We have a thing for alliteration here if you haven't noticed.
Actually, since last week, we have lots to report. Mostly good.
Starting with the bad... Homesteading Hubby got laid off last week. Its not terribly surprising given the financial state of many municipalities. Working in engineering where your work is based on cities have tax revenue to spend on improvements can be a sketchy thing. Since then he's been pounding the pavement. He's worked longer hours this whole last week than he ever did at is 8-5 job. I'm really proud of him for not sitting in a stupor from the sting of it all. We don't expect him to be out of work long. We have a very Might God who is his ultimate Employer. We expect a promotion... and that's what is looking very likely. More about that in the weeks to come.
Thankfully, Angel, the dog, is doing very well. The only thing we were told was to keep her dry. We moved her big kennel into the garage for now. She certainly isnt slowing at all. She runs free most of the day now, but lately has picked up some bad habits which I'll need to spend some time to correct. Until then, she gets locked up when my attention is going to be diverted too much.
I decided to dry off Noel already. Her milk supply plummeted quickly. I think she's pregnant again. I've also noticed that she can't handle grain like the other goats can. She started to scour the other day so I tethered her to a bushy green area and clipped some more branches. She was very happy for the fiber. I can't keep her in milk and growing a baby on the calories supplied through the greenery in our pasture right now. She's not as into hay as other goats are either. She seems to prefer the fresh greens. So... I'd like to wait a couple more months, make sure she really is pregnant, than try to trade her for another lamancha or maybe a mini nubian. We'll have to see what comes.
Yesterday morning, Farmer Hub was milking for me and Farmer girl started her normal babble about Button (the sheep) and her baby. He thought little of it as we didn't know when to expect Button to give birth. But after her being rather adamant and then saying Button's BLACK baby, he turned to look, and sure enough, a little charcoal gray lamb was standing beside Button! No birthing problems at all! We didn't even hear her! The lamb is a ewe to top off the blessing. We're now working to make sure she doesn't get skiddish. I'm trying to feed her a bottle every day. She's got little interest in it now. Hopefully that will change. We also are still thinking of names.
In the garden, I transplanted lots of greens into the square foot bed. I know you're supposed to seed, but I think I still like transplanting better. I took down the ugly orange fencing because I think it was blocking the sun too much. That has given Angel entrance now... which means I've lost a few transplants. I also have most of our cucurbits planted. I have a lot of work to do outside still. Thankfully my hip is holding up well now. I'm plugging away. Its just a very busy time for me right now.
And on that note, please forgive the general updates concerning every topic on the 'stead. It doesn't make for easy searching of specific information. One day I'll get back to normal... I think.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Thursday, March 11, 2010
General Update
Ok... maybe not general but at least a lieutenant worthy of salute.
Its been slow going here at the homestead. While spring is marching in fast trying to catch up from a month of lost time, I, on the other hand, am as hindered as I was this fall fresh from childbirth. Last Sunday night I went to bed fine and when I woke up, I couldn't walk. Its been up and down from there- my left hip just being out of whack. Been to see the chiropractor yesterday where she chastised me for coming so late. Live and learn. I'm young... sorta... I expect to just heal. And I don't think that's a bad expectation to have.
Anyway, sprouts are outside and enjoying it. Got 6 zucchini plants transplanted and only 1 looks worse for the wear. I'll need to re-seed some watermelon, cantaloupe and cucumber seeds. I had tried to seed them in egg cartons- and egg hole per seed. Got very poor results. Again, live and learn. I'm going to direct seed once we hit the waxing moon and pray for the best.
Button is doing well. While she's still not letting me close to touching her. She comes just close enough to allow her room to bolt. That's a huge improvement. One huge lesson learned is to not buy any more animals from large herds. In our arrangement we need animals who are at least moderately comfortable with human interaction. Button also has learned that Angel, the dog, just wants to play. Button continues to sit and calmly stare into the distance when Angel comes bounding up wanting to herd.
Angel is right now at the humane society getting spayed. I have no idea how I'm going to keep this hyper BIG puppy calm while she's healing. Poor girl will go out of her gourd kept in the kennel, but I certainly can't run fast enough to give her exercise... even with 2 good hips.
Our post-molt birds are really producing! This is GREAT! Out of 4 birds we're getting 3-4 eggs each day. One sad bit of news is that I noticed a bird acting strange a couple weeks ago. Others were pecking her so I pulled her from the pen where she continued to sit and not run from me. I could tell she was sick. I jumped online and guessed it may be botulism. I administered Epsom salt water to her and as I was doing so, I noticed a huge bulge near her rectum. Then I remembered egg binding. Again, the internet to the rescue. Sure enough, her symptoms were exactly what they were describing. I did as I was told. I greased up her rectum and tried to massage out the egg. It seemed to have turned sideways but I was able to work out the egg. When it was over I took my hands off her... and she didn't move. I nudged her. Nothing. I set her in the sun and started trying to find out if birds will pass out from pain. No one knew. Evening was coming fast and I didn't want to feed a coon, but I also didn't want to bag a live bird. But by the time we really needed to know, she was stiff as a board. Too bad. I'm 0 for 2 on my midwifery skills.
We got our redneck pallet wood garden fence down and partially replaced it with standard 28" fencing. We're still being cheep though. We're discovering all the uses for electrical conduit. We have standard posts in the corner and we'll use 1 piece of conduit (about $2) to make 3 posts. Should work well and save a bundle even with spacing them closer than we would space normal posts. Wouldn't recommend it for animals but for unruly squash vines and hungry gopher tortoises, I think it will hold up fine.
Looking forward to next week when the moon will be phasing right and the weather should be good. Just praying my back will be back in action as well. If not, farmer girl's going to have a lot of work to do!
Its been slow going here at the homestead. While spring is marching in fast trying to catch up from a month of lost time, I, on the other hand, am as hindered as I was this fall fresh from childbirth. Last Sunday night I went to bed fine and when I woke up, I couldn't walk. Its been up and down from there- my left hip just being out of whack. Been to see the chiropractor yesterday where she chastised me for coming so late. Live and learn. I'm young... sorta... I expect to just heal. And I don't think that's a bad expectation to have.
Anyway, sprouts are outside and enjoying it. Got 6 zucchini plants transplanted and only 1 looks worse for the wear. I'll need to re-seed some watermelon, cantaloupe and cucumber seeds. I had tried to seed them in egg cartons- and egg hole per seed. Got very poor results. Again, live and learn. I'm going to direct seed once we hit the waxing moon and pray for the best.
Button is doing well. While she's still not letting me close to touching her. She comes just close enough to allow her room to bolt. That's a huge improvement. One huge lesson learned is to not buy any more animals from large herds. In our arrangement we need animals who are at least moderately comfortable with human interaction. Button also has learned that Angel, the dog, just wants to play. Button continues to sit and calmly stare into the distance when Angel comes bounding up wanting to herd.
Angel is right now at the humane society getting spayed. I have no idea how I'm going to keep this hyper BIG puppy calm while she's healing. Poor girl will go out of her gourd kept in the kennel, but I certainly can't run fast enough to give her exercise... even with 2 good hips.
Our post-molt birds are really producing! This is GREAT! Out of 4 birds we're getting 3-4 eggs each day. One sad bit of news is that I noticed a bird acting strange a couple weeks ago. Others were pecking her so I pulled her from the pen where she continued to sit and not run from me. I could tell she was sick. I jumped online and guessed it may be botulism. I administered Epsom salt water to her and as I was doing so, I noticed a huge bulge near her rectum. Then I remembered egg binding. Again, the internet to the rescue. Sure enough, her symptoms were exactly what they were describing. I did as I was told. I greased up her rectum and tried to massage out the egg. It seemed to have turned sideways but I was able to work out the egg. When it was over I took my hands off her... and she didn't move. I nudged her. Nothing. I set her in the sun and started trying to find out if birds will pass out from pain. No one knew. Evening was coming fast and I didn't want to feed a coon, but I also didn't want to bag a live bird. But by the time we really needed to know, she was stiff as a board. Too bad. I'm 0 for 2 on my midwifery skills.
We got our redneck pallet wood garden fence down and partially replaced it with standard 28" fencing. We're still being cheep though. We're discovering all the uses for electrical conduit. We have standard posts in the corner and we'll use 1 piece of conduit (about $2) to make 3 posts. Should work well and save a bundle even with spacing them closer than we would space normal posts. Wouldn't recommend it for animals but for unruly squash vines and hungry gopher tortoises, I think it will hold up fine.
Looking forward to next week when the moon will be phasing right and the weather should be good. Just praying my back will be back in action as well. If not, farmer girl's going to have a lot of work to do!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Bella's Baby Blues
last night was hard. i shed some tears and am still extremely tense. friends who are boarding bella and button called. bella's showing signs of birth/labor, but there's no baby. we went over immediately and sure enough there was string of gunk hanging out indicating that her water had broken. the sheep are extremely skiddish. we stood in the pasture with a flashlight on her from 20' away and watched her contract and push... or at least i think she was pushing. that went on for 20 min or so. then we left the pasture but stayed outside. i fed the baby and watched, wondering what to do. it had been a long time. was she culled from this big sheep farm because the farmer saw something that i don't know? i got really concerned- with our goats, when they start pushing the baby comes right out. me too. the body does the work until the very end. if there's pushing with no baby, something is likely tangled up. So we went back in, this time forming a human wall with the 5 able bodies we had, and slowly crept in on them (this was after several minutes of them running frantically before we had our act together). We cornered them and caught Bella, got a collar around her, and held her down. I then gloved up and...
Stop reading here if you're squimish.
... went in. I immediately found feet. I pulled them out some, determined they were front feet then went looking for the head. That was a mess. I was all in there and completely unable to detect a head for quite some time. I finally did find it, but couldn't get it lined up. This is where I started crying. Bella, it seemed, had given up. She laid there doing nothing. No contractions, no pushing, nothing. I felt the baby move so was moderately encouraged yet at the same time, knowing this baby needed out. Farmer Hub gave it a go and too, would find the head, line it up, go to pull then lose the head again. He and I traded places again. We didn't know what to do. Who do you call at 9pm on a Friday night? We're not country enough for anyone to really know more than me... not that I'm an expert. My summers on a dairy farm is all I really knew about birthing livestock... and this sheep was not behaving like a cow. Everything would seem lined up fine, but when we'd start to pull, Bella's bones would close up tight and not let the head into the birth canal. She'd close up so tight that I could barely get my hand out. I started to really get scared. Finally, our friend called a friend just to get advice. That advice was to line it up as best as we could and leave her alone. She was scared and stressed and that was causing the pinch. So that's what we did. As soon as we took off the collar and stepped away she was up and running. We cleaned up some and sat in their living room for a stretch while one read online about lambing problems. We then remembered we still needed to do our 3rd milking for the day. The kids, on the other hand were having a great time playing with our friends' kids. Farmer Girl could have been left behind and wouldn't have missed me at all.
Me being rather emotionally spent, Farmer Hub did the milking while I got kids clean and tucked into bed. I kept praying for a call that all was well. None came.
This morning I woke up rather early, my back and neck screaming from the stress and tension. It was a couple hours later when we heard anything... and that was still no different. Right now she's laboring and pushing hard. She's laying down and working. Everyone is giving her space. We were supposed to bring the sheep home today anyway so, basically, we've made the decision that if the baby's not out by afternoon, we'll bring her home, put a bullet in her head and do our best at a quick c-section. If she can't deliver naturally, we really can't keep her anyway. We would butcher her and fill our already full freezer with mutton.
This is an extremely tough call. But I don't know what else to do. Even if we called in a vet, we would have to deal with the fact that she's not able to deliver... or at least that's all we know of her. How many attempts do you allow a ewe to do before she's culled? Oddly enough, I feel much better with this plan than when I was digging around, elbow deep and not having a clue what to do. I came home beating myself up thinking the stress of catching her and feeling her was what did her in, and maybe so, but I think, more realistically, that we really did make the best decision and have the best plan we can think off.
And we just continue to pray that her body will open and allow her to push out this lamb. I'll be happy if either of them, mama or baby, survives at this point.
And here's the update... when we got there this afternoon, I knew immediately that the lamb was dead. There's an unmistakable smell and once you've smelled it, you never forget it. I was immediately transported back to one of my first days on the farm where a c-section was needed to get out a stuck twin. They had me assist the vet... probably to see what the city-girl could handle. The calf came out badly deformed, grotesque and unmistakably dead. Same smell today. We caught Bella pretty quickly and given that I could barely get my hand in, I know she was worse off now than last night. We brought her and Button home. Button was set free in the pasture and is doing rather well with the goats already. Bella... was put out of her misery as quickly as possible. This is where I asked my husband if I needed to be tough or could I wuss out. He and our friend gave me permission to busy myself elsewhere. So I left to buy ice just as the shot was fired. I busied myself milking while the baby was pulled out. I went to the neighbor's to retrieve the kids while they butchered her.
I've shed a lot of tears now, for a baby who was supposed to live, for a mother who was supposed to nurture. Though hind site says we should have made the tough call last night, I would never want to do so that quickly. I don't think I would have done anything differently. That helps my own emotions some but I still have 2 dead animals. I can just hope for better for Button, who actually is much smaller. I picked out Bella (and our friends' Valentine) because they looked bigger, older, like they were proven mothers. I chose Button because she looked younger and would have more years in her. But I do specifically remember at the breeding ewe show at the county fair, the judge discussing the wideness of the hips. I thought I was watching for that too, but maybe there's more to look for than just how wide apart their legs are when standing.
Its the end of a very sad story. One more class in the school of hard knocks.
Stop reading here if you're squimish.
... went in. I immediately found feet. I pulled them out some, determined they were front feet then went looking for the head. That was a mess. I was all in there and completely unable to detect a head for quite some time. I finally did find it, but couldn't get it lined up. This is where I started crying. Bella, it seemed, had given up. She laid there doing nothing. No contractions, no pushing, nothing. I felt the baby move so was moderately encouraged yet at the same time, knowing this baby needed out. Farmer Hub gave it a go and too, would find the head, line it up, go to pull then lose the head again. He and I traded places again. We didn't know what to do. Who do you call at 9pm on a Friday night? We're not country enough for anyone to really know more than me... not that I'm an expert. My summers on a dairy farm is all I really knew about birthing livestock... and this sheep was not behaving like a cow. Everything would seem lined up fine, but when we'd start to pull, Bella's bones would close up tight and not let the head into the birth canal. She'd close up so tight that I could barely get my hand out. I started to really get scared. Finally, our friend called a friend just to get advice. That advice was to line it up as best as we could and leave her alone. She was scared and stressed and that was causing the pinch. So that's what we did. As soon as we took off the collar and stepped away she was up and running. We cleaned up some and sat in their living room for a stretch while one read online about lambing problems. We then remembered we still needed to do our 3rd milking for the day. The kids, on the other hand were having a great time playing with our friends' kids. Farmer Girl could have been left behind and wouldn't have missed me at all.
Me being rather emotionally spent, Farmer Hub did the milking while I got kids clean and tucked into bed. I kept praying for a call that all was well. None came.
This morning I woke up rather early, my back and neck screaming from the stress and tension. It was a couple hours later when we heard anything... and that was still no different. Right now she's laboring and pushing hard. She's laying down and working. Everyone is giving her space. We were supposed to bring the sheep home today anyway so, basically, we've made the decision that if the baby's not out by afternoon, we'll bring her home, put a bullet in her head and do our best at a quick c-section. If she can't deliver naturally, we really can't keep her anyway. We would butcher her and fill our already full freezer with mutton.
This is an extremely tough call. But I don't know what else to do. Even if we called in a vet, we would have to deal with the fact that she's not able to deliver... or at least that's all we know of her. How many attempts do you allow a ewe to do before she's culled? Oddly enough, I feel much better with this plan than when I was digging around, elbow deep and not having a clue what to do. I came home beating myself up thinking the stress of catching her and feeling her was what did her in, and maybe so, but I think, more realistically, that we really did make the best decision and have the best plan we can think off.
And we just continue to pray that her body will open and allow her to push out this lamb. I'll be happy if either of them, mama or baby, survives at this point.
And here's the update... when we got there this afternoon, I knew immediately that the lamb was dead. There's an unmistakable smell and once you've smelled it, you never forget it. I was immediately transported back to one of my first days on the farm where a c-section was needed to get out a stuck twin. They had me assist the vet... probably to see what the city-girl could handle. The calf came out badly deformed, grotesque and unmistakably dead. Same smell today. We caught Bella pretty quickly and given that I could barely get my hand in, I know she was worse off now than last night. We brought her and Button home. Button was set free in the pasture and is doing rather well with the goats already. Bella... was put out of her misery as quickly as possible. This is where I asked my husband if I needed to be tough or could I wuss out. He and our friend gave me permission to busy myself elsewhere. So I left to buy ice just as the shot was fired. I busied myself milking while the baby was pulled out. I went to the neighbor's to retrieve the kids while they butchered her.
I've shed a lot of tears now, for a baby who was supposed to live, for a mother who was supposed to nurture. Though hind site says we should have made the tough call last night, I would never want to do so that quickly. I don't think I would have done anything differently. That helps my own emotions some but I still have 2 dead animals. I can just hope for better for Button, who actually is much smaller. I picked out Bella (and our friends' Valentine) because they looked bigger, older, like they were proven mothers. I chose Button because she looked younger and would have more years in her. But I do specifically remember at the breeding ewe show at the county fair, the judge discussing the wideness of the hips. I thought I was watching for that too, but maybe there's more to look for than just how wide apart their legs are when standing.
Its the end of a very sad story. One more class in the school of hard knocks.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Garden Update
What a rocky winter its been for a garden! It seems since summer I've managed to have a single crop keep us in veggies! Right now we're getting lots of lettuce, eating off our sweet potato stores, occasionally pulling some radishes, but the rest is sorely lacking! And then I've discovered this "thing" growing in one garden where we'll be planting next month. I don't know what it is. I saw one loose in the back yard a couple months ago and thought it was a chew toy from the neighbor's dog.
Given the horrible conditions for growing seeds, I've started some inside. This is sitting on our old kitchen table in the family room with absorbant "chucks" and a towel underneath. I've got a 90 watt halogen flood light on it for about 15 hours a day. We'll see how it works! We're going to build a mini green house in the fall so this doesn't happen again.
In other garden news, I'm baffled as to why 100 years ago the local farming community got on the map because of cabbage farming where now I can't get a single plant to head up. I've grown them all winter, fertilized faithfully, and they just won't form a head. And yes, they are heading varieties. None of my brassicas have done anything worth while but bok choy. I'm looking forward to spring, longer days and constant temps... even if the bugs come too.
Angel
Here's a quick picture of Angel. She's very good at what she does and very unsure of what she's supposed to do. 
We purchased a shock collar to help with her training. I've heard great things about these tools, but I'm hoping it gets better than our first experience. She was completely unresponsive to it until she was wimpering in pain. Its clear she wants to please us so I think its just going to take more time until she recognizes the lighter tingle (or better yet, the sound) as an indication that she's doing something wrong.
With that said, let me share a story from yesterday. Sunday night, Noel went flakey on us. She started to leave the pasture in her normal 3rd place milking turn, but then bolted deep into the pasture. Normally she lets me approach her and scratch her ears, etc, but not then. It took Farmer Hub and I both to catch her to milk her out. Monday morning, same thing... only Farmer Hub was already gone to work. Angel was in the pasture but Dulcinea doesn't let her get too close to the goats... in fact Dulcinea, being rather big, is quite mean to Angel. Another issue to figure out. So, I locked Dulcinea in the dog kennel so Angel could work with me. Keep in mind, this dog is basically completely untrained. She could tell I was chasing goats so lit in chasing Fudge and Copper. But she quickly figured out that I was only after Noel. In a matter of a minute or less, Angel and I had her cornered where Angel then chased her straight into my arms where I had a leash waiting. I tethered Noel to spare her the stress for the next milkings. This morning, she was very cooperative!
And now with THAT said, it seems she doesn't have a few characteristics I'd like her to have. For example, she frequently gets ganged up on by Dulcinea and Copper and she just runs away. This morning, I look out the window to see a strange man walking across the yard. It was only the meter reader, but there wasn't a single peep from Angel. How do I train her to be at least a BIT more guarding? Do I soak pictures of coons in blood and wave them under her nose? Any advice will be appreciative. I still think we got the right type of dog, that is herding vs. guarding... I just need to know how to train her to do what doesn't come naturally.
Dulcinea
Another goat buckling was born last week. I had the notion to see about swapping 2 bucklings for a doeling, We got way better than that!
Here they are loaded into our hatchback to travel through bad weather.
And here's Dulcinea, a 3/4 lamancha milking doe who kidded last tuesday. It was a short trip and she laid down the whole time but she still just barely fit in the dog crate!
Here's her sawed off horns. Her only downfall. We like our animals to keep the defenses they have, but if you insist on having hornless goats, do it while they're young... but sawing??? Poor girl.
She's got a great disposition. This is her first kidding, she's 2 years old and she's better on the milking table than our veterans.
This is what was left of a day's milk. Milking 3 times a day and drinking it happily! We're getting about 3 quarts a day from our 3 does.
Here they are loaded into our hatchback to travel through bad weather.
And here's Dulcinea, a 3/4 lamancha milking doe who kidded last tuesday. It was a short trip and she laid down the whole time but she still just barely fit in the dog crate!
Here's her sawed off horns. Her only downfall. We like our animals to keep the defenses they have, but if you insist on having hornless goats, do it while they're young... but sawing??? Poor girl.
She's got a great disposition. This is her first kidding, she's 2 years old and she's better on the milking table than our veterans.
This is what was left of a day's milk. Milking 3 times a day and drinking it happily! We're getting about 3 quarts a day from our 3 does.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Prince
Noel had been looking large for a while. Every morning I'd check her tail tendons to see how close she was to birth. Putting a finger on each side of her tail, right in the little pockets, you generally feel what feels like a thin pencil on each side. Those get soft as birth approaches. I checked her on Friday evening (Jan 22) and said, "It won't be tonight." Famous last words.
We went to sleep and were woken up at 3am by my phone ringing- it was a friend calling to take us up on the offer to help her get her newly adopted Haitian children who were coming into the Sanford airport that morning. I was thrilled to get the call- her kids were coming home! As we got the details, we heard Noel making the unmistakable sounds of labor. Farmer Hub went out while I finished the phone call... he delivered his first goat before I ever got there.
He's a beautiful, blue-eyed buck who looks just like his daddy, Copper. Noel did a great job cleaning him off. The only reason I interferred at all was because I wanted to make sure he could nurse before getting back to bed. We named him Prince (for Port-au-Prince). Noel continues to be a great mother though I'm struggling getting milking back into the daily schedule. When she's giving more (and he's getting less) I'm sure it will be more exciting to do. Now, well, its an awful lot of work for 3 oz.
And while my friend's children did not get to go home that day, they are home now and doing GREAT. Glory be to our Most High God who delights in adoption- He adopted us!
We went to sleep and were woken up at 3am by my phone ringing- it was a friend calling to take us up on the offer to help her get her newly adopted Haitian children who were coming into the Sanford airport that morning. I was thrilled to get the call- her kids were coming home! As we got the details, we heard Noel making the unmistakable sounds of labor. Farmer Hub went out while I finished the phone call... he delivered his first goat before I ever got there.
He's a beautiful, blue-eyed buck who looks just like his daddy, Copper. Noel did a great job cleaning him off. The only reason I interferred at all was because I wanted to make sure he could nurse before getting back to bed. We named him Prince (for Port-au-Prince). Noel continues to be a great mother though I'm struggling getting milking back into the daily schedule. When she's giving more (and he's getting less) I'm sure it will be more exciting to do. Now, well, its an awful lot of work for 3 oz.
And while my friend's children did not get to go home that day, they are home now and doing GREAT. Glory be to our Most High God who delights in adoption- He adopted us!
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