Mystang's Homesteading Circus

[CntryBoy777]

Carry a handful in your pocket and while ya are outside thru the day....treat her....that way it will begin to work in smaller amounts, so a little extra later won't be a problem.....I've had to do that with our older doe, cause the Boys won't allow her to eat...if they aren't eating too....

 

[mystang89]

OH! I thought you were saying 3 to 4 cups of food. She already gets 2 of those small coffee cans fulls at night so far for the past 2 weeks. Wish I knew how much they held. They aren't the large round ones but the old metal can great for putting nails and screws into.

 

[Latestarter]

IMHO, that is not too much twice a day. If you're talking about the small coffee can that holds ~2-3 cups... I think you're presently feeding about 1/2 what they could easily use. I may be off base but with goats it's not the quantity as much as the weight of the feed. My goats are getting 4-6 cups of 16% pellet feed twice a day. So I'd guess right at 2-3 pounds a day. And they would gladly take twice that much if I offered it. I have to stand between the adults and kids with a staff to ward them off so the kids can eat theirs in peace. If I weren't standing guard, the adults would push the kids right out and scarf it all down themselves. I'm feeding 7 adults and 8 kids. I haven't made a creep since I'm standing right there while they eat. You could also consider swapping out to a higher protein feed... Or adding a small amount of higher protein supplement to their grain when you feed them.

 

[greybeard]

OH! I thought you were saying 3 to 4 cups of food. She already gets 2 of those small coffee cans fulls at night so far for the past 2 weeks. Wish I knew how much they held. They aren't the large round ones but the old metal can great for putting nails and screws into.

They held 1 lb (or 16 oz)..............of coffee.

 

[mystang89]

They held 1 lb (or 16 oz)..............of coffee.

Thank you, yes, that would be them! So she gets 2 lbs of grain in the evening before I put them to stall.
I was out with them in the pasture this morning and took these pics of the lambs to share.

The bottom pic is of the lamb which I had to bottle feed. He's still a bit on the skinny side but he's eating off his mom, eating some grass and doing well enough that I I'd rather him get his nutrients from his mom and grass. Oh, and that's my dog (Pandy) in the first pic. She's a good girl.

 

[goats&moregoats]

At night I don't like to be left to my own thoughts for very long, so I look on here for threads to read....and tonight I found yours. What a glorious refreshing read. Not many men can stay home, farm, & take care of eight kids. Kudo's to you on that one. What I know about sheep could be put on one side of a piece of paper and still not fill it up. I had two Soay sheep and a a fixed male that looks like yours(lol). Wasn't my thing so I should them. Any hoo, I am hoping your ewe gets better and your young ram starts putting on the weight and gets smarter. Looking forward to more of your journal.

 

[mystang89]

I finally got some time to get the front pasture bush hogged so I could take the hay rake to it. Yes, I am very well aware of how much hay I lose by the bush hog and how inefficient it is but if you want to dig a hole and you don't have a shovel then a claw hammer works too. Still haven't gotten to the raking part yet. For some reason my baby feels she is entitled to eat during the day. The nerve!

While I was on the tractor my friends decided to come over and play so I thought it only right to treat them to a gourmet meal!

I love these little guys (when they aren't eating my bees). They really are amazing. It's like being treated to a well orchestrated acrobatics show. I astounds me how finely tuned their eyesight is. I tried to look for some insects jumping out from under the cover of the freshly mowed grass but all I was able to see was the occasional dragonfly and moths. Oh the poor moths. I almost felt sad for them as they tried dodging this was and that in order to evade the multitude of ravenous beaks which preyed upon them from on high.

I truly thank God from the bottom of my heart for allowing me and my family this little piece of heaven on earth.

 

[CntryBoy777]

I often think while mowing, about how many "worlds" are being changed with the cutting.....and enjoy watching the activity and excitement of a "free-for-all"......

 

[Latestarter]

I really, really, really wish I had a tractor... Very nice looking hay pasture you've got there.

 

[mystang89]

I really, really, really wish I had a tractor... Very nice looking hay pasture you've got there.

I have no clue what I would do without that tractor. When I first moved in, purchasing a tractor wasn't even on the list of things to do. The previous owner asked if I wanted to buy his so I figured why not. You know, country and all. Besides purchasing the house, that was the single best buy I've ever made.

I took the wheel rake to the field after I had bush hogged it. I'm going to be very frank here, I'm going to show just how much I grew up in the city....how do I use one of these things?! How far down to the ground do the wheel have to be? Touching the dirt? Touching the top of the grass? Touching the middle of the grass? Does it need to be directly behind the tractor? To the right of the tractor? How should I go over the grass to best rake the hay? The same direction I took while mowing? Opposite? Does the fact that I used a bush hog instead of a sickle mower or disk mower make a difference since the hay is shorter? Does the rake not want to pick it up as well now?

I went over my pasture for 2 hours trying to get windrows. All I really ended up doing was making the pasture look like 500 sheep just stomped all over it. I'll try again tomorrow after I get some gas for the tractor. Yep, used it all up trying to windrow. Growing up I thought I knew it all. I'd hardly listen to my parents when they tried to teach me something or give me sage advice. I always had to learn the hard way. I really wish I had listened a bit more or asked a few more questions of them. Now that I'm a bit older I find that I don't know hardly anything and the things I do know are rather easily forgotten lol. I told my children today that they should be very grateful to have parents around who are willing to take the time to teach them life lessons and they should always take the opportunity to ask questions. Whether they believe me is another story.