This is Tom on the right and Jerry on the left.
What a long day!
It started early since we needed to leave by 9am to drive the three hours to T.'s farm with the mini donkeys. I was out doing chores while Neil got Evan and McKayla ready to spend the day at the grandparents. Baby Taylor would be coming with us. The morning went well and we made if off on schedule.
The drive down to Greenville, NC was uneventful and we arrived just after noon. We met T., her sister and brother in law. T. had four mini donkeys left to place out of 27. We were taking only the two called Tom and Jerry.
Tom and Jerry are the two boys in the middle.
All four donks were right within reach when we arrived but they soon figured out that something different was up. They headed out to the large back pasture. It was an hour to get them back in the front pasture and into their shed so we could work with them. It was another 30 minutes catching them up inside the roomy shed, getting halters on and dragging/pushing/lifting them into the trailer. Whew!
Two of T.'s gelded llamas, Barbwire and Mudslinger.
Back on the road again we needed to stop and eat before heading home. We arrived home about 5:30pm... at last light. Neil backed the trailer up to the gate and we opened the trailer doors. The donkeys made the trip fine. They were curious about the new pasture, goats and alpacas. It was Jerry that took the first brave step off the trailer and Tom quickly followed as not to be left behind. I hung out with them in the pasture while Neil unhooked the trailer.
Everybody seemed to be getting along so we got back in the vehicle and drove to pick up the kids at Neil's parents in Virginia. They had dinner waiting for us. We got home at last about 9pm. I went down to the barn to check on the donks one last time for the night. All was well and Tom and Jerry were visiting with our mini donkey Jenny, Inora, through the fence.
Neil's Dad was over bright and early this morning. He and Neil are salvaging the old French Doors that they removed from our bedroom and using them as transom windows on the back of the garage. Unfortunately, the base of the doors were so rotten that they had to dismantle those ends and mill more wood framing for them. It set them back on their day a bit.
By mid afternoon I had to steal Neil away so we could run up to our friend, and fellow alpaca owner, David's farm in Virgina. We were buying 60 bails of hay off of David and borrowing his livestock trailer for the weekend. Tomorrow is the day we are picking up our two new mini donkeys. Also, David sent along one of his alpaca studs to our farm to see if any of our girls will still be receptive to breeding.
All was going well back here on the farm with the offload... that is until I managed to find the nail in the board with the bottom of my foot! I don't know how it got anywhere near the hay trailer on a path I walk pretty much daily. It was just a small board with a single old nail in it. So small in fact it lifted up with my foot. Which means I couldn't step off of it and couldn't continue to walk to sit down. Neil came to my rescue and pulled the offending nail out. We still had 30 bales of hay to offload and loosing light so I worked until we were done and then went and soaked the foot. This is becoming an annual event... sigh.
Our American Chinchilla rabbit doe, Chamomile, gave birth to five robust little kits today. They are snuggled in their rabbit fur lined nesting box. I stay pretty hands off with the baby rabbits for the first week. They will be ready to go to new homes about mid December.
I ordered a new mini donkey sized halter for Inora and it arrived yesterday. It fits well but it is out as far as it will go. Now that I have ordered from this company and know how they fit I will get a couple more one size larger. She looks great in it though!
Seeing this picture makes realize how many rocks I still need to get out of the cow pasture... sigh.
After almost a week straight of rain today it cleared off and was warm again. By the afternoon the grass had dried out enough that I was able to mow the lawn for the first time of the season. It is amazing to me how different (and neat and tidy) the farm looks when the grass is mowed down. I like to mow with the tractor as for the most part I have a great view of the pastures and all the animals we have.
Today was particularly fun as the animals were also very thrilled that the rain was gone and the sun was out. The four cows and our mini donkey were just straight out running around the pasture, skipping and twisting all the way. The alpacas were out grazing as a herd what little grass has started to grow in their pasture too.
Just a pleasent day after such a cold wet gloomy week.
I made a discovery this morning while doing my chores. The kiddy pool in the poultry run that is for the ducks had a large white egg sitting in the bottom of it this morning. Only one of my chickens lays a white egg and that is my Hill Roamer hen "Cookie". Cookie is close to a bantam sized bird so her eggs are very petite so I knew this wasn't from her. I have been waiting for the ducks to start laying and it appears that my wait is soon to be over.
I change the water in the pool every other day so this egg may have been there for up to 48 hours. I am 99% sure it is not a viable egg but I still put it into the hoop house in a nest of straw so the ducks (and maybe turkeys too) will realize that is where they should be laying eggs.
I am looking forward to having ducklings around the farm. They are just so cute!
The cows and donkey(s) have completely demolished the three round bales of hay that we got around the first of the year. They did pretty good about consuming most of the first two but by the time the third one got broken into they were walking up and over it, bedding down in it and generally just wasting hay. I figure we lost a good 10% out of the first two bales and more then 25% out of the third bale. So, today we headed up to Tractor Supply in South Boston, VA to purchase a round bale feeder ring. This is an 8' round ring that encloses the hay bale to prevent excess wasting of the hay. It was an investment at $125 but if they are going to be wasting 25% of our $40 bale then after 13 bales of hay it will have paid for itself.
The hens laid 12 eggs today.
In memory of Malcolm the ultimate cookie optimist.
The big event of the day was having the vet come out to the farm.
I had a laundry list of things for the vet to do while he was here today.
Went down to the barn this morning to feed the animals as usual... as soon as I entered the door to the barn I could smell it. Skunk! Not overpowering so I don't think it was in the barn. More likely one of the animals got hit out in the pasture overnight and carried the scent into the barn with them. My first guess was the LGDs.. but no, they didn't smell once I got close to them. It seemed to be strongest on the other side of the barn near the cow and donkey pen. After giving everyone a good whiff I determined that it was the donkeys that got hit. And of coarse they just wanted to rub all over me looking for their morning cookies! Yuck! A lovely way to start my day.
Other then a little skunk odder the day was pretty uneventful. Morning chores, cut and stacked a tractor bucket full of wood for the woodstove, cleaned up paca beans, cleaned the kitchen, tended the woodstove, played with the kids, evening chores, made dinner, etc.
The chickens gave 11 eggs today.
I hate waking up abruptly. This morning it was noises out on the deck. At first I thought it might be the cats jumping down from the railings but I after a few more heavy thumps I knew it was something bigger then a cat. I jumped out of bed to look out at the deck and was not surprised to see Emmie and Berk, our Anatolian shepherds, up on the deck knocking over chairs. I threw on some clothes and went outside to get them back in the pasture with the alpacas where they belong. I had taken about 5 steps across the deck when I saw through the railing the donkeys across the driveway on the side lawn! My heart stopped for a second... how did they get out? I went back to the bedroom and yelled to Neil that the donkeys where out and I needed his help.
If the donkeys were out on the lawn that meant the pasture fence was broken and the cows and male alpacas could be wandering around somewhere too! Since the donkeys were happily grazing I first dealt with Emmie and Berk. Berk followed me down to the barn and into his pasture but Emmie was more interested in exploring. I needed to rattle some food in her bowl to get her to follow me into the pasture. Once the dogs were secure I grabbed some donkey cookies and called to Mal and Inora. Thank goodness they have become treat hounds and followed me around to the back of the barn. And that is where I found the walk through gate wide open. So, at least it wasn't the fence that was broken just an open gate. A few more cookies and both donkeys were back in their pasture too. Then I quickly scanned the pasture to do a head count on the cows and alpacas and everyone was accounted for! Yeah!
By that time Neil had come down to the barn to get an update on the situation. The gate was easy enough to explain... last night during chores Evan went out the gate to go to the front of the barn while McKayla and I went through the cow stall in the barn. That gate is covered in no climb fencing to keep the goats from squeezing out and because of that it can be a hard pull to get it to latch fully. It must not have gotten latched all the way and the donkeys discovered it open and went exploring. I am just glad that no one else discovered it as well. As far as the dogs were concerned I was not sure yet about that. Neil went and walked their fence line and found where they had pushed the fence up and crawled under it again. A little bit of wire to tie the fence to the T-posts hopefully solved that problem too.
What a morning... I finished up chores and we had breakfast before we normally even wake up!
There were no eggs this morning.
Today was a good day. Weather was beautiful at high 70's with the changing leaves all around us. Today just had a good feel to it from the start.
Both Neil and I were up early and motivated to get some things done. First off I needed to do chores but I also wanted to shear some of the fiber off of our llama, Neffi, and I knew that would be easiest to do in the cool morning while she was eating. So, I told Neil my plan and we both headed out to the barn before breakfast.
The first thing I do now in my chores is getting Cherry Blossom up on the milking stanchion and she has come to expect this already so she was waiting for me. Once on the stanchion I gave her a quick brush over. Then this morning I took our milking training to the next step and washed and massaged her udder with a hot wet towel. This not only cleans the udder and teats but it causes her to "let down" her milk. I had also brought the milking pail with me this morning just to introduce the pail to the equation. Well, the hot towel did the trick. Cherry Blossom was much easier to express milk from the morning! I got about 1/4 cup in the pail. What I learned was that I need to work on my aim again! But I am encouraged that I might get a little milk soon to supplement the store bought. We go through 1-2 gallons a day here so it will be a while before we work up to that amount... even after Riona calves this fall.
After the cows were feed and sent out to the pasture I took a moment to give the donkeys their morning cookies. I always give them two cookies each in the morning and in the evening since they don't get anything else but pasture to eat. It is a bonding time too and on most mornings I spend a few minutes to give them scratches all over.... but not this morning. It was off to feed the alpacas next.
I got the grain ready for Gigi (our new mom as of two days ago) as she is in her own paddock with her new cria. Then I got the grain for the rest of the alpacas, Neffi and the food for the LGDs. As the dogs and the alpacas were eating we rounded Neffi up into the catch pen and got her tied up the post. Yesterday we went and borrowed shears from our closest neighboring alpaca farmer at http://www.daydawnalpacas.com/. This was my first time shearing a camelid of any type but it was very similar to sheep, which I have some experience with. Neffi wasn't into the shearing thing at all at first and it was surprising how strong she was. But after a few minutes she cushed down and I was able to give her a descent "barrel cut" in about ten minutes. It is getting cooler at night now so I didn't want to give her a complete cut but just wanted to get some of the heavy fiber off her blanket area. I didn't turn out half bad considering it was my first attempt.
Once we cleaned up after Neffi's shearing I finished up the chores by feeding the goats and then the rabbits and then all the poultry.
Once back inside I made homemade banana pancakes for breakfast... yummy!
After breakfast, Neil started on his major project of the day... cleaning out part of the porch which included moving the old wood cook stove out. Once everything was cleaned off Neil took the tractor down to the tractor-trailer out back and picked up our refrigerator that we brought with us. It doesn't fit inside the kitchen right now so it will live out on the porch as an additional fridge while we continue to use the old fridge that was left here as our main refrigerator.
After that task was done we did a few other odds and ends about the place and then relaxed the rest of the afternoon. It was a good day and we got lots done to boot!
I enjoy the farm so much. I especially enjoy just leaning against the fence watching the animals.
This morning I was in the poultry run, which shares a fenceline with the cow pasture up to the barn. As I stood there filling the duck pool with fresh water I was laughing to myself over the antics of our little male goat "Little Joe". Little Joe is one of our almost 5 month old Nigerian Dwarf goat kids. He might weigh 25lbs tops. He was head butting and wrestling with our 5 month old Irish Dexter bull calf! The calf must weigh close to 200lbs! It was a very Mutt & Jeff wrestling match. Once the calf got bored of the game Little Joe moved on to our heifer, Riona, who head pressed with him a bit before she just started giving him a good head licking that all but knocked him over. Still, not done with his desire to play he went over to the donkeys and tried to get them to play with him. The donkeys don't play by head butting or pressing so they didn't have much interest in Little Joe's advances but he tried real hard.
How funny animals can be!
I spent most of my day mowing the pasture. Finished up the area I was mowing on Saturday, then mowed another totally unmowed section toward the middle of the pasture, then mowed the cows favorite section behind the female alpacas pasture (this had been mowed a few times now and is looking really good finally which is probably why it is the cows favorite area), then mowed the male alpaca pasture, then the tiny section up by the barn and finally the female alpaca pasture! While in the girls pasture I had to move the limbs from the large oak tree that we fell earlier in the spring. We haven't had time to finish sawing it up and chip all the limbs so it has just been sitting in the pasture were it fell. I have been mowing around it up until now but it sure was starting to look scraggly. I moved all the limbs from one side of the big tree to the other so I could at least mow along one side of the tree that could be seen from the road to clean up the look of the pasture a bit. All in all it was probably 3 acres of mowing I got done.
The difficult part is getting the tractor into and out of each of the different pastures without letting the animals mingle. When Neil is here it is fairly straight forward but when it is just me I need to get creative in how I open gates and then leave it open long enough for me to drive the tractor through, then jump off and close the gate again. The LDGs can be with both alpacas (male and female) but they can't be with the geese yet which are in the male alpaca pasture. The male and female alpacas can't mingle, as the two girls are two young to breed yet. Peter, our male alpaca can't be in with the donkeys as he chases them relentlessly. It is an exercise in timing and patience. But it got done!
Today was a rainy and cold day. I had lots of things I wanted to get done... especially plant my tomato seedings out in the garden. Maybe tomorrow. What Neil and I did get done was to install the two electric net fences to give the cows and donkeys an area of grass that they could graze. It also relieved some stress that all the animals were feeling as they got crammed together most of yesterday and then overnight in about 40x40 dry lot area that was half in the barn and half out. They were all very happy to get out onto the pasture and graze on the grass there.
After that, Neil and I did some work in the house some. Neil started playing with the kids so I went to lay down for a few minutes... ended up waking up 5 hours later! Neil had let me sleep meanwhile he unloaded the suburban from his trip up from SC yesterday as well. He set up all the electronics/tv in the living room. I felt guilty about it but I very rarely take naps so I figured I must have needed it.
Once agian the house looks like a whirlwind has gone through it. But, this was our last and final trip of stuff to come up from SC! YEAH! Now we just need to find a place for, or get rid of enough stuff that we can move around our own house!
Fourteen hours in a car with a 3 year old, a 5 year old, a 70lb dog, and towing a livestock trailer. Why? Well, today was the day to pick up the first of our livestock that has been boarded at three different farms in SC and NC. Our Irish Dexter cow Cherry Blossom and her two week old bull calf got picked up first in SC right along the Georgia boarder. Next, a drive to Hartsville, SC to get our other Irish Dexter cow Riona. Then from there up to NC to pick up the two Mini Donkeys, which are to be a surpise for Neil as a graduation present from the kids and I. It was a long day and a tight squeeze getting all the animals in the two horse trailer. I pulled into the farm just about at midnight. Stayed out in the barn until about 1am to make sure everyone settled in ok. I will have photos up in a few days once we all recover!
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