Good Morning!

[WLLady]

good morning all! Hope everyone is okay @Bayvistafarm! all the plants, the garlic, the chicks, gary....you.
I WANT SUN. just saying. it's been cold and snowing off and on and freezing rain and blowing and yucky for almost the entire week now. And the weather report promised sunny day today. HA HA! well, maybe later. At least it's not blowing up a storm this morning (yet). it's always windy here it seems. my greenhouse is about 3 weeks behind. and yep, i've been running the heater too. day in and day out and night and horse blankets over the vents and and and. I'm hoping that i don't need the heater much anymore. again tonight likely.....sigh. oh well. i have to get everything planted this weekend or it won't have long enough in the garden. i have the feeling i'm not planting until june 1 anyways this year. too much snow falling still!

Had a call with the vet 2 days ago. our dog is a freak on the metacam, shaking, quivering, space case. did better without it but was either PTSD or in pain still. so. called. They managed to get us another NSAID and looks like my clingy dog is now just clingy and not in pain and not freaky.....gah. So as soon as i find her health record folder (that is somewhere in this house) i'll write in that she cannot get metacam. who knew. That's a first for me! duramaxx seems to be way better for her. She still NEEDS to touch someone when we're in the house, but at least she will spend some time on her bed or in her crate, she's eating, she's actually walking and happy to go outside now! although the kitchen and hallway are still a bit scary for her for some reason. she was constantly sniffing and fussing in the hallway so i gave up and washed the floor in case it smelled funny. i tell ya, i'm grasping at any little straws i can here. Looks like we're making progress. she is definitely happier to wear her brace when walking than not-so we have a good fitting brace now, and she stands for it to be put on and off....whatever. if it helps. it's nice to see a little bit of our old dog coming back.

guinea was laying in the chicken coop. got mad i was taking the eggs, so moved...i finally found the nest-in the duck nest! haha. she's laying these tiny little eggs in with the giant muscovy eggs. go figure. and the ducks aren't chasing her out. i just leave them a few days and then scoop a few, leaving the ducks there, there are 2 ducks sitting on another nest of about 20 eggs, and 20 in the incubator. And i don't want people at the farm so i really don't feel like selling. guess i could. or start using them for cooking, but i'm eating too much! gah! turkeys are pipped in the hatcher....due later today....or tomorrow....and then the muscovies go into lockdown in 3-4 days.....then repeat with the next batch! i'll likely set another batch of chickens-got my first EO egg for the year yesterday. FINALLY. slackers. and hoping that my ameraucanas are finally fertilized....switched out the boys a bit ago...

finished the college teaching yesterday! done until the fall now for me! Already got offered 8 hours for the fall, so need to decide. 12 was too much. 8 was doable in 1 course, but this would be 8 hours in 3 courses. one of which looks like i might actually fall asleep while teaching LOL. (safety.....yuck...necessary, but yuck haha not the most exciting topic ever).
chickens are starting to range a bit into the field. surprised we haven't had visits from the fox we see off and on. guess i have some good roosters out there so far.

daffodils were flattened in the snow followed by freezing rain. they're pretty much done. tulips coming. bald eagles are sitting...they must have little ones coming soon! they're landing in the field sometimes here. beautiful birds. hope everyone has a wonderful day!

[kenya]

I'm so excited I have a cardinal sitting, hope nothing bad happens.

[Killerbunny]

Good luck to the cardinal, we hardly ever see tem here just a flash in the bushes.
SO last night DH went to put on his boots and slipped. Unfortunately the steel door was already open and he hit his eye ridge on the edge. This am he has a real shiner. He now has to go to town to try to get the milk we couldn't get on the other multiple occasions, let's hope nobody gets the cops on us! I do note however that our grocery shopping every 10 days has degenerated into multiple trips for basics. Looking forward to the supply chain getting back to normal.

[Farrier1987]

I have to go get milk right away too. Out the door and 100 ft to the barn. Cleo gives me about 2 L morning and 1 L aft, while feeding the twins 24 hrs too. I have decoided she is my long term keeper like her mother Priya was. Good milker, good mom.

Dulcinaya, 3 yr old LaMancha has a new home, I sold her, will deliver today. The plan was to wait til she had babies and at two months or so sell the babies and then sell her as a doe in milk for a family goatt. But the right people and the right price came along, and they will have her when she has the babies. Saves Kijiji frustrations in August.

Good day starting here, sunshine. Will deliver her then do some garden, and I need to break out the lawnmowwer.

[Killerbunny]

Unfortunately I don't like the taste of goat's milk. I do like sheep cheese but I believe they don't lactate as long? @Brebis would know.

[kenya]

Cut the lawn yesterday, some places it didn't need it, other places like a hay field.

[Brebis]

Unfortunately I don't like the taste of goat's milk. I do like sheep cheese but I believe they don't lactate as long? @Brebis would know.

Fresh goat milk isn’t too bad, but I prefer it in cheese myself.

Dairy sheep can milk as long as goats but only the best ones will have the volume of an average doe. However, sheep milk is much higher in fat and protein (6%bf, 5%protein) so really good for cheese and yoghurt but a bit rich for drinking. It tastes much like cows milk and as a selling point we used to tell people that were reluctant to try our cheese that “it doesn’t taste like goat milk”! Used to squirt it straight into our coffee mugs when we were doing the morning milking...nothing better!!

There was a nutritionist in the UK who did studies on meal replacement type drinks and found that good ol’ sheep milk was as good as anything in terms of nutrition and far less processed.

Glad you found a good home for your doe @Farrier1987

This is Marilyn, one of our best ewes, 2 yrs old and just about to deliver her first set of quads.

[Farrier1987]

Wow. I didnt know sheep could have an udder that large. How are her teats for milking? I really have a hard time with the button type teats that the babies have no trouble with. I have never had it tested, but I think my doe has about 4% BF. Smoother on the tongue than store cow 2%, but closer to homo which I used all winter. But I am so glad to be not buying again.

[Killerbunny]

SO my dear old girl Sister (6) has decided she may want another shot at babies. I have explained to her that she can retire having done sterling service in the past even saving turkey babies that were chilled or not doing well. I will see if she sticks and if so I really hope it doesn't prove too much for her. On the other end of the spectrum Tweeps, at less than a year, is confused about whether she wants babies or not. SHe is very young but definitely showing signs. Well we'll see!

[Jaye]

@Killerbunny , at least it's a good time of year for Sister to be brooding, temperature-wise. I think that if she's keen, she should be fine. As a point of reference, Gracie was a successful broody and raised chicks in July when she was 7 years old.