Let the Farming begin......

When I finished feeding Thery he kept head butting me so I make my own paci for him...it worked great too!

Now, by the time the house was done I had already built me a chicken coop, a pig pen and put up a temporary fence for goats and sheep. I did not grow up on a farm so all of this is new to me and I have to do alot of Googling and reading, not to mention that I love to talk FARM! Ok, so I start out with chickens that I bought from a family in Mount Airy. These people have a huge farm with all kinds of animals and horses that walk around their front yard. One thing you will notice is I have alot to say about the great people that I have met throughout my adventure of trying to accumulate my farm stock. I love going to see other people's farms and their animals and you would be amazed at the kinds of people that you meet, luckily so far they have all been unique and interesting. Ok, then I went and bought farm piggy's, little feeder size pigs and in my mind I thought "I am going to feed these pigs and they will get to live forever", kind of like the Charlotte's Wed scene. Well nope, that didn't happen once I seen the feed they ate, the size they were and they didn't want me petting them or huggin on them. Unfortunately, I sold them and replaced them with potbelly pigs. It make me feel somewhat less of a farmer but hey, this is a hobby farm and a pig is a pig! I have so enjoyed them too. I have had two liters of piglets which is good, I sell them to help recoup some of the farm expense. I am not a vegetarian or anything but I just hate to see them killed. Priscilla is expecting again soon. Especially not mine that I have raised or loved on. I guess you can say that I specialize in "pets". Next there were the sheep and the goats, all bought as babies and a year later we had a lamb and a kid! This made for just the best weekend ever, they were 12 hours part! Next I added 2 of the sweetest donkey's (Rosie and Scatter Pat). Donkeys are my favorite! I love the way they move so slow and always seem to be humbled.

Lesson Learned: Do not attempt your first calves in the middle of the winter! I started out with a 3 day old bull calf (Therby) then added Maybell, my heifer, same age, also on a bottle. First came scours, then a cough with chest colds so there was fluids, shots and more fluids. Bottles at 5:30 am and again at 5:30 pm with some in between, heat lamps and cleaning stalls. I am happy to say that thanks to the greatest vet ever, helping advise me what to do (I did all the medicines and treatment myself) they are both thriving and almost 6 months old. Therby is no longer a steer since I decided to You Tube "Banding Calves" and so you can guess what happened from there. I am looking forward to breeding Maybell when she is of age and milking her. I have my churn ready! Along and along I have added turkeys, more chickens, rabbits, ducks, usually 2 by 2 like Noah and I came across the idea of using my goats milk. So on a whim one night after recently selling Pearl's kid (Pearl's my Nubian doe) I decided I was going to give it a try and I loved it. I am up to 3 milk goats now, one Nubian and 2 Lamancha's and would like to add one more. I may regret saying this but everyone told me that I needed all this box with electric, etc fencing to hold goats but mine have done great in regular, electric fencing. A buddy of mine told me that "they had it made so good, they didn't want to leave", that may be so. Now I am sure to go home and find them out in my uncle's yard eating his marigold's. My animals are spoiled, all of them, they get to eat before I do. Last but not least, there is Jack, my mule. Believe this or not but I am afraid of horses so somehow I have convinced myself that a mule is not a horse and it ain't but Jake is a big old guy with a great personality. I have plans of training or riding him, he still just needs some work and I need to find the equipment! So that sums up the first year getting the farm started. Oh, I didn't mention that we built a run in from rough cut timber and are getting ready for another.