Carrot and Stick

With training my livestock, I use a modified carrot and stick routine. The carrot is sometimes really carrots and the stick is a broken shovel handle. I never use the stick as a punishment, but rather as protection. When Nutty first got into his rut cycle, he head butted me a lot. It hurt especially when he rammed into my knees! But then the stick came along. Anytime he tried to head butt me, the stick blocked him. He didn't like the sound his horns make on the stick and that's all it took. Fiona has also seen the stick, but as she's never tried to ram me, get horns have never butted against it. But, she knows the stick exists. 

Anyway, most of the time I use treats. Do you know that every single one of my furry animals know their names? They might not all come to me, Sugar is still the holdout, but even she knows her name. This afternoon, I called all of them individually and each got pettings for coming to me. No treats were used and yet they came!

During my time with them this afternoon though, I realized I need to start playing on their strengths to get them more bold. Example: Fancy loves to run and race me on my mule. She's my first goal, this weekend I'm going to start racing with her and rewarding her when she breaks out of her shell!

I still have chickens. 7-8 eggs a day with my ten girls!

More Socialization

This morning, our septic guys came out and they wanted to see the cows while they were here. They went in the pasture and pen with Rob, and the animals ran out the back of the barn. Sigh, I see that we need to work on socialization. They're great with Rob and I, they tolerate Senior, but I guess anyone else is a threat. 

But how does one socialize them? I know how to socialize dogs, but there isn't a livestock park around where they can all pee on the same fire hydrant. There are people on the land daily, but I guess they know the pasture is theirs? It's not like I want to bring strangers out and then Fiona gets rowdy. I guess I'll have to research it. Hey Google, Alexa, Siri et al, how do you socialize livestock?

More work done on the house!

Gentle Fiona

It's taken a long time, but I've finally tamed Fiona. Today, I was able to walk up to her in the pasture and pet her like it's no big deal. She then followed me calmly all the way to her stall. Absolutely no hesitation from her anymore that I'm going to do something to her. She must have had a rough start, but she knows she's safe now and very much loved. 

As for the barndo, my metal guy told me some excellent news. He said it's going so smoothly that by the end of the week, it's going to look a lot more like a house. I have been extremely impressed with how great those guys have been working. I'll recommend them by name once I'm done with them. 😉

Packed To The Rafters

The guys were motivated today! Essentially, the rafters are done. The front part of the house still needs a cross beam and then the rafters added to that, but that's all and that part is getting done tomorrow. Just awesome to watch!

Also tomorrow, the windows are going to be marked for their placement. This will allow the metal guys to start working on the walls. It's all going great right now. 

I know I already talked about Cocoa yesterday, but I wanted to mention today she started to bag up. This means her milk is starting to work it's way in the udders. Very exciting!

Happy New Year 2023!

This is going to be a fantastic year! Our barndo is going to finish, our land is going to be cleared of mesquite, and we'll have our first goat kidding season!

In fact, Cocoa has started to show discharge. From my reading of goat books and research online, this means she's about three weeks to four weeks away from kidding! Kidding watch should start on the twentieth, so that's about right. Exciting!!! You can tell she's done carrying around extra weight, she's so big. 

I wish everyone a great start to the new year!

Cocoa, more wide than she is tall now

Fancy Girl

Everyone knows my mini donkey Patches loves attention, but Fancy has always been skittish. Until today that is. This evening, she decided she wanted my loving and adoration. Of course, I have her tons. She was happy and I hope this becomes a regular thing. 

Even Patches was amazed and actually allowed the love fest without getting her big snout in there. Once Fancy was done though, I made sure to give Patches her normal amount. Neck scratches are the best they say!

In fact, all of my animals love the neck scratches. From cats to dogs, goats to cows, that throat and neck rub are the perfect spot!

Breathalyzer

I think I got away with it tonight. Rob and I had steaks for dinner and while the goats were very curious about my breath, the cows fortunately paid no attention. Whew! I always feel especially guilty when we have steaks for dinner, which is rare. Any other cut of meat, not so much, but steaks are different for me for some inane reason. 

Progress continues to be made with the barndo. The beams were put in today making us vertical! Tomorrow, the plan is to get the sky track out to put on the rafters! So exciting. 

Lately, Rob's been on vacation this week and yet we haven't done anything. Tomorrow is a full day of errands, but maybe Friday we'll do something a little different. At least we've caught up on all our napping!