Hey friends, it has been a few weeks since we did a farm update and we have so much to share. Let's start with the goats. We were so blessed this spring to have a healthy and safe kidding season. We had a total of 3 doelings and 1 buckling born. As much as I wish we could keep them all, it just does not make sense for our farm to have that many goats. We are planning to keep Amelia because she is just amazing. We are also keeping Squash, our little buckling. He is looking to be an amazing buck and since we will soon be moving the bucks to their own enclosure, we will need a companion for ChaseTheDream.
Right now we are milking Paris & Kissy, we plan to start milking Rory next weekend since little Willow is finally at weaning age. We already are getting more than enough milk for our family with Paris & Kissy. I am not sure if I am brave enough to start a herd share for milk sales but it's definitely been a conversation lately. For now we are making cheese, yogurt, lotion, and soon we will try making soap! If you have any goat milk product suggestion send them my way.
As for the cows, Madeline & little man Tiergan are doing great. We initially thought Tiergan would make a great bull but it looks like he may end up becoming a little steer. I really need to write a post on steers vs. bulls and the importance of smart breeding... stay tuned for that one! For today we will just stick to the updates. Trexy is doing fantastic, she is almost 5 months pregnant now! We are really happy with how well she is filling in and so far her udder development looks great. Big dude Owen is looking great too. He only has a few months left on the farm before he heads off to freezer camp. That will definitely be a bittersweet day but we are so thankful to be able to feed our family and few others with some quality farm raised dexter beef.
The chickens are mostly good. We have had a few loses which absolutely stinks. Losing Bellatrix was definitely the hardest, she was my favorite sassy girl. We had a near loss this week with our girl Goldie. She has water belly and this heat wave almost took her out. There is no cure or good treatment for water belly in chickens. Up until yesterday her belly was not interfering with her ability to eat/drink. Jordan brought her in and we did a needle aspiration of the fluid in her belly. We got over 300-400 mL of fluid out y'all! We kept her inside, gave her some electrolytes, and made sure she was comfortable. After 2 days she perked back up and was ready to join the flock. Unfortunately we know her life span won't be much longer and we will have to decide if culling her will be the best decision if she goes down again. The rest of the flock is doing great though. We have more broody hens than nesting boxes... so we are working to break the broody hens. If you don't know what a broody hen is, check out my Broody Hens post for more details.
The ducklings are still hanging out in our living room and growing fast! They are almost 2 weeks old and have probably tripled in size. As much as I love having them inside and watching them play in their water dish, I don't enjoy the smell of them in the house. I will be very excited to move them to their new outdoor enclosure once they are fully feathered. The adults are doing better, a little less fighting but they still have their moments. I never knew how vicious ducks could be! Don't get me wrong, I love them but man they can be very mean to each other. Thankfully we will have some females to off-set the fights out there soon.
Something I almost never talk about is our little garden. I started off strong and zealous but after a late frost, chicken wreckage, and our little bunny friend I wasn't sure we would have any luck this year. To my surprise we have some survivors. Today I harvested our first little tomato, it may be small but it's beautiful. The little buds of growth I saw today give me hope that we may actually get some good produce this year. It may not be the perfect garden but I am still thankful for it.
I think we made it y'all. I know that was a lot but thank you for sticking with me to the end. I hope you enjoyed all these farm updates. If there is ever a topic you would like to see on the blog or if you have a specific question, feel free to comment below or send us a message. Hope y'all have a blessed and safe week!
How can I pray for you?