Mooving

Just a few more days before Joe leaves out with Emily and Keiran for their epic hike.  The Long Trail got changed to the Shenandoah portion of the AT trail.  Much shorter, easier hiking and closer to home.  All good choices for Joe's first outing.  Meanwhile, I have been shadowing him more since I will have to take care of things while he is gone.  

We moved the cattle at Julian's to a field with more grass.  

I always think moving cattle is very picturesque.  

Then we moved the replacement heifers to a different field and moved the cow/calf pairs back here from across the creek.  

Then we got ready for hay to be moved.   That is Joe up there in the tractor bucket with a chainsaw.  Isn't that how you are suppose to trim limbs?  Tree limbs that is.  None of Joe's limbs got trimmed in the process.  

We buy all of our hay and it is hauled in on a big flatbed truck.  Trimming the branches and covering root and rocks helps out the hauler.  

And the goats enjoyed the trimmings. 

Everything But The Cat

Today I photographed all the animals except for Kit Kat.  

When I walked to the barn to feed Draper, her and Golden Boy (not his real name yet) were in a perfect spot for a picture.  

We had to get some cattle up and on the way I took this photo.  I thought it looked a little like the Pacific northwest.  

The cattle when they are in this field, always pick the steepest part to go over when we have to get them up.  When I stopped to catch my breath I took this one.  

"That's not an animal" you might say.   

But I beg to differ, Maggie is one of those rocks. 

 

Kidding Done

It was a disappointing year for kidding.  Several nannies ended up being open.  Half of the ones that did kid only had singles.  We only had 2 sets of triplets.  But they were finished so it was time to work them and get them turned back out of the field they have been in for over a month. 

They seemed to know it was time to get turned out and they came running. 

Getting them into the lot and into the barn was uneventful.  

I am hoping for a younger person to help take my place next year.  Running around and catching each kid is getting a little more challenging.  Joe on the other hand, is still great at his job.  After we finished banding the male kids and letting the female all out, we dewormed all the adults.  Joe held each one for me to squirt the dewormer down.  

Everyone was excited to be done. 

Final kid count - 44

 

One, Two, Three, Four

The goats started kidding on the twelfth. 

We have had several singles, 

A couple of sets of twins, 

And today our first set of triplets. 

Sadie’s pet goat Glitter had a nice set of twins this evening.  Eight down, 30 something to go. 

And yesterday we had to pull our fourth calf. Joe was checking the cows and this one was laying down with the feet out. Only the feet were pointing up which meant it was coming backwards. She might have had it on her own but there is always a good chance a backwards calf will be born dead.  If the umbilical cord breaks and the cow doesn’t get the calf out fast enough it will drown.  Joe got her up and came and got me.  Fortunately, we were able to pull it by hand and didn’t have to deal with the calf jack on this one. 

Kid count -12

 

More Restrictions

This time it is for the goats not the horses. 

The due date for kidding to start is April 14.  But Joe has carried enough early kids from the far corners of the farm that he wanted to get them up a little earlier.  They were split into two groups  One group was near the barn. 

The other group, not so much. But they were not difficult to deal with. 

 Now we just have to wait. 

Horses And Goats

There has been a lot going on recently. Having Otoelene’s shoes reset was at the bottom of the list. She was over 3 weeks past due and had lost a shoe.  

I finally got her scheduled and new shoes put on Friday morning. I was even able to ride her that afternoon.  

Friday evening Joe and I went out to feed the dogs.  Joe was carrying a salt bucket and all the goats acted like they hadn’t had salt in months.  

They swarmed the salt tub for about 30 seconds then went straight back to grazing.  Goats are funny that way. 

 

Waiting

We got about 6 inches of snow on top of the ice last night and today.  With just snow, the animals can usually paw or push it out of the way and still do some grazing.  But with the thick layer of ice, there is no grazing.  So everyone is just waiting on Joe to bring the hay. 

The goats have taken up with the horses.  I guess the cows are not as suitable as dining partners.  

The replacement heifers are next in line.  

And then the cows.  

 I don't think anyone is having much fun.  It is 7 degrees here now.  Looking forward to 2 degrees in the morning with 20 MPH winds, gusting to 40.  

Hit And Miss

This morning I went out with Joe to move the 10 cows out of the horse field. 

Unfortunately, they were at the top of the hill.  But the morning view was a nice bonus.  

We drove them down the hill, 

and into the next field.  That was a hit. 

But Joe had noticed a goat not acting right and wanted to catch her so we could deworm her.   Not acting right did not include not being able to run fast.  That was a miss. 
 

Surprise Find

Remember the metal goats from my walk in Brevard?

I saw them on several people's porches in just a small neighborhood.  

Well, the trend has made it to southwest Virginia.  I could not believe it when I saw it in a thrift store here for $4.00.   It is cute as it can be. 

I checked Etsy and Ebay and it looks like it sells there for $50-$80 for this petite size.  

I hope that it will be the most realistic goat that I see in my yard. 

New Hobby?

You may or may not recall that back in September I purchased a needle felting kit at the G.O.A.T. Festival. 

Well, tonight I decided to open it and see how difficult it was going to be.  The instructions we clear, everything was included and I was ready to start. 

And, ta da!  It looks like a goat!  I want going to add the heart but changed my mind d. 

I think it is adorable. Be looking for it on a Christmas tree near you soon.  I think I am ready to do more. 
 

More Goats Gone

Friday before heading to the beach, we rounded up the goats. 

Most had actually been staying down in a hollow, hopefully eating weeds and rose bushes.  

When we got them into the holding field for the night they made a bee line to start eating pigweed.  

Saturday morning's sunrise was gorgeous.  

We got an early start getting the goats to the barn.  

Then the sorting began.  This sorting involved the larger wethers from last year, cull nannies and yearling nannies we didn't like.  We tagged 47 to send.  I had also sorted out two smaller doelings.    The person that bought the two semi bottle goats a couple of week ago said her neighbors had fallen in love with them and wanted two females to begin homesteading with.  Joe headed out with the trailer load, the other buyer took their two, and I went to the beach.  That night Joe said when he got to the market they only counted 46 head.  I insisted that I had used 47 tags.  The next day Joe said he found the 47th one back out with the rest of the herd.  Somewhere between tagging and loading she had escaped.  Goats can be tricking that way.  
 

Goats and Worms

The wet summer was good for plants but it was also great for worms. Even though we dewormed the goats the first of August we still ended up losing three to worms. 

So Tuesday we got them all up again for another dose. 

Maggie made sure everyone was ok. 

And they all headed into the barn to be caught by Joe one at a time. I would check eyelids for paleness and dewormed anything questionable. 

Instead of turning them back out on the hill in front of the house, we drove them down into the hollow. I sort of thought they would beat us back around. But they have actually stayed there over 24 hours.  For some reason they just don’t roam around as much anymore.

I kept two back to sell. Someone came to the clinic wanting two young goats for the grandkids. I said I had two that were bottle fed but stayed with the heard. So they were tame but know how to be goats. 

 It was a tight fit to get them in the pet carrier but it worked.  So at least we have two sold.  We will be cutting out the bigger ones to sell in a couple of weeks.