Photos from the Farm #28

Welcome back!

It was chilly yesterday, wasn't it! Matt put Clover's coat back on. She was shivering because she was so cold. I wore my winter coat to the barn because it was so cold!

This week we've had fun cooking outside.  I've had fun with my new sewing machine. What have you done? Have you learned anything new? Have you played a new game, learned a new song,  learned some new math, or read a new book?

I sewed some beanbags on my new sewing machine! They aren't filled with beans, they are filled with rice. Quin loves them!

We baked bread on our new smoker grill! It was delicious! Did you know you can bake bread on a barbeque grill?

We even decorated with eggs for Easter! Quin is holding our ostrich egg.
We don't have any ostriches. My friend gave it to me and we get it out every year when Easter is close. I thought you might like to see how big an ostrich egg is.

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We've been working on our building project, too.

Bryon used the post hole digger on the back of the tractor to dig the first hole. It is much faster to use a post hole digger than it is to dig a hole with a shovel. Do you see the post hole digger jumping around a little bit? We have a lot of rocks in the soil! Watch closely and you will see some rocks coming out with the dirt.

The hole is about 24" deep. If you have a ruler you can measure the size of the tiles on the floor of your classroom. Then you can see how deep 24" is.

Bryon put a yellow post form into the hole. Then he, Tim, and Matt mixed up some cement to shovel into the form. A form is like a mold. Ice cube trays are molds for water.

Next he put a post into the cement.

He used a level to make sure the post is perfectly straight. If it isn't perfectly straight then the what he's building won't be straight and won't last very long.

Ask your parents if they have a level you can look at. It's an interesting tool! I always had fun playing with my dad's level when I was little.

Do you have any more guesses about what we are building? It isn't a hay barn. It isn't a train track.

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Matt found a nest of eggs under the wagon! Silly chickens! In the spring we have an Easter Egg hunt almost every day. The chickens hide their eggs in different places and sometimes they hide them very well!

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 I took some videos for you this week, too.

We're sorry to tell you that Charlie, the rooster, has gotten very mean. We had to send him to a new farm last week. He was attacking people! We don't keep mean animals on the farm. We like visitors! If you watch the video you'll see another rooster in the back. I think I'll name him Peety. He's just starting to crow. He is orange and white.

Quin can tell the difference between roosters and hens by looking at their 'hat'. That's what he calls the comb (red part) on the chicken's head. Quin says, "Charlie has a big hat, mama hens have a little hat."


Do you remember the chicks that were born during Fall Break? Petty is one of those chicks. We've been trying to teach him good manners. Charlie didn't learn good manners even though we tried. I hope Peety does!


I was so excited to get a little video of Echo mooing! She doesn't usually make any sound if she can see us. She only makes noise when she can't see us and wants her breakfast. Can you hear the other animals? What other animals can you hear on the video?

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I thought it would be fun to start a graph of our chicken eggs. I'll write down how many green, brown, and duck eggs we get each day. You can make a graph, and I will make a graph. In a few weeks I'll post my graph and you can see if our graphs look the same.

Friday, March 27 I collected 6 brown eggs, 2 green eggs, and 2 duck eggs.

Saturday, March 28 I collected 4 brown eggs, 3 green eggs, and 2 duck eggs.

Sunday, March 29 I collected 9 brown eggs, 3 green eggs, and 2 duck eggs.

Monday, March 30 I collected 5 brown eggs, 1 green egg, and 2 duck eggs.

Tuesday, March 31 I collected 4 brown eggs, and 2 duck eggs.

Wednesday, April 1 I collected 4 brown eggs, 5 green eggs, and 2 duck eggs.

Thursday, April 2 I collected 5 brown eggs, 6 green eggs, and 1 duck egg.

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I hope you enjoyed the post today!

Next time I have some videos to share about the ducks! I also have a video of the goats for you.

Have you watched the snow on the mountains? It's melting. The days are getting longer. Spring is here. It's not quite time to plant much in the garden, but it's time to get the seeds started indoors.

I hope you have a wonderful Spring Break! We'll be building, and cleaning more of the barn, and planting some seeds indoors. I'll send some little plants to your classroom so you can watch them grow, too!

Photos from the Farm #25

Welcome back!

Did you look at the Mountain Monday photos? Did you notice the work that we did last weekend? We moved the metal pole structure to the barn driveway. We had help from friends to move it. A bunch of big boys and men each held onto one leg and moved it for us. Bryon also used the tiller and tilled all the weeds in front of the barn. Next he planted grass seeds, but you can't see those in the photos.

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Thank you again for your questions!

We have three ducks. A few weeks ago our white duck died. We were sad. He was about 10 years old. That is very old for a duck!

Here is a video so you can count how many hens we have.

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That is a great question! It's a question that farmers use math to solve. I think you are starting to work on story problems now. This is a story problem!

I don't think this is a math problem that you can do in first grade, but I want you to see the math problem anyway. One day you'll be able to do this problem!

A goat eats about 4.5% of it's body weight in hay (or grass) each day. Annie weighs about 230 pounds. 4.5% x 230 pounds = 10.35 pounds of hay each day.

A horse eats about 20 pounds of hay each day.

A mini-cow eats about 12 pounds of hay each day.

Who eats more food each day, a horse, a goat, or a mini-cow?

How many pounds will Annie eat in one month?
10.35 pounds of hay x 30 days = 310.5 pounds of hay.

Misty is eating her grain in front of the big bale of hay.
See how big the bale is!

Each of our bales of hay weighs about 800 pounds. If Annie was our only goat she would eat a little bit more than one big bale each month!

Our goats eat a little bit less because I also feed them some grain each morning. Do you remember the grain I sent for you to look at?

This is the grain the goats eat for breakfast each morning.
Does your cereal look like this?

We have 2 cows, 2 pregnant goats, 1 goat that gives milk each day, 1 old goat, and 2 bucks (boy goats). They go through about two 800 pounds of hay each month. That is a lot of hay!

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Our cows love to run when it's time for breakfast!

Echo saw the bucket full of grain and she came running right away!

Remi takes a little longer to realize there is breakfast in the bucket.

They don't mind sharing.

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Information for this post was taken from eHow: How many bales of hay does a goat need for winter?
Feeding Mini-Cows,  How much hay does one horse need per day?

Photos from the Farm #20

Welcome back!

Wow! This is the twentieth week of posts!

That is a good question!

People get on a scale to see how much they weigh. We weigh goats differently. We don't have a scale because scales for animals are very expensive. We have something called a 'weight tape.' It's a tape measure that we put around the goat's chest right behind their front legs. The spot behind their legs is called the 'heart girth.'

Here's what it looks like.

Penny weighs about 110 pounds. She will be a mommy in April!
She weighs a little more than two first graders.

We put her on the milk stand every morning. She doesn't give milk yet, but we want her to get used to being up here.

Penny is about 24" tall.
How tall are you?

We measure how tall a goat is by using a tape measure, just like your parents measure you. Your parents measure from the floor you are standing on to the top of your head. We measure the goats from the floor they are standing on to the top of their 'withers'. Goats can move their heads up and down so we can't get an accurate measurement if we measure to the top of their head.

Annie is a big goat! She weighs about 230 pounds. She is bigger than the tape measure so we have to make a good guess. She weighs about as much as 5 first graders!

Hi Annie! Annie will have her kids in April, too.

Annie is 31" tall.

Clover is very old for a goat. She isn't going to have kids this spring.

Clover weighs about 175 pounds. That is a little less than four first graders.

Clover is 27" tall.

This is Misty. She is about 4 years old.

She weighs almost as much as her mother, Annie. Misty weighs about 220 pounds. She weighs a little bit less than five first graders.

She is about 30" tall.

We don't really know how much Echo weighs. She is a mini Jersey so she probably weighs about 400 pounds. That is almost the same as nine first graders!

She is about 43" tall.

We don't know how much Remi weighs, either.

Remi is about 41" tall. He is almost as big as Echo. He will be full grown when he is about 2 years old. He will weigh about 800 pounds when he is done growing. That is more than 17 first graders!

We can't have a pig because it is against the law in our town to have pigs on our farm. No one in our town is allowed to have pigs.

I am 52 years old! That sounds old, but I can still work hard!
There are many animals on our farm. That question would take a long time to answer!
Annie is about 6 years old.
Clover is about 14 years old.
Misty is about 4 years old.
Penny will be 1 year old in April.

Yes, Daniel!
I like our farm!
I like to work hard, I like to spend time with the animals. I like working in the garden in the spring and summer. I like sharing our farm with other people, too!
Do you like our farm?

Thank you for all your questions!

Next week I'll answer more questions. I'll also show you a little bit more about goat's mouths. Do you want to see what goat teeth look like?

Have a great week!

For more information about mini-Jersey cows visit Jewell's Jerseys.