The Vegetarian Homesteader

What are you breeding livestock for?

2012-01-15T02:23:00.000-05:00

I hear these statement so often from farmers and potential farm folks
who are looking to purchase livestock:

"Oh, I'm not breeding for show", "not needing registered animals"

or "not breeding for anything but pet quality," and over and over
I sigh and think, "What?!"

I am not suggesting you cannot own pet quality livestock

simply for the joy of their companionship, and I encourage that in
non-breeding animals (as I want them to have good, quality homes regardless),
but that is where it should end - if you're intention is to breed livestock
- you cannot cut corners on the quality
of animal you're breeding or in their care.

Why do so many people try to find the cheapest animal they can?

Well, they erroneously believe they are saving money.

Remember - a cheap animal has a reason for its price, just as those

high dollar animals have a reason for theirs. You can find quality animals

with an occasional deal, but searching for a good deal on truly QUALITY stock
should only come once you know your breed standard and what

to look for, and that is typically a few years down the road.

I once was one of those "cut corners to save a buck" people quite a few years ago,
so believe me when I tell you, save yourself a lot of time/money
and avoid it to begin with.

While we do not show and probably will never have

time for that, and the disease risks are too much for me to

feel comfortable with, there is no reason to not bred
animals that buyers can show. You are cutting off
a branch of profit few farmers can afford to cut off by
not breeding animals to their breed standard.

The pet market is always gluttoned with inferior livestock

that cannot serve any purpose beyond that of meat,

as a companion or pet animal, and even if you give the utmost attention
to quality, you will still end up with a large percentage

of animals that would be best as companion animals,
so you will supply that market even if you try your best
to not.

If you're breeding anything, there is no reason to not

breed for the best. It is fairly irresponsible to not try to breed

animals that improve over generations, in my opinion.

The pet market has no function in the

farm world and little worth. Those animals can go to the

often termed "Freezer Camp," but the fact is that

good breed stock is where you can make a profit, make a

name and build a contact base that leads to many other connections

vital to the small farm's survival. If you're only known as that farmer

who sells the subpar animals in your local area for pets and meat,
why on earth would anyone want to purchase your meats, your products

or recommend your farm? If you put no thought into the breeding

of your animals, you are less likely to put excellence

into their care, their health and into the production of

all your products, or at least, this is a rational conclusion

many people will arrive at.

I would.

For the sake of using where a lot of my knowledge lies,

I'll argue the start of this with Goats as the livestock in question,

but this applies to everything from

rabbits to cattle, ducks to chickens, sheep to pigs, as

you will see. . .

The most important aspect of pet/subpar quality

verses breed stock quality livestock to remember is

that it is going to cost essentially as much to correctly feed

that unregistered, cross bred goat with poor udder attachment as it will a

nice, registered Saanen with good attachment and a milk record

behind her. While that poor goat is bred to some

random buck you find locally of indeterminable breeding

and gives you kids you cannot register or sell for more than $100 ea,

doelings you can have little expectations of much milk production from

and bucks that will always need wethered without

any idea as to how well they will grow and reach market size,

that nice doe would be giving you kids that - if marketed right -

will bring at least $300, be predictable in type and production with

a steady size you can expect to achieve on wethers

and bucks you can, if you're selective, use to

improve your herd and others' herds.

Many new and even experienced farm folks look

at their initial investment in livestock and think they are

saving money buying the $125 craigslist special

over the $500 ADGA Saanen (or whatever actual breed) with

star milkers, Superior Genetics labeling,

CH sire with excellent conformation.

You're not -

You're not 10 times over. .

You will have a dairy doe for a production life, if you're serious

about dairy animals, for at least 9 years, so let us see how much

your doe from Craiglist saved you over 9 years, averaging

2 kids per freshening, factoring in health issues and milk production:

#1 Craiglist Doe $150

+ $100 buck purchase

2 kids

sold with horns on Craiglist

- $100 x 2

teats too small to hand milk

so kids dam raised, doe dried off when kids are sold

= negative - $50 the first year

#2 Breed Quality Doe $500

+ $150 stud fee to CH buck

2 kids

properly disbudded, tattooed and

sold with ADGA registration applications

- $350 x 2

= $50 credit the first year

plus have now built a tiny buyer base who should be pleased with

your stock and might recommend you to others

Wait, you have actually come out already ahead

with $50 in less than a year of ownership!

Of course, then factor in feed and medical costs,

and you're not really profiting . . .YET.

Say you live in a state where herd shares are possible,

The nice Saanen doe gives 17 lbs of milk a day because of the

attention to production her lineage was given

The Craiglist doe has teats too small

to milk, and even when you tried it, she seemed to give

1/3 a gallon, even though she was supposed

to have Saanen in her.

You gave up.

You sell herd shares and receive $8 a gallon

and you make $88 a week on the even 11 gallons

of milk you have weekly, once you build up your share

program, and after feed costs and health costs,

you're still looking at as much as $160 a month

in profit. If you convert the milk into soap,

market it well, in areas that do not allow

herd shares, your profit would be more than

the herd shares profit, if you're able to sell all

of your soap or you use the milk for drinking,

cheese, yogurt and more, and you've offset

your grocery bill.

Now, sit down and calculate this over

9 years of production. Do not forget

that after 9 years, with quality animals,

you should have offspring you've retained that

have improved in type and build your farm's

reputation for quality. After 9 years with

poor quality animals. . .you've either long

since thrown in the towel or have few

repeat customers and are so far in the hole

in what you thought was a good deal, you do

not even take stock of your losses.

Can I put it more plainly?

When do we assume in life that cheap is best when we are looking for a return?

Do we buy our farm with land that clearly cannot

support what we need out of it, a home that cannot contain the family we have,

a location that doesn't give us reasonable access to whatever we need?

If we want a start a small business, do we try our best to sabotage

ourselves before we begin by putting ourselves in a poor location,

doing no marketing, doing anything less than stellar performance when we have the chance

to show how good we are in our niche?

Of course not.

So why try to cut corners so often when buying livestock?

Of course, in list of things we need, we often do make concessions,

and in livestock, this does have to happen.

No animal is perfect, and the sky isn't always the limit.

We cannot all afford the finest quality, but if we truly cannot afford

good quality, we need to evaluate whether we can

even afford to give the animal a standard of care it must have, and if

we are honest and cannot invest in good breed stock, we aren't ready

to own the said animals.

With that in mind, there is no reason to start with

a CH doe from Saada, for instance, that might be offered for

sale for $2,500 or more, but there is no reason we cannot

invest in a doelings and a buck from first freshening does

from that herd or, if that is too high, purchase kids from someone who already

made the investment on such a doe and is selling the offspring.

If you start with a massive investment, you will be disappointed

because you will not understand proper care and you will not

yet have a buyer base willing to pay YOU what the kids

from such an animal would bring from an established breeder.

For instance, as much as I'd like to have purchased a herdsire buck

here at the farm directly from SAADA, I know that

at this point in the dairy game, I will get no more

for a kid sired by a GCH SAADA buck/doe and purchased directly from

that dairy, than I would the kids from my buck out of a GCH SAADA doe

but kidded out by a smaller breeder with a breeding she put together.

My investment was less, though

still steep, but I have the same genetics and a similar quality and can

hope for a profit based on my market.

You have to know your market, then market your animals

to the best of your ability, realize they will not sell themselves and

build a history of quality animals with a buyer base.

By catering to bottom of the barrel buyers, you are throwing money away

and producing animals to glutton a market and make the sales of good animals more difficult.

Breed for your market, but never believe that will never mean unregistered

and sub-par animals.

Also, we wary of ever buying for flash, especially in the goat world.

Blue eyes and spots mean nothing, and they should never, ever drive

your purchase. New buyers so often make this mistake! They select

from even a reasonably good herd. . .but then they buy the flashy doeling instead of

the more plainly colored doeling with better conformation.

People say things like, "You can't milk papers," but in some ways, you can.

By registering with AGS/ADGA, you can tell if the animal's lineage was

on DHIR (milk test) how well the animals behind your's produced,

how long they carry production over time and they gives you can idea

of what to expect from your doe, buck's kids and so forth.

The registry will have provide you the ability to see the Linear Appraisal

of the animals behind your purchase and know the strengths, the udder traits,

the body traits that facilitate good production and more.

It is pertinent to stress that you will never get the prices out of offspring of

unregistered stock that you will get from registered animals.

Offspring sales will keep you going and keep your farm relevant in a breed market, so anything that garners more in terms of kids sales is vital and not to be missed out on.

Remember, registered does not mean quality, but unregistered

usually means lack there of. If a breeder is not willing to deal

in registered animals, they probably have paid

no attention to breed type, disbudding kids, disease

and a plethora of other important aspects to livestock husbandry.

Learn what quality means in the goat (or your animal in question)

- find out what flaws matter the most, avoid the ones that cannot be overlooked.

As listed with the ADGA:

Very Serious Defects

1. Udder that is:

a. Pendulous

b. Too distended to determine texture

c. Hard or swollen (except in does just

fresh)

d. So uneven that one half is less than half

the size of the other half

e. Udder lacking in size in relation to the

doe

f. Double orifice in teat of doe

g. Extra teat(s) or teat(s) that has been cut

off in does

h. Leaking orifice

i. Misplaced orifice

2. Crooked face on does

3. Very crooked or malformed feet

Disqualifications

1. Total Blindness

2. Serious Emaciation

3. Permanent lameness or difficulty walking

4. Blind or non-functioning half of udder

5. Blind teat

6. Double teat(s)

7. Extra teat(s) that interfere with milking

8. Active mastitis or other cause of abnormal

milk

9. Evidence of hermaphroditism or other

inability to reproduce

10. Permanent physical defects, such as a

navel hernia

11. Crooked face on bucks

12. Extra teat(s) or teat(s) that have been cut

off in bucks

13. Double orifice in teat of bucks

14. Buck with one testicle or abnormal

testicle

Of course, a dairy goat should do far more than

just not have these serious faults, but in order

to understand what you're looking for,

more research is be required.

A good starting place is to review well

appraised animals, such as

this Superior Genetics, Champion Nubian doe:

SGCH Saada Tumba Al Hattal

LA'ed as 92EEEE

Compare her to the does you will see

for $175 on craiglist or local online classifieds

(this poor doeling was listed as a Purebred Nubian

- she is clearly an Alpine/Pygmy cross)

(this doe is a Boer/Nubian cross and more reflective

of the type of quality you would get even in a full dairy

doe in the price range and from the type of seller

I am attempting to discourage - I do not know enough

about meat goats to say if this doe would be acceptable,

but I imagine she would not possibly be anything

near ideal with that rump and topline)

To give you a bit of incite on market, reputation and genetics:

When Hattal was with Saada, her

kids were $1,500 and reserved over a year in advance.

When she was sold a new breeder, without the history SAADA has,

her kid price dropped to $1,000

This is because it was no longer the

prestigious Saada in ownership of her,

but the truth is, sometimes genetics and records speak quite

loudly because her current owner, a breeder of good reputation,

also has reservations a year in advance for kids at the $1,000 price.

Were a breeder with a shorter history, such as mine,

to purchase such a doe, I'd be looking at

$500-$600 for kids if I bred her to a buck of comparable quality.

No one typically, even with the right goals, is going to start out

with a doe of that cost/quality, and there is no reason to,

but you should start out with a doe at least between

such a doe and your run of the mill craiglist dairy doe,

and I assure you, if you care about milking, farming

and breeding animals in a proper way, you

will find a way to afford the right does, right buck; Once

you have your base stock, always breed to

improve whatever you started with, simple as that!

Buying quality animals will mean much less if you do

not strive to improve the herd, learn the ideal conformation, follow standard

husbandry practices and market your livestock.

This means, if you have dairy goats, for instance,

working toward taking part in Linear Appraisal and DHIR,

keeping up with records and paperwork for registering,

tattooing, disbudding, disease testing, bio-security measures,

milking the does for their entire lactations, feeding correct rations,

keeping up with hoof trimming, giving proper minerals and having

a working parasite management system, among other things.

So, I've only talked about dairy goats, but here is another

examples of the need to invest in the

right stock and why. . .and how I learned the lesson.

Take poultry. . .

There is a a nice added income to your farm in poultry if

you approach it the right way.

Select breeds you can find a market for,

consider being NPIP certified so you can legally ship

your hatching eggs, get on forums like Backyard Chickens

and use Ebay for hatching egg sales, and make sure

to purchase the nicest quality birds you can find

as your breed stock.

While I've applied the purchasing high quality stock

to my larger livestock for a long time,

I did not initially think it mattered much in poultry and purchased

willy-nilly from hatcheries all over the place.

I have since sold all of those birds.

I decided I really would like to add Blue Laced Red Wyandottes

to my flock 1.5 years ago. I ended up with birds that looked

like this:

Nothing particularly wrong with that bird, until you see what

the actual hen should look like. I paid $20 for two dozen

of the hatching eggs that originated in chicks that looked

like the above BLRW. As I researched, I realized

Hatchery quality birds were never going to result in profitable

chick or hatching egg sales. I sold all of the young stock

and drove 2.5 hours, made an investment,

and bought exhibition birds that made it through their

breeder's, Foley Waterfowl, cull process as quality animals

There was no way to compare the two. It

was like an entirely different breed, but in fact,

it just shows the difference in poor and excellent quality.

I learned my lesson, and from then on,

my flock of all breeds have come from some of the nicest

exhibition lines you will find.

Those BLRW from Foley's produced enough egg

and chick sales to pay for themselves many times

over and leave us with a profit!

While this has been a long read, for those that

stuck it out, keep in mind, I have a long way

to go to get to my goals, as should anyone in the first

5-15 years of a breeding program, but you must have

goals, and starting with good quality

animals, knowing their needs and understanding your

market and how to make it work for you

will certainly give you the longevity you will need

to be successful at farming with livestock!

Directions change and more of the same. . .

2012-01-12T00:40:00.001-05:00

On Tuesday morning we said goodbye to our darlin'

Jersey, Stella. This makes one of the first huge

changes we've made since this farming thing began

in 2008 due to lack of proper planning, and it was a rough one.

We purchased Stella without thinking things through,

assuming we knew more than we really did

and waited 2.5 years to wake up and realize

a Jersey cow didn't belong on 23 acres of

hillside in West Virginia.

So our darlin' Stella has made her way

to a vastly larger farm in Milton, WV

~ Twin Maples and Simply LLamas Farm ~

Stella will join other Jerseys and be part

of a program breeding Miniature Jerseys.

We will be bringing in a lovely little Red Dexter heifer much

more suited from Twin Maples to our little hillside farm.

Our Anya went off to the same farm to be bred since it

appears since her purchase that her previous breeding did not

take, and she will come back in a few months, hopefully,

to calve in the fall with what will be our fist calf born here!

Speaking of cows, doing countless horse rescue might have a perk,

though I use the word might since I don't know the whole story

yet, but I received a call from an animal control officer

regarding a cow/calf pair wandering in a local county,

and we've been asked to take them.

This might just cover a portion of the winter hay feeding costs IF -

BIG IF - the cow is in reasonably fair shape and we can catch the pair

tomorrow. Keep that event in your "add on" prayers tonight!

~ ~ ~

Those that have followed the blog or Facebook farm page since last winter might

remember what an awful kidding year we had due to kids being overly large.

I don't expect such a disaster this year, but we did start kidding our

with a premature birth that resulted in a stillborn doeling and very weak buckling.

Thankfully, we brought him in and have him doing very well now on the bottle.

He was due on Christmas eve, was born a week early and we dubbed him

Rudy! His dam, Avalon, is a first freshening Nigerian Dwarf, and she is producing

very well for a FF Nigi, giving 1.5 quarts a day.

Her udder is well attached, teats are a good size, albeit the placement could be better

and I'm happy all around with how she has turned out!

On another note, I've mentioned before, but we have two

Great Pyrenees that I adore, but they are poor livestock guards.

Carly and Kyla have actually sat and watched Fox run off with

chickens and let stray dogs come right up to the house without a

as much as a yip. Yesterday, a friend and dog rescuer called

about a beautiful, kind Male Pyr in a high kill shelter a few counties

over, and I believe we might bring him in and see what kind of job

he does. If he doesn't work out, we'll at least place him well and see

him safe.

Until next time. . . folks, stay warm out there

Romantic Ideas on farming. . .

2011-12-28T00:29:00.000-05:00

It is interesting when I talk to folks who grew up and farmed from necessity during the 20's, 30's and 40's. . .Especially those from rural areas where life was particularly hard, but that is not to say that farm life

during those times or even now is ever easy.

You know, when I have talked to these people,

they often discourage endeavors into raising animals for your own milk,

meat and into growing your own produce.

The discussions are filled with warnings and woe.

I begs me to wonder at length what do we, those dabbling in farming, not know?

A lot, would be my first guess.

Is it that we, because we have so many options for fulfillment in our lives
and never have wholly depend on farming to sustain us,
look at a life of it as a pastime, a novelty or as entertainment?

Do we, those of us who fall into the category homesteader or small farmer
just have too much time on our hands?

Those advising us remember a time where

it was the only way to survive and see no fun or living in scraping by, that is for sure.

They seem to have few fond memories of winters on a farm, milking in bitter cold or butchering

for meat. My experience has shown them to view people like us
as more than just a bit addle brained.

During such a time where large animal vets, medications, feeds and sanitation were not understood, available or even in existence. . would any of us have really wished a life of farming on ourselves?

I suppose the men and women who lived and farmed during the early twentieth century cannot get past the

hard life it was then and could hardly wish that existence on anyone.

I know there were a few times that life in rural Appalachia in the 20's was brought up with my father, who died in 2009, and not one of those times did he miss shaking his head and explaining how very hard life was, how he could not imagine how they even made it on their little homestead in Lincoln County, WV.

Only just tonight, when I brought up our Jersey cow, Stella, my grandmother, asked why I would ever want to try to milk a cow considering how difficult it was in the winter, how hard it was to keep clean, how difficult it would be keep the cow healthy in milk and proclaimed how glad she was to have been stuck with that chore rarely as a young girl in a family of 14.

Sometimes I wonder what we should even call this adventure or misadventure here. Hobby farm carries a connotation of little work and all play. That is certainly not what happens here. Small Farming brings to mind the growth of most of our food, and that is not us, yet. Homesteading makes me think of the lives of my father and grandmother, and I know we aren't there and will probably never be. . .What is this mess, then?

We live some romanticized notion of the life of a homesteader where we have a well insulated home, heating and cooling, internet, restaurants, grocery stores, large animal vets that come out during all weather and all hours, trucks, paved roads and chains of feed stores.

I really think our animals would have no idea how to survive the lives their forefathers did. Lord knows,

we do not have it in us.

The moral I hear so often is something like this:

"Why tie yourself to a farm and be unable to have a real life",

but here I sit thinking of how to untie myself to life so I can really farm, or

at least farm as much as a most modern people are able.

What is a real life, anyway?

Does it just boil down to the grass always being greener?

We want to farm because we are denied the chance in society,

and so few can succeed with it. It has become something mythical, almost, hasn't it?

They, those early farmers, wanted freedom from being tied to toil on the farm

because it was all they thought they could ever aspire to, possibly?

Are we and those like us just totally mad, as my grandmother suspects?

As I sit here on the internet, enjoying facebook. . .

knowing I enjoy eating out, trips to Target,

gasoline powered vehicles, and I wonder would I be able to

enjoy the late evening milking in the cold,

the feeding, watering in the snow, the

expense and labor in the mud

if I did not have those other

parts of life to dabble in?

Are those of us who have a foot in both worlds

even fit to be calls farmers, homesteaders or even hobby farmers?

But when I've spent hours in the middle of winter in a drafty,

unheated barn with temperatures in the teens trying to help a doe give birth only to lose

her and the goat kids, when I've wrestled to train

a doe to milk for days on end to finally be rewarded with

her standing still through most of milking and then kicking it over, when I've hatched

200 plus chicks inside during the spring, when I've wrestled a cow

by myself into a horse trailer for AI, when I've been dragged through

knee deep mud to see even our goat bucks have trimmed hooves. . .

Surely there is at least a bit of farmer in me and a bit of madness, too,

when I love it so.

To Be Continued. . .

Changes on the farm

2011-12-09T00:36:00.001-05:00

This is a warning to others who will come after me. . . .

Everything that is beautiful is NOT for your farm.

What is a farm without a lovely Jersey cow?

Of all the creatures one might bring to mind

when they think of a farm, the Jersey

is a timeless and classic figure. She is

simply beautiful and was once a staple on small farms.

She still can be, but you MUST know

if you and your farm can sustain such a

dairy animal before jumping in feet first.

In a state like West Virginia, you're sadly

very limited with what you can do with your

milk. Herdshares are illegal, though it beats me

how the FDA and our government thinks to tell us

that we cannot share a cow and her milk, but with some Jerseys

giving 6-8 gallons a day, this is something to consider.

With the costs of alfalfa in this area, our small 23

acres being composed of mostly hillside and trees,

our limited time budget with 3 boys and

a large dairy goat herd. . .and limited

budget to afford the amount of added grain to our

already huge grain budget. . .

I could see no way around acknowledging

that I'd jumped in too soon without

enough consideration to the "sensible."

So here I am. . .

With a beautiful Jersey cow, Stella, we have raised

for 2 years. A cow I truly love but

have come to realize needs more

land, a deeper pocketbook and

more time for milking than I'm apt to have in the coming

years.

I decided that we would have to sell her.

I had hopes for just the right home.

A home where I could see how she

is doing and know that if they could not

keep her one day, we'd have an option to

purchase her back. A home that

I knew understood dairy cows, had the ability

to milk her routinely and wasn't buying her on a whim.

I was lucky enough to find such a home and an offer

to trade my Beautiful Stella for a breeding for my Dexter heifer to

a Reg. Dexter bull and a Miniature heifer,

another Dexter, and her name is Angeline.

What is the difference in the Jersey and Dexter and how

does it impact you if you're considering a dairy animal?

As my blog in the Homesteading for Dingbats Series

Part 1 explained, Dexters can be largely

grass based in milk, forage well on things many

other breeds will not eat, give 1-2 gallons a day,

can be left to raise her calf without producing more milk

than the calf can consume and are a dual purpose

beef/dairy breed. They have a lower impact on the land

and you can support 2-3 per well cared for acre if you

use rotations grazing during growing season, it is said.

This works for us.

However, there is still a place for the higher production animals,

like Stella. Jerseys are eye candy, docile and give, if they are the only

dairy animal for a family, enough for a medium-large sized family of 5-8.

If you make cheese, yogurt and butter (which Jersey butter is unarguable the best),

a Jersey can and DOES satisfy so many areas of your family's dietary needs.

But you must realize what you're committing yourself to.

I did not, and I admit this.

I have worried for the last year about having

Stella in milk, finding the time to milk her with the dairy goats. . . .

The costs of grain and finding alfalfa hay. . .

Milk fever. . .

training her to milk without a stand or

milking machine. . .

Handling that much milk. . .

I know she has found a farming placement that

will be able to give her the type of farm she really needs,

and that is priceless to me!

But I will miss my first cow. . .

who thinks she is a dog. . .

a great deal. . .

I always learn things the hard way.

Expanding the Offerings here at the Farm

2011-11-09T22:47:00.000-05:00

There are certain things I've insisted I had no interest in raising.

I do not want to grow potatoes or carrots, for instance.

I've firmly said I would not be interested in raising rabbits

or pigs, and here I stand, contradicting my own words.

As I believe there is a resurgence, which is hard to deny,

of the farmer, the homesteader, the urban sustainable family

and so forth, everywhere!

I believe giving people in my area quality options

for living this lifestyle is a wise choice.

I know that I am dedicated to seeing people succeed

in a life of farming and/or sustainability .

As I've sat down and continued to read

the articles on some of the rarest livestock in

America and found so few breeders in a 200 mile radius of

Huntington, WV, we've decided to bring

in some of the most endangered rabbits in

America, the Silver Fox. They are Heritage, non-

industrialized meat rabbits, but since their status is so rare,

they are not typically used for meat at this time in large

numbers, and I admit, as a vegetarian, the more

I can raise to work toward conserving the

breeds that homesteading families used in the days

of old and not need to use an animal for meat

as a result, very often, the better I feel.

http://albc-usa.org/cpl/silverfox.html

The Silver Fox rabbit is critically endangered.

"The Silver Fox Rabbit is truly a multi-purposed breed whose genetic make-up has never been divulged. Today it is critically endangered with fewer than fifty annual North American registrations

and there is a global population of less than 500."

http://www.slowfoodusa.org/index.php/programs/ark_product_detail/the_silver_fox_rabbit/

A global population of less than 500, folks!

There are more Mountain Gorillas in the wild than there

are of this breed of Rabbit in Captivity.

We also have applied for an Animal Welfare Approved Grant

(pending our approval for AWA)

to purchase and start a breeding program for the critically

endangered Red Wattle Pig.

http://albc-usa.org/cpl/redwattle.html

"The Red Wattle hog is listed on the ALBC Conservation Priority List as being critically endangered

meaning there are fewer than 200 annual registrations in the U.S. and estimated to have fewer than 2,000

individuals of this breed globally."

2,000 world wide!!!

If we do not get approval for this grant, we will still work toward, at a slower pace,

a breeding program, on a very small scale, for Red Wattle Pigs.

I believe it is imperative that those who farm

and are able, try to preserve the non-industrial breeds

of livestock that our grandparents or great-grandparents knew and

felt were important to farming and survival.

This includes the use of heirloom seeds in gardening!

http://www.sandhillpreservation.com/pages/seed_catalog.html

Horse Rescue Needs

2011-10-25T13:50:00.001-04:00

Until the Cow Comes Home? Yea, Right.

2011-10-09T13:03:00.002-04:00

We recently had our top field bushhogged,

and we thought turning the Dexter and Jersey heifer

out up there was a great idea.

As usual, we were in error.

For two days, we did not see Anya, the Dexter.

I really assumed she was out in the brush and wasn't too concerned

until 2 whole days had passed. Stella had come back from the hill top,

and I figured she would only do that is Anya was out and she wasn't

able to join her.

It was pouring a fairly cold rain the morning we decided to

go out and find her nearly a week ago.

My farmer husband and I split up and went in

opposite directions.

Quite naturally, it was I, after an hour search, who found the little black

heifer in the far end of the neighbor's woods

enjoying his deer salt block.

Anya was not please to be discovered.

We first herded her by walking her against the neighbor's fence behind and beside

of her for about 1/8 a mile until we had her cornered at our

fence line. Had my farming husband have been in control of

his wits, he'd have waited, and in time, she would have crossed over

the high tensile fence I was holding down. . .

But he would not. He insisted on moving away from behind her to take

down more fence, and away she ran. . back at least 1/4 mile

into the wood.

At this point, I sat down in the cold rain and told him

I was not chasing her back where he'd allowed her to run.

And I there I did sit while he walked the long trip down to the barn to fetch

ever steady Stella, the Jersey, to lure Anya back to the fence line.

After about 45 minutes of sitting in the rain with the Pyrenees and

Old trusty Jake, our farm Mutt, he returned with Stella.

I kindly offered to follow them back out to find this

darn cow.

The farm dogs wanted to help, as well.

After several attempts, we did convince Anya to follow

her pal back to our property. . .

And I admit, I have rarely been as happy as I was

when she finally went over the lowered fence line and back onto

our property. . .

I imagine our neighbors will enjoy the fine show we put on in front of their Deer Cam

Winter is once again upon us. . .

2011-09-27T00:51:00.002-04:00

Seems like just a few short months ago I penned the blog,

"Winter is Coming"

Now again, not quite a year later, we are entering fall and

see Winter close on its heels.

The forecast for later this week already shows highs in

the 50's. This is beautiful weather, but alas, it does not last long.

There are a lot of things a homesteader or farm needs to

do prior to winter, and one is to work on the pastures for next spring.

Our pastures had grown over this summer with weeds and

all sorts of undesirable brush in spite of the cow and goats,

not to mention horses, eating the grass to the dirt.

Our hilltop above the barn is a nice 6-8 acre flat, but it had

been allowed to grow up prior to our purchase of the property.

We just had the front pasture and hilltop brush hogged,

and can I say, "WOW."

The hilltop looks fantastic, and we plan to sow

grass seed up there in the next week with the

kind offer of a seeder borrowed from the

man who did the brush hog work.

This is the point where I am reminded of making friends and

farm connections and how vital they are to the life of

a homesteader! The price I was able to have this work done

was 1/3 less than it would have been just to rent the equipment

from a local company!

I'm looking forward to lovely fall foliage, but I am

also trying to enjoy the last bit of green we will

see for many months!

We will be reseeding the the pastures and trying to rotate for

of the livestock off of the front of the property as it is

the area that has been overgrazed the most.

I want to take a moment to showcase out lovely

little 18 month old Dexter heifer, Anya. She will be

the next step toward grass based dairy here, and she will

also be the step toward humane beef from our farm.

The season for hatching eggs has passed,

and so all of the laying breeds are

out of the coops now and enjoying

free ranging. We are happy to see our

feed bill for the chickens drop dramatically;

however, we cannot find enough eggs in a day

to make sales worth while, at present.

We are now nearly 5 months into milk 4 and then 5 of

our dairy does a day, and we recently dropped to once

a day milking because of the dip in production.

With the cold weather approaching and few avenues

for a huge amount of milk to be used, twice day milking

this late in lactation isn't needed anymore.

I can't say I am thinking the miking of these girls in 15 degree

weather will be a grand time, and I look forward to one

day having at least a totally enclosed milking area, unlikes

the porch we use now.

We need to get blood drawn on the goats for the CAE

testing. A few girls here haven't been tested by us. . .

prior to breeding time, it is best to get that done.

We also need to blood test the Dexter heifer and

see if she settled from her breeding prior to

her purchase.

Lastly, and most unfortunately, we realize

due to the expanding size of one of our personal

mares, we need to send in blood work on her

to make certain she wasn't inadvertently bred

when our stallion crushed 5.5 foot corral panels

to get out and loose with the mares. When it happened,

all of the mares here received 2 rounds of lutelyse to

make sure no foals resulted; however, she looks too

round for comfort, to me. This isn't something we'd

have planned since we try to do a great deal of rescue work

with horses, but in our case, we made a contract purchase

of our beautiful boy before getting very far into rescue quite
some time ago, and it was certainly far before we realizes how bad

the horse "crisis" is in America. We purchased

JC Signature on a contract that left the former

owner a lot of retained breedings, so gelding

him isn't an option, and to sell him beyond the local

area isn't an option until his former owner uses those breedings,

so here we are. . .we would not sell him regardless because he

is very well loved here, perhaps the most of all.

So we will hope our efforts were successful and the round

mare is round because she never leaves the round bale for long.

Thankfully, since JC's few escapes, we have come up with a

fence arrangement that has not yet showed any signs

of weakness or allowing him to escape!

And so the day sets on lovely fall day. . .

This is a Hard Step to Take, but Here I go

2011-08-28T16:23:00.002-04:00

As you may know from the title of the blog, I am a
vegetarian.

READ HERE

This is not something new or willy nilly, but it is a
product of a choice made over 15 years ago as a
fairly young girl.

I have always grieved over animals being mistreated,
but moreover, I've always found the idea that one
must die for me to satisfy my palate too much to
personally tolerate for myself.

People say to me, "Oh, I could never give up
meat. I love it too much."

I believe if most had to raise and care for
the animals the consume: feeding them and slaughter them
once the time came, would a change create.

The real statement is that, "As long as I
do not have to see the animal, kill it
or know anything about its history, I
love meat too much to give up."

Yum.

But I digress. . .

If people are going to continue as
meat eaters, they should make efforts
to visit the places the meat comes from,
see the animals are treated well and see
that the slaughter process is as humane
as possible.

Few do this, and fewer still will take the
next step and raise their meals (livestock)
themselves.

So many so-called meat eaters shriek
in horror at the concept of raising a
pig, steer, goat, chicken or
lamb themselves to eat.

I cannot tell you how many
animal lovers that eat factory
farmed cows, chickens and pigs
will give me a look of utter disgust
when I suggest maybe, if they have
the room, they ought tackle to food
process on their own.

Somehow they, in their ignorant minds,
find this unsanitary and inhumane.

This above, they tell me, without realizing it,
is the way meat should be raised.
You see, on factory farms and in the supermarket,
cattle do not exist - they are steak and burger.

Only do animals come alive when we
have to be faced with them. They are then
NOT steak or bacon or burger .

So the above is normal, humane and accepted,
and this becomes outrageous:

In the American mind, the family farm setting makes animals
too alive, and in fact, that is true. They are more alive, aren't
they?

There is a wonderful organization, The Gentle Barn, and
they take in abused farm animals. On their facebook page
I recently found a comment that read, " kill what you
eat movement..that dreadful trend." I imagine
that woman, like most with that mind set, eat meat
or animal products from factory farming.

Idealism is not something I can embrace too often.
When it comes to vegetarianism, I do not have any hope
that suddenly my family and friends will feel about it as
I do. That is not realistic, but I do believe many people
can be shown that the way they are eating is not humane
and that they have a realistic alternative.

Of course, you will have those that do not care, those that
say it is too time consuming, too expensive and never look
further into it. In a small way, all change is initially said to
be too hard, that it will take too long and cost too much.
Think back on the pre Civil War era and the arguments about
why slavery could not be abolished. Consider the costs of
improving the lives of human beings in Poverty stricken
India and Africa. The hope that people will consider and
follow a significantly kinder path than the one they have been walking
is not idealism or if it is, we are lost. already

The purpose to this blog, as off track as it became, was
to show how hard these steps are, even for me, a person
quite aware of the truth of Big AG. farming, a person very
aware of the kinder route.

Tuesday we make a 4.5 hour drive to pick up our first Dual
purpose Dexter heifer, Anya.

Anya is bred for a spring calf, and is the calf is a bull - in time -

he will be the first steer we will raise for food.

A huge part of me is very afraid of all of this. All cattle, pigs, poultry,

goats and sheep are just that to me. They aren't packaged meat in

my mind, but I will not sit by with my idealistic thoughts and allow

my family to consume factory livestock at the expense of my ideals.

So as hard as this will be for me, I assure you, when the time comes,

I will do the right thing and assure that what my family eats -

when at all possible - comes from a quality existence of pasture,

mountains, clean water, kindess and the utmost care -

Until such a time as may never come and animals need not be

raised for food, I will absoutely push the idea of local, humane

farming, that you go out and meet the animals that will become

your family's meal and encourage people to educate themselves

on where all of their food comes from.

In West Virginia we Remain

2011-08-24T00:22:00.001-04:00

We have been looking online for a few farms to view

because it has been on our minds to move

this operation over into a more farm friendly state.

Sadly, West Virginia is not very farm friendly.
It is also not very homeschool friendly.
It isn't raw milk friendly. The land
isn't conducive it farming unless
you're very wealthy or born into
a family that owns some of the hard
to come by farm land.

We took a drive today to Winchester
and Richmond, Kentucky. Beautiful
land. But as I've found typically
is true of real estate, nothing look
half as nice in person as it does in the
perfectly framed photos from just the right
angle.

If you have 500k to spend, that is THE place
to buy farm land. I believe a nice market can
be found for local, sustainable and humane
products, too!

We do not have half a million dollars to spend,
so for now, we will Remain here in West Virginia.

Since we will be here awhile longer, we did get the area that

slipped a year and half ago around our barn repaired. $4,500

later, both the barn, hill and behind our house is repaired.

OUCH!

We still need to sow grass in the next few days.

We are changing some fence around here because we have really

nearly outgrown the farm we have, and we are going to have to

do more rotation here if we want to keep everything nice

and green through fall.

We have 18 goats, 1 heifer and a 1 on the way, 7 horses,

1 miniature horse and 2 miniature donkey here, in addition

to 30 plus hens and roosters. Technically, on 23 acres, we

are still within the ACREAGE to animal unit formula,

thank GOD, but we need to be sure to manage this land

well to assure future use.

A useful tool is the Animal Unit method. Each animal

unit is 1,000 lbs of animal, be it goats, cattle, horses,

chickens and so forth.

http://ag.arizona.edu/arec/pubs/rmg/1%20rangelandmanagement/1%20aum93.pdf

Typically, 2% of the animals body weight is needed

in food, mostly forage, daily. This is the amount

needed for maintenance.

http://www.noble.org/ag/coffey/auds.html

I estimate we have a bit less than 11 animal

units here, so that is 220 lbs of food daily

being consumed.

We do not have enough pasture to support that

here because of the wooded acres, but we

always provide hay free choice. While

this isn't ideal in terms of financial

matters, it helps offset the amount of

forage we need to produce here.

We have weeds taking over the pasture in the front
and on the 8 acre pasture above the house. This is
something we will address this fall.

Lots of work needed around here, to say the least.

So far, everything is thriving, and we have gotten
a lot done this summer. Since we have ideas
of a move, we've let a few things go, but I see
now it is best to move forward assuming we will
be here for the long haul!

As an aside, we have
Animal Welfare Approved coming out
to inspect and see how we might become
an approved farm through their organization
in September.

I am not sure how this will go because we do
not agree with everything listed on the care
sites per species, but we do have similar goals
and goodness knows, we have the high
standards of care here.

So for now, from all of us to all of you. . .

Stand by, in West Virginia we Remain. . .

For now ;)

Homesteading for Dingbats: DAIRY Animals - part 2

2011-07-24T19:24:00.009-04:00

This is continued from Homesteading for Dingbats:

Dairy Animals - part 1

So you have decided, let us say, that you want to go with dairy goats
with your farm's milk producing animals.

You like, then, the low impacte goats make on the land
and appreciate the way they clean up undesirable plants and thorns.

You like the small, manageable size dairy goats come in, and you do
not feel the need to be flooded in milk.

Maybe you like the look of goats over the larger dairy cows.

You do not want to own a bull or have access to AI services,
and you either know you can keep a buck and wether companion
for him, or know someone with a quality buck you can breed
your does to.

You like the idea of the amazing cheeses goat's milk
can provide verses the heaps of butter you might
get without a cream separated and little effort from,
say, a Jersey cow.

Maybe you say the snazzy tie dyed shirt
my Saanen pal Jim K. proudly wears
that reads,

"No Goat, No Glory,"is 100%true and
are sold from only there!

Maybe you picked up the book
Goat Song at Borders at wanted to hear
your own goats create a personal
ditty for you.

All in all, goats, you've decided are for your
homesteading milk needs!

Now:

The biggest obstacle in the beginning is deciding
which breed to go with.
This will prove a simple obstacle compared to
the care after your purchase.
Let me stop here and say that you do not need
to do is try to do this the cheap way.
Do not consider buying the foundations
of your herd from an auction
or breeder who has no idea what CAE,
CL and Coccidia is.
Do not start with unregistered animals.

I will explain why later.

Back to the breeds:

Average size, milk yield (MY) and milk composition of dairy goat breeds.*
Breed	Height (in.)	Weight (lb)	MY (lb)	Fat (%)	Protein (%)
Alpine	30	135	1990	3.56	3.06
Am. La Mancha	28	130	1712	3.80	3.29
Nubian	30	135	1572	4.61	3.66
Saanen	30	135	2077	3.52	3.02
Toggenburg	26	120	1915	3.38	3.01
* 1989, 305 day DHI breed averages for milk yield and composition.

The above chart tells you about statistics on milk and butterfat production.

You see Nubians lead the pack in Butterfat and are behind in production,
though the Nigerian Dwarf, not listed, has a higher % still.
The Saanens lead the way in production,
but they have nearly the lowest
butterfat.

I have limited experience being around Toggenburgs, Oberhasli and Lamanchas.
What I know of them I will go over, but Saanens, Alpines, Nigerians and Nubians are
the breeds I know best.

First, Nubians. . . the most lovely of all the breeds,
in my opinion. They are the most popular, so consider that in a
sellers market, you might have a flooded area when it comes to
selling kids.

Because they come in so many colors, people have had a
tendency to breed for spots and flash, and this has hurt the
breed. People have overlooked conformation. They have a
tendency sometimes to fickle, weak constitutions.
They are known for having great feet, something some other
breeds have serious issues with. They have, often, the most
palatable milk,according to many folks. The rich milk is great
for cheeses. They are a large bodied goat, and they make a
great dual purpose breed if you want to produce meat with
extra bucklings.
They are a breed for the snobs, which means buy
Purebred because it is the one
breed people poo-poo American status on (meaning
one relative way-way back in the paperwork wasn't a
Nubian).

They give less milk than most of the other breeds.
They are quirky and very loud. They are stubborn,
but they have the most personality, short of, perhaps,
the Nigerian Dwarf. They are possibly the most personal
and intelligent. This is what endures them to me. That
and they are eye candy! And that butter fat, no other
large breed comes close! 4-6 lbs a day is what I've
found to be typical of the does. Some do 8lbs.

Second, Saanens. The milk house of the dairy goat world.
They are hardy. I got into this breed because of the hardy nature
I observed in them.
They come in only white (Sable is a spring off breed, and they
have color). This leads some to speculate, and likely justly so,
that the hardy constitution is do to having nothing but milk and
body to breed for. . . no being drawn away into spots and color
breeding.

They are very laid back, a bit lazy, even. They are not very
vocal. They are very large. Some people are put off by the
huge size, but that is what I liked so much about them. They
are prone to bad feet.
You have two camp in Saanen breeders. Those that breed
for mega production and very long lacations, and then you have
those that breed for conformation and do not get that super milker.
Somewhere in between is your best bet. You do want
a doe giving over 8 lbs a day if you are dealing with a Saanen, and
you do want sound conformation, which means decent
feet, strong and straight back and good legs. . .but mainly,
make sure the udder is correct. American Saanens are desirable,
verses Purebred status being what you're looking for in Nubians.

They are also used as a dualpurpose breed.

Alpines come third. They are, by all accounts, a fairly aggressive
goat with other goats, esp. other breeds.
They are hardy, perhaps the most hard of all. They forgive mistakes
made by beginners in their care at lot more so than, say, Nubians
ever would. They are also not very vocal, as a rule. They come in
a variety of colors, though not nearly as many as the Nubian
or Nigerian.
They are a medium sized to large breed. They are not typically
thought of as a dual purpose breed. They rank right behind
Saanens in production, but you have a smaller, easier to manage
goat for the trouble.
Some people report to me the milk can sometimes not be as
palatable, but then many people feel it is no different than
other milks. They are also a very popular breed. I've found
a gallon a day is typical, or more, of the breed.

Nigerian Dwarfs are a hard goat to not love.

They are tiny and winsome!

They come in all the colors of the rainbow, and they are also
popular pets. This makes finding quality milking stock a bit tough.
Be sure to not get caught up in blue eyes and pretty colors when
you opt for this breed.
They can really produce if well bred with milky lines,
but they typically have short teats and are so low to the
ground, you might need to invest in milking machine to
avoid issues milking efficiently.
They are amazingly hardy. They usually kid, even as first
freshening does, with triplets and quads are common later on.
The excess bucklings sell easily as pets, so if you're not
wanting to sell bucklings for meat, this is a plus, too.

They can give 1/4 a gallon a day, if well bred for milking, and
they consume a lot less than the large breeds.
They are zany and very fun to watch, but they are can be a bit loud.

(the above photos from http://www.dairygoatjournal.com/)

Oberhasli, Toggenburgs and Lamanchas are breeds I have not been around
nearly as much, and I have not owned any of these breeds. From what I
know of friends who breed them, the Lamancha usually lands at the top
of lists, despite what someone breeds, as a great producer and with a
great temperament. They consistently are said
to be the most likable breed. The Obers are a nice choice for someone
looking for a Mid sized goat, though they are uncommon and quality
animals are hard to find. The Toggenburg is basically the same, though
less so, I believe, than the Oberhasli. Both Togs and Obers come in
only a single color for each breed. Lamanchas come in a fairly wide
variety of colors.

An increasingly popular option for those looking for a smaller breed,
but those wanting more milk and easier milkability than what is
offered in Nigerians, is a cross between a Nigerian buck and
a large breed doe.

The Miniature Nubian produces a higher butterfat giving
doe than the Purebred Nubian, and the cross creates
a hardier animals than the Purebred Nubian. It is hard
to sell the first and second generation kids because
they usually have helicopter ears, so be prepared
for that. This is what discouraged me from repeating
this breeding. If you're able to buy 3rd and up generation
kids or adults, then they are a nice, hardy cross.
They, like other crosses, if out of Purebred
parents, can be registered through the MDGA.
The Mini Nubian cross will not produce as well
as the other crossed, but again, you're getting
super high butterfat.

Anytime, I have found, you cross a Nigerian
with a large breed, you're going to get a
smaller, hardier animal. The problem really
exists only in whether or not the kids will sell
well because they do or do not look like
the miniature version of the large breed.
The Nubian presents the hardest challenge
in this regard.
Goats have a steep learning curve.

You must watch out for CAE, CL,
Goat Polio, Copper deficiencies,
Bloat, kidding problems,
Selenium deficiencies, coccidia,
conformational and udder problems,
mastitis and other issues.

With proper management, goats
are a fantastic joy to own.
The next blog in the Homesteading
for Dingbats series will focus
on choosing a doe or future herd,
what to look for and on management
once you've made your purchase.

Homesteading for Dingbats: DAIRY Animals - part 1

2011-07-08T00:40:00.002-04:00

So you are thinking of adding a dairy animal to your farm or maybe you have

already bitten the bullet and have done so.

Unlike other farm livestock, I find dairy animals the most complex.

The learning curve is high. The differences in breeds is vast.

The things you need to know create a list a mile long.

There is so much I have learned, and there is so much I wish

I had been aware of 3 years ago.

I would have done things quite a bit different, but that is all

water under the bridge, and it helped to teach me a great deal

that have proven invaluable.

First the question you should ask yourself is why do you

want the dairy animal?

These animals have been bred for production, and almost

all require milking daily, some even with the offspring

are on them, though not all.

Are you ready for milking 1-2 times a day, like clockwork?

If not, if you feel unsure about dedication

to milking, then look into a herdshare program,

if your state allows them. Contact

a local Weston A Price chaper leader for info.

What will you do with the milk? How many animals do you

need to fulfill the farm needs? Are you in a state where

herdshares or raw milk farm sales are legal? Do you have

chickens, pigs or dogs you can give excess milk to?

Do you want to make butter, soap and cheese? Do

you plan to breed to sales and for a quality animal

in addition to breeding for milk for your farm?

Dairy goats are easier and better suited to most farms

when compared to dairy cattle. They are easier on the land,

wallet and easier to milk and handle. They produce, if

well bred for production, more than enough for most

families, though making butter is not easy without a

pricey cream separator with goat's milk.

Goat's milk is fragile. Some folks just

don't like the taste. If it is handled right,

it taste like cow's milk. Many people do

not handle it right, and you do not have to

be as careful in the cooling of cow's milk.

The problem with many dairy goats is that

many dairy herds carry CL and CAE, which

are two things you do NOT want to deal with.

CL is a Zoonotic disease. This means people

can catch CL from drinking an infected goat's

milk. CAE is not contagious to humans, but

it is transmitted to goat kids from colostrum,

is fatal and painful for the goat. CL and CAE

are found is more than 50% of goat herds.

You do have diseases to be concerned about dairy

cattle, but it does not appear nearly as

rampant as what you find in the goat world.

Many Breeders of goats, because they are cheaper

than dairy cattle, breed anything. They do not

regard quality, conformation, milk production

or hardiness. Dairy cattle typically run higher

in cost, do not come in flashy colors and

leave folks less room to breed for pets

or without thought. Also, keeping a

dairy bull is so dangerous, many people

use AI to breed their cows. This assures

at least half of many heifers brought great

genetics to the table. Goat breeders are

notorious for breeding pets, flashy colors

and for blue eyes in Nigerians. So many

do not often seem to regard the importance

of milkable udders, good production

and hardiness!

All of that said, dairy cows are massive

creatures to feed. Jersey cows are

prone to milk fever, Holsteins

give enough milk to flood a family

out for weeks on end. Cattle do not

seem as forgiving as goats when

nutrition is not exact. They seem to

have a much, much higher incidence

of mastitis. They really do not

given as much milk considering

body size and feed amounts when

compared to a mega production dairy

goat, either. Milking a cow is a much

longer affair, messier and even a bit

dangerous compared to milking a

goat. Goats rarely share bodily

functions while on the stand, but

cows will do so quite often. One

can deal better with a pint of pee

and a cup of pelleted poop easier

than runny cow pies and so forth.

Still, many goats have very difficult

to milk teats, where cows typically

will have easy to milk teats.

If you're looking to buy a bucket milker,

then this will not matter, but few homestead

folks have $800 to buy something

to milk a single animal or

even a few. Besides, with the

proper teat size, milking by hand

is quicker than machine milking.

This is one of our does with very

difficult to milk teats. Her's aren't

even that small when compared to

come you will run in to! Her udder

is very nice for a First Freshener, though!

This is one of our does that had a teat injury,

now recovered, but she is OH SO EASY

to milk!!!! Not as pretty an udder as the

doe's above, but so much more functional.

Still, dairy goats must have grain

to produce. Please do not believe

otherwise. They have been altered

by selective breeding for so long,

there is no possible way to avoid

a good amount of grain during

lactation. There are some dairy

cattle, especially milking

Dexters, which can milk well

on only forage. This is less

expensive and more sustainable.

Holsteins and most Jerseys, as

well as Guernseys and Ashires,

are not typically able to milk

without sizeable amounts of grain.

But Milking Shorthorns and Dexters,

to name a few, are able to milk

on grass alone, if it is of good quality.

I have found goats to be, on average,

much higher maintinance in regards

to health when compared to cattle.

They have serious mineral

requirements, and they have a much

larger problem with parasites. They

are likely to have more kidding

problem, fall victim to issues from

feed changes, too much grain,

founder, mold and so forth.

Milking a goat is easier on the back when

compared to milking a cow,

and I must say, the goat is a lot

easier to handle all around when milking!

http://animal.kukuchew.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/cow-milking.jpg

If I am to be frank, for the average homesteader

that doesn't feel the call of dairy production

in her soul, the Dexter Cow is likely

the BEST choice when I consider all

aspects of the dairy delima.

Obviously, I am a dairy fanatic with

not enough sense to fill a spoon because

not only do I run 3 breeds of Dairy goats,

but I also have Jersey Cow and an

incoming Dexter heifer that will be bred.

Don't ask what I'll do with all of the milk.

I have not a clue.

Don't be the silly homesteader that I am.

Pick a direction, go that way UNLESS

Your last name is, like mine,

CREAMER and you have

dairy written all over you!

The reason I argue for the Dexter, if

you're buying from milky lines, is

that you can leave a calf on her and

milk as needed. She isn't going to give so

much that you're doing to harm her

by not milking and allowing her calf

to take all of the milk. She doesn't make

so much milk, like a real Dairy cow, that a calf

can't consume it all. She can be dried up

quickly if need be. She can produce on only

grass/hay if high quality. Her size is very small

when compared to even a small Jersey.

The price is economical. $1,200 can

buy you a nice, halter broke, dehorned

cow bred. Be careful to be sure you're

buying a long legged Dexter, not a

short legged due to genetic issues.

The bull calves are beef calves and

will provide you will beef.

NOW, if you are really more into the

goats for their personalities,

cheese making, small size (esp. when

talking Nigerians), ease of impact

on the land or so forth, then

YOU DO NOT want to miss my next

HOMESTEADING FOR DINGBATS BLOG

Dairy Animals: Part 2

This next blog with explain all you need

to know about buying goats, why goats,

things to look out for and what breeds

you want to consider and why!!

I will not further address cattle beyond this blog

in the Homesteading for Dingbats series (ha ha!).

My expertise, little as it may be, lies more with goats.

Once I have a few more years under my belt

with Jersey cows and Dexters, I might

ad more on the cattle end. I believe, for now,

I've given the average homesteader

A LOT to mull over and certainly enough

to decide which dairy animal she or he would like

to bring to the farm. Heck, you might realize

you are like us "Creamer's" and you need them all!

Gosh, I hope not - for your sake!

PART TWO

A Garden: Summer's Bounty

2011-07-06T22:42:00.001-04:00

We are truly not green thumbs here.

We tried to start plants indoors this year.

We failed.

Not only did we fail, but we waited too long to even
buy started plants, and so when we finally did do so,
our peas shriveled and died right away from the heat.
Our peppers are all paying the price for a late planting,
as well.

However, some plants grow in spite of our silliness!

Anyone can grow cucumbers, summer squash and
zucchini!

Thankfully, those are some of our favorite veggies!

So far, the tomatoes, corn, squash, zucchini, cucumbers,
string beans, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower and collards
are all doing well.

We've harvested tons of yellow squash, a few zucchini,
a few beans and lots of cucumbers, though we did not pick
the first few in time, and they became overlarge.

We happily go out and pick the newly ripe veggies
each morning or evening, and tonight was the first time
we did so and were able to use the vegetables in
our fare!

In addition, the biscuits include our fresh, free range
eggs!

The cucumbers will be made into bread - n - butter pickles,
as well as dill pickles tonight!

I do have lots of blog plans in the next few days,
weeks and months! I have been so busy,
writing blogs has been a HARD THING to fit in,
but I plan to play catch up!

Homesteading for Dingbats

2011-06-02T17:01:00.004-04:00

I am going to try to write on a few faucets of homesteading,
farming and animal husbandry that will serve to, hopefully,
benefit those starting down this road recently or in the near future.

This first edition, if you will, concerns animal selection,
pros and cons of different species, as well as pros and
cons as different breeds.

Some upcoming blogs in this "series," as we will call it, are:

#1 Homesteading for Dingbats: Animal Selection
#2 Homesteading for Dingbats: Dairy Animals
#3 Homesteading for Dingbats: Modern verses Old Fashioned
#4 Homesteading for Dingbats: Economics
#5 Homesteading for Dingbats: Organic verses Healthy
#6 Homesteading for Dingbats: Why?

and more will be added as I go along. . .

Also, look for upcoming blogs on:

The Weston A Price Foundation
Humane Farming
Cheese and Soapmaking
Goat Appraisals through the ADGA
Milking: the process
and more!

Milking Mania!!!

2011-05-29T01:23:00.002-04:00

After all of this time, we actually now have four full sizes
does in milk on our hands, the kids are sold and milking
twice a day is a reality.

It is crazy.

We've milked a lot prior to this, but we've never
had this many full sized dairy does in milk at
once without their kids.

Milking four would not be a big deal. It can be
serene and a de-stressing time; however, milking
with does that do not want to come up the stairs
to the milk stands, with does that stands and then
try to get up on the stand with their pals while they
are being milked with two screaming babies climbing
all over the stand, under the goats and sitting
in the feed trays. . .

Well, that is a whole other scenario.

It is anything but serene.

However, I suppose this shows me just how dedicated
I feel we are to having our dairy needs met from here
on our farm by our livestock because through
all of that twice a day, I just think

"Well, this will sure be a nice pass time once the kids are
4 and 5 and the does know the drill." And that is about
the extent of it.

We did move the milk stands from the back porch, which
was too small to contain all of that chaos. We put them on
the front porch, though I'm sure the UPS man will find it all
very odd. It made sense to us. Much larger area, though I hate
that it is much further from the kitchen.

We took note as we moved them that we would ONLY
recommend the metal stand. The wooden stands aren't a
good choice for many reasons.The only reason I can think
of that commends them is you can build them cheap
or buy them used cheap.

You cannot sanitize the wooden ones and moving them
is a huge pain!

That person selling you a cheap one on craiglist either
realizes he didn't have what it takes to deal with a dairy herd
or he bought a metal stand!

Speaking of goats, I made a long trip to pick up a
Little Tots Estates Nigerian doe that is bred, an open
Little Tots Estates lined doe and doeling and brought
back 5 more on top of that. Two bucklings were for
locals buys, a doe and doeling for a friend of mine, and
then the lady gifted me a nice little Mini Nubian that
was 24 hours old because she doesn't have enough does
in milk to bottle raise her and for all my trouble
(which wasn't much, honestly) hauling
her buyers' goats back to WV.

I have sold the Mini Nubian to one of the buyer of a
buckling from the trip, but she'll be here for 3 more weeks
to be sure she grows well since she came to us so young.

After another long milking session this morning, we had a
full day of work ahead.

Our stallion, who has gives us headache after headache,
needed a shelter built inside the arena he has to now be
kept in because stalls will no longer contain him.

He is coming 5, and he has realized his full potential
as a stallion, we see. The riding arena is actually a
great space for him. There are about 50 corral
panels up and it makes for a large, solid area, but there
was no shelter in it.

The Floridian Farmer and I aren't much for construction,
but boy, can I ever rig! So we bought two cattle panels
and used the, to create, with a heavy duty tarp, a solid
shelter over top the corral corner.
Photos will come eventually. It turned out very well.

You can honestly make anything with a cattle
panel and twin!

We then added some nesting areas to the new
chicken coop, and we added straw to the coops.

A benefit to all the milk we have right now is we can
feed the extra to the chickens. Raw milk is great for them,
they love it and right now, it is supposed to be a hot new
thing in eggs. I imagine they taste the same with the milk
in the diet of the hens, but we'll soon know for sure.

After that, we plants the garden we've been working
on for months, slowly.

We have a late start. Our inside seeds never sprouted.
We ended up buying started plants.

We planted:
Squash
Cucumbers
Lettuce
Sweet Peas
String beans
Tomatoes
shallots
green onions
corn
broccoli and cauliflower

I did not want to plant more than we can actually use
and give to family members, so we will see how well
this works out for now.

I am not a green thumb, by any means, so if anything lives,
I will thank the Lord for his Mercy on the garden.

Lastly, I was fortunate to have, through many, many
mishaps (once again), 20 of my 30 Orpington eggs
hatch last Sunday and
Monday!

These will be the last chicks we set until fall or maybe next
spring. I need my kitchen back in working order and without
incubators everywhere and chicks smelling up the house.

I am still so happy to have gotten a lot of very, very rare
Lavender chicks in this hatch!

Before I go, I'll include some photos of the future
farm mousers recently in needs of homes and adopted by us!

Budda

James

Can't recall her name, but she is a sweety - take note, she is on the porch -
Darn it! Not at the barn catching one of the millions of
mice taking it over up there.

Life isn't Conducive to a Blog

2011-05-19T02:51:00.007-04:00

The title says it all.

Life isn't really conducive to a blog,
neither is farming, gardening, parenting,
equine rescue or homesteading in general. . .

And yet,

In this age, it seems very important.

I cannot count the emails I get, though my follower list
is small, of non-followers and followers alike that read
this blog and find it helpful, humorous or even inspiring.

So that is why I am so disheartened that I have
taken so very long to write a new blog.

I finished up my Bachelor's Degree from
Marshall University this month, and it
was seven years in the making, so between
many horse rescues, farm disasters,
motherhood and life, I had not a second of
blog time to find.

So here we are now. . .

Let the blogging begin anew. . .

Two weeks ago, we lost my Arabian mare, KD Lady Ann.
Her passing was tragic and unexpected.
The details I will not share, but a lot of unanswered questions
remain. She was a breathtakingly beautiful mare, and she was the
epitome of what I'd set out to purchase.

When my three siblings died in 2007, I decided to buy the
horse of my dreams in remembrance of them - something amazing
and alive that they would have understood as a symbol of life
and them.

She is now gone.

On the same day, before we knew anything about this tragedy,
and following on the heels of another event where we set up a booth,
took goats out and had a farm table at the 2011 Huntington, WVa
Dogwood Festival,

we attended the Tractor Supply Company's Out There with Your Animals event.
We had a table, brought farm and rescue information, and we had a great day!

We gave pony rides on Acorn, sold poultry and had goats on display.
We talked to so many people, and we were so glad so many people
already knew who we were from visiting this blog or the website.

(as you can see, OUR FARM shirts are in)

We have been very busy with rescue work, and a few days
after I lost my lovely mare, we went to Bruceton Mills to help
a kind woman who was going through a bitter divorce and very
afraid for the welfare of her well bred Arabian filly and mares.
I knew I had to help, and we made the very long drive up and
brought 3 of the 4 horses back down. One stayed behind with a friend
of mine in a foster situation.

As soon as I saw M.S. Dior, I was like, "WOW!" She was so much
like Lady Ann. Larger, of course, as the photos show, but she
looks so much like her. I was shocked. Here I'd come to do a good
deed, and I felt like it was I that was being helped. I did not know
until coming home that there was a legitimate reason Dior struck
me as she did. Her breeding is strikingly similar to Lady Ann's.
They both trace back to Varian horses and Bey Shah! I felt like though
the Lord closed one door, he opened another. We quickly decided to
make these mares our own, and only place two of the four we rescued.

That rescue was of well cared for horses only in danger
because of a vindictive ex husband, but the previous
week, we rescued three that had been seriously abused
and starved. This is a large breeder within the state of
WV.

A wonderful farm locally in Milton fostered and paid the
cost to save two of these lovely Arabs, Mia and Oryan.
They are still located there until fulled rehabbed, and I
will place them up for adoption when the time is right.

The other mare was in the poorest condition, and she is
also close to foaling. The photos below speak
for themselves, I think - BTW - Heart of Phoenix is
simply our rescue name. Those 13 days were spent with us.

I made the decision to let her go to a previous adopter with
far more experience in foaling that I'll ever have, and last
week, she made the trip to Indiana where she will continue
being rehabbed and foal.

Only a few days after letting Eclipz go with her new adopter,
we discovered the slaughter mare is in foal, and this
forces us to make some hard decisions. She would have came to us
in foal from the auction.

Kate - the slaughter rescue

This means she
will not be able to be placed anytime soon unless
a hard to come by experienced foaling home comes along.
This means we need to be prepared for foaling her out here
and keeping her for some time. In order to keep a spot open
for a rescue, we will likely need to place our Quarter Horse
mare, Liz. We'd hoped to give her a forever home, but she is
too nice a mare to sit here idle and we simply do not have the
space to house so many horses indefinitely. Hard choices, but
I want to be able to accept a dire situation, if need be, and while
we've placed the rescue colt that had been here for a 3 months
the first part of May, with the loss of Lady Ann, the incoming of
Dior and Niteza, the adoption of Eclipz and the realization Kate is
in foal, I know one of our personal horses will need placed if I
am to keep an open rescue spot here. This is when I wish I had
20 more acres and a lot more spare income.

Liz - our QH mare

Moving on . . .

This has been a hard spring on the goat herd. The never ending rain

has made coccidia a never ending up hill battle. as had the fact that until

yesterday, our electric fence had not worked in months, and this required

keeping the does and kids in closer quarters, MUCH closer, than I would ever

have wanted to keep them.

Yesterday, I'd had all I could take. My Floridian Farmer (aka. My Husband)

has sworn he'd checked it over a hundred times and that there was nothing wrong

in the hook up. I thought he likely knew far better than I. Finally though, the old Adage

of "If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself" rang too loud in my

ears, and I went out to find out what is amiss.

Why did I wait so long? Well, what did I know of electric fences?

Well, seems I knew a tad more than the Floridian Farmer.

My dear husband had hooked the ceramic donuts up backwards.

He just ran the wire through them and around the wooden post and grounded it out onto the

3 acres field fence in the front of our property, which would have connected to about 100

T posts, as well. Not even our fine 100 mi, 6 joule charger could overpower that.

No wonder horses and goats walked right through it.

Well, no more early morning chase downs of Champagne or Liz.

No more lock up for the dairy does.

The Vegetarian Homesteader saved the day.

However, she failed to succeed on starting vegatable plants.

You might recall the blog where we planted all these organic

seeds in the little paper pots inside, labeled each set and set them

under a window. . . .

Waiting. . .

Waiting . . .

For sprouts that never came. . .

So we went to Southern States and the local grocery store with a nursery,

and we pulled an easy way out. . .

We bought started plants.

We will now have Sweet Peas, String Beans, several varieties of

tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and squash . . . All things we will

really eat.

No cantaloupe, No egg plant.

Photos of the garden in progress coming soon -

If ever this darn rain would cease to fall. . .

You also might remember the miracle chicks that hatched after

12 hours without power in the incubator?

After getting to 6-8 weeks old, we lost 6 all of a sudden. Likely coccidia -

even the plague of this spring.

Only a few remain of the original 22. I sold three BLWS out of the group

because I wasn't happy with the color. I owed a friend half of the

Ameraucanas, and when most of those died, I had only two to give her.

I have a few Marans from the original number.

I did manage to hatch over 20 Bantams another friend gave us, and

they have grown really well.

Chick hatching is winding down. Our kitchen has been a veritable chicken

nursery. I still have a bator full of Orpingtons in blue, lavender, splash and black

in a bator that ALSO lost power for 4-6 hours. Who knows how those will hatch,

but either way, I'm through for awhile.

If the Orps hatch, we should get some adults like these:

The next endeavor and perhaps the last new endeavor for a long while is

to be . . .

Peafowl

Peacocks. . .whatever you'd like to call them. . .

http://www.leggspeafowl.com/photo/birds/six-month%20old%20peachicks.jpg

The above are young peacock chicks in some of the amazing colors they come in.

I've found a breeder in Portsmouth, Ohio, and I'm planning to buy some chicks

soon! They sell for a great price and are simply too beautiful to not include here

at the farm.

I expect visitors will LOVE them, as we will!

As a side note, we have a terrible mouse problem in the barn.

Though I am opposed to poison and traps, I am all for cats in

need of a home finding their way up there to catch said mice.

We found this friendly guy living in the barn, but we took

him down the road and released him as it seemed he was not

doing much to help the mouse problem.

A feral mother cat moved in and had kittens, though only one

was born alive. We found two more kittens in need of a home, and

we hope this is a start of a wonderful mouse catching colony.

We have finally sold one Miniature Nubian doeling to a family in Ohio,

and we've made a deal to trade the Nubian buckling and other Miniature

doeling and another kid for 2 nice Nigerian Dwarf does and a doeling

in Georgia. We will be meeting the breeder on Monday to exchange.

I found the 1st generation Minis do not sell well here, and this was

such a buck year in this area, selling the nice Nubian buckling was hard, too.

The Nigerians sell better here, are hardy and gosh! They are cute.

These are the new incoming does.

Also, we pick up the new breed we are adding to the farm this week!

Saanens! Finally found a good breeder in the area with quality Saanens!

These guys are Little Tots in breeding and quality girls!

This bloodline isn't common up here, so we are very happy

to be getting these gals. Thanks to Cannon Farms!

Our new Saanen doelings are in the group pic above

I'll miss these guys - but they are getting or have gotten great

new homes! Another hard part of breeding livestock! Selling!

and the others leaving, sorry. . .guys - you've failed to
take cute photos lately. . .

We still have one Mini wether in need of a home, but the
poor guy has gotten into some trouble, and he has a swollen back leg
we are treating!

Once all the babies leave on Monday, we will be milking full time our 4 does, twice a
day and wishing West Virginia did not think she had the right to tell
locals they cannot purchase milk from us or even buy a share in our herd
to have access to local, kindly milked MILK!
It is always something here on the homestead.

For now, we've been able to construct a huge new chicken pen
with 10 10x10 kennel panels that allows the flock roaming access.
We wish we could let the layers and roos free range again, but a fox
and hawk have other ideas, so since our Great Pyrs are also being kept
up in the goat pen because they have decided the main highway is a
good place to play and the poultry flock has no protection, they are
going to have to stay up for now!

Tons of new photos will be in the upcoming blogs!

Stay tuned! I will do my best to better stay on top of this and
make subjects more cohesive and more to the point!

Pray the life here on the homestead allows for this!

To end this blog on a sour note, I've heard another much
smaller farm locally felt we weren't a real farm, more
a backyard type breeder/farm. . .

Folks who read this and see what we do. . .you make the call.
I imagine you'll be tired just reading this blog about our
last month, and I imagine you will agree. . . if we aren't homesteading,
almost no one really is.

He is Risen

2011-04-24T03:26:00.001-04:00

Today we remember OUR Savior's resurrection:

Mark 16

"As they entered the tomb, they saw a young man dressed in a white robe sitting on the right side, and they were alarmed.
"Don't be alarmed," he said. "You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter, 'He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you."

And so it was. . .

Part of my desire to live on a homestead, raise my own food and teach my children
is very connected with my belief in Jesus, Christianity and scripture.

I cannot let Easter past without bringing this to the attention of anyone who might
read this blog today or in the future.

Out THERE with your Animals!

2011-04-24T03:14:00.003-04:00

I created this poster for an event we are helping put on and attending

on April 30th at Tractor Supply in Hurricane, WV.

If you're local, please try to attend and support local farms!

A little Fox can destroy the. . .

2011-04-19T01:12:00.003-04:00

Well, a little fox might not be able to destroy the farm,
but it sure can decimate a chicken population.

Over the past 5 days, we have lost 3 hens and 2 roosters!

I was certain that the culprit was a hawk or two, but we
were missing 3 chickens in one afternoon!

A few fowl savvy friends told me to suspect a fox this evening.
I disagreed!

I couldn't see a fox coming into the barn with Kyla, our Pyr
(worthless, loving beast!), and taking chickens!

We had our newer Pyr, Carly, that is admittedly a better guard,

locked up in a goat lot with Jake, our Pit Bull / Hound mix,

because she was going around a mile away to the main road.

The chickens did not start missing until Carly went up 7 days ago.

After explaining the reasons that the predator was a hawk and not a

fox to my friends, my farmer husband went out to feed everyone in

the barn, and as he stepped out

and started up the hill. . .

What did he see but a FOX!

(Not the actual fox - ha - clearly)

http://www.jon-atkinson.com/Large%20Images/La_Grey_Fox_1.jpg

He wasn't certain at first. . .

He went on up the hill, toward the barn.

Sure enough, it was a FOX!

The darn creature slinked off.

He came down to get his gun. I insisted he must not

shoot the fox. Of course, there could be babies out there

that the female fox is feeding, but either way,

I am happy for the fox to continue living,

but she must go elsewhere!

I asked him to turn out Carly and Jake.

I felt that Jake, who is livestock safe,

would help create an area here the Fox

does not want to return to.

Jake, true to hound form, took off after the Fox,

which had not adequately been

frightened by John's presence, and was

still hanging about!

Carly decided she was not interested.

Perhaps Jake would have it all taken care of

in due time. She came down and went to sleep on the porch.

I am hoping and praying that is

the end of our poultry mishaps!

Chicks, Round Two

2011-04-08T03:17:00.001-04:00

So of the 40 eggs we sat from the hens we have here on the farm, around 30 ended up viable intially.

Through the course of incubation, about 25 remained viable.

They were due to hatch this morning, and as of now, thanks to the fluctuating temps of the Little Giant,

only 5 have hatched, no more pips. I opened it because none of the others were pipped and took the 5 that hatched out. I have eggs waiting to go in, so even though I wouldn't usually do it a this point, I candled them - no movement that I can see and they didn't look right - UGH! I don't know what changed from day 18 when they were moving and temps finally became constant and close to or at 99.5 to day 21, but it looks like they

didn't make it. Cheap bators suck. I'll leave them in until tomorrow night to be 100% sure.

We'll see. . .

Here is a photo of the babies that did hatch today

These would be a mix of

RIR/Welsummer or RIR/Barred Rock

Australorps/Barred Rock or Australorp/Welsummer

and Delware/BR or Wels

Orpington/ BR or Wels - depending on which Roo was involved

These are 14 eggs that ended up duds

On the often discussed topic of chicks, as we are, might as

well share updated photos of the Miracle (lol) chicks from

4 weeks ago or so

They are in the ugly chick stage

Here are the ones in our trusty Brinsea incubator due to hatch Sunday

They are Delawares, Welsummer, Barnevelders, Blue Laced Red Wyandottes

and Black Copper Marans

And as an end note, I was thrilled to have found this $5 egg basket

at Tractor Supply Co!

Goat care, in a round-about way,

2011-04-05T02:34:00.004-04:00

This will be something of a hodge-podge blog about goat care, real milk and all sorts of other homesteading activities.

A few days ago, it was Goat Care day, though not all the care could be addressed in a single day at this time of year.

Goats require a great deal more care than the average farmer would want to give, thus most goat keepers have poor looking goats and sell them soon after acquiring them because they in order to thrive, they simply require a lot of upkeep.

So a few days back, the goat herd needed hoof trims, coccidia prevention and worming. The horses and cow were also wormed. For those who would like to know what we used on the latter, Zimectrin Gold and Ivermectin, depending which was used in the winter. The goats received Quest or Valbazen, depending on what works for each goat.

One thing a lot of goat owners over look is trimming goat's hooves, particularly their bucks. This can cripple a goat in a matter of a year or two. It takes a lot time to get hooves back into proper shape, if it can even be done, if they have been neglected.

There is nothing fun about fighting with a buck in rut (which ours aren't now, thanks GOD) that weighs around 170lbs in order to trim 4 feet, but you HAVE to do this if you want to provide proper, humane care! Does, older kids, wethers and bucks all need trimmed about every 8 weeks. Some goats can go longer, and it is ideal to keep hoof condition in mind when breeding for a better goat. Supplementing with copper can help control hoof growth. Copper supplementation is almost always needed, at any rate, and it will improve coat condition, fish tails, bald tails, parasite problems, kidding issues, growth and more!

Ace is a pretty good guy about this!

Ideally, this is your goal:

http://www.npga-pygmy.com/resources/husbandry/hoof_trimming.asp

I also wanted photos of our First Freshener udders in the herd. A First Freshener is a doe during her first lactation, following her first kidding/birth. We have four FF does. For the most part, I'm pleased with their udders. Two have very good attachment, the other two have good attachment, and all have crazy easy to milk teats, especially three of the four. All are even, barring the one doe that had the teat injury, which is preventing her from being even. All seem to have good medials and the teat placement is good. Of course, I speak in terms of a good milker, not the showring requirements, which I have little knowledge of. I'm attaching the ADGA guide for what to look for in an ideal doe. Keep in mind, these does are not stacked/posed for ideal udder shots.

Candy: 2 yr old Nubian FF - 4 weeks fresh - empty

Spring: 1 yr old Nubian - FF - 5 weeks fresh

Eve - FF Nubian - 8 weeks fresh - after a serious teat injury

Dutchie - 1 yr old FF Nubian - 9 weeks fresh - full udder on one side

We are having some issues with Spring's weight. Not sure if the pregnancy was just too hard on her for her age, if there is a serious worm load (we've wormed her, giving Iron supplement, etc) or a nutrition problem. We have her on a high fat Nutrena supplement, so we will see.

We recently reevaluated what we are feeding, and we've stopped mixing out own whole grains.
I know a lot of people swear by it, but I have just not found our horses or goats do well on whole grain self mixes. The goats are now on Nutrena Doe and Kid. It is a medicated feed. Lots of idealistic, holistic folks cringe at medicated feed. Ideally, you could raise goats without it, but you CANNOT! Goat kids will get coccidia, and if it does not kill them, it will stunt their growth so severly, they likely will never recover. There is no herbal, homeopathic remedy. There is no avoiding it. Goat kids have no resistence to it. You must treat them for it. Now, you can shy away from medicated feeds, but you still must treat cocci every 21 days for 5 day periods with Dimethox or Sulmet (never CORID). We do both and experience good growth with the kids.

Buttin Heads Arsenic - Nigerian Buckling - 5 weeks old

We also finally moved the Nigerian buckling out into the pen with the does and kids, though he is in a large kennel inside of that pen to make sure he isn't bullied. We put the other kids up with him at night, but he now has other goat company! Goat really must have the companionship of other goats to thrive. They form very strong family bonds, as well, and much more so than in other livestock that I've had.

The whole time we were at work outside, the kiddos stood at the window squalling to come up, but since they are have no concept of staying safe around the farm at this point, they have to remain inside if we cannot be one step behind them at all moments!

We are attempting a garden this year.

What is a farm/homestead with a garden? But I have never been very good at growing plants and keeping plants alive, so I cannot promise how well this will go. We started the seeds indoors late to being with. Most were planted a week ago. The garden spot outside is close to finished, so let us pray something grows in these little containers indoors! I did make an effort to buy organic seeds, for the most part, though the term "Organic" is in the eye of the reader and a blog is pending on that whole subject, and I bought only what I thought we would really use!

By the way, I have an extensive guide to goat care I've put a lot of time into writing on our website, and it might be a great help to anyone thinking about getting into goats, so feel free to read it and then share it with others that might find it beneficial.

http://lucasfarmwv.com/goathealth.aspx

Last but not least, most of my readers and friends know how important access to real food

is to me and to you, whether you know it or not, and the state of West Virginia denies

its citizens the right to real milk from local, humane farms. This state even denies

citizens the rights to buy into a herd and obtain a share of milk from his/her part

of the cow or goats.

That is why I want to share an option for milk in a legal way for those who live in the Tri-state area, though I'd like nothing more than to sell herdshares or milk to you myself, I cannot in this state,

so I want to suggest

YELLOW GOAT FARM

http://yellowgoatfarm.com/Home.html

Located in Ohio, right over the border from Ky and WV,

they operate a legal HERD SHARE program with a goat

herd and can offer YOU and your family access to REAL

MILK from a healthy herd! They also make cheese with your

milk shares!

PLEASE visit their link and support YOUR LOCAL FARMERS

and your own health!

The Chicken Chronicles

2011-04-02T03:07:00.001-04:00

Goodness, had I know the plethora of fascinating breeds out there in the world of chickens,

I might have avoided going beyond your basic hatchery layers like:

(photos link to respective sites unless they are my own!)

http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/IMAGES/Rhode_Island/Rhode-Island-Red-Hen.jpg

Rhode Island Reds

http://seventreestest.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/black-australorp.jpg

http://www.bradbury.org/jims-blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/buff_orpington-225x169.jpg

Now these breeds lay very well, no question! They are awesome, but

as far as the breeds out there, they are a bit ho hum.

But wow! Once you starting looking into
chicks from legitimate breeders or a
quality breeder stock hatchery like

http://www.sandhillpreservation.com/

You will find it easy to start down the road of discovering
chickens breeds, you might find out it is addictive!

So, along with the Blue Laced Red Wyandottes,
Blue and Black Copper Marans, Delawares,
Blue Wheaten and Wheaten Ameraucanas,
Welsummers and Barnevelders we
already have hatched here this year and last,

I'm looking to add Orpingtons in a variety of
colors, including rare Lavender, along with more color variations of
Ameraucanas, and Black / Blue Wyandottes.

http://www.bucabuc.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/.pond/bucabucblueOrpHen.jpg.w300h375.jpg

http://www.bucabuc.com/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/SplashOrpingtonHen.jpg

http://www.orpingtonsuk.com/lav1.JPG

http://i641.photobucket.com/albums/uu138/RHewitt/SplashAmeraucanaRooster2.jpg

Hatching eggs are risky since you never know what type of

hatch rate you will get, but the best sources are Back Yard Chicken.com

and Ebay. . .

I'm waiting for the eggs in the incubators now to hatch, and candling has shown

we should have a fairly good hatch if the crazy Little Giant will keep temp!

Good fences make good Neighbors and bands make good wethers

2011-03-30T03:51:00.003-04:00

The last 24 hours has been a fairly productive time on the farm.

I finished planting seeds to start in the kitchen - photos will follow

in another blog since my memory card is acting up in the card reader.

We've started:

2 varieties of Squash

Tomatoes

Lettuce

2 varieties of peppers

Peas

Green Beans

Broccoli and

Cucumbers

I'm likely forgetting something or other, but I tried to pick

things I know we will cook!

Now, let us all how and pray the seeds grow! This gardening thing

is very new to me, and I have no idea what I'm doing.

Moving on, we walked over the property today and did some much needed fence repair.

I must get better about taking the camera along since photos are what MAKE a blog interesting.

Seems every time I go out with the camera, I forget the battery or memory card inside or find the battery is dead!

50% of farming is finding out ways to successfully contain animals and keep those containments in working order. Our electric fence quirky and comes and goes. It has not been working for months, but luckily, only the goats know this - - - the cow and horses have no idea.

The repairs from today, the removing of many trees on the lines than I can count and such, should put it back in working order. The goats should appreciate more freedom and the neighbor will find us to be better neighbors since he will not come home to goats in the yard.

In theory. . .

We currently have 60 plus eggs in the incubators - most seem viable, though the temps in the Little Giant are all over the place. I would not recommend a LG!

Lastly, all of the readers know I am squeamish -

The darn goats keep challenging my desire to not do the undesirable chores of farm life.

Tonight, in order to be 100% sure the job was as a gentle as possible and done are carefully as possible, I banded our buckling, now wether, so he can go to his new home with his sister!

I cannot take all of the credit for creating our 1st wether. . . my farming husband gave the banamine and tetanus shots prior to all of this! I do not give injections ;)

Oh! I created us a new farm logo for our farm T-shirts. I'm placing an order soon. If you're interested, please email me.

They are just $15 ea.

The Crazy Chicken Gal

2011-03-21T02:32:00.001-04:00

The house smells like a Poultry farm. I admit, this is gross, but it failed to stop me from setting 65 more eggs in the past 3 days!

They have grown a lot in the week since this photo was taken and

been moved into a large tub.

I am always happy to get started chicks out of the house, but those from the last hatch will not be able to be moved out for a few weeks and more will be following in their tracks. . . such is the life of spring on the farm.

I placed a craiglist ad for the Blue Laced Red Wyandottes we had a friend hatch out in October of 2010.
I have had a great time getting inquires on them. No buyers yet, but I've talked to so many nice older folks who are fairly chicken crazed, that is it quite alright!

It is funny how addictive chickens are, and you either get it or you do not.

The farmer husband can't lie - he is almost as bad as I

They come in such a variety of sizes, colors, breeders and as luck would have it, are easy to keep in large quantities!

Our new Blue Laced Red Splash Hen

Our new Blue Laced Red Splash and Black Hens

Our new Blue Laced Red Splash Roo

I am behind in taking photos on the goings on here, but we put 40 eggs in the cheap Little Giant incubator, and those were mostly mixed breeds. I'll candle in a few days to see how many are viable.

I placed 25 in the Brinsea Octo 20, which I have been thrilled with. They are the BLRW eggs from the Foley birds and the Copper Marans, Delawares, Barnevelders and Welsummer eggs I'd gotten from a local breeder. I must get a photo of these Copper Maran eggs - they are as dark as a Hershey Bar, folks! The Wels eggs are also beautiful butterscotch and chocolate speckled!

I highly recommend paying the extra money and buying a Brinsea if you're looking at incubators. I've only had a few days of dealing with the Little Giant and already it has driven me up the wall and back down! The temps fluctuate so much! Also, when you need to open them, you loose your temp quickly and it takes a long time to gain it back. I HOPE for a decent hatch in it, but I wouldn't risk expensive eggs in it at all.

And to think, it all start with only a handful of chicks from the local fleamarket:

Taking Chick, Turkey and Keet ORDERS

2011-03-16T19:09:00.002-04:00

Taking Chick, Turkey and Guinea Keet orders

Some Chicken Breeds:

Blue Andalusian
Bantam Assorted breeds - no selection -
Black Australorp
Buff Orpington
Rhode Island Red

Wyandotte in Black, Blue, Golden, Sliver and Buff

Large Breeds $3.00
Bantams $3.50

HOWEVER some chick breeds will be hard to impossible to tell apart by breed
upon arrival - I'm talking to the hatchery about how to deal with
this - Guineas and many distinctive breeds and turkeys will NOT be effected,
of course.

Pick up at a slightly later date when chicks are easy to tell apart can be arranged.

Guinea Keets are Pearl or White
$6 ea

Turkeys are Bourbon Red,
Broad Breasted Bronze and White and
Harragansetts
$10 ea

I must receive payment prior to order.

You can pay in person ASAP or
via paypal, the preferred method,
at tinia@lucasfarmwv.com

I will call when the poultry is in,
and you can pick it up here at the farm 10 minutes
from I-64 in Lavalette, WV.

I would like the have everyone's orders by NEXT Thursday!

Visit www.lucasfarmwv.com

Chickens, Chickens, everywhere

2011-03-16T03:03:00.002-04:00

It is amazing how addictive poultry can be.

You all out there who have a flock, you know what I mean, right?

So many breeds, so few around here! Darn!

So we, the whole farming crew, drove out past Lexington, Kentucky with
gas prices sky high, doing something very unfrugal, to buy Blue Laced Red Wyandotte Exhibition/Breed Quality stock.

We had bought some nice BLRWs back in October; however, these were simply a HUGE cut above, so we are offering those for sale:

This gives us quality

Blue Laced Red Wyandottes in blue, black and splash

Black Copper Marans

Ameraucanas in Wheaten and Blue Wheaten

Welsummers and

Barnevelders

Stay tuned for upcoming blogs on:

My new volunteer position as Weston A. Price's
area chapter leader
http://www.westonaprice.org/

On Organics "Government Hype?"

Goat kid care and milking, etc

Goat Milk Soap Making

and more!

Real Milk

2011-03-13T13:46:00.001-04:00

http://www.foodrenegade.com/fda-attacks-raw-milk/

Read the Above Article

and then check out the

movement that made change in one Maine town:

http://www.naturalnews.com/031667_food_freedom_Maine.html

T-shirts for RESCUES

2011-03-13T01:27:00.002-05:00

We are Considering doing T-SHIRTS for the farm and rescue as a fundraiser and way to spread the word about the farm tours, local food movement and rescue work we do and so forth

- Pricing would likely be around $15 ea - I think we would need a minimum of 20 to order.

If anyone can spread the word, a portion of the sale will benefit the rescues here and the rest will cover cost to have the shirts made!

If you would be interested in donating and receiving a T-shirt, please email me to be put on a contact list once I have a final price from the local company!

More important to me than all else

2011-03-12T23:42:00.001-05:00

I cannot always talk about farming, animals birth, gardening, local foods and so worth.

Being that this is my blog, I feel compelled to share a collection of some of the best sound bites of preaching that I've heard put together in my life.

We are Christians here at the Farm, and as much as I want to share our adventures, my beliefs on local food, humane treatment of animals and vegetarian trials and tribulations, I would be sorely remiss if I did not share these videos, which are so much more important than all of the above.

If you've read through my blog, you will realize, I am a radical in my beliefs, and you will find me the same in all areas, including my belief in Jesus and the Christian faith.

and

His Eye watches even the sparrow, does it Not?

2011-03-11T03:32:00.003-05:00

On day 10 of the hatch, our electric went out. Farming husband rushed the eggs promptly at 8 am to my suburban mother's house, still pumped full of electricity,

and plugged the incubator in. They had been in house temps in the 50s for 3 hours.

I was worried about the eggs already because the post office had delayed their delivery several days, and our delivery guy is anything but gentle with packages.

Then loosing electricity meant they were yet again compromised. Even if the packages were handled perfectly, a shipped hatching egg is a compromised egg.

These eggs already had two strikes against them.

Then the unthinkable happened. . .

My very suburban mother forgot and unplugged the "bator" for over 12 hours

on day 16 in house temps in the high 60's!!!

I was beyond upset. I was so looking forward to this hatch, had candled the eggs on day 11 and found all but 2 of 29 eggs to appear viable, and now it was all lost.

If you're visited my site, follow my facebook page or even read all of the posts on this blog, you'll find we are devout Christians and believe God cares about the large and small things of life:

"Look to the fowls of the heaven, for they do not sow, nor reap, nor gather into storehouses, and your heavenly Father doth nourish them [. . .]"

Matthew 6:26

My mother, oldest son and sister, who is but 6, were fairly distraught over the whole fiasco, and they prayed quite earnestly that the eggs would have a great hatch.

I had my doubts. Such a small thing in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes when you've lived through greater tragedy than most people could fathom, as I have, you feel silly to pray for small things; however, those small things can make life quite grand in their own little way.

So we all prayed the little chicks would make it against all odds. Three strikes should have put them out. . .however, the chicks and/or the Lord had other plans.

I candled 2 of them on day 18 and found movement inside the eggs. I was astounded. I thought if two lived, it would be an amazing miracle.

On day 20, a day early even, my mother woke up to find this:

By the end of day 20, we had 6 chicks!

I truly could not believe it!

By 10 am the next morning when I called my mother,

there were 11 chicks!

That evening, I brought home 15 chicks and left

6 more hatching in the bator.

At the end of day 22, 22 chicks hatched successfully.

I did have to help one out that was stuck inside

due to the contents of the eggs hardening and

one chick failed to make it out before I could help

and died in the egg, which means 23 were viable and

attempted to hatch out of the 27 eggs I'd thought

to be developing. I check the last 4 and found that

only one of those actually had a chick in it

that developed, so all but 2 eggs that were viable

ended up hatching.

Amazing, really!

As you can see, our little fellows are thrilled with them.

All 22 chicks are here at the house now:

We hatched out:

7 Black Cooper Marans

9 Blue Wheaten Ameraucanas

and

7 Blue Laced Red Wyandottes,

of which, 4 appear blue and the others

appear splash

On the Bright side

2011-03-03T18:49:00.001-05:00

Anytime farm babies are bought or born, there is still a cause for
celebration. We had an adorable new Nubian buckling born

(and who is for sale) Tuesday, March 1st, on his due date.

He is out of Candy

(actually taken the day of breeding!)

He is by Ace

Then a friend picked up a Buttin Heads Nigerians Buckling for
us on Wednesday! He was an amazing price if picked up before
1 week of age and his genetics are hard to beat.

He is ADGA Registered

Dam has dry leg

Dam: BUTTIN'HEADS PROUDITE
Sire: BUTTIN'HEADS NICKELODEON

Our kids already on the ground are growing well and

doing great! All of those are Miniature Nubians.

They are F1 and registerable.

Doelings are $300 ea or a discount can be offered on both. They are
out of different dams. Mini Buckling offered asa wether for $125 or
as a buck for $300.

Beyond the goats, the garden is coming along, soap making
is on the horizen, and we are still hopeful some chicks
will live through the Bater disaster!

A Dismal Chronicle by and large

2011-03-03T18:30:00.002-05:00

I have put off this blog as long as I can.

The events of this past week have been nothing to envy,

I must confess.

The list has been so long and terrible,

I have not had the fortitude to write them until now.

There have been personal problems this week,

but there have been farmore farm related problems,

and this is a chronicle of those and those alone.

We lost our electric and had to run our incubated eggs

(mentioned here) to my non-farming mother's house.

I explained they had to stay plugged in and unopened.

They were there from Friday to Tuesday evening, and then

she unplugged them. She needed to plug something in where they

were and gave the eggs no thought. Forgot totally about them

from 6:30pm until 11:30am the next day!!!

Needless to say, I was livid and sad. I had candled them 3 days

before and was thrilled all but 2 had moving chicks inside.

That was almost impossible considering they were

shipped 800 miles and were a delayed delivery.

We plugged them back in, said some sincere

prayers and have started the "Will They

Hatch" wait. I will know around the 9th!

That was a lot of money, time and potential profit

lost, if none hatch, and regardless, short of a

miracle, all that would have hatched will not

do so now.

Then we found homes for two goats that were CAE positive

from another farm and they rehomed 3 hours away,

and we drew blood to be sure they were

not pregnant, and one came back positive. That rectified

as a huge worry for CAE positive kids being born when I had

Biotracking lab test the sample for CAE from that doe, and

she was actually negative, unlike her sister.

We had to assist in another goat birth. My farming husband was gone

helping on a horse rescue I'd arranged between an owner

and another rescue in the Northern part of WVa

on this untrained and hard to handle Arab stallion.

And while he spent 4-6 hours when counting the

drive out and back and the catching and loading of

the horse, which was a nightmare, our last

doe due to kid went into labor.

It was not too bad, but I did have to leave my oldest son watching

the small farming kids while they napped below

and go up to the barn to help. I waited about 15 minutes after

feet presented and no birth before going in and moving the

kid around some. The doe screamed, rolled and so forth, but

I was able to help her deliver a good sized FB Nubian buckling.

I am through pulling out GOAT KIDS until 2012, I believe!

Thank God! Well, some Nigerians should kid much later this

year, but they are typically good, hardy kidders.

Of course, dairy animal breeders NEVER want

male offspring. They are hard to sell for

anything but meat. . .so although his birth

isn't ideal, he is a darling little guy and

should make a nice herdsire for someone!

The next day, we - namely farming husband -

noticed that the rescue mare was not the only

horse coughing, and not only was she

and another horse coughing, but they had

the "SNOTS" - through a process of

elimination and other horses coming

up with symptoms, we realized

we are dealing with Strangles.

Our vet will be out of town until Tuesday, but

Strangles is easy to diagnose.

This is an example of my good will working against

me. I brought this in by bringing the rescue mare

here from Cattletsburg. I had her separate, but

Strangles if so highly contagious and airborne,

that that was not enough.

1-10% of horses with Strangles will die; however, it is typically

more mild and treatable. The problem is we now have 9

equines, when you count donkeys, to treat, and the

injections entail as much as 30cc of Pen G twice a day

in the neck - split into 2 injections each time.

These injections are hard on the horses, and we need to do

them for at least 7 days. At the end of that time,

none of the horses may ever want to mess with

people again. JC, our stallion, already will not

allow us around him because of them, but

oral Penicillin isn't effective.

The area will be contagious for at least 3 months

after the last horse is recovered. There is a lot

of work ahead - there are lessons learned, too.

18 injections a day for 7 days for a

total of 126 IM injections

and 6 500 ml bottles of Penicillin Procaine

assuming it clears up.

If abscesses burst, the healing process is longer

and can present like this photo below:

And there is a slight risk of life threatening Bastard

Strangles, though we do not expect

that, at all, where the abscesses end up

internal.

The next blog does highlight some NICE things going

on here at the farm, however, so stay turned!

Poor Homesteader Maneuver again

2011-02-24T03:52:00.004-05:00

In most ways this blog belongs on my equine
rescue blog, and it will go there, too, but

anything that happens on this homestead is

surely part of the daily life of
its want to be homesteaders,
and therefore, noteworthy.

As everyone who visits this blog
can derive I am concerned about
the treatment of animals.

Sometimes I get concerned that people

feel I pursue this too far and leave
a gap where concern for people should be,

but I think that they are both tied together.

While I cannot go out and save children from

abuse or take them in, as much as I would love to,

I can easily change the life of a horse. Would that it
were so simple to change the life of a local child.

Still, by reporting neglect and abuse towards animals,

you do change the lives of people because I assure you,

if anyone doubts it, those who neglect and abuse animals

are threats to children and all mankind.
They will do the same to human beings
and usually already are.

Case in point and the start of this story:

2 years ago in July, we drove out to
Pritchard, WV in Wayne country due to an

ad on craigslist for a starving Clydesdale cross for

$125; we purchased him.

We placed him in an approved home in
Virginia some months later once he was at

a healthy weight.

The same family lived in squalor, totally

filth. . .folks unfit to care for man or beast, in fact.

They have other horses starving there at the time.

We had only room for one. He was hundreds of

pounds underweight, needing training and had

never been wormed or had his feet trimmed.

Day of Rescue

In his new home for over a year above

Tonight this same family, father, mother, grandmother,

grandkids and great grandkids were all having a family

evening at the horse auction.

(NOTE: All photos were taken with a cell phone camera, so

quality is poor, as meat/horse auction owners aren't happy

when you take photos so obviously; they know something is up!)

Cattletsburg Horse Auction in Kentucky is nothing more

than a ramshackle meat sale, for the most part.

The owner is a meat buyer.

All sorts of low class horse

traders show up and sell of horses twice a month,

and 80% or more go that night to the holding pens

to be readied for transport of Mexico or Canada for meat.

The trip and process is gruesome and unregulated.

A friend mentioned she was going to go since

she might be looking for a horse,

and oddly, though I usually know

I am too much the activist to show up at

such a place, I told her I wanted to go.

I explained to by dear Farming husband

that is was likely I would bring home a horse.

He was not happy, but

the fact is, I have a

"Do the Right Thing" motivation

I cannot be moved from.

I arrived to this

This is the hall these horses encounter

and the hall that is filled with "traders"

and self proclaimed "horse folk,"

which are, for the most part,

bringing their horses to a death sentence quite happily.

Folks stand around talking about horses,

having a great time andhave not a consideration

in the world for what they have done to the horses

so unfortunate to be owned by them.

This hell-hole sits 15 feet from a train track, and when the trains

go back, the horses whinny, scream, jump, tremble and trip.

This goes wholly unnoticed by the horse tradin' folks.

This time, most horses were well fed,

but few had an grooming or farrier work.

Some of the only horses that were underweight,

and these were very thin, young

and unhandled, were owner by the

family mentioned already.

I noticed a large, beautiful draft mare and

several spotted draft mix horses in a pen.

They really caught my eye.

There was a sweet QH type mare that

stood by the fence and let me pet her more eagerly

than any horse at the sale, and I thought to myself,

I will buy her when she comes through.

I saw a lovely little Palomino pony shaking and

attempting to escape the train only 15 feet or

so from the pen she was in,

and then I saw a group of yearlings,

very thin and obviously never handled,

owned by the fine family above mentioned,

in another pen.

There so many,

I had no idea how I would choose only ONE!

We crowded into a smoke filled auction room

when it was time torun the horses through.

I looked down and saw the family

I rescued the Clyds cross gelding from.

They had a small infant,no older than 4-6 months,

in a car seat beside them.

While it was no more than 50 degrees inside,

the baby had no blanket and the parents,

obviously teenagers, sat smoking away in a room already

filled with smoke,and as they brought the group of

scared colts and fillies these people had not

handled or fed through and sold them for as little

as $10 a piece, their feet never trimmed,

having never known affection

and their ribs visible from any distance,

I thought how clearly the treatment of their horse

reflected the negligence and abuse

of this little baby. This is to say nothing of the

older kids with them, all dirty and

exposed to smoke and worse.

You all might recognize the photo above of a

recent rescue colt and myself,

and I include this because not only was the family there

I rescued the Clyds cross from,

but the girl who starved this little colt into a body condition of 2

and until he could barely walk was there.

I did not see her buy another horse,

but that means very little.

She was there and

could easily have purchased another

one to starve and abuse.

Most horses that went through went for under $150 dollars,
some went for as little as $10,
and many went for $40-$60.

Only a handful brought over $200.

I estimate 80% were purchased by Buyer #1,
the owner and meat buyer.

The owners stood in the ring after
riding the horse for potential buyers above
and around, and they did
not blink an eye when
Buyer #1 would win the bid on their horse.

Not a single owner was moved by this being the
new "owner" of the horse they

had brought here.

I watched these horses go through and although
I wanted to bid on each one, I knew

I could only buy one, and it is difficult to choose
which horse gets a chance,

gets to live. . .

Then they brought in a white mare. . .

I had taken this photo of her earlier in the evening,

and I suppose it stuck me that

with all that was going on, how she just

stood there looking very hollow

and very alone among the many horses

tied beside of her.

The auctioneer stated she was a

Quarter Horse Mare about 10 years old.

Some yahoo that works for the stockyards rode

her bareback and turned her

around and around in the little area below.

The only bid was from Buyer Number #1.

The guy in the red shirt.

The meat buyer, and I asked my friend

quickly for her auction

number and help it up at the last minute.

She was now mine for the price of $125.

The meat buyer did not counter.

She was a large mare and heavy, but he

had a pen full already, and

the auction was only half over.

Before I knew it, the whole deal was over.

I never saw the dark, thick mare

from the one pen come through.

Neither did the Belgian mare. . .or the spotted

drafts.

I went and waited through the

lines to pay. I noticed the family that brought

in the 5 or 6 horses, the family

I first described to you.

They were collecting the money for

the horses they had bred and starved

and brought here.

It could not have amounted to more

than $250, and they have purchased

more horses to take home, breed and one day

return to the stockyards.

Their little infant was sitting in a carseat screaming

outside as the grandfather chain smoked and let the

little baby freeze in weather well into the 30's.

He did rock the seat back and forth a bit,

for all that is worth.

This was 11pm.

I went into see the mare I had saved after paying her fee.

I saw the main lot of horses, the one with the draft horses and

the mare I had planned to buy.
I asked the boy working inside

why they weren't ran through.

"Oh, that is the kill pen.
The owner bought them as soon

as they came in today.
They don't get to go through."

I asked him how I could buy a horse out of the pen as
I looked at the

dark eyes of the sweet mare
I had planned to save.

I asked if he could check to see
what it would take to buy her.

Buyer #1, the man in the red jacket,
came buy and poked her with this

cattle prod and said, "$450" and walked on by.
He had paid not a dime

over $150 for this mare a few hours before,
and after letting horses go through

for $10, I could never justify buying
this mare for that.

I asked how long would she be there,
how long did they all have,
hoping I might alert someone to them plight.

He said,

"They all leave tonight."

I could not save her. I could not save them.

Every horse above is on its way to

a holding pen and then to slaughter now.

There were at least 35 horses there tonight
bought for slaughter.

But I did save number 0493

Farming Husband came with the trailer as a

yahoo loaded a Donkey into the back of a small

pick up inside of a wooden box.

They put a tie down strap

across his back to keep him from jumping out of the

truck bed and the old fellow actually stopped

and patted the spotted Jack that sold for $45 lovingly.

Goodness, do these people not realize what they are doing?

However, that little Jack is likely going onto a much better

fate than those soon to be loaded into the semi out back and this trailer

than pulled in right as our gray mare stepped right up into our own.

So I saved one. . .

One white mare

Who oddly enough, I believe, has ended up a mix of our favorite breeds:

Quarter Horse and Arab

It is not economical or in the way of homesteading,
but that "Do the Right Thing" feeling I get
. . .I cannot shake it.