Latestarter's ramblings/musings/gripes and grumbles.

[Hens and Roos]

LS my goats love beet pulp. I've used senior feed with it in the feed for years for my horses and it sure helps keep the oldsters in decent weight. When a horse gets to late 20s & mid 30s their jaw teeth are basically gone and chewing hay is out. So this provides a "complete" feed and some of them never get hay. BP is a high calorie feed.

Goats are huge forage eaters but beet pulp will help with that satiety. They still need hay, for the long fiber Their systems are different from a horse. In winter my goats & horses like my servings of wet BP, using warm water. Even in coldest, they scoff it up before any can freeze! This also keeps moisture in their gut. Sometimes they drink less if water is cold & with dry hay, no green grass, that's a slow down factor in the gut AND a lot of dry matter can dehydrate them if not consuming water.

If your girls are thin, I'd sure get some flaked BP and add it to their grains. It's not cheap but works. Goes further per bag than you may think, especially since you feed individually. Gives them some extra calories when milking, too.

We feed a mix of beet pulp and alfalfa pellets to our goats as well as hay and it helps keep everyone at a good weight, we do have to feed our Lamancha doe separately from the rest as she needs a little more to maintain a nice weight.

 

[Latestarter]

Rammy caught on to what I was referring... She's seen me clothed... I use my jacuzzi naked and have no issues stripping down for a hose shower out on the back deck when I'm really nasty, before coming inside. It is what it is... Not gonna be seen in the pages of GQ or playgirl any time... ever. Not forcing anyone to look...

So yesterday's cost was $278 for hay and pellets. $162 for the hay. Makes me jealous of those who can pick up their hay in the field for $4-5 a bale. Guess my goats are costing me ~ $300/month give or take. Gotta factor in cost of mineral/water/meds/vaccines/etc. So maybe $350/mo? Gosh... I guess I'm paying $10+/day for the privilege of doing all the work involved with their upkeep and maintenance Makes an unavoidable reason for me to get off my duff and move I guess. I could join a gym, but it would be wasted dollars as I wouldn't go. Sure would like to have a sauna and steam room here to go with the jacuzzi though... I'd definitely use them!

Got 12 bales and moved them into the outbldg last night. They are light bales, and loosely tied. I was a bit disappointed in that and refused a couple of bales that were so loose the string fell off when trying to lift it. One of my hay guy's helpers actually helped me load so I didn't get a chance to talk with him. I did see him working with his tractor there while I was there, even though it was just past dark. So I never got a chance to discuss the poor quality of the last alfalfa I purchased from him. Not his fault... fault of the grower he purchased it from. But if he knows, maybe he won't buy from that person again.

 

[greybeard]

So yesterday's cost was $278 for hay and pellets. $162 for the hay. Makes me jealous of those who can pick up their hay in the field for $4-5 a bale. Guess my goats are costing me ~ $300/month give or take. Gotta factor in cost of mineral/water/meds/vaccines/etc. So maybe $350/mo? Gosh... I guess I'm paying $10+/day for the privilege of doing all the work involved with their upkeep and maintenance

To calculate true cost per day/animal, you also have to include land costs/month ÷ 30 as well as any farm only related insurance you may be making monthly payments on. (the mortgage payment for that portion of the property devoted to ag)
Electricity costs to run water well for livestock water.
Your daily dog food costs for an LGD (assuming that is the primary reason one has the dog)
Daily fuel costs for any ag/livestock related travel, including visits to vets and feed stores.
And of course, pasture upkeep costs...mowing, spraying, planting etc.

Mostly because of my small herd size, it costs me almost $2/day to keep a cow.

 

[greybeard]

They are light bales, and loosely tied.

The looser the bale is made and tied, the more bales the producer can get from an acre, and if they are selling 'by the bale', the more $$ they make.
For custom balers, if they are getting paid by the bale, it is to their advantage as well to bale and tie loosely. Tying loosely makes the bale 'appear' to be longer than it would otherwise be if it were a nice tightly tied bale.

Of course, there's always the chance there was simply something wrong with the baler and it wasn't intentional.....

 

[Bruce]

I guess we shouldn't ASSUME that the hay sellers are honest people then. Very sad.

Sure would like to have a sauna and steam room here to go with the jacuzzi though... I'd definitely use them!

"Sauna of Dreams". Build it and you will come.

 

[Latestarter]

Really liked that movie... with a sauna and steam room I could "go the distance & ease my pain" as well. That movie kinda hit a personal spot as I didn't have time with my dad when his time came. My last communication with him was not on good terms. When I reflect on my parents, there is a lot that makes me angry... and sad. Not that they intentionally did anything bad (least I don't look at it that way), but that they were just so dysfunctional/screwed up. They did the best they could I guess. Rarely worth reflecting on. whatever...

Since orchard grass is apparently a "colder weather" grass/hay and I've never seen it here or in CO, it has to be trucked in from elsewhere. I saw some of this mix advertised on CL and it was out of Indiana I think, or maybe it was PA... can't remember now. Point is, it was somewhere up north, and was being sold by the truck load. Much more than I could use or need... or afford for that matter.

Woke up with reflux so took a couple of tums. Then decided to come online and check the radar as there are some decent T-storms west of here, north of Dallas extending up into OK. They are forecasting poss rain here through Tuesday. Then, as I normally do, I came here. I was reading on another thread about memories and youth and so now I'm having a reflective moment. doesn't happen often I guess. I don't take a lot of pictures, because I have no desire/urge to go back and look through them. I no longer "collect stuff" as I don't need any more boxes of crap hanging around. I remember only choice bits of my past, because my past is in no way spectacular, or worthy of reliving. I had no close childhood friendships. Had no close young adult friendships. I have/had a lot of acquaintances... I can recount a lot of stuff that happened while in the military, but didn't really have/make any close "friends" there either. I've always been pretty much a loner. May explain in part my failed marriages...

Maybe I'm not "normal" or have some underlying "fault" that makes me disregard or have no interest in the past. I really live in the present and consider the near future. I have boxes of stuff here that remain boxed since moving because it's all stuff that has no bearing on the here and now... pictures, books, collectables, memorabilia... Just not important to me.

Many parents have near constant contact with their kids... That's not me either. I contact them every so often to make sure they're OK and doing well. They touch base with me every so often to make sure I haven't died, and that all is well here. When I visit them, after a day or two, I'm ready to leave again. I've seen them & know they're OK, doing well, and that's enough. When they visit me, a week or so is plenty long enough. It's not really that I WANT/need them to leave, They are welcome to stay as long as they want (within reason - don't want them back permanently), but do kinda want my own "space" back. The exception to that is my favorite oldest daughter, and that because she pretty much is a loner also. She stays to herself and doesn't impact my day to day life when she's here. She also has epilepsy and I've cared for her her whole life. I am a "caregiver" type person. She does have a very good memory though and excellent recall.

OK... enough musing, time to go back to bed and try to get some sleep.

 

[greybeard]

I have quite a few pictures of other things and other people, but very few pictures were ever taken of me doing any kind of work. In the near future, if someone like one of my grandchildren were to go thru my family picture media, they would probably think this place built itself.
Other pictures might bring pleasant memories back.

 

[RollingAcres]

LS I don't think there's anything wrong for being a loner. I can't say that I am ine but maybe a partial loner. I really could care less if I hang out with friends or not. I go to work every day and by the time I'm done I just want to be home with my son (and sometimes DH lol). My family are far away, even the closest is in California. But like you, after a few days or a week, I'm ready to get back to my "normal".

 

[Mini Horses]

GB -- that you & yours?

 

[Mini Horses]

I believe we all evolve. My mom & I were distant emotionally, even tho together a lot. My dad & I were closer, even tho he was Navy & his ship was "always" gone. Guess I'm a loner, at least self dependent. Can't say I am emotionally close to either child, or my only GD. It's life. Glad to see you but just as glad when you leave, until next time.

Maybe like a chicken -- set fervently for weeks to hatch, fight like a ninja to protect when young. Leave you to what you have/should have learned while there and goes on with the life of existing day to day, sharing feed, water & nest box, just don't push me!