Spring has come to the Homestead! The endless rain and cold are coming in fits and starts, with some really nice days splattered throughout. Homestead progress has slowed to a crawl, but some new happenings are afoot.
First, Cami Goat. We initally didnt think she had been sucessfully bred for this spring, but turns out she was indeed pregnant. Despite our best efforts, the kidding didn't go so well. She went into labor on March 9th. Her labor lasted most of the day, but because she had had kids before without problems (according to her previous owner, anyway) I was in no hurry to intervene. I did check on her throughout the day and although I thought the process was going slow, her labor was progressing as expected. In the evening her progress stopped entirely and I could see her REALLY straining to push babies out. So I put on my Moby wrap baby carrier, stuck Colt in it and went out to the goat pen to do some fishing. Because elbow deep in goat is what everyone wants for dinner!
What I found was discouraging from the beginning. No legs forward in the birth canal, no head. Is that a hip I feel in there?? Indeed. So, the procedure is to push the breeched kid back into the uterus, turn it around and look for legs. In this sort of emergency any two legs will do, so long as they are either two front legs or two hind legs, and both legs belong to the same baby. Sound confusing? It is!!! With goats, two babies or three is a better possibility than just one. They can become tangled on their way out, and things can get ugly fast.
So back to the kid pulling. I found two hind legs belonging to the breeched kid and pulled him out backwards. DOA. This might be my fault for letting the labor progress too long, but I will set my self-blame aside for the moment... there's more work to do. I went back in for the second one, who was also breeched. Pulled her out, also DOA. Beautiful little babies, such a shame!
By this time my hands, arms, baby carrier, shoes...everything was covered in goat goop. My son was none to thrilled with this production, to be sure. So back inside, scrub hands and arms up, change clothes. Gave the baby a bath, and then disinfected us both just to be sure no nefarious goat germs get to us. Blehhhh. By this time I was in tears, not hungry, and just wanted to get to bed. It was a well deserved night's sleep, that is for sure. The baby goats being stillborn still make me very sad, but if I hadn't pulled those kids when I did we would have lost mama, too!
The one silver lining to this thundercloud is, Cami is a heavy milker. Her udder isn't good for hand milking but I can manage. Huge udder with tiny teats. I mean.....TINY teats. Yeesh, she is difficult to milk. I have plans to try using a breast pump on her...anyone who knows me personally knows it was just a matter of time before I had that idea!! My milking schedule has been spotty and hectic due to unrelated life circumstances, but I do milk her whenever I am there and have the time.
Next, turkeys. Those @$$es do nothing but fight during breeding season. Males fight, females fight, sometimes I see a mixture of males and females all fighting together in a large ball of turkey fury. Obnoxious!! They have been let out of their pen for breeding season, but I apparently need to split them up into two flocks for breeding like last year. The egglaying has begun, but very few of the eggs I have collected are fertile yet. This will improve as the breeding season progresses. I hope to have time to show the birds again this year, and want one last year of breeding out of my senior tom, Gobble.
Turkey eggs, by the way taste delicious. I am a huge fan, so infertile eggs are not a problem for me at all!! Nothing like some Homestead-produced pork sausage, goat milk and turkey eggs for breakfast in the morning.
On the days I am able to spend time at the Homestead, milking the goat and gardening. The baby loves his sunshine and fresh air, I feel this is one of the best possible gifts I can give gim in his early days. He likes to sit in his carseat carrier or even on a blanket in the grass while I do chores around the place. This keeps him close to me, and keeps him seeing and learning new things at the same time I am working. It just works, this is exactly what I had pictured as far as raising a farm baby.
And in other news, the small things I have no pictures of...
The propane refrigerator is in the shop for repair right now. Sure will be nice, I will be able to do a lot more with the goat milk when it's fixed.
The Shedroom made it through the winter, but the bugs that are killing all the trees around the property are eating some of the poles I cut for the loft and porch. I need to attend to this soon. The little buolding has not disappointed me at all! Tenative plans for an addition this spring are in the works.
The goats and cow tore up the electric fencing I worked so hard on while I was 8 months pregnant.....facepalm. I need to invest in a solar or AC fence charger, as I stole the battery and solar panels from the electric fence to light the Shedroom. Having electricity in there was just more important at the time!
We have a dog that needs a new home. She is a brilliant escape artist and even when the electric fence works she has figured out how to beat the system. I'm tired of her going to the pound and paying bug bucks in extortion fees to get her back. This doesn't surprise me a bit, her mother was the same way. In short, the dog is beautiful and very sweet but a big headache and a waste of feed because I can't turn her loose to work or she runs off. Wednesday is a good dog, just not meant to be our good dog.
Looking into AI breeding for Missy this year. We want to breed her to another Highland and local options are limited to....just her dad it seems. Artificial insemination seems like a better idea to us. I still haven't forgotten about the stillborn heifer calf she had, and want to do everything possible to avoid that. Poor choice of bull and timing of breeding were mistakes we hope to leave in the past where they belong.
The cherry tree the goats didn't totally eat is blooming well, but the bees left early this year. Hopefully there will be some cherries this year. The almonds both bloomed at the same time this year so we're hoping for our first almonds too! The cherry tree that got goat eaten, is growing back from suckers and is over 2ft tall already. That's gonna set me back several years, but at least the tree survived!
The Ganoi pair I have left are breeding, and the hen is laying a clutch of eggs right now. Her track record for sitting on eggs isnt as good as the other Ganoi hen I had, but she is well capable of hatching out chicks. Here's to hoping for some more Oriental gamefowl this year!
The land clearing is going well, as we've had to cut a lot of the downed and dead stuff for firewood this year. Perfect incentive to mow brush down.
That's about it for new developments. My absence has really slowed things down as far as the farm goes but I'm not giving it up.
