Misfitmorgan's Journal - That Summer Dust

[misfitmorgan]

So.....i got pictures! I have a lot more on my camera that i got last night these ones are just off my phone.

Firstly Issac Bitten...watching the livestock.

Mr Pig our mini Boar giving me the stink eye

Moon our Mini Nigerian Buck and Ruger our Alpine Buck

A Very Prego May #1

and a Slightly less prego White May

Missy Mini Mancha

Lucy Mini Mancha (Missy's daughter)

Ella

Honey...Suffolk Ewe very sweet girl

Some of our replacement hens, just started laying

 

[misfitmorgan]

and one for extra fun
"Mom...whatca doin?"

 

[misfitmorgan]

In other news...

We got more of the yard/farm cleaned up...still a wreck but its comming along. Not white May was in light labor last night so we may have kids when i get home not sure, course it could be anytime from today until 3 weeks from now with my goats.

Still need to get a buck pasture and a sheep pasture put up.

Working on our loan paperwork. The loan should include everything to put up the property line fencing, at least 3 more pastures, fence the garden, and around the house. I will see if i can grab a google maps picture of the farm and lay out the fencing how we want to do it.

 

[misfitmorgan]

No kids yet....

 

[misfitmorgan]

Ok so this is our hopeful fencing plan.

Pink square - house
Orange is the perimeter fence

1 - garden/fall pig pasture
2 - goat/sheep pasture
3 - goat/sheep pasture
4 - goat/sheep pasture
5 - pig pasture
6 - horse pasture
7 - late summer/fall pasture (approx 12 acres)

The black lines are gates
The blue/purple squares are shelters
The red square by the barn is our dry lot
The orchard is also in the garden and will be fenced off for Sebastol Geese
The chicken coop and yard is actually between pen 5 and pen 6
We might make a separate area for the bucks
There is a circle driveway in the front anf then another driveway that goes to the back of the property between pen 5 and 6.

We also plan to add a small pen in the back near the creek for the ducks.

There are pretty much no trees hence why i wanna plant 1-2 willow trees in each pen.

 

[misfitmorgan]

For comparison
The first pic is May or June 2015 right after the property owners let us start doing stuff on the place outside only. You can see the garden area had just been plowed and we had got the grass cut and the dry lot up.

This second pic is July or August 2015, you can see we have the second garden plot plowed, the dry lot is done, the barn has been cleaned out. In July we were allowed to move into the house after having painted everything, ripped out carpet, laying new sub-floor, installing new plumbing, and laying new flooring. Half way thru the house reno vandals got on the property and broke several windows, two toilets, the bathroom mirror, our storm windows that were in the garage, a few windows in out buildings, and punched holes thru the drywall in the addition we brought over that was going to be a dining room and a guest room. Pretty much made me sit down and cry because we had done so much work and it set us back farther. So we replaced the toilet, and put in some new to us windows, cleaned the mess, scraped the addition idea for the moment, and got on with life. The white building behind the barn is the chicken coop right before we moved the chickens. We still had to put up the fencing for the chicken yard after this picture. The yard and around the buildings looks more messy but that is us tossing stuff out of the buildings to be hauled off.

i almost forgot the three piles to the left of the chicken coop. The coop is a trailer house, it is a 2 bedroom 1 bath with a living room and kitche/dining so it is not real small...so for size reference. The farthest left pile is what we cleaned out of the barn at that point..in manure, that pile is also approx 5-6ft tall in this pic. We still had not done anything but the center isle and the gutters at this point. The barn had so much manure in it that we thought it was a short barn because i could touch the ceilings...at my whopping 5'1"...DH at 6' 4" couldnt walk without ducking in most areas. We also didnt know until we started cleaning, that there is a cement ramp outside, cement drive tru floor, the center floor is lower then the rest of the barn floor and there are feed gutters as well.
Pile number two which is the middle pile, is a pile of round bales that were left outside for 4+yrs...DH had a dozer at the farm for a bit as we had to clean out the tiling cause someone had filled it with manure from the barn and nothing was draining. We literally had 3-4 inches of standing water on top of the hill by the buildings. The place is set up so the water from the hill drains thru and under the barn and out the end of it to the tiling to the ditches to the back of the property....the owners didnt understand this and crammed the gutter drains with rocks, bricks, and feedsacks. When we got it all unplugged it ran water out from under the barn and top of the hill for 2 days.
Pile 3 is buried garbage...household garbage. DH found it when he was leveling the spot for the chicken coop.

 

[misfitmorgan]

So DH came home with 1 of 2 new sheep we have from a friend of our's. Not sure what breed they are but they are all white and a fine wool breed and approx the same size as our suffolk ewes. Their fleece stops short on their legs, like its only on their barrel and upper legs. I will try to get a pic and maybe someone can help figure out breed. The one at the farm has an open face/ears with a small mohawk over her poll.

I think they are polypay but not sure. Definitely have some crazy crimp to the fleece.

 

[misfitmorgan]

Not White May..finally had her kids yesterday. One came out Cou Blanc looking and the other a broken of some fashion....and of course both are boys.

Also found out her bag is blown which we suspected. One side has a mass and doesnt work at all and the other side the Annular Ring is gone..no milk leaking but doesnt look pretty and oh my does she produce the milk. Even with only one side working i have no concern at all that the kids will go hungry.

 

[misfitmorgan]

Not white may is 6 yrs old and this is her 5th set of kids as far as we know. Her udder is a shame because she never dries off in her good side and makes a lot of milk she is feeding the twins off one side only and they seem to be doing well though one looks a touch thin they are doing ok. We plan to give vitamin B shots and CDT today as well as give some lamb + kid to the one thinner kid. If she cant keep up with the two of them we will take one off to bottle feed it. She is an excellent mother though i have not seen a better mamma goat. She takes them on tours outside and is always by them when they are awake and checks on them when they are asleep. At night she lays down by them and they curl up to her. Normally she is grain hog but if one of the kids is nursing she will stand there and wait even when we put out grain so we have been waiting until the kids are finished and then giving her some grain to help her milk production. Yesterday the sheep were to close to her kids and she ran them off a good 15ft away from her kids so she is protecting them well though she doesnt mind one of the other alpine does being by her kids and the other doe doesnt mind being by the kids.

Ella is finally looking like a reasonably weighted goat which we are very happy about.

 

[misfitmorgan]

May's kids are doing alright a bit thin but growing like weeds. They have been eating hay and grain and drinking water. I'm also giving them lamb and kid every other day as well as probios once a week to make sure their belly's stay working good with the low amount of milk they are getting. I think they are now at the size they are gonna need to be supplemented with formula she just cant produce enough milk for them off one side as they grow. We will breed her again and hope for a doe, if/when she has a doe we will retire her from breeding.

Our white face (suspect polypay) ewe had an all black boy lamb on Friday afternoon. He is so adorable, his daddy is a bond ram that we used to own and sold to a friend of ours. He will leave the herd when he is old enough so we dont end up with our suffolk bred to the half bond half polypay ram. The white face is being an excellent mother though which is am happy about.

So that make 3 boys..grrrr

We have had the worst luck having does/ewes. We cant keep the boys and that sems to be all we ever have anymore unless they are mini's they have does all the time. Darn mini's sucking up my doe quota! Our replacement buck is not going to be quite old enough to bred for this round of breedings so Ruger gets his final turn at the girls and oh my he stinks so bad lol. Normally i dont mind billy scent but he is going on 5yrs old now and wow it is potent, all the does smell like him, the entire barn smells like him. The does are all going into heat and he is in full rut so something weird is going on.