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.

BFF (Barn Frog Friend) 2012

This little froggy lived in a hole in the wall of our holding area all summer long.

Now with the cooler weather, and I suspect with the returning of his friends, he has left us.

I am going to miss his evening serenades.

The Boys

We always talk about the girls, but today we are going to introduce you to the boys.

I didn't have pictures of all of them and I wasn't about to get in the pasture with them.  If I did, they would want me to pet them and love on them and at this time of year, when they are in rut, that is the last thing that you want to do because these boys STINK.    Anyway, that is why there is a fence in the pictures between them and me.  :)

Woody

Woody is our Nubian buck.  He is black with long frosted ears and he is the sweetest guy.  Woody was born here on the farm and we bottle raised him.  Woody's mom is Rosie and she contributes her wonderful milk each day for your milk and cheese.

 Woody's sire's name was Cheers so we played off of that using character names from the sitcom "Cheers".

Woody has a full sister on the farm by the name of Norma for the character Norm.

 

Alvin

Alvin is the young guy and he is a La Mancha.  We got Alvin last December at a few days old and bottle raised him.  Alvin is a sweetie, but he seems to think that he is extra special......I say he is spoiled.........and he can get into a bit of mischief.

We named Alvin after the character Alvin, of the Chipmunks.  That way I can holler AAAAAl VIN!!!!!  :)

Ed

 Ed is our La Mancha buck.  He is long and tall with a lot of color so we are anxious to see how much color he adds to his kids.

 

Bob

 And finally, there is Bob.  Bob is a Saanen and one of the most notable things about Bob's appearance is that it looks like he has a bad toupee.......a really really bad toupee.

 

I'm not sure why Bob and Ed got the names that they did except that they just seemed to 'fit'.

Who Is Spoiling Who?

Our grandbabies with little Miss Sparkle.

The girls love to go out and see the baby goats.

Scarlet's Baby

After a VERY long wait, Scarlet finally presented us with a bouncing baby boy yesterday afternoon.

I was actually starting to get a little worried about her because she has been SOOO miserable for several weeks now.  She did fine though and she is a very good little momma.  :)

Diego

Freckles New Baby!

UPDATE:  We have convinced our granddaughter that Sparkle is a great name for this little girl.  :)

Freckles presented us with a beautiful baby girl yesterday.  :)

Freckles and Scarlet were in a race to see who would kid first and I fully expected it to be Scarlet, but Freckles won when she had her baby at approximately 1:30 pm yesterday.  

Mom and baby are both doing fine.  

Hopefully Scarlett will have her baby today.  I sure hope so because she is miserable.

Freckles and her baby girl. 

If you look very closely, you can see several light colored spots on her side.  These are called moon spots.

Our 4 year old granddaughter wants to name her Spots, but we'll see.

Farm Happenings

WOW!  It is hard to believe that it is July already!  It seems that so much has already happened this year, but there is so much left to do and the year is half over already.  I guess what they say about time going faster and faster as we age is really true.............although I wouldn't know because I am remaining "nearly 40" and, No, I will not tell how near or on which side.  :)

Last year we dealt with the extreme heat and drought.  Hay for the winter was very scarce and very expensive.  This year the heat hasn't been quite as bad (yet), but we are dealing with drought conditions again which has had us stressing about our winter supply of hay for the girls (and boys).  Last week, out of the blue, we received a phone call which resulted in our winter hay supply being delivered.  It is never cheap, but we now have our winter hay supply and that is such a relief.  :)

Well, as of Sunday, Maggie has joined the other "ladies" that are in retirement here at the farm.  We had already decided to retire Maggie after this milking season, and the last week or so she has not really been wanting to go up on the milk stand.  We finally relented on Sunday and let her begin her retirement early.  As of tonight, she was wanting back on the milk stand.  LOL  It is time for her to have a rest.  She has served us well and has taught us SO much.  Maggie is one of our original girls and there are so many stories and happenings of this sweet girl over the years.  We look forward to many more years with our dear friend, but from this point forward she no longer has to work.........although I'm not sure that she has ever considered her duties here as work (she is kind of spoiled).

Below is a picture of Maggie as a 2 year old.

This is Maggie in 2011 just after she had her babies.

The following girls are also in retirement on the farm.

Patty

Thunder

This picture was taken the spring before the dog attack.  You can read about the dog attack on our Livestock Guardian Dog page.

Stormie