cool weather equals egss

I knew once the weather cooled down I'd have eggs again. I found three nests. One I already knew of. The other two are new. I believe I have two chicken nests And one duck nest.

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playing catch up

Escrow on the new place is supposed to close Friday! Its a fixer upper, and all I can think about is how to improve the livestock area! There I'd already a chainlink pen for the goats, however it needs a new gate ( which I already have). There's something next to the goat Ben that resembles 2 small hog pens. Those will be the temporary chicken/ duck pens until I can get a coop built.

I'm also trying to plan for a second pen for the Navajo Churro sheep I'll be getting next year. I want a barn. I need a milking parlor and somewhere to store feed.

I want to plant a tree the day we get out keys. I'm thinking maybe a jacaranda?

Wow I'm excited.

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soremouth strikes!

I went out of town for the weekend last week. I got an email from my pet sitter stating that one of my bucklings had a sore on his mouth. I didn't think anything of it.

When I go home I was too exhausted to go check on him so I left him alone until the next morning.

Holy. Crap.

My favorite little buckling, Brutus, had what appeared to be a giant cold sore at each corner of his mouth.

Yuck.

I immediately remove him from the pen and put him in quarentine along with his brother so he wouldn't be lonely ( even though brother goat had no such sores).

I then went and changed my shoes, washed my hands and went in to inspect the other 4 goats in the pen.

While its commonly referred to as soremouth, the sore can be anywhere on the body. The virus enters through an existing wound on the animal. Feet ,mouths , and ears are common sites for infection because of minor scratches received during browsing in brush.

Anyway - from what I understand, there are multiple strains and its very common. Its generally only life threatening to young kids because it may cause pain which makes nursing g painful and difficult. On that note, an infected kid can also Infect mama goats udders.

In commercial sized flocks its easy to see where the loss in income and kids would be detrimental. However in my tiny herd/ flock, it hopefully wont be too horrible.

I dont show my goats And have no desire to. I suspect the infection came from a goat Lover brought home from the animal shelter ( despite my constant protests). That goat is now gone ( it wasn't actually for us, but a friend).

None of my other goats have any sores on them. That doesn't mean it wont show up eventually. I can clean feed and water Containers with a scrub brush and bleach and that's about it.

Extreme summer heat can usually kill the virus after a few months. Unfortunately for me it just started cooling down here.

The virus can live in the fallen scabs for months to years.

On an up note the scabs will probably fall off here, and therefore not be tracked back to our new home in November.

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hello y'all!

I just got a call from my local county extension office. I called asking about starting a micro dairy several days ago.
Wow, did he deflate my balloon!!

Basically, he told me it wasn't worth it because in California a micro dairy is subject to the same laws and rules as a full sized operation. He went on and on about the difficulties and challenges.

I admit, some I already new of and like any new idea it takes awhile for The Man to catch up with the changing world around him.

He also told me a creamery ( cheeses and other processed milk products) are a bit easier because of the less stringent requirements.

So. Do I continue on knowing full well failure is in my future? Do I give up on that idea and perhaps try to find out something else I was to do?
I don't want to do something else. I think that's all that matters.

Only time will tell I guess. Plus, you know if I don't do it someone else will in a year or two and be very successful as the trend of micro dairies gain in popularity.

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sssssssnakes!

Can you see It? I was sitting on a rock drinking coffee ( decaf!!) When I heard some rustling coming from behind me. I assumed it was a cat a bird or possibly a rat or field mouse.
It sounded sporatic. Stop.go.stop.go.

I thought.. you know? That might be a snake. I should check.

And sure enough a coachwhip went from one bush to the next. Luckily I know my snakes and therefore knew better than to panic. I sat down on my rock and finished my coffee. Mr.pinksnake went off on his merry ol' way.

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herd/ flock gaurdians

Its common for people to use gaurdian animals to protect their livestock from predators. The Great Pyrenees dog is the norm.

But an alternative to dogs are llamas and donkeys! Both do well in the extreme weather of the Mojave desert. I'm not sure if the Pyrenees does well in the heat, but they are very large and very furry. If I were them, I'd be just too dang hot.
Plus if you use a donkey or llama you get double duty. Llamas will provide a fleece which can be processed and spun into yarns ( though not as much as the alpaca which doesn't really make a great livestock gaurdian).

Donkeys are just plain Rad. They are very protective and territorial and will stomp, kick, make, or otherwise destroy any creature who dare harm its charge. They're also pretty cute, and since I'm a Shrek fan I can't look at a donkey without quoting movie lines! ( try doing that with a llama or GP).

What I'm getting at, in this round about way, is that we'll probably use a donkey for our livestock. We have 4 dogs already and none of them are appropriate as a gaurdian. However my Pekingese herds pretty well. A llama would be cool too, because while I'm Not a talented knitter I am OBSESSED with natural yarns. Completely. Obsessed. But I already have fiber goats And sometime in the future fiber producing sheep so I have no need for a fiber llama too ( or do I).

Lover likes donkeys a lot too. And, well, the goats and sheep were my idea so I guess I should give a little on the gaurdian thing. ( besides I can always sneek a llama. Or alpaca in later...over probably wont even notice)

PS I don't take any credit for the above photos. I found them on Google.

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one of these things is not like the others...

Bar-b-que, the cat ( named by our 4yo) likes hanging out in the goat pen. He's in There every day! and yes- I'm aware goats shouldn't eat off of the ground. I usually use hay bags. I took them inside to wash and keep forgetting to take them back outside! kind of like the reusable grocery bags. once they go inside, I rarely remember to put them back in.

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