Birding Without E

I went birding today and was able to find and identify an new bird for my list all by myself. 

I added this eastern towhee to my eBird list, moving me decisively into 40th place in the county. 

The hummers arrived a few days ago.  As soon as I saw one land on the bird feeder hook, I ran and put out the feeder for them. 

I have several bluebird houses around the yard, so they are always a good subject to practice taking pictures.

E says red headed woodpeckers are uncommon, but I see them pretty much every time I go birding here.  One day I saw 6 at once. 

I thought this might be a new bird for me but E informed me it was a female red winged blackbird. 

I snuck up to the creek and found yet another mallard. 

but this time he had a friend, a blue heron.  They are usually pretty shy, but this one hung around a very long time.  I took lots of pictures. 

I think I finally got a good one. 

 

Arena Repairs And Maintenance

I had several broken boards and knocked off boards on my outdoor arena.  The 90  yearling calves were pretty rough on it this winter even with the electric wire around the outside to try to keep them from rubbing on it. 

I decided with the goats in the field now instead of cattle, it was a good time to do some repairs. 

Some boards just needed tacking back up, but I had to replace four. 

 

Looks like it is ready for some ride time.  

I did ride Otoelene, but out and around the farm.  She doesn't really need arena work.  I'll save that for Draper. 
 

Bad Horse For Sale Pictures

Today’s entry was found by J on equinenow.com.  I don’t think this one made the cut of ones he is asking for more information on. 

Unless the more information is - does that head and neck really belong on that body?

 

String Of Dolphins

My next house plant installment is my newest addition.  In fact, I was just given it today at work. (thank you Jordan)

The leaves are shaped like dolphins.  How cool is that!

I can't wait to get more stings going for a pot full of dolphins.  

One problem, someone at work set their lunch box on it and broke the stem.  I was told to just break it off there and stick the stem in the soil and that would root too.  

I guess that will be the start of my dolphin propagation.
 

Tribble's Mane

After yesterday's post, I thought I would show something a little more light hearted. 

Tribble, Trouble's bottle mate from last year, has a very interesting hair coat.  

It is like she is growing a mane down her back.  None of the other goats have this unique feature.  I am wondering how long it might get. 
 

It's Been A Bad Year (Goat Facial Deformities)

I haven't had a kidding update because it has just been too depressing.  We got off to a good start the first week and everything seemed normal.  The second week we had an unusual number of singles born.  Then disaster struck the third week.  17 nannies kidded.  From those only 10 live kids with 15 dead or euthanized.  Some are born weak and die in a matter of hours.  Some are deformed.  Some are very small and born dead.  I talked with a doctor from epidemiology at the vet school.  He thought maybe something genetic with the billy or maybe viral.  I then emailed a doctor at the vet school that specializes in genetics and small ruminates.  His response was "yikes".  He thought it was not likely genetic but maybe viral so epidemiologic.   He said it would be very difficult to track down the inciting cause and most likely, it shouldn't continue to be an issue after this. 

I have included pictures of  some of the facial deformities if you are interested.  If you are not interested,  

DO NOT SCROLL PAST THIS NICE SET OF TWINS. 

kid count- 49 (85 with this many having kidded last year)

LAST WARNING

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Easy Cattle Day Yesterday

M came to help work our fall calving group yesterday.  

There wasn't much to do.  Sort off the cows and deworm the bred heifers. 

Then run the calves through the chute to implant the steers and deworm them all.  J had to get some counting in. 

The heifer that was stuck between 2 trees a couple of weeks ago is getting around better.  She has a patch of dead skin on the other side too.  The dead skin will peel off, the wound will contract and eventually scar over.  
 

Bad Horse For Sale Pictures

Brought to you again by Jordan, (remember the squatting man in front of the mirror)

She sent me this one recently.  I asked which one was the subject, the smiley sun face, the horse or the port a potty. 

Jordan said it was the retractable leash.  I had not even noticed that.

 

Too Close For Comfort

I went riding on Otoelene this morning. 

In a hollow next to the the field the goats are kidding in, I saw this running away.  Can you see him?

He stopped, sat down and looked back at me.

Then came closer as I rode Otoelene a little closer bit by bit. 

He didn't seem at all scared.  Maybe he just thought it was a horse and didn't notice me. 

We will have to tell the guy that hunts here to be on the lookout for this coyote.   

Then I rode on around the gravel road.  Our new neighbors have a horse now.  This is the first time in 23 years that there has been another horse to ride past here.  Otoelene was fine with it, just curious.  
 

Birding With E

E came home Easter weekend and we went birding one day.  Apparently, I saw 35 different species.  Ten of which were new to my eBird list, shooting me up to 40th in the county.  

I added this Savannah sparrow.

E was very good at spotting birds, identifying them and telling me where to look.  I told her she should hire herself out as a personal birding companion.

To the untrained eye, this might look like a goose and some goslings.

But the “goslings” are blue winged teals, a new duck for my list.  A lot of the birds are way too quick for me to find with the binoculars, then get my camera, put on my glasses, find it again with the view finder, get the camera to focus and take a picture to download and figure out what I was  looking at.  Much easier to just have E tell me. 

 

Calf Hunting

J called me at work today because he thought there could be a potential calving issue.  When checking this group of cows, he found a new calf on the wrong side of an electric fence.  He got that pair back together.  Then there was a calf born yesterday in the hay field.  When he got that one back, two different cows were interested in it.  J got the right pair together, but still had the issue of the other cow that looked like she had calved but now calf.  She was holding her tail out like there might be a backwards calf.  J got her up and checked but could not feel a calf.  After talking on the phone, I thought it best to just run home and check.  She had already calved but where was it.

This was the hayfield one of the other calves was in.  It looked pretty empty.  

On closer inspection, I found him. 

The cow had been on the other side of the fence up where the truck is parked.  

J hefted him up

and loaded him in the truck.  

It was the right calf for the cow.  Three different calves in the wrong places, might mean something went through the herd and spooked them.  Probably a coyote.   
 

First Harvest

Despite the bitter cold for the last few days, and wind chill of 19 degrees this morning and snow and sleet, some asparagus still managed to come up.  

It was tender and delicious.  Just a little serving but a wonderful taste of Spring. 
 

Skin Grafting A Kid Goat

We had this nice nanny kid on Saturday.  It looked like the baby had been attached by some sort of wild animal. It's head was swollen and there were wounds under the tail and around the anus. 

I got her in, milked her and tube fed the baby for 2 days.  He was never able to stand and was dead this morning.  

The triples born on the 9th have been doing well.  I have been bottle feeding them to help supplement the mother.  The little one on the right always eats the most, so I just assumed that she may not be getting as much from the mother as the other two.  Since she was at the barn and handy to get to, and the nanny that lost a kid is relatively easy to handle, I thought I might try my hand at doing a skin graft.  

It is not a very pleasant process.  It involved skinning the dead goat and placing the hide on the live one.  I will spare you any pictures of that process.  But the way I skinned it just made a nice jacket.   The fit was a little snug, but I think it will work. 

Hopefully, the nanny will decide that this is hers and she will accept it.  The whole process makes me think of Silence of the Lambs.  

 

Happy Easter

Everyone should get to pet a baby goat on Easter.