Winter time

It's been cold here.   We were so ready for some cool air after the scorching summer, but now are rethinking it!  Maybe somewhere in between....70's?

The chickens are growing in numbers, but not necessarily eggs.   We have about 500 laying girls, but 350 of them range in age from 7 weeks to 16 weeks and not laying yet.  The shorter days have caused the laying to slow....right at the time demand is up for eggs for holiday baking.

There is a calf in the freezer and have a great supply of beef.

We obtained our Grant of Exemption a few weeks ago and are legal to process and sell our own chickens.   We have about 125 broilers right now in the brooder/pasture and are receiving 50 more a week.   We should be processing regular by the middle of January.  

And the really good news.....we've got rain and are happy that our tanks are finally filling and the earth and trees have had a good drink of water.   

We are happy and healthy.   Quite a good life to be thankful for.

Happy holidays to everyone.

Farm Girls

We love these two videos because they both say "Farm Girls Rule".  This is Ward's mom who grew up on a farm.   When she visited, he insisted she drive the tractor around.  Once a farm girl, always a farm girl.

And our granddaughter Jaiden, she has been learning to drive the tractor too.  Can't reach the pedals, but she's quite good at steering.

Company at the Farm

Always lovely to have company out at the farm.    Ward's mom Elsie and her husband Jim joined us for a week of good times and visiting.    Well....almost all good times.....Elsie fell ill with the flu a couple of days.   It is a bummer to get sick on vacation and away from home.

We did manage to get to the Oasis one night for a sunset, several days of eating BBQ and a tour and demonstration of processing at Slow Food Farm.    Mostly though...some good visting and touring our own farm.

Our chicks are getting bigger, but this morning came upon a scene of some cannibalism.   This is the only thing I don't like about chickens.   We've sprayed the ones who have been picked on with some antiseptic and bad tasting deterrent.    Getting ready to move the broilers into the pen.   Maybe they just need more room.   Likely they needed more food.   We moved a larger feeder into the brooder.

We ordered a semi load of hay to get us through the winter.    Such a bummer not to have grass at the end of the summer or the fall.   They say a 40% chance of rain this weekend....and we have high hopes.   Meanwhile, a semi load of round bales means we needed a hay spear.   The multitude of equipment and supplies needed on a farm never end.   We just hope we can get a handle on expenses the best we can.

Chickens and Eggs

We are having success selling all the eggs our hens produce. That is why it's so hard not to get a large qty of hens and/or chicks.

We started with 20 laying hens and worked our way eventually last May to about 200 total.   Since that time, several have fallen prey to predators, a few have just died of heat or old age....and let's face it, the neighbors dog did us no favors when he took out over 20 of them in a few days.   Even our dogs have disappointed us with a few injuries and deaths.   Overall,   just when we think we have it under control though....we will find something else to worry about.

Currently, we estimate we have about 130 laying hens in total out on the pasture.   In the brooder, are 150 that we just ordered, plus about 12 we've hatched.    We have another 200 coming the end of October.   We also have 50 broiler chicks in the brooder.   Who doesn't love a baby chick?

We have tried to grow our numbers slowly to see what works best and have our lessons learned on a small a scale as possible.  Plus we are hoping to do broiler (meat birds) on a larger scale after the first of the year, so we don't want to overextend ourselves.  

This is a hard thing to do in actuality....not to purchase 1,000 birds and go "all in".   But there is so much infrastructure still to be done on the farm, that were are trying not to burn ourselves out and save a little time for each other and our families and friends.

Here's a picture of Ward putting in water pipe in the pasture.
There you go!

Where is the time going?

It's been awhile since we posted, but we've been busy!  Egg production has been slowing...don't know whether it's the heat, the hens molting or what...but we've been struggling to keep up with orders.  Hopefully a little cooler weather is doing some good.   We rented a trencher along with our friends from Slow Food Farm and Ward dug a trench of about 2000 feet for water pipe.  It took about 3 days at a snail's pace.  I watched him start the process, and several hours later looked out and it seemed like he was in the same place.  But somehow....he managed to get done!  YEAH WARD!   some of the pipe is in, and the rest is laid out.   We got 150 layer chicks and 50 broilers chicks in the last week.  Ward has modified our previous goat shelter to make a brooder and all are happy and chirping away.   We had our grandbabies the first weekend in September.  Whew...it's hard parenting!   But both babies were good and happy to go along with the feeding of chickens and cows....doing chores, taking care of animals.  both were natural.   We even got to ride in the back of the pickup together!  We have guests coming next week....Ward's mom and stepdad are flying in from Seattle.   Hope to show them some Texas hospitality.  Thanks for staying with us and we promise to update more soon!  

I Dig Turtles!

No really I do...let me explain. ( Buy the way this is my first post - Jill has done all the previous posts and since its so hot outside I'm looking for things to do inside where its cool.)
Back to the story - since we have been so lucky to have this extreme drought, I took advantage of the drying pond (they call them tanks in Texas) to dig it out.  The main idea was that when/if it finally does rain we would have a nice new tank that was deeper and would hold more water.  When I was getting close to completing the big dig I noticed a blob of mud was moving.  It turned out to be this Alligator Snapping Turtle.  I cleaned him off and relocated him to our larger pond.

 

He was not too happy at first - he had this eerie low pitched hiss when you got close to him - you might be able to hear it in the video.  Moved another large turtle today but it was not a snapper.

Babies, babies, babies

Several weeks ago, I mentioned to my friend Jennifer from Slow Food Farms that we had several broody hens.    She offered some fertile eggs (she has a rooster...we don't) for the broody hens to sit on.   We placed a dozen eggs in 6 different nest boxes in the mothership and selected our cranky broody hens to sit on them.   We marked on the calendar 21 days and the journey began.   The whole process is fasinating, but there are some particular notes of interest.   The hens sit most of the day and night on the nest, only occasionally getting up to potty, drink and eat.  Ours seemed to get up first thing in the morning when the coop was opened.   The hens know to keep a certain temperature on the eggs.  When they need warmth, they fan their feathers and make a big fluffy tent to cover.  If the eggs are warm enough, they'll stand up a little over the top with their wings jutting out.   The hens are the best incubators, they turn the eggs and will kick a egg out that is rotten!   Finally this past Monday evening, we opened the nest box to discover a little chick!    Like two kids on Christmas morning, the next day  we scrambled out to see if there were more.    5 more!   Wednesday brought us 3 more chicks, and as of this morning, Thursday August 11th, there is one little fluffy baby in there.    We are very excited that our first hatch has brought us this many chicks so far.   And with great probability, we will have a rooster and can start the process all over again soon.

In addition to baby chicks, we have a new calf on the farm.    And it is a HE.   After the incident with the vet, we carefully checked the sex on our new miniature hereford calf.    We knew her mother Betty was expecting.....she looked like she going to explode with milk the past few days.    It is a hot dog day of summer to be giving birth, but the calf looks healthy and beautiful.   And like Ward says...we have another mouth to feed.    We have been feeding hay for many weeks now to the cattle.   We had them on a rotation of fields, but alas, we're at the end of the rotation and the grass on the beginning fields is not sturdy enough for them to come back.   So they are in an upper part of our property that has the last bit of grass and now a big hay ring.    This is the best area for them to camp out for awhile.  There are quite a bit of trees, and the shady glen was perfect for Betty to have her calf.   We're hoping in a few more weeks, the heat will break and bring the animals and US relief.

The Heat Continues.....

The biggest problem with the heat is the inability to get much done. There are a few precious hours in the morning before it gets too hot that we scramble to get as much done as possible. We're still working on ripping the interior out of the old buildings to build out a processing facility for chickens and some storage, and the other building we're going to make into an equipment shed. The equipment shed had structure on the outside that had previously been a brooder. We plan on rebuilding and continue to use it as a brooder.

We spent a couple days helping our friends Jenn and Harry process chickens. It was good practice for us. Plus Jennifer is a great conversationalist.

Yesterday the bull got out...again. We really couldn't tell where...maybe he just jumped over the fence? We couldn't find any breached fence line. Fortunately, he was hungry and was more than willing to follow a food bag back to the pasture.

Then this morning when we stepped out to do our chores...we could hear a calf bellowing loudly. We went to investigate and found her mother, one our Zebu cows, up to her legs in the muck in the middle of the pond ward has been trying to clean out. I was very concerned, but Ward did a fabulous job of tying a rope around her horns and pulling her out. He had a method of pulling a little bit, then letting her right herself by getting her feet back underneath her. Then he would pull some more. The poor cow was exhausted, her eyes were rolled up in her head. But she finally emerged muddy, but all right. All the cattle watched the whole event, and the bull stayed with her for a long time afterwards. Ward had me take photos and additionally I yelled "Come on COW" the whole time. This was my contribution....otherwise I would have just stood there wringing my hands.

Novice Farmers

The vet came yesterday to castrate our young bull calves. He asked us to have them in the round pen when he arrived and he would help us sort them out. He has a portable squeeze chute and brought that along to catch the calves for the "procedure". Since we had the whole herd plus a few guest cattle, Dr. Hebel was very instructional in how to drive them around the outside of the pen and then through the chute. If the cows went in, he just let them go on by. We got the biggest guest cow and Gunslinger our bull out the other side relatively easy. Most of the cows were thru the chute when we got our first calf in there. After Dr. Hebel finished with it, he released it and said "I thought you said you had four bull calves". Ward and I looked at each.....could this vet not count? One was finished and three were still left in the pen. "There are still three in the pen"....I replied. "One of 'ems a heifer, but I can still charge you for it", he said. WHAT? But what is that hanging down? "It's her belly button.....it's an outie!" Honestly I'd love to post a picture and get everyone's opinion and see if they wouldn't make this same mistake also. But we laughed it off......and said we promised to know the difference between boy and girl calves next time.

Ward has been digging out a small pond in our back pasture since it is practically dried up. He's taking the opportunity to make it a little bigger. If it ever rains again, it will be a nice addition. If not, it will be a dirt hole.

The donkey and baby donkey "Whiskas" have been hanging out in the pasture with the cattle. I think this arrangement suites everyone well. Whiskas is so friendly. She demands attention and rubs when you come out. She will chase you when you try to leave. We're hoping her mother Annette will let us pet her eventually...or at least take this harness off she has had on since we got her. You can tell by the picture that she is tempted to get in on the action.

Something has got 5 of our broilers chicks in their pen. It is a big mystery to me. It's not eating them or carrying them off, just killing them. And there is an electric fence around the pen. No signs of digging. Can't be an owl, what owl wouldn't eat them? We reinforced the pen with more chicken wire and no losses today. strange.

What the hay

I once worked with a gal in Seattle that said "sunshine makes me angry". I honestly thought that was the silliest thing I ever heard. Now...I'm not changing my mind, sunshine is still one of the best parts of life. But the drought and parched conditions....that could spoil my mood. Everything is dusty. My house, the vehicles, everything sitting outside, my eyes and even my sinuses. I daydream of smelling a rain shower coming and feeling the air cool with the moisture.

In the meantime....the crunchy pasture just isn't cutting it for the cattle. So we bought hay. The land should be providing a bounty of rich food for livestock and they should be putting on weight to get them through the winter. The fields should look lush instead of brown. Instead we're putting out money for feed and taking a whole day to move it. Now that could make a person angry.

On the bright side, when we pulled into the drive I told Ward I wanted to ride up on top to the barn. Brings back memories of being a kid and going on hayrides, especially with the church group. It was a great view, and a very fun 10 minutes!!!

Hot and Dry into July

We had a fabulous 4th of July with a visit to Elgin Texas for the parade (1/2 block long) and a BBQ later with our kids Melissa, Rob and of course.....Mr. Andy. Our friends Jennifer and Harry from slowfoodfarm.com came by. They dropped a few lady friends off for our bull Gunslinger. Everyone is getting along fabulous so far, and one evening Ward and I noticed GunSlinger had setup table with a white tablecloth, wine glasses and a nice candle. Hope it works out for him! We've started the cows on rotational grazing. The pasture is so poor from drought that they're not staying very long in one place. If we could just get a little more rain it would surely help.

We got another batch of broiler chicks in. We don't even have to put a light on them it's so hot!

Frank the LGD has been upping his work schedule. He sleeps with the chickens and spends all but about 4 hours of the day with them also. He's still a little small to actually guard, but he's inside the electric fence with them and so far hasn't harmed anyone accidently. Ward and I have also started tearing out drywall in one of the outbuildings that we are hoping to build out as a processing facility for the broilers. It's so stifling hot to work up there with protective clothing and masks...so the work has been slow.

We've finished our organic certification paperwork. What a challenge! If you like filling out 1000's of forms, please apply for USDA Organic Certification. The good news, the paperwork is complete, approved and has been sent to the regional office for an appointment with the inspector. The inspector will come out and take soil samples, feather samples and go through all the procedures we have set in place. Wish us luck!!!

A few laying hens have fell victim to a coyote attack several days in a row. Predators can't get inside the electric fence or close to the coop, but the hens fly over it and wander around as you can see in the picture. When I go to feed them they trail behind me. You should hear them all softly clucking at the same, yet with so many, the sound is so loud ward and I can't talk to each other. During the day, we don't have a problem. It is the early morning hour right before true sunrise that they are vulnerable. Predators from the night are still out, and the hens are anxious to get an early start on breakfast. So they wander into the woods, and far out into the pasture. Ward and I have camped out several early mornings to avert the attacks. We're trying to break the pattern, and of course we will take Wiley out if we see him. Actually...we did see him one day...but he was too close to the neighbors house to get a shot off.

Taking a little trip

You don't realize what it takes to go out of town until you have farm animals. Gone are the days when someone could come by and feed the dogs once a day. We think we're pretty scaled down right because we only have 3 outdoor dogs, 185 chickens, 10 cows, 1 bull, 4 calves, a donkey and her baby donkey. This is scaled down because the cows and donkeys are relatively low maintenance. They eat grass and their water tank has a float valve that keeps it filled whether we are there or not. But those hens....not only require food and water but you have to gather eggs. And you have to put the eggs up. And you have to keep records of egg counts, refrigerator temperature, inventory and of course clean equipment....in addition to making notes on the field, weather and other unusual conditions.

But you can get away if you have good neighbors. We waltzed on up to Oklahoma last weekend and attend my family reunion (GO AYERS!) The Gonazales' were there to feed the hens and pickup those eggs. Didn't make them do all the paperwork. Here's a picture of ONE of our refrigerators for eggs.

We also have some great customers. Right now besides individuals, we are supplying Green Gate Farms, Mother's Cafe in Austin, Brodie Mart and Sarah's Texas Pantry with eggs. Sarah's Texas Pantry is a great place to stop by if your in Hutto sometime. She has loads of Texas made items. Our personal favorite is the cheese dip. Yum! Her webpage is linked if you're interested in looking at the store. She has done a great job on establishing an inviting decor and is a great person to talk to about local, sustainability, etc. Stop in and check it out!

The Taylors on the Speaking Circuit

Ward and I were asked by Green Gate Farms in Austin to give a short little talk on our farm and chickens at their kids farm camp today. We sell our eggs through Green Gate Farms and they do some neat stuff out there....like this Farm Camp. They rang a bell to gather all the kids and they came running!! The very polite youngsters sat at the tables and listened and asked a lot of great questions. When we asked them questions...we were surprised how much they knew.

There was this one time....at Farm Camp....

Heat, heat and more heat

It's hot. This is coming from Jill the heat lover. I honestly think I need a break back to the mid 90's. Just for a little bit.

Well, we moved all the coops yesterday. We try to move them every month or so to let the hens try out some near areas. The coops have an electric netting around them to keep predators at bay. Frank sleeps in the pasture at night with the girls. He is penned and is really too young to protect anything, but we're hoping the barking keeps predators on their toes. Or paws. The hens can squeeze thru the electric netting and fly over it easily. So they are free to roam the pasture. This is why we still have bird losses here and there. Hopefully when Frank is old enough, he can roam the pasture and keep everyone safe. In the meantime, we've turned our donkey Annette and her baby Whiskas out in the pasture along with the cattle. They get along well, and Whiskas is enjoying the calves. I guess we're just throwing all we have out there hoping there will be so much activity predators will steer clear.

If you didn't notice, we finally got around to naming the baby donkey. She has whiskers on her chin, so it stood to reason that Whiskas was a good name. She is so tame, and lets us and anyone else give her full body rubs. She will even follow you after you finish and beg for more. Her mother is still fairly skittish.

We used our chicken processing equipment for the first time on June 13th. The picture on this blog shows the setup. It went fairly smooth as we tried to figure out the perfect scald routine and the plucker. Ward got a routine down quickly and we processed 23 birds in 2.5 hours. Not bad from field to freezer first time. Actually they are drained overnight in the refrigerator before we vacuum seal them for the freezer the next day. Our next batch of broilers comes June 29th. We are learning quickly that the hardest part is raising the birds in large numbers. Fortunately we have friends that are sharing their struggles, and they probably don't know how much we appreciate them imparting their knowledge and lessons learned to help us ease our way. We intend on having our facility ready and our grant of exemption to process for retail within a year. Wish us luck! we'll need it............

A Birthday Bash, New Calf and Lonesome Dove

Saturday was our grandson Andy's FIRST birthday party out at our farm.

The morning started off with a surprise, while gathering eggs I noticed our homely miniature hereford "Curly Sue" sitting under the tree with a calf. At first glance, I thought she was babysitting one of the others...but realized it was too wet and small. I called for Ward and after snapping several pictures it stood up and we discovered we had ANOTHER BULL calf! That makes us four of them now.

There were lots of our daughter's friends from Austin, along with several neighbors and locals. It was a fabulous time with BBQ hamburgers and hotdogs and refreshing beverages for the HOT afternoon.....a Pinata for the kids to swing away at, and great conversations. Andy was so dirty by the end of the day. It was hilarious, you can sure tell he had a great time.

Later in the early evening while just a few of us were left, a dove flew in and proceeded to land on our chairs, hands and heads. It was disarmingly friendly and after the last people left, we finally went into the house to get away from it. Surprising, it was still there the next morning. It landed on our heads and shoulders again, and tried repeatedly to get in the house by hitting the window on the side door. Eventually, one of the dogs and two cats were stalking it and we thought this story is not going to end well. But Melissa volunteered to take it home to Austin where her neighbor raises doves. With quick hands, Melissa caught the bird and we put in a box for the trip. Her neighbor gladly took the dove and said it probably a pet. Were did it come from? who knows....

Difference between our broilers and egg layers

Many people have asked the difference between broilers and egg layers. The broilers we are raising for meat are a cornish rock cross. We have several different varieties of egg layers...Barred Rock, White Leghorn, Rhode Island Reds, Black Australorp and Hy-Line Browns.

The meat bird grow quickly and are usually ready to process at 5-7 weeks old. Most notably is the larger breast area and their legs look like tree trunks. I've included a picture of the Cornish Rock Cross and the White Leghorn for comparison.

Hens and eggs aplenty!

Well, the new flock has settled in and most are doing good. I found one dead in the coop missing it's head. I'm going to chaulk that up to an owl. The coop is now a little more secured at night. I'm very proud to announce that a couple of the white leghorns I raised from chicks are laying! I am so excited every time I find one of those white eggs! One of the new flock hens has moved into the mothership with the original layers. I guess she felt more at home there.

We have made our first delivery to Green Gate Farms and are very excited to have some new
customers since our egg production increased so dramatically. They are going to be a nice fit, and are great people.

Our bull Gunslinger got out for the second time the other day. This time, he was down the road where he came across another herd, and another bull. We were able to wrangle him back home, but Ward has spent two days working on the fences. Patching the fence doesn't work, he's having to redo most of it. It laborious work and it's been hot. Hope Gunslinger appreciates how much we care......

I have misplaced my camera. I hope to find it soon so I can add photos. We wanted to show pictures of the meat birds versus the layer birds. The broiler (meat birds) are almost ready. Very exciting!

Weekend with my brother and his daughter

My brother and his daughter Bri came for a visit. Our first extended family visitors! we did have a little trouble Saturday night when we went to pick up new flock of hens. After loading them into crates and putting them on the trailer...the car wouldn't start!!!! Several phone calls and a borrowed pickup later, we were home to greet Justin and Bri. Unfortunately we had to take some time on Sunday to go pickup our car and replace the battery...but otherwise we had a blast!!! As it turns out, Bri is a "donkey whisperer". She brought along carrots, and soon the donkey was literally eating out of her hand. Even baby donkey was interested. Thanks to Bri, my first two days of massive egg collecting went smoothly with her help. She also helped me give Frank a bath and get some burrs out of his fur. Our daughter and her family came out on Sunday and we all went out to eat BBQ. Come back and see us soon!

This message is to my neice Catherine

Catherine, I can't wait till you're a teenager and can come stay with me.

My neice left me a message that her dad said she could come here when she was a teenager. She went on to detail what kind of work she would like to do...even though most of it involved grooming a horse, maybe we'll have one by the time she's a teenager. She ended the message with "I really like you". I've listened to it everyday since I've got it. SO refreshing......
In the meantime, another neice will be visiting this weekend. Hope to have some pics of Briana next week. we're getting our new flock on saturday night....so we'll be chicken rich....or chicken poor...both are appropriate.

Pastured Broilers

Besides laying hens, the thing ward and I are interested in doing is pastured broilers. Now, we've read all the books....looked at all the pictures and even processed a few times with some other farms. But we're on the road to our own now. The first test batch of cornish rock cross birds are 4 weeks old today. They went out of the brooder last week and onto the pasture. they are contained in a pen ward has built that is moveable. We are moving every couple of days right now, but I imagine when they get a little bigger every day move will be necessary. We have 25 test ones in this pen. We've had loads of people stop and ask what it was. Ward keeps saying I made him move out of the house and he's living in the pasture. HA! they should be ready for the freezer in a few weeks.

A New Flock

When I was still living in Seattle and dreaming of my farm life here, I would go on eatwild.com and look at the farms in the Austin area that were practicing techniques and ways of raising food that I had only read about. One of them was Jules and Sue from Shades of Green. Like all the farms, I read their blogs from beginning to end, looked at their pictures and tried to imagine what their farms were like.

We recently made a deal with Jules and Sue to buy their laying flock. The Shades of Green Farm is certified organic and we currently practice and feed organic. We are so excited to get this flock of birds, and most of all, we are so lucky to meet Jules and Sue.

We are also in the process of filling out paperwork for organic cert. I am overwhelmed by the mounds of papers that need to be filled out, and have to say....I am further behind in the process than I want to be. But I'll continue on!

Will keep you updated on the move next week. Stay tuned.....

The farm comes to life.....

I remember watching Charlotte's Web when I was a kid, and you know the part where it's spring and everything is being born and coming back to life? that's how it feels here too..... We officially have all three calves on the ground, and they are all bull calves. I have the longhorn cross and one of the zebu and their calves for sale. Also, our donkey went out one day and didn't come back to the pen at night. Alas, a few days later, we spotted her walking with a baby donkey behind! What a surprise! We have a new Pyrennes puppy that we hope someday will be extra protection for our flocks. We finally got 3.5 inches of blessed rain and hoping the pasture can take off and keep the cattle fed! What a relief not to have to water the garden every single day. It seems to have flourished with the rainfall. Isn't it amazing how they love the rain? Our pond is about twice as full. Ward has spent several days hunting snakes down there. Cottonmouths! ICK!

New spring stuff

Well, all the cattle have arrived. We officially have 1 mini hereford bull named Gunslinger, 2 mini hereford cows, 2 zebus....one pregnant and one with bull calf at side, one mini longhorn with bull calf at side and one F1 steer. We had the pasture sprayed with a compost tea this past Monday...but unless it rains soon, it may be like spitting in the wind. We also got 25 broiler chicks on Thursday. They will stay in the brooder only 3 weeks before taking their place in the moveable pen that will be in the pasture. We are getting ready to section off the pasture using electric fencing to make small paddocks for the cattle to rotate. We may have a few too many cattle on the land right now, but the steer will be heading to the processor soon, and I plan to sell the F1 bull calf. When ward and I went out to do chores this morning, we stumbled upon Dewberries ripe on the vine. We picked all we could find and ate them with cereal for breakfast. Yummy! Ward did finish the last laying chicken coop for me, officially named the "mini-cooper". He does an excellent job on these coops...i think he should build them to sell.

Some of the cows are home

5 of the cattle arrived today. The bull, Gunslinger and his posse of 2 hereford cows, 1 Zebu cow and an F1 steer are walking the perimeter. The other Zebu cow who just had her baby yesterday and the Longhorn with the two week old baby are still in Bryan waiting till they get a little older. We could just sit out and watch them all day. This work stuff really gets in the way.

I was collecting eggs yesterday and I heard a baby bird chirping sound. I looked down a roll of shingles ward had leaned against the fence and there were 7 mouths open! I got a flashlight to look better and saw they were really young, no feathers at all. I remembered standing there not too long ago and having a bird land right on the fence by me. Of course, I thought I was like a disney character that the birds wanted to be friends with. I guess now I know I was standing VERY close to her nest and she was probably nervous.

The Cows are coming home......

Here's a few pictures of our new cattle. Yesterday we purchased a minature hereford bull, two minature hereford cows, two Zebu (minature brahman) that are pregnant, 1 minature longhorn with a 2 week old calf at side and an F1 steer (his parents are the zebu and hereford bull). We didn't get a picture of the bull when we were out there. I think we were awestruck at him. He weighs about 1000 pounds. He is beautiful. He was kicking dirt up on himself, so he looked like he was going to charge. The guy is going to start delivering a few at a time probably starting next week when he gets back into town. We are going to let the zebu's deliver first and wait a few weeks before we transport them and their calves. We have a lady coming out today to look at our pasture. We are hoping to have it sprayed with compost tea. Trying to live without chemicals.....

Spring has sprung

It is a beautiful spring here as far as temperatures go. It's been in the 80's, some nice sunshine. We've gone to the Star of Texas livestock show and went to the rodeo. What a blast! The chickens are all growing, some of the garden is planted and Ward is working furiously to get fencing, coops, etc built. He is building a broiler pen for our first test batch of cornish cross broilers that we hope to have ready by the end of May. He also has been clearing a land a little bit at a time. In the evenings...the June bugs come in swarms. We've started putting buckets of water under the lights. In the morning, there are loads of them swimming around and guess who they are a treat for? The chickens ignore their food and come running for the bugs. There are many wasps too. The red ones startle me, they have a buzzing noise they make and when it gets too close to my ear it makes me want to freak out. I've heard their sting is bad...hope i don't find out. Several neighbors have regaled us with stories of scorpions too. Ward has seen a couple when turning over boards. He says they are reddish in color. I have only seen black ones growing up in Oklahoma. Apparently the neighbors have scorpions in their house all the time. Almost everyone has a sting story. I'm hoping the chickens going under the house all the time will keep them at bay. Maybe it will be worth the chicken poop in the yard. I don't know how to make them not come up in the sink or shower drain. Guess we'll cross that road when we come to it. There are some SERIOUSLY creepy Bugs out here. By the way, don't ask who the pumpkin is in the garden picture is. We have a hand roll cultivator and push seeder that we bought for the garden. Makes pretty easy work of it. We have several new animals....a dog named Lucy, and two cats...Mina and Lynard Skynard. Lynard has already caught us a nice mole. Thank you!

Goats in Trees

The former owner of this land told us one time that they had goats and came out one day and they were in the trees. I think I know how they got there. One of our little goats is making a play for the branch. I will post if she makes it. Chickens are all doing well. Adult hens are picking up their laying a bit. I wish more. I do believe some of them are not laying at all. Teenage chickens are in their new coop, The Chark. They have limited outdoor run space right now until they get a little bigger. Still easy prey at this size. Baby chicks are so CUTE! They move from the heated part of the brooder into the larger cages on March 23rd. We are going to the Star of Texas livestock show and rodeo this week. Very excited to see cattle and pigs. Also getting close to ordering some broiler cornish rock crosses. We are starting the experiment to raise some for ourselves first before diving into processing for selling. That's a ways off, but am excited about having chicken in the freezer within a few months.

Garden Time

The garden is tilled and ready to go. But ward has to put the fence up first. He's out driving T posts today. plus we ordered a hand push farrow/cultivator and a seeder. It's supposed to be here next week. We're just so anxious!

THE CHARK

Here are some preliminary pictures of the chark and it's soon to be contents.

We named it the chark because it is a chicken coop that resembles an ark. The contents are our 6+ old week baby rhode island reds and white leghorns. They are very anxious to get out of the brooder and join the laying force in only about 4 more months! The older hens have gathered around to meet and greet.

Can't believe it's March

We seem very busy the past few weeks. Ward is desperately trying to finish the coop for the 6 week old chicks to get into today. I think he'll make the deadline. He will hurriedly move onto to spreading lime on the garden and tilling the whole thing. We should be planting soon! There are still fences to build also. Luckily, the days are getting longer. I will be painting the chicken coop tonight in a barn red. Hope to have pics of it tomorrow. We procured four 330 gallon water containers for rainwater collection. Now if it would only rain....sigh! Dewberry Farms was kind enough to give us a load of composted wood chips and chicken manure last weekend. We took about 3 yards worth and that will be tilled into the garden. I hope we can grow something. I have a small vegetable garden in the bed outside the side door. I have it fenced off from the chickens since they ate everything I planted last fall. I have lettuce, carrots, radishes and kale growing. It is doing well so far. We have been looking at and for equipment to start putting together our processing facility for broilers. My of the time we've been scouring online, but I think we'll probably have to buy some new equipments like a plucker. That's several months away. We are going to the livestock show and rodeo on March 17th. Hoping to see and talk to some breeders about different types of cattle. I am still leaning towards miniature herefords.