Pink Fox: its Raining...IN MY HOUSE! :/

[pinkfox]

coming a little later, I promise,
busy getting the duck/goose pen finished but its done, mesh around the bottom to keep the ducklings in, kiddy pool in place, steps for the kiddypool in place and the ducks got their first taste of swimming lessons lol. they are so cute!
now got to wash my milking bucket, get up to the barn, get the duck brooder out of the way so I can get it clean and dad can get the mower out, and then milk out Ruthie if she'll let me...
once the mowers out I need to sweep out and hose down the barn floor, its yucky from the geese last night who slept in a playpen so I could get the stall ready...
want to move some stuff around so I can make a little more space, need to make space in the tack room for the refidgerator too...but we'll see how far I get lol.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Dang girl - you are BUSY!

 

[pinkfox]

yup, got the barn stuff done too, dumped out the brooder the ducks were in, cleaned up the tack room, put the brooder in and rebidded it, moved chicks out of their brooder itno the big one and cleaned THAT...put other brooding supplies safely away, moved feed into the tack room (we have mice and so I now need bins for feed)
milked ruthie a little bit, shes going to be VERY nice to milk once I get a stand and can propery secure her...a little hey im just gonna step over there now" on the gorund and not quite tall enough for me to see properly sat on the ground so im hoping dad will help me work on a milk stand once hes done riding his giant lawn mower around the place (its one of those big zero turn bobcat mowers that's wider than my car and twice as fast LOL!, I swear he mows the lawn just because he likes riding round on the thing), barn got swept floor got hosed (kinda, the barn has NO floor drainage so im going to have to have him put something in to solve that issue) and cleared a spot for whete the milk stand will go...
scrubbed and refilled the water trough, spent some snuggle time with ruthie, and some snuggle time with the trio of crazy nutty babies and now im having a cup of coffee which I deserve...
tonight im apparently making roast chicken (seems the cooking of meat is now my job...)

so yeah I aching...my back is spasaming, and theres a billion and 1 things id still like to do like right now, but my body is saying....chillax a bit!

 

[pinkfox]

and to top this crazy day off looks like all 14 bantie babies are going home tomorrow morning.
1/2 the price I was origionally asking but they are growing too fast and I need another bag of starter so bye bye banties lol.
im also going to pick up a dirt cheap 42" wire dog crate tomorrow...itll be a PERFECT grow out tractor cage for some of the baby buns.

also did the math on building a rabbit tractor...itll be cheaper to buy 3 wire cages form TSC and put them on a PVC frame...so that's the plan for the 3 meat does...
im also going to be on the lookout on craigslist for 36" wire dog crates, a little bit of cheap chickenwire over them to keep the littleones from squeezing through the bars but otherwise they are strong secure easy enough to drag (and easy enough to put wheels on) should make perfect little tractors with some roofing ontop...
times are tough and im getting creative LOL!

Dad said we'll work on the milkingstand tomorrow so that's good too...I wish wed got it done this afternoon though...

 

[BarredBuff]

Sadly, man and woman's chores can't all be done in one day. I worked like a dog until noon and rested the rest of the day. I'm simply killed. I put a bottom in a rabbit hutch today, and that took forever. We need some pics!!

 

[Britesea]

The milking stand reminded me of a fun story from when DH was raising Toggenbergs. He had a barn cat that loved to sit on top of the stanchion and just let his tail droop down ever-so-casually until it rested just between the goat's eyes. Of course that tickled, so the goat would shake her head and he would pull his tail up and start the game again.
Well, he tormented those poor goats until the old matriarch got crafty. She held her head up nice n proud until the cat draped his tail down; instead of shaking her head, she just dropped her head down a bit. Cat scooted his rear end a bit until he could get his tail placed just right and down it came. Goat's head dropped down a tad bit more. This went on for several more rounds, until the cat was scooched down so far he was just barely hanging on to the stanchion. The tail came down once again, only this time, instead of lowering her head again, that old girl RAISED her head back up to the original height where they'd started this game; she got her mouth around a goodly chunk o' cat tail and swung her head just as hard as she could. There was a loud, startled "MEOW" and a slight thud as he hit the barn wall, and then she gave him the horselaugh.
He never did bother another goat on the milking stand.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Never underestimate the intelligence of a goat - especially an old one, lol!

Good job on moving the cochins...better to move 'em out for less money than to put more feed into em.

 

[pinkfox]

goats are so scarily sneaky LOL!
she wasn't too happy about milking this morning, lost most to a foot in the bucket, but itll be easier with a stand...I think shes upset right now as is so I think shes just acting up a little...

cochin babes whent home this morning, woman loved them so YAY, it bought another bag of starter so that's perfect, and yes completely agree, better to sell a little lower than to put a fortune in feed in them and not recoup.
the rhodbars will be much happier with more space too, and im not going to look into buying some more rhodebar eggs (need more girls lol)

also picked up a 42" wire dog crate, and she gave me a little one that she had laying round that looks brand spankin new...I think its a 20" its small but would work fine as a transport cage all for $10 total (even used the 42"s are in the $50-$60 range on craigslist, and it wont take much to turn it into a great grow out tractor!!!

so pretty good morning.

did however find out that they wont be carrying my usual dog feed at tsc anymore and only carry realy expensive purina or medicated nobel...I don't feed medicated so im going to look into mixing my own, I can get BOSS locally and tsc carries oats and barley, thinking mix with alfalfa pellets from the horse section and I might be onto something...itll be expensive to buy everything each time but about the same price on a month to month without unnessicary medication in the feed...

and yeah...that's about all I got right now...gonna spend some of today working on the milk stand and the rest working on turning that crate into a tractor for the current babies that are available...
gotta get those guys sold lol...

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I've just about given up on finding a goat feed that I like all in one bag! Now, I feed a dry mix that has a pellet in it but it's mostly grain....whole oats and cracked corn and barley. I also mix in an alfalfa pellet made by Standlee. It's got 16% protein. If I'm feeding young ones and lactating ones (like you are) I get a product called Calf Manna which I can use to raise the protein level of the feed to where I think it needs to be. That and some BOSS and my goats are loving it. Not trying to step on any toes here but I'm not all that fond of Purina's goat feed...

 

[pinkfox]

im pretty much thinking of doing the same, and im not a purina fan either (and my rabbits HATED the purina rabbit feed..., found a feed mill locally that sells pretty much anything I need (and if I wanted them to custom mix something they will if I buy a ton per shot...
im not quite ready for that but if the price is right another year or so to get things settled and figure out some place to store a ton of feed and im in lol.
they do hwoever carry their own mixes already bagged too, $13 for 50lbs of goat is right on par with what im paying now after discount,
hey don't have the price listed for the rabbit feed or alfalfa...
but the mix I got with ruth was 3 parts oats, 3 parts barley and 1 part BOSS with alfafa pellet...that mix would also work for the buns and the ducks/geese/chickens too...
btu even if I just whent to their goat, since im quite happy with the rabit feed...its another option locally

in great news, milk stand is almost complet (and compeltly usable as is) jeed ot adjust the headstall some its too large so she can pull he rhead out easily, but she seems to like it. and wow the difference.
feed goes on I tell her "come on ruthie" and she hops right up and nomms down, lets me milk her out without a single wiggle nudge or complaint...yesterday I got a pint out of her bedtime milking, this morning a pint and this evening a pint and a half, 3 pints a day for a first freshner is VERY good for a mini Nubian, from what im seeing online typically a properly tended 3pint a day first freshner (past peak), tends to hit the 6lb mark as a 2nd year milker...I may see how I go about getting her milking stars
shes a DREAM to milk
theres about 5 pints of milk in the fridge right now from her just over the last 2 days, and im trying to decide if I want to do yogurt or if I need to do a batch of cheese, ive got some cheese cultures or I could do 5 min moz with it...hmm decisions. lol.

in other news, last of this batch of rex whent home today, so just 3 angora and 3 English lop left to sell form this batch.
my rex strawberry is in the nest as of this evening, the freebie dutch's 3 kits are doing good, and ive got boxes in with 2 angora due in the next few days.

been a crazy few days, and no real end in sight...but busy keeps me distracted