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!