OK, got a new (to me) computer. Price was right... nice laptop for free! :)

Weather is drizzly on Our Farm. New partner is sick. He wasn't dressing for the weather. I took him to the free store & got him a coat & warm clothes, but I can't dress him. :) He's from Lake Arrowhead (ski resort town near Los Angeles) & I guess he thought he knew all about cold. The weather in Lake Arrowhead is a dry cold. MO is a wet cold! He's feeling better now. If he can last thru this (being sick & still having to care for the livestock) he'll be OK..... I think.

The sheep have started dropping lambs. We didn't want lambs this time of year, but Tonia put the ram out w/ the ewes when she left. I do, so much, prefer to have my animals in family groupings... I think they're happier living in a natural situation. But, unfortunatly... it just doesn't work if we're going to control breeding. Tonia wanted to attend all births, so she wanted to know the breeding date. I don't care about the breeding date, but I don't want to put th estress on the moms of having too many babies. I don't want them having litters (some goats are having 5 babies these days?????) I'd love just one baby, twice a year; but, these animals are designed for multiples. If they have a single, it's often so big that they go into dystosia issues. So, we'll go for just one set of babies a year. That gives us over 60 lambs a year, w/ the herd we have now. A good portion of those will be female.


This pix was taken last Fall, w/ all the sheep & goats. it's so funny, goats are on the left, sheep on the right. The few does we have left will also start popping soon. (When my former partner decided she was going to leave, she quit taking care of the livestock. I lost over half my does! Add to that the fact that she sold off all the doelings from this yrs baby crop & I'm nearly wiped out. But, we didn't loose any of the cattle & only one ewe. That's it.... positive thinking. grrrrr) Two of the three does we have were on the cull list. I'm presuming that's why they are still here. They are all good mamas, but one is the escape artist & she makes a point of teaching everyone how to escape. The other doesn't have real strong babies, but... she can't help it, she's a Boer. They were so great before reckless breeding took it's toll. We had hoped to breed a better Boer & that adding the Kiko would help. We started out w/ Boers & they're nearly all gone w/ only Kikos left. I'm actually pretty much over goats. The sheep are just so much easier!

OK, that's enough for now more later.

I'll be back to the farm asap. For now, I'm stuck in Los Angeles.

Hello World

Wellllll.... I guess it's time I start a blog for OurFarm. My previous partner had one, but she left (& I so totally understand why she didn't want me there till after she was gone!) So, now.... I get to chronicle the goings on on Our Farm myself. I don't get to spend as much time there as I'd like, but hopefully that'll change. I've spent months at a time, thru all the seasons, but not a contiguous year. The Jan/Feb ice storms are a challenge, as are the floods in the Spring.
We raise Irish Dexter cattle, St. Croix & Katahdin sheep, pigs, rabbits (for fur & meat), chickens (for meat and eggs), ducks & geese. Our animals get only the type of food that God/Nature designed them to eat. That has been a sticking point between partners & myself. Dairy goat people seem to think that God designed all animals to eat concentrates, because they must feed the dairy animals high amounts to keep milk production up. I don't want our animals growing so fast. For meat like that, I could go buy commercially raised meat.

I'm not on my own computer right now... water & electronics don't mix! :)
When I can get to my own computer... I'll post pix of our animals.