Tractor Shed Complete!

Well it's done...the physical building anyway. Gravel for the floor and some grading work before completely finished.

I was hoping I could get these fast fellas to build me a new chicken coop but they are too busy right now. Oh well, back on our to-do list!

Spring Cleaning

Today's chore was to give the barn a good spring cleaning. And a chore it was. Raking, forking and shoveling for hours. Thankfully we are able to use the tractor and bobcat for the bulk of the work but still at the end of the day we were tired and sore. The animals spend a lot of time in the barn during the winter months, so the buildup of hay and manure becomes tremendous.

Since the days are becoming warmer the animals are able to spend more time in the fields and under outside shelter. With the exception of a couple more does due to kid and a place to separate milking mamas at night the barn is used very little during the summer months.

All of the stalls were scraped out, along with the hallway.The back of the barn was scraped as well. It doesn't get much sun so the mud over the winter sometimes gets 6 inches deep. Deep enough to suck off a shoe every now and then! We need to run a new fence line back there and this time I plan to relocate the gate so the animals can bypass the back where I have to carry hay to the shed. Hopefully this will make for less slogging next year.


 Next week I'll get some lime for the floors and some shavings for the stalls. It will also be time to clean out and disinfect the brooders in preparation for meat birds that will be arriving next month.

Bucket Babies

Not sure the fascination of sleeping in buckets around here, but almost everyday I have to empty them before I can feed!! 😄😄

Spent some time in the new greenhouse my brother in law built for sis. It is sweet!! Resurrected from salvaged sun room windows and other cool finds like the tiny wood stove, it is a little piece of heaven on earth.

She has been a busy girl. broccoli, cabbage, tomatoes of all varieties and lots of different herbs grace the shelves.  

He built boxes below the shelves where she has wintered through beautiful spinach, lettuce, carrots and cilantro.

Today we planted a few more things.The red celery and Campari tomatoes I ordered from Territorial went in flats. Some nasturtiums, lemon bee balm and winter savory all having delicious edible foliage and flowers and German chamomile for a calming tea.
I promised to stop coming in with tons of new seeds to start....well except for the micro-greens I plan to track down!

Tractor Shed - Day 3

It's coming along!!

View from front of sheep barn

View from garden side

I imagine tin will be going on tomorrow. Hopefully completed!

The Best Laid Plans...

I knew today was going to be hectic but I still had plans for a nice romantic Valentine dinner. Oh yes, fondue with all the fixings. A cheese fondue, a main and of course chocolate!!

Up early to bake bread, make the drop, pick up a friends dog that I am helping train along with mine and off to the trainers an hour away. Two hours of training down, I headed to the processors to pick up a box of bacon they forgot to load Saturday. On the way home I stopped off to get a bottle of wine for said romantic meal, drop off friend's dog and pick up chicken feed. I got home around 3:15. Plenty of time. Mom helped me tag team feeding and I got up to the house at 4 or so. Talon, the Mal pup needed some exercise so I grabbed a leash to take him out. A pitiful yelp when I touched his collar. Uh-oh. After careful inspection and a little peroxide, I thought he had a puncture wound on the top of his head. Muttering under my breathe and blaming poor Ziva, the other Mal, I called the vet. Bring him now. Sigh.

Of course he had to be sedated, there was no other way to even begin to inspect it. Leave him and come back in two hours. Can you see the romantic dinner fading fast?

Back home I told hubby the sad news. No look of surprise, no sigh of resignation. Just a "I'll ride with you to pick him up" and let's have some cheese and crackers. Love my Valentine!!

Turns out, Talon had a hot spot. Very strange and really no explanation why. He gets to wear this lovely collar and be on antibiotics for 2 weeks along with a small dose of prednisone. Poor guy. This is going to make for an interesting week or so!

And yes, I apologized to Ziva for wrongly accusing her!

Tractor Shed Addition

Tall tractors need tall sheds. Today the boys graded for an addition for the new shed. We wanted to keep the roof line the same as the other shed so a pretty deep cut had to be made to accommodate the height of the tractors. Construction is to start tomorrow and should be completed in a few days.

Late Night Delivery

Another set of twins born this week. I was at work when Mom called to let me know I had a goat in labor. I fully expected babies to be here when I got home. Nope. I checked her every 30 minutes or so and still no babies. I finally decided to check her progress and I could feel the head of baby so left what I thought was well enough alone. Several hours passed and still no baby. At this point my hiney was sore from sitting on a bucket waiting.  I went back in for another check. This time I could tell even though head first, the feet were not in the correct position. This was not good. It was time to assist. I was finally able to get a very large buck delivered. Alive and well! Soon afterwards an undeveloped fetus was delivered. Mother and baby were doing fine. It was almost midnight and I had an early morning so thinking my work here was done headed up for a shower and bed.

Imagine my surprise when this morning I was greeted by a second tiny little girl!! And here is the kicker...mom loves her babies but has no intention of feeding them. Sigh. Two more bottle babies I suppose. Good thing retirement is only 2 weeks away!!

Hauling Hogs

Good grief this trip became a comedy of errors. Yesterday I told hubby we needed to load a hog that was next door at Sis's house. I told him to give me 10 minutes and I would be out to help. Well, not one to let grass grow under his feet he started without me. Apparently he misunderstood and was backing the trailer with the tractor to the wrong field when it popped off the hitch and crashed into the gate. That was right after he let the LG dog out who promptly disappeared for an hour! By the time I got there he was not a happy camper, especially when I told him wrong field. Sigh.

We moved the trailer to the right gate and I call Sis to let her know we were ready. She lured her pig through the field. (Beware of following a woman with marshmallows for ye leave and never return!) Now that she was loaded we could finish loading the others in the morning.

Now I know hubby was trying to be helpful but once again did not wait for backup when relocating the trailer to the other pasture. I looked out the window to see pigs wandering around the front yard eating acorns. Another sigh..

The good news is all were rounded up and loaded this morning to be hauled to the processors. And no, the chicken didn't go!

Boo Boo Babies

Well they have started arriving. Due to a major fence break last fall several goats are now blessing us with unplanned offspring. A yearling doe and an old supposed to be retired girl showed us that young or old all can be well. Can't be too mad cause they are just too stinking cute!

 A set of twins and a single buck, both are Nubian /Alpine crosses.