Meet Bella, the first girl born here on the farm. Most books tell us we should breed her the first year. We think those books are written by and for people who are more interested in profit than kindness. After one of the yearlings that we bought pregnant gave birth to a still born kid, we looked into the practice. Turns out goats who are bread during their first year are much more likely to have serious complications during labor. For one reason or another, they are far more likely to have only one kid. Unfortunately, one kid tends to mean one large kid. Larger than the young goat can safely manage. We plan to breed her next year at about this time. She, unfortunately, has other ideas.
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Meet Bertie, one of our first goats. We bought her as a pregnant yearling. In February of this year, she gave birth to two kids; one boy (Schmied) and one girl (Bella). Unfortunately, we weren’t there to witness the birth, so I can’t offer photos.
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Raising goats is nothing like I thought it would be. Unlike the “Bad Attitude” that popular lore says they have, we have found them to be very loving and gentle creatures. Because we have spent much time concerned about the development of our animal’s personalities, I think there is more of nurture than of nature to these creature’s reputations. When they are loved, they turn out loving. When they are not loved there is probably a lot of truth in their reputation.
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If a year ago you had asked me about eggs, I would have told you I buy them at the grocery store. The only time I can remember being excited about eggs is at 3:00 AM when I find one of the all night breakfast places after a long drive. So when I took to raising chickens, I never imagined being excited about the laying of eggs. I was so wrong. There is something different about eggs that come from the coop. Yes, they are brown and that is a bit different. But the real difference is that I raised these hens from chicks. I know they have been treated humanly. In fact, we’ve even learned they have favorites. Read more…
The single largest threat to the North American box turtle is the North American who continues to chop up the natural habitat and capture the critter for sale to the public. Most turtles who survive the initial capture and pet store sale do not live to their normal life expectancy of 40 to 100 years due to poor care and the misconception that they make good pets. We do not keep turtles as pets. Instead, we rescue them from injury and destroyed habitat with the hopes of nursing them back to health and providing a free range home in which they can thrive or leave if they desire.
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We had our first loss to predators today. The flock numbered 22 when it went out this morning and 21 when it came back quacking early. Several feathers were rattled and tattered, so I knew something was wrong and went immediately to the pond shotgun in hand. There was nothing to be found but feathers and tracks. Either the coyotes or the neighbor’s dog has crossed the fence line. Oddly, we were more worried about hawks.
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Turtle Pond and Zen Garden
With so many turtles splattered on the back roads around here, I suppose it was bound to happen. We have started a small turtle rescue and preserve. I say it is a preserve and rescue because for the life of me I can not come up with a ‘no kill’ use for turtles and our farm is strictly a no kill business.
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Pravda (a Russian newspaper) has been writing about how repressive the current US Government is.
http://english.pravda.ru/
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