Okay...post your herd pics here! **Dial-up Warning**

[Beekissed]

Some folks were talking on my porch the other day and we thought it would be nice to start a thread about our herds...post a pic or two and tell how you are managing, feeding, etc. your herd and what works for you.

I know we have a forum for that, but some of the folks there are a little less than cordial when us SSers want to discuss alternative and/or cheaper methods of raising our homestead animals.

I'd also like to put in a request to have a topic on this forum for "Homestead Animals" in which to place this kind of thread. Seems like we all have animals for food and for fun and it would be nice to have a place to talk about them, specifically. Pretty please?


A few pics of my "herds"....


The Bettys, a hair sheep cross of St. Croix/Katahdin, at 4 mo. and 7 mo. old:

Black Betty and her "Got food?" face:

The chickens:

I like to use mostly graze for a food source and I like to stick with the more natural~and cheap~approach to animal husbandry. Here is a great link to alternative internal parasite control:

http://www.abdn.ac.uk/organic/organic_14c.php

NOW....it's your turn! Bring em on and may the good Lord help all us dial-up folks!

 

[Dace]

I second the idea to have our own animal thread here!!

Bee, I love the Betty's but your chicken pic did not come thru.

 

[big brown horse]

Thanks Bee!! I am going to study that link, thanks for posting it!

When I get to the "good" computer I will post some photos! Here are a few that I've already posted somewhere.

My two sheeples Dolly (the one with curls) and Dorothy...My friends have been calling my back yard the "Double D Ranch"

"Shadow" aka "Fabio"

"Big Brown Horse" and Dolly

 

[Beekissed]

BBH, those are just the most beautiful pics! Why can't I get my animals to hold still for close-ups like that? They are in constant motion, it seems. Very clear, very great pics you have there. Your sheep make mine look miniature..... I like the Double D Ranch....could mean soooo many things!


C'mon, folks! Don't leave us hangin' by a thread here....... Post some pics of your herds!

Dace, I can see my chickens, so I don't understand why you can't? Maybe the pic has expired from my uploads even though it still shows? Is that possible?

 

[freemotion]

I can see your chickens, Bee.....I did take some pictures today, dh will get them off the camera and onto the computer later. If they are ok, I will post some of my chunky monkeys!

 

[noobiechickenlady]

I can see Bee's chicks too?
Well, I don't technically have a herd, but a flock. I think a lot of you have seen my fluffy butts, but here's a pic. I'm going next weekend to look at the little Dexter heifer that will be up for sale soon.

Babygirl & Staley, the Rooster. He's doubled in size since this picture was taken and is now too large for babygirl to pick up.

Do cats count? Dropshadow is the gray, Catsumodo is the orange.

 

[Blackbird]

I can't wait to see Mya!

All the animals look great!! I'm going to get my sister to help me when she comes tonight.

The chicken pictures are really nice, they all look very content.
I won't be able to post pictures of all the birds - theres too many! I was just thinking of how natural some of our chickens are raised, but then I remembered - hatchery birds are usually given an injection.

Its funny though, all the birds that are hatched on our property by our hens live longer, are hardier, and manage themselves better than the hatchery birds we get. Their also the best mothers and make up the majority of broodies we get each year.

 

[Dace]

Well I see them now too!

I love seeing everyone's critters! BBH I love the way Fabio is peaking thru the bushes...he look very mysterious!

Here are a few of my girls...

Little Miss 'I-Prefer-to-Lay-in-the-Bushes'

Miss Kelly Peckler

Our Hairball

 

[freemotion]

So here are the pictures of my herd....well, some of them. Took these today. I did not brush, clip, bathe, or otherwise alter the natural look of these animals. I did not pull their heads up while pushing their backs down to artificially change the look of their toplines. What you see is what you get!

Mya, almost dead and skeletal and three months pregnant in late December...no "before" pics, unfortunately, I didn't think to take any. She eats lactofermented and slightly sprouted barley and sunflower seeds, a double handful, and a half cup of beet pulp, soaked, and a small coffee can of alfalfa pellets along with any veggie scraps from the house, up to two cups per meal, and if there are none, she will get about 2-3 ounces of fermented cucumber scraps. She gets this twice a day on the milking stand. She gets pasture free choice 24/7 and alfalfa and grass hay with the pygmies at night and in bad weather. Free access to minerals, block salt, loose salt, and baking soda. She also gets lots of sweet talk in spite of occasionally giving me attitude! I believe she is an Alpine or an Alpine-x:

Here is her top view, just to see the good condition of a "working" dairy goat:

Here is my sweetie-pie, Ginger Peach, at about five months old:

Isn't this the cutest tuckus you've ever seen?

And the pygmy-x pets, the Princesses Chunk. Neither of them is fed purposely. They have access to all the free-choice pasture and supplements, and I put Mya's hay a bit out of their reach, but they still manage....obviously!....Willow:

And Te'a, who didn't feel like getting up for her photo op, but I think this picture does justice to her conditioning:

Just a few of my flock, thought I'd put in this spring's chicks. They eat air, mostly. They forage in that pathetic temporary pen and find plenty, because I offer them grain daily and they show little interest in it. The local chipmunks and a red squirrel are getting quite stout, however:

I also had to throw in one of Lola, our crippled hen who lives in the house when the weather gets cold. She has the run of the backyard all spring, summer, and fall, and is the queen of her domain. She gets a bit of whole grains and any meat scraps and worms I find when gardening....she cannot scratch, she only has use of one leg, but she will do her best to dig up goodies with her beak and gets to all her favorite digging spots throughout the day. She is a sweetie, and very talkative. Check out the color of that comb! She even gives me eggs now and then!

 

[big brown horse]

Everyone's animals look great!

Noobie, your little girl is adorable!

Dace, all the chickens look happy.

Free, your goats are perfect! What is up with chickens not wanting to eat their "scratch"? Mine live on air too. Glad I'm not the only one.

Shadow (Fabio) poses for everything. He is a total flirt. My last vet and her tech were female and he flirted with them while they gave him his shots! He loves the ladies!

I have one other horse named "Twinky" she was the most abused mentally and physically. She tried to die twice before I could nurse her back to health.

I'm going to take her photo right now. Be right back!

eta: here she is, it isnt a recent photo, it was taken in March I believe. She is about 26 years young! Look at that booty! (Oh, that is my baby girl there in the photo.)