Pictures from the Farm

 I know I have been MIA lately....  So I am giving you a few pictures from the last week.  We have been so busy (despite the chillier temps) with weeding garden, strawberries, we even sheered ONE of our sheep...

We are busy, but I am enjoying it.  It is rewarding!  Having those berries in the freezer, knowing that the garden is producing when the grocery bill is tight.  And the harvest, Mmmm mmmm mmmm!!!  Delicious! 

On to the pictures!

Our beef cattle

Our ducks by the pond

Some of our goat babies

Our Jacob Sheep Mommy, Lindsay

Lindsay's daughter, Charlotte

Puck- Before Haircut

Puck- After Haircut

My Jacob Sheep Girls

 Two of our ducks hatched their own babies...  And they are super cute.  So are the boys in these pictures... :)

Boys and Baby Ducks

Koen & Baby Duck

Caden & Baby Duck

Hope you enjoyed these for now...  I WILL be back soon.  I want to hear how the Clothesline Challenge has gone for each of you!  That will come up in the next few days...  Get your electric (or gas) bills out and be ready to share on Monday!  Also, how is your garden doing???  I can't wait to hear AND to show you ours also...

More later!

Chickens, Bees, Gardens and Spring

Deklyn and his baby girl Leia

 
Oh!  I can't even believe it has been almost 2 weeks since I posted last....  I usually enjoy more time in front of the computer (down time!).  But my computer needs worked on in a BAD way.... it needs a total cleaning.  Like everything needs to be wiped off of the hard drive then things need to be reinstalled....  When I type, it's extremely difficult because it won't move for several seconds and then everything you typed will just appear on the screen....  So there are so many mistakes and to go back and correct them takes forever too...  But enough of my crazy computer, just a note though....  I will HOPEFULLY have a friend work on that his week...  But that means I will be without a computer for a day or two...

We got rid of a few chickens last week.  I put an ad on Craig's List and we sold some of our Rhode Island Reds and some of the Golden Comets that we bought last year.  We kept about 10 RIR and got rid of all of our Golden Comets.  We also have some of our 2-3 year old Buff's and Americaunas.  We also have a few mutt chickens that we hatched last year, plus our banty chickens.  So, we are down to about 30 or less chickens.  Corn prices have just been getting so high, we can't do as many chickens!  We were getting about 20 eggs a day with the 80+ chickens, and now we got rid of all of the chickens BUT our NEW layers started laying this week too and we are still getting about the same amount with 30!  Good news!  :)

We also got our new bees yesterday!  Last years bees, we had got 2 hives.  One hive swarmed (up and left us!) and the other seemed a little weak.  So we left them with all of their honey.  And we didn't expect them to make it through the winter.  But to our surprise, we found them alive and thriving a few weeks ago!  We had already ordered 2 new batches of bees, so we actually had to buy a new set of brooders and other things.  But hopefully, we will have the one hive making honey like crazy since they are seasoned veterans and then we will have another 2 hives with a little less...  I am hoping to have some honey this year then!  Maybe enough to last me all year long.  I would probably use about 8+ gallons of honey a year, maybe more if I had it around instead of sugar!  I am excited to have those going.

It has literally been raining like CRAZY here.  Our pond is flooded and everything is SO muddy.  We finally have our tiller up and running, and it is SO wet, that hubby couldn't even get the garden all tilled.  So for me to plant anything is not possible!  I have seed potatoes (red and Kennebec) ready to go into the ground any day.  I also have all of the cold weather things to go into the ground yet too...  I HAVE to get this stuff in the ground soon, grocery prices are already going NUTS and I have to be able to feed 4 boys with crazy appetites! 

All of the other animals are doing good.  Baby goats and sheep are getting bigger and enjoying being outside.  I love watching them frolic and play in the pasture.  It's so funny!  :)  But we are finally done with baby season.  Our last Jacob sheep had a baby last week and we weren't around all day... It ended up dying.  He was just so big, my hubby thinks she probably had some difficulty...  I gues life on the farm brings those sad things sometimes though. 

So much going on right now!  How about you?  I need to get around and visit some of your blogs also!  I miss spending my down time on the computer and getting some reading in! 

Population Explosion

 We have had SO many things happening the last few days, it's been hard to keep up!  We have went from 5 goats to 11 goats, and from 3 female sheep, to 6 female sheep!

First, on Friday night we had a new baby goat!  Padme, my son's goat, is the mother.  We weren't even sure she was really pregnant.  But she surprised us all when we saw some little hooves sticking out her back side!  She had a little trouble, but when I helped pull as she was pushing, her new little addition came out and was fine!  She had a little girl!  YAY! 

Here she is.  My son named her Leia.  If you are a Star Wars fan, you will understand...

Padme is a very attentive mother, however she has YET to produce any milk....  Have been trying to figure out what to do, but don't know anything yet.... So she is another bottle fed baby!

 Then on Monday night, we were surprised to find Myst, our Jacob, had a baby also!  She was out in the pasture and my hubby came home from Boyscouts and found Myst and baby running around in the pasture! 

She ALSO had a girl!  And she is a tiny little thing!  SO cute!  She doesn't have a name yet....  I haven't had time to THINK about it yet!  Plus, with all of the babies, I might be out of names!!  Ha!

Here is one of our other babies, Daisy (Iris's baby).  The babies are now 5 weeks old! 

 For the last week or more, Lindsay has been trying to get out of her pen in the barn to get out and be in the pasture again.  Well, today I finally let her.  She ran into the pasture and was very protective for her little ones against all of the other animals.  Including her baby from last year, Charlotte.  Charlotte came up to her mother all happy to see her, but Lindsay pushed her away thinking she was going to hurt the babies.  So right now Charlotte is a little sad at this situation.  BUT, hopefully Charlotte will be our last momma on the farm to have some babies.  And I think she has only a few weeks left!  So hopefully she will soon have a family of her own. 

Charlotte top left, Lindsay and babies

On Saturday, we FINALLY got the horns burnt (disbudded) on our goats.  They might have scurs, but hopefully it's not too bad.  We waited too long... The boys (the only 2 boys we have so far out of all of the babies!) were also banded.  Because they will be taken to 4H.  Along with some shots!

I also started Padme on some shots to hopefully get milk going for her, so we can at least MILK her and bottle feed her baby...  We will see!

I hope this gives you SOME ideas of what has been happening around here!  Hope you are having some fun with all of your new babies also!  :)

**Sorry if these photos aren't the best, they were all taken with my cell phone...

Pictures From Our Goat Pens

 So we've been having a good time with all of our goat babies...  As you remember Sophie had 4 and Iris had 1.  And the babies are now 3 weeks old!  They are getting so big!

So I thought I would share some pics from these precious little guys (and girls!).

Koen and I are getting ready to go down and feed Charlie.  You might remember Charlie was the little fella that we had in our house because he couldn't walk for almost a week after he was born. 

 Little Charlie LOVES his bottle!  Here Koen and I are feeding him...  He's even got milk all over his face! 

Iris's little girl is getting big, and she's super sweet...  Her name is Daisy.  She loves to lay her head up against you when you scratch that special spot under her jaw... 

Here are all of Sophie's babies!  She hasn't bonded with poor Charlie, but we keep him in the pen so he can learn things from the other goats.  Top right side is baby number one, you remember him with the heart???  His name is Buddy.   The little brown and white is Grace, she is a cutie.  Then the black and white is Sunny.  She is calm and loving, probably the most loving of all of this "batch".  Then the one to the left (brown) is Charlie...

 

This is little Grace.  She is sweet and active.  She loves attention....  Just look at that little face!

Our 2 little males will be 4H goats.  Our little females will be for milking.  Their mother's were already good milkers and their fathers are from "Star Milker" lines....  I'm still new to MILKING goats so I know Star Milker is a good thing, but that's it. 

We probably wont keep all of the females, but maybe sell them as milkers this Fall or maybe next year. 

Coming soon, we will be putting the babies out to pasture for the first time!  I always love this time....  The babies are a little timid, BUT LOVE it after they spend a few minutes out. 

Have a beautiful day!!!

MO Milk!

Well, it's milk time again!  We have been collecting milk for our little guy, Charlie, that we had in the house.  But a little over a week after they were born, we had more milk than Charlie needed to drink.  So now we have milk for US!   

There hasn't been a LOT of milk, but it is starting to increase now.  I think it is because right now we are just milking Iris (black) and her little baby is eating more hay and grain.  OR it could be the herbs that I am giving her that I got from Molly's Herbals, one for general health and one to help produce more milk!

We will soon be separating the babies out at night and milking BOTH females in the morning, then rejoining their babies with them during the day.  Hopefully at that point, we will be getting even MORE milk!

Soon (I hope) we will get to the point of NOT having to buy milk from the store.  We currently spend about $24 in milk a week!  And that is with buying Almond Milk (for us lactose intolerant people!) and also regular milk.  When we have lots of goat milk, we will no longer need to spend that on  milk!  :)  I look forward to that! 

Goat's milk is illegal to sell it here in Indiana, BUT we DO drink our own...  We trust our own cleanliness and procedures!  So we drink it raw, only filtering it first. 

Do any of YOU drink goat's milk?  Do you produce your own milk on your farm? 

So Much Happening at Once!!!

I can't believe it's been almost a week since I posted last, I WILL become better! 

So much has been happening since then!  Last Friday we added another baby goat  to our family!  Iris, our black Nubian, had her baby!  She only had one, which surprised me, because in the past she has had triplets.  But we were good with it because we just had the 4 from Sophie!  Iris had a little girl!  I named her Daisy.  She's a sweetheart...

Proud Mom, Black Iris and baby Daisy, 2 days old

 Because Daisy was a single baby, I wanted to try to make sure she stayed warm.  So I tool one of my hubby's old socks that was developing a hole in it and I made her a little sweater!  I cut it in the house, so when I got it on her, I realized it SHOULD have been bigger but, it kept her warmer...  But when I put that thing on her, she acted like she could hardly walk.  She kept falling over and eventually hung her head so low, as though she were thoroughly ashamed. 

Daisy does NOT like her Sock Sweater!

 BUT, after a while, she got used to it and wandered around again with the big goats...

Isn't she cute?

Close-up of baby Daisy, 2 days old

 Sophie's babies have been doing really well.  Up until yesterday, we still had the one little guy in our home.  But I was afraid he wouldn't get to learn much of what he needed to from other goats.  I mean, he pretty much thought he was one of the HUMAN family!  Plus his little legs FINALLY healed up and were doing what they were supposed to!

We re-joined him with his mother and siblings, and SO far everything is going well... He has now learned to play fight bumping heads....  Big fun!

Here are some pics from a few days ago of some of Sophie's 3 that weren't in the house...

Sophie's babies- Grace (left) and Buddy

Sophie's babies all tuckered out from playing!

The little black and white female on the bottom of the last pic is Sunny. 

They are all doing so great and I have been loving the experience of having babies on the farm again!!!  I have been milking a little bit on Iris, because she doesn't have enough babies to relieve the milk supply.  On the weekend, we will probably be separating the babies from the mom's and bottle feeding all of them...  It took me an hour to do chores this morning, only having to bottle feed ONE.  It may be taking a bit more time in the future!!! 

Padme, our other little female that is possibly bred, looks as though she COULD have a baby or so, but we will have to see.  She could have a baby any day, but it may also be another few weeks.  We don't have the exact date from the lady where we had them bred.  So we will just have to keep and eye out!

I will be bringing you MORE pics really soon!

We Have the Season's FIRST Babies!

Babies asleep

Last night, I had prepared dinner and was getting ready to go to an important leadership meeting for our church's Women's Ministry, which I was running.  My husband comes in from the barn, and he tells us that we were probably going to have babies tonight.  He said Sophie had some wet stuff on her bottom (one of the things I told him to watch for).  So I scarfed my dinner and went down to the barn, within probably 5 minutes.  When I got down there, she had two "bubbles" from the sac coming out already!

I RAN up to the house, because the boys REALLY wanted to see the babies being born.  I ran in and told them the babies were coming NOW!  And I ran back down (and you KNOW this was important, cuz I DON'T RUN...), and found she was pushing.  The boys got down there in time.

They were in time to see the little front hooves of that fist little baby sticking out.  I was there ready to remove the sack off the babies faces.  The boys were excited but slightly scared for the situation, so I was able to explain about what was happening, and what would happen next.

We ended up on the THIRD baby, yes third, having a little scare.  His head came through and she kept pushing, but just couldn't get him out.  She stopped him while his head was out but his body was still in.  I got worried pretty quickly that this might cause some damage.  So I grabbed him and gently started to pull when she contracted.  The big boy slowly started to come out so I stopped pulling.  He stopped at his back legs.  And she wasn't pushing anymore, so I pulled him the rest of the way out.  He ended up being big!

As I was taking care if THAT big guy, she was cleaning him up, and I saw what I believed to be the placenta coming out.  I didn't pay much attention to it, because I was focused on her NOT stepping on her babies.  Then my son said, "MOM!  It's another baby!"  In shock, I looked back and sure enough there layed baby number 4!!!

As soon as I gave some instruction to my husband who wasn't prepared for all of this, I ran to the house and changed my clothes.  Then left for my meeting, smelling like a goat.  And still in shock that our Sophie had 4 babies!

Charlie and Koen

Right now, all of the babies are doing well.  The one little "big" guy that had gotten stuck, he doesn't have his land legs yet.  I think it is from being stuck for a little while.  So we brought him in the house, and are bottle feeding him his mommy's milk.  He is a little sweetheart.  Boys have already named him Charlie.

We ended up having 2 boys and 2 girls.  The first boy paved the way for the rest of them.  Check out his markings:

Sophie decided to have her babies on the coldest, windiest night of the week.  So we woke several times in the night, and hubby even mad them a little "nest" so they could stay warmer.  That was about 3:30 in the morning. 

This morning the babies in the barn, all seem to be happy. I got in the pen and pet them, and they didn't get all upset like they wanted to eat or anything.  Little Charlie that is in the house was starving at 6:30 am when my boys started waking up.  So I went down and collected some milk from mommy, and brought it up, giving it all to that hungry little fella.

It's going to be a busy couple of weeks bottle feeding all of these babies, but it makes you smile to see those little tails flicking back and forth when they are happy...

No Babies Yet...

I didn't realize I had been gone so long!  More days than I would like!  I have been busy planning new things with our Women's Ministry at our church and a few days helping out at our church, so I guess I lost track of days!  I will get the names for our seed drawing up soon. 

But, in all my busyness, I guess it's good we haven't had any babies yet!  Though, the one mommy (Sophie) is looking pretty ready, she was acting pretty strange when I went down this morning also.  So we will see if we have babies soon or not!  She is quite a bit bigger than the other female who is due in another week...

Our sheep are needing some attention before they have their babies at the end of the month too...  I need to shave around their bottoms and their utter. It makes it a lot easier for birthing and for babies then to find mommy's milk! 

 So much to do, but looking forward to those babies!!!  Do you have any babies yet???

Preparing for Babies

Within the week, we should start seeing the baby activity from our goats!  I am so excited!  I LOVE babies.  Love, love, love! 

Last year, when our sheep were pregnant, I was NOT prepared.  I knew they were going to be having their babies any day, but I didn't really have anything to prepare MYSELF.  God created animals with a motherly instinct, and most mother animals do just fine on their own to deliver and take care of their young ones.  But having animals on my farm, I feel that we have taken them out of that "natural" element , and making them more dependent on humans.  So, we need to be prepared to assist if necessary. 

Plus, when I went down for the first time last Spring and found that my sheep was in FULL labor, I freaked!  I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to gather things and to call my friend who was more experienced in animal births.

So this year, I am determined to be more prepared.  Each year, I will probably discover more of what I want and don't want, maybe some better ways to do things, but for now I am sharing what I am doing.  For you personally, it has to fit what you like and what you don't like.  It all comes with experience.

So here is what I am going to have on hand for the birth of our new goats/ sheep:

• Heat Lamp-  This is a MUST in Indiana weather.  Especially the stuff that we have right now!  Make sure even if you already have a heat lamp and bulb, that you buy a NEW bulb, just in case.  You MAY just want to replace it right away so you can be sure that it won't burn out after a few hours then your baby is chilled to the point of being sick...
• This isn't something to have on hand, but your pen should be cleaned out well.  OR you should have a separate pen to put your mommy in right before she is to give birth.  That way, she has a clean pen, and less stress.  She may need a friend if in a new pen.  Make sure it isn't someone she will fight with!
• Scissors (cleaned).  This can be for any number of things...  I always need them in the barn anyways, and never have them!  You don't want to be running to the house in the middle of the birth!
• Betadine-  You can use this for the dip for a placenta after the baby is born.  it helps it dry up a little fast.  Or for any wounds, this is good to have around on the farm.
• Garbage bag (or old feed bag)- For any trash from cleaning up a baby, cleaning up placenta, etc.
• Paper towels, Puppy Potty Mats, old CLEAN towels-  These are for clean-up.  When the baby comes out, it helps if you can dry the baby of right away.  You can lay down a potty mat to keep the baby clean while it lays on the ground.  Then you can clean off all of the goo! 
• Baby bottles or special bottle for baby goats or sheep- These are "just in case". 
• Milk Supplement- This is just in case also.  It is SUPER important that the baby gets the colostrum from the mother though. But if it comes to life or death, we need to get milk into the baby.  Make sure the milk is approved for goats or sheep.
• Special treat for mommy-  Make sure you have some sweet feed or molasses or honey and water for her after all of her hard work!

Now, mentally prepare yourself for the birth!  And know that not every birth is perfect.  There could be problems.  But I believe that God is in control of everything.   So if a goat is having some issues and you try to help and it dies, it is difficult! But that is what was supposed to happen.  This part is difficult for me. But knowing that God is all knowing and always in control helps me out a lot.

Hopefully this helps someone out there!  Maybe showing you that you CAN have a baby on your farm!  You don't have to be afraid!  If I can do it, you DEFINITELY can!  If you have any questions, feel free to ask.  Like I said I am an amateur, but have been through it twice! I can point you in the way of an answer or help you out if I can!

Close to Baby TIme...

Well, my illness is much improved and just dealing with a cough and a little stuffiness.  Which is TOTALLY do-able compared to what I was working with!  Giving me more motivation and a little bit sunnier side to things is the warmer weather we have been experiencing! 

It is a high of 58 today, so snow is starting to melt!  The mud is a little less than desirable, but I can definitely deal with it.  It's just nice to get out from underneath all of that snow!

We are about 2-3 weeks out from experiencing our first babies on the farm this year!  Our goats are getting bigger, and it was ESPECIALLY noticeable when we were able to bring them outside today into the pasture! 

The white goat (Sophie, my first milker!) and the black (Iris, 3 year old that I just bought in the Fall) are looking pretty huge.  The little brown one (Padme, my son's little female that he bought as an investment with his 4H money from last year) doesn't look as big. BUT, she was a few weeks behind the other 2 and this would be her first baby.  So IF she is pregnant, I am only expecting one from her, but these will be the first GOAT babies born on my farm, so I can't really make any accurate predictions, seein' that I have NO IDEA!  :)

I am going to be giving the girls their CD &T shots this weekend, so they and their babies are all ready.  We also need to clean out their pens badly.  These three have figured out how to unlatch a pretty tough gate latch for their pen, and open it all the time.  Bad thing about this is that they have FREQUENTLY gotten into the food, and gotten the squirts...  :(  SO, the pens need a good cleaning, though it is pretty large pen and they waist a lot of their hay, it still looks pretty clean...

I will definitely keep you up to date on the progress of these mommys!  DO you have any baby goats coming on YOUR farm?

Our Girls are Here!

Well, after a month and a half, we finally got our Sophie back, along with our 2 new goats!  If you remember, we took them to be bred at a near by farm.  And now, I HOPE they are all three "with kids"... hehehe!

Here is a pic of our little and BIG ladies:

From left to right: Sophie, Padme` and Iris

They are all very sweet, and I look forward to many gallons of milk from them!  :)

Speaking of that, I have researching goat's milk soap and natural soap recipes, and I SO want to make soap!  I think with as fast as we use soap around this place, it would definitely be worth the effort!  Any of you make soap before?  Any tips?

Well, it feels good to once again have milk goats in the barn.  And it will be nice to have their fresh milk in our fridge!  Now we look forward to the end of February for BABIES!!!

Farm Goin's Ons...

I know it has been almost a week since I posted, which I try not to do!  But things around our home have been busy and around the farm have been slow.... Not much to report.  Also, not much time to report it.  I am STILL working on information that I got from the Purdue Extension office on Goats and Sheep, the classes I took a few weeks ago.  I'm sorry it is all taking so long, but life takes a front seat!

So! What has been going on?  Well, a few things, I guess.  We sold our two little Jacob rams, which I was hoping we'd be able to do instead of having to butcher them.  I know that we will do that on our farm, but I wasn't ready for these sheep to be butchered.  I guess I was just hoping to be able to have these not only as a business, but also as a conservation of these animals.  I hope we succeeded in that in this past week. 

Our front pasture now seems pretty empty.  But not for long.  We have little Max and Annie in the front pasture, and they will soon be joined by 3 other ladies!  Which should be here any day. 

Our little layers, we moved outside and they are getting along just fine!  The temps have been getting to freezing during the night, and they are all staying cozy and warm in their little hut. 

They are also sharing the hut with our broilers.  Each with their own side.  The broilers have about 2 weeks to go, I can't believe how the time has flown...  I am SO very thankful for being able to raise them and to have that meat this winter. 

Speaking of meat, it is quickly approaching Thanksgiving, and many months ago I had purchased 7 turkeys.  Today though, I only have one of them, thanks to a wild barn cat.  Now "Turkey" is like a pet.  She loves us, and we love her.  The boys all say that they won't eat any if we butcher her for Thanksgiving...  And they are kind of right, it's hard to have ONE animal, and to not get attached...  So, as much as it pains me to say it, she will probably be going to the big pan someday soon... 

 On a lighter note, my little lettuce is still growing well in the kitchen window!  It is 1+ inches now, and getting bigger!  You can tell it LOVES the sunlight!  It's all leaning in that direction.  I will maybe have to rotate the pot...  I cannot WAIT to have fresh lettuce again!

I also just got my seed catalog that I sent for.  I am already circling all of the things that interest me, and hopefully I will be ready to order the first of January!  Ooooh!  I can't wait! 

How are you all doing???

New Farm Family!

 Saturday morning, if you would have seen us, well, this is what you MAY have caught a glimpse driving by you on the road...

 Yes, I am driving our old mini van, with a GOAT in the back.  We have our mini van and we have our Suburban.  Both '99's...  But it's just easier to load a goat into a mini van!  We did put a tarp down on the floor, but not always does the tarp do it's "tarply duties"... This time however, it seemed to serve it's purpose.

WHY were we in the mini van to begin with?  GREAT question!  Our goat, Sophie (the cute one with the long ears, pictured above), was being taken to a farm to be bred!  She wasn't as excited as I thought she would be, BUT in the end, I think she liked our choice in men....

 She cried for only a short time, but her new boyfriend was very gentlemanly...  And I think she started to warm up to him before we left...

I took my son, Deklyn, with me because he was going to pick out a female to have bred also.  He wanted to make an investment with the 4H money he got this summer.  He is planning on selling a baby goat to his brother, Austin, who is going to be in his first year of 4H next year.  :)  Here is the little female he chose, unfortunately, she is still nameless.  Any ideas?

 She is the gal in the back....

She was also going to be bred by the little male that Sophie was being bred by. 

Then we have our other new female.  This one I have had picked out for about a month or more!  Her name is Iris!  She is a nice sized gal who is 3 years old.  And a GREAT milker! 

 And here is a pic of her new man!  Iris is in the center, the male is the ugly one on the right!

Then we have this little thing that we brought home with us... Yes, in the mini van.  Deklyn bought this gal too, but she was too young to be bred this year.  She is a real sweet heart.  Her name is Annie!  She looks a lot like our little wether Max and our other female Riley (both in this pic too)...

All in all, we have 3 new goats! Iris, Annie and ???...  Iris, ???(no name) and Sophie are being bred!  SO we COULD have up to 6 new goat babies this Spring!  Add that to the 3 Jacob sheep that we are going to have bred in a few weeks, there will be no shortage of babies on our farm starting late February/ beginning of March!  Oooo... will are gonna be busy!  Especially with 3 goats to milk in the COLD!  Oh well.  It will be a huge blessing to have that much milk.

And I'm sure you won't be surprised to hear me say that we aren't done with new life on our farm this Fall!  There are actually going to be MANY more additions... But we are gonna save THAT for another day!