Junkprospectors - mini-farm journal

[Four Winds Ranch]

Nice goats!!!!
Bloat is a scarey thing!! Glad everything turned out for the best!!!

 

[BrownSheep]

Lost a lamb last week to bloat. It's an odd thing too. Sometimes they get burpy like that and sometimes they keel over from seemingly the same amount of grain or hay.

 

[junkprospector]

so far so good with the bloat. i think i must have just been checking on them right after they ate dinner or something. each night around 6 their rumen seems to be fuller than other times during the day, but i think as long as it's their 'normal' i suppose its ok. I spent the weekend working on my milking stand. i'm building it from reclaimed pallets and using the fiasco farms plan as my guide, with slight modifications here and there as needed. the goats seem to like it and were happy to help build it... poking their noses in here and there. once i got some boards acoss the frame, they jumped right on top of them to see this new 'toy'. i've still got to finish the headstall, but its coming along. Once this is done then i'll be able to trim their hooves without a wrestling match, which will be pretty nice.

My wife's thinking it may be about time to butcher our turkey. he started trying to mate the chicken hens last week, so we moved him out of the hen house/chicken run and over into the goat playground. he's probably around 35-40 lbs live weight, so between 25-30 lbs dressed out. That would probably be a good weight to dress out at.... so maybe next weekend. I would like to just keep him alive until the Sunday before thanksgiving and just have a fresh turkey. he'll be bigger - but if you're going to raise your own, might as well grow a big one. I suppose if we butcher him sooner, it'll save in feed - he does eat alot... so that would be pretty nice.

Here's a picture of Rue, our doeling - wondering when some more hay is going to get thrown up on the shelf...

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

I am getting turkeys next year! Love fresh turkey, nothing tastes better! I will be thinking for how good your Thanksgiving dinner will be tasting, while I am eating my "from the store" turkey!

 

[junkprospector]

this is our first turkey - hes been pretty fun. I think next year i'll do 2 turkeys or maybe a flemish giant rabbit... still undecided on that one. This one is a BBB so for a thanksgiving feast he should be pretty good. I'd like to get sweetgrass next year i think - they look pretty amazing. I don't know if we'll ever get one as docile as this years turkey though. despite his big size, he's really calm and likes to be petted, doesn't nip or bite... really, as far as turkeys go, he's been pretty awesome. my biggest worry with leaving him outside is that a racoon or something will find him... although i haven't ever seen a racoon at our house and i think he's too big for a neighboorhoot cat to get him and i've never seen a dog in our back yard other than ours.... so my predation worry is completely unfounded.

 

[BrownSheep]

I love turkeys much more than the chickens that I raise and have yet to have had a mean one. Where as I've had multiple aggressive roosters.

Cats wont mess with full grown turkeys but you can loose them to raccoons. I lost a turkey chick last week to a raccoon. If you live anywhere close to off of Broadway I know for certain there are coons around there.

 

[junkprospector]

I found a vet that has some experience with goats! there were some out in Caldwell, but 30 miles seems a bit far - i was really hoping to find one closer.... and i did. Took in some fecal samples yesterday morning to have tests run. Hopefully its nothing major, although one of the goats(Buddy) has some seriously clumpy poo going on, so i wonder about him.

My wife re-itterated again yesterday that its time for processing the turkey, so i think i'll be doing that on Sunday. The kids said they want to be gone when i'm doing that - but i'm trying to convince them to stay and help. I'd like them to get the experience and knowledge of where food comes from and know that this is just part of the process. they know all of that - but actually participating in it would be unforgetable.

+------

Just got a call back from the vet with fecal results
Both tested:
positve for Eimeria at moderate levels
positive for Strongiles at low levels
recommended ivomec plus, a sub q injectable dewormer

 

[lovinglife]

We have raised turkeys a number of times, one year we didn't butcher one of our BBB's not sure why, but he lived with the chickens all winter, then the next summer he free ranged our yard and was very tame. We called him Chuck and he lived with us until he died of old age around 5 years old. That was old for a BBB, and he was a very good pet. He must have weighed 60 pounds, he was gigantic!

 

[junkprospector]

yeah, our turkey is nice as can be! we took him (and the goats) last night to my first grader's school carnival and had a petting zoo. The turkey was in full show off mode which was great! he was strutting all over the place - got lots of ooooo's and ahhhhhh's. He does make a good pet and i enjoy going out back and listening to him gobble and watching him strut... but his days are numbered. I started the journey of getting the turkey with the intent to process him. I know pretty much every body starts with the same intent, but i don't think its very likely that he'll end up just a pet. he poops WAY too much for any pet! Next year we'll do another turkey though, maybe two.

 

[BrownSheep]

My two BBBs ended up being pets because I couldn't find anyone to butcher them. They made it two years. The males heart gave out and he died in his sleep and the females legs gave out. The male was nearing 80lbs when he died.

I ended up getting heritage so I could have my turkey and keep them as pets also.