Newest Members of the Farm Family

We are eager to move into this new year, start getting babies, and be able to start milking and making cheese again.  This “down time” was perfect timing, since the entire family has managed to get……and share……the crud, but I think we are all just about over it and we are ready to get back to work!  J

The girls have been very well behaved lately, but I just imagine that next week they will not be too happy with us.  We plan to move the younger girls to the west pasture where we can start watching them closer for kidding.  I think that they will be perfectly happy, BUT at the same time we are going to move the mature girls to the east pasture and I think that they are the ones that aren’t going to be too happy, but they will adjust and in just a couple of short months, they will have babies and can move back over to the west side.

A few weeks ago, we got a call from some from friends.  They had a friend, that due to health reasons, needed to rehome his senior Livestock Guardian Dog.  We agreed to take him and Chrys went to pick him up after work the next day.  Leo is about 10 or 11 years old and sometimes has a little difficulty getting up, but he is just supper awesome and SO sweet.  We have started giving him a daily aspirin to help with his aches and pains.  Hopefully, as the weather warms, some of that will go away.  Leo could also use a good haircut and grooming, but since it is so cold that will wait until spring.  Leo is a Great Pyrenees. 

THEN……….About a week or so ago, some very awesome market friends needed to rehome their young Livestock Guardian Dog.  It was at this time that Abby came to live on the farm.  Abby is very smart, if not a little bit spoiled, and she is absolutely gorgeous.  She made fast friends with our young girl, Tess, and now everybody’s trash from at least a 10 mile radius is in our yard.  :/  Abby is ½ Great Pyrenees and ½ Anatolian Shepard.

And finally…………..The girls brought home a precious little bundle of joy for their daddy as a Christmas present.  Tippi is a Border Collie and hopefully one day she will assist in bringing the girls to the barn when they get stubborn so that I don’t have to walk across the pasture 500 times just to get them in to milk.  In the meantime, she is conducting her own form of destruction on everything in the house.  :/

 

 

Gypsy With Her Goats

Yesterday was such a pretty day.  We sure enjoyed being outside with the animals and we even managed to get quite a bit accomplished.  Gypsy was hard at work sticking close to a couple of the expectant moms.

Gypsy with Prayer and Jersey.

The "Other" Farm Hands

We tell you a lot about the goats, but we are equally as proud of our Livestock Guardian Dogs.

These girls work very VERY hard to make sure that everything is as it should be on the farm and they are the reason that the goat herd is always safe.

Yesterday morning I was out moving some of the goats around.  Suddenly, I heard "The Bark".  All three dogs took off!  Shasta stayed in the pasture with the goats, which is where she is 99% of the time.  She stationed herself at the perimeter fence and barked.  Sadie and Gypsy took off.  Sadie was out and across the west fence before I knew what was going on.  I got to watch Gypsy take off, jump over the north fence and head west across the neighbors pasture.  I watched them until they were almost to the west side of the field and all I could see were small white specks.  I am not sure what had them upset, but I can tell you two things.  (1)  Sadie doesn't "go out" unless she thinks it is absolutely necessary (She is the alpha female and normally will just give orders to the other two girls). And (2)  Those dogs are AMAZING to watch work!

Below are some pictures of the girls.

 

Gypsy on her post.  She can see and definitely hear everything from here.

 

Sadie looks like she is sleeping, but rest assured that she knows everything that is going on.

 

Gypsy (left) and Shasta (right) in the pasture with the goats.

 

This is an older photo, but one of my favorites.  All three girls on post.

 

This is also an older photo of Chrys and Sadie discussing farm security issues.  :)

  

Although she is not a Livestock Guardian Dog, Cammi is my dog and she is so very loyal.  Anywhere I might be on the farm, she is right there with me...or waiting on me.  Cammie is a Shetland Sheep Dog (Sheltie).

  

I know.  This isn't a dog.  This is, however, Cammi's kitty.  This is Callie and from the minute she stepped foot on the farm she became a big part of our family.  She also immediately became best friends with Cammi and the two of them are nearly inseparable.

A Snowy Morning...With A SURPRISE!

There was a time when I LOVED snow. Although I still think it is pretty to look at, it sure does make life on the farm so much more difficult. In fact, I am not a fan of cold weather (never have been). When the weather is cold and cold and snowy, then everything is harder. Not only do you have to make sure that all of the critters are well taken care of, even if you are freezing to death, but even just the layers of clothes that you put on to try to stay warm make every move feel like you are climbing a mountain. I much prefer summer, and shorts and flip flops. :)

Below are just a few photos from this morning at the farm and the surprise that we received with the first snow of 2012.


Shasta (the LGD) and Helga together watching the snow from the open doorway.

A HUGE pile of goats huddled together in the middle of the barn. This was actually kind of strange that the majority of the girls were huddled together like this. First of all, it wasn't that cold in there and second of all, usually when they huddle together they will do it in small groups rather than in one BIG group like this.

Jynger, sitting in the middle of the group, looks completely miserable. She "sat" like this for about 5 minutes or so. Poor thing. Just a few more weeks and her babies will be born then she can regain her slim and trim figure and be a whole lot more comfortable.

The plants in the greenhouse this morning. They are looking SO good. On the far right where it looks like just dirt in the pots we have snow peas coming up. MMMMM.......can't wait for a good stir fry. Who am I kidding? I like to just sit out in the garden and "graze" on snow peas! :) Notice the snow on the top of the greenhouse.

View looking out the south door of the greenhouse this morning at one of the gardens. It's kind of hard to believe that if we get enough drying in the gardens this week to till again that we will begin planting this next weekend.

And NOW>>>>>>>>>>For the SURPRISE>>>>>>>>>>>>

Little miss Mattie (one of the Saanen does that we purchased a few weeks ago) kidded this morning with a big healthy single GIRL!!!!!!! I brought her in to the house and finished cleaning her up and got her warm and dry then fed her some colostrum (boy can she eat!) then I took her back out to the barn so that her mom can take care of her for a couple of days. I have no idea what to name her, but Snow keeps coming into my mind. I guess because (1) she is white and (2) she was born on the first snow day of the year. :)

Disaster Diverted

A disaster was diverted this morning thanks to our WONDERFUL and ever FAITHFUL Livestock Guardian Dogs. Both of the younger adult dogs, Shasta & Gypsy, came up with blood on their necks (not their blood) and one of Shasta's hind feet is sore. When Chrys left for work he said that there was a pack of dogs out on the road. All of the LG dogs, including the pups, have been on high alert ever since. Shasta won't leave the milkers (although she rarely does anyway) and Gypsy won't leave from the perimeter of the dry does pasture. Both of the pups are even on high alert and periodically sounding off at the perimeters this morning. Sadie, of course, is alert close to the house and barking directions to the others. :) (The Alpha female position must be a good spot to be in.)

I wish people would keep their dogs at home. Just because you live in the country does NOT mean that it is okay for your pet (cared for, neglected, or otherwise) to go onto someone else's property and wreck havoc. I have seen what a pack of "pet" dogs can do to a herd of goats. It is NOT something I ever want to see again!

Shasta this morning in the milking does pasture. You can see a faint red color around her neck. Gypsy's looked the same but she wouldn't let me get close enough this morning for a photo shoot. :)

This is Mya. She and Tess (the pups) have both been on high alert this morning and have stayed close to the milking does and Shasta.

The dry does coming up when I called them so that I could inspect and get a head count. (Everyone was accounted for and looking good.)

Dry does still coming up......

....and they are here and getting all of their little noses counted.
(Notice Gypsy behind the group that is around the tree.)

Cammie and Charlie Cow counting each other's noses.
Yep! They are both here! LOL

Airi, in the milking doe pasture. Not a real good picture of her, but it kind of goes along with her attitude. ;)

Good Dogs Gone Bad????

The new livestock guardian dog pups are now about 3 months old. For the most part it seems that they are really good pups. Shasta has taken the reign on their training, as we had hoped, and "most" of the time she has them in the goat pastures with her or if it is milking time then she makes them come into the holding area with her and goats.

Shasta with Tess (what you can't see is that the goats are just to the left of the dogs eating their dinner)

Tess

Mya

Cammie (about 8 1/2 months old now)
Not a livestock guardian dog, however she is suppose to be a herding dog and she is definitely my little buddy now.

Cammie


Now.........Remember that I said that Shasta has the pups in the goat pasture most of the time........Well, she does seem to let them have a little R & R time in the evenings. I'm wondering if maybe she should re-think this policy.

Just who I thought was tearing up the cushions on our swing. :(

What we didn't know is that Cammie was also one of the culprits. I guess there is a reason that Shasta wouldn't let the pups play with her when they first arrived at the farm.

New To The Farm

Introductions are in order!

These two darling little girls have a future in the security system here at the farm. These girls are half Anatolian Shepherd and half Great Pyrenees, which is what our other three livestock guardian dogs are and we just love love LOVE this mix. :)

With Sadie being 7 and Shasta & Gypsy both being 5 now, we felt like it was a good time to get a couple of young recruits and let the older girls help train them. After all, experience trains well. :)

The little girl on the left with the black mask is Tess. The little blonde girl.....we are still debating on a name. Any suggetions?

( I guess I have the date messed up on my camera. The date should be 7/18/2011.)

SADIE WORKING......or not.....

The big brave livestock guardian dog is not so big and brave when it comes to the sound of a gun shot (or the site of a spot light for that matter). Last night Sadie pushed her way in the house when Megan came home then promptly took up post beside the wood stove. Meg layed down on the rug with her and they both snoozed for a bit, then Sadie had to go back outside to help the other two LGDs with their goat herd responsibilities for the night.

Makes me really wonder what all kinds of trouble Sadie got into in her pre-Canyon Ridge Farms days. :)

LIVESTOCK GUARDIAN DOGS

Guardians for your livestock are essential. Don't believe me? Check out our Livestock Guardian Dog page on our website at www.canyonridgefarms.com and read our story about the importance of livestock protection on our Livestock Guardian Dog page.

All three of our girls are part Anatolian Shepard and part Great Pyrenees. I truly love this mix.

This is Sadie and her favorite person in the whole entire world. I don't guess I blame her. He is my favorite person in the world too. :)

This is Shasta. This is not a good picture of her because she is an absolutely gorgeous girl and normally doesn't have that silly look on her face. Shasta is the the girl that is almost always right with the goats. The other girls guard perimeters and area but the goats belong to Shasta.

This is Gypsy. Gypsy and Shasta are full sisters and littermates. For some reason Gypsy didn't want to look towards the camera at all when I was taking pictures.



Sadie and Shasta

Well.....it has been a few days since our last blog so here is a quick update.

GARDENS - The gardens are not doing so well. It seems that we have a little (big) problem with our soil. The plants get up so big and quit or they "start" putting on fruit and then quit! We are working to make the corrections to the soil, but it doesn't look like it is going to be a quick fix...this may actually be a long term issue. What ever it is with the soil it seems to be great for broccoli but not much of anything else. We will probably have some produce for market in a few weeks, but that is not for certain. Right now, I am just canning what we are able to get out of the gardens. :(

GOATS - The goats are doing well for the most part. We got two new little doelings and they are doing fine. Cute little things. :) All of the other babies are doing well too.

We have moved the milkers from twice a day milking to once a day milking. They aren't liking it very much but right now, that is the best situation for us.

We avoided a near disaster with our yearling buck, Norman, yesterday. It appears that he had urinary calculi but we think the we got the problem diverted in a timely manner and he seems to be doing fine now. A big thanks to my brother and my wonderful husband for their help with this.

COWS - The cows are doing fine. We were trying to work them yesterday so that they could be moved to the rented pasture. The horses through a glitch in that! As soon as we started trying to get the cows up, the horses started running the cows and caused major havock with the whole bunch! We were only able to actually get 1 cow and her calf worked.

HORSES - Horses STINK! See cows for reasoning on this determination.

FAMILY - The family is doing great! We had a big family dinner this past weekend. We sadly had 3 of the neices/nephew who were not able to attend, but everyone that was there seemed to have a good time. It is always great to get the whole family together!