Devonviolet Acres

[Goat Whisperer]

Looking good! I bet they are so happy!

So... I noticed the floppy eared goat How did she come about?

 

[Devonviolet]

Yes, @farmerjan! I agree about the cattle panels being temporary! That's why we finally decided to go with those, for now anyway. As we have more energy we can move the area back. We can also set up a quarantine pen, if we need it. OR, if I can ever convince DH, we could set up a pig pen. I'm thinking I would like to raise some Kune Kune pigs some day.

Last week I mowed about 300 feet down the property line, before the weeds got out of control, like they did last year. I had to stop at 300 feet, because there was a 20'x 10" dead branch in the path. I figure if we get 300 feet stretched this year, that would be awesome. After all . . . Rome wasn't build in a day!

As it was, the weeds were about 2-1/2 feet high, and I didn't know if there were dead branches or holes under them. I was mowing with the blade on the highest setting (7, whatever that means. I'm pretty sure it isn't 7"). I did find holes (one was pretty big) and a couple 4 or 5" branches. For some of it I was able to rock the mower (forward, reverse, forward, reverse leaning forward and back, rinse and repeat). But eventually, a branch stopped me dead. So I went and got DH. He brought the new shovel, and used it to wedge under the front bumper & pry me out.

This is the beginning of the path I mowed. It rained the next day and the Privot bushes were weighted down.

On,the left is the farmer's field. I think the wind, from,the storm blew the wet grass over.

I was actually mowing outside our property line. I don't think I ever actually got to our fence line, because the honeysuckle is so thick back there. I will have to go out there with the chainsaw and cut it back, so we can eventually get to the property line.

If I can ever find the time and energy, I think I will go back there & pick the blossoms. The other day, @Baymule was telling me they have some amazing medicinal value, and she recently made come cough syrup, which she canned. I would love to do that too!

 

[Devonviolet]

Looking good! I bet they are so happy!

So... I noticed the floppy eared goat How did she come about?

Oh, she is the new love of my life! Her name is Rosemary, and she is 5 months old I'm sure you know she is a sweet little Nubian!

A while back I began thinking about adding some Nubians to my herd. Well, one day I saw this little girls advertised on CraigsList. I couldn't get her sweet little face out of my mind! I tried, really I did!!! About a month later I looked to see if she was still there, and she was! I think that the fact that she was in Waco, which is a several hour drive, may have had something to do with that.

Anyway, I picked her up on her 3 month birthday. She is a treasure and gets along famously with Angelica, our yearling, from Ruby. I'm really looking forward to the rich milk that she is going to give me, after I breed her late this year, as a yearling.

Here she is with her mother the day I picked her up.

Here is Mama's udder (recently milked). She comes from excellent milking lines.

 

[greybeard]

I will have to go out there with the chainsaw and cut it back, so we can eventually get to the property line.

A good weedeater with a brush blade on it will lay down anything under 1 1/2" diameter. I've cleared lots of fenceline with my stihl. Pine saplings, gum saplings, yaupon, greenbriar, honeysuckle and tallow saplings.
Otherwise, brush hog behind a tractor. A good brush hog don't care how big or how many fallen limbs are in there.
(probably should sell my brush hog..haven't hooked it up in 2-3 years.)

 

[Goat Whisperer]

Oh, she is the new love of my life! Her name is Rosemary, and she is 5 months old I'm sure you know she is a sweet little Nubian!

A while back I began thinking about adding some Nubians to my herd. Well, one day I saw this little girls advertised on CraigsList. I couldn't get her sweet little face out of my mind! I tried, really I did!!! About a month later I looked to see if she was still there, and she was! I think that the fact that she was in Waco, which is a several hour drive, may have had something to do with that.

Anyway, I picked her up on her 3 month birthday. She is a treasure and gets along famously with Angelica, our yearling, from Ruby. I'm really looking forward to the rich milk that she is going to give me, after I breed her late this year, as a yearling.

She looks so sweet. We have 5 Nubians right now. 2 bucks and 3 does. Ruby is our old girl and will be retired, so we kept her two standard doelings from last year and this year. Then two bucks- Ruby's buckling is going to be sold so we will only have 1 Nubian buck. They are very sweet! Was your girl bottle raised? I think bottle kids are the most easy going goats. Congrats!

 

[Bruce]

(probably should sell my brush hog..haven't hooked it up in 2-3 years.)

Or drive it over to @Devonviolet's place and find her fence line. Then when you sell it you can say "yep used it last week" rather than "worked fine 3 years ago"

 

[Devonviolet]

She looks so sweet. We have 5 Nubians right now. 2 bucks and 3 does. They are very sweet! Was your girl bottle raised? I think bottle kids are the most easy going goats. Congrats!

Thanks, GW! No, she wasn't bottle raised. So, she isn't as affectionate as I would like, but she is very sweet. When we first put her in with Angelica, Rosemary did a lot of evasive action. She let Angelica be above her in the pecking order, so now they get along famously.

We did end up bottle feeding our newest twins for a while, as Falina developed mastitis while she was dried off. I am not sure what happened. I dried her off very gradually, to the point that I was getting almost nothing, when I milked her. I also cleaned her really well, with povidone iodine and sprayed her with FightBac when I did the last milking. I had a culture and sensitivity test done on her milk and then Gave her a course of the best antibiotics, and withheld the twins for 10 days afterwards. We used milk that we froze. Her udder is now back to good shape. So, the twins are back on her. They are with her 24/7, but it seems they only nurse on her twice a day when I put her on the stand.

Right now they are pretty much emptying her out, so I don't expect any milk when I put her on the stand. Eventually, I will separate them at night.

The beauty of having bottle fed the girls, is that they are so affectionate now! They both want to sit in my lap after they nurse. In fact the other day, I was holding Faith and Hope jumped up on the milk stand and tried to get in my lap along with Faith. So, I scooped Hope up and put her right next to Faith, who laid her head on my arm. Hope then put her head on Faith and they both proceeded to fall asleep. That just made me melt!!! I can see why y'all like to bottle feed your kids!

 

[Devonviolet]

A good weedeater with a brush blade on it will lay down anything under 1 1/2" diameter. I've cleared lots of fenceline with my stihl. Pine saplings, gum saplings, yaupon, greenbriar, honeysuckle and tallow saplings.
Otherwise, brush hog behind a tractor. A good brush hog don't care how big or how many fallen limbs are in there.
(probably should sell my brush hog..haven't hooked it up in 2-3 years.)

We have tried adding brush attachments,to our existing weed eater, but they don't last. We've also talked about getting a better weed eater, that we could put a brush blade on. But, money has always been a factor. That is the same reason we don't have a brush hog. You need a tractor to pull it, and we can't afford a tractor. So, we will use the chain saw instead.

I was using it a couple weeks ago, to cut small tree stumps, along the property line, that the previous owner left at about 6", which wrecked havoc with the mower blades. I started to use the chainsaw to under cut the honeyseckle and was planning to vertical cut it. But, all of a sudden I got short of breath and weak, so decided to stop. It turned out I was in the beginning stages of a bad cold and didn't know it. So, after we get a few of our more pressing jobs done, I want to go back and start cutting into the honeysuckle again.

 

[Baymule]

Can you tie out your goats on the property line? My sheep killed the honeysuckle I had, I would imagine that your goats would love it too. Your new fenced area looks great! I bet the dogs and goats love it!

 

[Devonviolet]

Can you tie out your goats on the property line? My

I suppose we could. I would want to stay with them, because there is a lot there that they could get caught on. Before we got the cattle panels up, I took Falina to another area with thick honeysuckle. She wasn't really interested in it.

Your new fenced area looks great! I bet the dogs and goats love it!

Thanks, Bay! We are happy with it. And yes, the dogs & goats love it! They spend a lot of time out there now.