glenolam's madness - April passed away

[glenolam]

CUTE wrappers....but I am biased

See, I was gonna say cute farmers, but I'm biased too

Well, Big G went and got a new baler this morning. Some guy about 45 min north of us just put his mint condition HUGE ASS [hee hee...I wrote A$$ but it fixed it to backside] baler up for sale and Big G was the first among many to respond.
I'm not happy about the $$$$$$$$$$$.....$$$$....$$ spent, but it is in great condition and if we sell about 1000 bales of hay we can make our money back, but it's an investment and well needed if we want to really get into haying.

I guess I just need to sell more bars of soap.

the weekend wrap up isn't too exciting, I'm going to try making some yogurt and see how that goes and I have a friend coming over tonight to make soap with me. Big G's aunt wants to buy 24 guest bars for some convention she's going to and wants to give them out. I don't have any guest bars in the scent she's looking for so gotta fill the order. I've been telling my friend she's got to learn how to do this stuff since she's got female goats and we share the bucks so she's gonna need SOMETHING to do with all that milk...

Wish me luck with the yogurt. I'm scared.

 

[dragonlaurel]

Nice labels. They should get attention and break the ice so people will start asking questions. That should help sales.

Glad you have good hay equipment now. Hope the weather holds out so you can make some money off it quickly. That will help you feel better about the price.

 

[ksalvagno]

How is April doing?

 

[rebecca100]

Ohhhhh. I HATED haying! We did it a couple years. I was pg with child no 1 and 7 months along on a tractor in near 100 degree heat cutting, raking and baleing. At one point it was too hot and we hooked the rake to the pickup and raked with the field with the ac on! Overall it was hot and hard work.

 

[glenolam]

Great idea rebecca! I'll have to mention that to Big G!

We dropped off the haybine at my grandmother's last night. My uncle (who lives right next door) was there talking about helping us and when I mentioned I could rake as Big G baled I was quickly turned down by my uncle who said "NO WAY...I'LL do it. You can man the grill and coolers!" He really misses doing this stuff but doesn't have the time, money or equipment anymore.

k - April is doing well as far as worms and such BUT I now have a new problem. I'm making an appointment for her to see the vet sometime this week. She now has lumps in her udder or abdomen. Either cycsts or abcesses, I can't tell since none have burst or actually come through the skin. They all just feel like golf ball sized lumps towards the bottom of her belly and udder. I have no idea how long they've been there but when I got her in April I felt her all over and didn't notice any lumps. She started loosing hair in her rump about a week ago, I figured it was due to the worms or something like that, but when it kept getting worse and she started loosing hair on the back side of her thigh area I felt the hair and noticed this little thing protruding and also saw that her belly/udder looked a little poofy. Since she's not bred I couldn't understand why she'd look that poofy so I felt around and my heart sank.

Depending on the diagnosis it's either put her down or find a home for her where she can be just a pet. I'm not attached enough to keep her here as a pet and really don't need one more mouth to feed that can't contribute to the farm. Cara was a different story, I was there for her birth and was quite attached...April, not so much. I've only had her for 3 months and it's been one thing after another so I'm pretty much over dealing with her issues. If it turns out she can live a happy life, just with some minor lumps here and there, great. Someone else can feed her. If not, well, I'll deal with that when/if we get there.

 

[aggieterpkatie]

I miss haying so much!! I loved tedding and baling best. Baling with bale kickers was great fun because it was like a video game...aiming for spots in the wagon that was being pulled behind it. Ahh...good times! I miss it!!

Sorry to hear about April! Hopefully it's treatable.

I'm going to PM you about soap stuff in just a minute!

 

[glenolam]

This baler came with a kicker, but he took it off and is selling it. We don't have a hay wagon, let alone enough fields to warrant getting a wagon to use the kicker. It's just hay for us and maybe sell a few here and there to save space for 2nd and maybe 3rd cuts.

April has an appointment at the vet tomorrow at 9 am. Hopefully it's something easy like a staph infection which I can treat with antibiotics. If not, well darn it.

 

[AL]

HA Great idea on the rake, Rebecca!!
Hopefully April's issue is easily medicated. The more I read about "crazy goats" and their issues the more I wonder if I really want them as much as I think I do!

 

[savingdogs]

How self sufficient it must feel to bale hay from your own property. I don't think that would be possible for us here.

 

[ksalvagno]

Wow, that is too bad about April. It will be interesting to see what is going on.