Animals Grow, Too!

Welcome back!

Your teacher told me that you learned about bullies last Friday. I'm so glad!

People can learn to be kind to each other, but there are times when animals can't. When that happens at our farm we have to send the animal away to another farm.

We had a rooster named Charlie who got very mean. We had to send him away so he wouldn't hurt anyone any more.

Charlie was a beautiful rooster, but when he got mean we had to send him away.

I hope you all learn how to be kind to one another, and to talk to each other if you are having problems.

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Here are some photos of Remi and Echo that I took last year, and some photos of them from this year.

Here is Matt with Remi on the right side of the photo,
and Echo on the left side of the photo.
This was taken last year.

Echo wasn't supposed to grow any bigger, but she did! She is 2 years old.
If you look very closely at Echo's head you will see a white horn.
That's the spot where her horn fell off!
You got to see and hold her horn a few weeks ago.

Remi was supposed to grow, and he did! Remi is 1 1/2 years old.

This is Shorty. She isn't staying with us very long. She is a very nice cow.
She will have a calf (baby cow) near 18 October 2016.
That's when you will be in 2nd Grade.

Echo is going to have a calf, too! Her baby will be born near 25 March 2016.

Whose calf will be born first?

Shorty isn't staying with us very long because she is for sale. We hope someone will buy her and take her to a new farm, soon. We hope the new family will be kind to her!

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I took some photos of the turkeys. The baby turkeys are almost the same size as their mother!

The turkey on the left is the mother, the two on the right are her babies.
They were born 1 September 2015, right after you started First Grade.

This is Chuck, the baby turkey's father.

Look at the turkey babies and their parents.
What parts of the baby turkeys look like their mother?
What looks different from their mother?
Both turkeys had the same mother and father. Do the baby turkeys look like their father?
Do the turkey babies look like each other?
What is the same, and what is different?

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Here are two of the chicks that have grown up.
This is their favorite place to sleep at night.
They don't like to sleep with the other chickens.
We have some silly chickens on our farm!

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I thought you would like to see a picture of the cuddliest dog in the world.
We love him!

One thing I don't like about having dogs is all the hair in the house!

Do you have a pet? Does it live in the house, or in the backyard, or in the barnyard?

What do you like best about having a pet? What is your least favorite thing about having a pet?

If you could choose a pet, what pet would you choose to have?

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Next week I'll show you how we trim goat hooves. Do you trim your fingernails? We have to trim goat hooves and cat claws. Trimming fingernails is a much easier job.

Photos from the Farm * 2 October 2015 * Meet and Greet the Animals

Welcome back!

It was so much fun to meet you all last week! I will post some photos of cider pressing next week. Your teacher did a great job taking a picture of each class so I'm sure you'll be able to find yourself in one of the photos next week.

This week I want to introduce you to a few of the other animals that live at Welcome Home Farm.

Here are the dairy goats waiting to come in for breakfast. The white ones get milked each morning, but the brown one is ‘dry’. Dry means that she isn’t giving milk right now. She still gets some grain and vitamins for breakfast, just like the other three.
Their names (from left to right) are Misty, Annie, Clover, and Sandy. Sandy is a goofball!

Here is Matt and his dog, Miles.
His name is Miles because he has 'miles of smiles.' 
He is always happy!

Miles reminds us of Dug from the movie, "Up!"
He loves everyone he meets, 
and he has a big, black nose.

Do you think they look alike?

Here are a few new pictures of the baby chicks, and the baby turkeys. It's fun to watch them grow up. Do you remember what they looked like a few weeks ago?

This chick was born on the first day of school. She has all her feathers now. She's still small, but she can keep herself warm and doesn't need her mama hen to keep her warm.
She is almost as big as her mama hen! Do you see the grey chicken in front? That's her mama hen!

Here are the chicks that were born on 15 September.
They are starting to get their wing feathers. How many chicks do you see?

Do you see the pile of feathers in the corner?
The mama turkey is molting. That means she is shedding her summer feathers and getting warmer winter feathers. The chickens are doing the same thing.

Look how big the turkey chicks are growing!
They aren't very smart so we have to keep them in the stall so they don't hurt themselves.
Last week one of the turkey chicks jumped into a bucket of water and drowned.

Can you see the hen inside this box? She is sitting on eggs and they are going to hatch soon!
More chicks!

One first grader asked if we have any sheep on our farm.
We have one, and his name is Stew. He's very friendly and loves to follow me around when I'm in the barnyard!
 

I hope you have a wonderful week!

Photos from the Farm #18

Welcome back! I hope you had a wonderful week. 

We've been enjoying the nice weather but we hope we have more rain or snow because we will need the water for the garden, the pasture, and the animals during the summer.

Did you know that some animals get so excited to do their job that they don't take time to eat?

Scout is like that. He gets so excited to watch the ducklings, or check on the goats, or come out to the barn with us that he won't take time to eat.

He has started to get skinny because he doesn't want to eat.

You can see in the video how much energy Scout uses when he's watching the ducklings. He doesn't stay in one spot for very long! That takes a lot of energy, which means he should be eating a lot of food!

He's a good dog. Did you see how well he obeys?

The only thing Scout doesn't do well is eat his meals. 

We have to put him in his crate with the door closed until he finishes his meal.
If he doesn't eat enough he may get sick.
If he doesn't eat enough he won't have enough energy to play and do his work.
Scout has learned that we won't let him out until he finishes his meal,
so he eats everything now, even if he doesn't think he is hungry.

I thought you might like to see Sandy eating her breakfast on the milk stand. Sometimes she doesn't like the food we give her, but she is a good goat and eats all her food so that she can make milk and stay warm.

She finished all her breakfast and I'm done milking her so I can let her out to play with the other goats.

Miles and JJ eat all their food, too. Scout is the only animal that wants to skip a meal to go play! 

How many of you eat your breakfast and your lunch so that you can have enough energy to work and play? Are you like Scout? Do you skip a meal so you have time to play? Or are you like the goats and eat your meal even if it isn't your favorite so that you can play and be able to do your school work?

Eating meals is just as important for people as it is for animals!

 

Are Miles, JJ, and the goats smarter than you? Or do you make sure you eat your meals so you can stay healthy, have fun at recess, and do your best work at school and at home?

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Here's a funny video of JJ. She loves to smile in the morning!  She's learning to smile whenever we tell her to smile, but she doesn't do it all the time, yet.

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Look how much the ducklings are growing! They are eating a lot of food because they are growing so fast. They go out for recess in their pen every day so they can get some fresh air and sunshine. We make sure they have plenty of water and their food nearby so they can eat and drink whenever they are thirsty or hungry.
They love to taste everything. Human babies like to put everything in their mouth. Most baby farm animals like to put everything into their mouth, too!

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Echo and Remi wanted to say hi, so I took a picture of them. It is so much fun to have cows!

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 I didn't get any questions this week. I hope you have questions for me this week! I'm not sure what to write about next week! Send me some ideas!