Thursday, July 8, 2010

It's summer time!

It is now the perfect haying weather. I hope the guy I'm getting my hay from gets it all put up and ready to go before it rains again. Same for all the hay farmers everywhere! Yesterday when I was driving around the valley from one errand to the next, I saw people out everywhere cutting hay fields.
I also noticed more canola fields than ever before. They are pretty with their intense yellow color. Almost blinding in it's brightness.
The last cashmere kid has been born now. July 1st around 5 am. I missed it. When I went out to check on the doe, here was a little baby goat up and moving around with it's front half all cleaned off and eating well, etc. I named him Spunky. He's cute with his big ears. His mom has some Nubian in her, so he inherited the long Nubian ears. He's 8 days old now. Molly is a good mom, very attentive, even for a first time mom. After going back and forth on whether or not to keep her, I've decided I am going to keep her. She's a really good mom and Spunky is a nice looking little guy. He's out of Rusty, who throws good looking, fleece covered kids. Too bad he's a boy, but oh well. He will make a nice wether.
There are 6 baby turkeys now. They hatched on the 1st, too. Now that there is more brush to hide under in their pen, and the hen actually takes them into the house at night, they just might survive! So far, so good. The two older babies are doing well, too. Now I'm waiting on the chickens to hatch out their babies. They seem to be sitting forever on their nests.
Now I am up to 60 goats. I'm selling 18 of them. They are on the website on the goats for sale page. I'm charging lower prices than I should, they are worth more, but I would really like to downsize a bit, so to move them, I'm not charging as much as I should be. Now is the time to get some good cashmere goats! These all have nice fiber, and are friendly and easy to handle, once they know you and trust you. Once a goat knows it's owner and trusts them, they are very easy to deal with. A lot like dogs. But, if they aren't handled a lot and just left to their own devices most of the time, they can be pretty wild.
Well, that's the update for now. It's warm and sunny, with a little breeze. Good for drying out the cut hay.