Happy New Year!

Nothing like a late night, freeze your tussie, off milk/feeding session! I was busy making our new web-site and lost track of time, sorry Fiona! There is something magical about sneaking into the barn while the horses are laying down :-)
  Fiona's giving around a quart twice a day now, her tata's are extremely small I have a hard time milking her, once it warms up I think I'll pass that task off to Micah!
   Its amazing how fast I can get everyone watered and fed when it's this cold, I was in and out in under ten minutes, maybe I should start keeping time.
  It was so cold tonight, the horse's eyelashes had frost on them! They got extra hay and a new layer of straw.  I cannot wait for it to warm up!!
 There are no new signs that anyones going into labor in the new future, hoping they all wait till it warms up, which it has to do at some point, right?
 The hens are laying pretty good right now, I figure in a month or so I'll let the broody girls sit, since we've lost a few this winter.
 Anyways enough of this tired ramble.
Happy New Year!

Fiona's Birth Story

Our week started with great excitement, Fiona, was showing signs of near kidding. I had a neighbor check on her during the day while we were gone. Christmas day night I went out to feed around 11:30pm, and as usually I sat and watched for awhile.  She was showing signs that labor was close: her ligaments were gone, she was up and down, her udders were full, and she was licking me.  After a few minutes I figured it would be within 12 hours later than sooner since she wasn't streaming her amber goo, and got up to leave. I hadn't even made it to the door before she laid down and started pushing.  I grabbed the blowdryer and some towels.  I had to assist with the first one since her legs were in the wrong position.  I pulled her and started to suction and dry pulled the second one out once she was 1/2 and cleaned suctioned and ran to the house.
I burst through the front door trying to be quiet because all I would need is fore Eli to wake up during this. As I kick open our bedroom door poor sleeping Brian bolts from the bed, and is standing there in a daze, while I yell for him to hurry and get towels.  At this point I"m kneeling on the bedroom floor unwrapping the kids, at this point it dawns on him what is happening and he springs into action.
 The girls were premies, very early, and in the end to early.  At one point I even tried mouth to mouth but it was usuless. After a minute, and making sure Brian had a handle on things.  I bolted back to the barn to make sure their was no more kids. Finding Fiona in a daze, eating, I bounced her a few times to confirm she was done, being fairly confidant she was it was back up the hill to the house again. Brian at this point, was still working on the bigger girl. After about 10 minutes it was apparent they were not going to make it.
  Fiona, is doing good though her placenta detached and was out after 15 hours. Her milk is really coming in. I have the colostrum frozen in the off chance we need it for another one. (*side note breast milk bags are great for freezing milk in..anyone have extras send them my way!).
  Since this was her first time kidding she has no idea what happened and thinks I"m her kid. I get a bath now every time I go down there.  She's pretty easy to milk doesn't go all crazy on me like buttercup does. she would have made a great mom.  To her dismay she's in with the other pregos for a month or so, I don't want her to be around our Buck Deputy Dangle in case she's fertile.

More Snow!

It seems all it does anymore is snow snow snow snow, granted I'll take the snow of the freezing -8 million degrees, but enough already!  As of yesterday I cannot use the service door on the barn it's frozen shut.  It actually happened while I was in yesterday morning feeding the animals, when it was time to leave I could not open the door! I ended up going out the animals door and stepping over the electric fence, cringing praying i wouldn't slip!
  Since I started giving the horses vitamins and weight booster in their grain they have been less crabby and grain crazy.  For awhile thats all they wanted all the time, constantly cross!
   Flicka let me "ride" her again yesterday, ( I climbed on her bare back and held on to her mane hoping I don't die) she stood pretty good for me and didn't try to plow me into any rails this time so I guess she's getting better. I get off of her anytime she leaves the barn I'm not ready for her in open spaces yet.
  I went out into the yard with Ritz a few times, the last time I ended up in a snow bank.  This is when they were in the grain crazy stage. I swear they're like a person needing a fix and nothing else matters they just want their "drug"!
  The new ducks seem to be settling in and the chickens are sharing food with them.  We've lost a few chickens this month anymore and everyones getting wormed! But for the most part our poultry is doing well.
  Our 5 meat birds are getting pretty plump and I won't be able to put the deed off for much longer, and our egg layers are doing great, we're back up to about 35% yippee!!

Wishing you all a merry Christ filled Christmas!

Coming together

Everything is beginning to fall into place around here, looking back it is hard to believe we moved here a mere four months ago.  We have learned and accomplished so much, with a ton more togo!
  We sold the "boys" the ones that we're kidded earlier this year, and gained a new stud. He's a boer, which is a meat bread that we plan on mixing with our dairy girls. 
   Two girls are close to kidding and already bagging up. Keeping them warm this winter will be a challenge! Our original girls both pregnant too.

  About a month ago a neighbor gave us two Aarabian horses, Flicka, and Ritz.  The are both unbroke, for now.  I did get Ritz to take a bit yeterday for the first time.  I am able to hop on his back most of the time.  Flicka is a bit more freespirted but did let me on her back for the first time yesterday. 
  After coming off a big high from the horses yesterday I was feeling a little cocky today and got on Ritz and ended up in the snow!  I normaly cannot even get him to "walk on", today he decided to canter out of the barn, and away I went, I made the decision to bale off while I could since I didn't want to end up in a pile of poo!  We are looking for a saddle which should help greatly!
 
Most days I spend a bit of time in the barn in the morning and evening working with them, the kids say a smell like horse! Ha better than a lot of things!

  We're still working on finding a balance of in and out door chores school and play time but we're getting there! 
  In the last few months we have added a pen to the barn, fenced in a few acres, pulled up old fencing, painted the whole house, and mostly unpacked.  At times I feel discouraged at lack of daily progress, but am re-energized when Brian puts everything into perspective! I miss our online journal and am hoping to have more time to keep track of our daily crazies! Plus if I magically do get these crazy horses broke I will need to come back and re-read because it will certainly be by accident ;-)

Rosie's birth story

Last week I went to check on Miss Rosie around 11pm Wednesday night. I could tell something was off her poor feet were even more wobbly than normal.  I checked with a goat friend and we decided she was in labor.  Around 2am the temperature had dropped and was hovering around 0.  I was cold and so was Rosie, We moved to a warmer place. At 3 something wasn't right I spoke with my friend again and she thought a kid maybe was stuck so I gloved up and went in.  Finding that her cervix was not dilating, she was a fingertip.  Poor girl I manually stretched the cervix on and off till 7:30.  Nothing! I called the vet around 8, and her first owner, Jackie.  Jackie came over to try and help. She took one feel and said get her to a vet.  I loaded Rosie in the back of my truck and rushed her to the vet.  He was able to stretch her open and get a buckling out but he presented wrong and as he was coming out Rosie's cervix ripped! She was rushed back for a c-section. The buckling's twin was born alive but I don't think the techs knew what they were doing :-( they were swinging him around instead of just holding him upside down and sucking his airway.  The third little doe was a stillborn. (she was sooooo pretty too, just like a mini Rosie!).  Rosie was touch and go for awhile but they were able to stabilize her.  I took the buckling home with me where we bottle fed him a few times till I received a phone call around 4pm, " can you please come get your goat she's up and trying to eat everything in the surgical room!" Best call I could have got.  Rosie since then has continued to recover and is doing well.  I don't believe we will be rebreeding her, the little guy is doing great and was just de-budded this morning and is doing great we named him Billy the Kid.(eye-roll I know)

soon I think...

buttercup

 I just came in from checking on the girls and bring out warm water for everyone...It feels so much nicer out now that we're not in the negatives! I noticed Rosie has bagged up even more from this morning, really hoping that means we'll have little ones in a day or two all this waiting is maddening! Buttercup is as big as ever but not showing any signs of being close, so for now we're good. HOping to get good sleep tonight and have babies tomorrow AFRER costco!

Rosie

foot tapping....

NOTHING STILL NOTHING!!! I cannot figure these goats out, they are bagging up poor Rosie looks like she could sneeze and the babies would come flying out!  I guess they are waiting for it to warm up, which would be nice but I'm getting sick of running out to the barn every few hours to check...I have given up at night if they go then they're on their own! Rosie's ligaments are gone have been for a week now!
 

This is from a week ago! Her milk has come in even more since then.

The chickens are doing good, I"m looking at new blueprints to make a smaller coop that can be moved when we move. I just asked my FIL to draw up some blue prints, we'll see how it turns out...Sadly nothing more to report :-(

Fingers crossed

 When feeding the girls this morning I was checking them over, feeling their tummy's, rubbing them down and checking for any signs of near labor.  Since I didn't suspect they were pregnant until recently I have NO IDEA how far along they are.  I can remember in August and september signs of them being in heat but thats the last I recall.  Therefor I'm going off of September sometime.  Anyways Buttercup has a but of slimy wetness, I'm really hoping she just sat in something for now.  Its to cold for a baby to come this week! Either way I"ll be running to the store tomorrow and gathering all the supplies I need. I'm hoping the thrift store has a lot of sweaters left with zippers.  Any suggestions of size for kids? I have a feeling there are going to be long days the next few weeks!

Hell has frozen over...

And landed in Minnesota! 

We have had a very cold busy day around here!  Bill was put down this morning due to an injury. Which saved him from the freezing -18*s but made Rosie loose her snuggle partner.  To improvise I gave the girls jackets. It did take a bit of trial and air though.  I learned regular ACU tops will come right off if they are not covered by another jacket with a draw string and the waist.  You can see with Buttercup here this was prior to me learning this, notice how loose it is at the "waist".  

Buttercup

I went outside around 9 p.m. tonight to double check on them, the temp right now is -18 windchill has to be somewhere around -40's.  When I got out there buttercup was topless.  So I added a fleece that had a snitch at the waist, which should fix the problem.  Right now both girls have two layers added an ACU top with a jacket over.  

Rosie and Buttercup

I keep bringing buckets of hot water out for them.  Rosie seems to enjoy the fresh water over the main water bucket (which is heated).   Right now we're just trying to make it through tomorrow, they say it will start to warm up then!

 

  Rosie seems to be missing Billy too, they've been together for over a year now, she will not leave the gate, and keeps calling for him.  When we got Billy the people told us he'd need to be re-dehorned, I didn't think it would be a big deal I saw the paste at the store.  The more I learned about it I realized it couldn't be done anymore, since he was older.  The only way would be to have a vet put him to sleep and surgically remove it, since a piece of skull would need to come off too.  I had noticed his horns growing in but figured they'd turn back out. Yesterday, I went out to feed them and he was bleeding.  The horn had been growing in  and down the top of his head had split open. He didn't seem to be in pain, but we didn't want an infection to set in either. Nor did we want him to get to the point of pain.  This morning Billy was taken to the butch and we should be eating Billy Burgers this weekend. . . hey come on now this is a farm! What does goat taste like?  Not a clue I'll fill you in later, I was told though he's going to be more gamey tasting since he was not a wether. We'll see I don't have anything to compare it to yet. . . Any of you want some meat to let me know there is going to be well over 100 lbs! 

The Chickens have three heat lights going constantly and seem to be okay.  Baloo and Lady are nice and cozy in the laundry room, and the kitties have been banished to the basement since one of them hasn't figured out the litter-box up here. Causing way more laundry than I'd like. 

  Speaking of kitties, funny story...

    Sarah's, Thing 1, likes to dominate Micah's, Thing 2.  Lot's of "wrestling" Eye-roll I think one of them will be neutered in the near future!

   Overall, were just trying to stay warm and inside! Brian should be off the next few days so if he can just make it through tonight he should be good. The trains don't stop for anything apparently!

  Thats all for tonight I want to get this house picked back up before I head to bed. 

Jen Hatmaker - Brave Moms Raise Brave Kids

Jen Hatmaker - Brave Moms Raise Brave Kids

fast catch up

So it's been awhile since I've been on here.  Life is still crazy there was a balancing act that was hard to figure out!  We took the girls down to once a day milking in september, and that seemed to help me balance family and animals. Since then we've had a sick billy, I got to give my first shot to a goat.  He's much better now.
   As for the girls, I think their expecting.  I didn't think that they were at first but now after reading more about the breeding processes I'm 99% sure Rosie is at the very least.
  Early fall I was grossed out that Billy would stick his face in the girls urine stream, come to find out that's a sign mating is near. GROSS!
  Brian and I have also had may discussions on where we want to go with the goats.  After talking with my grandpa, (and really really really not wanting to take his advice) we're going to be selling billy and artificially inseminating from now on. (still not sure who will actually do it, crossing my fingers it will be Brian!)
   As for the babies, We'll be selling the males for meat and keeping the girls. (Time to start spreading the word, send goat eaters my why!).  We've done some research and it's pretty apparent Minnesota has a high population of ethnic groups that like the meat.
  I keep saying it will be a few years before I can eat one, we'll have to get away from the pet mentality.  ALthough if one pisses me off enough who knows.
  We're down to 9 chickens, luckily the dogs are not the cause of them dying.  They seemed to have some illness.  I switched their feed to a medicated one for a few months and that has seemed to do the trick.  We were just talking about how many chicks we are going to order this spring.  THe kids are excited Micah remembered that they start off in boxes in the kitchen!
  Thats a fast catch up and I hope to be a lot better in the future. I'm off to see why the dogs have been barking for 30 minutes.
******* Anyone out there with any suggestions for birthing send it my way.  I'm starting to make a list of supplies.  I'll have to get them soon too because if they are the kidding should be in a few weeks!

Sick

We had a sick goat, she got into the chicken feed, and it was a mess! He pooh turned into cow patties. I was told to give her some pepto so I pulled my hair back put on crappy clothes expecting a war! She just nicely licked it all LOL I was hoping to give u all a funny story but it's pretty boring. She fine now and her milk productions is back to normal. The others are doing well, Billy is still a horny teenager! Rosie is going through heat again so the kids stay away since he gets a little playful!
Micah was been practicing his milking he's getting pretty good at it!

Farmer Brian

hoping to get it enclosed this week!

Brian has had to cover a lot of thee animal care the last few days since I've been so busy with the wedding.  He has learned how to milk now :) The house may be a mess, and the barn semi clean but the animals managed to get fed and milked the last few days!  Tonight when I went to put the chickens up I only counted 15 which lead me on a hunt.  I called Brian out and with big flashlights we started our hunt!  She was hiding in the garage behind a seeder. This one is one of the good layers so I'm glad I was able to keep her safe.  Mr. Cluck Cluck must have heard me talking to her because he started cock-a-doodle-doing until he laid eyes on her.  When I put her in the coop he jumped down and pecked her neck, talk about a control freak!  I stayed till he settled back down I didn't want any domestic abuse tonight.  I guess when your trying to juggle 15 girls your anger comes out on someone :D  Well off to milk!

Wedding Week

This week we are preparing to celebrate my sister's wedding.  The big kids are excited because there will be a party and they get to walk down the isle at the church, which is typical since they love parties and being the center of attention.  Tonight we had the rehearsal which allowed me to meet all the brides maids and grooms men.  It was such a fun group the wedding will be a blast!  The dinner was at a great restaurant downtown, and of course no trip to minneapolis would be complete without a trip past sex world.  As we were stuck at a red light in front of it I was hoping Micah wouldn't try his new reading skills!
   After yummy food we headed home only to have a drunk man fall of his bike in front of our car.  (A quick 911 call later we were on our way home).
 School this week is going great! Micah has learned to read, Thank you All About Reading! It's so fun watching him blossom, he is eager to read now, something I thought would never happen!
  Our animals are doing good, still all crazy, but good.  The hens are still laying we have added a couple heat lamps (we really should put some plywood in front of the opening to keep the heat in).  we're still getting over 10 eggs a day. One of the girls loves to sit so I'm thinking we'll have some chicks in the spring.
  Rosie and Buttercup are doing well.  Rosie has already started her heat cycles, and I'm praying she's pregnant...less to milk in the winter!
  Well off to bed nails in the morning.

God grabs our attention

A few weeks ago I started thinking it may be time to start looking for a new family vehicle.  Since I bought the van almost 6 years ago I haven't even looked a "new" car.  Anyways I dismissed the thought, since we're saving for a new house.  I shouldn't have done so. After a relaxing labor day morning I took all three kids and ran to the outlet mall a few miles from home.  Did all our shopping, loaded all the kids up, and the van didn't start.  It wasn't not the battery.  THe car wouldn't register the it being in park so therefore wouldn't start.  The tow truck brought us home and we ended up leaving it at the mall since i didn't know where to have it towed.  The next day Bri and I ran over there and rechecked it looked at all the spark plugs.  Today the truck brought it to a dealer when I showed up with the keys it started right up! I sold the thing to them and we're looking for a new car.  Next time I think it'll be cheaper to just listen to God when he gives us a nudge we won't wait for a shove.
   School is going well the kids are having fun with it still granted we're only 3 days into it.  Friday, is homeschool group and the kids can hardly wait for it.  Micah has a speech eval tomorrow.

A week of crazies!

dead mouse number 1 and best of all he did get the cheese, trap is reset and ready for mouse #2

Auntie Allie and Micah 

 I have a moment to breath and the computer happens to be in front of me.   This week has been crazy but when I look back I'm not sure with what!  We've been dealing with mice in the house.  My first attempt was a fail I basically just fed the stupid things.  However, I got new traps and caught one last night, and learned we have HUGE mice! My dad asked if they were cross bread with rats!

 Yesterday, we enjoyed a day at the lake cabin with family.  The kids ran and played hard all day.  Passing out in the van on the way home.  At supper Eli started screaming like crazy when I looked at my watch it was 7pm on the dot. This child is going to have ME on a schedule soon!  Anyways we rushed home and he was in bed by 745 out cold!  

ready for bed!

At the cabin Chris brought his kayak so the kids paddled around in it. I think the adults got just as much as a workout from playing as the kids did!

Micah Cameron and Sarah

Today Dad and Mom came over to help fix my computer, the wifi wasn't working.  While Dad was working on that Mom was outside taking lots of pictures with her super duper camera.  As a result I now have wonderful pictures of all our wonderful animals.



Below is a funny stories but content revolves around animals in heat, you have been warned!

Lady sticking out her tongue at Rosie

Thing One and Thing Two eating

Mr. Cluck Cluck strutting his stuff looking for one of the girls

Lady

Todays eggs

Baloo waiting for a signal, he LOVES herding the girls!

Rosie and the girls 

My horny adolescent goat "Billy"

 SO Mr. Horny here is in full swing of puberty right now, if he was a human he'd be locked up for indecent exposure and ATTEMPTED rape!  Rosie started her heat cycles for the year.  Goats are in heat around september through march, and are only fertile 1-2 days a month.  Anyways a few days ago I was milking one of the girls and Brian was out talking to me.  Billy got out and jumped on the milking table he was out of my site.  Brian yells, "Holy COW" I look up thinking he's giving me crap about my pants being to low or something. I looked up at him and he was wide eyed staring at Billy. I looked over Buttercup and There was Billy with his 8" fire truck, now if he was just cleaning it no big deal but Billy is a special goat and was practically nursing on it!  The next few days after this event he was driving the girls crazy trying to mount them every chance he got.  We kept the kids inside that day just incase Billy got to frisky and bucked at the kids.


 

busy

This week had been so busy we've had something everyday this week!  Luckily mema and papa are taking the big kids tonight so we can have some rest time! more to come later with lots of pictures!

Teeth already?

Mr. Eli was up 3-4 times last night instead of his normal 1, and was fussy today.  I noticed earlier that his top 4 teeth are moving down but still had a way to go. At supper tonight he was laughing and I caught a glimpse of a bottom tooth breaking through.  Poor baby lost it not long after.  With him being only 3 months old I had nothing on hand, so I made a quick trip to the store.  Of course there was no infant drops and only stuff for 2+ a call to the nurse on the way home got my Tylenol dose.  Poor baby had fussed almost the whole time. It took 40 minutes to get him calmed down and comfortable. He's asleep now and back on schedule.  He has his doc appt. in the morning so we'll see how much this chunky monkey weighs my guess is 18 lbs!

KEEP OUT!

So we have an all purpose building, garage in front barn in back.  I love it because it's all right there what I don't like is animal poop all over!! Apparently the garage side is the place to be! THe chickens and goats hang out over there if they can get in. I had this wonderful idea to make a gate and fence it off.

Big smiles before we started

 My dad came over to help with my little project. This is what it looked like before we started.  Notice all the straw and hay on the ground, now imagine that all over! I got to work cleaning that out while he constructed a door made out of scrap wood we found in the burn pile.  Brian had the great idea of doubling the fence up to make it stronger! 

Door is up!
we got the door up with some hinges that had been saved from the old house.  Brian had to go back inside since his allergies were killing him.  I keep suggesting shots but my big strong husband will avoid a -itty bitty needle even if it means suffering every day. Once we got the gate up we made a little lock for it.  Sarah thought this was a "great idea" and entertained herself most of the afternoon going in and out of the door. 

Finishing up the fencing

We added sheep and goat fence with little tack staples.  Dad is just putting the last few around the gate.  He was way faster at this than I was I kept missing and had those things flying everywhere!  

Kisses from Rosie!

During the rummaging of the scrap pile we came across half a pallet, and thought it would make a great temporary hay older.  (NOTICE THE TEMPORARY! I still want my nice one Brian!)  This thing was a pain in the butt! I have a hug bruise on my foot from it falling. Dad has a enormous one on his forearm.  We needed to remove two of the boards which were not wanting to come off.  I bet it took a good 20 minutes to get them off.  but once we did legs were added and hay and we had happy goats!
 

All done happy goats and Happy Sarah!

CRAZY GOAT!

Billy being the adolecent he is had to go around to the main gate crawl under and then come into the barn to check it out freely.  

Great Minnesota Get Together!

This morning after chores we (I) got a great idea Bri had the day off so we loaded up the kids and headed to the fair.  I was oozing with excitement since it had been over 5 years since I made it to the fair.  (Living out of state sucks this time of year!) I was also excited for Brian and the kids to see it!  We found parking just one block from the gate (I remember when you could pay 5 and park now some people want 20!).  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the State Fair, its serious business around here! Someone told Brian it's like the world series of fairs!  People who live near the fair grounds turn their yards into parking lots. You basically don't see grass on yards within 10 blocks of the fair just cars!

Brian giving free rides

Micah coming down the slide 

  After we parked our first mission was to find pronto pups! we gobbled those down and started walking around.  We got to the big slide Brian took the big kids down it.  Micah went by himself and didn't think he wanted to do that again. We took a little stop by the butterfly house once again Brian took the kids in while I feed Eli.  It was really fun to watch Brian was board out of his mind but the kids had a blast.  Once baby was full we made our way to the animals.
  This was one of my favorite parts I was able to get some really good information in the pig/goat barn by talking to others. Did you know there is a dip formulated for winter that helps against frost bite?
   While in the cow barn I noticed my husband was no longer with me, when I looked back he was at a booth that had info on dairy cows!!!! NOOO!!! I asked a lady how long it would take to milk a cow, she told me just 5 minutes or so.  when I explained I meant by hand I was told "I don't know ANYONE who milks by hand anymore"  Well I my name's Jenna! LOL I think a milker will be in order if we get anything else that needs to be milked.   I cannot believe that my grandpa's family had 7 of those things that were milked by hand 3 times a day!

Sarah showing me how easy milking is!

   We finished off the fair with rides and a walk around the colosseum where I managed to score some books for school.  We left the fair with 3 tired kids, and a unimpressed husband.

Ready to head home!

   When we got home I headed out to milk only to realize that Billy had gotten into the feed while we were gone and polished it off, leaving me with nothing to entertain the girls while i milked.  So not only was I being eaten alive by an army of mosquitoes I had dancing goats.  Brian had to come hold buttercups head while i got her since she was not stay in place.  Once she was switched out for Rosie, I relaxed a bit but shouldn't have.  Rosie has a bit of an attitude she wasn't happy about the lack of grain so she gave me a look and plopped her food in the bucket.  What a stink!  None the less they got milked and the kittens and dogs got a bucket full of milk to drink!