Welcome, First Graders!

Hello! I hope you are enjoying your new school year.

There is lots to learn this year, for you and for me!

I love to learn new things even when it's hard work. We learn often learn new things on the farm and when we are working at our other jobs.

Today is your first visit if you are in First Grade. Some of you may be back from last year, too! Welcome!

You are always welcome to ask questions by writing me notes, or by leaving a question in the comment section after the post. I do my best to answer them.

The name of our farm is Welcome Home Farm because we love to welcome new animals and new visitors. We hope everyone who visits is happy while they are here.

The first thing I do when I go out to the barn in the morning to start my chores is to let out the chickens.


How many chickens did you count?



I say hi to Echo, our milk cow.



Next I give the goats some vitamins. Clover loves hers! When Clover is happy her tongue sticks out! Clover is the brown goat.

I get the milker hooked up and I start milking Echo. I'll show you more about that another day.

Do you see the chicken? She comes in every morning to clean up the bits of grain that Echo drops while she's eating her breakfast.

Then I milk the goats.

This is what Annie looks like before I milk her.

This is what Annie looks like after I milk her.
She gives about 1 gallon of milk each morning.

I give the cat a little drink of goat milk.
She waits patiently under the milk stand for her treat every morning!

These are two baby goats. They have grown so much this summer! They were born in the spring.
Serenity is the goat on the left. River is the goat on the right.
They stay with Echo now so they don't drink milk from their mothers anymore.

I hope you enjoyed your first visit today. I'll introduce you to more animals next week.

Have a week full of learning and adventure!

A New Calf!

Welcome back!

We are so excited to show you our new calf!

This is Stumpy!

He was born Friday, March 22 2016

How old is he today?
Did he come sooner than we expected?
How many days early did he come?

This is how a calf drinks milk from his mother.
Echo is a wonderful mother!

Quin came to see Stumpy on the day he was born.
Quin is 3 years old.

My friend's cow had a calf the next day.
She watched it be born.
This is what a calf looks like right after she's born.

When they are born their hooves are covered with a soft covering called eponychium.

It covers with the hoofs to protect the mother while the calf is being born.
It dries quickly so their hooves get hard and they can stand on them.

This is what the calf looks like all dried off, but only a few hours old.

One of the first things we do after a calf is dried off is to measure them and weigh them. Nurses do the measured you when you were born, too!

We measure a calf's cannon bone.
That's the bone that goes from their ankle to their knee.
When Stumpy was born his was 6.5" long.
On Thursday (in the picture) his cannon bone was 7.5" long.
He grew 1" in a week!

We also weighed him the day he was born. He was 60.3 pounds. Most first graders weighs about 50 pounds. Stumpy weighed more than most of you the day he was born!

We also measure the height of his pin bone. He was 27.5" tall at his pin bone. Most 6 year olds are 42" tall, so you are taller than Stumpy.

A cow's pin bone is the top part of the hip on her back leg.

Echo measures 48" at her pin bone.
Would your head be taller than Echo's pin bone measurement?

I'll have more measurements and counting for you next week!

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Here are the egg counts for this week:

• On Friday I collected 5 brown eggs, 2 green eggs, and 1 duck egg.
• On Saturday I collected 6 brown eggs, 2 green eggs, and 0 duck eggs.
• On Sunday I collected 14 brown eggs, 8 green eggs, and 1 duck egg.
• On Monday I collected 7 brown eggs, 7 green eggs, and 1 duck egg.
• On Tuesday I collected 17 brown eggs, 11 green eggs, 0 duck eggs, and 1 little egg.
• On Wednesday I collected 8 brown eggs, 3 green eggs, 0 duck eggs, and 1 little egg.
• On Thursday I collected 10 brown eggs, 5 green eggs, 0 duck eggs, and 2 little eggs.

We have two small, gray chickens. They lay small eggs. They started laying this week! 

Do you remember this friendly chicken who comes to say hi to me each morning?
She lays little eggs!

Next week I'll post more pictures about how we measure cows and goats. I'll also post more pictures of Stumpy and Echo. We're getting milk from Echo so in the next few weeks I'll show you how we milk her.

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Post Holes for the Greenhouse

Welcome back!

One of the things we're building is a greenhouse. A greenhouse is a house where green things grow. We want to grow plants in our greenhouse. A greenhouse will let plants grow earlier in the spring before the snow melts, and later into the fall and winter after the leaves have fallen off the trees.

Someone in your class noticed there was a corkscrew on the back of the tractor. The real name for that piece of equipment is a post hole digger. It's very heavy! We need it on the back of the tractor when we are moving hay to balance the tractor.

We also use it to dig holes in the ground.

Do you see how much it bounces around?
That's because there are so many rocks in the ground!

Someone has to dig the rest of the rocks out of the hole before we put the mold in.
Matt is strong, so he helps.

The hole has to be deep enough for the mold.

Next we need to fill the mold with cement.

The post goes in next.
There is a hole in the top of the post because the hoop for the greenhouse will fit inside it.
The hoop will help hold up the greenhouse roof.

It's very important that the post is straight, and in the right place.
We use different tools to measure. We used a tape measure to measure where to put the hole, the mold, and the post.

We use this tool, called a level, to make sure that the post is straight.
Do you see the bubbles in the top two tubes on the level?
The bubbles inside the tubes need to be between the two black lines.
It's a little tricky to get the post straight up and down.

It's exciting to see the greenhouse get started!

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Yes, we have a cat.
This is the barn cat, Midnight.

This morning she decided to climb on my back while I was hooking up the hose to the faucet.
She works hard keeping the mice out of the barn.

We also have two indoor cats.
This is Stinky.
She's lazy.
She likes to take naps.

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We've had some problems with the chickens and turkeys roosting in the barn.

The problem is they don't know how to use a bathroom. They leave their droppings all over the food barrels, and the hay in the stalls! Ewwww, YUCK!

Bryon and Matt installed bird spikes so the chickens and turkeys
will find someplace else to sleep at night!

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Animal Teeth!

Welcome back!

Your teacher told me that February is Dental Health month in First Grade.

You learned a lot about teeth this month. Strong teeth are very, very important for people and animals. Keeping them clean is an important part of keeping them healthy. Eating properly is also an important part of keeping teeth healthy and strong.

Matt used to work at Timpanogos Animal Hospital in Pleasant Grove. He used to help the techs. One of the things he got to help with was cleaning dog's teeth.

Did you know that it's important to clean your dog's teeth? Most people don't like to brush their dog's teeth because dogs hate it! We use a special treat that cleans the dog's teeth called Dentastix.

Dentists like to clean people's teeth twice a year. Dogs should get their teeth cleaned once a year.

This dog has dirty teeth. Some of his teeth are infected and broken. Dogs don't take good care of their teeth. Do you see all the yellow stuff near the dog's gums? He also has a broken tooth on his top jaw near the red plastic tie.

Are you wondering what the tube is? It goes down his throat towards his lungs and carries a special gas that keeps the dog asleep. Dogs don't like getting their teeth cleaned. People can sit in a chair and have a hygienist clean their teeth, but a dog won't do that.

Here is the other side of his mouth. Can you see the teeth that are flat towards the back of his mouth? They shouldn't be flat. Sometimes dogs chew on rocks. If one tooth breaks other teeth wear down. All the brown and yellow need to be polished off his teeth.

All clean! Can you see the spot on the right side of the photo that is missing teeth? How many teeth are missing? Check the photo right before this one.
If you look closely you can see stitches where the teeth used to be.
Those teeth were infected and needed to come out.

All clean on this side, too!

The next thing that happens is that the tube comes out of his mouth and then the put the dog someplace comfortable while he wakes up.

Here are Mile's teeth.
He's such a good dog to let us hold his mouth open so you can see his teeth!

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Misty has all her adult teeth.
Misty's teeth look different from Miles teeth.
What is different?

Miles's teeth are pointy because dogs eat meat and dog kibbles. He needs sharp teeth to chew.
Miles has teeth on the top and bottom of his mouth so he can chew his food properly.

Misty has flat teeth because she eats grain, grass, and hay. Sharp teeth wouldn't chew hay very well.
Goats, sheep, llamas, and cows only have teeth on the bottom of their mouth in the front. They have top and bottom teeth in the back of their mouth. Bottom teeth help them graze and eat hay easily. They don't chew it right away, they just bite it and swallow it. They chew it later. I'll post about how they 'chew their cud' another time.

This is Penny. We gave her to some friends so you won't see many pictures of her.
She is 1 year old in this photo. She has her "1 year old teeth" in the center.
Every year she will loose two teeth. The first two new teeth are the center teeth.
Next she will loose the two teeth on either side.
She will loose two teeth each year until she has all adult teeth in the front of her mouth.
We can tell how old a goat is until they are 4 years old by how many adult teeth they have.

Children have 'baby teeth' that fall out. Adult teeth take the place of baby teeth. You've probably already lost at least one tooth!

Baby goats have 'milk teeth' that fall out. Adult teeth take the place of baby teeth. 

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Guess what? Last week I noticed that the tan turkey was getting bigger, and bigger!
One day when I went out to the barn, this is what I saw!
The tan turkey is a Tom turkey! He's a boy!
What is different between the brown turkey and the two black and white turkeys?

Do you see the new pavers under the gate?
That's because Miles has been naughty!
He dug a big hole under the gate so he could take himself on a walk.
We live near a highway and it's dangerous for dogs to wander around by themselves.
Matt put pavers under the gate so he can't dig under the gate anymore!

What do your parents do to keep you safe?

Have a great week!

Spring is Coming!

Welcome back!

I can tell that spring is on the way. The weather is getting warmer, the snow is melting, and the goats and sheep are playing!

The turkey hens are always excited to see me come out to the barn.
They follow me from the back yard to the barn door.
They want their breakfast!

Yum! They love breakfast!
Animals like treats, but they grow bigger and are healthier if they have food that's good for them.

*     *     *     *     *     *

I can also tell that spring is coming because the chickens and the duck are starting to lay eggs again.

There are four eggs in this nesting box!
I collect between 8-10 eggs every day.
It's a good thing we love eggs because we have so many!

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Stew and Zeek are playing now that the weather is warmer.
Do you play like this?

I hope not! You would probably have a big headache.
Goats and sheep have very, very hard heads so when they bang their heads together it doesn't hurt.

It's not quite time for caterpillars, cocoons, and butterflies outside yet, but Quin and his mom decided it would be a fun project at home.
This butterfly just hatched on Thursday, 18 February 2016.
How old is it?

We haven't had new baby goats, our calf isn't born yet, either. The calf should be born on March 25th. How many days away is that?

The goats will have their kids around April 5th. How many days between the day the calf will be born and the day the goat kids should be born?

*     *     *     *     *     *

Goats at other farms have already started having their kids. Our friend borrowed our trailer so she could pick up her new mama goat and doeling. A doeling is a baby girl goat.

We have an old trailer that our friend borrowed.

It's a very old trailer and the floor needed to be fixed before she used it for her goats.
Look above the tape measure and you'll see that there is a badly rotted board.

Tim and Matt replaced the rotted board.

Then they put a new floor on top of the old floor because that will make the
floor much stronger!
I forgot to take a picture of the rubber mats that go on top of the wood.
The rubber mats protect the wood from animal droppings.
Hmmmm.... what do you think 'animal droppings' are?

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Can you feel the seasons change when you are outside?

Does it smell different to you? Does it feel different outside?

Keep an eye on the Mountain Sunday photos because the trees will start budding soon, then you will know for sure that Spring is right around the corner.

Have a great week!

New Cow Shelter

Welcome back!

Wow! That was a big wind storm we had last night! I hope everything is okay at your house and school. We didn't have any problems here because we have already prepared for winter.

This is the new cow shelter!
It faces south because during the winter the wind blows snow and cold from the north.
The door faces south so that wind and snow don't blow inside their shelter.
We're so excited that Echo has a nice place to have her baby in March.

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Last week I promised to show you how we keep the water from freezing so the animals can drink it all winter.

We use electric water heaters and electric buckets for the water.

Do you see the round piece of metal at the bottom of the bucket?
That is a heater that keeps the water warm enough that it doesn't freeze.
The animals are a little sloppy and they've dropped hay into their water.

This bucket has an electrical chord that plugs in.
The bucket has a heater inside the bottom, you can't see it
because it's enclosed inside the plastic.

This is a special hose.
The hose has a heater in it!
It keeps the water from freezing inside the hose.
That's important because if there is ice in the hose we can't use it.
If we can't use the hose then we have to carry buckets of water to fill all the barrels.
That's a lot of work! We would have to carry 14 or more buckets of water every day
to fill up all the barrels. 

Water is important for healthy animals. If they have enough clean food and water they can stay warm and healthy during the winter, even when they live in a barn with no heaters.

There is also a heater in the water that the chickens drink, but the chickens don't mind eating snow if they aren't in the pen. The cows, sheep, and goats don't like to eat snow or peck at ice to get their water so we make sure they always have water, not ice, in their barrels and buckets.

Heating water takes a lot of electricity so this year we put solar panels on
the roof of the barn. That should help keep our costs down.
We have a great place for the solar panels.
Not everyone has as nice a place for the solar panels as we do!

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Look how the chicks are growing! They are only a little
bit smaller than their mama hens.

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Many of you have asked if we have horses. No, we don't have horses. The neighbors have horses, and I thought you would like some pictures of them.

Here is a photo of a horse that lives next door to us.

Here is a photo of the other horse that lives next door to us.

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Last week someone asked your teacher for another video.
I hope this one is fun to watch. It's the cows eating their breakfast.
Who else is eating with the cows?

I know that you are going to have a fun party next week so you won't have Farm Friday at school. I'll post something anyway so if you want to see the farm while you are having Christmas Break you can show your parents.

I'll show you some of the other things I do when I'm not out working with the animals.

Have a wonderful Christmas or whatever holiday you celebrate the next few weeks!