Dog days of Summer

Really don't know what that means. Probably has something to do with it being hot. Too hot to get up. Too hot to run. To chase things. To lead the goats to a new patch of browse. Being hot, the heat slows things down. Productive things, necessary things. Like worming goats. Goats have worms okay? Get over it. They just do. Doesn't mean they're dirty. Doesn't mean they're spoiled (spoiled as in rotten, not spoiled as in being given their way all the time). They just have certain parasites that show up in their intestinal tracts from time to time. There are ways of managing the worms to be sure. Changing fields every 2 weeks is a good way. The worm's life cycle is about 2 weeks. When the adults have climbed to the tender tops of the waving grasses, with their little grasping limbs waving in the air hoping to ensnare a new bearer, You switch the goats to a new field closing off the wormy one. When the worms realize that you have outsmarted them they get mad, give up and die.
Then the goats frolic in the new field laughing and having cocktails. Eventually they have to poop (please be sure kids avert their eyes when reading that) and the worm cycle begins all over again. It's hard with just 15 acres to have enough fresh browse to eat (for the goats) and be able to rotate fields enough to keep the worms from building up to a dangerous level. Danger from worms? You betcha. In the goats digestive tract they burrow their blood sucking mouthparts into the stomach lining and suck like they've never sucked before. One worm won't harm a goat. But thousands will. The goat becomes anemic, their eyelids will look pink when healthy, white when there are too many worms. If you wait too long a goat may get "bottle jaw" This condition is indicative of an extreme infestation and immediate action is needed to save the goat. Delores has been fighting off bottle jaw for weeks now. We have wormed her with Cydectin a powerful worming treatment. It is having a positive effect but she is not over it yet. We are also drenching her with Red Cell an equine treatment for low red cell count (anemia). We also give her Magic from time to time to boost her energy level. Magic is a mixture of corn oil, molasses and corn syrup. Goats love it. Some who aren't sick come over and demand it.

In other news, the peahen has been sitting on her clutch of 3 eggs for nearly 2 weeks now. In another 2 weeks we are hoping for a blessed event. More peachicks!
The chickens are doing fine. We're getting dozens of eggs a day now and need creative ways to get rid of them. I give them to employees and Kristi sells them at work. The chickens nearly pay for themselves as far as feed costs. The peacock pays the peafowl's way too with feather sales. Oh he hates it when we come after him with the pliers.

Ah, the first snakes of Spring...

Yesterday we arrived back home after driving to Navasota, TX to pick up our package of bees. We made an error over the winter and didn't feed them and the whole hive died. We are feeling a little bad about that partly because of the loss of a lot of bugs (and who wouldn't feel bad about that) but also because dead bees stink something terrible and the whole mess had to be cleaned up. We ordered a new Package of bees. A package is a small wood and screen box about 18 inches by 8 by 5. That is a large enough space for approximately 11000 bees. I didn't count them as they squirm around quite a lot and it's difficult to keep track. It sure looked like a lot of bees. The package price has gone up to $100.00 this year, an increase of 10%. It's worth it as I couldn't imagine having to go collect all of them and funnel them into this little box. (Oh, you want bees? just go over to the bulk bin ((clerk points))They're next to the yellow jackets- there's a scoop and some bags. Help yourself!) Your first test of nerve is after the warehouse guy takes a circular saw and cuts one package from another (they are fastened together with wood strips) and hands you a box with some now AGITATED bees. Uh Thanks I say trying to sound like I mean it and very carefully walk out of the warehouse and down the steps to the truck thinking about what would happen if I dropped it. I placed the package into a cardboard box that Kristi thoughtfully brought to keep the bees calm. We talked about painting the inside of the box with a floral scene next time. When we got back home there was a snake at the top of the driveway to meet us. The first snake of the season. Not 2 hours later we saw another one dead in the street with a helpful vulture working hard to clean it up.
There are a series of steps you have to go through to calm the bees and get them ready for their new home. We put the box in the garage and sprayed them with some cold water. Instantly the buzzing died down. Next they were liberally sprayed with sugar water. After an hour we prepared for the main event. Transferring the bees from package to hive. We carried all the stuff necessary to the hive. What items you ask? A hive feeder. This is an accessory top for the hive body that is made of styrofoam. It has two chambers, one chamber is very small that give the bees access to a feeding trough that will fill with sugar water. The much larger area is a storage area for the sugar water. We brought a pan full of about a gallon and a half of sugar syrup. My bee smoker. This is a small can with an attached bellows that you build a small fire inside. The resulting smoke has a calming effect on the bees and makes it a little less likely that they will come after you en mass. I brought my bee keepers head gear. You don't want them in your face.
The next step is to firmly grasp the package of 11,000 bees, whack the package firmly on the ground, and then open it. This part can be a little nerve wracking. Really it's no big deal. I think the bees are so astonished that anyone would do that that they forget all about attacking. After the whacking you pour and shake as many of the bees out of the package into the hive body as you have the gumption for, lay the package on top of the hive and back away for a little while. At this point there are bees pretty much everywhere. Package, hive, air and ground. They were really pretty calm considering. After a few minutes I carefully moved the package box which still contained about a quarter of the bees to the ground in front of the hive near the opening. I placed the feeder top on top of the hive being careful to squish as few bees as possible. Then we packed up and left. Nobody got stung. Nobody even really got threatened though there were a few stern glances exchanged. Now we leave them alone for a few weeks to set up shop.

Busy weekend

We're up to 19 new kids now, it would have been 20 except for the one that died. This past weekend was productive. Approximately 6 cubic yards of compost was turned, The adult goats were all wormed, the doelings had ear tags installed and the bucklings were, were, well - castrated. It's one of those jobs on the farm that isn't something we enjoy doing but it MUST be done. If we left the little boy goats INTACT, the meat would become gamey tasting in a few months. It's easier on the little ones to do it when they are young. It's easier on us not to do it at all. Sigh. We use an elastrator. This is like a pair of pliers that expands a small, strong rubber band. The band is placed over the scrotum (such words are unavoidable given the subject matter) then you must make sure both "fellas" are in the scrotum. Especially during cold weather the "fellas" may retract back up into the body cavity to keep warm (or hide). If you fail to get both in the scrotum then the goat will still be capable of impregnating females which would be bad. Also male goats have HABITS which are unpleasant at various times of the year and you don't want to have those habits happen (cough).
That's a whole nother unpleasant farm oriented topic which we may or may not discuss at the proper time (August/September).
Anyway once the "fellas" are obviously in the scrotum you release the rubber band from the pliers and it pinches the scrotum above the "fellas". In a couple of weeks the scrotum atrophies due to lack of blood flow and it just drops off somewhere in the barnyard. That isn't the most pleasant thing to find before breakfast.
I made some french cleats for the garage workshop project and I have begun painting them.
We have committed to (bought parts for) a 6 foot by 30 foot hoophouse for starting vegetable plants. This week we will be assembling it and maybe next weekend we'll get the ground prepped for planting.
Our barred rock chicks are about a month and a half old now and they're growing nicely. I'm going to have to build some new roosts in the chicken barn so they can join the general population.
The cornish cross chickens (meat birds) are huge and getting bigger. They need 3 scoops of high protein feed 3 times a day now. They should be fully grown and ready for processing in the first week of March. We may let them go a little longer because we like them between 6 and 7 lbs.

Fourteen and counting

It's been a busy 13 days -- fourteen goats later and here we are. Only one has died -- simply because it fell on its head at birth (we'd have 15, otherwise) and the spread is 7 girls and 7 boys so far. Oh, sorry... 7 doelings and 7 bucklings. Cute as all get out, as they say.

Switching the goats off grain and onto alfalfa pellets -- better for them and will make them look prettier according to Mike. Not that pretty goats are a problem, but the new feed will also make them feel better in the long run. A little more expensive, but it may just be worth it.

Long weeks of cold, nasty weather (the whole country is experiencing the same) and not much relief in the near future.

Kidding season... and they're off!

32 keeps licking her backside and the kid keeps flollipping around in her belly. She and 6 seem to NOT be eating their feed this morning (un'herd' of) and six's udder has increased in size substantially from yesterday. All sure signs kidding is imminent with those two. But then again, 201 is quite ready, too. She'll have twins. Six may have twins, but 32 is likely to have a single.She's a very small goat and I think part Nigerian Dwarf. 

We put these three goats in their own horse stall yesterday and we were right to do so. They each seem very close to cutting loose.

Vacation Blues

Ah, vacation. On the road and heading west. Yes, we're going to California with a knapsack.. in the trunk. We take tamales. We take chocolate, we take other stuff for that ever-important thing called gift-giving. The trip out was wonderful -- although staying in little ratty motels along the way wasn't very exciting, it served its purpose and allowed us to compare the motels on the trip back. The trip back would be almost a total bust - at least for me. In fact, parts of the trip were a bust. I don't usually complain about these things, but...wait. Getting ahead of myself.

On the way up, we visited a small winery that has made port for fifty years or so in California. Ficklin Wineries. Don't go there unless you like the taste of prune juice. We visited with the owners (there were no visitors but us there -- the 'tasting room' was a huge, cold, cavernous warehouse. Yes, quite lovely). We got to hear tales of the water issues, a political snafu that isn't going to be watering our nation's food supply. The water comes from upstate and they're all pissy that the nations major source of fruits (no comment) and nuts (no comment)  is taking up too much of their water. I'm speaking about the snootier parts and more influential folks in the snootier parts of CA. And that's saying something as hey, I'm a Texas gal and when we get all snooty over here, it's because someone's not willing to spit their snuff out the window. REAL snooty.  The only difference between Snooty and Snotty is Tea, and that's fer fanciful folks up there in that Snooty country. They can have it.

I'm probably not allowed to say anything about staying with Mike's friends in Los Altos, but I can tell you that if you have arthritis, don't sleep on an air mattress. Especially one that leaks.

The happiest time was seeing all the kids in Mike's family growing up -- they're all just about to enter the teenage stage or the college stage. Just nice to see kids growing up well. My brother-in-law has Lukemia and is out of work, although he's probably one of the most intelligent folks you'll meet. It just isn't fair.

This trip, the gift that Mike's father gave him was a 1989 Ford F250 with a camper on the back of it. It rebelled (water pump busted) at 9:30pm on the night we left (a Saturday night) in Lost Hills, CA. Weird, but there's actually a mechanic that works on weekends and although we had to stay until Sunday evening, it was done and we were on the road again (although we had to go back a little ways down the road because a hose was loose). They had promised us 1pm, but didn't finish until 5, but at least it was done.

While we waited, we went to the Kern Conservatory -- a long, winding, flat road that took us around  a swamp to look at hawks and other birds. It was actually kind of nice. We ate breakfast in Shafter, CA (yeah, that's what it's called). This is in the heart of Almond country -- those Blue Diamonds or other brands all come from here. The place was called 'Pappy's' and I highly recommend being stuck in this town if you have to be stuck somewhere in California. The folks are friendly and generally not Snooty. They didn't even serve us tea.

We headed through El Paso and finally stopped at a place called Van Horn, Texas at a Ramada Inn (after getting the poo poo on several other places and forcing us to stop at Subway just to eat). In the morning, it had snowed.

So now we have an old truck that's untested on icy roads and a long way to go before we get back to Bastrop. But luckily, there was nothing else that happened and we made it back by 4 in the afternoon.

Our farmsitter did great and the only problem was that the geese had gotten out and fouled our backyard pond and ate the water lily in it. A small price to pay for 11 days' vacation. Everything else was just hunky dory and it was really nice to be home.

Nine Degrees

That's today's low temperature.
Cold. Too cold.

My personal previous low was 19 degrees at Oklahoma's airport. That was cold to a Californian. 9 degrees is physically painful.
I went out in the morning to feed the animals. Usually on weekends Kristi helps but today, for some reason, she was willing to let me take care of them myself. I first went to look at the goldfish pond. Huh. Covered with an inch thick layer of ice. The pump was still running and water was flowing. There was a small area that wasn't iced where the water movement was greatest. A bad day to be a fish.
Next stop was the shed to feed Thud and Eatz, the kitties. It was hard to get their wet cat food out of the cans.
Over to the barnyard and the goats. Stopped to look at their water tank. Frozen. Looks like more than 2 inches thick. Huh. After whacking at the ice for 10 minutes I managed to expose about 20 square inches. Hardly enough for one goat to stick their beak in. Moving into the barn I was congratulating myself for planning ahead and putting a large tub of water in there so the goats would have something liquid to drink. But the tub was crusted over with an inch of ice. That broke up easily and I scooped the ice off to the side of the barn. It was still there today after 5pm.
Fed the goats, gave them a half bale of alfalfa to keep them busy and fill their bellies. A full belly helps to make even a goat forget about the cold for a while.
Next up was the chicken yard. Both waterers were frozen solid. The first little problem. All outside spigots were frozen. I had to take the waterers to the house to refill them. Our 3 day old chicks (50 Plymouth Barred Rocks, 25 Cornish crosses and 5 Barred Rock roosters) were obviously uncomfortable and huddled together under the heat lamps. I fed them and collected the empty waterer to take back to the house. There were no dead chicks and I was happy about that.
After 12 the temps had come up to above freezing and things were beginning to thaw out a little. We went on a walkabout to see if there was any damage to exterior plumbing. In the back yard there is a hose bib. When I touched it it fell off. That would have to be fixed. I get to brush up on my copper soldering skills. Walking around to the front of the house you could hear a loud hissing. The copper pipe for the hose bibs was spraying water. These pipes were covered with thick plastic insulation but still froze. There were 2 spots that had burst. That would be fun. Off to the hardware store and pick up a bunch of copper plumbing parts. We also got some 4" schedule 40 plastic fittings to make a mineral and baking soda feeder for the goats. I spent most of the rest of the day measuring, cutting and soldering copper. My first attempt was a dismal failure spraying water forcefully out of half a dozen spots. I'd made the leak worse than it was. Second attempt fell apart even as I was building it. The third attempt I finally figured out my problem and got it right. We tested it and it works great. Covered the pipe again with insulation and left them dripping. Our low for Sunday morning is forecast to be 25 but at 8:30 Saturday night we are already at 25 and the temps are dropping. We'll see what the morning brings.