Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[Mini Horses]

She's being a great mom. Only issue is --- she has teats that are 3-4" long. That will be a dream when milking but, the kids are bumping the udder and not going the length of the teat to nurse.
I milked & bottled them about 2 hrs after birth, again every few hrs to get colostrum in & held them (and teat) to get them to nurse. In barn 12:30 & again at 5 to be sure they are eating. After all, they are only a few hrs old. They'll catch on.

She's a full sized Nubian, so huge bag! Drew is from a long line of developed milkers....which is why I got her. Kids are just a necessity of freshening. Next 2 due are mini nubs. If you were close I'd share milk.

Gotta go pick up that used frig I bought for milk & eggs.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Bless their little baby hearts, lol. Good catch on your part for noticing. I'll bet she will be a dream to milk. If I were closer I'd take you up on the milk offer! I have an extra frig for milk and eggs too - I don't know how I ever lived without it!

Slept in a little this morning - but it's my birthday so I deserved it! We're going to go to a movie and maybe grab lunch out so I need to get off my butt. We're going to see The Revenant - hope it's all it's been cracked up to be.

I need to get on the tractor this morning and put out a round bale before we head out. Woohoo - tractor time, lol. Dh and I 'fight' over who gets to drive. But - today I win!

Happy Saturday, ya'll!

 

[Mini Horses]

Happy Birthday!!

You should get to drive, it's your day!
I thought I'd like to see that movie. Give us a review.

 

[Denim Deb]

That's what I was going to say. I think most people would think there's something wrong w/us. But, I'd rather drive a good tractor than a fancy car.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Not much going on the last couple days. We did go see The Revenant and wow... I'm not going to give anything away, but it was a powerful movie - but also a bit sad and even a little 'dark'. I've gotta say that when I left there I actually wanted to go see a comedy or a 'chick flick' just so I could have that 'feel good' feeling after a more light-hearted movie.

Went to a nice steakhouse after that ... it was good, but could have cooked a good steak at home just as easily. Not being ungrateful - just don't often go spend as much money on one meal as I could on a weeks worth of groceries, lol! Oh well...just once or twice a year that we do that.

Starting to watch the ladies a little more closely. Checked Spooky's membranes Sunday and dang if she's not pretty darn pale so I wormed her. She should be due in a month-ish. Was watching one of the little brown pygmy does and she's got something weird going on with her mouth/cudding... like...not being able to chew thoroughly and not really swallowing her cud before she dives into her grain. I'm guessing she's got a crooked tooth or something because any long stems of hay or grass is hanging up in her teeth and she's having a hard time eating. I pulled it out of her mouth a couple times and it seems to be quite long and totally, completely disgusting. I moved her over into the geriatric pen so she wouldn't have so much competition at the feed pan, but I think what I really need to do is put her in a small pen with no hay and no access to browse. Then hopefully, I can get her mouth cleaned out and see what's going on in there....ugh!

Spooky and K'ili are showing the very beginnings of building an udder. Nothing dramatic yet, but it's starting! Still have no real idea how many does are expecting. I haven't seen ANY does come back in heat and the boys are all quiet - but surely, surely not all of them are bred. ARGH! I don't really expect that to be the case. Stoopid fence destroying bucks!

Got a call from my mom this morning. Dad has an appt tomorrow with an ear doc. Mom and their 'helper' were supposed to take him, but mom isn't feeling good so she asked if I could come to the rescue. His appt is at 2pm tomorrow so I guess I'll work until noon or so and then head their way.

Mom and my brother finally had a little talk. I won't say all is well, but at least they're speaking. I think mom mistakenly thought that my brother would step back in and start doing everything for them again and I that's just not going to happen.

Starting to get excited that Puxatowny Phil didn't see his shadow this morning! Whoop - spring is coming! Time to get busy!

 

[Mini Horses]

Well, Spring comes every year just not always nicely. Hope it's sweet and calm this year. Everyone needs that.

Hmmm, not sure I want a "dark" movie right now. Probably wait a while. News each day is dark enough. Crazy people.

Goats. All three of my does due at last half of Jan, waited until great weather. THANKFULLY ! 1/29 twin boys, 2/1 twin boys in AM & trip boys in PM. (mother/dater kidded same day -- & dtr was FF with trips!) Soooooooo....did you catch. 7 boys?? All went very well, easy births, etc.

So milked some from gal w/trips....to be sure all got colostrum before I went to bed. She's a mini-nub and there is NO room under there plus there is NO teat to get hold of. The smallest kid is always full, the largest one is having trouble getting down there. Me too. I believe I'll stay with my taller gals for milking. I will say her milk was so thick it was almost the consistency of honey. Had to help first two as their mom is a full sized Nubian and her teats were so long they didn't follow from udder to bottom of teat....got it going now! Extremes.

No, don't need dark movie. DO need Spring

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Yep, spring will come! And, what you REALLY need is a bunch of girls, doelings, females, 'two-holers'!

But, as long as you're having the boys - maybe I'll get girls!

Baby time sure can be exhausting, and I know my time is coming, but for whatever reason we keep doing it year after year. I wouldn't have it any other way!

I'm thinking about doing something different this year. I've never sold bottle babies...but considering it if I do end up with a lot of boys. Just considering it though...not sure I can go through with it. I know I'd feel bad for the mama's...(unless they had trip or quad boys - then they'd probably thank me, lol!)However, I've kinda always felt like my obligation to the babies should go beyond a couple of days. I feel like I should see to it that they get a good start...you know... worming, disbudding, shots, coccidia prevention/treatment if necessary. I dunno...guess it depends on if I end up with a gazillion boys.

Got 15 eggs today...yep...spring is coming!! Every seed catalog in the world has passed through my mailbox the last few weeks. I can't stand it - I want to garden right now.

 

[Mini Horses]

Yeah, 'two holers' .... do have 3 of his dtrs as he is from great milk lines & reg mini-Nubian. Dtrs I kept are all from my Saanen doe. The trips are 5gen & may get sold as bucks. Others will be wethered. Pets at chicken swap? Or sold as Easter kids. He does make beautiful kids...smooth, wide bodies, dropped great ears, good personality, strong legs/feet.
A good buck.

Like you, I feel I need to get them started well. So will be here a couple of months, tamed, vetted, etc. Just see them as a couple hundred $ vice a couple thousand $ for farm income. Some years are like that.

My chickens are doing well...with improved weather, me too I am lusting for blue egg layers. Chicken math.

You know, I am REALLY wanting to plant right now. Actually, wanting to go pick a tomato right now. This time of year plans get so huge that you realistically can't do it all. But what else is there to look forward to? 65-70 degree last 5 days.

Hey, those AGHs are growing really well. Can't wait to try one on the grill. Finally someone on BYH said they butchered theirs and meat was "awesome". Come to VA late summer & I'll give ya a little porker to take home. I plan to breed Rosie & Tiny late March....piggies July, weaner sales Sept. And I don't care if they are boys/girls.

So, I hope the "doe fairy" is in TX for you when your girls kid -- whenever that may be We both had the "loose buck" issue. Won't happen to me next Fall !!!!!!!

MOSTLY what I hope for you is that your parents can stay well enough to not need to become your entire focus for a long time. Helping is one thing, alternative is totally another.

Stay well!! Have a glass of wine in the hot tub for me, please. I could use that right now -- even long distance.

 

[hqueen13]

Hey happy belated birthday to another aquarian!!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Thanks, HQ, I appreciate it!

MH - ROAD TRIP! Wonder how a 20 hour trip would be with a piglet along for the ride? LOL! I'm sure that would be a trip to remember!

Dh's son and two grand kids came for the weekend. I loved the visit, but dang, they wear me out! Me and the step son built a couple 'bridges' for the goats yesterday. Basically just two landscape timbers with boards nailed to 'em that we put over the worst muddy spot between two pasture areas. It's been so deep that the girls would literally be belly deep from 'swimming' through the mud. The Kinder's are decent sized goats and when they'd get their udder muddy coming through there it was time to do something. We built two sections and got them in place when step-son decided to move one of them just a couple more inches. He reached down to grab it and totally dislocated his shoulder. OMG! He's had this shoulder problem for a couple of years and doesn't even go to the doc when it happens now. We gave him a muscle relaxer and about a half-hour later he popped it back in place. EWWW-ARGH! I felt so bad for him cuz he was helping me and got hurt. So, naturally I waited on him hand and foot for the rest of the weekend!

Finally got around to butchering a couple roosters. Grandkids loved that...for a few minutes... and then were totally bored and went out to the pasture to play with Maddie. But, at least it's done and I've got three less mouths to feed. They were young roos so it was a pretty easy chore and I see some chicken stock in my future. Probably won't be as flavorful as it would be with some older birds, but I'll take it anyway.

Had a near tragedy with allll the female goats and the horses on Wednesday. Scared the bejeebus out of me! Came home from taking my dad to the ear doc on Wednesday and saw horses and goats where they shouldn't be.... and they only way they could've gotten to where they were would be through the feed room. My heart just sank. The barn door has shifted a bit I guess and it was hard to close a couple of days last week. I told DH that we needed to concentrate on fixing that this weekend, but the problem surfaced before we had a chance to fix the stoopid door. So... I race out there and find that they've created total hell and havoc in the feed room. Of course, every can of feed was totally full, but thankfully they've only knocked over ONE full-sized can with mixed grain in it and another small can with BOSS. But, I know that the big can had 150 lbs of feed in it and there's not much left in it when I stood it back up. I'm thinking that they are all going to die. With DH's temporary job status - his job ends in March - I knew I just couldn't justify a vet bill that would have easily exceeded a thousand dollars or more. There would have been three horses and at least 15 goats to be treated..... So, I jumped into action and did everything I could think of to do.

I was home alone and only had mineral oil on hand. I mixed it up into a slurry with some pumpkin puree (because my goats LOVE pumpkin) and the oil needed to have a 'taste' to it so they would swallow. Even the horses didn't object too strongly and took it without too much fuss. I had a 60cc syringe with a tapered tip on it instead of the smaller needle tip so it helped make the dosing job easier. As soon as I had the horses dosed I put them into the muddiest, wettest pen on the place and they had no choice but to stand in COLD water all night. (served them right!) Then I started on the goats. It took me at least an hour to catch them all and get some oil into them. There are 19 goats in that area, but I knew that some of them wouldn't have gotten a chance at the grain so I skipped a few of them. The others - no doubt that they'd over eaten. Their rumens were ridiculously extended and doughy to the touch. It's hard to catch and dose goats with tears streaming down your face. I felt horrible about what happened and even more horrible that I couldn't justify calling the vet.

I also put in a call to DH who was on his way home from work and told him to get me a gallon of Milk of Magnesia, lol. A gallon he asks? Okay, two big bottles to start. So, a few hours after the mineral oil/pumpkin battle I started getting MOM into them. Then I gave the most bloated ones a penicillin injection, just because I thought it might help. I didn't get finished with all of that until close to midnight and I was exhausted. Was absolutely terrified to go out the next morning. Amazingly, no deaths but quite a few goats with really loose, grain filled stool! Woo hoo! Then I started on the probios for everybody. Did that for a couple days and most everybody is back to normal. As of this morning only Red still had loose stool so she got another dose of Probios. Other than that, no one has any lingering effects. Horses are good - even after fighting founder a couple years ago with two of them. I thank God for all the help and am definitely counting blessings these days. A true miracle in my eyes.

Today was the first day they got anything except hay and they only got a scant serving of alfalfa pellets. Couple of them are looking mighty hungry.

And in other news - saw a little bit of mucous on Spooky's girly parts yesterday. Scared me at first - thought she might be aborting because she was the biggest offender in the grain overload fiasco. But, all seems well. Just saw that one speck and haven't seen any since then. She could be due in three weeks or so - so it's not unusual to see a little mucous at this point.

Oh - and have to say that without Gracie's help I could not have accomplished this at all. As soon as she figured out that I needed the goats to stay IN the barn where I could catch them she stationed herself in front and would NOT let the goats out. She's proving to be an invaluable farm dog - despite a few flaws that have to do with chickens....

Sitting in front of the Super Bowl but about to call it a night and head to the bed. Maybe a glass of vino first, lol.