New Chicks And A New Dexter.

 Well another December Dexter is here. its almost like clockwork huh?  Looks like a heifer this time, seems like its been bulls for the last three or four!  Yay !!

I just went out and checked , and momma and baby are fine, in fact the baby is up and walking all over the pasture, with or without mamma's permission.

Here is the last calf born in July I think, checking out the new friend.  Not the size on him, he will be one of the mini -sized Dexters, his mama has had nothing but smaller sized calves.  This heifer was borm this morning and she is almost as tall as him, curious indeed.

And of course Tanner in the background, he's mad because I won't let him in the back pasture to get stomped, how cruel I am.
 Anyway stay tuned I will get better pics when the other camera gets home, lol.


The New Chicks!

We got a new batch of chicks this week , all the old hens are running out of eggs hehehhe, so time for a new set of layers.

So in about four or five months, more eggs!  Can't beat that!

The only trick now will be keeping these little jokers warm enough, they are in the barn with two heat lamps on them, hope that's enough!    As always , I'll keep you posted!

Never Any Spare Time On The Farm.

 With the garden going full tilt this year and all the canning and that I haven't had too much time to post, and that is still the case, so instead a picture montage for your viewing pleasure!
 My sister got a nice DSLR camera a while back and she lets me use it now and again, until I can get one of my own! I took some Photography back in high school, but that don't make me Ansel Adams then does it??  lol!

So tell me what you think, go ahead, I can take it!!  And Enjoy!

Well there you go, and I will see ya soon !

New Dairy Calf and Large Black Hogs!!

Last Sunday we went to pick up a Large Black boar hog from a local breeder here in the area, on the way back with the hog, my sister called and said one of the dairy heifers was in labor.  We got home and found Sweetpea, who was born here two years ago, already in labor with hooves coming out!

Sweetpea, the new Momma

  In about the fastest labor i have seen, she had the calf delivered in about an hour!  And sweet Lilly came into the world!

Sweet Lilly

 After cleanup its time for a nap, here she is catching some shut eye!

Sleepy time

 And with all the excitement, we didnt get any picture of the hog, we'll thats another post anyway!!

UPDATE!!!

Here is a picture of the Large Black Hog, His name is Sammy, or Sam or Samuel, don't matter he don't come to ya anyway! 

Large Black Hog

Some Fence Work

 Now that it's warming up around here, we can get out and work some fence in relative comfort,So that's just what I did.  We have a stretch of old fence that need replacing and we are going to put a loading chute in also. So I got busy today clearing the brush from the fence line, and also setting another post in to make an H post to hold the end of the fence.  

 Clearing the brush was pretty easy, there wasn't that much of it, maybe ten feet of real trouble bushy spots total, and alot of vines growing up thru the wires, I need to mention that its field fence , not barbed wire, so that's where the vines cause problems!

So like I said , it wasn't to bad, and with a chain saw, it was short work! It actually took more time to pick up all the brush and move it to the burn pile than cut it off the fence.

 Next came sinking the other post to make an H post for the gate end of this stretch of fence, again not to hard , just a little manual labor!

 I dug a hole with the post hole digger, the most evil tool ever devised by man..IMHO, well it really wasn't that bad, we just had some rain yesterday so the ground was pretty soft, next drop a 5 inch treated post in the hole, fill in the void with concrete, mix with water and let it set up.  I'll let this set up for a day before I do anymore work on it, to make sure its in good and solid.  That cross board up top is just to keep it from wiggling until it sets up good.
 Next I'll put in the permanent cross brace, pull out the old fence and roll it up , then hang the new fence!
I'll keep you posted!

The New Kubota L5740

Well it finally happened, we all got tired of having to beg, borrow and ...uh borrow the neighbor's tractor, so we went out and got us one! The old Ford 8n just didn't have the juice anymore, not that it ever did, but that's a whole nuther story!

My mom, bless her soul, one day came in and said "pull up the web, we need a tractor" , so after many hours of hand ringing, calling dealers , fighting amongst ourselves, and discussing in a civilized manner... yea right! We narrowed it down to Kubota brand, all that just to get there ! ..yikes. So after a few more talks, and my mom's boss recommending His dealer, Which is Allied Power Mart , Talk to Calvin at the Splendora Store, he is great ....And no that is not a paid endorsement!, We made the deal, An L5740 , with front end loader and a tiller, and a front bale spear, so we are pretty much set for anything now.

The tractor was delivered on Wednesday but i'm just now getting around to posting this on Sunday, Its been non stop on this thing, It is great!! We have already tilled up the garden in about ten minutes, that usually takes all day. Moved three round bales, and cut some drainage ditches to get some of the rain water that hasn't left yet to fianlly make its way to a local bar ditch!

So that's it for now, except for some pix, I'm off to run this tractor some more! Stay tuned for more stories from Kubota country lol!
Be safe out there!

Goat Kidding Time!

With the cold of February comes the Dairy Goat kidding season, and this year is no different, Except I think they are cuter this time! No really Take a look for yourself. The goat above is spanish/alpine cross, she was the first one to come along! Thursdy night/Friday morning some time.






These little goats are Lamancha Crosses, they have all their ears, the buck was an Alpine.
One boy and one girl, the girl is the black spotted model! They are getting the legs working and they are jumping around every where, every goat and everthing!!



Here is another view of the little doe, she's has a very nice pattern almost like a Holstein Cow



This one is pure Alpine, She came along Saturday morning to one of the biggest Alpines we have!
Her mamma is down right now and its touch and go, she may end up being a bottle baby.

Veterans Day 2009

In Memory of the 13 brave souls killed, at Ft, Hood Texas.
Thank you for your service!

To those injured and your families, we wish you speedy recovery,
and we thank you for your continued service.

To the rest of you Devil Dogs, G.I.'s, Fly Boys, Swabbies, and Coasties
serving now or who have ever served THANK YOU !!! From one vet to you all,
And from my family to yours, Come back safe!!!


Your Service is Not Forgotten

Farmlife Photo Tour

Howdy!,

Well Its been a little busy around here lately and I haven't posted anything in a while, and I was going thru some farm pixs , so I figured I'd post a few for your viewing pleasure, hope you like 'em!

This one is of Clemetine or mini donkey, she's so sweet, she lets the chickens ride around on here back!



Here are two of the many Alpine goat kids that we have had around here, they are always alot of fun.


I took this while playing around with the settings on the camera, this guy is now named Poindexter, He has since turned all black and is in the running to be the herd bull around here.





Again I was messin with the camera and got this nosey donkey, Its Darlin , she was born here on our place, she's also in the next picture as a newborn too.


And a shot of some of the many different colors of chickens around here, they make some good eggs!


So there you go , I hope to get back to some frequent posts here soon, Thanks for coming bye!

Lucille on the milker.

We have started share milking, that is taking some milk from Lucille while keeping the calf on her for his milk. Now before anyone starts to call the SPCA , Lucille wont give away more than she needs for the calf, she just wont do it! This cow has a built in faucet, that she can turn off at will, or at least she acts like she can. So anyway , Lil' Roller isn't hurting for milk that's for sure!

So without further delay, here for your picture viewing pleasure...the photos
Here is the star of the show, or at least he thinks so. He's gettin' brave anymore. That's Lucille hooked up to the milking machine, she's eating so don't bother her she's eating.




He is getting bigger by the day, and nosy too!



He can't wait for his turn!

Well that's all for now, we'll see ya nest time!

Pigs Are Getting Big! And so Are the Figs!

The pigs continue to grow like ...well pigs! I spent last week rigging up a better water system, or so I thought. After its been hooked up several days I went out to check on it and I cracked a fitting, ArGHHHH!!!!! I'm sure never going to be a plumber!! Well here is what it looks like before the damage!
It's really a minor fix, but that didn't make me feel any better about it!!
The good part is they were able to drink out of it!

The Figs Are Getting Big!


This is a fig tree we planted last year, its putting out a good crop for its size, since it almost froze to death during the late April freeze this year. Amazing what a little rain does!!

New Bull Calf Pictures

Well other than the gender and the color, I can't tell ya much more so I'll let the photos do the talking....worth a thousand words, right?
Like I said she is back in the back of the pasture still , just came up for water, so I snapped a few of him. He is a cutey!

New Calf, New Fence and Some New Rain!

Lot's of new stuff happening around here these last few weeks, sit down, have a cold drink and lemme tell ya about it.

First off I've been goat proofing a pasture so they will have some more area to hang out in, its probably about three acres though I haven't walked it off yet. I say I but the whole family has been in on the work, and its been in the hi 90's. We had some barbed wire up already, but anyone with goats knows...barbed wire doesn't cut it. So we used some 32 inch high field fence to cover the bottom half of the fence , and so far it seems to be working. So this will make three different pastures for the goats to use, pasture rotation is the way to go.

As for the rain, we have had about four days where it has rained a little bit, Not nearly as much as we need, but rain none the less. The temps also stay lower during the cloud cover , so that's a plus!

New Calf News:
We have a Dexter cow that has been on baby watch for a week now, and today was finally the day, I walked out back and saw her way across the pasture, looked like she had a little brown dog chasing her. I had to get the binoculars out to make sure, my eyes aint what they used to be! Sure enough, little brown calf! My lovely wife Cathy braved a little downpour that we had this afternoon to go out and see if she could get a gender check....she advised looked like a bull calf. That makes 2 for 3 bull calves fer that particular Dexter...keeps the freezer full anyway!

Sorry folks as of this posting we don't have pix of the new calf, check back tomorrow!

Pasture Rotation

Its been a few days since I've put up a new post, had to get computer access back, ours went kablooey. So sorry for the long stretch of silence, lol like there are millions of readers out there.
Anyway on to the news!

We did a little pasture rotation this weekend, we moved about six goats to a new pasture with the other goats. These last six were being milked and one had two kids on her so we kept them separated. The pasture that they came from will now just sit for a few months to allow it to rest and rebuild, it needs it. In the mean time, we will mend fence, or whatever need to happen in that field while the animals are away.

Hope everyone had a good 4th of July!!

105 Degrees!

105 Degrees, that's what my thermometer says, and that's in the shade!
I can't wait till August, this ought to be a fun summer! Hope we get some rain too!
Its awful !

I'm so hot that's all I can say for now, good luck with your weather, wherever you are!

Pork Shack Update

Here's the finished shelter for the piggies, lovingly named The Pork Shack! This took my wife and I most of the day to make, and the best part, we had all the material already. So total cost for new material $0.00, Love it!!



We also ran pipe out to the pen from the garage, that one almost put Cathy, my Wife, in the hospital. So now the piggies have their own spigot, and I don't have to toe water to 'em.











So far they have been sleeping under it, mostly in the hottest part of the day.We haven't had any rain lately so I don't know how water tight it is yet, guess we'll find out as soon as the rainy season gets here,if that ever happens... hehehe.














Newest June Goats

So I'm walking thru the goat barn the other day and what do I see two white feed sacks all wadded up in the corner as I went to pick up the sacks they jumped up and ran off, It was two little alpine kids that we were expecting, just not right then.

They are both white with black markings one buckling and one doeling, the kids have named them Bonnie and Clyde because they have black eye markings that look like the typical bandit mask.


Here's a better view of the two of them

Water Woes

I have had nothing but trouble with the plumbing around this joint this week. First off the hose to the water tank busted on monday, then the faucet coming out of the garage starts leaking. We those two issues were repaired fairly easily, The hose just needed to be cut and a new hose end affixed. The faucet was more involved, a pvc fitting split, no problem right? Wrong!!, I had to re-work a foot long section of the pipe behind the garage wall because there wasn't enough pipe to get one lowly nipple on to it.
Anyway cut to Thursday, I was mowing after work and I look back to the tank and what do I see? The hose has split again! I decided to work on it on Saturday when i had more time. Well as I continue my mowing duties I notice a large puddle in the grass near the back porch, You guessed it a busted underground pipe. I had to take friday off from work to get it fixed!! What a week we had around here. On a bright note we got part of the pig pen started.