It's Kidding Season!!

Erudite with Clove and Nutmeg

After days of watching and waiting, Erudite finally kidded yesterday afternoon.  Yes, as usual, I missed it.  Honestly, I had stopped check out of frustration.  Every time I headed out Erudite would give me the look of death, and the shed would be empty.  Last night I struggled to get out in a timely manner for feeding time.  Sure enough, while I was dealing with other things in the house, Erudite kidded.  She truly is a champ!  Her doeling and buckling were almost dry when I discovered them.  Delivery went smoothly in every aspect.  I couldn't be more thrilled!!!

Waiting

Two of my does, Webi and Erudite, are due to kid any day now.  My guess is with a full moon and impending snow, it'll be sometime tonight.  I spent yesterday aggravating my muckers elbow cleaning out my big goat shed.  I had gotten the small shed ready, but with cold and snow on the way, I'd rather put the girls up in a larger space.  They're not too thrilled being locked up away from the rest of the herd, but given the fact that my does like to kid when I'm not around this seems like the best bet.  Sorry ladies!!  Now it's just time to wait.   

I don't always barf on the rugs...

Champ and Cookie

but when I do I make sure I do it at 1:30 am and on EVERY rug in the bedroom.  Thanks a lot, Cookie!!

Stupid Farm Injury #472: Muckers Elbow

I have had my fair share of stupid farm-related injuries since my introduction to chickens in 2008.  Most recently I sliced my nose open on my chicken coop roof.  If you've seen my chicken coop you'd know that was no small feat.  Normally, I suffer from the usual cuts and bruises or lower back issues.  I'm hypermobile and my pelvis doesn't like to stay where God intended it to.  Despite all of the injuries I've sustained while living the "simple life," the latest one takes the cake!

After months of cold and snow, we're finally seeing a break in the weather.  The warmer temps and massive melt is spurring me on to get some much-needed projects accomplished.  This winter has been harder than usual, I still have snow on the ground from December.  During a normal Colorado winter, our snow melts in between storms.  In a panic that our next dumping is right around the corner, I started my projects.  Last Saturday I mucked out the chicken coop and the thawed half of our dog run.  In doing so, I developed tennis elbow, which from now on will be called muckers elbow.  Somehow the tons of manure I scooped tweaked something in my elbow.  My right elbow on my dominant hand to be exact.  Now everything I do is extremely painful.  As long as I don't use my arm and keep it at a ninety-degree angle I'm fine.  I'm actually typing with my left hand as we speak.  

I've got one last painful project left, I need to chip ice away from my small goat house, so I can clean it out.  Unfortunately, it's a priority.  I have at least one doe due Saturday, and that is my birthing shelter.  Off I head to wreak more havoc on my already sore joint.  It's the price I pay for living my crazy farming dreams!

The Case for Weighing Hay

My hay scale!

I try, as best I can, to be frugal and resourceful when feeding my band of critters.  I use coupons for chicken feed, know who has the best price on goat grain, and have calculated the correct amount of Chaffhaye to weigh out for my does.  Hay has been a different story, I normally throw out a flake or two to the bucks depending on the cold.  I never really took the time to research their nutritional needs.  

I've heard the praises sung for weighing hay by Juliana Lehman, the founder of the Colorado Horsecare Foodbank.  A few extra minutes of weighing hay allows your livestock to get the nutrition they need.  At the moment, I don't own horses, but this principle applies to goats as well.  Every bale of hay, as well as every flake of hay, has a slightly different weight.  A flake of hay are the sections of a small rectangular bale.  I've had bales where the flakes are uniform, and bales where some flakes are much larger than others.  Because of this you never really know if your livestock are getting the right amount of food, and if yours are anything like mine, they always think they're starving.

I've found it's much easier to research proper feeding guidelines for horses than for goats.  This being said the amount I feed my goats may be different than what others feed theirs.  I found a great luggage scale on Amazon for around $8.  I've hung some good ole baling twine in my hay shed and added a carabiner, so I can bring the scale in the house when I'm done.  It's been too cold to leave it out.  I tied a piece of baling twine to the handles of my muck bucket and viola, hay scale!   I've calibrated the scale to not include the weight of my bucket, so I can add hay without having to do any fancy calculations.   Now I can monitor how much my goats are getting and adjust accordingly.  I'm no longer randomly tossing out to much or too little, and my hay waste is a lot less.  Believe you me goats are notorious hay wasters!  My bales are lasting longer too.   

Since most days are crazy at the Ranch, I try to prep all of my feed ahead of time.  As soon as the bucks are fed, I go back and weigh the next feedings hay, so it's ready to go.  Now, I'm not only saving money, but my bucks are well fed AND I end up saving time as well.  I can't say enough about my good ole hay scale!

High on a hill stood a lonely goat herd

Pearl hanging out on the hill with the herd.  She's so calm, the does will eat around her.

When a dog chews a hole in your wall...

put in a cat door.  Now all of our litter boxes are neatly tucked away in the basement and the cats have a cute access point.