The Septic System

We rented the equipment and Chrys dug the hole for the septic tank and the trenches for the lateral lines this past weekend. It was a job that took a full two days (see previous blog) and Chrys was sure tired by the time it was over. They are suppose to deliver the septic tank tomorrow and then hopefully we won't get to much rain until we get the lateral lines in and ditches filled back in.

Septic Digging for the Dairy

While digging the hole for the septic tank that will service the milk barn and creamery we ran into a ledge of solid rock. We finally had to go rent a jackhammer to assist in the removal of the rock. While Chrys was trying to hammer through the rock I kept telling him that I was just certain that he was either going to strike oil or hit a mega diamond vein. :) I'm pretty sure that he was getting slightly annoyed with me. I guess taking pictures of big rocks is like taking pictures of mountains. You just never get the same effect. The rocks which we trying to remove were actually quite large even though they don't look that way in the pictures.

Greenhouse Items

Here are just a couple of snap shots of the some of the things in the greenhouse. These seedlings are right at a week old when I took the pictures.

Spinach

Fancy Greens

Buttercrunch Lettuce

Cammi

I have several things to update on today, but I am going to put them into a couple of blogs to kind of keep the information seperate. First is just a couple of pictures of Cammi. She is sure growing! And she is always in perpetual motion so getting a decent picture is no easy task. Cammi is, evidentally, a "collector". She has all of these "treasures" that she collects and she wants to keep them all right by the door of the milk barn. It is really kind of cute , but it is annoying too. It gets to looking pretty trashy (even though these things are treasures) and I have no idea where she finds all of this stuff!

An article on the Tahlequah Farmers' Market that includes a nice little write-up about us. Thanks Tahlequah Daily Press!

http://tahlequahdailypress.com/local/x977553107/Homegrown-heaven

Spring Break

Well, I spent the first couple of days of my spring break doing some much needed catch-up on paperwork. Took one day and drove to Missouri to pick up some more parts for the milk line. On Thursday I actually got into the green house and started replanting some things in there. If we hadn't lost everything in the Arctic blast that we had in February then we could have been planting in the garden last week instead. :( We took the bull and a calf to the sale on Saturday. Pleased with the sale price, but really kind of miss the bull already. Maggie had her babies on Saturday (Finally!). One doeling and one buckling. Two doelings went to their new home. I think they will be very loved......and spoiled. Chrys is nearing the end of installing the milk line (we hope) and I was able to get some more painting done in the milk barn. Last night as we were heading into the house from chores (well after dark) we discovered that Izzy finally had her calf. A little heifer. :)

And now.......just a few pictures......

The seed trays that I just planted this week.

Some of the doe kids that we have for sale.

A couple more of the doe kids that we have for sale......although the spotted won't take a bottle so we have to latch her on morning and night so she can't leave until she is weaned......(and why sell her then??)


Maggie's little doeling that was born on Saturday.

Maggie and her babies.

I am actually thinking about keeping the buckling for a future herd sire. If he passes along his dam's awesome milking ability coupled with his sire's milk lines........WOW!!!!

New Homes For Baby Goats

All 12 wethers went to their new home today. :) That sure took a lot off our feed bill but more importantly, it took a lot off of our chore time.

Still feeding 22 bottle doelings. :)

My Morning...

• Got up on time at 3:30. :)
• Put the coffee on, grabbed a can of Mountain Dew and headed to the barn.
• Arrived at the barn just after the birth of Halo's twins (1 doeling & 1 buckling)
• Moved Halo and the twins to the other barn.
• Went to milk barn and prepared everything for milking.
• Milked 18 does by hand.
• Prepared milk for all of the babies.
• Went to kid barn and fed 30 babies.
• You would think eating is a natural survival instinct, but one pen of babies is just not getting it. Had to bottle feed each one individually (on my lap).
• Milked down the new momma and made sure her babies had colostrum in their tummies.
• Went back to the doe barn, checked everyone one last time and opened the door to the pasture.
• Chrys started washing up from milking and feeding babies so I went to the house.
• Walked in the door and looked at the clock.......running 25 minutes late!
• Oh well...........take down the cheese that was draining and salted and seasoned (a new flavor I'm trying), put it in the press and then the fridge.
• Chrys comes in so I ask him to drain the other batch of cheese I had going.
• Jump in the shower.
• Put on my make-up and do my hair (this kind of "beauty" doesn't just happen...LOL).
• Get dressed.
• Head out the door.
• Had to stop and get gas because I was to tired last night to do it.
• My daddy and 2 neighbors were at the gas station and all wanted to visit.
• Ran into the store to grab me something to eat for breakfast.
• Got to work and clocked in..........ON TIME! :)

Now I can rest a little bit until 4:00 then it is time to head home and start all over again.......I LOVE MY LIFE! :)

Barn Helper

Peyton came over last night and was helping in the barn. She has SOOOO much fun in the baby pens. Realize that she has always been scared of the animals, so this is a major step.

In this picture, Peyton had "locked" the gate back. If you are familiar with type of latch and goats then you know that as they get older they are very adept at opening these latches so you have to keep something in the little hole underneath to prevent escape. Peyton understood the concept, but just not quite where to put the hook. Notice the hook is hung over the top of the latch.


Helping Nanya bottle feed a new baby goat.

Carrying feed to the bucks.

Doing Nanya's dishes in the milk barn. Notice the very durable yet stylish muck boots (just like Nanya's).

More dishes.

She had so much fun and so did I just watching her. I can't wait till she comes back to help again. And yes, she did get paid for helping. :)

Norma

I will give you a bit of history here.

In the spring of 2009, I had the opportunity to purchase an "unregistered" buckling out or some excellent stock at a great price. Needless to say, I jumped on it. :) Well, this little guys sire's name was Longman's SA Arousing Cheers. I decided to play off of the Cheers portion of his name thinking of the Cheers sitcom. Sooo....I named my little buckling Norman. Liking the thought that he would be so striking that every time he walked into the barn, all of the girls would yell "NORM!" I know, corny, but it worked for me. :) Norman was the sweetest little guy. He was always calm and easy going and oh so so loving. The picture below was taken of him at 1 year and one week of age.

In October, I think, the lady who we purchased Norman from called and offered us his dam and his sire. We, of course, waisted no time in heading to her place to pick them up.

Well last summer in 2009 we lost Norman to urinary calculi.....More accurately, he got urinary calculi and we thought we had him over it. He got it again (or maybe still had it) and we couldn't get him through it. If you have ever seen an animal with urinary calculi, it is horribly agonizing and painful. I finally asked my husband to put him down. That was very very difficult for both us.

This past fall, we lost Norman's sire, Cheers, to pneumonia. This was really really bad to. Fortunately, we had given my brother one of Norman's full brothers from the 2010 litter. Even better than that, My brother gave him back to me. :) By the way, his name is Woody (from the character on the Cheers sitcom).

Prior to Cheers passing, he had bred all of the does who are kidding now including Norman's dam, Rosie. On Monday, March 1, 2011, Rosie presented us with a single doe kid. This little doeling, who is not so little, is slightly darker in color than Norman was, but she has the same gray undercoating and seems like she will have a great disposition like Norman did as well.

This is one goat that I didn't have to spend any time on thinking of a name that fit her. I looked at her and immediately new that her name was..........NORMA!

Pictures coming soon!

Baby Goat Updates

Wow! It has been well over a week since I have posted. We have been having baby goats "everywhere"! :) Kidding season is one of my very favorite times. It is always so exciting! You get all of the anticipation of a child waiting for Christmas morning. Dreaming and trying to guess just exactly what you are going to get. Then, just like Christmas morning, you get to finally unwrap the present and see what that special goat or goats brought you. Then.....the work really begins. Milking the does, feeding the babies, getting everyone adjusted, making room for the next doe who is getting ready to kid "any second". Exhillarating and Exhausting! :)

Here is a brief run down of who has had what.

2/2/11

Sage delivered 1 doe and 1 buck during that extremely cold snap that we had. Both were DOA

2/16/11

Spirit delivered 2 doe kids

2/19/11

Sugar had 2 doe kids - These were the preemies and they are doing very very well now.

2/21/11

Playdoe had 1 doe and 1 buck

2/23/11

Mozli had 1 doe and 2 bucks

Helga had 2 bucks

Molly had 1 buck

2/24/11

Slide had 1 doe and 1 buck

2/25/11

Dottie delivered 1 doe kid

Splash had 1 buck

2/26/11

Malya had 1 doe and 1 buck (the buckling died on 3/2/11)

Thunder delivered 2 doe kids

Starla had 2 doe kids

2/28/11

Funny Face had 1 doe kid

3/1/11

Rosie delivered 1 doe kid

Jynger delivered 1 doe and 1 buck

3/2/11

Pepper delivered 1 doe and 1 buck

Gabby had 1 doe

If you were counting (and if I didn't miss anyone) that is 16 does that have freshened with 19 doelings and 11 bucklings. We have 18 doelings and 9 bucklings, 27 kids in all, that survived.

We still have 7 and hopefully 8 does in our original herd left to kid anytime. In the new herd that we just got from Colorado it looks like there are 2 or 3 that could kid soon. Then we get a small break from kidding before we go into round two.