Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Is Lilly Expecting and is goats milk in our soon future?


UPDATE:  ( Sorry if some of this doesn't make any sense. I have a pounding headache tonight. I just couldn't wait to share our update with you all.)



Last time I posted it was about Lily if she expecting or not........ Drum roll please....Lily is definitely pregnant! The due date is around February 3rd 2014. The next question is Lilah pregnant? We will have to wait an see. Oct 9-11 is when we will check and see if she is. This is so exciting!  Mable (our new ewe) is not thinking Red (the ram) is so cute like the others do, but I think she will soon come around. 

All is good here on the homestead for the most part. The coop is finished for winter. We will be adding some things to it in the spring. They are necessary for the look but not a must for winter. The barn is another story. We have to get moving on that project. This is one project that will be needed in February. The barn is where the sheep will be living over the winter and where they will be lambing. So can't really stress how much the barn is a must. Plus we will be putting up a fence that will be divide the sheep and the goats.. oh speaking of goats. Ya know I was thinking about my goat situation. Did I mention my situation with you? I can't remember. Okay,so just in case I didn't I will let you in on what my situation is. 
   

  We bought 2 LaMancha Dairy goats. One for us and One for the in-laws. Following me so far? Good. We had trouble with them in the summer (to long of a story), but We were able to correct it and move forward. Now that we are on the right track, I was starting to do some research on breed them. As I was reading it said that they need to be 8 months and 70lbs at least. My heart sank.. NO! No! No! I ran out weighed our goats and realized this spring I can kiss my milking year good bye. That means no milk till spring of 2015. Yep you heard me right 2015. sigh...Words can't describe what I was feeling. I sat down with my husband and explained to him our situation and that we spend $64.00 a month just in goats milk. That's just for our little guy to drink. I buy regular milk and almond milk as well. I need to eliminate one of them. It was suppose to be the goats milk, that is why we bought the goats. He thought that maybe we could buy another goat and have her bred before she came here. Trust me I was really thinking about it, but I didn't want another mouth to feed. What to do, what to do? That is the million dollar question. Do we try and reach the weight she needs or buy one? 
          A goats breeding season is August to the end of October. I knew we are running out of time. I decided to leave it in the lords hands. I was standing there today just watching the goats. Focusing my attention on Hazelnut. I told Emma to bring her up and lets weigh her. I was surprised and happy that she had gained the weight. Not has much as I wanted her too. But it's enough to get her bred. You have no idea how happy and excited I am. This weekend we will be taking her up to meet the billy. She will stay there for the rest of the month. When we get the call to come up to get her we will be bringing home the Boer nanny that will be bred as well. Double excitement. 

We will have Milk next year!

Friday, September 13, 2013

Brought home the new EWE last night.


Wednesday I received the call that my husbands cousin found us a ewe. He thinks she will do just fine for us. They estimating that she is about 2 years old. Never been breed before, which is a little concerning though, but we will see what happens. We think she is a Sufflolk breed. It will be hard to know. Wednesday night we took Jerry our boer goat (a 4-h project for this year) to the farm so he could take hime to work with him the next day. That way they can weigh him and figure out a price for me. Then subtract the ewe cost and I pay the difference. After work on Thursday he brought his Billy goat and my ewe to the farm. All we had to do was pick her up and bring her home. 


 I was a little nervous when I was hearing her jumping around in the trailer. When I saw her I thought WOW.

 It is a ewe...lol... that isn't an extra package there. They must of missed that area when shearing.

She weighs 140lbs and she is a bit taller then our Southdown ewe. I would like to know what you think about her. Comment on facebook please.
All we can do now is wait and see what happens. We have her to help with giving us more lambs to show and for our freezer. 
                     
              Still trying to come up with a name, any ideas? I thought of Birdie or Mabel, Emma thinks Jane, Abby thinks Sarah. 

Maggie...Boer goat nanny

 This is the newest member to our homestead..
.*.*.*.*.*.*.Maggie.*.*.*.*.*.*.   

Isn't she adorable. When we are
 able to bring her home she will have a little one in the oven.
yep, we will have a baby goat (kid). I am hoping for 2.











I can't wait to see what the kids will look like and how many we will have. I'm thinking only one because she will be a first time mommy. It would be nice to have 2 kids. That way Abby and Becca can show in 4-H and the fairs next year. 




Look at this handsome Billy.... I think we will have good looking kids...


He was able to get a black face Billy. This guy here is on loan to him for 8 weeks, so we think this show be enough time for him to do his duty.
He said that they were already rubbing him and being all over him. Me personally don't think it will take long.



In 2 months we will have our new bred nanny.
 He picked out a good looking billy,









Wednesday, September 11, 2013

It's Soon Fall Pt.2

Our October 12 date came earlier then we thought, which is awesome by the way. 
      The ram came to our home about a week ago.  We get an earlier start on the breeding. YAY! 

General Red



What we have notice so far is that he is very interested in our ewes. Very interested, but our ewes took one look and ran. I don't understand what their problem was I think he is very cute. Now we have a whether name Lightning, I was a bit surprised by his reaction to the ram. Lightning actually showed dominance that he was in charge, that they were his ewes. Lightning is about 6 mos. of age. It really surprised me. Eventually lightning new that the ram was in charge and he backed down. Our ewes are showing a little bit interest to him now. Well at least Lilly is (my in laws). UGH..







 On Saturday morning I went down to feed the animals and when I came down from putting the buckets back, I notice the ram was a little bit taller. When I got closer I saw the ram with Lilly. 
 I stop right there in my tracks in shock,I turned and ran to tell Curt. I was so excited that It's starting, we are closer to having baby lambs on the homestead. Now we have to wait 17-19 days to make sure it took. If it did take we will have a baby lamb somewhere around Feb 3,2014. 

So yesterday I went down to check out the sheep and the goats, just to be nosey. I took notice that the ram was interested in Lilah, but she wasn't interested. 

      Darn.....
                    We are praying she changes her mind and finds him cute. I was told that we have til January for her to change her mind. I really hope it doesn't take her that long. lol...

I'll keep you post on both ewes progress....Have a great Day


Showing Sheep at the York Fair

September 6-9th 2013

 This year was a rough one. Trying to learn everything about showing and how to care for your animals. My daughter Emma didn't take any of hers to the fair, but she was able to help her friend out. At the same time she is helping, she is learning what she needs to do for next year. She is so happy and grateful to her friend Carrie for giving her the chance to learn.

Emma is in the green and Carrie in white.

 Here they are Friday morning washing, shearing, and blow drying the lambs to get ready for showing that night.


The lambs are in their new blankets that the girls were given for being their 1st year.(4-H)


Carrie and Emma Showing.



Emma had so much fun she can't wait for next year. We have been planning next year already. Look out here we come.. lol.  I know Emma was able to do showmanship,(so glad 4-h allowed her to participate) which is judging her on showing her animal. She won 5th place. Carrie won (4-H) 2nd ,7th , 5th ,  (open class) 7th ,16th ,17th place.
Emma is the one bent over.



A fun show for everyone.
Emma has learned a lot this pass year. Since she has been home she has been out their working with the animals. Emma and her daddy are going to be shearing the sheep this week, Emma can't wait.  

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

It's soon Fall! pt1

Can you believe it, that it's Fall already! I sure can't. Where did the summer go? We were so busy that it slipped right by. 


      This fall we are expanding our flock to one more ewe. We have 2 right now,   which one is my In-Laws. So we are adding to our one sheep. My daughter wants to start showing at the fairs next year. She was given the chance at the 4-h fair to show her goat, she enjoyed it that much, she wants to do sheep next. With expanding ours by one we will hopefully have 2 lambs born this Feb. There are chances we could have twins with either one. 


 That would be an awesome surprise. Sure can't wait. This will all happen on October 12, that is when all the sheep will be taken to a friends house to be bred with the ram. 


     Last year we tried to have baby lambs. We were able to borrow a ram from a friend but unfortunately they were to young and it was passed their breeding cycle. 

            Yes it was a great disappointment, but we survived. Made it through and ready for this year.