I'm beat, but the garden is in. A friend and her husband came over today and helped us get it all planted. Corn, peas, carrots, beans, tomatoes, radishes, two kinds of lettuce, watermellon, cantelope, broccoli, califlower and potatoes...not a huge amount of any of them, but a good variety.
I...
Thanks, Punkin. I do take comfort in that. It WAS the right decision, but hard nonetheless. I also take comfort in the fact that I can go visit her. The new owner only lives about an hour and half away.
Ever have to make one of those decisions that just about tears your guts out, even though you know it's the right choice? I sold my favorite Nubian doe today. She went to a good home where she won't have to compete with a bunch of Boers with horns, where she'll be pampered the way I would like...
Kids # 24 and 25 were born this morning. I've got 7 does left to go whom I know for sure are bred and 4 more who might be but aren't showing any signs of udder development yet.
It's kinda frustrating right now because I have to rely so much on DH and he's not in a cooperative mood. I still...
Had my surgery at 7:30 Thurs. evening and was home by 8:00 pm Friday. Came home to utter chaos in the barn. There were does and kids everywhere in the nursery and I couldn't figure out who belonged to whom. A kid had slipped under the stall gate out into the open nursery area of the barn...
I think Colorado is beautiful, but I kinda like my little corner of the world, too. :) Very ingenious, trading labor for board. Boarding horses can be so expensive!
I think a person can be in Canada for up to 6 months on a visitor's visa, but I'm pretty certain Americans don't need visas to...
Unfortunately, we don't have any family nearby. They're all in other provinces. I have a couple of friends who can help out a little bit, but they're all busy with their own farms and families. One very kind friend has offered to come over next week and help me get the garden in. We can't do...
I just can't seem to catch a break here. Tomorrow, after being in class all day, I have to report to the hospital where they're going to open up my incision, tie off whatever stupid blankety-blank blood vessels are leaking, put in a new drain and staple me up again. It means I'll be right back...
Free, didn't you say you live in a climate with a cold winter? That's reason enough to not run the buck with the does at all times. You're bound to get kids born when it's very cold and miserable. In warmer climates, it's not a problem to run the boy with the girls all the time, but it would...
Babies all over the barn! Went out yesterday morning and found a set of triplets. Two were close to momma, but one was way off in the corner of the barn. I almost didn't see her. There's one good sized boy, and two tiny ones, a boy and girl. They're doing well, and the dam raised triplets...
Two more new babies this morning, a pair of purebred Boer girls!! :woot
I have only one picture of them so far, and to me it's quite cute, but it does show some of the inevitable "cleaning" the dam goes through after kidding (translation, goop hanging out of her) and I'm not sure if I should...
No new babies so far today, but then, the weather was perfect so of course they're not going to kid. They'll wait till the weather takes a dive again and it's cold, damp and miserable. The little fellow born yesterday is still sorting out his "landing gear" but he's able to sort of struggle to...
Alfalfa vs. grass is the other eternal question! :)
Remember, I'm raising mostly meat goats so as long as they have enough milk for the kids, I'm happy. I'm not feeding for maximum milk production. I prefer a grass alfalfa mix, leaning more toward grass. I feed round bales in metal feeders...
"How much feed do I need?" That seems to be the eternal question for any livestock owner and with all the variables of weather, waste, etc. it can leave you pulling your hair out. In an effort to get at least a bit of a handle on it, I spoke to our provincial Agriculture Knowledge Center...
Got 8 kids on the ground now, including Mary, the former house-goat, 9 if you count Masai, the little Nubian buck kid I bought and am bottle raising. The little buck I wrote about last time is doing well, living with his family but getting the grub from us.
Yesterday, a couple of hours before...
Well, actually, I'm kidding...my goats are kidding...whatever. :) Kidding season is officially underway here. A set of twins and a single so far. The twins' dam only had a single last year so she didn't know what to do with the second one. Found him flat out with the sack still on his head...