Galloping Winds Ranch

Doors and Windows

2009-05-20T20:15:00.006-05:00

You may have heard the prophetic statement of encouragement:
     "Where the Lord closes a door, He opens a window"
Well, let me share with you some of the recent "windows" we have been blessed with.

Monday, in the midst of the tragedy of losing Popo and Cooper, our beautiful llama, Kendra, effortlessly delivered her very first cria. Meet Bright Dreams, a beautiful, healthy, friendly little guy.

Tuesday, while out checking the stock, an odd peeping was herd from the barn.
     Where is that peeping coming from?
     Here! Behind the stack of hay bales.
     Oh my goodness....
     There's one of the Cuckoo Marans hens with a bunch of chicks!
Unbeknownst to us, one of the Marans hens had quietly taken up residence behind the hay on a pile of eggs.

Thank the Lord for little blessings. :)

Sometimes, You Lose The Battle

2009-05-19T17:44:00.006-05:00

Years ago, a wise rancher lady told me "Where you have livestock, you will sometimes have dead stock". Never so true have those words rung true than on our ranch this week.

Sunday, what should have been a glorious event, turned tragic. The time had come for Popo, one of our three original llama girls, to have her baby (cria). Since Popo was an experienced mother with no history of complications, we did not expect the events that unfolded.

Just as the early morning sky began to take on color, we checked our pastures to make sure all was well. We noticed Popo laying down in an odd way, so we rushed out to check out the situation, expecting to find her in the process of delivering a baby. Instead, what we found behind her was a mound of intestines. Immediately, we called for a vet!

Upon arrival, the vet verified that Popo was in labor but, for some reason, her cervix had failed to dilate. During the contractions, the baby's foot somehow tore a hole thru the wall of her uterus. As the contractions continued, Popo's small intestine and bowel pushed thru the hole and out. Then, her uterus began to push itself out with the baby behind it! We could see the baby's head outlined thru the walls of the uterus, and could watch the baby breathing while still inside.

Right there in our pasture, the vet was able to make an incision in the uterus to extract the baby, clean the protruding mass, stitch up the tears and incision, and carefully put all her innards back inside. Once she was "back together", Popo stood and walked a short distance with us. Popo - always the trooper. We quickly got Popo into the van with us and headed for the vet's office. Her baby rode in front with us to get dried off and warmed up. At the vet's office, Popo was started on an IV to push fluids and medications to stave off infection, and to prompt dilation of her cervix; the placenta was not yet expelled. The vet warned us that Popo had a hard battle ahead of her if she was going to survive.

Meanwhile, her beautiful baby boy, Cooper, was battling for his own life. After such a rough delivery on a cold morning, he was having trouble warming up. His breathing was labored, and he was struggling to survive. The vet was able to given him some medication to help him breathe easier, and we kept him warm with hot air from the car heater till his body temperature came up. Finally, he made a turn for the better! The vet was able to milk some colostrum from Popo and fed him that from a syringe. We were all cautiously optimistic. We all prayed for a good outcome for both Popo and Cooper.

Sunday afternoon, Popo remained at the vet, and we brought little Cooper home. We carefully fed him some more colostrum we had stored from our dairy goats, and got him situated in a protected pen with another new llama mother, Patience and her 6 day old son, Noah. After his first breakfast, Cooper took a much needed nap, then began to find his legs. He learned to stand up and began to move around. We gave him more colostrum bottles (about 1-1.5 ounces at a time) thru the evening and he was doing well. We were feeling a bit more positive.

The next morning, Monday, an early call to the vet found Popo to be "holding her own". Cooper was okay, but acting a bit more lethargic. He seemed a little reluctant to take a bottle, and sounded just a bit raspy in his breathing. Throughout the day, his breathing got better, but his lethargy increased. He no longer wanted to hold his head up, and could barely stand on his own when we helped him up. His interest in taking a bottle was zero. We combined Nutri-Drench (a liquid multi-vitamin) with his milk to give him a boost. Then, at the vet's suggestion, added .5 cc of a Vitamin B complex to his milk for one feeding. Towards evening, he picked his head and and was a bit more interactive, tho still lethargic.

Sadly, worse news came in from the vet .... Popo had taken a turn for the worse in the afternoon, and passed away about 5 PM. Poor little Cooper was now an orphan. We were gravely concerned that his lethargy was, at least in part, being brought on by his need for his mother's attention. No human mother can adequately fill that role for a llama baby. We had hoped that his companion llamas would help restore his spirit, and little Noah was trying his best. Cooper definitely responded to Noah's attempts to interact, but his responses faded as his lethargy increased.

As the day came to a close and night deepened, Cooper began to fade. In the early morning hours on Tuesday, beautiful little Cooper quietly passed away in his sleep. Cooper went to join his momma, Popo, in the great pasture beyond.

We are truly heartbroken. It hurts to lose a beloved llama friend ... times two. There will be better days, and we will keep our happy memories and derive much learning from this experience. We chose to share this story here so others who follow our blog might find some useful information in its contents, and another llama life might be saved someday. Life is not without challenges, and they are challenges worth facing.

A special note:

We are immensely thankful for Dr. Wright and the vet team at Belton Veterinary Clinic who worked so hard to try to save both Popo and Cooper; we could not have asked them to do more.

Enjoying the Day

2009-04-21T18:31:00.005-05:00

Ashlee's adorable boys, Dexter and Patrick, just enjoying an afternoon break basking in the sun.

Great Pyrenees Puppies

2009-04-16T11:14:00.002-05:00

On April 10, Greta delivered a healthy litter of Great Pyrenees pups. DaKoda is the proud Daddy. The little wriggling balls of white fur are all doing well.

Pictures and more information will be coming in the weeks ahead.

If you are interested in reserving a puppy, please contact us and we will put you on the waiting list.

Three More Buck Kids

2009-04-01T12:38:00.003-05:00

On Sunday, March 29, Valentine delivered a single buck kid. Oscar is like a small copy of his Mom and Dad - black with white and grey spots all over. A very handsome little guy!

On Wednesday, April 1, Ashlee delivered a near-matching set of twin buck kids. The main difference in their coloring seems to be that Patrick has Ashlee's frosted ears, and Dexter has Oliver's black ears (with a few white freckles). Ashlee has been a very attentive first time Mom, but she is still figuring out how to let them nurse. With just a little intervention, both boys are doing great.

Nubian Kids - the Fun & the Challenges

2009-03-19T18:15:00.007-05:00

We have been generously blessed with 10 healthy Nubian goat kids so far this kidding season. We still have three does due to kid in the coming weeks.

During the cold, rainy days we had late last week, Glory and Surprise each kidded with a single kid.

Glory kidded first with a beautiful, heavily spotted buck kid. Baxter was born just as the storms were starting and the cold winds were blowing hard. Even with our efforts to keep him warm and protected from the driving rain, he had trouble regulating his body temperature effectively. Ultimately, we brought Baxter into the house and got his temperature to normalize. Over the next few days, we combined bottle feeding with regular visits with his mom to nurse. On Saturday, once the weather improved he was reunited with his mom full-time. He is now happy and thriving with the rest of the kids in the pasture.

On Friday, in the midst of another round of cold blowing rain, Surprise kidded with a beautiful little doe kid. We moved Surprise and baby Shasta to a protected area with a warm heat lamp. Once again, we faced problems with a baby not being able to stay warm enough. For about 24 hours, Shasta joined Baxter in the house with regular visits to her mom for nursing. She, too, was reunited with her mom on Saturday.

After kidding with triplets on March 7, Ophillia developed mastitis on one side of her udder. We proceeded to treat with a combination of massage and anti-biotic shots of OxyTetracycline. (More information can be found at Fias Co Farm). After 5 days of anti-biotics, the infection seemed to be better, but we still had some problems with milk flow on the affected side. Following the much appreciated advice provided by Irene Ramsay's website, we follow-up the anti-biotic treatment with several days of "own milk". We are relieved and ecstatic to report that Ophillia is now doing markedly better!

We have already completed the dreaded deed of disbudding all the boys (except Baxter); we will do the girls and the remaining boy this coming weekend. This is, truly, our least favorite job on the ranch.

In the end, there is nothing like watching all the happy, healthy kids bouncing merrily around in the pasture enjoying the sunshine. Were we totally exhausted from several sleepless nights? Definitely! Is it worth all the work to make sure they are and will stay healthy? Absolutely!

Rain & Drought

2009-03-19T18:11:00.001-05:00

Our dry pastures were blessed with about 3" of rain last week!

Over the course of about 3 days, we saw boughts of heavy rainfall combined with brutal, cold winds. Thankfully, the parched ground was able to effectively absorb a good portion of the rainfall to help spur some much needed forage regeneration.

Sadly, the effects of the rainfall are sure to be short-lived. We are already seeing cracks resuming in the dry ground and our wet weather creek has already returned to it's empty state. Area lakes showed only small increases in the lake levels since much of the rain was absorbed. According to the drought monitor system, we remain in "exceptional drought" status.

A new article released 03/13/09 details how the drought, even after the rain, is affecting Texas agriculture:
http://www.agnetwork.com/content.asp?ContentId=298616

Eight Nubian kids ... so far

2009-03-10T19:54:00.002-05:00

This past weekend was very busy with the arrival of a total of eight Nubian kids.

Ophillia started off the pack with her triplets.
Then Stoney Creek followed suit later that day with her cute twins.
Sunday morning, Tassie decided it was time to bring her buck kid into the world.
Then early Monday morning, Mikki delivered her adorable twin girls.

*whew!*

Pictures of all the babies have been posted on the Our Babies page of our website.

Glory, Ashlee and Surprise should be kidding in the very near future. Given the way Raggedy Anne is shaping up, it looks like her time maybe fast approaching as well.

In the meantime, we are working with Ophillia to fight a case of post-partum mastitis. Two of Ophillia's triplets are still nursing fine, and we are working with the third to graft him onto another doe to reduce the strain while she works thru this episode. Our deepest thanks to our friends at both Keno! Farm and Four Mile Farm for all the helpful advice and experienced insight in helping to manage this situation!

Nubian Kids - TWO sets in one day!

2009-03-07T20:11:00.003-06:00

It has been a busy day on the ranch!

Just a few hours after Ophillia delivered her beautiful set of triplets (two boys and a girl), Stoney Creek delivered a gorgeous set of twins (one boy, one girl).

See more baby pictures on the Our Babies page of our website.

Unfortunately, pictures of Stoney's kids will have to wait until tomorrow - it got dark too quick to get good photos.

Both momma's and all the kids are doing fine!

Drought

2009-03-06T13:20:00.011-06:00

The drought in Texas has made news nationwide over the past few months. The severity of the drought continues to increase throughout the state. Here at our ranch, we have only seen about 15" of rain over the past 15 months, putting us into the "exceptional drought" status. (Thanks to Rachel for the drought map link).

Never experienced a drought?
Let us share some of our experiences, aside from the obvious dry air and ground.

Natural forage in the pastures has failed to grow and has died across large areas in the pastures. Now exposed dirt blows freely away in the increasing winds brought by this weather pattern. (We estimate an average of 5"+ of top soil loss so far in our pastures - remember the "dust bowl" years?). All that dirt blowing away exposes a plethora of rocks. (We may not grow grass in the drought, but we sure have a nice crop of rocks!) Area stock tanks and our own creek line has dried up causing wildlife to seek man-made water areas; this wildlife is not always compatible with livestock and people. Predators become bolder and often more aggressive in their hunting (we are very thankful for our Great Pyrenees LGDs). Neighboring water wells providing for livestock and homesteads have dried up, forcing the purchase of water holding tanks and trucked in water (an expensive proposition). Growing vegetables, crops, or even flowers becomes a time-intensive challenge. The danger of fire is extreme; this results in a nagging fear of leaving the ranch unattended for even a few hours and possibly returning to charred remains. Hay prices continue to rise and supply simply cannot support the statewide demand for hay. Feed prices also continue to remain high, and more farmers and ranchers are depending on these feeds to keep their herds going. (Our predominant feed supply manufacturer, Evergreen Mills, decided to shutdown their Texas facilities in February, so now we face the challenge of finding other quality, affordable, and accessible feed suppliers). Oak wilt has hit our area hard since this disease is exacerbated by dry conditions stressing the trees, the last of our stand of old oaks have now "gone to sleep". Without serious rains this Spring, we no longer hold out hope of any of the trees recovering. (Anyone need firewood?) We have also learned that livestock have the natural ability to control fertility and production when the environment does not support their survival. Even with careful management, mineral provision, and supplemental feeding, we have seen a reduction in the number of offspring produced from our herds. In case you are keeping track of the financial side of this, we have seen higher feed & hay costs, with lower production resulting in reduced income. Overall, it's been a rough ride. We continue to pray for rain!

So what will happen when it eventually does rain?

All those dry patches in our pasture leave the exposed top soil open to simply washing away when the first hard, heavy rain that hits. (Oh goodie, more rocks are sure to emerge). Heavy rains on sun-hardened ground will generally result in heavy runoff; localized flooding is not unusual. Just like roaches, the most durable plants to survive the drought will be weeds - some of them sure to be toxic (like nightshade). Toxic weeds and livestock are not a great combination. Until the rain starts and the pastures start to grow again, there is no way to know how much of the pastures will recover, and how much will need to be restarted with seeds or sprigs. Our hay providers will spend the coming years restoring the health and production of their hay fields; this is likely to mean lower than needed production and increased costs of hay. For awhile, the need to supplemental feed will remain. Producers, state-wide, will spend years rebuilding their herds back to the production levels needed. Sadly, some producers will simply shut-down.

What do we do?

First, we pray that the Lord will continue to watch over us and provide for our neighbors and all those struggling. Beyond that, we simply continue to use our available resources wisely and provide the best care we can for our land and our animals. We are thankful that we are a small ranch and can, for the foreseeable future, will be able to manage.

Want to know more about how the drought is affecting Texas farmers and ranchers?
Please take the time to read this article:
Farmers worry as parts of Texas are driest in US

Nubian Dairy Goat Kids - Coming Soon!

2009-03-04T11:59:00.008-06:00

Today is Ophillia's due date!
Poor girl - she is obviously tired of being so pregnant.

Her udder is very full!
We are anxiously awaiting her kids to make their grand debut.

We have a total of eight Nubian does due in the coming weeks.

Stoney Creek and Glory are not far behind Ophillia!

Stay tuned for Nubian kids, coming soon!

Starting the Garden

2009-02-17T18:48:00.006-06:00

This past weekend, we got started on our garden for this year. We use these cool growing boxes called an EarthBox for some of our vegetables. Because of the way these boxes allow the soil to wick water from the contained reservoir, the vegetables can thrive in small spaces.

So far, we have started broccoli, strawberries, and two kinds of lettuce. Soon, we plan to plant several kinds of squash, beans, melons, tomatoes, and maybe corn.

Off They Go

2009-02-16T19:24:00.006-06:00

On Saturday, our last three calves from the 2008 season left the ranch to go to their new home in New Mexico. We are thrilled that they will have a loving home with McNeese family!

A Night of Storms

2009-02-11T12:45:00.002-06:00

Like much of Texas and Oklahoma, our area was hit by fierce storms last night. As the storm neared and the weather radio began to issue warnings, we headed outside to make sure everything and everyone was secured. The storm came on in a fury!

As we walked out the door, a sudden increase in wind nearly pulled us off the porch. We raced to the kidding pen to move Seven Up and baby Lady Hawk into the safety of our livestock trailer. Just as we got them relocated, along with their food and water, the wind and driving rain hit full force.

The winds, reportedly gusting near 60 mph, collapsed the cover on the chicken pen - right on top of the roosting chickens! We were able to hold up the fallen cover long enough to get all the chickens off the perch so they could get to safety. Then, as the hail started, we were able to catch and safely relocate all the chickens into the hen house.

We are happy to report all of our animals are fine this morning. At dawn, we worked quickly to reconstruct the covers on both the large chicken coop and on the kidding pen. Seven Up and Lady Hawk are now happily basking in the sun in the kidding pen. The chickens are once again roaming the ranch like nothing much happened. All is well. Thank the Lord!

First Kid of 2009

2009-02-10T20:07:00.005-06:00

Just as the sun was going down and the full moon was rising, one of our young Nubian does, Seven Up, decided to deliver us our first kid of the year. Her baby is a beautiful, spotted doe with long frosted ears and the sweetest little face! In tribute to her father, White Hawk (of Four Mile Farm), we have named this little girl "Lady Hawk".

Keep an eye on the "Our Babies" page of our website for more pictures and updates on new kids sure to be arriving soon.

Latest News on Farm Fresh Eggs!

2009-01-30T17:35:00.003-06:00

Mother Earth News, a long revered publication on natural and green living, has released results from a new study on the value of pasture raised eggs (versus commercially produced).

A short article well worth reading!

More Great News About Free-Range Eggs

Farm fresh eggs! Get your nutrient-rich, free-range eggs here! :)

Ducklings!

2009-01-21T09:30:00.002-06:00

A somewhat unexpected hatch of tiny ducklings greeted us this morning with a round of enthusiastic peeping! Six little, yellow Indian Runner ducklings scattered, tumbled, jumped and peeped as they ran along behind their Momma, who strolled along quacking quite authoritatively.

After proudly showing off her new hatchlings, Momma Duck quickly took her brood back to the nest for some more warm bonding time.

Stay warm little ducklings!

The New Brood

2009-01-20T07:17:00.005-06:00

Just before Thanksgiving 2008, we added 50 new Red Sexlinks pullets to our flock. While they are maturing, they are living in a protected "brooder pen". Now that they are about 8 weeks old, they are just about fully feathered and started to test their wings a bit. It will still be a number of weeks before they are large enough to be able to join the big flock.

Gone Home

2009-01-11T17:09:00.004-06:00

Our handsome little miniature Scottish Highland bull calf, GWR Niall, left Saturday to go to his new home in Louisiana.

Niall has been an exceptionally friendly little boy since he was born, and it was hard to see him leave. On the other hand, we are VERY happy to know that he has such a wonderful new home with Ed and Lynda.

Upgrading the Hen House

2009-01-09T19:04:00.005-06:00

At the end of December, we were able to buy some "real" hen nesting boxes for our chicken coop. These new boxes offer many more nesting cavities than the homemade ones we were using! The hens have taken to these upgraded accommodations without so much as a blink.

To go along with the new nest boxes, we built the flock a brand new "mega perch" to roost on. This structure is large enough to handle not only the current laying hens, but also the 50 new upcoming chicks when they are ready to join the large flock.

This new roost is protected from wind by new clear partition walls on the outer pen, and an overhead tarp. While the chickens roam the ranch during the day, they voluntarily come back to their enclosed pen to lay eggs and at the night to enjoy their rest in safety.

Llama Kisses!

2009-01-07T19:08:00.004-06:00

Meet "Moony", or more formally, GWR Moonlight Dreams.

Moony was born here on the ranch in early November. From the start, he had this great, interactive personality - just like his mother, Dancy. In fact, he is pretty much the spitting image of her! Definitely a cutie.

Ah, there is nothing like getting sweet little fuzzy-faced llama kisses! :)

Plans for 2009

2009-01-06T12:55:00.003-06:00

We have just a few goals for the ranch in the new year - and they are some pretty major ones!

First, we are working to setup our dairy barn to be fully compliant with Texas requirements for a "Grade A Raw for Retail" dairy license. When we succeed in this venture, we will be able to legally sell our goat milk for human consumption! We are currently working on determining final layout for the dairy barn and milk processing area, and getting the necessary funding for this lofty venture! This also means getting new milking stands and an automatic milking machine. We are very excited about this project! :)

Next, we are planning on creating a new line of handmade products to be offered from the ranch. Our products will include various goat milk soaps and bath items. We also hope to offer handmade goat coats, llama fiber filled pet beds, and other related items. For our own use, we are looking forward to learning to make various cheeses, kefir, and maybe even butter from our goat milk.

We are also preparing to plant a garden for the Spring and hope to have an abundance of garden produce this coming Summer. The ideas of what to plant are already spinning around in our heads and we are scoping out various types of seeds we are interested in trying out. We added some new fruit trees to the ranch this past Winter, so we have that produce to look forward to as well (eventually). We have planted peaches, plums, pears, and blackberries so far, and are planning to plant some orange trees in the next month or so. We are still looking for pecan trees.... maybe those will get added next Fall.

Finally, we are planning to work with a new trainer to get our horses trained to ride (finally!). Two of our herd should be going to start their training this month, with two others going later in the Spring. We will also be rehoming two of our six horses; it looks like Sonny and Rita will have good homes with two different trainers. With our horses getting trained, this means that we will need to brush up on our riding skills too! We are sure looking forward to being able to spend some time together quietly riding along on horseback ... talk about a dream fulfilled. :)

In addition to these new ventures, we will continue all the work with our livestock, offer llama shearing services in the Spring, and Teresa is continuing to grow her website development work with our other business, Images with Flair. If you need a website created, or want someone to help with your site's management, please drop Teresa an email.

Please wish us luck in these new ventures and in the year ahead!

2008 - A Year In Review

2009-01-05T20:36:00.002-06:00

Last year held many blessings, and many challenges for us. Overall, 2008 was really a good year!

Several new beginnings happened here, starting with the addition of our flock of chickens. We started with a few dozen hens last January, and added several more chickens to our flock throughout the year. Just for fun, three roosters joined our flock this summer - two Cuckoo Maran brothers named "Luke" and "Duke", and one handsome Blue Maran boy named "Nike". In November, we boldly added 50 new Red Sexlink chicks to our flock; we look forward to them starting to lay eggs this coming April. As of December 31, 2008, our little flock had grown to 86 chickens!

In the Summer of 2008, we were adopted by a white dove we named "Dovey". One day, while helping a neighbor next door, a white dove flew up to us. He was obviously a flight-raised bird that had lost his way and was seeking help from us (white doves do not survive well in the wild). When we were not able to locate his originating home, we took Dovey in as part of our family. Dovey has now been gallantly outfitted with a large walk-in flight in our backyard and a new "family" of over 20 other doves to keep him company. We truly enjoy these beautiful birds and their soothing sounds.

As the year progressed, we were joined by three more Nubian dairy goats from our friends at Four Mile Farm - Ashlee, Glory, and Seven Up. With the addition of Glory who was already "in milk", we started milking (by hand) regularly in late summer and were able to store up enough milk to keep us happy thru the winter. In December, we bought three more Nubian girls from our new friends at Fat Bottom Farm - Raggedy Anne, Solstice, and Frosty. We are blessed to have a beautiful herd of Nubian goats which now includes 12 does and 3 bucks. We are expecting kids from 10 of our does in the Spring!

Speaking of kids - yes, we had babies in 2008. We had 8 goat kids, 3 llama crias, and 4 Scottish Highland calves in addition to several small hatches of ducklings during the Summer. We were also blessed to have multiple litters of Great Pyrenees puppies - including a miraculous litter from our matriarch guardian dog, Trina. We met a lot of really great people who chose to give our kids, cria and pups homes! We have made some wonderful new friends this year. :)

The past year was not without challenges! We had the range of "normal" issues facing most ranches with fence and equipment repairs, rising feed and hay prices, and various livestock concerns.

One of our most noteworthy memories was when our trusty old ranch truck, Big Red, took its final drive in May. While we were en route to pick up our bull, Casper, from the collection center in Taylor, Big Red (with trailer in tow) gave up the ghost and blew a head gasket. We were truly lucky that Big Red's demise occurred right in front of a Ford dealership. Thanks to the generosity of the dealership, we were able to borrow a truck to get our trailer home and to go on to complete our ranch business that weekend. Even better, they ended up having just the right used truck sitting on the back lot just waiting for us! We are now the very happy owners of "The Great White Titan", a 2000 Ford F-250 Triton with much needed 4-wheel drive!

Once again, we faced a very dry year with our area remaining in severe drought. There was little to no grass in the pasture, no water in the creek, hay prices on the rise, and dirt from our very dry pastures blowing away in the hot breezes. At the end of the year, our records showed a total rainfall on our ranch of approximately 7 inches; that is less than half of what the neighboring Austin-area got and markedly below the average for this area. We continue to pray for some timely rainfall in the new year. We remain very thankful for our faithful hay providers!

There is obviously much remaining unsaid about the many events of 2008. It is time to look forward now to the new year ahead! We have so much to be truly thankful for, and we look forward to the opportunities and challenges the new year is destined to bring.

Happy New Year - 2009

2009-01-05T20:34:00.000-06:00

Wishing you all a joyous and blessed new year!

As part of our resolutions for the new year, we will be working hard to keep this blog updated more frequently. Please check in regularly for the latest news from Galloping Winds Ranch.

Vacation!

2008-05-23T09:18:00.005-05:00

On occasion, even us ranchers get to take a vacation. Last week, we travelled to Colorado to see the sites and explore the adventures of that state. Here are some of the things we say and experienced ...

Fraser and Winter Park
The lodge we were staying in was right in the heart of the Fraser and Winter Park area - ski country. While we planned our trip hoping to avoid most of the snowy season, we were trumped by Mother Nature. During the week we were here, several snow storms and unseasonable events occurred. One morning, we woke up to find 12" of fresh snow on the ground. Another day that started out warm and sunny, ended with near white out conditions! The scenery in the area was beautiful, and the towns were quiet since it was off-season for them. We enjoyed the friendly people and found some great places to eat. As we make our way from Fraser to venture around the state, we found ourselves traveling across the Great Divide almost daily.... an adventure in itself!

Garden of the Gods
Our first adventure in Colorado was in the Colorado Springs area. We spent several hours driving thru the Garden of the Gods. The day was warm and sunny and many folks were out on horseback in the park. We enjoyed seeing the many rock faces and gorgeous views God created in this park. Truly a peaceful area.

Pikes Peak
As many visitors to Colorado do every year, we took the cog railway up Pikes Peak. The view was truly stupendous; we could see for miles and miles. Some of the additional high points of this venture were seeing the wildlife and scenery on the way up and down. On the way up, a herd of bighorn sheep decided to cross the tracks in front of the train. The train stopped to let them safely cross... we had a prime seat right in the front of the train!!! One the way back down, we passed by a Yellow Bellied Marmet on the side of the track; he seemed undisturbed by the large train and just sat up and looked at us as we went by. The snow was beginning to melt in the lower mountain area and the streams were flowing creating several small waterfalls along the way.

Phoenix Gold Mine
While the gold rush happened many years ago, there really are still active gold mines in Colorado. We visited the Phoenix Gold Mine near Idaho Springs which is a working mine. Since it is still off-season here, we got a personal tour of the visitor's mine by a very personable and knowledgeable miner. We saw the gold producing vein running thru the mountain side, and saw how the mine was developed thru the years. Our miner guide explained how the gold is imbedded in the rock and how it is extracted by the miners. We also got insights into how old mines are being reactivated, and how bears have been known to take up residence in the old mine shafts. Outside the mine, we enjoyed meeting the chipmunks who have befriended the miners and seeing the many ore samples they had on display. Overall, this was another enjoyable learning experience.

Rocky Mountain National Park
The main trail going East/West thru the park was still closed due to snow in the high country. So, we ventured into the park on both sides; at Grand Lake and then at Estes Park. On the Grand Lake side, it was still snow covered in most areas. We did not see much wildlife, only a grey fox... but we saw big footprints from moose in the snow. On the Estes Park side, the tundra was mostly thawing and wildlife abounded. We saw many elk, a few bighorn sheep, and lots of little critters like prairie dogs, chipmunks, squirrels and unique birds.

Horseback Riding
We took a short horseback trip thru the Snow Mountain area. Since most of the area was still covered in snow, we rode on trails with a guide. The views of the surrounding mountains were gorgeous. Most of the horses here are really big draft crosses and were great to ride.

Fiber Processing Mill
We had the pleasure of visiting a wonderful, family run fiber processing mill. The Dewey family made us feel very welcome at the Lonesome Stone Fiber Mill in Granby, CO. The Dewey's raise alpacas and process fiber from their own herd as well as for clients sending them alpaca, llama and even buffalo fiber! Their facility was impressively clean and well organized. Their products were beautiful produced with obvious attention to the finest detail. We truly appreciated the friendly tour, and the great education in fiber processing they offered us - we are definitely planning to send our usable fiber to them this year!

Coors Brewery
Golden, CO is home to the Coors Brewery. We took the free tour of their facility there and learned so much! Did you know that Coors also brews beers for Killian's, Molson, Blue Moon, and Keystone? They also produce other products including Zima - in THREE flavors! (Pineapple was our favorite). Their brewmasters develop and test new tastes every year and only a few of those appear in our local stores. This tour was great - made even more impressive by the tasting room at the end of the tour! Definitely a recommendation if you are in the area.

Clear Creek Canyon
On our way to and from Boulder and Golden, we travelled thru the very scenic Clear Creek Canyon. Nestled between the mountains, this casually winding road follows a beautifully clear flowing creek. The scenery is all nature, undisturbed. In some areas, the sheer rock face comes right up to the edge of the road, while in other areas, a little meadow gradually climbs up a craggy hillside. The canyon is the perfect place for bighorn sheep to play. Gorgeous.

Celestial Seasonings Tea
Did you know that Celestial Seasonings Tea has it's home in Boulder, CO? Their plant started there about 30 years ago, and has grown into an impressive facility working with tea and herb growers around the world. They start their tour by allowing visitors to taste any of their MANY teas in the tasting room. We found teas we have never seen in the stores before! Some of our favorites were the Apple Banana Chamomile Latin tea, and their English Toffee dessert tea. YUM! The tour showed how all the ingredients are processed, mixed, bagged, packaged, and prepared for shipping. The Celestial Seasonings company also has ties to many naturally based foods and cosmetic lines; all of these items were available in the store at the end of the tour. Another highly recommended activity if you are in the area!

Hammond's Candy Factory
Before WWII, the Denver area hosted a multitude of quality confectioners - Hammond's Candies was one of those. Still in business today, this factory offers tours and tastes to the public. This factory has 7 master candy makers on staff and they make ALL the candy BY HAND. Let's make no mistake - this is NOT an easy job! Most of those candy batches weight 70 pounds and are mixed and pulled by hand by these folks. The end result is worth it though - with some of the finest, most unique candies in the area. A tasty adventure to be sure!

Redstone Meadery
Mead is a wine made from honey; one of the oldest forms of wine known to man.... and one of Rob's favorite wines. We visited the award winning Redstone Meadery in the Boulder area to see what kind of meads are generally available. Amongst all the ribbons hanging in the intimate visitors area, they offered us free samples of all of their meads. One of the most unique offerings was the Sparkling Nectars - like a carbonated mead.... Awesome! As is typical with meads, their flavors were all based on honey and fruit combinations. The blueberry and blackberry meads were truly impressive, as were the many flavors of sparkling nectars. The mead master even allowed us to do some creative mixing of flavors which resulted in some awesome combinations. If you are in the area, definitely plan to stop by and experience this unique meadery.

Pictures
Pictures of our trip can be seen here: Pictures
Be sure to click on the two sub-albums for Garden of the Gods and Pike's Peak.

Back Home
Being away for a week sure made us glad to be back home. While we were gone, our wonderful neighbor took loving care of our place... many THANKS to Denny!!!!

We are still waiting on a calf from Aimili, a cria (baby llama) from Popo, and several duck nests to hatch.

New Puppies- 05/08/08

2008-05-23T09:12:00.002-05:00

Late evening on May 8, Emma gave birth to her first litter of Great Pyrenees puppies! Emma took right to being a Mom and the puppies are getting big so fast. They are just now opening their eyes.

Pictures will be coming soon on Our Babies page.
Reservations for the four available pups are already being accepted.

May Madness

2008-05-08T16:18:00.003-05:00

We have been so busy lately here around the ranch! In addition to our "regular jobs", we have been busy with puppies, goat kids, and trying to get a handle on all the Spring-time activities around here (spraying pastures, fixing fences, etc).

Ducklings

One of our mother ducks finally hatched her brood on April 27. Thirteen adorable ducklings! This past weekend, we sent them all to their new home with a wonderful woman who has three ponds for them to play in on her big farm. We are waiting to see if three of our other duck mothers will hatch their nests in the coming weeks. It also looks like the guineas are preparing to sit their nests; hopefully we will have some keets available this Spring.

Pyrenees Puppies

On Wednesday, April 30, Greta's puppies were 6 weeks old... already! They have been growing so fast. This past weekend, five of the puppies went to their new homes. Two will be traveling to their new homes in the coming weeks, and one should be going home sometime in the next week. Be sure to check out the puppy slide show HERE.

Emma is due to deliver her first litter of pups just any time. Based on her behavior, it looks like it will be TODAY!

Casper's New Adventure

Our registered Scottish Highland bull, Casper, has embarked on a new adventure! This past weekend we took Casper to a semen collection center here in Texas. He will stay with them for a couple of weeks being "collected". Twice a week, they will use a dummy cow (a steer in disguise) to entice him to "jump". They capture his semen, then test and freeze it into straws to be used for future Artificial Insemination (AI). We hope to offer semen straws for sale very soon!

Still Waiting

We are still waiting on the arrival of some new babies... one llama, another litter of Pyr pups, ducklings, and it looks like one of our Scottish Highland heifers, Aimili, is going to calve later this month. Stay tuned...

Kidding Around

2008-04-21T16:42:00.001-05:00

Triplets ... again!

Just about the time I made the last post here saying that Tassie was due any time, she went into labor. Within a few hours, on Thursday, April 17, Tassie delivered a beautiful set of triplets; two girls and a boy. The first doe kid, Violet is the only solid kid we had this year. She's a gorgeous, petite girl sporting a deep mahogany coat with black points and frosted ears. The next two kids, Jack and Chrissy, are a dark reddish brown with silver and white spots, white faces and frosted ears. All of them are adorable! While these are Tassie's first kids, she has proven to be an outstanding mother with plenty of milk ... and patience.

You can see pictures of the new triplets on the Our Babies page of our website.

It's a Bubbly Business

This weekend, we had the pleasure of visiting our friends at Four Mile Farm and getting lessons on making goat milk soap. What a blast!!! We learned so much in just a short time. Our wonderful teacher even sent us home with some of our own creations to try after they cure. Many THANKS to Rachel for her generous hospitality and unending patience!!! :)

Crispy Critters?

Time to disbud the babies! This past Sunday, we took the goat twins, Darren and Samantha, to visit "the disbudding iron" at nearby Keno! Farms. Our friend, John, was kind enough to give Rob lessons in how to do the deed using our new disbudding iron. This week, we will face the challenge of doing Mikki's triplets ourselves ... wish us luck!

Springing and Bouncing

2008-04-17T10:09:00.004-05:00

Bouncing Baby Goats

Surely everyone knows how absolutely adorable baby goats are. We have spent hours being entertained in the past few weeks by their non-stop antics.

The twins have developed what appears to be a new game with the llamas. If the llamas are laying down, the kids just use them like a mountain to climb. When the llamas are standing still, they become big, soft, fuzzy springboards to leap up on and bounce off of! You should see the llamas faces!!! It is really interesting to see how protective all the llamas are of the babies - even when they are literally running underfoot.

The triplets are growing and running like crazy. When they are not chasing around with the twins, they are sticking close with their Momma, Mikki. All of the kids are super friendly and come right up to let us play with them. :)

Two of our guardian dogs, Trina and Emma, have taken to staying with all the babies almost full time. The babies are not afraid to use the dogs as climbing posts either, and the dogs don't seem to mind at all. Such good guardians!!

Milk.... NOW!!!!

Our newest goat addition, Ashlee, is still getting a bottle every day. This past weekend while we were working along the pasture fence, Ashlee apparently decided it was time for a snack... since we appeared to be handy and all. So, while we were working hard, she stood at the fence and told us, in very plain English, "Mmmmmiiiiiillllkkkkkk!" Rob and I just looked at each other and laughed at how clearly she said that! We loved on her a bit and told her it was not snack time. Ha, like that worked! A few minutes later, her "Mmmmmiiiiiillllkkkkkk" plea was back. We about fell over laughing, when abruptly it was followed up with a very clear "NNNOOOOOOWWWW!" What do you say to her then?? :)

Gone Home

This weekend, one of our long-time resident llamas, Kali, went to her new home on Sunday. Kali now has a great new family, including another young llama to keep her company. We feel sure she will thrive on the prolific attention she is sure to get in her new home.

Traveling Calves

Saturday morning, our last two calves from 2007 went to their wonderful new home. Their new Momma came to pick them up. They were so good - we opened the trailer and they literally hopped right in. No fuss, no muss ... guess they knew they had a great new home waiting. :)

Now we have this years calves to look forward to. We have a wait yet - they are no due until mid Summer and beyond.

Still Waiting

We still await more babies due to arrive this Spring! One more goat, Tassie, and one llama, Popo, are due to have their babies soon. Tassie has gotten wider by the day; we are starting to think she may be carrying triplets like Mikki was. With the full moon coming this weekend, and several weather fronts brooding, we expect to see babies arriving by the end of the weekend.

Mikki's Kids

2008-04-09T09:40:00.004-05:00

The TRIPLETS arrived on Sunday, April 6 ... all of them boys!

In the order they were born, the boys go:

Toby, a light brown with spots and splashes

Kenny, medium gold with spots

Tim, a very light gold with white & silver spots

Mikki is a terrific mother and all the boys are thriving!

We have to send out a big THANK YOU to our dear neighbor who helped make sure these boys arrived safely. True to form, it seems that anytime we leave town for a day or more, a baby of some type is born on our ranch; this weekend was no exception. While we were enroute home from the Celebrity Llama Show in Oklahoma City, our neighbor was monitoring Mikki for us. About 3:00 PM, the signs of imminent delivery were there. Soon, the first boy made his appearance. By 5:30, they had all arrived safe and sound, had navals dipped, pictures taken, and were standing on their own. When we arrived home a little more than an hour later, Mom and babies were doing great. We made sure they were all nursing and settled them in for the night.

Mikki is producing a tremendous amount of milk! On both Monday and Tuesday, we milked 16 oz of colostrum to help relieve the load. With three boys, it is a good thing to have lots of milk!

Another new arrival

On Monday, our friends from Four Mile Farm in Harper, TX paid us a visit. Our newest addition to the herd is Ashlee - a beautiful little spotted doe. Ashlee came with her pal, Diamond, who will be going to live with our neighbor in the next week. (Diamond is a yearling Boer goat and is just as sweet as Ashlee). For now, Ashlee and Diamond are exploring the big new pasture together and making friends with all the other goats.

Tuesday night, after Ashlee got her evening bottle she made a point of getting some extra attention from Rob. While he was in the pasture monitoring the dining activities, Ashlee walked up and tapped him gently on the leg. Yes, tapped him... with her foot. Then she gave him the most pathetic look. Who could resist?! Rob sat down to love on her and she climbed right on up into his lap and made herself at home! Awww.... it was a Kodak moment... too bad the camera was not handy! :)

Coming soon...

Looks like Spring will be bringing more babies yet! In addition to goat kids and llama babies (called crias), it looks like we have three of our Swedish Blue ducks sitting nests under the roses. We can expect those ducklings to hatch towards the end of April. I am sure that somewhere off in the wild areas, there is a guinea or two starting a nest. Soon, little winged wonders will be appearing all over the yard!

Many thanks!

In addition to bringing Ashlee to us on Monday, our friends at Four Mile Farm left us with an armload of wonderful goodies! They make the best goat milk soap and brought us some of their newest creations to try out and share. MMmmmm.... WONDERFUL! On top of that, they shared fresh eggs, frozen milk with kefir for Ashlee, and some new goat milk products to try. Because we are 2+ hours away from each other, we do not get to see each other very often. Their visit was really special and made my whole week!!! :)

Stay tuned for more news from the ranch!

God Bless Ya'll!

Ophillia's Kids

2008-04-01T18:38:00.019-05:00

They're HERE!

Meet Darren ...
and Samantha...

The twins were born on Sunday, March 30. Both babies and Momma, Ophillia, are doing just fine! :)

You can see more pictures on the Our Babies page of our website.

After we were sure the kids had nursed and received good colostrum, we milked Ophillia to relieve some of the pressure. Now we have some valuable colostrom in the freezer! This was our first time to really milk one of our girls and we found our new UdderlyEZ Milker to be a wonderful asset!
I have to admit we were surprised that Ophillia kidded first, but Mikki will not be far behind. Both Mikki and Tassie are due in the next 2 weeks.

Mikki

Tassie

As you can see, Mikki is well bagged up (and getting larger daily). Tassie is just starting to make a bag, but it is growing daily as well. These photos were taken Sunday (03/30/08), since then Tassie has progressed tremendously.

Keep watching, more babies arriving soon!

Things are hopping along

2008-03-26T11:11:00.002-05:00

Just some quick news bits to share.

Easter bunnies
On Easter Sunday, we went into Austin to spend some time with family. On they way home, in the early dark under an almost full moon, it was like watching an erie Easter bunny tale. As we turned onto our private road the landscape came ALIVE with bunnies! Little cottontail bunnies. They were EVERYWHERE!!! At no other time, in the many years we have lived here, have we seen this many bunnies at one time. They were hopping down the road, bouncing across the road, sitting on the creek banks, jumping thru the pastures - the bunnies were abounding! We stopped the car, looked around, looked at each other and said "Happy Easter"! :)

Puppy recount
Okay, little wiggling puppies can be hard to count when they are safely burrowed around their mom. Greta has let us check out her pups a bit closer now, and we have confirmed there are, in fact, EIGHT puppies. They are a week old today and are really growing. Momma Greta is doing wonderful, as always. Pictures coming soon....

Where there is smoke, there is fire
Yesterday afternoon, a thick haze began to filter its way across the pastures ... coming in waves with the strong, persistent winds. A quick call to my neighbor confirmed that there was, in fact, a grass fire burning just across the highway (about 1 mile from our ranch). Soon, the helicopters and water planes arrived to drop water on it. The event went on for several hours. At times, the local deputies were concerned the fire would jump the highway, putting many more pastures and homesteads at risk. In the end, our gallant fire control crews saved the day! No one was injured and no structures appear to have been lost in the blaze. Thank the Lord!

No kids yet ...
Although I was not sure it was possible to do so, our Nubian goat, Mikki, continues to expand daily! Her bag and teats are full, her ligaments are so soft I cannot feel them, and she waddles about as she grazes. She was exposed to Trevor starting October 28, so her earliest due date SHOULD be March 31 ... will she make it that far? Never mind that we recorded her being in standing heat on November 7 ... surely there is no way she will make it until April 10! Goats, they never cease to amaze me.

Garden zone
This past weekend, between other exciting activities, we took a few hours to clear an area for a garden. Now we just need to rent/borrow a tiller, move some soil around, and get the ground prepped. Oh, and it would probably be wise to start the seeds; they probably are not going to sprout while they are sitting in my kitchen in their original packaging. :)

In conjunction with the garden, we are working on fencing in a large pen in the backyard area too. This involved clearing the line for the fence, and measuring out the distance for materials. We plan to use this pen to bring in the momma goats at night for morning milking, as well as adding to the chicken's running area. The projects are never ending. :)

Guess that is about all the news for now. Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Spring!

2008-03-21T13:09:00.003-05:00

Things have been incredibly busy around the ranch lately...

Two weeks ago, we sent four of our six horses to a trainer. Justin and Flurry will be coming home in a month or so after they are trained under saddle. The other two, Sonny and Rita, were given in trade for training services. We are looking forward to being able to ride together this Summer!

Izzy, our large Percheron-cross mare, has been limping for the past two weeks. She was injured a few years ago when she slipped in the mud and got entangled in a small section of wire fencing (this has since been replaced with horse-safe fencing). After surgery on her ankle, and many months of rehab, Izzy has been fine - never a limp. We knew there was always a possibility of future lameness from the incident and that bone spurs were likely; unfortunately, that time has come. She is not in significant pain, more like a bothersome irritation. Her ankle is not swollen, but the flexor tendon going over the bone spur is giving her some pause. At this point, we are helping her work thru this situation and she is coming along very well. While she will never be sound to ride, she is perfectly healthy and sound to use as a broodmare or companion. We are exploring the possibility of leasing or selling her to a good home for such a use.

Spring is the time for babies, and we are expecting our share in the coming months...

First, we are very happy to announce that we have PUPPIES! Greta delivered 7 healthy little Pyrenees puppies on Wednesday, March 19 in the early morning hours - in a torrential rain storm! All the puppies, and Mom, are doing great. Pictures will be coming soon on our website... for now, we are giving Greta some privacy with her pups. Our other Pyrenees female, Emma, is also bred to Koda and we expect pups from her in mid-May.

Many of our llamas are due for babies starting in April. We have bred most of our girls to our junior herdsires, Radar and Dreamin'. Since they are not proven studs and the girls were all exposed in pasture (versus scheduled breeding), we have to do some estimating as to due dates. Probably the first of them will be one of our miniature llamas, Popo; she is sure to deliver in the next few weeks. While llamas are known to hide their pregnancies well, Popo is not hiding much - she is round as a ball!

In addition to the llamas, three of our dairy goats, Ophillia, Mikki and Tassie, are due to kid in the next few weeks. Mikki is the only experienced Mom in the bunch, and looks like she will deliver in the next week or so. Ophillia and Tassie are both "making bag" and starting to expand by the minute! Surely they will kid before they explode!?! :)

Looking to the future ... and other ponderings ...

This morning, we moved our buck, Oliver, into the pasture with our three junior does, Valentine, Stoney and Surprise. We hope to have kids from them in late August, or early September. They should be some pretty fancy babies if all goes as planned!

Now, let me tell you about Oliver and his dog, Emma.... Since the day Oliver arrived on the ranch, Emma decided he was HER goat. She has bathed him, slept with him, watched over him, and just in general bonded with him. Where Oliver goes, Emma goes. Well, when we took Oliver out of the upper pasture this morning and Emma was aghast (no, she was not allowed out the gate too). As we put him into the lower pasture, Emma was right there waiting. (Where there is a will, there is a way - Half of our pastures have an adjoining gate system the dogs can go thru to guard all the pastures while the goats and llamas stay where they belong). Emma watched as Oliver was busy greeting all the does and exploring the "new" pasture. Now, as it is approaching nap time, him and his canine companion are snuggling up together for a nap in the warm sunshine ... what a sappy scene this is. Some days watching the happenings in our pastures are like watching a soap opera ... "As the Pasture Turns". :)

I think I finally have the answer to the long-time question of "which came first, the chicken or the egg"... it is undoubtedly THE CHICKEN ... a LONG time before the egg did apparently. Why do I make this conclusion you might ask ... because our young hens are still not laying - at least not regularly. We have put in "fake eggs" in the nests for them, they are fed very well (layer feed), and are all growing well. One positive change we see is that their combs are starting to fill in now. (This is a sign of maturity in chickens). We are averaging about 3 eggs from the flock every day; we suspect these are primarily from the older hens we got last month. No complaints here - even those few eggs help keep us fed breakfast every morning. :) We just continue to look forward to the young hens getting into "the groove".

Well, I think that about brings everything up to date a bit. We will try to post more reliably in the future. :)

Adventures at the Vet - February 23

2008-03-12T11:19:00.002-05:00

Our Scottish Highland bull, Casper, came home from his visit with the vet on Wednesday. We are happy to report he is all fine and healthy. :) When we went to pick him up, we dropped off two of our heifers that we had scheduled for dehorning surgery. Saturday came, and what was supposed to be a quick "pickup" at the vet turned into a real rodeo!

We arrived at the vet to find only one trailer ahead of us in the vet barn. Yippee! We thought. Little did we know how things would go from there. The two gentlemen with the trailer ahead of us were in their senior years ... a very nice father (90's) and son (70's). As they went to unload their cattle from the trailer, they errantly left one of the chute gates open, so the cattle ran down the unloading chute and out into the open barn. Okay, so this, in itself, is not really a big deal since there are gates closing in the whole barn. The problem came when the Dad decided to go into the barn to help move the cows back into the working chute ... and left the gate open!

Rob was standing about 80' away and saw him walk in and not shut the big gate. Before Rob could run over and catch the gate, out ran one of the big cows. Off she goes! Running to the hay lean-to, running all around the loading yard, running thru the now lined up trailers and trucks. She did NOT want to go back in the gate, or into any enclosure she was offered. She wanted to stomp her feet and snort. She wanted to charge. The more she was encouraged to go into one of the pens, the madder she got! Ever seen a cow herded by a Bobcat before?! She even trotted all the way up to the main vet building and went inside the new office area they are just closing in. After taking a brief look around, out she trotted... back down to the loading area. On the way, she passed the main entry gate protected by a cattle guard. You'd think she would keep going right... nope. She passed it by, then turned around and went back. "Hmmm..." she seems to think. Then, to all of our shock and dismay, she jumped feet first INTO the cattle guard. A cumulative moan rises from the crowd that has gathered. Amazingly, this mad cow looks around, climbs back out of the cattle guard, and trots back down the fenceline. She proceeds to eye all the trailers with great content before retreating to the hay area and standing there snorting.

While all of us were trying very hard to keep her calm and stay out of her way, she was obviously rather pissed about visiting the vet. The gentlemen finally got the rest of their cows thru the vet chute and back in the trailer (with a little help from their new friends). When we backed up to load our two heifers, the vet opened the gate to the pen they were in (they had been watching this all transpire) and simply told them to go get in the trailer. Off they trotted without any problem... up the ramp, into the trailer without a single "moo". As he walked behind them and shut our trailer gate, the vet was heard to utter "Now, this is more like it!". Merrily we went on our way that day, glad to have provided less entertainment for once! :)

One ... so far

2008-02-19T09:14:00.003-06:00

I am happy to announce we now have our very first egg! :)

This past weekend, we added a few additional hens to our chicken flock so we are now up to 18. The new hens were already proven layers, so we are hoping they will encourage our young hens to get "in the mood". Monday, one of the new hens gifted us with our very first egg.

To help give the hens the idea that eggs belong in the nest boxes, and to encourage them to lay eggs, we have added some fake eggs to the boxes. Okay, so they are funny looking... we picked up some plastic Easter eggs that are kind of a tan camouflage color. They are reasonably close to the color the hens will lay at least! We just had some concern about putting bright pink or purple eggs in the boxes - that might scare the hens away entirely.

When we went to the grocery this past weekend, the kind folks in the produce department shared a bunch of greens with us that they were going to toss. The chickens went absolutely nuts over all of it - except the celery. One of the Buff Orpington hens grabbed a big leaf of lettuce and took off running to show all her friends. Once all the "good stuff" was gone, the celery became a toy for them all and provided them (and us) hours of entertainment.

This past Saturday, we had to take our bull, Casper, to visit the vet. He just seemed to be down in the dumps.... to us, he looked like he had lost his best friend. Big sad eyes, and even his ears weren't perky. He did not seem to be eating well either. Our vet checked him over and did not find anything concerning. He said he might have a little congestion that could be putting him off his feed a bit and kept him there for a few days to watch him. I spoke with the vet this morning and they said he seems perky and fine - just his normal laid-back self. He should be coming home tonight or tomorrow. :) His girls are all missing him like crazy!

Our four Nubian dairy goat does that are bred for this Spring are starting to drop their udders a little. They should all be due in 4-7 weeks. We are very excited and anxious to see how this year's kids will turn out.

We have a number of llamas also due this Spring; they should start delivering in April. We are hoping to see the first offspring from our miniature stud, Off The Radar. We also expect crias (baby llamas) from two of our other studs, Chance and Dreamin'. Should be an exciting Spring!

Warm Winter Days

2008-02-07T08:24:00.000-06:00

While we were working hard this weekend, we looked out into the pastures and saw our animals lounging about enjoying the unseasonably warm, sunny day. Just had to snap this photo of our Nubian bucks "hanging out".

We are still excitedly waiting on our chickens to start laying eggs. The girls have discovered the nest boxes and have started to act a little more broody ... maybe soon! :)

Over the past few months, both of us have been dealinlg with some injuries that kept us from being very productive. Tho still on the mend, we spent this past weekend working thru our list of all the "little" things that need to get done around the ranch. Fixing things that were broken, building a feed sack bundler rack, putting rubber mats into the horse feeding stalls, cleaning out the creep feeder and refilling it ... you know, just regular stuff that gets pushed off. At the end of the weekend, while we were incredibly tired, we were happy to see what we had accomplished. There is always more to do, but progress comes in small steps sometimes.

This weekend we also said farewell to three llamas who went to their new home. This is a picture of Paloma, her daughter Faith, and the little boy, Taylor, awaiting the arrival of their ride and saying "Goodbye" to all their buddies. These three have gone to a wonderful new home filled with lots of love! What more could we ask for? :)

Hen House

2008-01-28T19:29:00.000-06:00

We finally finished installing the roof on the new hen house. What a challenge! (Building by Rubbermaid) At least it was all worthwhile - the chickens are very happy with their new home.

We took some cedar pickets we had not used for another project and used those to build a ladder style roost for them on one side. On the other side, we used heavy duty plastic shelving as a base and put washable plastic nesting boxes on top. None of the chickens are laying yet, so they have only wandered thru the nest boxes. We used some horse bedding wood shavings all over the floor and as nesting material in the raised boxes - this should make cleanup easier. They have a pan of oyster shells and a nice big feeder inside too. Their waterer is outside to prevent excess moisture in the building. What more could a spoiled hen want? :)

Of course, the guineas come by look in on the hens luxurious home with a touch of interest ... envy maybe? Then they run off across the pasture in pursuit of big fat grasshoppers. :)

All is well in the land of the fowl.

Chickens!

2008-01-24T17:32:00.000-06:00

After years of consideration, plotting and planning we finally made the decision to add chickens to our ranch family. On January 13, we brought home a new little flock of 15 hens. Nope, not a rooster in the bunch! :)

Our flock includes 3 Barrred Rocks, 1 Black Sexlink, 2 Buff Orpingtons, 1 Wyandotte, and 8 Sexlinks in a mixture of Reds and Golds. All of these hens should be excellent year-round producers once they start laying eggs. (They were all between 16 and 20 weeks of age when we got them; they should start laying at about 22 weeks of age). The requests for fresh eggs are already coming in! :)

We are continuing to work on getting their formal "hen house" setup (the roof is the last part to be done). For the first few weeks, they are being kept in a chicken yard to ensure they get used to us and our surroundings. Very soon, we will allow them to free-range in a protected part of our ranch so they can enjoy more fresh grass, bugs and natural "goodies". Of course, we do give them a natural feed and oyster shells as well. They are all fat, happy hens.

An update of our main website will be made in the coming weeks, so watch there for more pictures.

Welcome!

2008-01-17T19:32:00.001-06:00

Howdy friends!

Welcome to our internet blog. Since our friends and family are so widely scattered, we decided to start up a blog to share some of the happenings here at our ranch.

While we will not generally be posting daily, we do hope that you will check back often to see what the latest happy news, oddity, or unexpected calamity might be.

We would enjoy reading your comments and feedback as well.

If you have not already been there, we invite you to visit our ranch's official website:
http://www.GallopingWindsRanch.com/

Again, welcome friends - new and old!

Rob and Teresa
"... as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." (Jos 24:15, NKJV)