01.16.12
Posted in Goats, hobby farmer at 9:12 am by Administrator
My favorite time Kidding and calving. Starting this week I have five does starting to kid and three cows maybe four to calve. It is such a fun, busy, exciting and tiring. I don’t go far from home for long either. Worked on the kidding barn today almost done, I have four pens finished, we used rubber horse stall mats for the floor and hay as bedding at one end, the other is feed & water. I have the door open so the girls can come and go they seem to like it and stand there looking at the pens like they are deciding this one is mine. Goats are very inquisitive, Ethel is first she is due the 19th, she is not huge but she didn’t get very large last year and had a nice set of twin bucks. Ethel had trouble keeping weight on last year also so I will be upping her feed in advance. The weather was beautiful today more like a March day than January. I just saw a big flock of geese flying North, boy are they confused it’s Oklahoma next week it could snow.
This one is mine!
Permalink
01.10.12
Posted in hobby farmer at 9:45 am by Administrator
Only Brown Eggs will Do!
The weather has just been beautiful some days just a sweatshirt is enough, we are due for some rain and we have a chance this week so I hope for a rainy day. Busy weekend we ran to town twice once with the trailer for feed, once back for dinner. Saturday I also did some trimming of hooves and one more doe needed her CDT she is the last one due, Ethel is due around Jan 19th, I noticed today at least 4 of the girls udders are starting to shape up a little, it is such a exciting time like Christmas getting packages and never knowing what is in them. Can’t wait! Hope the weather holds. Last Winter we had a blizzard and a snow storm to deal with. So quiet is nice. Kids do well as long as they are out of the weather and have mom and dry hay to snuggle in. In Oklahoma we have 3 sided barns our summers are too hot and long for a closed barn.
Sunday we ran in for breakfast and a couple errands then came home and had a few friends stop by to visit and see the Dexter’s. I ended up selling 14 dozen eggs Sunday between customers and friends. Good thing the girls are laying. Monday cold start a little ice on the water tanks, I spent a couple hours working in the orchard and noticed a couple red delicious trees had some borer holes so we will to look closer see if I can pull the worm out. YUK! what I do for a tree.
Permalink
01.03.12
Posted in Goats, hobby farmer at 8:51 am by Administrator
We are in the process of finishing a new goat barn actually the nursery it is 3 sided, which works better in Oklahoma due to our hot summers. It faces east, it is about 30 x 30 has aisle 4 pens each 4 x 7 rubber horse mats and bonus pen large enough to let all the kids play inside and the end is big enough to store hay/feed and park the gator. Here is a pic of the inside.
Inside new Goat Barn (nursery)
Permalink
Posted in Goats, hobby farmer at 8:36 am by Administrator
So what do farmers do for New Years same thing they do every day and usually go to bed early! My holidays? work, clean, cook, and work some more. Even Christmas morning same routine feed cattle, goats, chickens. We got so much accomplished all pasture fencing is finished the 8 strand barb wire fencing we finished on Christmas Eve day. We are now moving our cattle chutes and pens, to a much larger area that would let us utilize two pastures and make loading/unloading and working cattle much easier that should be completed this week. We also have the new goat barn or nursery almost finished we have 4 pens up 4 ft by 7 ft. We used rubber mats for horse stalls inside each stall. It looks nice and will give us a barn just for kidding, which I have a doe (Ethel) who is due in about 2-3 weeks. Then 4 more does after her. Here is a picture of the new goat barn.
New Goat barn nursery
Permalink
12.29.11
Posted in cattle, Goats, hobby farmer at 9:13 am by Administrator
What a gorgeous day and week of weather we are having! 50′s & 60′s. Today was my worst job cleaning out chicken coop one of them, it houses my Cochins. I also treated each one for leg mites yucky! Then treated goats with some powder for lice/mites just in case winter is bad for lice on goats & Cattle because they have long hair thicker coats. We also treated our bull with pour on wormer. I still have to trim feet on the goats and groom my 4 dogs. Working on the new goat barn which is basically a nursery. I have to run to Atwoods this week and pick up some items and 4 rubber mats for the nursery floor. I am also working with the guinea chicks 18 of them 4-5 months old they have been raised in a barn literally and now they are ready to fly the coop! I am so funny. So every morning I let them out, the adult guineas and their parents have to tell them off and chase them every day, then every night herd them back in hopefully next week they can be free not sure what we will do with 26 guineas roaming around and making constant noise, in case you don’t know guineas are the dumbest animal on the planet really!
Permalink
12.21.11
Posted in hobby farmer at 8:20 am by Administrator
If possible I would rather spend my money on Made in USA products and small business then box 
stores. I know almost every thing I pick up says made in China, and nothing personal China but I still believe in Made in the USA products are made better and safer. Okay like many people I have run to the store 3 times this week that is just part of the holidays, but I am done and ready for some serious eating, snacking. I made cookies yesterday and one batch did not come out right I threw them away I think I used one egg and it should have been two. Today made a batch of Butter Pecan Chews, very similar to pecan bars and very tasty. We have had rain for two days everything is soggy, I am getting behind I need to clean out the goat barn, trim hooves, and groom 4 dogs. We tried to do a couple of runs of barb wire fencing and had Lot’s of mud but we won’t complain I will take the rain, the sun will come out tomorrow.
Permalink
12.13.11
Posted in cattle, hobby farmer at 8:55 am by Administrator
A long weekend of working on 8 strand barb wire fencing, some days I think fencing will never end. The weather was nice for December 50′s, much better than summer when we were working in 100 plus temps. The Tulsa Farm Show was this past weekend we go every year, spent half of Friday there and really enjoyed it. Stopped for supper the Kentucky Chicken and got home in time to do evening chores. Made two trips to the feed store this weekend, one trip to pick up a creep feeder, now the little calves can help themselves. I fear I will look out the window one day to see a cow carrying the creep feeder around on her back the first thing the cows did is try to figure out how do we get to the food ? it didn’t take 30 minutes for the oldest calf to find the self feeder and help him self luckily we can control how much comes out or I fear he won’t get out he will be so round. Here is a pic of the creep feeder, they have great benefits calves can eat when they want and not fear getting trampled by a cow who will eat all and any food she can get.
Calf Creep Feeder
Permalink
12.04.11
Posted in cattle, hobby farmer, SS at 8:19 am by Administrator
Blu & Sassi (daughter)
I knew this should be a weekly blog, sorry for taking so long and to tell the truth after my last blog it has been hard to top it. Thanks Giving has passed very quiet here and a beautiful day. Not too much new around the farm, it is getting dark by 5 pm so I try to get the afternoon chores started at 4pm. We have been working on some fencing, I hate
fencing. We have had a few cold days/nights and I hear the next week is going to be cold and a chance for snow. We have pretty much winterized. We had the second goat barn finished but still have to level the inside and put up panels this barn is for all feed, parking for the gator and nursery goat barn.
We took a run up to see friends Linda & Mike, I met Linda years ago when I was getting not progressing in herding with Blu, so I started taking lessons with Linda Holloway she is one of the best in trialing dogs and training many breeds. With Linda’s help I got my PT title with Blu. Since them I discovered I am not good at herding I don’t think quick enough. Now I move animals by myself and that is the best way to learn herding first without a dog! Anyway we went up for lunch of Dexter barley stew! yum and to look at some of their Dexter heifers they have for sale and ended up buying two heifers. They should be a nice addition to our herd. I have 4-5 does bred for Feb, and we have 3 cows due in Feb so let’s hope we don’t have any bad storms.
Permalink
11.10.11
Posted in hobby farmer at 9:04 am by Administrator
This was in the Waco Tribune Herald, Waco , TX Nov 18, 2010
Put me in charge…
Put me in charge of food stamps. I’d get rid of Lone Star cards; no cash for Ding Dongs or Ho Ho’s, just money for 50-pound bags of rice and beans, blocks of cheese and all the powdered milk you can haul away. If you want steak and frozen pizza, then get a job.
Put me in charge of Medicaid. The first thing I’d do is to get women Norplant birth control implants or tubal ligations. Then, we’ll test recipients for drugs, alcohol, and nicotine and document all tattoos and piercings. If you want to reproduce or use drugs, alcohol, smoke or get tats and piercings, then get a job.
Put me in charge of government housing. Ever live in a military barracks?
You will maintain our property in a clean and good state of repair. Your “home” will be subject to inspections anytime and possessions will be inventoried. If you want a plasma TV or Xbox 360, then get a job and your own place.
In addition, you will either present a check stub from a job each week or you will report to a “government” job. It may be cleaning the roadways of trash, painting and repairing public housing, whatever we find for you. We will sell your 22 inch rims and low profile tires and your blasting stereo and speakers and put that money toward the “common good..”
Before you write that I’ve violated someone’s rights, realize that all of the above is voluntary. If you want our money, accept our rules.. Before you say that this would be “demeaning” and ruin their “self esteem,” consider that it wasn’t that long ago that taking someone else’s money for doing absolutely nothing was demeaning and lowered self esteem.
If we are expected to pay for other people’s mistakes we should at least attempt to make them learn from their bad choices. The current system rewards them for continuing to make bad choices.
AND While you are on Gov’t subsistence, you no longer can VOTE! Yes that is correct. For you to vote would be a conflict of interest. You will voluntarily remove yourself from voting while you are receiving a Gov’t welfare check. If you want to vote, then get a job.
Now, if you have the guts – PASS IT ON…
Permalink
11.09.11
Posted in hobby farmer at 8:37 am by Administrator
How wonderful since yesterday we have received three and half inches of rain, everything is wet and muddy and we have puddles I haven’t seen puddles in 6 months. last night we had another earthquake also, I was standing in the door I had just let the dogs out and I heard glasses vibrate sure enough the TV was on and we were having another earthquake but a little one at 4.7. Today I went down to check the bottom pasture where we planted wheat and sure enough it was sprouting so hopefully we will have some winter graze for the cattle even an hour a day of grazing wheat is a lot of food for a cow. Green and fresh beats dry hay anytime. Doing chores especially chickens in the mud is yuck and stinky especially chickens but for the rain I will put up with it. Goats hate rain and stayed in the barn most of the day they are such big babies. But goats really do not like being wet. So a little extra hay for them tonight. Two new Egg customers this week, I usually always have eggs on hand and I enjoy hearing customers tell us how much they like the eggs. Well the end to a good day, pizza.
Permalink
« Previous Page — « Previous entries « Previous Page · Next Page » Next entries » — Next Page »
