Larsen Poultry Ranch - homesteading journey

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

The in-laws bought two cows earlier this year to raise for the freezer. I don't know if I showed them before but got hubby to take a picture of one today. The in-laws are putting one in their freezer and splitting the other between their two children, so we are going to have a lot of beef in a month or two. I guess they are supposed to be graining them now and will butcher in a month or so. They like the grain finished ones better than only grass fed, the last grass fed we had didn't have a good taste.

The one pictured is the good cow who stayed in the fencing, the other cow escaped and took a trip back to his original herd, they are not far away. He is supposed to be coming back as soon as they coordinate trailering. Their retired pasture horse is in the background.

 

[Baymule]

Hey that’s a great job on the new rabbit barn! Congratulations on making it easier for you to care for the rabbits.

Good cow/bad cow! Hahaha!

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Checked on the rabbits before bed tonight. Willow has at least one chinchilla and eyes are starting to open. Maple's kits look small but I think they are being fed. They are so close to eyes open I am going to leave them with her, plus they are smaller than Juniper's kits, I think they'd get pushed around too much if I tried to combine the litters. Juniper has 5 little black hippo kits with eyes starting to open as well. They all look like normal fur. Didn't mess with Parsley's kits, and Sage's kits don't want to be picked up and snuggled. I'll keep trying.. Eventually they will love me, right?

The chinchilla for Willow confirms that the buck has chinchilla gene and not REW. Which is excellent for pelts, but apparently not good for getting proper show colors if I'm going to try to focus on castor/opal. There was only one chinchilla Rex at the show in Vallejo. I think there were roughly 60 Rex total in the Open and Youth categories.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Willow kits

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Maple kits

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Juniper kits

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Parsley kits. They didn't want to have their picture taken. There's at least one chestnut lol.

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Sage kits. They are all over the place now. Can you see all 7? The one kit tried to get a drink and mom wasn't having it.

 

[Baymule]

How exciting and fun! They are so cute!

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

Gathered 3 eggs this morning, the chickens had been eating their eggs so I hadn't checked in a while. The north neighbor has been getting his property ready to sell this coming year and he gave me his 4 laying hens. My rooster is happy with more ladies but they certainly go through food faster.

This last weekend we put some potted agave in the ground. I'm hoping the main plant isn't too root bound and will grow well. It started with a mom plant with just one pup over a year ago, and we split the plants and planted over 10 agave. Most were small and had almost no roots, but I'm confident at least half will live. We put them by the front of the property so once the fence is up and the plants get bigger, anyone trying to hop the fence will have a spiky welcome.