September 24, 2009

Random Farm Catch Up

I was going to post about how to tattoo a goat today. Melody the Boer doe was supposed to be my unwilling volunteer but we got a late start and the lighting did not agree with my camera. Melody did get tattooed but most of the pictures did not turn out. Don't worry I will post tattoo instructions soon because we have quite a few more goats to get done in the near future. Hopefully our next tattoo goat model will be more cooperative. If you are looking at this picture and thinking; "that is the expression of a goat less than enthusiastic about the whole tattoo idea" then you would be right. Melody was actually kind of bratty about the whole thing, not that I blame her.

Tattooing is my least favorite chore on the farm. It is not because this is a difficult task to do, actually tattooing a goat is a rather simple and easy chore albeit a little messy. That green ink just seems to grow and spread everywhere no matter how careful you are with it. It is a necessary chore but I don't like tattooing or tagging goats because I hate to cause them pain, even for just a few seconds. Strangely castrating goats doesn't bother me a bit, a fact that makes my husband nervous for some reason. I guess I don't need to tell you what his most disliked farm chore is.

Since the how to tattoo post did not work out I thought I would just write a short, random catch up post about what has been going on at the farm.

The biggest news is probably our new addition to the farm. He is a little spotted Nubian buckling and a real sweetheart. I have always loved Nubian dairy goats and I especially find the spotted ones to be very beautiful. I have admired and wanted one for probably about six years, so when the opportunity came up to bring this little guy home I just couldn't say no. We are hoping to have a small, quality herd of Nubian dairy goats in the near future. Sorry no pictures yet but I will be posting more about him soon!

Procrastination is the bad, ugly monkey on my back. I have a problem with it and because of that I now find myself with only a week or so to move my farm website. Currently it is hosted with Yahoo Geocities because they are free and I am cheap frugal but Geocities is shutting down. I would be very thankful for advice and suggestions about where to go for web hosting! I would like one that I can eventually set up a shopping cart on.

Things are still up in the air and unsure but we may be moving my sister's horses down here to the farm at some point in the future. I am not quite sure where we will put them but I will figure something out. It is important to me to help out family and friends whenever I can.

We are going to have to find a different person to cut and bale our hay next year. We have it done on shares and the person that has done it the last three years is just not working out. The problem is we need every bale of hay we can get off of our land and he really does not seem to be worried about cutting all that he could bale on our property. This year he probably left a third of it uncut. We are going to have to buy a lot more hay this year because of it. We should have found someone else last year but what can I say we are just too nice sometimes and didn't want to find someone else unless we had too. We are going to be paying for that this winter. It seems the trick is going to be finding someone that still bales in small squares because the farmers around here all seem to be going to big round bales.

The garden is about done. I did not keep up with tracking all of our harvest in case you all didn't notice but I had good intentions. I am already looking forward to next years garden. I was so excited to get some hopi pale grey squash seeds in the mail from Linda who writes the Life on a Colorado Farm blog. Thank you so much Linda! I have never planted this type before and I can't wait to add them to the garden next year.

Hope you all did not mind my bit of random catch up today. I want to thank every person that reads my blog and takes the time to leave a comment. You are all very much appreciated.

11 comments:

Twisted Fencepost said...

Did the baler get what he needed and just leave you hanging? If so, that's dirty.
Sounds like you have been busy.
My garden is on it's second round and seems to be doing better than the first. Strange how that works.

Alison said...

I appreciate the roundup, or catch up, or whatever. Glad everything's going along. Looking forward to the buckling pics.

Glad to know we're not the only ones w/garden disappointments. Ours has been severely neglected this year; our tomatoes were a bust and the whole thing's a weedy mess now. So much for our great canning plans! Oh well. There's always next year.

Magaly Guerrero said...

I can definitely see why your poor husband gets nervous about castration of the goat or any other creature. I mean, have you seeing the face guys make when you bite into a banana? It must be the imagery.

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to see more pictures! :-) and good luck finding someone new to bale for you, I hope it's someone better!

brokenteepee said...

*sigh* It seems your baler was just plain lazy. That is just not right. I hope you find someone better for next year.

I can't wait to see the new goat!

DayPhoto said...

I'm so glad you like the seeds. I am anxious to see how they turn out for you.

My have you EVER been busy! '

We still do the small square bales. And we have lots of customers because of people like you.

The other nice thing is we get to meet so many people, just through our hay.

Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com

DayPhoto said...

Did my other post make it to you?


Linda
http://coloradoafarmlife.wordpress.com

Leslie said...

I liked your post. It is very interesting to read what is going on, on your farm.

Unknown said...

First congratulations on winning the giveaway prize. They were great prizes!
I LOVE goats. Don't ask - I've never been quite sure but your pictures make me want to hold a goat in my lap! I've often said I wanted to get one of the little ones but I know I'd have it in the house eating at the table with us and my husband probably wouldn't like that idea so much!
I did find a great goat cheese/dip locally at the farmers market and then realized he is located in our little town. He told me to come up to the farm and see the goats and get my dip I want. I can hardly wait and think I'll take my camera along too!
Your pictures are great!!!

Statch said...

The random catch-up was fun! It's enjoyable to hear what's going on.

We like the smaller rectangular bales too. Someone gave us a large round one when we first got our horse, and he didn't touch it at all.

The Silver Age Sara said...

I don't think I'd like to have to do a tatoo myself. Your new addition is adorable.

My blog is going to be moving soon and it's going to be hosted by Liquid Web. Might want to check them out.

I enjoyed catching up with you and your farm.