A Soggy, Soggy Day

Ugh, need I say more?

It was a good day for ducks, if we still had some.  They are calling for rain all day tomorrow, and temps of SIXTY!

It seems to me this happened two years ago - temperate temperatures, and then wham!  A blizzard on Christmas Eve.

That was the only time I have ever missed church on Christmas.

These guys didn't like it much either:

These guys mostly hung out inside

Except for one or two, and, I suspect, this little guy, Rooster One, is probably not getting along with Rambo.

That's either a ghost or a big ole water spot in the middle of the picture.

I did a lot of this:

Unfortunately, this experiment did not come out so well.  The candy cane kisses burned on their tips. It was also the first time I used parchment paper to line my cookie sheets, and I won't do that again.  One batch was in just a minute too long, and the other, just perfect, but, as I said, the tips of the kisses darkened.  I know they'll get eaten anyway.

I made a lot of chocolate covered pretzels, and will have to make a lot more before Saturday, since everyone loves them.

I made another batch of chevre, and it came out so very well this time.

I let it stay a little bit wetter than before, and packed it into plastic containers after I had salted and seasoned it.  I am using a garlic grinder and an onion and herb mixture I found at T.J. Maxx.  For those of you near one of their stores, they have a great gourmet food aisle with lots of unusual spices, etc.  This garlic is seasoned, and makes the cheese taste so good.  I made a container for Jill, who saw me start the cheese yesterday, and a container for our party (which I've gotten into three or four times this afternoon!). 

Friend Roxanne of Screamin' Oaks Dairy down our road tells me that she has only one doe milking at this point, and four mothers of newborns are buying her milk, so I may not have any more to use for several months. 

When I ran down to the thrift store/food bank this morning to take the eggs and some other things, I found this lovely tray downstairs with the regular china, not in the "Christmas Room".  It's perfect to use for the pretzels this weekend, and cost me a whole $1.25, what a bargain!

Stanley Steemer came this morning!  Now if we can just keep the carpets looking good til Saturday!

And here's the output from both henhouses today.  Roxanne told me Saturday that out of all her hens, large and small, she is getting only one or two eggs a day.  I'm glad to get these.

Aztec, Part Two

Well, we decided to wait for a bit and watch Azzie's lower eyelid, but after showing her picture to a vet tech at my office, I decided maybe we should have our vet out after all.  Imagine my surprise when I called the vet's office yesterday (thinking it would be Thursday or Friday, at best) and was told the doctor's new associate could be there in just an hour or so.  Yikes!  I got hold of Keith to make sure he could swing by, since it was late afternoon, and he said yes.  Of course, he beat the vet here, and hung around, waiting, calling me with "Where is she's???".  (I have been through this before, People). 

Then the vet pulled up.  Sorry, I have no pictures of what ensued, but I got the encapsulated version when I got home, JUST as they were releasing Aztec from the catch. 

Vet pulls up in humongous vet truck.  Views llamas, tells Keith to catch the patient, and goes back to truck.  Keith manuevers Aztec into catch with help from mama and papa, Inca and Tony, then runs them back out into the pen while he tries to keep the upset Azzie in the catch.  Maintains choke hold on her nether regions, all the time praying that she doesn't kick him in his Manhood.  Vet goes back to truck again. 

Keith asks vet to get halter... vet brings halter and lead rope, while waving shot apparatus full of sedative dangerously close to Keith's arms and legs... Keith maintains additional hold on bucking llama while vet gets halter on her, so that Keith can move up and try to exert additional control.  Vet finally takes a stab at sedative, and administers some.  Examines eyelid, and decides that IT WILL HEAL WITHOUT A STITCH because the tear is in the middle, and it is too far to pull the skin together.  The top eyelid comes down fine, and protects her eye.  She dabs salve all over it... gives a penicillin shot, and, as I come down the drive, the patient is loosed.  Father, mother and baby all gallop out to the pasture as the gate is opened. 

I met Dr. Beggs, who assured me that if I had been there 10 minutes earlier, I would have heard her cussing like a sailor, along with my husband.  However, there was laughter all around, and she gave us instructions on how to make sure Aztec gets her penicillin for the rest of the week... ground up and watered down on her feed... and did we think we could put more salve on her boo boo... emphatically NO.... and then she told us she'd send us a bill and was gone in a flash.  We loved her, but then, we love Dr. Jeannie, too. 

Keith did mention several times during the evening he was unusually worn out. 

So here was the scene this morning as I was leaving for work:

Mom and Dad, post breakfast.  Why, o why did I not think to ask Dr. Beggs to look at Inca's skin condition???? 

Here is our little patient.  You can see her eye still looks sore.

Go to work!  Let us chew our cuds in peace!

A Sunny Wednesday

First, I wish everyone would stop and say a prayer or just remember all those who lost loved ones in the spring storms this weekend and early this week in the Southeast.  What a terrible spring they have had!  Today we are in between storms here in Kansas, with some passed on to the east, and others coming our way in waves for the balance of the week and Easter weekend. 

I am off on a vacation day today, so took the liberty of watching what was going on outside, and have been in and out all morning.  I moved the seven bigger 9 week old chicks out to the 4 x 4 pen for the afternoon.  It is still chilly, but they can get in the straw-bedded cat carrier if they are too cold, and they have food and drink.  They have been out there an hour now, and it took that hour for them to come out!

You notice there is poultry wire over the chain link. 

This pen is in the big henyard, and is known as "Butch's Pen", because I used to put Butch in here to get fresh air.

Once the new henhouse is finished, Butch and his three lovely ladies will be moving to it, and their sojourn in the feed room will end (so I can clean it UP!). 

We waste enormous amounts of feed.  I just cleaned out most of the tank that the big chicks were in, and the feed in there was dirty and poop-ridden.  They had pushed it out of their feeder onto the floor.  In the new henhouse, the feeder will be hung from the rafters so everyone has to work for their feed.  No more bowls on the floor!

The bedding of the little henhouse is feed and dust... this is partially my fault, because in winter I sometimes just throw it in and run, but also because I am feeding in fortexes instead of feeders.  Like I said, that will all change.  We are composting the dirty feed.

As I sat at the computer earlier, I saw the llamas run by fast. 

Then I went out, and saw Tony like this down the pasture:

And Inca up on the barn pad like this:

Aztec right at her side.

Here is what they were watching:

Our neighbors had just put four cows out on the five acres just to the north of us. Just to the right of the cows is a tiny black dot... I thought this was their lab.  It was, instead, I think, a calf.  There was something wrong with it... it had an odd gait, and had to almost run to keep up with the cows as they moved away from the gate.  The llamas watched them for a long time, and in fact, Tony is laying out on the barn pad, the highest spot, right now, watching to the north, the east and the south.

Notice how they protect Aztec:

Llamas are wonderful guardians.

Meanwhile, in the big henhouse, this was happening:

Looks innocent, doesn't she? 

Birdy, named that because Helen, our turkey hen hatched chicken eggs along with her poults, and raised two survivors of a snake attack, named the Birdbrain Twins.  She is the last daughter of our Buff Orpington Rambo, out of one of the Wyandottes, I'm sure. She is also an egg eater, and has taught Ruby, one of the other old hens, to eat them, too.  These two are not moving to the new henhouse.  She has always been a flighty bird, and you would think she never saw me before every day. 

I have seen some great videos on blogs lately... I love cows, so love to read about them.  One of the blogs I follow,

Animal Instinct, had a great video of a herd of cattle being let out of their winter barn in England, onto the green pastures for the first time.  The dairy farmer explained in the video that they were fed ensilage first, to keep them from overeating on the green grass.  To see those matronly cows kick up their heels in delight was really something! And to see the beautiful Simmental cows featured on the Animal Instinct blog is something too!

http://tailgait.blogspot.com/2011/04/green-is-good.html

Copy that and you will see them, too!

And on a more serious note, Sandy, our newest follower from Yellow Knife Farm, posted a video on her website last week that every one should watch once.  It is graphic, but not too.  It was made by a reporter, Lisa de Guia, (I found out after some research) about a custom butcher, Larry Althiser, at Larry's Custom Meats in

Hartwick, New York.  This man welcomed the reporter into his shop, where he calmly explains the entire process, from the entry of the animal - a steer, a sheep, and a hog are shown - how they are put down, how they are skinned, etc., and their carcasses cut up.  Yes, there is some blood in it.  You also see (and it is explained) that in that shop, they do as much as they can to avoid fear in the animal.  It is plain to see that the animals are curious, not scared to death, before their lives are ended decently.  There are three young men working with Mr. Althiser, and they work quickly and sparely to get the carcasses hung and cleaned.  The butcher himself is proud of his shop, and should be.  I wish every end of life experience for the animals we raise could be as good.

http://vimeo.com/22077752

Here is a link to this video, and it is worth the watching.

It is almost midafternoon on a beautiful spring day, so I am going to go outside and do the watering, to save myself time for later. 

I hope everyone has a wonderful evening!

A Wet Friday

Here is what met me at the gate this morning as I was leaving:  

God's Cleanup Crew were taking care of a dead possum in our road the last two days.  There is nothing left of him now.  These birds fascinate me, instead of scaring me... they provide a very needed service to us, and are amazing to watch as they swoop and swirl in the air.  They waited patiently for me to leave.

On the way home, I saw these laying in the rain in the field down the road from us:

They were at the farm of the pond man, who tried to put our pond in for us last week.

And when I got here on the cold, wet evening, I saw this:

Aztec is back behind his mom and dad.  I hope they aren't telling us that we are going to have a late April snow!  They have not used the barn since really cold weather. It's in the low 40's right now, we have had crazy temperature fluctuations this week.

Linking to Farm Friend Friday and Farmgirl Friday at Verde Farm. If you haven't hopped over to Verde Farm to enjoy this on Fridays, you will be surprised at the number of folks just like us who are having fun in the country, and raising and preserving their own food, and enjoying their own animals.  Come on over and take a look and be amused and amazed!

Shearing Time

Aztec, tonight

It's almost shearing time.  Our friend Joani is going to come down from Northern Missouri with her nephew to help us.  Joanie is the reason we have llamas, she has had them for many years, and is experienced at shearing.  It will be Tony's third time, and Inca's second, but she was not good last year, and we expect more of the same this year.  Keith is going to construct a catch this weekend so that we can run them in and get bodies sheared, feet trimmed, and medicine down all in one fell swoop.

Here is where I interject and warn any of you thinking of getting llamas to buy BROKE llamas... halter broke.... and used to being led.  It will make things much easier for you in the future.  I did not know this before I bought.  A big llama can be very dangerous, their thighs and legs are built for defense.  The pulverized black snake could easily be a dog or a human.  We are very careful around them, and while we like them a lot, I don't go amongst them without keeping my eyes moving sideways and frontways, and backways if I could!  The day I brought the lemonhead home, I thought Tony was coming over the fence to get him!

Anyway, almost shearing time, and I'll take pictures of the whole process for everyone to see.  It will be much nicer for Inca to have her heavy fleece off this summer, and be cooler in the heat.

More Comments from the Peanut Gallery

For all of you who took the time to comment last night... I have to confess to you that I was afraid to make my own.  I have numerous friends who have good hearts, but believe that there should be a home for every animal born.  In a perfect world, there would be.  But my friend who is still breeding... in fact, who bought two more studs last year.... to breed cross-breds.... and has not been able to sell any of the progeny for the last two years, has taken in only one old mare herself.  It is the people who are in the "business" of breeding who provoke the glut... who do not vet their animals until they are almost dead... whose horses I see standing in their pastures thin and with dirty water (NOT my friend's, by the way) ... that my heart goes out to.   With two exceptions, all the animals here in our home are neutered... the kittens have not been yet, but will be (Josie very soon, within the month). Jenny, we are not so sure about still...she is still fighting the herpesvirus.  Josie had her shots before Jenny came, so though she has some of it, it is not as fierce as poor little Jenny's.  We still hope for the best and we have spent hundreds of dollars with our vet to make her well.

The male llama, Tony, was gelded last spring, when we lost his brother, the beautiful Yankee.  Aztec was the product of an unexpected breeding the night we brought Inca home, thinking Tony was still too young.  Aztec will be the last cria born here, but we have enjoyed him very much, and he, too, will have to be gelded.

Our dogs are spayed or neutered, but I have to admit we have had MANY chicks born here.  And had one Summer of the Rabbit, which I will write about sometime so you will all have a laugh.

Hay right now is selling rather cheaply, because it is the end of winter.  We have only had to buy about sixteen bales because of the three llamas, the least we have bought since moving here.  We found some good hay just a few miles from us, but some of you may be interested to know that there are large bales lying unsold and unused in the fields all around here.  They are not covered, and have sat out all winter with the snow and bad weather.  We prefer small squares, as our little hay barn can hold a dozen easily.  It has repaid itself many times over as a holder of the hay, straw and feed cans for the llamas and horses.  To buy small squares in the pasture or out of the barn in the fall varied between $3 and $4, and now, at the feed store, they are going for $5.50 and $6.00 a bale.  Quality varies, I found some full of stalks of weeds in the middle.  Some I would not feed the llamas, and I dressed the gardens with it.  I would defnitely not have fed it to the horses.

We have talked about getting another pony or two, or a horse and pony when I retire.  I think we will have to have a barn in place, a real barn, with four walls and doors, before we do that.  I don't ever want to put a pony through a bad winter like Beau had to go through last year again.  Keith and I have said to each other all winter.... "Thank heavens old Beau is not going through this".... The thing is, we can get a decent quiet pony and a quiet old horse for next to nothing now, and the rescues are full.... so we may do that, and give a home to two.  That's a decision we will make in the next year. 

Four of our chickens were also adopted.... the good Rambo, our hip-checking Buff Orpington rooster whose son is the leader of the big flock now, and three good hens... from an animal control agency. 

Keith is still out of town, but will be home tomorrow night.  For three nights now, the dogs have been listening for him, their heads to the door at every little sound.  In the night, something visited our bird seed cans by the porch, and set them all off.  (Racoon?)

So tonight, after yet another busy day at the office, I came home to do chores.  The starlings had hit the henhouse again despite the warm weather (50s)... and the feed was gone... but in the little henyard, here is what I found:

The most beautiful of the blue silkies, outside for the first time in her young life

Sign in the frozen ground this morning of llamas and hens, in the pasture

and

my poor old Nanny, one of the last of the purebred Japanese bantams, showing signs of either mite infection, or some other infection... she has also lost feathers on her chest and shoulders.  I was dismayed to see her derriere from the rafters.  I have ordered diatomaceous earth, food-grade, but it has not come in yet.  This is not just good for the llamas to eat with their feed... for a wormer, but also for the chickens to take their dust baths in.  As soon as the first good weekend, Keith and I are going to tear into the big henhouse and give it a good cleaning, but we have to do it on a day the birds are outside.  Then, when we move the "big flock" over to the new building, we'll clean it down to the walls, pulling down the rest of the drywall, so the snakes have nowhere to hide, and clean it good for mites, etc.

I'll try to catch Nanny tomorrow and take a good look at her, she may have to be isolated in the nursing cage... but she is actually a six year old, long past laying, and it may just be close to her time.  I have always liked her, and will be sorry when she crosses the bridge for the last time.

I'll get off my soapbox now, and go back to normal posts.

Ch-Ch-Changes

Winter is back, at least for a short while.  I came home to this:

And this....

The popholes were frozen open, but we managed to get them shut.

The odd thing is, it's not freezing cold yet, but was 31 degrees when I got home.

The little birds were snug in the little henhouse, and the new bantams are finally starting to move around, eat, and drink.  The silkies have been huddling for two days, scared of the others.  They had been kept in very tight quarters, so the henhouse must seem like a palace.  They have never been outside, but the door will be open for them as soon as the sun comes back.  They are being given scratch and protein pellets, but were given only scratch at their old home, so they are still getting used to the pellets.  The "old" birds, the originals, are used to scratch as a treat, and eagerly eat the layer pellets.  You can see the buff brahma scratching in the fortex feeder. (and the rooster eyeing them)

These guys weren't really bothered, though they are settled in their barn for the night.  They have lots of good hay to eat, and we left the hay buffet half in the barn so they can eat at their leisure.  They know how to stay out of the wind.  Here they were eating their feed for the night.

Temps are not supposed to be terrible, but I just let Lilly Ann out, and there is at least an inch to an inch and a half of snow on the deck already, in the last hour. 

C'mon Spring!

The Great Storm (continued)

Monday night, as I did chores, I heard the voices of the night.  Here we have two coyote packs, one to the east, and one to the west.  I heard them calling as I went out to take an extra bucket of feed to the little birds, and I stopped to listen.  After a minute, they grew silent.  Then as I trudged along, I heard one lone coyote begin to howl for his friends.  I could tell he was moving in the wild area to the west, across the road from our yard.  This undeveloped area is a run for them, and he was searching.  Keith came out and I cautioned him to listen, and we heard him, trotting along and stopping to howl.  Soon, we heard the answers as they all began to move off.  I looked at Keith and told him that there were many little wild animals (and coyotes) that would not survive the storm. 

This is what the yard looked like yesterday as the wildings frantically fed the first of about four buckets of feed we put out in the morning:

As you see, it was early, and there is no snow on the deck as yet.

Inca and Tony hunkered down in their barn, with Aztec behind them. We moved the hay buffet clear to the barn on Monday night, as we felt we would be doing well to keep everyone fed adequately.

Several hours later, there was a sizable amount of snow blowing and drifting, and we could not longer see our neighbor's big ponds clearly.

The kitchen took on the signs of a war zone with buckets, boots, waterers, etc. everywhere... and the coats flung across the chairs.

While Keith, who made trip after trip to check on the animals during the storm... .while the Princess sat on her throne ensconced with her followers most of the day, because She fell the night before... watched tv.... and finally Keith had to lie down and rest for a bit with his special chest warmer, Gertie.

And the snow kept mounting until the deck looked like this at 7:

While I watched endless news:

Then we discovered that SNOW had come in through a window I had left slightly open:

Showing how very hard it was blowing by then

(I heard about this, believe me!)

But this morning, Groundhog Day, dawned clear and sunny.  The llamas were covered in snow and ice, but okay.  Once their hay buffet was cleaned off, and they had their feed bowls uncovered, they were fine, and ran and jumped and kicked their heels to be up and out of the barn. 

Punxatawney Phil says spring is on the way!  YAYYYYYYY! 

But the best part is, we found someone to clean the driveway and he did in 15 minutes what I took 3 hours to do the last storm, and would not have been able to do with this amount of snow! 

 



It's Coming Again!

We are about to be hit by "A Blizzard" if the weather people here locally are right.  The light snow is to start tonight, with periods of freezing rain tomorrow off and on, and the real event will be Tuesday.  I did errands yesterday and then ran to the feed store late to get stocked up.  We have about a bale and a half of hay for the llamas, but it is not good hay, so we are going to run down to Tongie tomorrow to the feed store (well, Keith will) to get a couple of better quality ones to keep the llamas well fed during the storm. 

Inca has always laid down to eat her sheep feed out of her bowl, and now she has taught Aztec to lay and eat his feed, too!  He has developed a good warm coat of wool at almost three months old (Thursday).

Of course, I'm overjoyed to be planning on shoveling the drive again. 

Keith and I have long talked of having goats here at Calamity Acres.  We would joke about having "spoiled little goats"... but then seriously began to talk about it a year ago.  I wanted to milk and make cheese and ice cream, having tasted some goat milk ice cream and really liking it.  I made two trips to goat dairies, and hope to continue talking to Roxanne at Screamin' Oaks dairy right down the road from us.... but I have also been reading blog after blog after blog for information as well as several books. 

I wish some of you who currently have goats would comment... because frankly, I'm getting scared.  I'm wondering if it's best that I just buy milk from Roxanne and make my cheese and ice cream with it, and forego the whole goat experience.  I know they are captivating, but I have read so many stories of terrible birthing incidents that I don't know if I am ready to handle this at this point, and they are freaking me out!

For once, we have actually planned to have the infrastructure in place first, since the thing that I get spoken to the most is "infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure".  I was guilty of it in the old days, too... would go to a poultry auction and come home and have to make pens before I could let the birds loose.  We are building a new henhouse in the garden, and planned to switch the big henhouse over to a goathouse for three goats.  We do know they have to freshen yearly, and we think we will have a market for those kids with the number of Mexican families in our area who eat cabrito (don't like to think of that, but a necessity).  There are also many 4 H kids around here, and we would have purebreds for projects.  However, I am chickening out, and am almost afraid to read more, because I am getting too much knowledge!

If any of you have had positive experiences with goats, we would love to hear about it, and the negative, too... we want to go into this with our eyes opened.  My cousin Charlene has had them for years, but kept three that were not milked, just as pets.  She highly recommended them.

I feel I should say that our purpose here is NOT to make money off of the goats... nothing here is a money-making deal, we are hobbyists, who are interested in sustainability and providing a lot of our food for us and for our families.  But we treat our animals as respectfully as possible, even the llamas, and especially the birds, dogs and cats. 

So if you have goats, or have had, we would love to hear comments about them!

Things We See In the Yard

A Beautiful Sunrise....

Hoarfrost, making everything look so pristine...

And tracks made in the chicken yard by a .... BABY LLAMA!

Keith caught him this morning... getting in and out this way...

We only open the gate now for us to go in and out, because Beau used to come in and eat all the chicken feed.  The chickens are used to going in and out the panel we opened up... Yankee did it when he was a cria, and now Aztec is doing it.  When he saw Keith come to open the popholes as he left for work, he calmly walked over, crouched down, and went back to Inca in the pasture! 

(Notice how often he has been coming in... I think he's developed his own taste for chicken feed! )  

Around Our Place Tonight

Do you ever come home, tired from working all day, and suddenly want to get rid of every animal on your place and wonder why on earth you are even DOING this?

That was me, tonight. 

I have a new boss, a very nice guy, but I am very, very busy now.  Usually doing chores relaxes me, it's comforting to see the animals and talk to them and walk through the chores checking on everyone.  Tonight, it was a pain.

First there was this one:

This one has tried to be the boss since the day we brought her home from Leavenworth Animal Control. First she beat up on poor old Ranger, who can hardly walk with his bad leg.

Then she lit into Gertie, the smallest one here, for coming too close to the door of the henhouse (behind Lilly). 

I have a secret weapon... a small squirt bottle which she hates!  

I watched Gertie run into the garage to hide, and took Abbey, who was calmly doing chores with me, to the house.  Then went back to find Gert.  She had managed to get her little self through the livestock fence into our neighbor's drive.  I went to the gate to get her, and she proceeded to go the other direction, and at one time, headed for the road.  (We know why the other families gave her up).  

The first break in the weather, oldest grandson Chris will be here to work for us, to string poultry wire around the two acre yard to prevent Gert from getting through. 

After I got her back, Lil would still not let her pass, or come near me.  We walked by these: 

These look innocent, but they were a row of ice pieces that had slid down off the workshop roof... I'm just glad that Keith or the dogs were not under them when they came down in a ten foot long row.

I put the dogs up in the house and came back out to finish...

Notice how Aztec's parents still protect him?  He graduated to his own bowl for feed today!

And lastly, these guys:

Still snug in their little henhouse, under their chick lamp. 

If you notice, Silka is right in the middle, to the right of the waterer, and Flicka right behind her (brown)... the three little hens have abandoned sitting for now, and I'm grateful for that.  We have had more temperate weather this week, but for some reason, I am only getting two to three eggs a day... I was getting four from this henhouse, full of very young birds.  I have had an offer from a friend to incubate some eggs in her incubator in a month or so, and am going to take her up on it, to build up our big egg layers.

I leave you tonight with a picture that I am sure all of you are facing on your places, north, south, east and west... ruts, mud and ice!

Taken at six PM, the yard light has just come on (to the right) and there was still enough light for the picture!

Vignettes

Three years ago, a former co-worker gifted everyone with plants at the beginning of spring each year.... I have kept this begonia going in her honor, though she has moved on.  It is blooming now on our drainboard in a lit window, and doing fine in mid-winter!

Squirrels are searching out the walnuts under the snow.  I know where there is a pile... the one Nathan made, that we never cracked. Tomorrow I'll dig some out and strew them under the tree where they can be found while the big dogs are in during the day.

Aztec has Maybelline eyes!

Synchronized pooping... it's the latest thing!