Hello folks, I know I have been bad at keeping up with new posts of late.
I do apologize there have been extenuating family circumstances. Everyone is fine, but there have been unexpected things happening with extended family that needed to be dealt with.
However, I thought I would take a moment and update you on how your Critter friends are doing.
As most of you know Daisy had her calf, a heifer we named dove. The plan was to keep her on the farm to be a breeder as her mama is.
This plan is starting to carry doubt, since she is not taming well.
She was doing perfectly good for a short amount of time but now has become flighty and a little wild. This could just be a phase that she is going through, and I need to put some more work into her, Or she might just not tame, that can happen with certain breeds of cows, couple with personality.
There is no need to fret over it as yet she is still just a baby and only time will tell.
I have spoken to our AI guy, and Daisy is going to be bred in a month, we think we are going to try a Hereford this time. They tend to have better personalities than Angus or Charolais. We shall see how that goes.
Daisy came into her first full heat last month, and I completely forgot what a raving lunatic she can be!
She attempted to disassemble the barn, as well as walking around with her water bucket over her head banging into things, this was done on purpose!
She continually dumped her water and made the barn into a swap she was locked in for one full day for her, her calves and my own safety.
Luckily this bit of craziness lasted for about 12 hours and the next day she was almost her sweet self again. This was what spurred us on to plan her next breeding. This is after all her job is to make us babies to sell or to butcher, but I do like to let her go through a heat so that her body cycle is working properly. I did forget how upsetting, it is to see her so unlike herself during that time. She is a much happier, friendly cow when she's pregnant. I guess she has the perfect job.
Well on the subject of Heats, our sweet Pig Priscilla has not found her Rhythm yet. I thought I had her Heats calendared out, and it turns out she is not old enough to have them on a solid basis as yet. With the timing so late in the spring, we will probably breed her in the fall for early spring babies.
A pig's gestation is 3 months 3 weeks and 3 days. If we breed her now we will have babies ready to go in late fall, not the best time to be raising them, and not the best time to sell them either. So we will wait a few more months for her. She is doing great otherwise, and is very happy out in the mud and getting her daily ear scratches.
The young chickens, are doing very well and have settled into free-ranging around the farm. We are continuing the chicken Wars in the sense of keeping them out of the kitchen garden and from eating all of my flowers. But they are happy friendly chickens and are doing quite well. One of my favorite girls, Clare, has decided she wants to set on a clutch, and I'm hoping that she will be a good mom. Ironically, I started the incubator almost on the same day we realize she was setting. So we should have two clutches of babies hatching next week right around the same time. I plan to hatch out babies every year, to replenish our flock and to sell to friends. And who doesn't love a little yellow ball of chick fluff! So adorable!
The ducklings I got from a friend a while back are now almost fully grown, and even though I could not tame them to be super friendly they are doing well free-ranging now and making friends with the other Ducks.
I recently bought them a kitty pool at the store and they are very much enjoying their Fresh Pond of water every morning.
Jack, the farm dog, has recovered from his Lyme disease quite well and is happy and Lively again. We have invested in the Seresto collar for him and so far it seems to be doing the trick. I did find a tick on him the other day but it was dead so it looks like it's doing its job. My super farmer husband is teasing about buying some for us and putting them on our ankles as well.
There was a very stressful point this spring when dealing with the family issues as well as trying to repair the fencing to get everybody out on pasture, but we got through it and everyone is out now! Very happy and fat on green grass. The fence is shaping up well and I will pick away at replacing the oldest part throughout the summer.
The garden is fully planted and doing quite well. Everything is growing and looking good. We can't wait to have some summer picnic meals with fresh vegetables from the garden.
This concludes my update for now, there is a chance I will be MIA for a little while and we start haying, that is grueling, hot and time-consuming work. But I will do my best to keep up with all of you.
Until then happy summer!
