The one thing I hate most about our barn is it is new. Now obviously there are some perks to it being new but generally what you see is what you get. Old barns not only have a ton of character but they seem to go on forever meaning there is room after room. My barn is just the one room. So I have to crowd all my animals, equipment, straw, and hay into this one area. It gets very congested. Just before Chloe came home I was actually successful in cleaning up the aisle way. But with winter coming, I want to make sure I have enough room for everyone to come in from the cold or a severe storm if need be, so we went to work in reorganizing the setup once again. We seem to do this anytime a new critter enters the barn. We separated the goats from the mini's aka the pig, pygmies and Heathcliffe (mini lamb), but by doing so the sheep lost their pen. Since they spend the majority of the day outside in the pasture, we would simply find an empty stall for them overnight. (We don't leave them out overnight as we don't have a LSG and the area is popular for coyotes.) But recently, they have been starting to escape the pastures and we spend far too much time rounding them back up. So they have lost the freedom to graze in the great outdoors....at least until spring when we will relook at the pasture fencing and situation. We are setting up a third stall in the barn for the sheep where they will spend their days and nights. It`s not an ideal solution as it does mean I loose valuable space but until I get the pasture figured out and a LSG then they will have to settle with living indoors.
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When we first moved to the country and started buying animals, Farm Girl immediately wanted to start breeding. But being the patient, cautious woman that I am I said no...there would be no unaltered male animals allowed on the farm! Fast forward to now. Meet Heathclifffe, our babydoll ram. Dodge, the Katahdin ram. Flint, our Nigerian Dwarf billy goat. And now, Ceasar the nubian/boer billy goat. Well Ceasar's been here a couple weeks now but with my lack of keeping this blog updated and all, it's new news to you. Meanwhile, Farm Girl keeps hinting that Meadow sure would throw some pretty babies. I must say, I totally agree but that would mean bringing a stallion onto the property. I`ve come a long way since a few years ago, but a stallion? Well at least it will be a miniaturized version and not the full sized one. But the minute we breed Meadow, I just know Farm Girl will be hinting that it will be Sierra's turn.
Life living on our farm is like a zoo. Indeed, so many people have referred to our farm as the zoo and asking what new additions they were to our zoo. And I loved telling them! My favourite subject is my animals. Get me started talking about them and there is no shutting me up. Farm Girl is the same way. We can have lengthy discussions about the animals. One of the reasons I started this blog was to show off my animals and to blab about them without restrictions. I simply love them. I haven`t posted much lately but there has been alot of additions to the farm. So let me introduce you. I think I have already introduced you to Dreamer---who we don`t think is pregnant---but possibly was before we took her because no mare has an udder as big as hers who wasn`t either about due or nursing. That large udder has since receded. And you met Pixie---we adore our Pretty Pony Pixie! Now the thing about miniature horses is that they are addictive. Meet Willow. And her son, Tex. Then I met Meadow and couldn't say no to this beauty. Not only does she have looks but she has a personality to match. Our shopping for horses didn't stop at the miniatures. Nope, Farm Girl bought her first completely unbroke greener than green young filly named Sierra. She will be her first horse to break. We were very lucky to find just the guy to help us too! We hired someone to trailer.Sierra home but he sent a "friend" instead. Turns out that friend is an expert in raising and breaking horses and is one of the coordinators of the local rodeo. And lives not far from us. How perfect is that! Can't wait for spring when they begin breaking her in. The explosion of population in the barn continues with Heathcliffe, an absolutely adorable and lovable babydoll lamb. And Clyde, the cutest little pygmy EVER! Two geese who are nameless at the moment. A pair of white Silkies. A huge number of rabbits both pet and meat quality...and some of those rabbits had rabbits. And lastly, one of our favourite new additions are these two Chinchillas. We also had some new additions that it was inevitable we'd say goodbye. And even had a visit from an old family addition. This is Emma with one of her pups from her last litter. He looks so much like his dad. We also lost some zoo members which is always sad. (Snickers, the guinea pig---not the boy.) Our two favourite ducks, Donald and Ben! As well as Jack. It was a sad morning that day when we woke to find all three male ducks had been killed in the middle of the night, leaving our two females left alone to defend themselves. Gracie also left us when she finally lost her battle to survive and succumbed to Goat Polio. Now I know you all think my addiction has really gotten out of hand with all these new additions, but truthfully, there is a purpose behind all this madness which simply allows me to exploit my addiction. Since this post is long enough, I will explain all in the next post.
First the good, our snowy call duck Daisy`s eggs finally hatched! Ty passes his natural instinct test and is given the go ahead to begin training. The bad, Ella fails her natural instinct test. The ugly, enterotoxemia and goat polio hit the barn and I loose two lambs and a goat. None of these posts should be fly-by posts (especially the last one) and I will write a more detailed blog entry for each. But for now, wanted to update my blog about the newest events occurring at the farm. I would have wrote about the above event sooner but to be truthful, my blog was the last thing on my mind. But I will be writing a post about my experience if not for anything else then to help educate and perhaps save a lamb or goats life.
What's better than 10 adorable little puppies?! Ten adorable lambs!! We have finally found our small startup flock of sheep. I love that we were able to buy all babies. It will be fun to watch them grow. They are Katahdin lambs. I chose them because they are a low maintenance, docile breed with a coat that sheds (no shearing required) and produce lean meaty carcasses. I had no idea they through such wonderful colours! That was just a bonus! We bought 9 ewe lambs and 1 ram lamb. Our plan is to breed them in the future. I can't wait until next year when we can double the number of these cuties in our barn!
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