Friday, January 22, 2010

Friday Update



The woodshed is filled again. Win and Rem went out with Uncle Keith and Manley yesterday and brought a couple loads home. Today they split and we all stacked. I'm a bit sore but it's good for me. At my age I need to keep as active as I can.
Our chores have been getting done easily with this January thaw. We hope this nice warmer weather continues on into calving season. I've posted some pics I took of a very frosty morning. It was beautiful out. It actually stayed frosted all day which is rare. I wonder if that is called something...like "all day frost"...just being silly here.
Our first calf is due February 7th!
This weekend we will bring the cows up into the cow yard and get them on a schedule again of us walking through and checking on them every two hours. The first week, all calves are due from AI'ing...Artificial Inseminating...from up to 9 different bull semen that we used. We are excited as this will bring in some new genetics.
Our first kid is due in May. We pulled the Billy Goat "Lester" the beginning of this month. The girls, Flossy and Snowball, are happier without him. He can be a little rough and a bully.
We have 15 Moscovy Hen Ducks for breeding and to hatch out this coming summer. That is exciting. We kept 4 males and butchered the rest. I really like Moscovy meat. We learned a lot about hatched out Moscovy ducklings last summer. We now know that when the hens come out with their new little ones, we let her show them how to eat and drink for about an hour or two and then put them (little ones only) in a brooder. We had a huge fatality rate last year, as we didn't realize how fragile they were.
When you have a chance go visit the Rustic Dandelion blogger. I've been busy organizing the shop and have the office all done as well as the storage room.

Have a good evening!

3 comments:

Julie said...

I took the kids to Marks yesterday, they have 20 new kids there. They are so cute. We'll have to come and play at your house when the calves start coming. Show and tell is so much fun.
Hope you have a great weekend, I'll chat with you soon. Take care Terri.

Terri ~ "T" ~ said...

OMG! Baby goats already! I'll have to go visit them soon. There is nothing cuter! Yes, we'll chat soon.
T

Terri ~ "T" ~ said...

Lester got out yesterday. We moved him to the hay shed to live with Shadow and Dharma the Llamas. Dharma is smitten with Lester and even though he has "female" company he still makes his way back to the goat girls. Win and Rem have double reinforced his panels, so that should take care of Shadow knocking it loose and keep Lester from meandering.