Farewell to the Departed

We've had to say goodbye to some of our animal friends over the last several months. Some were planned. Others came as a complete surprise. A few were thought out pretty hard. We love every animal that comes onto our farmstead. We give them the best possible life we can. Sometimes they leave our home to be a part of another great home, and sometimes it's a painful hard departure. Here are the ones that left some impact. 

Note: we've lost countless chickens this year. I believe our running total is in the 60's. I'm not including them in this post.

I won't save the best for last. She belongs first. I don't like cats. Like, at all. I don't like their attitude. I don't like how the shed. I don't like how you have to give them a box to poop in. I don't like how they hide in your house and you have no idea where they are and at any given moment they'll jump out and attack your feet.

I almost shed a few tears when we lost Jewel. This was our momma  barn cat that we got as a 7 month old. Her buddy we got her with was coyote breakfast on day 3. Jewel hung around, and at her 2 month mark we took her to get vaccinated. She loved to be pet for a little bit. She always patiently waited for her morning milk. And she gave us 6 beautiful kitten in the spring.

One morning she just didn't show up for breakfast. She never missed. I knew. Farewell Jewely.

Our Miss Charlotte came with her baby boy pure bred brown swiss. Craig was a bit of a fit thrower when he came. It's amazing what happens to an attitude when you slap a halter on it. I should try that with my A's. I'M KIDDING! He spent 10 weeks of his childhood here on our farm right next to his momma 24-7. Unfortunately with little nursing animal boys, mommas' body suffers pretty bad. Some worse than others. Craig was cutting Charlotte's teats with his teeth and she was losing a good amount of weight. Since she is confined in our pastures, she can't go search for a heavy supply of grazing. So, we continued to feed her a good amount of grain. When Craig was old enough to be a cow and not a calf (i.e. eat grass and drink water like a big kid), he went to a new home. He is a show project for a 10 year old little boy in the Texas pan-handle. I'm sure he's living a pretty good life right now. Farewell Craig man.

In February we received 2 nubian doelings in a trade. Aurora and Belle had a hard time adapting to their new home. After months of working with them, Aurora became very friendly. Belle, not so much. In June we lost Belle to a possible parasite load. She and her sister came with a bit of a worm load, and we always had a tough time keeping it under control with our herbal routine. When Belle would no longer respond to herbs, we went synthetic. She didn't respond to that either. Maybe it wasn't parasites. Maybe she ate too much milkweed. Regardless, they weren't parasite resistant enough for our farm regimen, After Belle died we listed Aurora for sale. She was healthy at the time we sold her so no judging necessary. Farewell sweet girls.

This is a horrible picture. Like, the quality is terrible. One of our Freedom Rangers was immediately hated by the other 99. After a month of getting pecked, his brain was starting to show. I was mad at myself for not removing him earlier, but with 100 broilers, some things get overlooked. We did finally move him to quarantine for about 3 weeks. Then he started ranging with our laying/breeding flock. That little booger made it to slaughter day and went to the crockpot the first week. He didn't have as much meat on him as the others, but I'm happy we didn't lose him to injury. Farewell Skull Cap.

Horns. They have no place here. Buck has horns, and they're enough for us. We almost said farewell to buck because he was being so unruly, but I love him. So him and his horns will stay. But his babies will say goodbye to their horns. Horns are untrusting things to say the least. Animals that have them know they have them. We took Madeline, Amaris, and Mindy to get disbudded. We use a hot iron that burns the nerves around the horn bud and keeps them from growing. It sucks. They cry. BUT, only for a little bit. Not even 5 minutes after the first burn they were running around and playing. So, farewell horns.

Remember our bottle baby buckling "Z"? Well, he was being too much of a nuisance for this girl, so he was rehomed to a man who has pack goats for yard management. Farewell Z.

It's life here. We had some go faster than they came. And then plan is to keep some until they're old and senile. I tell you what though, you learn real quick not to get too attached.

Meet Angel

I knew that when we moved to a bigger piece of land that we would need another dog. Thor does an excellent job patrolling the property but the 20 acres we were at was his max. He needed a partner in crime. And we needed a canine that wasn't so, umm, err, well, dumb. Seriously! Thor is the dumbest smart dog ever created and we LOVE him!

So, we set out to find a smart livestock guardian dog. This is Angel. She is a 2 1/2 (the same age as Thor) Great Pyrenees. She had a bit of a rough start here. When Thor first met her he sniffed her rear and then wanted to play. She was having none of it and snapped at him pretty good. He held a grudge big time, and I don't blame him. She stayed on the porch when we were inside, and then followed us around once we walked outside. But anytime Thor got close she'd show her teeth. We got her on a Friday, they got into a pretty good spar on Monday.  We put her in with the goats and cows. She's terrified of Charlotte. Threatened by Missy, so therefore she barks at her like crazy. And she likes to herd the goats. None of those things are her job. She also was caught "playing" with a chick. The chick was completely unharmed, but that's kind of frowned upon at RBG ranch as well.

Tuesday morning we had made arrangements to return her to her previous home. When I went to do chores that morning Angel and Thor were running in from the woods... together. Then, lo and behold, they started playing. We held off on the return, and it's a good thing we did. Not only did the septic guy show up 2 hours early (that's a whole other load of crap we won't discuss), but she is great!

She's great with my kids. Her and Thor are the best of buddies. She has made friends with the goats. And she is a protector by nature, so she stays watch close to the house mostly until she hears Thor holler for help. We have coyotes like crazy, so Angel and Thor are a wonderful tag team and we are so happy she has been added to RBG ranch. Except the long hair. That kinda sucks.

Charlotte

So back in early spring we said goodbye to our sweet Jersey/Holstein, Honey. She was my like my 5th baby. When times got tough and this momma was stressed, I'd go sit and snuggle with Honey because cows don't cry. I miss her. But she went to a great home and allowed us to buy Miss Charlotte.   Charlotte is a beautiful 5 year old pure bred Brown Swiss. Her demeanor is to die for. So sweet and gentle in nature. Yes, she does have her moments of bratty diva, but for the most part, she makes my morning chores worth it.

We noticed in June that her hooves looked so bad. Completely overgrown and starting to cross, and with the insane amounts of rain, I feared hoof rot. We called all over and finally found a vet with a tilt table that would trim cow hooves. $70 later (ouch!) she was much better. Her hooves naturally cross which is why she was sold off the dairy line. Bad feet can't stand on concrete for long periods of time. She has a good home here.

When we got her we decided we wanted to go ahead and start transitioning her off of grain. Cows don't need it. We aren't requiring some unruly amount of milk from her, so she can eat grass like she was created to do. When her bull calf went to his new home we removed all grain. She did wonderfully and is still a grain-free cow. We dropped her to 1 1/2 gallons 1x/day the last month before we moved. It was just too chaotic to "do stuff" with the milk. Now I'm in the process of bringing her production back up to somewhere around the 3 gallon mark. Our plan for her is to raise calves. Genetic testing revealed she is A1/A2. Eventually we won't rely on her milk for our family directly, but she loved her calf so maybe she'll enjoy being an adoptive momma until she has another baby of her own. We shall see.

We did AI (artificial insemination) Charlotte in July in attempts to get this girl pregnant again. I don't think she took. She's shown too many signs of heat cycles in the past 3 months. I probably should have her vet checked. Hmmmm. Or the big ole black angus bull across the street could kindly jump the fence for me just to make sure.

For now she just provides yummy liquid gold for my amazing family and a few of our current farm critters. She isn't the happiest cow on the block right now because, due to fencing issues, she is in a pen with our goats and heifer eating hay. She does get tied out in the front yard in the evenings some, but it's a big culture shock for her coming from 12 acres of whatever she wanted.

Ta-Ta for now!

What's with All the Silence?

So, I got off facebook. It was a personal decision really. I don't miss it. I miss knowing what's going on with my friends, but I don't miss it. That little blue icon on my phone was like the "eye of target". It just reeled me in every time I was close and took up way to much of my time. So, I removed myself permanently from the social network and that included all RBG Ranch updates.

Where have we been? What have we been up to? Lots really. Spring and summer brings a season of busyness to any farm. Whether you grow big crops, cut and bale hay, run a load of cattle or raise poultry... it's BUSY! That was no different for us. Baby goats born, chicks arriving and butchering, a few animals departed, and another farm addition. I will update on every little thing I can think of over the next few weeks. But, the biggest part of "busy". Well, we moved.

Yes, we are still in the best state EVER! But we are further out. Surrounded by beautiful pines (Mr. Smash is more than happy because pine trees=deer) and other hardwoods. There is amazing sandy loam soil, 2 full pear trees, mature peach trees, apple trees, and persimmons. And our hoofed grass eaters are already enjoying bits and pieces of pasture and meadows that this place has to offer.




I say bits and pieces because our fence isn't completed. We decided to splurge and get good strong pipe around the front of the property and a small pasture closer to the house. The rest has pretty good 5 strand barb. Mr. Smash is also down a "shop", and our chickens are sleeping in a nice predator-proof pen but have no real coop. Which means there are tools and machinery everywhere, and every day is an egg hunt. Just waiting for the crew we already gave 50% to, which is quite fun and full of suspense.

But I got a milk room!

Stay tuned.


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