Vickir73 & The Chunky Dunk!! - pics of first show

[Vickir73]

oh, oh, oh, yeah forgot to tell you, Ex came in the house Sunday and said, I think the septic tank is backing up, there's stuff coming out of it. Great. So I call on Monday and the guy comes out Tuesday morning. He's not able to empty it completely because there were so many roots in it. That evening my brother and the ex pulled the top off and it was GROSS!!!!!. It had been about 10 years since it was cleaned out (because it was time sensitive when me and the kids moved back we didn't have the time to check it then) the amount of roots (and "solids") was ENORMOUS!!!! it was sooooooo gross. They got the roots cleaned out so except for a few other things that need to be done (the connection pipe between the two pipes needs to be replaced and the new drain pipe needs to be run into the old pipe) the immediate problem has been fixed.

let me say, it didn't bother me at all to watch my ex husband and my brother working on cleaning up my )()#%&&

 

[Vickir73]

very tired, but we had a very productive weekend. We attended the Conroe Trade days yesterday. I sold Jack, Ghost, 1 roo and 13 hens. I've very happy to get those chickens off my feed bill and get Jack and Ghost new homes. This will make room for the registered buck I will be buying at the end of the months. I've very excited about him - his name is Carlos and he is a registered LaMancha. I'll post pics as soon as I get some new ones.

I've never attending this trade days before (it's only twice a year) and we will go again in October. Tons of sellers and tons of buyers. It was a great day - heck even the guy was selling transparent chickens for $3.00 a box sold out of his stock too!!!

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

Congrats on the Trade Show!!!!! I have always wanted to have my own both at our Trade Shows, but, am yet too "chicken"!!!

 

[autumnprairie]

What are transparent chickens? I am glad you did great

 

[Vickir73]

Transparent chickens - guy with sign selling "transparent chickens $3.00 per box." - aka empty boxes. Seems all these people come to the trade days to buy animals but don't bring containers to put them in. This guy will sell you a box for $3.00. He was sold out before we left. Guy set up next to us said the "Transparent Chicken" guy is there every year and every year he sells out - who'd thunk it ??? guess this guy did and he's making a killing!!

look what I'm getting at the end of the month!!! I'm so excited. I'll start showing next year - or this fall depending on where/when the shows are.

Carlos

Jasmine

Fudge

Zoey

I'm paying for them next week and will meet the owner at a show in College Station on the 25th to pick them up. I am SO EXCITED I can barely stand it

I'm on my way to getting great milking herd - next goal is to start checking into getting licensed.

We had a HORRIBLE storm yesterday evening. I drove home in it - lightening so bright you couldn't see, wind blowing so hard it was forcing my car over, rain so heavy it was like you were driving thru a car wash and hail. I couldn't see it, but from it sounded like, I'm sure I've got hail damage to my car. I got home and had 4 inches of water in the goat barn Luckily everyone was on the north side, where it's higher. The babies usually sleep in the space under the light inside the barn - which happened to have the deepest water.

All the chicks made it thru the night. Tuesday I had 128 delivered. 24 pullets and 104 cornish rocks. So far we've only lost 1 cornish rock, so that's really good. Hopefully in 8 weeks those babies will be ready to go in the freezer. I'll be selling some, but for the most part we shouldn't need chicken for quite a while.

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

Yay!!!! I am soooo excited for you getting your new milking goats!!!!!
They look like real beauts!!!

 

[autumnprairie]

Yay!!!! I am soooo excited for you getting your new milking goats!!!!!
They look like real beauts!!!

X2

 

[Vickir73]

gonna try real hard not to do anything today, but I'm not sure it will work.

Woke up at midnight with a migraine, took 2 Excedrin migraines - didn't do a thing, took a sinus pill - worked like a charm - dang sinuses. I hate 'em. This has been the worst year for sinuses and allergies. I wonder if people who live in Antarctica suffer from sinuses and allergies or if the cold kills them? oh well, couldn't move there anyway. I wouldn't be able to go outside in my jammies there

Now I have the blasted hickups.

 

[Vickir73]

wooooohoooo !!!!!! obnoxious boss is out today and tomorrow time to get caught up on some filing and then on to better things - like updating all my goatie and chickie records

talked to the Health Dept yesterday about getting licensed. This is something I definitely want to do; the annual fee is not nearly as expensive as I thought it would be - definitely within my budget; however, I will need to make some major updates to my goat barn. The inspector will even come out and talk to me and inspect my place BEFORE I pay any money to give me an idea of what needs to be done and if it's going to be worth it for me. The gentleman I spoke with yesterday emailed me a bunch of information on what will be inspected and the requirements to pass.

Will need to sit down with my brother and ex to figure out what to do and how to do it and how much it will cost. I know I need to concrete the floor of the milking section - might as well go ahead and concrete the entire building's floor (the building is about 10X15), but not sure how to do that with the building already there, but I'm sure it can be done. Also need to make sure the milking section is "dust proof" - meaning I need to install full doors on the outside and inside going to the kidding area. Right now we just have half doors. I will also need a bigger kid section - no idea how to do that. The existing building was built by my grandfather about 25 years ago and is still in really good shape. I want to keep the building. Not just because it's already there, but because he built it. I have an emotional attachment to it and will not level it to build something else - so that will probably be the biggest issue - must build onto/around the existing building. I may end up being unreasonable on this issue - but that's just the way it's gonna be-I know my brother will understand. I think the ex will too, but I'm sure we will have to have the discussion. I also need to get a better power supply ran out there - this has been needing to be done for awhile.

Of course, first and foremost I need to make sure I'm going to have the supply. I will be getting the new goats at the end of the month so I think by next year I will have a better idea of how much milk I will be able to produce. Right now I think I'm going to dry Emma up. She's just not producing enough to be worth the trouble of milking her. If she doesn't do better next year, I already have a buyer for her. She's a sweet goat, but a major PITA, so I'm having trouble getting attached to her so I don't think it will be hard to sell her.

I was going to sell Daisi, but she's giving me a good quart a day and the babies are still nursing and it's only her 2nd freshening and she's VERY sweet and is a great mom. She even let's Maisey's babies nurse. And Daisi's doe, Leah, is an absolute sweetheart. Her buck, Luke, we will eat so it really doesn't matter

Masey's production is increasing. Almost 2 quarts this morning and the babies are still nursing. I'm massaging her udder twice a day though because it had gotten pretty hard. No mastitis - just hard. I've been massaging over a week now and I'm definitely seeing a difference.

So first thing first, make sure I can produce enough every day to sell. In the meantime, we can start making improvements (which do need to be done anyway). If we are going to start showing I need to have a kid section anyway because we will have to pull the babies. I will be breeding Emma, Angie, Masey, Daisi, Jasmine, Zoey, and Fudge this fall, so I will need to have an area ready before the winter. Emma, Masey, Daisi, Jasmine and Fudge have already produced twins. Zoey is due this June, but I would hope/expect she would give twins the next time around. It will be Angie's first breeding so I'm not sure about that, but I think I need to have room for at least 15 babies - surely that would be a big enough area?? I know they may or may not produce twins each time, but I think I should count on it when it comes to planning an area for them. I'd rather have to much than not enough.

I need to start doing some research and see if I can find pictures of other owners' set ups so I can start getting an idea of what I need.

 

[Four Winds Ranch]

It all sounds very exciting!!!! I hope it all works out for you!!!!