Always Somethin' Farm

Ok, I have been really bad at keeping up to date with this blog and I apologize! This school year I will try to remember to post stuff more often. So what we have been up to lately is rearranging our priorities, which means we are deciding what farm projects we want to keep, and which to not bother with any more. As most people know by now we sold off most of the sheep in the spring and kept only the three Merinos. However we will still have plenty of fiber available - in fact we just had a bunch of blue Coopworth and brown Shetland taken down to a fiber mill to be made into roving. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

Recently we have been selling off a lot of the goats, because they were taking over the farm! Now I am down to 12, which makes chores a lot easier, although I would still like to sell a few more. Ideally this fall I will be down to 7 bred does, which still means lots of kids and fresh milk!

Dad is expanding the garden AGAIN, so that means even more produce!

and I guess that is about all for now, but I will post more information as soon as I remember...

I just realized today that I have not posted on here in a very, very long time.  A lot has been happening lately, and I am not sure where to start. We just joined the new Mansfield Growers Market this summer and it seems to be going very well. So far we have had a vendor at the last two (there are only six this summer). Mom has has taken her Goat Milk Soap and all sorts of baked goods including muffins, scones, sticky buns and cinnamon rolls; Dad brought some radishes and random herbs, and then I grabbed a few fleeces just as we ran out the door this morning. It is a really great group of vendors, all of them very nice with great products. If you get a chance go on the website (http://www.mansfieldgrowersmarket.bravehost.com/) or maybe stop by and support the vendors!!

We also had a nest of Indian Runner ducklings hatch out last night and we have 10 of them in the brooder and left one with the mother. They will be for sale for $5 each

As most people know by now, we sold off all of the Shetland and Coopworth sheep. I was really sad to see them go, they were such nice sheep, and I have spent the past several years breeding up to have a quality flock. So much for that. Although on the bright side, we now have much more room for the goats, and the two remaining Merinos.

Speaking of Merinos....I am not sure if I wrote about this before, but I lost my beautiful white ewe, Creamsicle. About a month ago, she laid down, and refused to get up. We tried everything from heavy worming, to probiotics, and then lifting her up to go to the bathroom and to eat and drink.  None of it ended up working, and after about a week of it she finally gave up.

I was pretty upset about it, especially since I had already sold off all my other sheep and was only left with two Merinos.

But I had a lovely surprise this afternoon, my other Merino ewe Muffin had a large white ram lamb. I had just about given up hope that she was going to lamb at all! Surprises are a truly wonderful thing!

I never thought that Nubians would breed out of season - but I found out otherwise. I had my yearling Nubian buck (Tarragon) in with the does since he is small for his age, and wasn't showing any "bucky" behavior. When I went out today I found out that two of my does were in heat, and both Tarragon, and Juniper (Coriander's one and half month old buck kid) were trying to breed them. Luckily Juniper is way to small and young to do much of anything, but I think both does were bred by Tarragon. So we might have some babies due in September, which wouldn't be all bad.

Luckily we have someone who will most likely be purchasing out entire flock of Coopworths and Shetlands, so we will have some more room. I will miss them, but it will be a bit of a relief. 

Things are definitely busy around here.  We are up to 21 goats (and we might still have some more later in the season), and we just had our first lamb. Dolly Mae kidded last Sunday and had a beautiful blue/grey ram lamb who we named Cyren (because he is soooo loud). The rest of the ewes should be due anytime now! We also have several turkeys who are now sitting on nests

My most recent project is learning how to shear, starting with a pair of scissors, then hand shears and then eventually working up to electric shears. I figured it would be a lot easier if I learned how to shear so we wouldn't have to call someone to do it for us. I'm starting with Dolly Mae (one of the Coopworths) since she and her lamb are already in the barn. So far I am almost finished, except for some wool on the leg, and belly, and so far I haven't cut her yet!

We had our first lamb of the season born this Sunday, which was (of course) one of the most inconvenient times ever. I hadn't expected lambs this early, so it was quite the surprise.

The ewe was Dolly Mae, one of my Cooworth ewes, and she had a beautiful blue/grey ram lamb. He was a little slow getting started, but after starting him on bottle he is doing great now. He is now nursing on his mother again, and all is going well. 

Flopsy kidded early Tuesday, which of course was probably the worst time she could have chosen to kid. We were wondering when she was going to kid, since we had thought she was due early march. She was so big that she could hardly move around, we felt so bad for her! But anyway, she had a nice large set of twins; one buck and one doe. Both have typical boer coloring, and look like they are going to be very nice. The doe is named Jezabel, and the buck is Jory.

All of the other babies are doing well, Juniper (my nubian bottle-baby) is my favorite. He is just so sweet, and loves people. 

Stop by some time and see them, they are all very cute!

We also should have lambs due sometime in April, so I will post as soon as we have some!

I had the most crazy weekend ever! We had three more does kid, and my family was away for part of the weekend, so I had to deal with the babies.

Coriander kidded Friday evening, and had a nice buck kid. Unfortunately she was a first time mother, and wouldn't accept him, so I had to bottle-feed him. He is very stubborn, but very cute. I ended up naming him Juniper, fitting in with all the other herb names.

Sea Star kidded Sunday morning with a beautiful set of twins, the buck is blond and white and the doe is a beautiful chocolate color. Dad suggested the name Jasmine for the doe, which I loved right away and so I just decided to stick with the "J" names and call the buck Jasper.

Then Jayka kidded very early Monday with a very, very large set of twins. Both are a beautiful brown color, about the same color as Coriander's kid. The doe kid is named Jaeda, and the buck kids is Jerboa. 

I am beginning to wonder why in the world I chose to name them all "J" names, because now I have trouble remembering which kid has which name! I am sure I will figure everything out with time, once things calm down a little!

After what seems like forever, we finally have our new farm website up and running. I know I kept saying that I would post it, and then it never showed up, I am very sorry about all of that. I had all kinds of issues with the program that I was using, so I had to go through several different companies before I finally found the perfect software. So it's up, let us know what you think!! Please let us know if you find any glitches, and we will try to have them fixed as soon as possible!

We also had our first set of baby goats for the year. Blueberry kidded on February 12th, with a beautiful set of twins. A buck kid named Cullen (name means good looking in Irish and Gaelic) and a doe kid named Valentine! They are both black with white and tan markings, and look a lot like their mother! I posted several pictures on the 2009 kids page on our website.

I know that I said we were going to have a new website up by Christmas break...right? Well, here is the deal with that. We were supposed to have the website up by now, but the program that I was using to make the site, Dreamweaver, is too expensive for me to use. So I was working on the site using a Dreamweaver free trial, but that ran out.  So almost all of the site is built, I just need to finish it. I am in the process of getting a new program to use, so hopefully it will be up soon!!

Thanks for your patience