Eat More, Eat Less

While we're waiting for the stalls to be built for our cows and donkeys, we're having a Dickens of a time getting Fiona to eat enough, and the donkeys to eat less. To be honest, I say donkeys, but it's really Patches. Patches is what I expected the goats to be like, eating anything and everything around. It's too hot to give her much exercise, plus we don't know if she is pregnant yet, so we're allowing her to keep her belly for now. 

I'd like to say she was the only animal overeating, but it appears our goats Cocoa and Sundae (the dark ones) are getting pudgy, too. You'd think black would be slimming on them, but nope, they've got some excess. I've started limiting their treats and encouraging them to play more. Cocoa is large for her breed anyway, so she can hide it better. Sundae though, she either needs to grow out of some of that belly or she's going to get on Patches exercise regime. 

All the chickens are super healthy which I'm thankful for. They keep themselves groomed and cooled and the other animals tend to get them exercising. Meaning, Fiona scares them to move before she lays down, haha. 

Quail Queen

What they don't tell you about keeping quail, is you tend to get overboard with them quickly. We currently have four quail, but we have sixteen potential in the incubator right now. Once this incubation is done, we'll be doing one more round of incubation. Why? Well, because. 

One of my local friends tipped me off today that one of her friends was selling all her quail paraphernalia. This friend of hers is now my friend too and I grabbed her five layer cage, her brooding box and her large homemade aviary. We'll be having the original friend's husband, who already has done and will continue to do many projects for us, pick up the aviary, make a couple of modifications and then deliver it to us. Once the two batches of incubating are done, we'll be vent sexing them and divide them up by sexes. 

Then it'll be egg selling time!!! This new friend loaded me up with egg crates to get me started. Now, if only my original chicks would finally start laying. This week they just turned old enough, so any day now. 

Small Blessings

After my blog, and way past 9pm when the weatherman told us that was our chance of rain up to, it finally rained here! I don't have a rain gauge, but I'm speculating from time and level of force we had about an inch and a half. We'll take it!

The weather was so much nicer today that the animals were themselves happier and nicer. The goats ran and frolicked like they were schoolchildren. Both donkeys wanted extra pets and hugs. Most surprising of all, Fiona not only came up to me without a treat in my hand, but also raised her head for the kiss I've been forcing on her nights past. She likes me, she really likes me!  

By the end of summer, I should be able to start allowing visitors to come love on the animals. Until then, they and I still need some training. 

Three out of four indoor animals cuddling dad to protect him from the occasional thunder we'd hear. 

Five Miles Shy

Lots happened today, so buckle up. First, we sold (closed) our old house and are officially homeless. My mom must be so proud! Haha. 

Two, to celebrate our closing, Rob gave the go ahead to buy Fiona a friend. Well, he got twice what he bargained for. Come July 1st, two half year old calves are moo-ving in to our farm! Pics attached, but names not chosen yet. 

Three, we were five miles short of the rain. Seriously. Pic showing how the cloud grew and dumped where we could almost taste it! For all those getting too much right now, send it my way please!

Chance of Rain

You don't truly understand a drought until you're a farmer or rancher. Then you see how much water everything takes to survive. Our garden is dead except for the potatoes and basil. This is out of a dozen things we tried to grow. We weren't counting on so soon of heat and dryness. 

The animals have suffered enough, and we're going to get them a mister. This will mist water on them and then our fan will do the rest of the work keeping them cool. Fiona has had a little bit of the runs from the heat and we want her healthy and strong. 

I apologize for not writing as many blogs last week as usual. I try to write Sunday through Thursday nights, but life sometimes happens. You haven't missed much, it's been hot and dry. However, we have a chance of rain and slightly cooler temps tomorrow. I've never wanted our weatherman to be more right!

Pic of our first cloud rolling in, haha. 

For the Win

One thing Rob and I agree on is to help out our community whenever we can. In a city with less than a thousand people, it's easy to find ways to help. 

The FFA in our area (Future Farmers of America) is doing a raffle that we eagerly purchased tickets for. The winner gets half a beef. That's about $1500 in finished meat. Meaning, half of the cow has been butchered and divvied up in all the different cuts. We'll be doing a half a beef anyway come the fall, so hopefully we'll just win it. 

If you know my area and are interested in purchasing tickets, send me a text or email and I'll get them for you. $20 for one ticket and six for a hundred. If you win, we've got a freezer! 😉

Two and 102

Today was a disgustingly hot day. We got up to 102 very quickly and now at sunset, it's 95 degrees. I had a hard time getting the donkeys into the barn as this was the first time of the day it felt cool enough to eat hay. Patches is now starting to shed copious amounts and I'm just waiting for Fiona to follow suit. 

Two of our remaining four quail are steadily making eggs now. They heard my thoughts about turning them out and have decided to play nice. Looks like I'll be incubating eggs here shortly for even more quail. 

The concrete guy never showed last week and we talked with our builder and he's getting the bid into us this Friday at the very latest. Yep, we haven't even gotten to the money portion of this fun yet. 

Lately, we close on our old home next Monday. Finally. I think the whole selling should have been handled much differently, but what's done is done. It's only money, right?

Another Week

As we close on another week, I'm going to share some of the pitfalls we've had lately, and some of the triumphs. Always start with the bad, then finish with the good. 

We've lost one of our quail, the red one. Actually lost, he went for a walk and never returned. Once he left, as he was the mean one and already separated, the four remaining quail have started beating each other up. We're probably going to let them go free and if they stay, they'll get fed. Otherwise, I'd rather they take their aggressions elsewhere. Lastly, Chickadee has decided it's too hot to lay eggs and we're hoping things change once the other chicks are ready to start laying. This is Texas, there's only so much we can do for heat. 

Now the good. The swat treatments are doing it's job to keep the flies away from Fiona and Patches eyes. This weekend, I'll be picking up some ointment to tend to Patches spot underneath her eye that is pink from the fly irritation. We may just get her a fly mask to let it heal up without the swat. They are all healthy though, that's what matters. The goats are doing tremendously well and have reached full petting zoo status. Meaning, you can pet them without treats now. Fiona let us hose her down a little, but she thoroughly enjoyed the full body brushing I gave her. Fancy enjoys her brushing as well and had to wait her turn. Fiona calmly nodded her horns towards Fancy as the warning to let her get brushed first. No more head butting! The three big girls will all allow pettings for treats, but I know one day they'll be like the goats, too. 🙂

Caught Fiona mid blink, but wanted to show the swat, makes her look football ready!

Vindictive?

Out of all the animals, Fiona loves the goats the most. However, I'm wondering what her fascination is by leaving them a cow pattie daily in their pen. It's not vindictive, is it?

All we seem to do with this ongoing heat, is transfer the piles of poop in small stages. At night, we throw all the poop out of the barn and into the main pen. Then we later shuffle that pile into a bigger pile away from everyone and every thing. Eventually, that pile will be mixed with compost once the nitrogen has burned off enough. Then what? We're not sure yet. Our small pitiful garden doesn't need the amounts my animals are providing. 

For now, we're just happy all the animals are healthy. Soon enough, we'll be able to spend more time with them without us all melting. 

I Spy

Rob and I took a few moments this afternoon to enjoy the fresh air after our cat stink bombed us from his litterbox. While we were sitting in our chairs, I spied a grey fox coming out of our pond and heading to our neighbors. Rob, for one, was upset I didn't alert him in time to see, that my "oh!" wasn't enough for him to go by. He also questioned whether I saw a grey fox or a coyote. After looking at various photos online of them both, I can say safely, and with 80% certainty, it was a fox. I know both exist out here, and it was cool to see. Especially since it stayed far away from us and our animals!

We've seen a lot out here and have enjoyed it immensely. We will eventually get some trail cams set up to see what else we're missing!

S'mores

Are You Ok?

I always worry about my animals. I always want them healthy, happy and safe. Sometimes though, they make me worry more than I should. 

Case in point, we were a little cooler today. Thanks to some afternoon overcast, it wasn't melting heat. All the animals except Fiona came out to play and we just figured she didn't want to give up her fan. Nope, turns out she had locked herself into the goat pen. Again. Now, we'll have to make sure to lock the gate open during the day just for her. 

Then, during feeding, Fancy goes to the corner of the barn and starts puffing. I start checking her to see if she's got a fever or sick in some way. I finally freak out enough to call Rob to come look and when I put my phone back into the fanny pack I use for treats, she breaks out of whatever state she was in and walks over for a treat. Sigh, Fancy don't scare me like that!

Everyone's well and it appears I just need to take a chill pill and relax. Tomorrow though, I'm going to be more hip to their games!

Best Part

I know I'm relatively new to farming/ranching/homesteading, however you want to term us. However, this is one of my top three favorite things to do ever: treat time! The other two are welcoming in a new addition to the fold and to welcome a newborn to the fold. While the last one hasn't happened yet, I already know I'm going to love it. 

Anyhow, all of my furry friends love each other and will each find their place near me for treats. The goats aren't quite getting that their treats come later, so I might have to start sneaking them some with everyone together. As you can see from my pic, I'm so happy!

Hopefully soon the weather will break from the heat a bit so I can get back to training them. As of now, we'll just enjoy our special moments when we can. 

Cow Drool

When you love animals as I do, you don't get hung up on the not so pleasant stuff. We all use the bathroom, we all smell unpleasant if we haven't bathed, and the majority of us drool at least once in our lives. 

This evening, I found Fiona to be in a really great and sweet mood. As I was feeding her treats, I have her a good scratching everywhere, however I found her sweet spot. She loves for her throat and upper chest to be scratched! This also makes her drool and my legs are now covered in a slimy cud sheen. I'll be hopping in the bath after I write this though, so it's all good. 

The donkeys love to be scratched everywhere and the goats are beginning to enjoy scratches as well. Scotchie is just like Fiona on where she prefers to be scratched which doesn't surprise me. Those two have become the best of friends lately. Although Cocoa is still Scotchie's #1 gal. 

Easy As Pie

Writing a day late, but yesterday wore us out. We had a verlt appointment for their second round of vaccinations for all five goats. It took twenty minutes of triple digit temps to get all five in their carriers, thirty minutes to the vet, about fifteen minutes at the vet, and then the long car ride of them bleating home. But we did it!

The vet was awesome and didn't even make us take them out of the vehicle. Cocoa, Cookie Doe and S'mores took it like champs. Scotchie and Sundae were a little obstinate, but not too bad. Now, they're all vaccinated and healthy. 

Today, we've turned the donkeys out to the pasture and they met the dogs for the first time. Reggie and the donkeys did great, Kenzie got a little kick from Patches, but then they all settled down. Fiona still needs some work before I trust her enough to be turned out. Soon, my big beautiful beast!

Bulking Up

Working with livestock, you tend to build up muscle. There are the usual things you would expect: lifting heavy feed bags, mucking stalls, and carting hay. It's those other things they don't warn you about. 

My legs get a workout with the goats. Whether it's chasing them to corral them to take to the vet (which is tomorrow's job by the way), or leading them one way or the other just so you can put the food in their bowl. I'm going to have to learn to do more with my left leg though with the leading as my right leg is getting more of the workout. 

Then there's the arm stretches for the donkeys. Patches will try to steal the treats for Fancy, so I have to first raise my arm real high to give her one, then swoosh real low to give Fancy one. Sometimes, I can be coordinated enough to give both of them treats at the same time with both me my hands, but my old brain doesn't always cooperate and Fancy might get the treat towards her ear while Patches is wondering if I'm trying to put hers on the roof. 

But the greatest exercise of all is from Fiona. If she sees you have her treats, her head with the tongue spiraling out is coming for you. You use your whole core to keep her at the right distance where she doesn't knock you over, nor are you tripping over air reaching too far. She's just a big oaf and she and I are still learning from each other. Although, I think she's learning quicker than me as she's got Rob convinced I don't give her enough treats so she gets double! (To be fair, her treats are actual cattle cubes she'd have calmly in her feed if the donkeys could be trusted not to eat it!)

It's About Nature

We have been so impressed with all the nature we've gotten to see since moving here. To list a few unusual suspects: a fox, a ringtail, and the largest jackrabbits we've ever seen. Today, we spotted a gorgeous Painted Bunting. The bird was so bright and colorful and it made us both so happy to see it. I didn't have my camera and the bird was flying anyway, but trust me, it was a sight to see. 

Ironically, we've been fortunate to not see snakes like we did at our old house. At our previous residence, we had cottonmouths,a few rattlesnakes, and a whole bunch of copperheads. It got to where I didn't walk around at night for fear of coming across one. Yes, I'm petrified of snakes. Here, Rob has seen exactly one grass snake and that's been it. Thank goodness! There are snakes in the area, but we're doing something right for now. 

What we do have a ton of are jumping spiders. Yes, that's their name and that's what they do. Medium sized fuzzy black spiders that will jump if you get too close. Then, you wind up jumping because they jumped. I had one jump on my hair in bed and it took everything I had not to freak out. I'm not scared of spiders, but that doesn't mean I want them in my hair in bed with me!

A jumping spider with his meal

Degrees of Attitudes

With our second day in a row of triple digits, I'm seeing how differently the animals do with the heat. The chickens hang out in the barn all day wallowing in the coolest stretches of dirt they can find. The quail, unfortunately caged, are closest to the fan and haven't really noticed the heat. 

Fiona does not like the heat and spends most of her time in the barn. The Swar is working pretty well on the flies so she's content. Not in love with her current situation, but making do. She is starting to consider the baby pool which I hope she will finally dip into. Any relief they can get, I'm happy. 

The donkeys, who tend to spend more time in the yard with no shade than I'd like, give themselves dust baths and have asked me in their way for me to stop brushing them. Now that the flies are under control, I'm good with that decision. 

The goats crack me up though. They frolic outside in the morning and early evening and the rest of the time in the barn. Unlike the others though, they play constantly. What's more, they want the snuggles come treat time. The heat doesn't phase then at all! They're stronger than I am. If I could retrofit the barn to be like Costco's walk in fridges, I would!

My indoor cats, Flurry and Mango 

We're All Melting

This week will be triple digit heat and we're going to do everything in our power to make sure we all survive. The multiple water sources are refreshed throughout the day by my loving husband, the fan is angled for the best air flow for everyone, and the big girls even got some water hose action for a brief respite. Some, ok most, would say we spoil them, but if we were lower on the animal chain, I'd want the same respect. 

We are trying to lock down when our builder will come this week. I would like to look him in the eye to tell him how desperately we need our barndo built quickly. At least get started on the thing!

Our old house is becoming one money pit issue after another. The septic there apparently wasn't up to code the whole time we lived there, but we get to foot the bill for the overhaul. It doesn't matter if we buy or sell it seems, we are always the ones who pay. Oh well, it's almost finally over!

A bad and heavily zoomed in pic of the two who started the farm all their own, the queens Cocoa and Scotchie

Weekend With A Kick

It hasn't taken long for everyone to settle into a routine. What's fun is to watch the outside fenced area have its rotation of visitors. For a little over an hour, shortly after the rains stopped, I watched that fenced area from the RV window. I saw the donkeys come out first. They checked the whole perimeter to see if the rain made anything magically sprout up. When that process fruitless, they grabbed some wet hay and headed back into the barn. 

Next, the chickens came out. They also scoured the whole yard, but they were more successful. I saw some peck at what I assume were bugs of some kind. They were still pecking away when the goats came out. 

Now the goats absolutely love the aviary. I think they're treating it like their own private clubhouse. While the chickens were rambling around them, they gathered in a loose circle and had head nodding conversation. 

Lastly, everyone went into the barn and Fiona came out. Unlike everyone else, she actually used the outdoors for toilet duties. Thank goodness, I'm already dreading the mucking of the stalls tomorrow. 

The three new girls all let me brush them with no complaint and no treats! Fiona realized it felt good to get the tangled out. We still have a lot to do, as she's a big girl, but we'll get there. I thought we were all great and everything, but do not get in the way of her food. She gave me a light kick from her front leg to my leg when I came too closely to her and her feed bowl. Not her fault, once her stall is built, we'll all have more room to easily manage. She did feel badly, and came up for a petting, so it's all good. 🙂

Brushing

One thing I like to do for all my furry animals, is to brush them. It keeps them cleaner, supposedly helps with the shedding, and is calming for both them and me. I say supposedly shedding as all my animals seem to keep replacement fur ready to go to sprinkle around everywhere anyway. 

The goats have yet to allow me to brush them. Soon, we'll be getting a stand made for them so they can't run off and I'll be able to brush their beautiful coats. 

The donkeys absolutely love the brushing! Patches especially, who has the straighter hair, relaxes completely when I'm brushing her. Fancy, with a coarse hair, enjoys it, but in small doses. She prefers long quick strokes versus Patches with the shorter and controlled strokes. 

Lastly, Fiona. She'll let you do whatever you want while she's chewing a treat. I got one side of her mane done while Rob plied her with apple treats and cattle cubes. There is a lot left to do for her, but this was only the first day so I'm betting she'll come around. 

As for my two dogs and two cats, they're used to the brushing and thoroughly enjoy it now. The cats want to play with the furballs I create from brushing everyone, but I thwart them everytime by disposing of the balls quickly. Sorry felines! 😺

Fancy is getting fancier

Mystery

Tonight, I came across a little mystery in our barn. There was a dead bird just lying there. It wasn't a big bird, it wasn't a bird I could identify, and I honestly don't know what actually happened to the bird. It was not missing any parts and none of our animals even noticed its existence. I'm sad to see any animal losing its life, but really bizarre it died in our barn. 

On a happier note, all of my furry babies follow me around everywhere. About half of them accept pettings without any treats on me. I'm hoping the touted cool front allows me more time to hang out with them tomorrow. It was so hot today, they had to share me all in under an hour. That's not enough time!

Lastly, we heard from our builder that he will be coming out sometime next week so we can actually get going on the barndominium! I hope once it starts, it goes quickly. I'm thinking that may be wishful dreaming though! 

Do you know how hard it is to get all eight fur babies in one pic?!