Selling Goats

We have decided to cut our goat herd down from 75 nannies to around 40.  That means culling a lot.  The sheep and goat sale at the market is every 3rd Saturday. 

Allie helped round them up yesterday. 

It wasn’t a particularly difficult task.

They headed right for the barn.

Once they are all together it starts to look like a lot.   They stayed in a lot next to the barn overnight so they would be easy to get up this morning.

And with Mike’s help, everything was a breeze.

Joe and Mike took turns catching.  I tagged the ones leaving and dewormed some of the ones staying.

Mike put a few wrestling moves on some of them.

We culled around 25 nannies and sold the bigger end of the wether kids.

Next month we will select the replacement females, maybe cull a few more nannies and  keep a few small kids since they don’t bring very much.  It seems to work out better to keep them another year to let them grow.

Next on the agenda is finding a new billy.
 

Hall Of Fame

We happily attended Mike’s induction ceremony into his High School’s Hall Of Fame Today.

Each inductee was introduced by someone that knew them well and touted their accomplishments.  Then the inductees offered a few remarks.  

We are very proud of Mike and his wrestling achievements, culminating in winning the State Championship his senior year.

Mike showed us the trophy hall.

And I know his mother is very proud.

Afterwards, we were all treated to a nice lunch.  Sadie and Allie had fun playing with their cousin.

They even had a game of Candy Land.

It was a very memorable day.  Congratulations Mike!

 

30 Foot Pole

Today Joe wanted me to help him with a more permanent water gap to replace the string of barb wire he had put up after the flood.

It involved cutting down a locust tree to get a 30 foot long pole, dragging it 3/4 of a mile behind the truck, 

then pulling it by hand down the hill and to the creek.

From there, Joe had to put on his waders to get the pole to span the creek.

With a lot of tugging, pulling and hefting, we were able to get it into place.  Thankfully, the Y posts from the previous water gap were still in place.

The tricky part was getting the cattle panel hung while standing in chest deep water.

 But we prevailed.  Joe was very proud of the results. 

Surprise Horse Show Contestant

Saturday was a big day.  We took Otoelene to a horse show for Sadie to show.  This is the same show she went to last month but not with Otoelene.  Otoelene was a little lame, but I had given her some pain meds the night before and morning of the show.  It was enough to get though the few classes she was entering.  I was even able to enjoy riding her around in the arena for about 30 minutes before the show started.

This time Allie, Mike, Virginia and Joe all came too.   Unlike me at a show, both Allie and Sadie wanted to eat right before the stick horse class. 

Isabelle wasn’t there but Sadie showed Allie what to do. 

Allie’s horse had a little bucking fit, but she stayed on.  

And then the big surprise! Allie’s third time on a horse was at the show.  She was begging so much to ride that Virginia decided that she could do the lead line and Sadie would do the judged lead line.  During Allie’s class, I lead and Virginia walked next to her.  Allie kept telling Virginia to “get out of here”.  

Allie was very excited about her ribbon.

Then it was Sadie’s turn for the judged lead line.  

I let her hold the reins and she was able to stop and turn Otoelene pretty much by herself.

She did great and ended up 2nd out of 3.  The judge told her she needed to work on keeping her heels down. 

After a quick tack change Sadie went back in for Juvenile Stock Horse Halter.

I didn’t even tell her to stand straight, she just did that on her own.

We had a disappointing 4th place finish.  Virginia thought the judge placed the class more on showmanship than conformation.  But it really didn’t matter to Sadie at all. 

She was already making plans for the next show.

Then there was more eating back at the trailer before we loaded up to come home. 

It must have been a tiring morning, because they both fell asleep on the way back to the house.

Back at the house, Sadie wanted to put on my fancy cowgirl shirt.  It was mine when I was a little girl.  Sadie thinks she will be able to where it to the show next year.

But for now, it was good to have while cuddling bunnies.

 

Aurora Borealis

With all of the hype on facebook about the northern lights being visible in our area, I put on my ski pants and coat after dark and went outside to take a look. 

I could see with my eyeballs that there was a little different tint to the sky. But the colors really showed up in the pictures from my iPhone. 

There was definitely a demarcation between regular sky and tinted sky. 

Molly came running and barking until I spoke to her. Then she laid down for her picture to be taken. 

It was a lot of fun trying to get good pictures. 

I love how the stars showed up too. 

Looking to the south was a different story. No purple and pink tints that way. 

I think this was my favorite.  Maybe I will walk a different direction tonight if it is still visible. 

 

The Day After

The morning after Emily’s wedding Virginia said Sadie and Allie were reliving the event.  They even asked to go back to Emily’s wedding.  Since family were still in town, we had them come here for Sunday afternoon.  Not the same as the wedding but it is all I could offer. 

Matt’s girlfriend Zuly had never been to a farm.  We had plenty for her to do.  Zuly fed Lucy while Allie petted her. 

And you can’t visit here without riding a horse if you want.  After some instruction and being lead around a couple of time, Zuly was ready to go solo.  She even got Otoelene to trot.

Sadie didn’t pass up an opportunity to ride.  She was much more balanced trotting on the lunge line this time. 

Allie was ready for her second ride.  Sadie let her borrow her helmet but told Allie she needed to get her own for Christmas.

Then Sadie even wanted to lead Otoelene with Allie riding.  I had to help get her started, but Sadie did it all after that.

I think she did a great job.

Then can you guess what we had after supper?  S’mores over the fire pit! 

 I think a good time was had by all.