Enjoying the Day

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

Three More Buck Kids

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

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!

Nubian Dairy Goat Kids - Coming Soon!

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!

First Kid of 2009

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.

2008 - A Year In Review

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.