Frustratedearthmother's Journaling Journey

[frustratedearthmother]

Cameo DID make it up on the stand,, but her production was down by almost half... But, she's moving a whole lot better now and I'll bet by tomorrow she'll be 100%. I woulda been way upset if she'd met her demise on her tippy toes... But, she's good and now Conan has the squirts. Does this insanity ever end???? Actually I know exactly why he's got the squirts and that's cuz I've been increasing his feed. In the pygmy goat show world we called it 'feeding to their tolerance' or in this case his intolerance, lol. We would steadily increase a goats feed until they started getting clumpy berries and we'd know that was about all the feed their system could handle. I guess we reached that point with Conan a little faster than I expected to. But, he's not acting sick, and he still wants to eat so I just cut him back by about half and gave him more hay. He'll be fine...

And, Dusty is still in his pen...not sure why cuz the girls were over there teasing him. He did stand up and of course he's about 4 foot taller than the panels when he's up on his back legs...shows why it's so easy for him to just pop over. Might...or might not extend some hot wire this weekend. Eh...it''ll probably be like it was with Cowboy - when I ABSOLUTELY have to I might start thinking about it. By then breeding season will be over with, lol!

Lost a quail hen yesterday and have no idea why but it's prompting me to start another batch of eggs. We need more quail! I'm thinking about cooking some this weekend and I don't have that much in the freezer so I need more. Makes perfect sense, huh.

 

[baymule]

I'm glad Cameo is better. Goats do get into some squirrely situations. Ah Dusty.....you better straighten up.....your momma has some SHOCKING news! LOL

Yay for more quail! They are tasty and easy to raise. Makes sense to me that you need to restock the freezer.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Thanks - she's fine this morning. Conan is fine this morning too and Dusty is still in his pen. Great way to start the day, lol. There is thunder booming in the distance and the forecast says rain - but they've been saying that a lot lately. We've got a few showers that have helped - but we haven't gotten any big soaking showers. Feels weird to be asking for rain.

Noir (Kinder) was teasing Conan at the fence this morning so I may snag her later and put her with Dusty. She's a good size gal and won't have any trouble delivering his kiddos. Except for Dusty's penchant to go over a fence now and then - he's dang near the perfect buck. He's BIG, but really easy to handle. He is definitely an udder buck. I have bred him to does with awful, pendulous udders (Red) and his daughters will have a high, tight well attached udder with great milkable teats. AND, the frosting on the cake is all those SPOTS on his offspring! Can you tell I really like him a lot?

The last guy who bought goats from me tried to convince me that I should sell Dusty soon. He said sell him at this age, in his prime, before he gets too old and nobody will want to buy him. And why? I don't have any intention of selling him - he can stay here and make babies until he's too old to make babies anymore. I have enough bucks to keep the genetic diversity going and he's just too valuable to me to let him go. He makes me more money by giving me very saleable, colorful babies.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

 

[sumi]

The last guy who bought goats from me tried to convince me that I should sell Dusty soon. He said sell him at this age, in his prime, before he gets too old and nobody will want to buy him. And why?

Probably because he wants to buy him He sounds like a great buck, I'd keep him too, if I were you.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Probably because he wants to buy him

Yep - he did ask me several times, lol. The answer was always 'nope.'

 

[NH Homesteader]

Lol, Dusty is a keeper, fence jumper or not! An udder fixing gentle giant, what else could you want?

 

[baymule]

I think we need a Dusty fix in the way of lots of pictures!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Not much, lol!

Been a weekend kinda. DH has worked every day trying to get everything caught up that he inherited at this new job...ugh. I hope these people appreciate everything that he's doing for them.

Haven't done a whole lot this weekend except for a few kinda crappy jobs that I keep putting off. Got some of 'em done - still dreading the others, lol.

Cooked quail last night! Yum! I slathered 'em with a bbq-ish sauce that I made from ...well...from bbq sauce. I added some melted butter, some fresh minced garlic a tiny, tiny piece of finely minced jalapeno and a touch of Worcestershire sauce. Wish I'da had a beer - that would have been perfect to cut the sauce a bit more. Then I wrapped each one in a big piece of bacon and stuck 'em in the oven. Flipped em over after about 15 minutes and basted 'em again. Cooked 'em another 15 minutes or so and they were delish. They don't usually take that long, but I used a lower temp cuz I was multi-tasking and didn't wanna burn 'em. Steamed some broccoli and dusted it with some parmesan and it was a mighty satisfying dinner.

I'll be setting some eggs within the next couple days. I'm down to breeders and I'm seeing a few of the older birds that are having beak issues. One has a crossed beak that I don't know how I missed. Another's beak was really overgrown. I'll set the eggs I have now and collect the next couple days but then I'll cull those hens. Don't want to breed beak problems into the following generations. I really like these birds cuz they are good size and really calm - but nothing is ever perfect. For each good trait seems like there's a bad one...

@baymule - Almost too late for Dusty pics...he's starting to sport his raggedy rut look, lol! If I can get a few good ones I'll post 'em - if not - it'll be next April before he's presentable again!!

 

[baymule]

That quail sounds VERY good!

 

[frustratedearthmother]

It was good again as leftovers!

Ugh, shopping for truck tires this morning. Mine have 46K on them and are the original ones on my 2013 truck. One of 'em leaks every time the truck sits for than a couple days and just in case I'm gonna be hauling grandkids around in 'em soon I'm going to go ahead and replace 'em. It's time.

Started warming up the incubator last night. I'll load it up this evening. Yay? Need quail replacements and freezer birds so gonna concentrate on those. But, if I have some space left in the 'bator I'll tuck a few chicken eggs in that space. Not that I really want a bunch more chickens - but my gals are getting old and I need fresh layers. Not going to concentrate on any particular breed - just whatever eggs I have on hand are going in.