Hello from frozen Wisconsin...

Carla D

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Hi my name is Carla. My husband and I have a few animals that we raise on his sisters very little farm in west central Wisconsin. We started out with pigs. No particular breed. Basically to sell as feeders or to eat. We have about 30 of them ranging from 2 weeks old to 2 years old with many ages in between.

We relocated a bothersome cat that wandered our neighborhood out to the farm. She is one of the critters we have out there. She’s so content out there. She is a serial killer of rodents, rabbits, and other small animals. I’ve never seen a more efficient means to controlling the rat population either. We have two of her kittens from her first litter as well. They are also efficient rodent controllers as well. And big for their age and occupation. They are 9 months old, big, super friendly, and like to help us on the farm.

Last summer we bought two rabbits which we thought were does. I learned this last week that both are little bucks. I guess I’m not very good at sexing baby bunnies. Just after the new year we adopted my nieces two rabbits. Ones a female mini or holland lop, we think. She a full grown lop that only weighs 5-6 pounds. We just bred her last weekend to one of my bucks. The other rabbit is believed to be a neutered NewZealand male.

Last September I found an amazing deal on newborn goats. $5/head. I got 9. They are now strapping busy 50+ pound wethers. I’m so in love with them.

This spring we are planning on starting chickens. For meat, eggs, and brooding. We also plan on raising rabbits as well. They are so versatile. We are thinking for meat, pelts, babies to sell, and compost. Possibly even start some worms for sale as well. We love to fish but no longer have the time to do that now that we have so many farm animals and a fixer upper property/cabin as well. I have not selected breeds of rabbits or chickens yet. But, I’m narrowing the list down. I also plan on raising a few goats. Likely Nubian, for their milk, meat. May try making some products with their milk as well.

My personal goal is to change up our frozen pizza diet to more meat, milk, eggs, cheese that we raise on our own.

I am married to the man of my dreams, Jim. We’ve been married for 7.5 years. We also have a little girl together, Abigail. She’s 4 years old. Jim has two full grown adult children from his first marriage. They are 21 and 25 years old. His 25 year old son has blessed us with three beautiful grandchildren.

I am currently a disabled nurse. I’ve been disabled for 9 years now. I’m currently 46 years old. I’m a bit of a late starter of sorts. Married for the first time at the age of 39 and my first child born when I was 42 years old. I have had health issues since I was in middle school. That is when my depression started to become a challenge for me to control. I’m still struggling with it. I also began having severe headaches when I was in junior high. That has grown into chronic migraines, and fibromyalgia. I have one more health concern that I’ve been struggling with for the past 15 years. My teeth used to be perfect, straight, no cavities, no extra dental work needed. They have pretty much disintegrated to nothing and my bones have also become very brittle. I am possibly dealing with a sprain or a stress fracture in my wrist/hand. It’s too soon to tell which it could be. If it’s a stress fracture, I’ve likely broken it in the last 2-3 days even though I’m in a long wrist brace. My husband is @ 21 year retired veteran of the army national guards who returned from Iraq only two months before he and I started dating. We went to school together there was only three lockers between his and mine. My daughter was born three weeks early at a very light weight of 4 pounds 6 ounces. She and I stayed three weeks in the hospital after she was born. She had a few complications and we nearly lost her minutes after birth. She’s still a peanut. At 4 years of age she only weighs 28-29 pounds. But is super smart, healthy, and growing-at her own pace.

This is a picture of my family including my grown stepchildren and my STepsons new bride. This is just about 1.5 years old.

079C561D-0BA6-44CF-A853-A4546709AB9C.jpeg

That my life in a nutshell.
 

sumi

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Hi Carla, nice to meet you and welcome to the forum! That is a lovely pic of you and family and nice to put a face to the name already.

You have a wonderful collection of critters and I think you are going to fit right in here! :) We have a few goat keepers here, and pig keepers, some both... Most of us have a few chickens as well and @Chic Rustler is our rabbit guy at the moment. If you scroll through the forums you should see his thread out there. Please feel free to jump into any discussion at any time, even the journal threads :) That's where a lot of the action happens here.
 

milkmansdaughter

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Hi Carla! I grew up in Wisconsin, but am currently in Alabama. Lots of other connections as well. Welcome to the forum!:frow
 

Lazy Gardener

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HI Carla. Welcome. You are one busy lady. Sounds like you have a versatile farmstead planned. I wish you the best with it. Have you been to the Doc to get your wrist diagnosed?
 

Carla D

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HI Carla. Welcome. You are one busy lady. Sounds like you have a versatile farmstead planned. I wish you the best with it. Have you been to the Doc to get your wrist diagnosed?
I’ve been to two different doctors and given two different diagnoses. I do now have an order for an MRI of that hand/wrist. That should clear up the diagnosis. In my heart of hearts I don’t believe it’s a sprain. I’ve never had a stress fracture before so I don’t have anything to compare it to. I like versatility. There is always an alternative direction if something doesn’t go as planned.
 

NH Homesteader

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Welcome from frozen NH! Sounds like you've got plenty to keep you busy! I had both my girls 3-4 weeks early. My 1 year old is already 23 lbs, lol. Your little one is a peanut!
 

Carla D

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Welcome from frozen NH! Sounds like you've got plenty to keep you busy! I had both my girls 3-4 weeks early. My 1 year old is already 23 lbs, lol. Your little one is a peanut!
Wowza! My little girl only weighs 28.8# and she’s 4 ⅓ years old. But, actually your little girl weighs almost exactly what my 4 month old grandson weights.
 

Carla D

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HI Carla. Welcome. You are one busy lady. Sounds like you have a versatile farmstead planned. I wish you the best with it. Have you been to the Doc to get your wrist diagnosed?
My farm pets are kinda therapeutic for me. I have fibromyalgia and major depression. The higher my physical or mental pain gets the more time I spend spoiling and visiting my pets. Plus the more I’m hurting the harder I work. Most doctors don’t treat chronic pain with pain medication anymore. Their logic is if they can’t cure it, there’s no sense masking it on the long term. But, I am able to get some pain meds occasionally for 7-30 days. But it has to be really bad before I’ll ask. It’s a bit complicated though.
 

Carla D

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Welcome from frozen NH! Sounds like you've got plenty to keep you busy! I had both my girls 3-4 weeks early. My 1 year old is already 23 lbs, lol. Your little one is a peanut!
I don’t even know what the typical child should weigh. My only is super light, and my nieces and nephews seem to be well conditioned. Are you folks about to be hit hard with a long and really cold cold snap like we are? We are scheduled to have about 7-9 days of subzero temperatures starting this weekend.
 

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