Finally Starting Turn Out

Spring has been very late this year.  Usually, we have gotten fences fixed and cattle turned out to new grass before now.  

 But we finally got a group worked and ready to haul to our rented farm.  When we went to round them up, all of the cows were down by the gate and all of the calves were on the other side of the hill.  Sometime, I notice that one cow will stay behind as a babysitter.  I think it looks like Kindergarten nap time. 

 Anyway, Otoelene was a big help with the round up. 

 And V came to help out too.  M was busy installing a porch rail on the duplex they are renting out.  V helped make the ear tags, worked the head gate and opened all the gates during the hauling. 

And there they go, out onto some fresh grass.  15 pairs down, 100 + to go. 

Had to get another cuteness picture in, goat yoga of course. 

Kid Count 101

Coupon Saturday # 5

Dollar General is having a clearance sale this weekend, an extra 50% off clearance and discontinued items.  I also had two 3 off 15 coupons to use.  (they are no longer doing the 3/15)

 The cereal was marked $4 but ringing up $1.80 and there was an instant savings of $3 off $10.  So I had to grab the Apple Jacks to make up the difference, then with my coupons and a 72 count Tide pods, my total was $11.  So about $1 a box and $5 for the pod (normally $17)

Then I got all of this (minus the Tide, and the finish was from Family Dollar, $0.58 a box), for $0.14.  I used a coupon on everything but the coffee which I grabbed to make up for all of the overage I had.  Who knew couponing could be so fun. 

What The Heck Is That Thing?

With the weather so cold and rainy, I decided to make a little project in the shop.

 You may be asking yourself, what on earth is that, and why waste my time making it. 

 Maybe this will help. 

 I saw this on pinterest and V recommended I try it out. 

Baby Goat Feeding Station

 This was their first try at it and things went surprisingly well.  When one would finish, I would just carry it back and put it in the pen.  No more running around crazy and trying to get someone else's milk.  I guess if I get more bottle babies, I will have to make a longer top piece.

 Since it has rained over an inch, the wind blowing 20-30 mph, and the temperature in the 40's, the goats have decided the barn is a pretty nice place to hang out. 

 And we had a set of quadruplets.   This is a pet nanny named #2.  She raised triplets last year.  With all the chaos in the barn, we put her in a room by herself.  I've been feeding her extra in hopes that I don't end up with another bottle baby.  So far so good.  And the hay feeder I made for her is working out pretty awesome also. 

 And just because we have cuteness overload, 

Bumble and a baby in the barn.

Kid Count - 86

Just Kit Sunday #133

Not sure what is so comfortable about the grave driveway, but Kit Kat seems to think it is a good place to take a bath.

It's Getting Complicated

The kid count is rapidly escalating.  At first we were having a lot of singles from the yearlings.  This is actually a good thing.  One is usually all a yearling needs to try to keep up with.  But now the older nannies are popping them out.

 Three sets of triplets yesterday. 

 If the weather is nice and they are able to keep separated from the other nannies, they usually do a good job.

 But sometimes there is confusion. 

 There was a set of twins in the barn, but they were not this nanny's.  She was however, trying to steel them, just like the heifer from the other day.  J thought things would be ok but didn't want to be blamed if they weren't.  So to make me happy, he helped get her in a separate room.

 And it wasn't long before she had a set of twins.   Confusion averted. 

 I also spent some time beefing up the water trough cover.  I am doing my best to not have anything drown this year.  But I am sure they will still find a way. 

 And just in time, the older little ones are already jumping up there.

 Then this morning, much confusion.  This one had three with her but one over at the fence trying to nurse off the fence post.  I carried it over to her and she seemed to accept it. 

Then there was a set of twins on one side of the water tank, 

and a single on the other.  But after I lapped the field, I found another new one in a totally different location, with no nanny around.   I couldn't find anyone else that looked like they had kidded recently, so I thought I would try to give it to the one with the single.  But as the baby was squalling, the one with the twins seemed more interested, so I gave it to her. 

It looks like she has accepted it for the time being.  At least she hasn't pounded it into the ground yet.  This is getting very complicated.

Kid Count - 71

Terrible Weather and New Graft

This weather has been crazy.  Frost, freeze, snow, sleet, 70's, 20's, confusing. 

 You can't hide your tracts after walking though the grass after a hard frost.  Looks like it sort of killed the grass. 

 That's a snow storm on the mountains that we had yesterday.   Then it got down into the 20's last night.

It has left the peonies very stressed.  I have never seen them this bad off.  I really hope they can pull back out of it. 

 Luckily, no new goats were born.  Did I mention we had 2 inches of rain in 10 hours too as the temperature dropped from 70's to 30's.

 We still aren't sure if this graft is working all that well, but the calf is aggressive enough to get his meals while the heifer is eating.

 Then we had a dead calf.  This was a second calf heifer and we had a twin that we have been bottle feeding for a few days.  Since she was at the other farm, we hooked up the trailer to bring her to the barn, thinking it would be easier to work with her closer to the house.   She followed the calf right up onto the trailer. 

 Back at the house, J trimmed a piece of hide off of the dead one,

 and tied it to the twin. 

 The heifer wasn't too sure at first,

 so we put her in the chute for the first meal.

 This morning, success,  the heifer had accepted the twin, we took off the hide, turned them out into the barn lot and everyone was happy.

Kid Count = 31

Coupon Saturday #4

Wasn't much going on in the coupon world last week so I saved up for this week. 

 I needed a gallon of milk.  But I can't just get milk, I have to get enough to get the $3 off $15.  So I added the sunscreen, Gain Flings, and candy bars.

 After the coupons, I pretty much just paid for the gallon of milk.

 Family Dollar had Oxi Clean on sale for $3.95 and there was a $3 digital coupon.

Then my big deal.
Coppertone @ $3.50 x 2 = $7         - $4 digital q and bogo 1/2 off (-1.75)
Jergens       @ /$3 x 3     = $9          - $3 paper q x 3
Gain           @ $3.95       = $3.95      -$2 digital q
Purex         @ $3.75       =  $3.75     -30% off clearance, -.50 digital and $1 store paper q
Dial           @ $1 x 2      = $2           -$1 paper q x 2
Bounty      @ $1            =$1            -$1 paper q
                                                         -$5 off $25 store q
total = $25.60 - $26.25 = -0.65
so total OOP including tax 0.08 cents!

Tempting Bees

 As you probably remember, all our bees died out this winter.  But they left us with hives full of honey and comb.  So I decided to try to see if I could tempt a swarm into showing up and taking up house keeping.   I have been waiting for the weather to warm up, which it finally has, YAY!

 I took one of the hive bodies and did a sort of checker boarding.

 I put in some new frames, wax coated black plastic,

 some drawn comb,

 and some honey.

I also moved the potential bee yard to the other side of the house, hoping it would be less out of the wind in winter.  And I made a stand, you can see there is room for expansion.  Now what bee wouldn't be  happy here?

Late For Lunch

There is always something happening when you live on a farm.  Sometimes it is impossible to make plans to do anything else.  Because as soon as you do, something else happens.   Sunday we were going to visit my mother and take V out for her birthday.  

 But the heifers had other plans.  One was starting to calve but was more interested in stealing someone else's calf.

 Once she started licking it we decided that we needed to intervene and separate them.  This calf actually belongs to the solid black cow.

 So once we got them up,

 we got the pair going back to the field,

 and kept the heifer in the lot. 

She finally got down to business when she wasn't distracted with the other calf and had her own.  He is a spunky little thing.   

We made it to lunch at Outback, and cake after, a little late but there.