Good Fences #56

Tuesday Otoelene and I helped J sort the first calf heifers in the field behind the house.  We temporarily moved out the ones that had not calved and held them in a different field until we emptied the field and could move them back.  

 Then we swept through the field and moved out all of the heifers and their calves.  Otoelene is admiring the fence along the way.

 What a pleasure it is to get to ride my horse while I'm technically "working".

 Then it was down the hill and along the creek to the ford.

Some of the baby calves were a little reluctant to get in the water but J was there with some gentle encouragement.  We didn't want the heifers taking off to the new pasture and leave the calves to run around crazy on the wrong side.  You can just see the post on this side of the creek that last weeks water gap is attached to.  

And a successful crossing.

For more Good Fences click HERE.

Repurposing

I found a new use for the 4-wheeler cart, baby goat nursery.  Yes, that is a second bottle goat J brought in this evening.  Another nanny was culling one of her triplets. 

Since the bottle goats need to be fed 3-4 times a day for the first few days it is usually easier to have them at the house instead of the barn.  The only problem is that I have never fixed a good pen for them here.  They normally roam around the yard during the day and stay in a 20 gallon tub at night.  Then I noticed the cart that I have been meaning to move to store in the shed but have been tripping over in the garage.  What a perfect solution, until they figure out how to jump out.  But by then it will be time to move them to the barn.

We have now had 8 sets of triplets out of 15 nannies kidding so far.  We only had 10 set out for 42 nannies last year.
To answer a couple of questions from my last goat post,

1- I don't think the nanny goats care much what the babies look like color wise.  There are all sorts of color combinations and I also don't think the nannies know what they look like themselves to try to pick babies that look like them.  (no mirrors out there)

2 - We tried some in the beginning of our goat herding to graft kids onto different mothers or force them to take their own when they had tried to abandon one and met with little to no success.  Goats are a pain to work with like that and for us it is just easier to pick up the strays and feed them.  Sometimes it works out to feed them with the herd and they learn how to steal some on their own.  

Kid count - 34

Weekend Ride And Then Some

Well, the title is technically true, it was a weekend just last week.  We had  too much other stuff going on this weekend to ride much.

 So last Sunday J took off on Brother and I rode Otoelene around our 3 mile loop.

 Emma went with us and about 1/2 a  mile into the ride she digs under a fence and pulls out a squirrel.  (already dead)

 She was very pleased with her find and carried it for a mile before leaving it at the gate to our farm.  I don't know if she ever went back for it or not.

 Brother was a little uppity about half way through so J did some weaving in and out of the trees.

 It wasn't long before Brother decided to start listening again

  and bending nicely through the turns.

 Otoelene just stood and waited patiently for her brother to start behaving.

As we finished our ride we saw a cow starting to calve.  After a little while J checked it again and saw she was not making any progress.

So off she went to the barn to get checked.  The calf was coming forward but it was upside down with its head off to the side.  It was just a matter of putting the chains on, crossing them over and lifting and pushing on the head while J pulled on the crossed chains to get the calf flipped up and into the right position.  

A little more pulling and he was out.

There is always something to do around here.

Kid count - 13

Off to a Bad Start

Last year was pretty trouble free for kidding season.  But we have gotten off to a bad start this year.  We were waiting to get the bought heifers hauled to our rented pasture before we put the goats in the kidding field but they decided to start kidding before we got them rounded up.  One nanny had a set of twins on one end of  the farm and another had a set of triplets at the other end.  It was dusk when I got home and J and E already had the other nannies in the field but we ended up just leaving the 2 that had kidded out because it was too far to try to move them.

Last night Bea was with the twins but this morning she was with the triplets, well one of them anyway.  Looks like the mother abandoned it and Bea was laying with it against this tree.   What a good dog.

 We picked it up and put it with the others but the nanny butted it away.

 She just wouldn't have anything to do with it.

And the little baby wasn't at all happy about the situation.  We brought it back to the house and went to check on the twins.  Even though they were in a large lot and away from the fence, the nanny still managed to lay on one and kill it.  J caught her so I could milk her for some colostrum  for the triplet.  So for the time being it looks like we have our first bottle goat of the season.

Good Fences #55 or

Three Water Gaps and Dry Land...

 Since the grass is staring to green up and part of the cows are done calving,  it's time to move some of them across the creek.  That always means we have to go check the water gaps.  The only trouble J had at the first one was getting his shirt caught on the barb wire.

 The second one was up and no problem.

 The third and deepest one was of course broken but J fixed it in no time.  I love the knots of tree roots on the bank.

Then it was off to dry land.  These fences are definitely easier to check.

For more Good Fences click HERE.

Happy 21 V!!!!

V is officially 21 years old today.

She came home from Tech for the weekend and we celebrated her birthday on Easter.

 She said this picture looked like a magazine family.

 V also went riding with me on Monday.

 She rode Hank and I rode Otoelene.  We cantered all through the bottom and rode around the farm.

 It was a lovely day with a special daughter.  Happy 21!

Just Kit Sunday #85

Kit Kat is joined today by V.  You'll have to wait for Kit Kat's pictures at the end.

 But first, here is V with her new (to her) car.  It is a 2010 Nissan Rouge SL with 69,000 miles, a heater that works, leather heated seats and a sun roof.  A friend of ours was selling it and it was just what V had been looking for to start out on her own with since she will be graduating from college in another month.

 She will gladly hand the rav down to E.  We are hoping it will last through E's college although it is a 1998 model with 230,000 miles on it.  I don't think J would mind having it for a farm vehicle.

And who knows what will happen to the 1989 crown vic now.  V is really glad those days are gone.  Poor E, one more week before V takes ownership of her car for good.

Now it just has to pass inspection.   

 Kit Kat's inspection that is. 

I think he likes the licence plates!

Happy Easter everyone.