LaShonda Update

LaShonda is growing and is a hilarious little pup.  She's pretty laid back and loves to play tug-o-war just like her dad, Rocky.  Oh, and we are keeping her for sure!




I keep telling her that her snout will eventually grow into that tongue!

She has figured out where the heat vent is located under the couch and lays there when the heat cuts on. True weenie!

Drinking water with mom and auntie Lula.

New Farm Tool

We decided to go all in on a new livestock trailer.  Always borrowing someone else's was getting old.

I've been wanting one of these for quite some time now!

Nearing the End of Elementary School

Ashley and I are about to finish the elementary phase of our kid's school careers.  Kennedy and I had our last father-daughter dance.  She's growing up too fast.  She will be in middle school next year, Alex will be in high school.  She has also been playing travel basketball over the winter has made impressive improvements (we are ready for it to be over though...).

Beautiful girl.

 

Bristol Bullets 2016-2017.

Kidding 2017

I did some barn remodel in preparation for this year kid crop. Took out a divider to make one large area, built some kidding/lambing pens, and best of all - electricity. We are more prepared this year.

LED's - no messing around here.

Pen hinges.  I can attach several together with the rebar pin to make multiple pens as well as connect to barn walls.

 

Goat butts. Pregger moms about to pop.

We put the billy goat in with our nanny goats in early June, hoping for Christmas babies that would be ready to sell at Easter. I guess due to the heat in the Summer, the girls didn't come in heat until later and we missed our Easter market birthdates. Our first twins were born premature to a first time mom and neither survived, despite our tube feeding and Rocky's close watch.

Rocky would lay with this baby all night, he was so worried. Its like he knew it was in trouble.

Finally, we caught a break in 2017 with most of the rest of the nannies having healthy, beautiful kids.  We still have 2 more moms left to have theirs, I guess they cycled in late.

Kennedy hanging out with babies.



Ole Bill threw some black headed color this time.

Everyone enjoying the warn weather.

Coco, after she just had her baby girl. The pens worked great.

Olive, with babies below.

Mask says Hi!

Cheesecake and her girl from last year, Nilli.

Zeke has become a barn cat and eats dinner with the other two barn cats in the hay loft.



Fluff Butt waiting for dinner.

LaShonda

Dixie has been pregnant, as you can we her belly has been on ground for a while now.

She had two puppies but one didn't make it 😢. It's alright though we have this little sweet fur baby, LaShonda, to cuddle everyday. Dixie's milk dried up after several days so we had to syringe feed her for a bit but everything is back to normal and momma is doing great.


We can't decide if we are going to sell her or not (with each day we have her, its looking like not!).

Mom and LaShonda resting.

Eyes not quite ready to open.

Eating like a champ.

Chilling with mom and dad, and eating again.

Post Election Day Update

We've been doing well the past couple of months.  Ashley is busy with school and clinicals, I just keep telling myself she'll be finished in May.  Alex finished up soccer where he made vast improvements in his defense, I hope he gives high school soccer a try nest year - yikes, next year :( .  Kennedy is playing basketball as well as gymnastics.


I chipped away at some other projects I've been wanting to tackle.  I managed to get power to the garage and barn and moved Ashley's granddad's non working tractor off premises.  We sold our ewe lambs to a family just starting out like we did several years ago, so that was better than the sale barn.  It reminded me of all we've learned since owning sheep and goats.  I wanted to tell them as much as possible but there is so much that all I could do was shake my head and wish them the best.  We've experimented with feeding round bales, yes feeding hay in November, since its been so dry.  I made a feeder modeled after a more expensive version I found online and, surprisingly, it works pretty well.  Halloween was fun this year even though Alex chose not to dress up.




She's going to kill me, but here is Ashley "studying" with the weenies.

High speed, super effective (so far) round bale feeder. Cameo:  Cheescake

100 amp aluminum 2-2-4 direct bury wire used to go from garage to barn.

100 amp panel coming from disconnect at house meter.

 

Kennedy and her friend (a dragon, not a dinosaur or lizard!).



Goof ball!

Kennedy caught minnows off and on throughout the summer. Our metal trap got bent so she made her own without any assistance from me, I didn't even know it was happening until she requested this picture.  Needless to say it worked very well.  Holes at top of bag near stick allow minnows to enter.  Stick doubles as anchor when lodged in bank.  #Engineer in training

September Already...

Man, this summer has flown by.  I wish we could have had a couple more camping trips and I could have crossed a few more farm projects off the list, but we are where we are.  I did wrap up a couple projects I have been meaning to do around the barn and sheds. 


No pictures of this one, but due to the initial quality with which it was built, I had to create adequate slope for the gutters on the run in shed to drain properly.  I had to support the roof with temporary jacks, cut the top of the supporting 4x4 posts to create a drop in slope and then sit the roof back on each post and secure with brackets to prevent the wind from ripping off the roof.


Over Labor Day, when we were not partying at family cookouts, I replaced some posts on the front of the barn.  The old ones had been rotted since we bought the place which made the gutter sag and leak.  I used some 6x6 posts left over from when we built the house porch, supported the roof with temporary jacks, removed old posts and fence, set new posts and replaced some siding.  I just need to install gates and few fence boards this coming weekend and it'll be complete.

Posts are set.  I used a string and level to ensure I got enough slope for gutter to drain. I'll hang a gate on the front and side and put up boards across the front (near burn barrel).

 

You can see the siding in the upper left of picture that I had to replace.  I was able to reuse most of the original.

 

Siding replaced.

We've been picking up spent grains from a local brewery at no cost and feeding to the sheep and goats.  This stuff is high in protein and helps the lambs pack on weight for market.  We also purchased a Cheviot ram, which is a wool breed, and will turn him out with our ewes in a couple weeks.  The resulting hybrid lambs will grow faster than pure bred lambs.

Lambs munching on some spent brewers grain.  The ram is the fuzzy one on the left.

On a sad note, at only 9 years old we had to bury our first family dog, Mater.  He had diabetes and was developing renal failure.  RIP good buddy.

Even though he was blind and weak, he fetched his toy until the end.  You don't get many as good as him.

Chief and Phoebe's Hair Cut

I was tired of seeing the pup's long matted hair in this heat so I took them to get shaved.  Phoebe got a poodle like tail due to so many mats.  They seem to be feeling better.

Weekend Camping Trip

We decided to forgo our planned weekend chores and take a trip to our favorite camping spot this past weekend for some relaxation.  The kids got the hang of casting a spinning reel and were taking the fish off themselves.  Just need to work on baiting the hook.  The patches on our air mattresses gave out over night and we all woke up on the ground, so we decided to cut the trip a bit short.

Got the fire going.

Roasting hot dogs for dinner.

Mom in the kitchen.

From our spot on top of the mountain you can see the lights of Rural Retreat (I think).

Nice sunset.

They're not babies anymore...

Relaxing at the fire.

 

Alex with a nice bluegill.

 

Unfortunately, Mom had to do some studying.

 

 

Alex caught a fish almost every cast from this log.

 

Kennedy did well at her spot too.

Rocky couldn't wait until the kids pulled in the next fish. He tried to bite the fish when the kids released them.

 

Dixie got in on the fish biting action too.  

Lula fetched a stick or ball the ENTIRE time.  She was wiped out all day Sunday after we returned and barely left the couch.