Real Quick

I'm too tired to do a long post tonight, but I did want to announce that Nommy had her babies today, a buck and doe.  More on that tomorrow, but here's a sneak peek..

And someone shared this with me on Facebook and I just HAD to pass it on...it's like the perfect homesteading song!

A Watched Pot

Still in waiting mode.  I let Fiona out for a bit today since she seems completely uninterested in going into labor.  She's been in the kidding stall during the days for a week now.  I keep her in the stall overnights in case she kids.  These are Sparta kids, so I am very anxious to see these babies!

And the turkey mama is still setting on a nest of chicken eggs.  Not sure how that's gonna work out...but at least they're not duck eggs...

Meanwhile the tom struts and waits.

We had to go into town to the hardware store and get a new drain for the ducktub.  We also got a ball valve to put on the drain line so that we don't have to use a plug.  I'm hoping to get that project finished early in the week so that I can start on the garden.  Right now the ducks' favorite resting spot is on the garlic....or in the garden spot.  We gotta get them penned up soon.

The Boyz

I spend so much time talking about the does, taking pictures of them, milking them, oohing and ahhing over them.  I figured I'd introduce you to the goat menfolk around here.  In order of length of time they've been here, starting with the "old man"....

Manny has been with us since June 2008.  Here is his "baby" picture...he was about 6 mo old.

Manny is a big fuzzy goofball.  We call him the 'old man' because he is very much the king of his castle, he's great at teaching the uppity young bucks manners; yet he is very gentle with the does and can even be trusted with yearling does.

Manny puts width and depth on his kids.  Look at the width of his chest floor, even as a kid. 
Every one of his offspring has amazing body depth and rear width, his rear legs are so incurved you would expect him to be bow legged...but he's not...

Plus not only does he produce great milkers, he throws spots too!

Our next buck is Ditto.  He was born Christmas day 2008...and came to live here about a month later.  He was always a scrawny little kid, but shortly after he turned a year old he began to blossom.  And grow.  And grow.  He was slow to mature, but he has turned into our most stylish buck.  Notice that the pictures below are not stacked, he's not on a lead....and there are no hands on him.  Yes, he looks that good.

When he is in rut, he looks like a black angus bull....only more dairy.

Yesterday he was doing a Sasquatch impersonation.  Don't tell the Discovery Channel...

Next would be Pete.  Aka Peterbuilt.  We leased him a couple of years ago to get more height into our herd, and ended up buying him.  Pete is big.  He's tall, he's long, he's impressive.  Think pony size.  To give you an idea of his size, this gate comes up to my chin.

He is as gentle as he is big, and he has yet to produce an ugly kid.  I need to get some better pictures of him.

Our newest boy is Beaux; aka Bodeo, Bodacious....and crybaby.  He is just now 13 months old, but we already have his first kid on the ground....Holly.  He is a combination of my 2 favorite Nubian lines....and we're hoping for lots of stylish & milky daughters from him!

So far we are very happy with what we are seeing; it will be interesting to see how he matures.  Keep in mind, he's just a yearling!

Well, those are our current herdsires.  Sparta and Moon moved on to other herds shortly after breeding season, so we should have some kids born soon by bucks not pictured above.

We have been blessed to be able to buy the best; the Lord has always provided a way...at just the right time.

Check This Out!

I was going to post pictures of the bucks today, I've been working on their feet this week and giving them a good once-over now that they have their brains returned to their cranium and they are out of rut.

But first....

On Saturday Bob and I made a quick run to a nearby town to the gamebird farm so that we could study their enclosures and come up with some ideas for workable confinement for our birds.  On the way home, a nearby business had a bunch of wooden crates and odds and ends piled out behind.  We knocked to see if there was anyone working to ask about them....but there was no one there.  So I figured I'd go back on Monday and ask.  I forgot.

Until yesterday.  So at 8 am sharp me and a volunteer went to ask about the scrap wood.  They said that at least once a month they have a bonfire to get rid of it because it's all just shipping crates.  They said we were welcomed to pick it up each month!  YEAH!

So check this out!  This is the first load...

Those are 1/2" plywood crates.  I'm thinking kid box for newborn kids....chick brooders.....

Lots of boards from heavy oak pallets.  We got three loads in all...

What a blessing!!

We also started building what will be the duck pool and deck.  We've discovered that one of the Buff ducks that we thought was a hen, is a drake.  So we're building a small pen with a duck house, pool, and deck for a pair of the Buffs and the Pekin.  We'll house the other pair separately.  Maybe in the freezer.

Now that we have a plethora of scrap wood for building, the duck pen is under way..

The drain line from the tub goes directly onto the compost pile.  It will add nutrients and water every time I clean the pool...

We're building a 2' wide deck around 2 sides, with a ramp for them to get up and down.  Then on the opposite end of the pen we're building a duck house with hinged lid for egg removal. 

A big thanks to Kelly at Happy Hollow Homestead for the idea of using the tub as a duck pond!

I'll post pictures as we get it done.  There's some bad weather headed this way that's gonna slow us down for a couple of days...but I hope to have this project done by the end of the weekend.

Gonna Be A Doozey!

I thought we were going to have a light kidding season.  I thought that only a few of the does had settled.

I was wrong.

BOY was I wrong!

I can't remember the last time I had 11 does freshen in one season.

Right now it looks like the only doe not settled is Angel, and possibly Glory.  Good, I wanted her to take a year off.

Keep in mind, we've already had 4 does freshen since Nov 28; plus it looks like all of these girls are bred:

Nommy X Pete - due 3/1

Fiona X Sparta - due anytime

Genesis X Beaux - due 5/9

Fame X Sparta - due April or May

Pie X Pete - due 5/5

Ginger - really hoping I'm wrong on her it would be an oopsie breeding by Sparta.

Farrah X Sparta - due April or May

And all except Fiona are first fresheners.  Oh my!  They are all due before May 13 (+/- 5 days).  I'm so anxious to see these babies!

Fiona got moved to the day spa 2 days ago.  Last year she gave me no warning that she was about to pop....and had her baby in the loafing area overnight.  This year I'm not taking any chances, the barn cam is on....

And Joy's babies have hit another milestone.....they are finally on the lambar bucket!

I've made a number of feeding buckets this year since the kids will be so spread out in age.  Holly and Rita are down to 1 milk feeding per day....sometimes 2 if it's really cold.

Harmony and Treasure still get 3 feedings per day.

It won't be long and we'll start again.

I sure am ready to get cheese going! 

Getting There!

I don't know about anyone else, but I am itching for spring!

Our brooders are filling up, and more eggs are hatching almost every day.  We've got 3 Frizzle chicks now...one of which already shows the feathering, so I'm very excited about that!

I think I enjoy watching the ducks the most, though.

We are so blessed to have these, considering there for a while we thought we had a total loss with the ducks.  Duck has become an important meat for us.  When you consider we raise at least 90% of our own meat....and we don't have beef....it's nice to have a variety when it comes to poultry. 

But until they go into the freezer....I enjoy watching them bathe and play.  I am glad that our animals have a good life.

Some of the critters around here are living in the lap of luxury for sure.  Holly and Rita are the new monster kids.  Holly weighs 45# and Rita weighs 42#.  They are about 10 weeks old...

We have a couple more weeks until the next round of babies are due.  Hummus went to his new home this week, what a handsome buckling....

I think his sisters are enjoying the extra attention...

I have actually squeezed in time to finish making our breakfast sausage for the year!  I'm glad to have that finished!  When we butchered the pig, we just ground the meat for the sausage and put it into the freezer.  I finally pulled it out and got it done...

I did some of it at Christmas time, but never got it all finished.  This is our supply of breakfast sausage....until we do it all over again.

I found my new favorite biscuit pan.  It's actually a pie pan.  A cast iron pie pan.  It was a real splurge for me, but I believe it was money well spent.  After running it through my seasoning process, I made the first pan of biscuits in it....and I have to say folks....cast iron is a beautiful thing for baking.

I'm not trying to be greedy....but I do have my eye on a cast iron bread pan.  It's one of the few things I don't have in my collection, and after seeing how nice things bake in iron...I'm adding it to my 'must have' list.  Until then, I'll keep using this fabulous pie pan...to make fabulous biscuits and pies!

I was also able to wrap up another project.....the sauerkraut!  It is wonderful....

I'll be thawing a MsPiggy pork roast to grind to make some sausage worthy of this kraut.  I'm thinking a spicy smoked bratwurst.  Home made roll, add the kraut to make a bed for a spicy smoked brat and top it with a bit of mustard.  I'm drooling.  I'd better get to work!

Oh, and another project in the works.  Remember that crate that I brought home and painted to use as a potato growing bin?  Well I'm finally getting it ready to plant!

It still looks a bit rough, but trust me it's gonna look nice when I'm finished...and hopefully the Pontiac Reds that I'm planting in there will like it as well!

I need ideas for another re-cycle treasure.  It's a very small fiberglass bathtub.

I thought about using it in the aquaponics, I thought about using it as an herb bed....but wondered if y'all had any ideas?

Disbud and Tattoo

One of my least favorite chores during kidding season is disbudding and tattooing kids.  For the first time last year we decided to leave the horns on our meat wethers, just to keep their birth to death as comfortable and humane as possible.  Well, horns are neither comfortable nor are they humane for goats in a small homestead/dairy situation.  Last year reminded me of this.  I was reminded every time I had to go get their heads unstuck from the fence.  A goat with it's head stuck in 100º + weather will heatstroke in just a short time.  A goat with it's head stuck is easy prey for dogs or other predators.  Yep, I was reminded of why I go through this process with each and every goat born here.

Even though these kids are 15 days old, their horn buds are just now big enough to do.  Some kids are born with buds big enough, some have to mature a bit.  I do each goat on a case by case basis; there's not a particular age that it's done.

Especially with triplets that tend to be a bit smaller, better to err on the side of caution.  Well here's the last picture of smooth heads...

The tattoo is needed for identification, it makes me feel better to tattoo every kid, whether registered or not....so that I can still ID them even if they've been sold.

The triplets are registered, so their right ear will have our herd tattoo, the left ear will have their unique letter/number combination.  This is a D tattoo year.  I have 2 tattoo kits, the one for the right ear always stays the same.  By having a second kit it makes the process go faster for each kid.

Once the numbers and letters are installed, I always test it on a piece of paper.  You only get 1 shot at the tattoo (unless you like a lot of paperwork!)....so you might as well take the extra time and make sure it's right the first time!

I gather all of the equipment needed for the procedures.  I disbud and tattoo all at once, so there's just a few minutes of trauma, then it's all finished.

Besides the tattoo kit itself, I have clippers (for shaving the head prior to disbudding), alcohol (for cleaning the tattoo needles and also cleaning the kids ear), tattoo ink (I have found that the green roll on is the best), a soft bristled toothbrush (for rubbing the ink into the tattoo), and Rescue Remedy.

Rescue Remedy is a tincture designed to help the body cope with stress.  I use it for any sort of physical or emotional stress, and I use it in all species (dog, cat, rabbit, goat, people..etc).

While I am gathering supplies, I plug in the disbudding iron so that it is fully heated by the time I'm ready for it.

The other supplies for the process is a test board (to test the temperature of the iron), a pair of leather gloves, a kid holding box, and my trusty pocket knife (for popping the cap off the bud once it's been burned).

This is not the time to be rushed, take your time and do a good job.  It takes a bit of time but take the time and the kid will be free of scurs.  Here's little Harmony just seconds after the procedures are finished...

And now the triplets are done...and wanting some milk..

In just a few weeks the hair grows back over the top of the head and you can't tell anything was done (except for a lack of horns!).  It's not so bad really, just ask Holly milkface..

Sick or not, it's what we do!

I'm feeling a bit better.  Now it's time to catch up!  It doesn't really matter if you get sick, there's still plenty of things that must get done on a homestead.  Typically when I'm sick, the first thing to let go of is housework.  Come to think of it, it kind of goes on it's own.  Sparkly floors and windows are not a top priority.  Dishes get done, meals are cooked, and of course...the never ending war on laundry must always be fought...but the other things get ignored until I feel good.

Other things are more important, because after all...life goes on! 

And boy howdy has it been going on!  Our duck flock has expanded.  Remember we had a duck massacre in October.  Of the 17 eggs that I picked up that day, we have raised 2 of the ducks.  They are the ones pictured below on the right...

Not long after the massacre, a friend gave me a pair of Buff ducks that were part of the original flock.  They are the ones pictured above on the far left.  Of course the white Pekin is one given to us a couple of weeks ago.  Well the Buff pair has been busy producing eggs and this weekend we started duck season!

The first 2 hatched successfully and they are on the right track.  Lord willing, we will hatch and raise enough eggs over the next couple of months to produce a years' worth of duck meat for our family.

We've had a good number of quail hatching as well.  Enough have hatched that we've realized there's a problem.  When I first bought quail for breeding, we started with a handful of birds (I think 8) about a year and a half ago.  Last March they began laying, and we have kept offspring, bred them....kept offspring, bred them...you get the picture.  Since they can reproduce as early as 6 weeks of age, we've had a number of generations from those original birds over the last year.  So far for 2013 we have had 12 quail eggs hatch.  3 of the new chicks had a club foot and had to be put down.  It is time to add a bit of chlorine to our quail gene pool.  I made a trip to a gamebird hatchery and got the genetic diversity we needed!

The yellow quail are the ones that we hatched (they are Texas A&M jumbo whites).  I added 3 more varieties, 5 of each....Tibetan, Italian, and Pharoah.  So now we'll have 4 color patterns which will help me keep track of the bloodlines....so that I don't too tightly inbreed.

They have all settled in quite nicely, and we should have some chicks by the end of summer!

If you want fresh eggs, but can't have chickens....I suggest quail.  5 quail eggs = 1 large chicken egg.  Quail eat less, poop less, reproduce faster.....and they taste great grilled!

Just about every critter here has a job to do.  Even the chihuahuas....their job is to keep us warm and to wake up the big dogs if there's a problem.

But there is an exception to that rule.  My Frizzel Cochin Bantams.  They don't lay many eggs, they really don't have much meat on them (I like them too much to eat them anyway)....and they can't be turned loose to eat bugs...because the "real" chickens beat them up.  There only job is to make me smile.

That's the rooster on the right, and the 3 hens on the left.  2 of the hens show the Frizzel gene, the 3rd hen carries the gene but is normally feathered.  I love these birds, they are very gentle....and their curly feathers go all the way down to their toenails.  Their body size is about the size of a grapefruit.  I recently was gifted a white hen, but she was sort of a rescue...and needs a bit of TLC before I try using her for breeding.

When she is well enough, I'll breed her to my Partridge Cochin bantam roo.  You can't cross birds that show the frizzel feathering to each other, or the chicks can be born as baldies.  So each outcross you get some that show the pattern, some that don't..but carry the gene, and some that don't show and don't carry.  They really are a neat study on genetics.

But I digress. 

Since I can't find any frizzels around here to expand my color breeding.  While I was at the hatchery, I picked out another completely useless bird to add to my little time wasting project.  A white Silkie.  Yep, hen or roo....I want to see what happens when we cross a Silkie with a Frizzel.  I can't wait!

Okay, a quick update on goat kids and then I've got to clean my house. 

Silly's daughter Rita is turning out to be a very nice show prospect....

At just 8 weeks old, her overall width and dairy character is impressive.  She reminds me so much of her mother.  Holly isn't bad either, but Holly is much longer bodied and shorter legs.....the body style I really prefer for overall production (kids & milk)...

Rita is classy and stylish....I think she'll be a show-stopper, but of course we've got a ways to go before we're there...I think Holly will be the milk maker.

And then there's the new kids....

Harmony is just stunning...and she knows it..

But Treasure has that face.  Such a beautiful face.  And look at the tiny white dot on her chin...

And those of you that have dairy goats, check out Joy's udder.  Keep in mind she is a first freshener!

Her teats are a bit on the outside, but that is the only flaw.  She milks out in minutes, and is just shy of 8# per day at 6 days fresh!

Excellent attachments, strong medial....and look at how smooth her fore udder is!

Joy is the first Manny daughter that we've freshened....I am SO glad we never sold him! 

Every day we work hard, days turn into weeks, months, and years.....and the Lord has richly blessed us for our efforts!