bonbean01
Herd Master
Well Southern...I follow you all...and really I should be in bed...such a hopeless addict 
Jodief100--- random stuff and BIG news
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jodief100
True BYH Addict
After 2 more days of single digits, the weather is warming up. Water over the snow is making things very slick. It took two hours to get home last night.
I am ready for winter to be over. We needed the cold and needed the freeze but I am done.
No new babies yet. They are holding out on me. I want boy-girl twins as much as possible, boys for the buck test and their sisters for the doe sale if the boys do well.
The bucks keep dumping the hay feeder over. They have done it two nights in a row now. Sunshine keeps getting stuck in the hay rack. She has tall horns that turn out at the ends. It is a pain getting her out. Hubby and I are going to replace the vertical boards with goat panels this week. It will be expensive but we will need to do it eventually, either before she smashes my hand getting her loose or after. I prefer before.
We are running low on hay and feed. I am hoping for a warm up so they can go out and browse for a few days. I have the net almost strung to expand the pasture. That should extend the hay for a week or so.
I am picking up 100 more chicks tomorrow, Brahmas, Buff Orps and GLWs. If my orders follow through I have about 30 of them sold already.
Work still has some issues. This sucks because I normally really enjoy my job. Looser Boy is taking all the pleasure out of it for me.
I love my farm. We are having normal, boring farm days right now. It is nice to just enjoy being here. We are so fortunate to have all of this, so lucky to live the way we do. City folks will never get it.
I am ready for winter to be over. We needed the cold and needed the freeze but I am done.
No new babies yet. They are holding out on me. I want boy-girl twins as much as possible, boys for the buck test and their sisters for the doe sale if the boys do well.
The bucks keep dumping the hay feeder over. They have done it two nights in a row now. Sunshine keeps getting stuck in the hay rack. She has tall horns that turn out at the ends. It is a pain getting her out. Hubby and I are going to replace the vertical boards with goat panels this week. It will be expensive but we will need to do it eventually, either before she smashes my hand getting her loose or after. I prefer before.
We are running low on hay and feed. I am hoping for a warm up so they can go out and browse for a few days. I have the net almost strung to expand the pasture. That should extend the hay for a week or so.
I am picking up 100 more chicks tomorrow, Brahmas, Buff Orps and GLWs. If my orders follow through I have about 30 of them sold already.
Work still has some issues. This sucks because I normally really enjoy my job. Looser Boy is taking all the pleasure out of it for me.
I love my farm. We are having normal, boring farm days right now. It is nice to just enjoy being here. We are so fortunate to have all of this, so lucky to live the way we do. City folks will never get it.
Southern by choice
Herd Master
So glad you are having normal boring days! Sounds like you need a few of those! 
Straw Hat Kikos
The Kiko Cowboy
So funny Jodie. I spend most of the morning feeding, getting water, hay, etc for my goats and the dogs. Then I had to move the hay feeder out of the back stall where the does are to make more room for kidding. I moved it out into the field because they eat wet or dry hay. Then I took the large area where we keep all our hay and I flipped the round bale up and into the corner, picked up the excess hay and put it elsewhere, and laid hay (no straw) in both new kidding stalls for the does. Took me a little bit and it became hard work doing it alone but after I was done I jumped into the pile of hay that my bad goats keep eating (not the hay in their feeder. Oh no!) and just laid there. Arianna and Sis are on either side of my, about a foot away for both of them, and I thought that there is nothing in the world I'd rather be doing than this. I love what I do and I love my goats. No matter how frustrating it become or how hard it becomes or how cold it becomes or how dang MUDDY it is out there this is what I want to do. Nothing else.
btw does could kid as soon as today!
btw does could kid as soon as today!
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jodief100
True BYH Addict
I know I have been neglecting my journal and all of you. I am almost caught up reading everyones journals but not quite. I read all of them, even if I dont comment very often.
Things are crazy. We have 29 kids born in a span of 7 days. Most of them were over the weekend thankfully but it was the weekend my mother was here for my uncles funeral. Needless to say I missed the graveside service and the visitation. I did make the funeral services at the church and lightning did not strike me down for my hypocrisy. There were hundreds of people there, literally over 400 names in the registrar. David was one of those people who always asked what can I do for YOU and was completely sincere.
Most everything went well with a few exceptions. Stupid kidded quads and they were all dead when I found them. It was a warm sunny day and it had been less than an hour since I last saw her. I think they were either born dead or too weak to get up. It was very disappointing. It was 3 does and a buck kid, high percentage boer kids, one solid red and three traditional- all with long capes and all a different color. It was heartbreaking. Petunia lost her twins, her milk came in in that very think colostrum I seem to having difficulty with this year and I didnt notice they were in trouble until it was too late. All my fault. I was very busy with my mom and all the other kids and the funeral but it is no excuse. I took them in the house and tried for 14 hours to get them warm but I lost them.
The visit from my mom was much better than expected. She is not an animal person but loves babies of any kind. All of the new kids really cheered her up. Every time I went out to the barn she followed me and I would find her standing in the stalls with the smallest baby she could find in her arms.
This weekend I got them all weighed and tagged. That was a chore. I would walk out to the field, find one either nursing or close to its mom so I knew who it belonged to. Catch it, carry it uphill 50-100 yards back to the barn. Put it in the bucket, lift the bucket onto the scale, tag it, write everything down and repeat. 23 times. I am sore and tired.
We had to get more hay on Saturday. My regular hay guy was out but I fund someone in town with mixed grass. Mixed grass is an understatement. There was orchard grass, timothy, alfalfa, clover and fescue and that was just what I could identify. No two bales are the same. No point in getting this lot tested.
The chicks are growing fast. They are too crowded in their pen right now but I had no time left to get them transferred to the bigger one. If the guy who said he was coming tonight to get 30 doesnt show I will have to move some of them into the dog crate temporarily.
Things are crazy. We have 29 kids born in a span of 7 days. Most of them were over the weekend thankfully but it was the weekend my mother was here for my uncles funeral. Needless to say I missed the graveside service and the visitation. I did make the funeral services at the church and lightning did not strike me down for my hypocrisy. There were hundreds of people there, literally over 400 names in the registrar. David was one of those people who always asked what can I do for YOU and was completely sincere.
Most everything went well with a few exceptions. Stupid kidded quads and they were all dead when I found them. It was a warm sunny day and it had been less than an hour since I last saw her. I think they were either born dead or too weak to get up. It was very disappointing. It was 3 does and a buck kid, high percentage boer kids, one solid red and three traditional- all with long capes and all a different color. It was heartbreaking. Petunia lost her twins, her milk came in in that very think colostrum I seem to having difficulty with this year and I didnt notice they were in trouble until it was too late. All my fault. I was very busy with my mom and all the other kids and the funeral but it is no excuse. I took them in the house and tried for 14 hours to get them warm but I lost them.
The visit from my mom was much better than expected. She is not an animal person but loves babies of any kind. All of the new kids really cheered her up. Every time I went out to the barn she followed me and I would find her standing in the stalls with the smallest baby she could find in her arms.
This weekend I got them all weighed and tagged. That was a chore. I would walk out to the field, find one either nursing or close to its mom so I knew who it belonged to. Catch it, carry it uphill 50-100 yards back to the barn. Put it in the bucket, lift the bucket onto the scale, tag it, write everything down and repeat. 23 times. I am sore and tired.
We had to get more hay on Saturday. My regular hay guy was out but I fund someone in town with mixed grass. Mixed grass is an understatement. There was orchard grass, timothy, alfalfa, clover and fescue and that was just what I could identify. No two bales are the same. No point in getting this lot tested.
The chicks are growing fast. They are too crowded in their pen right now but I had no time left to get them transferred to the bigger one. If the guy who said he was coming tonight to get 30 doesnt show I will have to move some of them into the dog crate temporarily.
Straw Hat Kikos
The Kiko Cowboy
I'm so sorry to hear that. I'm really sorry they dies and esp quads. I wonder what happened. That's weird about you having the thick colostrum issues this year. :/
Boy that sounds fun...NOT. I'll more than likely be tagging mine later this week or on the weekend. I'd rather do it young and where their ears aren't so thick.
Shelly May
Chillin' with the herd
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Sorry to hear about your loss 
, it is hard to lose them and not being sure as to why, don't be too hard on your self.
, it is hard to lose them and not being sure as to why, don't be too hard on your self.SuburbanFarmChic
Overrun with beasties
Jodie,
Was reading up on the colostrum issue and I have seen a suggestion 3 times now so I'll pass it along. Oxytocin to help bring on the actual milk and thin out the colostrum. And that people are seeing their does produce it every other year.
The only other suggestion people had was to strip the does out, thin the colostrum and tube or bottle feed the kids their first couple doses until they are strong enough to suck it out of the teats.
Don't beat yourself up too much. We've all had other life get in the way of farm life.
Was reading up on the colostrum issue and I have seen a suggestion 3 times now so I'll pass it along. Oxytocin to help bring on the actual milk and thin out the colostrum. And that people are seeing their does produce it every other year.
The only other suggestion people had was to strip the does out, thin the colostrum and tube or bottle feed the kids their first couple doses until they are strong enough to suck it out of the teats.
Don't beat yourself up too much. We've all had other life get in the way of farm life.
bonbean01
Herd Master
Sorry about your losses Jodie...but Suburban is right...sometimes life gets in the way of our livestock lives. A funeral and company during all of this...you must be sooooo tired!!!
