The Barnyard Buffet

   Evening had settled over the barn, and the animals gathered for supper as if answering an unspoken invitation. At the far end, the old milk cow dipped her head into the blue makeshift feeder, the scrape of grain against plastic echoing softly in the wooden stall. She chewed slowly, patiently, her large frame steady and calm as the dim light caught the curve of her neck. 

   Closer to the ground, a small black pig rooted happily in a heavy metal dish, its back dusted with flecks of feed like golden confetti. The pig’s curly tail wagged with satisfaction as though every bite was a small celebration.

   But the pig was not alone in its feast. Two barn cats, striped and sleek, pressed in on either side. Their whiskers twitched as they lapped at the shared bowls, undeterred by the pig’s snuffling. It was a strange trio to see—cats and pig dining shoulder to shoulder—but in the barn, mealtime was a shared affair, not a competition. 

   From the shadows, a chicken shuffled in, feathers pale against the dusty floor. It pecked here and there, gathering what the larger eaters overlooked, adding to the sense of quiet harmony that hung in the air. 

   The barn smelled of hay, earth, and warm bodies, a mixture as old as farming itself. Each creature seemed content, caught up in the simple rhythm of feeding. For a moment, it was easy to believe the whole barnyard was a single family—different shapes, different sounds, yet bound together by the ritual of supper.

First Litter of Rabbits of 2025

It always amazes me just how quickly rabbits prepare and give birth to their babies. This vidwo was taken at 11:43 a.m. this morning, she had just started pulling hair a few minutes before the video started. By 11:56 a.m. she had finished giving birth to 11 kits and was out of the nestbox.

We have a new arrival and some heartache here at the farm...

   Molly, the miniature Mediterranean Donkey, came to live with us two Saturdays ago. I have wanted to get a donkey for several years. Last week I was talking to a friend of mine who mentioned that he is trying to cut down on the number of animals he has, and also mentioned he had a mini donkey for sale. I had to have her!

   She has been here for a little over a week and seems to be settling in nicely. I'm hoping she will bond with the goats (especially the babies once they start arriving) this winter and stay with them once I put them out to pasture again in the spring. Some of my older does are pretty set in their ways so its probably going to take more than a couple of months for Molly to win those girls over. Any babies born this year and after should bond with Molly from the start win no problem.
   I'm hoping Molly will fill the void we have right now in the 'protection' department. We had our old Chesapeake bay retriever, Whiskey, who thought he was a Great Pyrenees. He was raised on a farm with a Great Pyrenees for a few years before we got him. He loved people but did not like strange dogs or other critters in the pasture with "his" animals. This past year he has been slowing down a lot and not quite been up to par in the protection department. I'm not really sure how old he was but we've had him for almost four years and the lady we got him from said she thought he might be at least 5 or maybe 6 years old then. Sadly, Whiskey passed away yesterday. He will be greatly missed.

R.I.P. Whiskey. You will be greatly missed by our family.

Four years ago today.

Six years ago today.

 

Thursday, October 1st.

There are days I get the feeling T thinks I've sat around doing basically nothing while he has been at work all day. Today I've decided to track my hours.... or at least attempt to.

6:20 a.m. - Alarm goes off.... of course I push the snooze button. Did you really think I was a 'jump out of bed on the first alarm' kind of girl? If so, you are so wrong!

6:30 a.m. - Wake up. Take a few minutes to get out of bed, let the dog out, & see if Z is awake.

6:50 a.m. - Go see if Z is awake & realize I should have come in a few minutes earlier. He is still sleeping pretty soundly! Ugh. I don't like mornings like this. The last few days he's been awake when I got up. I like those days better than having to force him out of bed.

7:10 a.m. - Z is finally on his feet and out of his room! Once he is up, getting him to get dressed and ready doesn't take long. Good thing because the bus will be here by 7:30. He likes to eat lunch at school so most mornings he wont eat anything here.

7:27 a.m. - Bus is here. K is out of bed and running out to tell Z “Good-bye” to which I have to reign him back in because he is in his underwear, no pants. As soon as he realizes it he hurries to shut the door “we don't want them seeing my undies”. No, K, we don't want them seeing you in your undies!

7:30 to 7:45 a.m. - K and I take the papers out to burn. Today is garbage pick up day, so we set that out by the road too. He is such a good helper – when he wants to be!

During the time we were taking garbage out the big trucks from Hoffman's Farm started coming in. Must be they are going to cut the corn in the field behind Mom's house this morning.

7:45 to 8:30 a.m. - Fed the dogs. turned the eggs that are in the incubator. Now it is time to feed the outside critters. We started with the quail then moved on to the rabbits. We had just started watering the rabbits who are penned outside the barn when K headed for the house saying he was cold. He had shorts and a long sleeve shirt on but that wasn't enough on a morning when its a damp 47°. He never did return to help me. When I got back into the house he was sitting at the counter eating a can of peaches that he had opened all by himself. I guess it only makes sense – If I have to feed the furred and feathered critters, the kidlet must be hungry too.

8:30 to 9:00 a.m. - Clean up all of the toys that are scattered around the house. Not sure how we didn't get to this last evening before bed, but that isn't anything unusual. Sweep the floors. Then go back over the living room and dining room floors with the vacuum. K points out how much more dirt went into the vacuum canister even though I had just swept a lot up with the broom. I explain – again – if he and his brother would take their shoes and boots off as soon as the come in from outside there wouldn't be as much dirt on our floors each day. I swear it is a challenge for them, every day. To see who can track in the most dirt and mud. No worries, boys, your dad has you beat - hands down!

9:00 a.m. - I sat down to have a cup of coffee and check my email....”Somehow” I ended up on Facebook.

9:25 a.m. - I realize the time and decided I better get moving. I still haven't eaten, but that can wait.

9:30 to 10:00 a.m. - I cleaned cat litter boxes while K started to empty the dishwasher. I don't remember what distracted me but I didn't get back to help K. Then all of the sudden I heard Whiskey (the outside dog) barking and I realize that I hadn't taken him out by the barn. I like to do that so he doesn't scare 'my extra kids' who are coming for the day and their mother. Whiskey normally likes everyone but for some reason does not like they kids' mom. He was barking because the other kids are here. I ended up just bringing him through the house and onto the back porch while for now.

10:15 a.m. - Its time for K to start getting ready for school. He is in the afternoon Pre-K class so my Mom will be coming to pick him up soon. She gives him a ride to school on the days that I watch the other kids.

10:40 a.m. - “K you need to get out of the tub. Its time to go”. Typical day. He doesn't want to get a bath but then once I get him in the tub he doesn't want to get out.
Get him out of the tub, start getting him dressed and … Oh NO! … I still haven't packed his lunch!.. I know, I've had all morning, what seems to be the problem? … I throw something together really quick while Mom is helping him get his socks, shoes and coat on.

10:50 a.m. - K and Mom are out the door. They have twenty minutes until he has to be at the school door. Good thing they only have three miles to go.

10:50 to 11:45 a.m. - I spent this time reading to, redirecting and playing with the 1, 2, & 3 year old kiddos.

11:45 a.m. - The three Littles were all so chilled out this morning, I was about to lose them all to naps so I decided I better start lunch before they all fall asleep. Normally we don't do lunch until around 12:30 but today they are all extra tired or something. The three year old sounds like she has a cold so maybe that is why she's tired today.

12:00 to 1 p.m. - Lunch for the kiddos. I folded a load of laundry while they were eating. Got them all down for naps. Cleaned up from lunch.

1 p.m. - I ate lunch and spent some time catching up on emails and a few bloggers who I follow.

1:30 p.m. - Got a package of burger (just delivered to us last night) from the freezer, for tonight's dinner. The beef was raised on my land. The owner has cows but no land, I have land and not enough animals to eat all of the grass. This works out well for all of us.
Changed out the laundry, and put a load of towels into the washer. How does a family of four use SO many towels and wash clothes?

1:45 p.m. - Started writing this blog post. There are hundreds of things I should be doing, other than this, right now but there are three sleeping kiddos in my house so … Shhh.
I did manage to finish the job that K had started.... I emptied the dishwasher and then refilled it.

3:00 p.m. - How is it possible that its time to wake up the Littles! The older kids will be home soon.

3:30ish - 7:00 p.m. - Three crazy hungry kids get off the bus.
The other kids were picked up.
I made dinner. Everyone ate dinner.
I had Z practice his spelling words for tomorrow's test then K and I went out to start feeding animals, while Z watched tv with his dad.
I still have not located the crested ducks that we let out of their pen last week. I saw them one or two times after letting them out. I'm not sure if my pekin male has chased them all off or if something has eaten them. While feeding the buck goats I see that there is a white duck sitting in the pasture, all by itself. I sent K to herd or carry it back. He was a little leery at first because I've been telling him all summer to never go in the pasture because the bulls were in there. The bulls were sent to freezer camp last week, but K forgot that and was like "Mom, the bull will come get me". Poor little guy. I had to remind him they were no longer here. But I'm glad he knew to question me. He ended up carrying the duck to the fence and I carried it the rest of the way back to it's pen. It is very thin. I don't think its been eating or drinking for a few days. We looked around but still can't see the rest of them. There were five crested, two pekin, a black and white Swedish, and a grey and white Swedish. Maybe they've become coyote dinner.
Just as K and I were finishing up chores we heard the coyotes start howling not far away (at the base of the hill) and K got scared and decided he was going in the house. I have to admit they give me the heebie-jeebies too.

7:00 to 7:35 p.m. -  Bedtime routine for Z and K.

7:45 p.m. - Remember the load of towels are still in the washer... guess I better empty the dryer and fold those clothes so I can dry the towels.

8:15 p.m. - Get a call from my mother saying she forgot she has an appoint and can't take K to school tomorrow. Now I have to figure out how I'm getting K to school tomorrow, or will he just stay home with me and the other kids for the day.

9:09 p.m. - Are you kidding me!?! The towels still have not made it into the dryer! I'm going to do that right now. As tired as I am I should go to bed, but anyone who knows me well, knows I'll still be awake a few hours from now.

The one and only baby goat for the year...

I was not expecting him until around the 21st and until the 16th at the very earliest. He was born on April 10th. According to the breeding date he was born at 139 days gestation. The gestation period for goats is generally from 145 to 155 days with an average of 150 days.

This little fella is small but otherwise doing okay. He needed a little help eating for the first couple of days but he's becoming a pro now and I believe he will do fine. His Mama (Bubbles) is very protective and wont let him out of her sight. If by chance he is out of her sight, she makes quite a fuss, and is she ever noisy.... if I didn't know better I'd think she was full nubian, not just part nubian. I've lovingly nicknamed her Bellering Bubbles. (Is bellering or should it be bellowing?... hmmm.. I pronounce it beller so that is what I'm going with.)
So, here is a picture of the new baby, only minutes old.

 As soon as my 5 year old saw him he said he was going to name him Happy Feet. That seem appropiate for a baby goat, their feet are always on the move.

The baby pigs have arrived!

I haven't been sharing much here but I will make an effort to try harder... I know, I know.... I keep saying that and I can understand if you are all like "Yeah, whatever. We've heard that before!" I'm truly sorry but life seems to get in the way of my best laid plans. Then I get so far behind that I don't even know where to start updating... does that ever happen to you? I mean like when it has been a long time since you've seen a good friend then one day you do see them and you have so much to say to that person you just can't find a good place to start. Well that is the way I feel right now, so I'm just going to start blurting out whatever comes to mind..... you've been warned. [wink]

One of the first things that comes to mind when I think of recent things that have happened here on the farm is Red (the pig) had babies. This is the fist litter of pigs that have been born here since 2002. Yes, twelve years ago, that is a long time. Especially when you are trying to prepare for a new litter and can't remember the details of how to calculate the due date (yes I remember now it's three months, three weeks, and three days), the first signs of labor, etc. I really had to delve into the recessed of my brain to answer some of the questions that *T* had about pigs having babies. This is the first litter he has ever seen born or had any part in raising.... it has been quite an experience for him .... and for me trying to reassure him everything will be fine.... I really think he was as nervous about these baby pigs' delivery as he was when I was in labor for our two boys. He'll never admit to it but it's true!

So, here is a picture of Red a little over a year ago on April 14th. We had just brought her and her sister (Patches) home. They were about eight weeks old at the time.

 

Here they are the day we put them in the outside pen. They looked so small in that huge outside pen... but they loved it!

 

 

In mid November we helped my mom, who lives across the road, clean out her garden and the boys hauled some of the 'leftovers' home to give to Red. Yes, just Red, by then we had sold Patches and Red was our only pig. She had no problem cleaning up the garden leftovers by herself. I'm thinking she was kind of glad she didn't have to share her "goodies" with anyone.

 

She was one happy little (okay, big) piggie!

I almost forgot... I was going to tell you about our baby pigs... sorry I get sidetracked A LOT!!!

On January 1st a friend of ours brought his boar to visit Red for a couple of months. She was in heat the day he brought the boar but we wanted to make sure he was still here if she cycled again. We never noticed her in heat again, so we figured she should be due to farrow around the 25th of April. Well, I should say "I figured" because *T* counted the days differently than I did and came up with May 1st.... I'm not sure how he counted 115 days (three months, three weeks, and three days) from Jan. 1st and came up with May 1st. Either way, by April 24th she was getting pretty uncomfortable and couldn't lay still and didn't seem to know what to do with herself. While *T* was at work I moved her into a bigger pen, hoping she would be able to find a more comfortable position to have her babies.

The first one was born Friday, April 25th around 5pm

 

The boys thought this was great entertainment...

 

 After having seven babies she seemed to take a little break and I was thinking that she might be done. Seven is a nice size litter for a fist time mama pig.

 

 This was number twelve!!!! YES, TWELVE!!!
By this point it was like watching clowns get out of a VW.... how many more could there be in there?

 

After number thirteen Red got up and was walking around in her pen looking at the babies like "what are those things and how did they get here?" I will admit I was a little bit nervous that she wasn't going to want them at first. We stayed with her until after she laid back down, we wanted to make sure she didn't smoosh any of them.We were all getting tired and hungry so we left Red and went to the house to eat some dinner (it was close to 8pm) and get the boys ready for bed. After getting the boys settled into bed I went back to the barn to see if Red had passed the placenta..... she sure did.... and another baby! WHAT? I counted and recounted those wiggly little piggies almost a dozen times to make sure I was not mistaken.... sure enough, there were fourteen piglets! WOW. That is a lot of piglets for a first time mom.
Then when we were cleaning up and taking the placenta out we found one more that was dead. So she had actually had 15 babies. WOW.... I'm still in shock. I can not believe she had that many babies!
The next morning we found one of the babies dead, it looked like she had laid on it, but the other 13 were still doing good.



 

 Here they are at 6 days old.... look how much they have grown. All 13 are still going strong.



 

On Sunday they were two weeks and two day old. We moved them to the big outside pen and here is a video showing hem out for the first time. They were so curious about everything, yet still a little scared to be too far from Mama for a while.

*** And before anyone fusses about me not being too concerned when my child screamed bloody murder.... he was fine! I could see him and he was playing on the slide. Later he told me that "that is our scream slide. So we have to scream every time we slide down it." So no hate mail, or anyone saying I was more into filming piggies than I was checking to see if my kids were hurt..... They were happily playing on the other side of the yard, within sight of me the whole time. :) ***

 

 After being outside for a few hours they got brave, and also found a hole under the fence....

There really isn't anything much cuter than a baby pig.... unless of course you can find a rare moment like this one...

 

They were so excited that they finally got their hands on one of the piglets! I thought *Z* was going to drop it because it got to squirming around so much but he didn't. Of course my memory card ran out of memory so I couldn't continue to film, but we put the baby back in with Red and the rest of the piglets.





New buck on the farm

Since the coyotes (or something) decided that our other buck (Biscuit) would make a better dinner for them then a pet for us we have been looking for a new buck to breed the does.

This is Billy, how original huh? He came with that name, but it may change. The day we went to get him it was raining so I decided I'd just take the van.That way he'd be inside instead of in an open crate in the back of the truck, and risk making him sick. I recruited my friend *D* to go with me in case I needed help, I wasn't sure how friendly he was going to be. As it turned out he is very gentle and loaded very easy. I tied him in the back between the back seat and the back doors and he laid and road home very quiet. In fact he was so comfy back there that once we got home I had to do a little convincing to get him out of the van. Little did he know he had two does standing at the gate anxiously awaiting for his arrival.... I had noticed the day before that the LaMancha and Toggenburg were both in heat.

As goats do when bringing a new one into the herd they had to start shoving each other around and head butting one another.... somewhere in the process of all this the LaMancha, Pipsqueak, got her horn hooked in the stock panel and couldn't get it out. *D* and I were trying to get Pipsqueak's head turned just right to get the horn unstuck, but were not having much luck. I went inside the barn to call all the other in, thinking if they weren't running around us we could put more focus on the job at hand. No sooner did I get the other goats secured inside the barn when I heard Pipsqueak holler and *D* yelled for me to come out. I couldn't imagine what happened. When I got to the front door of the barn *D* was saying "she just ripped her horn off"! All I could envision was blood everywhere so I headed for the house to get the blood stop powder and all of the sudden *Z* started screaming and crying, he had witnessed the whole thing and with all the commotion was scared and confused. When I got back from the house I found *D* standing in front of the barn, with the shell of Pipsqueak's horn in her hand, trying to console *Z*. He wanted no part of her as long as she had that horn in her hand.

When I got back to Pipsqueak she wasn't bleeding nearly as bad as I had envisioned she would be - thankfully! I dumped some blood stop powder on her head, separated her from the rest of the herd and kept checking on her the rest of the day to make sure she was okay.

She seems to be doing okay, but I can tell that stub is really sensitive. This has deffinetly knocked her down a few rungs in the pecking order, as she will be avoiding all the other goats until this heals up, because she doesn't want them butting her (I can't blame her).

Where have I been.....?

I've been here, just not blogging.

Can't even remember everything that has happened since last June but one thing that happened that I haven't told you about is:

Keith Elliott

He was born February 9th, weighing 7lbs 4oz.

He is 9 weeks old today and is nearly 13 pounds and 22 inches long. Such a sweet baby boy

*Z* is 27 months old now and is as adorable and sweet as ever. Here is a picture of him from last week.

*Z* is so excited about his new baby pigs that we got a couple of weeks ago. I'm thinking it is a good thing we decided to get two females as they will most likely stay and become brood sows instead of ham and bacon.



Yesterday the pigs got out of their pen and outside the barn. I tried for a while to get them to go back into the barn, I figured if I got them in the barn they would eventually go back in their pen and I could shutt them in. I had no luck with that plan. So decided just to leave them out and wait until *T* got home to help me, the boys were napping in the house so I didn't want to be outside too long. So I went back in and kept an eye on the pigs so I knew they hadn't run off somewhere. Most of the time they spent just wandering around the yard and rutting around in the puddles of water down behind the barn. When the boys woke up I took them out to feed the animals. While I was feeding the goats the pigs followed *Z* into the barn, so I closed the big door, and breathed a sigh of relief. At least they were back in the barn we'd figure out how to get them into their pen later. *Z* was following them around clapping his hands and jabbering at them when I went out to the other part of the barn to get feed for the chickens and when I came back the pigs were in their pen and *Z* was closing the gate. OMGosh, he is truely a farmer at heart. Here I had tried for a good half hour or forty five minutes to get them into the barn (let alone their pen) with no luck and *Z* is out there for a total of fifteen minutes and they were in the barn AND in their pen with the gate closed. All I could do was shake my head and tell him he did a great job. He was so excited too, the first thing he told his Dad when he got home was "pigs....pen.....gate!" nodding his head the whole time. He isn't talking much but he gets his point across.



New Baby Goats

Here are the newest additions to Seldom Seen Acres. They were waiting for me when I got home from work today.
The darker one is a girl and the lighter on is a boy.

Five Years Ago Today

Yesterday's post

February 2nd, 2010
High 32*
Low 8*
Partly sunny and cloudy all day with a light dusting of snow in the evening.
Started the day at around 7:30 a.m. I was shocked that *Z* slept through the night without wanting to get up. he did wake up once at around midnight and then again about 4:30a.m. but went right back to sleep after a bottle.
Breakfast consisted of a banana and part of a kiwi (a first for this fruit) and some french toast for *Z*. I had french toast, yogurt and the rest of the kiwi. After finishing his breakfast, *Z* tore his banana skin to shreds the smeared it around his tray like he was using it as a dishcloth. Somehow he managed to spare his face and hair, but he had banana on all his clothes and all over his chair.
After I got the banana cleaned up and was in the laundry room changing loads I hear what sounds to me like a pig coming from the living room. I could not for the life of me figure out what *Z* was up to this time. When I came around the corner into the dining room to where I could see where/what *Z* was doing, I must have had a really confused look on my face because as soon a *Z* saw me he started giggling and then proceeded to do what he had done before to make the "pig" sound before then started giggling all over again. I just shook my head at him ... boys will be boys. He had finally figured out how to use *T* grunt call for deer hunting. *T* had it out a while ago and was trying to get *Z* to make a noise with it but *Z* wanted no part of it. Yet there he sat, in the middle of the floor, his dad nowhere around, making the thing work. After watching him for a few minutes I realized that he was actually using it backwards. He sucks on the wrong end instead of blowing on the right end.... what will he find amusing tomorrow?

Around 11 a.m. I got *Z* ready to go to my Mom's house for the afternoon because I had to be to work at noon.
*T* picked him up from Mom's this evening and she said *Z* only took a one hour nap all day. When I got home at 8:30 p.m. he was JUST falling asleep in *T*'s lap, but then he saw me and woke up. I didn't get him to go back to sleep until 10 p.m. so he should sleep through the night with no problem.... keeping fingers crossed!
Not much else to report today... *T* did all the barn chores today so I am not sure what is going on out there. I will be the one on duty tomorrow so I'll have a better idea what everyone in the barn is up to. *T* does a good job feeding and watering but as far as him checking the nannies for signs of labor, etc. he is clueless. We don't have anyone due right now so I still feel safe sending *T* out to feed.
Two Years Ago Today

One year and a week ago!

I can't believe it has been one year and a week since my son was born, where did the time go. He is such a joy in my life. I thank God for him everyday!
January 3rd, 2009: 6# 10 1/2 oz. , 20 inches long.
January 10th, 2010: 23# 11oz. , 31 inches tall.

We woke up this morning to -13*F. I'm just thankful that the wind is not blowing. Looks like it'll be clear and sunny again today.

Our Lamancha/Boer cross lost a set of twins on the 7th. Not sure when she was due but the babies looked to be about a month or maybe a month and a half early. I believe that she was getting ruffed up by her "cell" mates. Poor girl, I feel bad for her, it looked likt she had even cleaned them up and everything so I'm wondering if they were still alive when they were born.

One Year Ago Today

39 Degrees...

WOW!!!
I can't believe that it's 39 degrees and cloudy outside this morning. We are suppose to get a high of 46 today. Maybe *Z* and I will actually get outside just to enjoy the weather, and not have to be so bundled up that we can't move.
I am going through withdrawl.... I have not been to the barn since *Z* was born. When given the choice of setting with the baby or feeding the animals, *T* has been doing all the chores... I guess he figures the hungry animals are the lesser of the two evils.
Yesterday eveninig I did get to do Mom's barn chores because she hurt her back a couple of weeks ago and hasn't been able to get around, my brothers have been coming to feed her animals everyday, but neither of them could make it over yesterday so *T* and I fed her animals yesterday. Mom watched *Z* while we fed, he was sleeping in his carseat so he didn't require a whole lot for the short time we were feeding her animals. I told her to holler out the back door at me if he woke up, because I didn't want her trying to lift him out of his seat and hurt herself all over again. Granted he is only about 12 lbs. but when your back is injured that is a lot. She is also going through withdrawl from her animals.... and from holding *Z*. She says she can't wait to get better so she and *Z* can sit and cuddle in her comfy rocking chair, but she is hurting so bad right now that she can't even sit in her chair alone right now :-(

The sun is coming out now so we do have a good chance of hitting that high of 46 today. I better go get my stuff in here done while *Z* is sleeping so we can go outside when he wakes up.

Eggs, Meat,... and now Milk!!!

We (or should I say "I") am getting closer to getting most of our food from right here on the farm. We have beef grown here, I just got some rabbits that I plan on breeding and raising the babies for meat. We have had laying hens for a long time. And now I have a goat that is milking. So we have milk too :-)
I went to get Mimi (the milker) last evening and she had already been milked when I got there, so this morning was the first I milked her. She stands so good and is so easy to milk (unlike several others I have had). After work today I tasted this morning's milk and it is awesome. I started out with just a sip then I took another ... then another until I'd drank the whole glass. I guess I was kind of in shock that it was so good. Even though I've been telling *T* how good goat milk is I sorta forgot...oops! I took a quart over to Mom and Dad and they really liked it too. This morning I got 3# 13oz., tonight I got 3# 15oz. from her, a total of 7# 12oz. for the day. I'm so happy with her so far. Hopefully my happiness with continue.

Two more calves

We had two more calves born on Friday. One in the morning and one early in the afternoon. I was told by one family member that they are both boys... then that yesterday Mom told me that *HC* (the guy that owns the cows) came to check them today and said "we have three heifers now". I haven't been close enough to any of them to be able to tell what they are, and I'm not going to argue with the one who told me that they are boys... but considering he isn't used to babies of any kind and *HC* has been farmer for 50 years I think I'll go with the idea that we have 3 baby girls. ;)
Friday I was on the go all day long. As soon as I got home from work we left to pick up feed in Ulysses (30 miles away). We came home, unloaded our feed, took Mom's feed over to her, and put in away for her. Came home, let the dogs out and then left to go pick up the boys from Wellsville (20 miles in the other direction). Just got home from there, while *T* and the boys fed the animals I went shopping to get groceries for the weekend (I didn't take time to before I came home the first time), so I didn't get home to stay until 8:45 p.m. and I had left to go to work at 5:45 a.m.

We buy our feed from an Amish farmer about 30 miles from here, because it is so far away and considering the price of gas we try to get a month's supply when we do go.
I could get feed locally but I'd pay about twice what I do in Ulysses. Friday, I paid $63.78 for 431 lbs. of feed. The feed we got for Mom totalled 511 lbs. for $64.82. I don't know what feed prices are in your area but this is a smoking deal around here. Feeding our menagerie for less then $100 a month's worth of grain seems like a dream.

It's a Girl!

Congratulations Penny!

About 4:30 p.m. *D*'s mom came to the house and asked me to please come up to the barn because they think Penny (the goat) needs me... oh, isn't it nice to be needed... LOL! Poor goat, even if she didn't want to admit it she did need help. I wasn't sure aboub helping ... well I didn't mind helping but I'm not used to an audience (of the human variety). But after a little bit three of the people left and then Penny and I could focus... she pushed I pulled and we finally had a baby girl.
Oh I wish I had pictures! But my camera is still on the fritz :(
We got the little one dried off and eating and by then *D* had to go home to get more meds (did I mention she just had another eye surgery and is having a lot of complications, so she probably shouldn't even be in the barn) for her pain. I am going to go check on Penny again in about a half an hour because I'm not sure if she's going to have another baby or not.
In the last twenty four hours *D*'s family has grown by three. Two baby lambs and a baby goat... All Girls!!!

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Today's High Temp. 68F
Today's Low Temp. 41F
Clear and sunny most of the day with a few clouds in the evening
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Who is thinking clear at 12:23 a.m.???

At 12:23 a.m. I was awaken by the dogs frantically barking at something. When I got fully awake I asked *T* what was going on, because he was already awake... at least more so then I. He got up and said "there's a truck sitting in the driveway. By the time I got myself out of bed the truck was backing out of the drive. *T* turned the porch light on and went out to see what was going on. When he came back he yelled "Get dressed, they have a baby". I seriously didn't have a clue who or what he was talking about. I still wasn't even awake. All I could think was *H* was here because one of the cows were calving and he needed help. But why would I need to go .... couldn't the guys handle it. When I asked *T* what he was talking about he said "NO, it was *J*, *D*'s son, and the sheep had her baby".... OMG ... I was in such a deep sleep that I temporarily forgot I was on OB duty for a friend's sheep who are housed in a barn a mile and a half up the road. (this whole chain of events took place in a matter of about two minutes). Once I got fully awake I knew who was here and why. I got dressed and drove up to *D*'s barn, where I find *D* and her two sons. They were so proud that their sheep had just given birth to a beautiful baby girl. This is their first baby so it was fun to see the excitement on their faces. They had not been present for the birth but had gotten there shortly after. I had checked on the sheep a few hours before that because they were not able to and everything was fine and I didn't really think she was anywhere near to birthing... how wrong I was. *D* was apologizing for waking me at that hour of the night just to see the baby, I told her not to worry.... this is the best part of farming. I love seeing new mommies interacting with their babies. The little lamb was up walking around and eating so I didn't stay long, but while there I noticed that her one goat was acting as if she was starting to go into labor. *D* said she had to leave to go to a Dr's appointment first thing in the morning and wouldn't be back until about 2 p.m. and asked if I could check in on the goat sometime mid morning. I told her that I would and came home.
I woke up a little after seven but decided to snuggle in for a bit longer.... the next thing I knew the phone was ringing. When I answered, *D* said to me "Good morning.... we have a twin!" ... again I was in my groggy state (I had fallen asleep again) I said "what do you mean A twin"? [twins come in two's not singles... I'm confused] The sheep had another baby after we left her. Okay, now everything makes sense! *D* is calling from her cell, because she is on her way to the Dr's, but says the baby isn't standing and she isn't acting like the one last night did. I told her I'd check in on them in a little while. In the back of my mind I was hoping the mother didn't forget that she had TWO. At 10:30 a.m. I went up and I could tell the new baby hadn't eaten and was not able to stand. It was crying but seemed really weak. When I felt the inside of her mouth it seemed cool... (oh no you don't.... you are not dying on my shift)... The mom wouldn't stand still for me to help the baby eat so I kind of blocked her in the corner placed the older of the twins in front of her, so that she was distracted and then scooted the new baby up under her. It wouldn't suck so I squirted some milk into it's mouth and that is all it took, she took right off and started sucking. She only ate for about 30 seconds, but at least it was something. I checked on the goat and she seemed okay... in labor, but doing fine. I checked in again around noon and the younger of the twins was up on her feet trying to find where to eat... Good news! The goat... she's still in labor, now I'm wondering if she is okay. She seems okay but it just seems like she should have done something by now. I met *D* at the barn at two this afternoon and she said she would keep checking and call me when she delivers or if she thinks the goat is getting into trouble.... I'm still waiting.

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One Year Ago Today
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Three Years Ago Today
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Spring is trying

I'm not sure what the high temp was today, but I know it was in the mid 30's. The sun was shining and it was beautiful outside.. until you stepped out the door. That wind was COLD. At least the sun was out again.. I am solar powered and even if it is cold I felt better.

The dogs are even acting different, they have been out most of the afternoon and even when I let them in and fed them then immediately wanted back out, usually this time of the evening they will lay down and sleep then go out for a while again around 8:30 p.m. Or, maybe that is because of the full moon :)

*T* is at the firehall to help with bingo. I couldn't believe they were still having bingo tonight because it is Good Friday, but they are. I don't get it. I know we need to raise money for the department but come on... can't you take one friday off?

My sister's three girls (13yrs, 11yrs,& 3yrs) are visiting my mother and father for a couple of days. It is always quite amusing to me the way they act around the farm. The 13 yr old likes the animals and helping on the farm. The 11 yr old is a "princess" and doesn't like to get close to the animals. The 3 year old wants to pick up every animal that isn't bigger then she is, but is scared of everything because she isn't around animals enought to know how to act around them. So she doesn't know if she should hug the animals or run from them. Kids, they are so amazingly different. I have to laugh when I think of my siblings and I when we were those ages we were always in the barn helping with chores, yes we were raised in a barn, literally ...LOL. Only our ages would have been 3,5,8,11,12 (me being the 3 yr old). There has never been a time in my life I have not had animals in my life. For a short (I mean very short) time a few years ago the only animals I had were dogs and cats, but hat didn't last long. I had to get more critters.

Our family has grown again

Somehow I failed to mention that we added to our furfamily last week. I was looking for a buck for my one doe ... long story short... I found one. But I also found one of the biggest goofiest goats I have ever met in my life. So, we just had to bring him home too. :-s

First I'll introduce you to Burner, the buck. I'm not fond of the name but that is the one he came with. I am told he is an eight month old Oberhasli. I think he is quite handsome and I think deep down he does too, but so far has been to bashful to show it.

In this picture he was challenging the other goat, that is why he looks all distorted.

Now meet "Lucky"! He is the biggest, fattest Nubian I have ever seen in my life. You really cant get an idea of how big he really is in this picture, but trust me he must weigh over 200 pounds. I'll try to get a picture of him next to the other goats as a comparison. Granted he is a wether and 8 or 9 yrs old. But he is a big baby and I can tell he is going to be the personality of the barn.
This picture was taken the first day we brought Lucky home and he was checking out the geese. As you can see they were not to keen on meeting him.

Lucky really needes his hooves trimmed and I will be doing that tomorrow as that is when I will have help to hold him. I would have had it done by now, but he is too big to fit in my goat stantion.

The Turkeys Are Gone

I know ... it has been almost a week since I've posted anything, but I haven't had anything to talk about.

*T* and I butchered the two turkeys Sunday evening... that was interesting, seeing as *T* has never even witnessed poultry of any kind being butchered....lol... I shouldn't have laughed at him but it was funny. I started helping my parents with butchering since I was old enough to pluck feathers, so it is amusing to me to see some one's reaction who has never done this. LOL.... like I said, I should not have laughed at him, but he took it well :-)

We sent the turkeys to be smoked and will have one for Thanksgiving and the other for Christmas. I tried to weigh one of the turkeys on the bathroom scale but I'm not sure how accurate that was. The scale said it weighed 28 pounds, dressed, but I'll get the true weight from the slaughter house where we sent them to get smoked. A friend of mine, *R*, works at the slaughterhouse were the birds are being smoked so he took them with him to work last night, and I haven't talked to him to see what the total weights were.

Today I am going to pick up three female rabbits. I have been wanting to get rabbits to raise for meat for quite some time. Our last attempt failed when the female we got last year died from an unknown cause. I still have the male rabbit, so I'm going to try this again.... wish me luck.

Meet Ginger

Look who was waiting for me when I got home from work on Saturday! This is Ginger. *T* had seen an ad in the paper a couple of months ago for a horse who needed a new home... I don't recall the reason. He had called about her but the owner said that someone had already taken her. We were looking for a companion for Lacy (mom's twenty five year old paint). Then about a week ago a lady called *T* and asked if he was still interested in the horse he had called about. For one reason or another things were not working out with the family that had taken her and they must have talked to the original owner and gotten our phone number. *T* was really excited that we were going to get Ginger after all. They brought her to our farm on Saturday while I was at work, so she was here when I got home. She seems to be a very nice horse, but time will tell.

LOL .... *T* is convinced that we are going to ride her. Yeah, okay. I have not been on a horse in about 16 years and its been longer since he has ridden.... so we'll see.