What did you do today?

[sydneyjd]

Yes, i know that feeling. :-) It has been strangely warm up here (lower 60 degrees) until roughly a week ago, and then it all of the sudden dropped in temp. Last night was the coldest so far at 16 degrees. o_O We had our first snow during the big weather change, and now the snow is still there to an extent, but a frozen ice patch. :-p
These drastic weather changes are hard on all sorts of animals.

-Sydney

[DownUnder Gal]

Great trailer Charlie Horse!

[Taffy]

This morning I cleaned pens, filled water troughs for all of the goats on the farm (my son has Boers), ran the extension cord and plugged in the tank heater for my goats and spent time loving on them.  Oh, I also raked leaves in the back yard which is a never ending chore this time of year.  Even though it's a windy and chilly day I was plenty warm while working outside.

While I was filling one of the water troughs Bourbon "helped" me by rubbing his head on the hose and pushing it around.  He ended up lifting it off the hanger!  Then he walked through the hose he'd just piled on the ground.  What a crazy goof!

   

[Charlie Horse]

I had a dog encounter the other day. My neighbor has two dobermans that he treats like kids. Oh he's proud of them but they're young and love to chase. When doing so, he no longer exists to them and all the shouts in the world won't bring them back 'till they're good and ready. Out here we have a lot of rabbits so dogs that like to chase can get plenty of practice, yet never catch anything. Well, these dogs saw Victoria out front and came for her. I was working on goat shelter floors in the driveway and went over to her and straddled her while the dogs circled. She was a good girl and stayed in my protective bubble. Then the dogs spotted the rest of the goats in the back yard and it was a Benny Hill chase scene. Shelby, Bacchus, and Victoria grouped together and showed horns and stood their ground, while Amelia and Woodstock snuck under the gate and went back into their field to watch from safety. Vincent went his own way. Eventually the dogs got rounded up and taken home, but the goats were on edge for the rest of the day, some even preferring to skip yard grazing and stick with the safety of the fence.

Good dogs like that can still kill goats when the nipping and chasing turns to something more. Its harder for the goats when there are two of them. Anyhow. No harm but it was interesting to see what goats came to me for protection, what goats ran home, and what goats vanished.

[Nanno]

We had beautiful weather today so Phil and I took Finn and Sputnik for a drive. It's been two months since we last drove them, which was in the Homecoming parade. They were a little rusty but not bad considering how long it's been since we've had a proper outing. The Beulah Christmas parade of lights is next weekend so we need to make sure they remember their training. If today was any indication we shouldn't have a problem. They're such good boys!

Yesterday I had a call from a lady who wants to buy Pepi for her son who is in 4-H. So she'll be leaving in a week or two after I can get her bred. I'm going to miss this little sweetheart. She's one of the friendliest babies we've ever had and as cute as a button. Since she's leaving soon we took her with us today so she could tag along behind the wagon. Pepi seems to love riding in the truck because she eagerly jumped right in and rode with the big boys. I hope she'll be happy in her new home.

[northcoast]

Put up another 330' of fence. Perimeter is finally finished. Castrated my two packers now that the does have missed their last two cycles. Sorry Nan, no video this year. I can't wait for all the new kids next spring including an Ober buckling from another herd that we'll keep for breeding.

[Nanno]

It's a nice feeling when you know your does are settled. We get to start breeding this week and are looking forward to kids in May. Baby goat season is like having a second Christmas!

[northcoast]

Bought the does goat coats so they can stay warm and dry. For some reason they seem to stay in the weather longer than the boys and end up getting soaked.

[Nanno]

Love is in the air at Goat-O-Rama! It was a double date today, with Jezebel and Rocky in one pen and Delilah and Rambo in the other. My gosh! With names like these it sounds like a Harlequin romance around here! Fingers crossed for beautiful, healthy babies in early May!

[Taffy]

Today we have a break in the storms.  I grew up in Michigan where we always had a lot of snow.  Here we only get snow a few times each winter and normally not a lot so it's always exciting for me.  The sun is out, the sky is blue and the temp is headed to 30* today!

I hauled the hoses out of the shop to fill the water tanks then opened the gate to the goat pen and TRIED to call them out to roam.  They stood/laid in their huts looking at me, while chewing their cuds, as if to say - you want us to come out in the cold?!  With their fluffy winter coats you'd think they'd be plenty warm.  I have wuss goats!


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I went about hooking the hose to the frost free spigot and began filling the Boer goat tank.  My goats decided they'd come out to join me - grudgingly.  Once they were out they munched on the arborvitae by the shop and followed me while I did my other outside chores.

Once I finished filling the water tanks and had drained and put away the hoses I headed to my back yard to sit in the sun while the goats munched on the rose bushes and leftover garden plants.  The Knockout roses are their favorite.  Unlike tea roses, the Knockout roses only get pruned once each spring so they grow into big shrub-like bushes.


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The Knockouts are their favorite unless they decide to become birds and eat sunflower seeds from the feeders!


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Then I took them for a walk around the farm.  It was such a nice day I didn't want to go inside!


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We have large flocks of geese that land in the fields around our house.  Most winters we put corn out for them.  It's fun watching their antics.  Once in awhile banded ones come in and we're able to look up their neck band number to see the location where they were banded.  A flock of them got up off the field while we were walking.


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After about 3 hours I fed the goats some peanuts and put hay in their feeders.  Unlike my goats I was grudgingly heading inside!