April 4, 2018 at 5:30 p.m.
Fresh from the Farm: Winter chill falls on the farm
Winter is a challenging time on the farm to say the least. So far the furnace went out (Thank goodness for kerosene heaters!), the water froze (Thank goodness for Brent McKinney!), and of course my truck spent the day thawing out and refusing to start. In looking over these things the only word that comes to mind is "typical". I am also grateful that I have a roof over my head, food in my cabinets and now heat and water. If these are the worst things that I must deal with in this cold, then I am in pretty good shape.
The animals might not see it that way. Poor Sheba has gotten down twice on us. She now has a permanent stall in the barn and is let our into the yard with Polky for exercise. I can care for her much easier if she is down in the yard rather than the pasture. She's not thrilled about being locked up, but I'm not real sure she realizes her alternatives!
One of the best inventions ever is an adapter that I hook up to my kitchen sink and run in through the window. I have some very happy campers in that barn when they get warm water in this weather. As I have mentioned before, many of our animals are up there in years and little things, like warm water, go a long way. I am in the same place that they are, only mine comes in the form of coffee.
Once again, I have told a huge lie. I told my husband as well as my children and several other people that I would only breed 10 does this year. Right now there are 22 that appear to be pregnant. One of which had to have been a fence job. We never saw Beer Run come into heat. We watched -- as she is one of our top does and top candidate to go to nationals this year. I had given up all hope that she would breed. It has become obvious to anyone that walks in the barn that ol' Beer is with kid(s). I have no idea when she is due, but it doesn't look like she will go much longer. I do have a new name for her, one of which I shall not print here.
Other than not knowing when Beer is due, babies should start arriving in mid February. I am praying that this weather will turn to warm beautiful, sunny days and carry on with that for the rest of the kidding season. I also still believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny. A little delusional you might say.
The last time that we kidded in this kind of weather we had huge plastic totes all over the house filled with baby goats. Most might think that is cute. This was also the year that we had 9 sets of triplets, 2 sets of quads and 12 sets of twins. Not all of those were in the house, but each time a doe kidded we had our hands full. This was all sweet and cute until a few figured out how to get out of the boxes. To say the least, Anthony was not amused to hear the pitter-patter of little hooves running through the house, into our bedroom and in one leap into the middle of the bed.
I decided that this year I would start working out a little. I thought if I did 30 minutes in the morning and another 30 in the evening that would put me on the road to a healthier lifestyle. With this weather, layers of clothing have become a necessity. So I start with 3 leg lifts on each side for each pair of pants I put on. Unless I lose my balance and miss the hole and have to try again. Of course if I fall down in the process, I try to make the best of it and do leg lifts while trying to flip myself into a position to get off the floor. Then comes the layers of shirts. Arm lifts...2,3,4. Of course I put something on backwards and have to get that turned around. Then I do toe touches attempting to put several layers of socks on. All of this is about 15 minutes of my workout. And then I realize I have to go to the bathroom. So the bottom half of the clothing I repeat again.
Finally I'm faced with the task of getting the coveralls on and the boots. Then comes the yoga part of getting off the porch without rolling down the steps. Lets face it, there is no graceful way to go about this. By the time I am in the barn, I have worked up a sweat. Then I do chores and head back into the house to try and escape from all of this clothing. I figure that I am an over achiever in the workout department since I go way over that 30 minute goal. I have a friend that inspired me to start working out. Don't think this is exactly what she had in mind.
We have a new visitor in the woods. Actually I think that it is a new resident. A red fox visits often. So far he/she has not managed a chicken dinner. I think he may have come to some agreement with Delgado and Diablo. If he keeps his distance they will allow him to stay. Diablo goes down into the woods nightly and barks. I think he has made friends with the little guy but warns him to keep a distance. Delgado stays at the house. I'm not sure if he really is protecting or just being lazy. I will assume protecting, but I will suspect lazy!
With the cold and snow also comes the beauty. I was watering the bucks this morning and took time to watch the snow come lightly down. The frozen landscape gave an incredible view across the field. Along the creek, even though I really don't like the cold weather, it has a beauty that can be totally breathtaking if you take the time to look. Take a moment to look around and see all of God's amazing gifts![[In-content Ad]]
