Swingin' Goat Farms at Sugar Creek's Farm Animal Update

Princess Pi (white nose) and Bunny, our french angora rabbits. Both doing well. They have actually moved out of this home and into their newly constructed bunny palace, courtesy of Dad. It is housed in the goat barn, and they are loving their two story home. We may look into a different colored gal sometime in the future, but with my cat allergies (and thus bunny ones, as well), these two are enough to groom.

The teenagers. These birds recently moved from this, the brooder, to the big bird home. Up front are our two guineas and the rest are just and end of the week special from Sand Hill Preservation Center. Everyone looks good and has moved into the coop and run well.

The bird coop and run

Most of these birds aren't here anymore. We butchered and processed everyone a couple weekends ago, so now they reside in my freezer, save for 21 hens that have been happily laying eggs that we have been happily eating :)

Chrysanthemum

Dawnae and Cassidy

Autumn Star, the goat's guard llama

Skooter-the pest

Chewie, (Chewbacca) our buck. A very laid back buck, who is doing, from what I can observe, an excellent job at what he's supposed to do. Once the gals start kidding in the spring, he and Skooter will move into the buck pen. For the winter, though, they are with the ladies, to help keep everyone warmer.

Thorn, our mighty Border Cheviot ram. We have another ram, Melmoth, coming soon, so we can start keeping breeding lines separate.

Jazzmin

Cloudy. We had to put Cloudy down a couple weeks ago, very sadly. She served her purpose very well, protecting our sheep, and also was the proud mama of Autumn Star. Though she was stand-offish, she was a good llama and mother (she even extended nursed Autumn Star, a good 6 months past when she was supposed to nurse her). She will be missed, and we will be looking into another llama for the sheep. For now the dogs do a good job of keeping predators at bay.

Sullivan (Sully), our beautiful herding dog, courtesy of Ebersole Cattle Co.

Bolt, a charity case, but a gentle dog.

The view of the front paddocks

The play set I built in the spring after it sat in the garage for a year. A great investment!

Llama Mama

Autumn Star Arrives!

Yesterday, Dad and I were glancing out the back window, and both noticed something odd lying in the goat pasture. Cloudy wasn't far from it, and hadn't been for some time. At first I was afraid one of my goats was hurt or injured,but he said he had just seen the both of them up near the barn, and Skooter was in his pen. So he headed out to check on it, figuring it might be an animal Cloudy had taken out. I stayed in the house to finish what I was working on. Not long after, though, Pony Gal came up and said Dad said to come out, there was a surprise for me in the field. A little worried, and curious, I headed out. As soon as I got around the corner where I could see what was going on, I saw the baby. Cloudy was not supposed to have been bred when we bought her, but as her care was less than great from what I can tell, it doesn't surprise me the folks we got her from had no clue, that she was, in fact, pregnant. She never got too terribly big, but the baby seems to have come out okay. She was dry by the time we got to her, and the placenta had already passed and looked okay. Ironically, the cria's coloring is what the previous Cloudy owners were hoping for when Cloudy was born, and part of the reason they sold her. So, our $150 investment is now doubled. I am headed out soon to see how she fared last night. She had laid down in the pasture, and rather than try to goad her into the barn, Cloudy just laid there with her. We had to coax Cloudy into the other half of the pasture with grain (which really she needed anyway, as she is now a lactating mama) and Dad had to pick up Star and run her to the barn before Cloudy took him out. She was a little spooked by us since it was dark-during the day she had been fine with me handling the baby to make sure she was okay. I will keep you updated on how things are going-a llama cria was not what I was planning on as the first animal baby here at the farm, but a very fun surprise. I am hoping constant contact will help her to be far more social than Cloudy tends to be.

Cloudy Update

Cloudy seems to be taking well to the sheep and goats, hanging out with them and heading to the barn at night. I am hoping that once she settles in she makes for a good protector. Her fleece possibilities are nil at this point unless she decides she really loves us. She does come around a bit more when the goats and sheep do. Soon she will have a smaller flock, though. I am very seriously considering splitting Thorn the sheep off with Cassidy and Dawnae, the lady goats, in order to keep him intact and use him as a ram once I track down some more Border Cheviots. Friends of ours have said that larger lines of Cheviots still are not very big-that being said I may look into breeding him with full sized gals and using those lambs for meat purposes, while looking for a Border ram for Jazzmin and Chryssy in order to perpetuate some much loved fiber animals. I think fiber may be a major player on this farm. We will see how we do in the spring with my first shearing experience. In the meantime, Cloudy is doing much better than before, and I hope that she continues to mellow out with time.

Bottle Feeding vs Nursing (in animals)

Since getting my new animal additions I have been thinking a lot about the pros and cons of bottle feeding babies when they come, or letting the mother nurse them. I know in goats the CAE is a real threat, and the best way to combat it and prevent it is to bottle feed the kids pasteurized milk. Fresh would be fine for us, but for the babies it is generally accepted to bottle feed. I have also noticed that the kids are far more affectionate and willing to come and follow when it is necessary. The kind of operation we want to run, I think this is a very good thing. We have kids over all the time, and those kids want to be able to experience the animal fully. I think the animals have a far happier experience,not fearing when people come around, but rather enjoying the petting and attention.
My lambs were nursed. While they are very nice, they are much more flighty than the goats.I know some of this is due to the nature of sheep, but I also know what the sheep they came from acted like, which was far friendlier. I have to weigh the time it takes to teach them to enjoy our time after the fact with just bottle feeding them from the get go. I need to do more research to see if there are similar threats with sheep transferring illness from mother to baby as there are goats. I would also like to look at milking sheep. There are some wonderful cheeses out there that just aren't given justice by cow's milk. It isn't something I plan on doing anytime soon, but it seems my winter plans are quickly filling up with research.
I am also in the midst, on a different note, of trying to tame my half feral llama. The people I purchased her from insisted she was halter trained. I beg to differ. It took our entire block and a lasso to catch her today. She is tied out and upset, which I hate to see, but I think she is going to have to stay tied out and have all her food and water brought to her and fed with hands in order to teach her trust, as well as her name, which we may as well change since she most certainly doesn't recognize it. I am not a huge fan of craigslist for animal purchases. She was affordable, though, and I think can be worked with and trained. In the meantime, her owners are most certainly not the best to buy from, as from what I can tell I would go so far to say she was neglected. She was not really used for anything, and just allowed to run around with a herd of other llamas who were used for nothing, and not really spent time with as well. Yes, they were well fed, but that was the extent. From what I can see physical care was not taken.
Anyway, more to come on the bottle feeding debate, and feel free to weigh in.

Cloudy the Llama

My dirty llama, Cloudy. As soon as our neighbor gets home we are going to have him lasso her (since she won't just let us catch her) so we can get her sheared (for the first time ever, in her three years), and put in with the goats and sheep to serve as a guard animal.

llama about the llama

Hee hee. I am sure that is not totally correct, but I haven't totally forgotten what little Spanish I learned in high school. I know, if I'm talking about it, it isn't llama, but then it wouldn't be as funny :) We picked up our newest farm addition on Saturday, a three year old female llama named Cloudy. Pony Gal has renamed her Star in the world; we call her Star. So far, she seems to be getting used to be a member at Sugar Creek. She is still a little stand offish. You can tell she wants to trust us, but we haven't totally earned it yet. She is quite intelligent. It took her all of thirty seconds to figure out Sonny the horse's electric fencer, and just slip under it (which is a testament to the size and flexibility of llamas). So far she has already scared off neighbor dogs and definitely made a coyote wandering through the back pasture turn around and go the other way. Llama's are great as guard animals (which is one of the two reasons I was incredibly sold on getting one). They will kill-yes, kill-dogs and coyotes that threaten them or their "herd". Star's herd will eventually be our Miniature Cheviot Sheep and our Nubian Goats, once they all move in. We will most likely get another llama in the future, for our full sized sheep that will be in the back pasture (the mini's and goats have a separate arena going in north of the middle fence). Llama's tend to not protect as well when there are more than one, so the two will be kept separate. Whether we intend to try and breed her or not, I don't know. When we get closer to needing to buy another one, we will decide (male or female). She may be bred already. She was running with a male at the farm we got her from, but the family hadn't seen her getting any action, so no one really knows. The other reason we were excited to get her was her beautiful fleece. Once she trusts us we will look into shearing options. She has never been sheared-llamas don't have to be up here, but they do benefit, as their coat gets pretty tangled and full of debris from their love of rolling around. She gets sheared differently from sheep, as llama's are not fully sheared, only their barrel gets it, and we will have to be very careful to keep at least a third of an inch of fleece on her as with her light colored fleece, she is at risk for sunburn. It is incredibly soft, though, especially the undercoat. She only has one spot, which kind of stinks, as it is a pretty tan color and I would have loved to have that fleece, but it is on her head and wouldn't ever be sheared. If she were bred, the babes may be spotted, but we really aren't looking to start a herd. Anyway, we are all excited,and I love that she has already started working as a guard animal as the neighborhood dog types have been driving us crazy for some time now.

Farm Stuff

Before the rains over the weekend I was finally able to get some veggies into the lower garden. I don't have the specific varieties with me, but we planted the first rounds of onion sets, sugar snap peas, shelling peas, carrots, several varieities of radishes, lettuces, spinach, swiss chard, brussels sprouts, parsnips, salsify, marigolds, nasturtiums, kohlrabi, collards and kale. Once things dry up again we will get broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower in. I was happy just to get that much, though. The few rhubarb plants we have are up and happy. Once it dries enough to get the top perennical bed turned up we will move some rhubarb and strawberry plants some friends are giving us.
I planted a cinnamon spice apple tree, a pie cherry tree, a nectarine and a pawpaw, and have a hardy kiwi to join one I already have going, as well as a few grape vines awaiting the ground. I am hoping to get some herbs into the flower bed area near the house soon, too.
The chicks have totally taken over the big garage. We have let them out a couple times this week to see grass, which they have loved. We have had two more die-one got lost and didn't make it back into the barn, and one is a mystery. We just found him inside and are really not sure what happened. I am hoping to talk my husband into building a chicken picker before July to process the new birds. In the meantime, I hope to clean at least two birds a weekend by hand until I have all the roosters gone. Once they are gone I can move the new chicks in, in anticipation of hte next round coming late May, and also start work at cleaning the two year old hens that are doing nothing more than snack on eggs before I can get to them in the coop. I also am seeing the needs for some better situated and accessible nesting boxes. I may employ the mad skills of a friend or two to build them, as well help build a door so I can access the eggs from outside, making it easier to get them frequently. I also have decided to look further into an incubator. I don't know if we will get one this year or next,but I do know it will be a worthwhile investment if this year's chicken program works out well.
I am in pursuit of mini sheep and llamas at the moment to use for fleece, friends and protection. The minis will be for the kids to love, as well as for use for fleece, while the llama will be great for keeping my goats and sheep safe from dogs and coyotes. He can also serve as a companion animal for my inlaw's horse Sonny when she is out here in warmer months. We will see if we get lucky enough to get some soon! I have some emails out that are sounding very promising.
Our goat kids are techinically ready to come home, but our fencer can make it out until June, so they are staying at their birth home for a while longer. I am so excited for them, though. I also need to get their shelter out here and keep trying to decide between building something or having something built.
That's what's happening for now. I will try to get pictures of everything soon and post them. I am so bad with a camera.