Wordless Wednesday ~

Spring has sprung!!

We have been having a beautiful streak of weather here in the Northeast. Balmy days of blue skies, sunshine and temps in the 40's. Mud has appeared which is always a sure sign of spring. We had a small snowstorm a few days ago but that's it for an entire month! I'm ready for dirt and gardens and babies :)

My cousin Jacob is visiting us while on break from school this week. He is here as often as he can be on school vacations and usually helps with the baby lambs on April vacation. We bred earlier this year and he was bummed that the lambs would all be here before he returns. No baby animals for Jake this year - or so he thought :)

Two of our does have been bagging up for a week or so and I've been watching the babies move slowly through the birth canal, positioning themselves. Ribbon's tail ligaments were very soft on saturday and birth is usually anytime at that point. Her milk bag was so full her tiny udders were sticking out sideways. I was napping through a headache yesterday afternoon when Tom came in and told me Jake and Ty had found baby goats!

Introducing Sarge (black) and Beetle Bailey (white) twin bucklings born to Ribbon (white pygora doe) and Amos (carmel angora buck). All I can say is sweet, sweet, sweet!

By the time I got out to the barn, both babies were up, dry and nursing. Mama goats are the best. I was so happy that we had babies for Jacob. He's been coming here for 13 years and hasn't once missed a baby season. We didn't want this to be the first.

"Sarge"

"Beetle Bailey"

We decided on cartoon characters for our name theme for the goats this year. Lace looks to be next. I'd like twin doelings this time. Stay tuned...........

Wordless wednesday ~

Around the farm.......

*Guineas keeping their feet warm*

We have been plagued with colds and flu for the last ten days. It seems one person gets over it and someone else comes down with it. With one person building schools, one in college and one in high school, it's no wonder these things keep getting passed around. The dry, hacking cough seems to take weeks to really go away. I've been very fortunate and haven't picked up these colds/flu. I've had a couple of severe migraines and have been to the DR twice. Hopefully changes in meds will diminish the severity of them and I won't have them so often. They sure can interfere with my job here.

Despite winter maladies, farming progresses. We had a first time heifer bred to a nice, red angus bull. I'm hoping she settled first time and if so, we should get a nice calf in November. I will re-breed our milk cow next month with the same bull we have used the last four years. That will give us another December calf. Coal continues to grow well. He was castrated last week and has gotten over missing his Mother. That being said, he really, really looks forward to his bottle :)

Our pygora goats are starting to build milk bags and have large, round bellies. Kidding should start around the first of March. We have three bred does this year. These gals have always kidded with ease so I don't expect any problems. It will be fun to have kids again. They have such fun personalities :)

We are slowly putting together our seed order. We have decided to order exclusively from Johnny's seeds this year. They are a local company. They field test right here in Maine. They have a terrific web site, face book page and a great staff who are always willing to answer questions or discuss anything about their products. The are competitively priced and I can pick up my order if I have the time. It doesn't get much better than that. For me, seed ordering is like pouring through a Christmas catalog. It takes awhile :)

~Wishing everyone a productive, healthy week ~

Critters: Move em' in - Move em' out......

This is Tom. Tom moved in last Thursday. Tom is a Belgian draft who is 1/2 of the team that, along with my Dad, will pull a carriage full of folks through beautiful Arcadia National Park in Maine this spring, summer & fall. He's a gentle giant who has made himself right at home.

He has buddied up with Bear, leaving Simple Boy with his nose slightly out of joint. It will be just a few days and all three will be eating at the feeder together :)

Tom loves attention and we had a chance to get to know each other yesterday for a bit while I was out with the camera. He weighs about 1750 lbs and is about 17.2 hands tall. A nice addition to the farm :)

.....and this is Gus. Gus came to live on the farm in January of 2009 as a stall mate for Gert. Also to feed some of the excess milk we had. We had thought to raise him for beef - we have raised Holstein beef before and love it but this time it didn't turn out that way. It turned out better for Gus. He's a year old and is a nice sized steer. He's gone to a new home where he will be a mate for a steer that looks just like him. They will be yoked together and will be driven by a young girl. No freezer for Gus :)

That's the way life is on our farm.....you never know what's going to change from one day to the next. No one can ever complain that it's boring!

More 2010 New Moon

I was really fascinated by the first new moon of the year. The moon on the night before and after was also full and so bright. I ventured out each night in the cold to try and capture the beauty with the camera. I wanted to share a few more with you:

I'm still learning to use the new zoom lens that hubby gave me for Christmas and this was great practice. I need lots of practice. Heck, I'm still learning to use the camera he gave me last Christmas! I wish learning everything was so much fun :) Enjoy ~