Nigerian dwarf goats

Meet Buckie and Dot, I have never had this breed before but from what I’ve read they have a higher milk fat content than some breeds so next summer I guess I will find out.

They are the cutiest little things! Their personalities are adorable, they make me laugh every day.

Some projects I get antsy with and want done now, I need to practice patience

Hubby found me a milk cow (Jersey) in April for a really good price. It was kind of a friend of his has a friend that has a small dairy farm (12 cows) and said he would sell us a 2 1/2 year old that just had her first baby. I was so excited! I cleaned out the side of the barn for my dairy cow, had it all ready then hubby came home looked at the barn saw problems I didn't see.....so like usual my clean barn, get cow ended up so much more!

The roof of the lean-to had separated from the barn and was slowly falling in. Jim used the tractor to raise the roof up to reattach it then realized it was to far gone.

With the supports being lifted with the tractors help when he lowered it back down everything pulled loose and the roof came down.

Jim ended up having to push it over. Thank goodness for sweet nephews and daughter that came and helped me clean it all up.

Next Jim had to level the ground before we could add on the new lean-to, about this time I was feeling really good like it might just get done in time to still be able to get Chile (the dairy cow).

Before we could do that though the boards had to be replaced that pulled off when we pushed to lean-to over.

On weekend 4 we pulled out the big guns and my father in law came out. :) Jim and him framed it and added the roof, good thing we have a dust to dawn light in the yard or they would have been finishing it by moonlight and the moon was not full!
Now that we had it framed the next Saturday all we had left to do was put walls on both sides, door on the other and head catcher inside Then the next day to pick up our jersey.

That was 3 weeks ago and it has worked out so well! Jim made a cow milker so it only takes me on average 5 to 6 minute's to milk her twice a day but then I spend at least 3 hours a day making cheese, yogurt, butter etc from the milk. I made some junket the other day that everyone liked and Velveeta cheese that was also well received.

vacation, home and new little ones

We had a really nice vacation! I told hubby we need to do this at least once every couple years :)

But it felt so good to see our driveway again!

It was nice to realize the next morning that nothing had changed.....short britches (Dexter calf) got into the yard and was trying to reach into the goat pin to eat their food. Gilbert (my goat) was as usual not happy about it....

The little guy (Rosie's calf) is now three weeks old, the poor girl can't take care of him by herself (developed a problem last year and now doesn't produce enough milk) so she brings him up twice a day and we give him a bottle.

Rosie still loves to lick the bottle after her baby is finished....

We did have a nice get together on July 4th, my 4 month old grand daughter was amazed by the fireworks...

My nephew's favorite thing was the desert...

Hubby and I went to a goat farm last week to get a 2 month old male goat...but we also fell in love with a 3 month old girl so we came home with both! Above is their family :) I have pictures of the new arrivals but can't seem to get them to load so maybe next post. The couple that have the farm are very nice, the kind of people you feel right at home pulling up a chair and talking a bit with.....of course we more or less did just that.....she even taught me a few things I didn't know about goats. All in all so far its been an eventful July!

Garden and a new Mister

I took these pictures of the garden June 1st 

The ground finally dried up and I got to tiller, the cucumbers, zucchini and tomatoes are doing great

This is the new mister, we usually go with a Black Angus but this time we got a chalet he is very calm and this makes me very happy! Not calm like I would try to pet him like I do my cows but calm as in he is happy with his surroundings and has not tried to cross any fences

Two baby goats

We have two new babies here on the farm, (one was given to us by a neighbor) his goat had four little ones so he let her (the mother) keep two and plans to bottle feed one and gave one to us. My Mom and Grand daughter are ecstatic, for the time being the little one is in the corner of our living room in a play pen.

She is so tiny I am surprised all four have made it so far.
 

Mom and Sid are waiting on her hand and foot! :)

Our other new addition came a few days later, Coco had her first baby and since it was a single birth her little one is almost twice as big as our bottle baby.

Coco and two day old baby

She has cute markings with a nice little star
on her head

It doesn't seem like that long ago that Coco
was born, here she is with her sister and
Mom (Connie) at two days old

This picture with Sid and Coco also shows how
much my grand daughter has grown

With these two little ones running around makes me want spring to hurry up!

December and a bit of January

There have been sooo many things happen in December that I did not have time to post, looking back its hard to remember everything! Mom was in and out of the hospital with pneumonia and since mom is a little afraid of being alone I stayed at the hospital with her only leaving to run home and take care of the animals and make sure everything was running well without me there...then back to the hospital. I do have good news Mom has been home this week and so far so good :) we are focusing on her getting her strength back this is also why (with the flue going around) we are planing on staying home and hopefully prevent her from getting this so soon after her bout with pneumonia. Here is a bit happiness from December

My little niece and nephew were also born in December :)

This is Libby she was born 12/5/12

This is Blake he was born 12/12/12

My Mom is on the left (Great Gma) and  my sister
on the right (Grandma) this was taken a week
before Mom got sick.

They are both doing great! We also had a few births here on the farm Ellie had a little girl and she was born 12/24/12 so her name is easy we decided to call her Noel, I liked Eve but we already have an Eve. Ellie is our Dexter and the little ones father is an Angus so we have our first Dangus (love that word) :)

She was only a few hours old in this picture I used the zoom
because I didnt want to upset Ellie.

We also have one birth so far for January this is Bella's baby (her first calf) and she did so good!

She also was only a few hours old when I took this picture, the
difference though is Bella's one of my pets so she let me walk
up to her calf to take the picture :)

We have also had a problem with coyotes the past few weeks, we usually see a few here and there and sometimes they come to close to the house for my comfort! The past week though we think they have a den close to the house (we found a place that looks like they are using) and since its mating season we can step out anytime after 6:00pm and hear them its almost like in a horror story, they sound sooo close and its at least 15 t0 20 of them. I am not worried as long as they leave our animals alone and they will calm down in a bit, it does make me jump though when I have to fill up the outside wood stove at night now and since we have had a few days of single digits it seems like I am our there more than normal! :)
 Just to be safe though I have Snowflake, Ellie and Bella and their babies in the barn lot so I can keep an eye on them. I am sure there have been other happenings here on the farm, but I am hard pressed to remember them all.

Snowflakes new little girl

Snowflake did not show up with the rest of the cow's last week, it was when hubby was home on vacation so we set out to find her.....

We found her near one of the corner markers of our fence with a big surprise for us, you can see the fence in the background...she got as far away form the other cows as she could get! This is our one late cow every year she delivers in August, since she didn't I assumed she was not pregnant and we would just get her on the same rotation as the other cows, but she choose to change my plans. :)

We usually leave the mother and baby alone since the mother likes to hide out for a few days and does not want to be bothered. Then when she is ready she brings the little one up and from then on  stays with the other cows (all of the cows will look out for the little ones).  Since she had such a late in the year calf and the weather turning cold........hubby decided it would be best to carry the calf  to the barn lot  so I can keep an eye on her. Snowflake is such a calm cow (lucky us) she just followed close to hubby all the way to the barn lot. She is one of those cow's that takes things as they go and trusts us, with eleven this could not have been accomplished so easily. With her and baby now in the lot they have access to one of the barn stalls to sleep in that I have covered with hay, she also has a round bale of hay all to herself and the heated water tank so fingers crossed the little one will do just fine.

Here she is checking out her baby after hubby and I left her alone in the lot :)

I think she approved of her new surroundings after checking out the lot and the interior of the barn, after no more than a half hour she had the baby all snug beside the hay bale and proceeded to start eating her self.

New baby girl

We had a new calf born Friday, I am not sure what the little one's problem was but she would not nurse her mother or get up. I waited 22 hours then loaded her up and took her and mommy to the upper lot so I could give her a bottle. The next day she still could not stand so I kept bottle feeding her.

Then finally on the third day when I helped her up she stood for almost 12 minutes before she sat back down, so I did this off and on. Now today she is finally standing on her own for hours at a time although now I am having trouble getting her to nurse her mom, she just waits for a bottle to be put in her mouth. Her Mom has even gotten used to it, after I give her a bottle her Mom cleans her up like its not upsetting her. Now how do I get her to start nursing? I cant get real close to the cow she is very protective so I keep eye contact with her while feeding the baby. I also keep the Polaris between her and I while bottle feeding so I am afraid to try to put the calf to her by myself and Hubby will not be home until Sunday so any ideas?

Snowball and her new baby

Snowball had her baby Friday evening

She had a girl Yay another one I can keep! Within half  hour of birth the baby was walking around and doing good. We had planned on getting four cow's this past spring in their third trimester (its part of our 10 year plan) but cows have went up (a lot) a good four year old will cost between $1200 to $1300 dollars. We changed our plans a little and decided any girls we have this summer we will be keeping, we will loose a year and a half (no baby) but its the easiest way for us to increase our heard when we don't have that kind of money. This way we also have a good idea of what kind of cows they will become because we have their Moms. Like Snowball (she is also Bella's Mom) always raises a good healthy calf, she is half Swiss and always has a lot of milk for her baby, so I hope Bella and this little one will be like their Mom. Also does anyone know how to copy ones blog? I keep record of all births and other things here on our farm and would like to have a backup.

New addition and fingers crossed lots of rain

Yay! We are getting some rain this morning! I hope it (slowly) rains all day, we need rain here so bad! The fields here on our farm have been looking an ugly dry brown lately, I really had not thought very much about it (we always get spring rains). Then last week the loss of rain really caught my attention our creeks (when I checked fences) are just barely running and both ponds have so much scum on top that I am glad the cows don't depend on the ponds for water. I was at the farmers co-op the other day and they are selling some kind of shock for the ponds for $65 in a gallon container but I don't like the idea of putting this in the water and the cows drinking it, I'm sure its ok but....

The little bit of rain so far this morning has cleared up the lower
pond, its fairly good sized and only had a little scum on it.

This is the small pond in the barn lot, it will
take a lot more rain to clear it up.

I had some bad new yesterday I called the gentlemen that I have gotten my round bales from for the past 4 years to order my usual 60 5x5 bales. I was slightly very disappointed, he said hay may be scarce this year because the first cuttings are only bringing in a little over half of the usual amount from the fields and the second cuttings may not be worth cutting! You know how that goes the loss drops down to the little guy soooo he said the round bales are going to cost an extra $12.50 per bale. Have you ever felt like you cant win for loosing! The glass is always half full though we are happy and healthy and we will pull the extra money from somewhere the main thing is at least we can get hay! :)

On a follow up the little guy is doing better (the shot has done wonders), he is starting to put more weight on his leg and walking around a bit....

 and back to throwing a fit if we are a tiny bit late with his bottle. I'm not sure who enjoys bottle time more him or my Mom! :)

We also have a new addition to the farm she (yay she I can keep her) was born on our 26th anniversary! Her Mom is a big Red Angus, she weighs about 1400 pounds and tall, so her baby should make a nice addition to our heard. She is a week old today and since I get to keep her does anyone have any ideas on a name?

 Big Red

This is her new little girl

New babies and a storm

We had both Cookie and Eve give birth within hours of each other on March 15! Problem was I only had the one birthing stall ready so I had to hurry and prepair the 2nd stall. Both mommies are doing fine, Cookie on the left had a single birth and Eve on the right had twins. With cookie just having the one he would make two of Eve's boy and girl, he is huge!

We had a fairly bad storm/s the evening the babies were born, the picture on the left is how the sky looked over the barn lot (after the first storm) and the picture on the right is behind the house (before the second storm).

Rosie and her baby

Rosie disappeared yesterday so I thought probably she went to bed down and have her calf so I left her alone. This morning I called the cows up and Rosie came but she had hidden the calf somewhere, so again I left her alone. Then this evening I called the cows up and she did not come, so worried about her because of coyotes, neighbors dogs and plus its going to get cold tonight with freezing rain they say. I lucked out and one of my sister happened to stop by for a visit so I put her to work helping me find Rosie. I had forgotten how a 1200 pound cow can disappear from the face of the earth if she does not want to be found! After over two hours of searching we went to the last place she was seen and tracked her. I have not done this in quite a while (about 15 years), so it took us almost 40 minutes of tracking to finally find her I guess we should have done that first though.

This is Rosie on the left when we found her. She does not look very hidden in this picture but she really was hard to see unless you got very very close.
On the right is me coaxing her to head for home. With Rosie she is very bull headed and it has to be her idea, so it took a while.






The picture on the left is Rosie and baby(finally) walking into the clearing and almost home!
On the right is Rosie getting her treat for being a good girl. This also gives her time to relax before we try to get her into the middle lot for the night.

Here is a picture of the new baby, with Rosie in the background. We had finally gotten Rosie to realize she wanted in the barn lot! I did not want to push the issue with her, if she would not have went in then we would have left her alone. I was keeping my fingers crossed though what with the weather and coyotes you never know......this way I will sleep better tonight.! :)

This is my sister Pat, I promised her as soon as Rosie decided to enter the barn lot she could set down....I just didn't realize it would be as soon as and the first thing she saw!! :)