Enjoy the tid-bits of our everyday life: dairy goats, sheep, poultry, beekeeping, gardening, cheese making, spinning and knitting, quilting, and soap making. We're not experts, but we are willing to give almost anything a try! We're learning something new everyday--drop by once in a while and see what we've learned today!
So much happened this week! I'll have to save some of it for next week's post!
The best thing that happened is a new baby goat was born. That's always fun! Sometimes it's a lot of work, too.
She was born around 11:00 pm on Wednesday May 13th. I was out in the barn making sure she was warm and happy until about 1 AM. That's a long day for me.
She's so cute!
We haven't named her yet. I have a wonderful neighbor that comes and helps me every morning with chores in the barn. She's away for a few days. When she gets back, she'll get to name the new kid.
Have you ever wondered what a kid looks like right after they are born?
They are kind of yucky looking.
Here's the picture right after she was born. Yuck!
That's ok. I clean most of the goop off with a towel. Then Lilly cleaned her off the rest of the way.
I love listening to the mama goat and baby goat talk to each other. I think its so cute!
Once she is dried off, I put a sweater on her and put her under a heat lamp.
She'll stay warm all night. Our weather is warming up so she won't wear the sweater very long. She'll be fine in a few days.
She has a crooked front hoof. I'll watch it for a few days. If it doesn't straighten out, I'll put a splint on it so that it grows correctly and gets strong enough for her to walk on.
Thursday morning she was up and moving around!
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Echo and Sadie needed their hooves trimmed this week.
Such a cute face! I love seeing her every morning!
First we have to move Echo into the chute on the side of the truck. It might look scary to you, but it's the safest way to trim her hooves. It's safe for the man trimming, and it's safe for Echo because she can't move.
She really isn't sure what is going to happen, even though we do this every year.
Her body is in the chute, and her head gets locked in but it doesn't hurt. It's not that tight.
Do you see the boy in the picture? He's helping his dad trim Echo's hooves. He's in 2nd grade, too. He went right out into the pasture, grabbed Echo's halter, and led her to the truck. He's strong and he's not afraid of working with big animals. I'm always glad when he comes with his dad because he is a good boy and does what his father asks him. That keeps him safe, and it helps him to learn how to do this job.
First he cleans the dirt out of her hooves. Her legs are all tied down so she can't kick and hurt herself, or the person cleaning and trimming.
He uses a special sander to trim her hooves. You trim your nails when they get too long. I trim the goat hooves every six weeks. Cows need their hooves trimmed once or twice a year.
When their hooves are trimmed it's much easier for them to walk. If their hooves get too long it can cause trouble with their legs. Horses and cows are so big that if their feet aren't trimmed they can be in pain.
I think it's interesting to watch how fast he is. I'm really lucky that I have so many people that help me with my animals. All the people I've come to know are wonderful. They are helpful and they are also kind. They are all willing to teach me more about my animals, too.
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Burger is growing and doing well.
He's finally big enough for a halter! He wasn't sure what to think about a halter on his face for the first day, but now he's used to it and it doesn't bother him.
I like to keep a halter on the cows so I can move them easily from one spot to another.
These two women are so nice! They work with a group of special needs people in our school district.
They came last fall with a bunch of their students. The students are all at home because of the virus so the teachers came and had a virtual field trip!
They taped their phone to the pole and linked up using zoom. You might be using google hangout or something similar for your classroom.
They walked around and showed their students all the animals on the farm! Teachers are so smart and have figured out some great ways to teach even when they can't be with their students.
You figured out ways to write me notes, too! Thank you so much for your notes! You can ask questions by putting them in the comments below, or you can send your teacher a message with your questions.
I hope you make it a wonderful week! I know you can do it!
I was out in the North Pasture, that's the pasture area where SideKick and Sadie live. There is a lot of green grass right now! We haven't had to water much because the weather has been cool. Grass likes cool weather with a little bit of rain.
I love looking at the animals when they are grazing. It's such a peaceful sight each morning.
Some days aren't as peaceful as others. We were so sad that our new lamb died!
That was a sad day. She came to our farm because there was hurt by the other lambs and sheep on her other farm. My friend thought she would do better here. She did for a while, but she probably had been injured too many times on the other farm.
I had another sad morning when I discovered that a raccoon had gotten into the coop. The chickens are really good about going to bed inside the big coop that we have. I lock them in every night.
But one night a chicken was hiding outside the coop. I didn't see her or I would have picked her up and put her to bed with the other chickens. It was a bit of a mess, and no I didn't take a photo.
We don't have raccoons or foxes or mink very often. One must have come through checking that night. I was sad to loose a hen!
Chicken Curtains
Chickens are funny animals! I love watching them run across the pasture. I love watching them peck at the grain on the ground, or scratching for bugs in the dirt.
We have a very nice set of nesting boxes that my son-in-law built. I couldn't figure out why the chickens wouldn't lay in them. They like to hide their eggs in other places.
I even put fake eggs in the nesting boxes to see if that would encourage them to lay eggs inside.
A few years ago I read an article that mentioned curtains on nesting boxes. I have a bolt of muslin fabric in my sewing room. I washed a few yards and finished the edges.
The curtains aren't very pretty, but they seem to give the chickens more privacy. I'm finding more eggs in the nesting boxes.
This black hen really likes laying eggs inside. She really likes her little cozy spot!
Getting Grain
Every month or so we need grain from Leland Mills. Sometimes I like to get grain in feed bags because I use feedbags for other things. I like heading down to Leland Mills because it's less expensive to get grain and feed there, and I would rather not throw away bags I don't need.
Sometimes its fun to see a slow motion video, don't you think?
They load grain into big trucks. The trucks have a big pipe called a 'boom' that can be moved over the barrels. We don't have to take the barrels out of the back of the truck.
The barrels fill up really fast!
When we get home with the full barrels we use the tractor to unload them. Then we push the barrels into the feed room. Guess which barrels are the heaviest? Do you think the barrels with grain for the cows and goats is heavier than the barrels with chicken feed?
The chicken feed barrel is the heaviest! I can move the grain barrels easily, but I have to push really hard to slide the chicken feed barrel into the feed room! Usually Tim comes out to help!
Buster
This is Buster! He lives next door. He visits me through the pasture fence every morning.
Do you have a friend that lives next door?
The fun thing about Buster is that he is Mishka's brother. They were from the same liter of puppies. Mishka still goes over to play with Buster almost every day.
I keep treats in my pocket when I'm out in the barnyard. It helps Mishka pay closer attention to where I am and what I'm doing so she doesn't get into mischief. Buster likes the treats, too. I give him a few when he comes to say hi every morning.
I'll give you some updates on the garden and Burger next week!
It's Mother's Day this weekend and that is often a good time to get a few more plants into the garden.
Have you planted your garden yet? What have you planted? What is your favorite garden plant? Quin likes watermelon. Xander likes the pumpkins.
I miss your questions! If you have questions you can write them in the comments. I would love to answer them!
Last week I told you we were headed north to get a new bull calf. Everything worked out!
We brought up a cage in the back of the truck, but it was too big for him. We decided it would be better to bring him home in the back seat instead. He is only 2 weeks old when we brought him home. He was born on 10 April 2020.
We gave him some Calf Calm before we left. It's a special type of supplement that helps calves calm down so people can work with them more easily.
We lined the back with a big tarp. Calves don't wear diapers, and they don't know how to let people know they need to go to the bathroom. Better to be prepared and catch whatever mess they happen to drop.
He stood almost the whole way home! I thought it was funny that a few times he wanted to look out the window like a puppy.
By the end of the trip he was sooooo tired that he finally lay down.
The Calf Calm definitely worked, but it took a little more than an hour before he decided to lay down.
Echo, our milk cow, adopts every calf we bring home. She had to check him out, like every good mama does. She loves him, just like she loves all the babies.
It took Echo 2 days to teach him how to eat. He still takes a bottle, but we can let Echo feed him during the day so that takes less time for me.
We decided to name him Burger King, and call him Burger for short. He follows me around when I'm in the barnyard. When I'm not out there, he's good about following Echo. She looks out for him and makes sure he stays where she can keep an eye on him. He's learned to go into the stall when the weather is bad. He's still young so staying out of the hot sun, or out of the rain, is a good plan!
He is 3 weeks old today! Happy Birthday, Burger!
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Guess what is hiding in the dog house that we keep in the stall for the baby goats.
It's a broody hen!
She decided that she wants to hatch out some chicks this spring.
I tricked her.
I took away the chicken eggs......
and put turkey eggs underneath her!
They should hatch in 21 days. I'll keep you posted!
I will probably have another broody hen this spring. It seems like we always have two or three each spring that decide they want to hatch eggs. I'll let the next one hatch out a few eggs.
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My seeds are growing! Not all of them sprouted. It might have been too cold in the mud room. The ones that are growing are doing well. I'll probably plant some of them in the garden and cover them with milk jugs to keep them warm at night.
We had a lot of old buckets from the food storage we got a few weeks ago. Bryon cut the bottom off the buckets, and I tied the lid to the bucket.
Six buckets fit well in a raised bed. I planted tomatoes inside.
The tomatoes are doing really well! I put the lids on the buckets when I go out to do the evening chores. I take the lid off when I go out to do the morning chores.
I also spent some time filling more of the raised beds.
Did you plant your garden yet? The old-timers in our area told us to never plant summer crops before the snow is off the Oquirrh Mountains. Often that is right around Mother's Day.
We can plant a little earlier if we're willing to make sure the plants are protected if the weather gets cold at night.
The weather has been wonderful for working outside! I'm excited to have raised beds this year, they will be so much easier to take care of!
We went to Leland Mills to get grain yesterday. I'll have some videos of the big trucks filling our barrels. And I'll give you some updates on Burger and the rest of the animals.
I hope you have a great week and spend some fun time outdoors getting some sunshine!
