Animals
- Inquiring Minds....goat-a Know
On with the questions and answers... Lilly asked: "We are considering getting goats. What do they need in the way of shelter/protection from predators? Any particular breeds you would recommend? We just want them for pets although the topic of goat's...
- A Day At The Spa
I treated the "Bigs" to a day at the spa, yesterday.The weather was balmy...in the low 30's. More snow is expected today and later this week, making yesterday the best day for a little routine maintenance. Moonbeam and Donnie were groomed, with...
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"One misty, moisty morning, when cloudy was the weather....." I was reminded of this nursery rhyme this morning when I went out to do the chores. A thick blanket of fog had settled over the farm since last night's torrential rain storm. Fog like this...
- So You're Thinking Of Buying A Goat??
I thought I would take this opportunity to answer some of the questions we get about raising goats. First of all it is important to remember that goats are social animals and do not thrive if they are alone. So, if you want a goat...you want at least...
- Goatie Manicures And More....
As with all animals, there is a bit of maintenance that has to be done to assure the health and well-being of the goats. On this particular day, we trimmed hooves and gave each goat worming medication. Jack and Dr. Becky worked together to tend to each...
Animals
It Takes a Village
The last several days' beautiful spring weather has given us the opportunity
to accomplish quite a few tasks on the spring chore list.
Some tasks, like staining the pirate ship and outdoor furniture is easily done by one person.
Other tasks take a village.
Vaccinating goats is one such activity.
When we vaccinate and worm goats, we also trim hooves.
It's easier to do everything all at once.
The biggest challenge in all of these tasks is catching the goats.
And in this particular case I am referring to our Nigerian dwarf goats.
Two of our five dwarf goats are extremely shy.
They allow me to pet them when I am delivering food....
but if they think something out of the ordinary is going to happen,
they take off at a run.
Normally it takes about 5 adults to out-smart these quick goats.
And normally we end up running them into a fenced-in shoot of sorts.
I move in and get the hooves trimmed...then Becky gives wormer and vaccinations.
And in just a couple of minutes, the whole unpleasant (for Audrey) ordeal is over.
Next it was time for Stella The Elusive.
While we were finishing up with Audrey, Jace and Taryn tried to round up this last little gal.
Amazingly, it only took two fast children to catch our most wily goat.
Dear Stella, the elusive, is always the most difficult to catch.
Somehow.... Jace and Taryn managed to catch her all by themselves!
We quickly got hooves trimmed and vaccinations given....
and there was peace and quiet in the goat yard once again.
Vaccinations are done for another year.
Hooves...well, that's a different matter...
I'll need to trim hooves in another 4 months or so.
While we had a large crew, we also moved 3 goat houses from Becky's yard
to our orchard.
These will serve as shelter for Grace, Faith and Hope.
The pigs were quite intrigued by all of the activity.
What fun they are going to have once the lambs arrive.
Ginger and MaryAnn are quite social and love to converse with the other animals.
Having Grace and her girls right next door will offer a lot of stimulation for the piggy gals.
- Inquiring Minds....goat-a Know
On with the questions and answers... Lilly asked: "We are considering getting goats. What do they need in the way of shelter/protection from predators? Any particular breeds you would recommend? We just want them for pets although the topic of goat's...
- A Day At The Spa
I treated the "Bigs" to a day at the spa, yesterday.The weather was balmy...in the low 30's. More snow is expected today and later this week, making yesterday the best day for a little routine maintenance. Moonbeam and Donnie were groomed, with...
-
"One misty, moisty morning, when cloudy was the weather....." I was reminded of this nursery rhyme this morning when I went out to do the chores. A thick blanket of fog had settled over the farm since last night's torrential rain storm. Fog like this...
- So You're Thinking Of Buying A Goat??
I thought I would take this opportunity to answer some of the questions we get about raising goats. First of all it is important to remember that goats are social animals and do not thrive if they are alone. So, if you want a goat...you want at least...
- Goatie Manicures And More....
As with all animals, there is a bit of maintenance that has to be done to assure the health and well-being of the goats. On this particular day, we trimmed hooves and gave each goat worming medication. Jack and Dr. Becky worked together to tend to each...