creek, and with some coaxing and a lot of unhelpful help from the goats, I managed to encourage them to go back in the pasture.  I did feed them early enough tonight that they were satsified to go into their coop.  And this morning the three silkies in the back wall coop had let themselves out, so it took some feed and some stealthy stalking to get them penned again.   Baby Polish chicken has moved out of the baby brooder and in with the larger birds, the ones that aren't quite large enough to be mainstreamed yet.  He likes the company and the warmth.  I am still giving them a light at night as it's getting down into the 40's.  We may even have a hard freeze over the weekend.  Tomorrow will be a day to stuff hay in all the coops for warmth and comfort, and to take the Duke of Renfro to his off season home in Chatham.  Keelee, the Toggenburg doe due the end of the month, may be ready to come home tomorrow too.  She has been sharing milk with friends, but finally seems to be drying up, which is a good thing with her kidding imminent.

Hope you enjoyed some sunshine today!

Too Many Toms!

Pretty boys, they are pretty.  But their attitudes today were not pretty, not even gracious.  The tom turkeys were grabbing each other's snoods (the dangly thing in front of their beak/eyes) and pinching, and wrestling each other with their necks, and biting and flogging.  Of course, I stepped in between them and counselled them to be nice and to play fair, and just like kids they were reaching back and forth around me pinching each other.  I finally separated them into different pens -- BIG pens  -- and they would run to the fence as fast as they could and pick at each other through it!  I hate to say it, but one of them might have to be someone's Thanksgiving dinner if they don't stop. 

It was a fine day otherwise, cold and fresh with a fall snap to the air.  The leaves crunch crisply underfoot.  Tomorrow looks like baling day for the hay, so I will go to fix a harvest meal for the workers.  They will be ready for something warm to eat by the time they are through.  Pasta with meat and tomatoes and buttered bread.  We call it goulash, here.

In order to understand how funny it was, I have to explain that the upper and lower pastures are divided by a shed that once was a chicken coop.  It has a people door in the upper pasture side, and a pop door (little square door for chickens) on the lower pasture side.  Sometimes, FinnAgain, my Boer wether who was born last spring, (Lower right in the photo) slides through the pop door.  When he was younger, it was easy.  But now that he's older, it's quite a feat.  Normally I keep him in the upper pasture while the buck is here, as the buck tends to pick on him, and if the buck does, several of the large does do, too.  But today he decided to slide through the pop door into the lower pasture.  I had barely noticed that he was down there when there was a commotion at the chicken shed.  When I went to look, the buck had his head under Finney, and was trying to push him back through the pop door!  Finn got the message, I guess, because he did go back through.  It was funny because instead of banging on Finn, the Duke was actually lifting him with his head toward the hole he had popped out of.  Anyway, that was my chuckle for the day.  Each of the very pregnant Nigerian Dwarf girls has made one trip through the pop door hole, and that was enough to satisfy their curiosity.  I was not there to see them do that, but I imagine it would have been quite a remarkable sight.

So... Does anyone need a pet Red Bourbon tom turkey?  Timmy is looking for a home, before he gets sent off to freezer camp.

Hope your day was fine.

November!

Cool crisp fall days, the leaves are now mid-color change and quickly going brown and raining down from the trees.  Several days of light frosts have closed the summer chapter on most local gardens.  Today I will go to Pam's farm and start the pre-cooking for the hay crew.  Wednesday or Thursday should be baling day.  This is our first adventure in baling with our own equipment.  It's exciting!  More than half the hay for this cutting is laid down and drying already.  Saturday saw the start of muzzle loader hunting season, so you hear the occasional "pop" of long rifle fire in the distance.  It's time to gather winter meat.

Yesterday brought a visit from friend Stephanie, complete with a new turkey hen to join the Red Bourbon pen, a crippled  roo (born with a deformity) that we've been passing around among us for several months, and a duo of young Silkie hens to join Mulberry's crew.  Among the treasures she brought were an old washtub that needs to have its rust banished, an armload of fresh eggplant from her garden, and a flock of half gallon jars. 

I need to find my recipes for making tofu to share with a friend.  If you like it, and have never made it yourself, you should try it.  It's a little labor intensive, but the delicate, mild flavor and texture make it exceptional.  It's a little like making cheese.

The new turkey hen seemed to settle in fairly quickly once Patience, the Naragansett cross, gave up picking at her.  It was an adventure to convince the two toms that they really COULD get on the roost, even though there was someone else up there and it looked "different!" Standing in the turkey barn with a flashlight at dusk, patiently talking them through the half flying leaps up on to their 4 foot high roost, I was thinking how comical it was that 15 lb. turkeys were so insecure.  They should know by now that no one is gong to eat them!

The crippled roo went into a cage in the brooder house where the young birds live, so that he could have company.  The last hot light brooder bird went in with him so they could keep each other warm.

It will soon be time to gather up the milking equipment and go start the goats' day.  You have a great one, too!