Where have we been...?

Wow, it has been over a month since our last post. What on earth have we been doing?? Ok, you asked... The pictures above are of an AI Clinic we attended the end of August. We learned to Artificially Inseminate Goats. Yea... Now we are ready to get rid of the bucks. It was a great class and Dr. Maria Leite-Browning, DVM, MS, Animal Extension Scientist at Alabama A & M University was our instructor. I highly recommend attending a class by Dr. Browning. She is a great lady and a wealth of information.



It was an excellent class with the hosts being Richard Ramsey and his wife at Pacsirta Farms in Gadsden, Alabama. We also enjoyed a wonderful meal of Goat of course, prepared by Mrs. Ramsey. I feel bad to not remember her name and apologize. It was a great day and I feel ready to begin AI in both my goats and sheep. The sheep are done a bit differently and hope to try an ewe or two next fall, maybe this fall.









I think it was the next weekend we traveled to Georgia to pick up some Icelandic Sheep. We brought back 4 spectacular sheep. The young ram of Sally's has been placed with a young Shepard here in Alabama to improve his herd. Sally's ram lamb Junior is spectacular, but I did not get a chance to take a picture of him.

The pictures above are of Blueberry (gray ewe) and Phantom (black ram), both Icelandics. The sheep were in great shape and beautiful. They are out of isolation now and with the main herd of ewes. We hope Phantom will breed a few ewes early.

The lovely white ewe to the right is Sally. She is one of the most beautiful Icelandic ewes I have seen. She is huge, long, has a fleece to die for, perfect horns and a quiet personality. She is a treasure and we are thrilled to have her. Her son was spectacular as well and will keep all her daughters.

Time has flown by so quickly, I am not sure what month it is... We enjoyed a visit by my sister Patty and boyfriend, Roger, from Texas and Mom came up from Florida. We finally got Flash, a wether goat to size and health. Every time he was getting close to butcher day, he would get the sniffles, or like last time, get enterotoxemia, and have to be treated. After treating, it took a period of time for the drugs to clear from his system. Well, finally the day came, healthy, fat, cleaned out wether. My friend Mr. Paul took him to the processor and picked him up in the little packages. We enjoyed him for labor day and my Mom took a bunch of him back to Florida with her to enjoy.

We will be taking an Icelandic ram lamb to the processor shortly. We are looking forward to this little guy, we have named Chops. His horns are a bit close to his head, but nicely built and a butt like a pig. We will shear his lovely lamb fleece first and then process him. The processor does not like the fleece to be more then a couple of inches when processed because it is hard to keep the wool off the meat. (Chops is pictured to the right).

Icelandic lamb is the best tasting lamb on the planet and we really enjoy the mild flavored meat. We usually process into chops, steaks and hamburger.

We are scheduling our Shearing and Veterinary visit to the farm in October. This year we are blood testing all the goats again to make sure everyone is free of CAE, and Johnes. I am not sure if we will test for CL and Brucellosis. We have never had an abscess and my Vet says the Brucellosis test is a waste of money, since Alabama is a Brucellosis free state. I will research this and decide by the time I send off the blood. We have our testing done by Washington State University directly, rather then send it to Auburn for them to send it to Washington State. I plan on selecting a few sheep to test as well for OPP. I had a few tested negative this spring and will test another 4 or 5 at random to make sure the flock is negative.

We still have one more hay crop to harvest and winter grazing to plant. The weather has been horrible with constant rain almost daily. We did get the mud hole fixed in front of our entrance to the goat area. We filled it in, laid down geotextil material to hold the gravel and gravel on top of that. It has worked out beautifully, even with all the rain we have had. We can park out of the mud and unload feed with out getting stuck in a lake.

The cattle have done well and are enjoying all the grass. I wormed them with a topical wormer Eprinex, which is a pour-on. I squirted onto their backs while they ate some range pellets. It is dosed by weight and can be used on pregnant cows and calves. The steer calf is doing well in spite of my neutering. He is big and shiny and growing very well. We hope to process him next spring or early summer.

Enough for now...

Our Cattle...

What have we been up to you ask... Yes... We have been diversifying our livestock venture. We have been talking about getting a few cows for some time. We have contacted local farmers and asked to purchase a few cows. All the locals have blown us off and told us to go to the auction. The pictures above are the two calves, the dark brown heifer and tan steer. The cow number 10 is now Daisy, with her steer calf.

I have been to the auction and was very disappointed in the quality of the stock. The cows were ancient with horrible udders or look as if they had not calved in years. I spotted a couple of young heifers that caught my eye, but they went for prices beyond our simple means.

Finally we came across a young fella advertising in a local Bulletin who had some tame cows for sale. We loaded up on Saturday afternoon and traveled 75 miles to check them out. I was only looking for two cows, but was talked into three. The cows are bred back to an Angus bull, two have calves by their side and the Angus cow just weaned a heifer calf. The young man who owned the cows had kept 4 of the Angus's daughters and they caught our eye right off the bat. So, we came home with 5 cattle. Three cows and two calves. One calf is a bull and the other a heifer.

Before we unloaded the bull, I had my first experience at castrating a bull. With the help of a wonderful neighbor, Buddy Pegeas, he told me how to cut him. I have banded lots of goats and had experience cutting pigs as a kid, but had not cut a bull calf. He is probably 200 plus pounds and before we unloaded him from the trailer, caught him, but a sheep halter on him and neutered him. We also gave him some antibiotics, vaccinated him and ear tagged him. We also caught the heifer and vaccinated and ear tagged her. She was actually the hardest to catch and a bit crazy. She gave me a run for my money, but we did what needed to be done.

The black cow above is Beauty and the picture with the small herd has the three cows and their two calves pictured.

The calves were sired by a Brahman bull and the steer looks mostly Brahman. His mom looks like a Beef Master, which has a lot of Brahman. The cream colored cow looks like a Charlas mix and the black cow looks mostly Angus. All three cows are very gentle and loaded with no problem. We are rotating them behind the goats and they are enjoying the lush pasture. We hope to put the steer in the freezer next year. We hope to not have to deal with purchasing a bull until next fall. Our choice of bulls will be an Angus.

Here in Alabama, the Brahman cross is very popular. The heat tolerance and big calves are nice, but the pure Brahman has problems with prolapses and the bulls produce huge calves which can cause problems with calving. Everyone loves the Angus bulls and we hope to put a nice prime steer in the freezer down the road.

We have been wanting to add some cattle to the farm, but had trouble getting anyone to take us seriously. I guess if you do not want to buy a bunch of them, don't bother us. We do not plan to have more then 10 cows with calves at any one time. This will give us some diversity. If the goat prices go down, we sell beef. It is a chance to see how they do and see if we like them.

Summer is almost over...

It has been a hot, wet summer and we are about ready for fall. The goats are starting to come into heat and the bucks are getting noisy. We have a weaned bottle baby looking for a new home. His name is Little Bit O Honey. He is pictured to the left. He is white with a bit of tan on him head and blue eyed. He is dehorned and wethered (neutered). He is very friendly and will be a bit larger then the Nigerian. Email us at oldesouth@charter.net or call at 334-327-9252. He is priced at $60. He will make a great pet and even knows his name.

Above and to the right is the garden and my sweet corn. We did not get a lot, but I was able to can what we did get in spite of the corn worms. We will for sure get the garden in earlier before the really hot and wet weather. The worms were really bad and dust with 7 dust to prevent the corn worms.

I had a second planting of corn, but all the rain ruined it. It got the fungus and did not amount to much more then goat and sheep feed. The livestock enjoyed eating the stalks and what little ears there were. We do have a few water melons about ready and a few green beans that did not get drowned. We are going to add fill to the garden spot or decide where to move it to higher ground.

The picture to the right is of two of my Icelandic ewes with their lambs. Havvah is on the left with her ram lamb sired by The Trump. Sarah is on the right with her lamb ewe also sired by The Trump. The sheep are doing well in spite of all the humidity and rain. These two are very tough parasite resistant ewes as well and pass that onto their lambs.

Alabama summers are brutal and if everyone makes it through June, July and August, the rest of the year is a breeze. The fall and winter in Alabama is great and what we live for. We will be making a trip up to Michigan again this fall and bringing back more Icelandic Sheep and some Icelandic Semen. We also plan to shear the Icelandics the second week of October.

Enough for now...

Cutting Hay...

We have been busy baling hay and have been lucky to get them baled before the rain. Chasing the summer showers and out running the afternoon scattered showers has been a challenge this summer. After two and a half years of drought, we should not complain. The problem is we have had two years worth of rain this year. We could use a bit of a break.

Mr Paul is pictured above and to the left raking the cut hay and PJ, his son is on the tractor pulling the baler. By raking, it turns over the hay and puts it into windrows so the baler can eat it up and when the bale is ready, the machine rolls the bale to tie the twine and then rolls it out the back of the machine. The bales are about 4 ft by 5 foot and weigh in at 1200 pounds.

Kyle is pictured above with Bear, one of our Livestock Protection Dogs. Do not laugh at Bear's hair cut... Yes he is much cooler. Kyle is Mr Paul's grandson visiting from Illinois. He is pictured Rolling one of the 1200 pound bales to see if he could do it... No problem. Kyle visited with his brother Ken who helped gather up the sheep and goats for eye checks, worming, vaccinations, and foot care. They had a good time and were great help. Thanks a bunch guys...

More later...

Happy 4th of July!!

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July and enjoyed the reduction in humidity. It has been Hot, but with lower humidity, it has been actually pleasant for us outdoor folks. The pictures above are of the herd of Nigerians and Raisin (nubian) enjoying the shade and the freshly cut hay in the lane between pastures. My friend Mr. Paul is busy cutting the pastures and will be making hay. The other picture is the cut field right after cutting, curing. It will be raked in a couple of days and baled in large round bales.

The cutting of the pastures into hay, gives us extra income, feed for our livestock and kills parasites.

The pictures above are of our family garden. It is doing well in spite of us getting it in late. We have sweet corn, tomato's, cucumbers, pickles, beans, water melon, squash, dill, basal, onions, and a few more things. We had also planted a second crop of sweet corn for a late harvest. With our growing season so long, it is easy to stagger plantings and get sweet corn into November. It has been dry and we are having to water the garden, but that is better then having it flooded out by constant rain, in my opinion. We will be moving some bedding from the goat stalls to mulch the corn and keep in moisture and allow it to turn into compost in the field. We need to add more amendments to the soil for next year and fall planting. Over time the garden will be better and better and more productive as the soil becomes richer and richer.

We look forward to canning corn and making tomato juice and dill pickles from the garden. This fall we hope to plant garlic, carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, lettuce, more onions, and put some tomatoes and cucumbers in the green house we will be moving to the farm.

A nice thing about the south, we can grow crops most of the year. It does not take a lot of energy to heat a small greenhouse on cold southern nights. The sun during the day, takes care of the produce inside.

***We are still looking for homes for the Boer/Nigerian cross babies. We have two bucks who are bottle babies. There is a buck and doe who are just on their mom as well. Email me if there is an interest and I can email current pictures. oldesouth@charter.net.

Hot, Hot and Hotter!!!

The heat has been awful and we are all suffering. The corn in my garden seems to be loving the heat and doing well. We have been getting up very early to do chores and then come in when it gets to hot.

We have been experimenting with canning in a pressure canner and want to can everything, including meat in a pressure canner. This would enable us to not worry about freezers and electricity if the economy really took a nose dive or a hurricane blew through. The picture on the left above is the canner and the jars on the right is the first batch of carrots canned. All went well and we will try some carrots for lunch Wednesday.

I was chatting about parasite problems and happened to get a good example of a bottle jaw in a ewe. Bottle jaw is caused by the internal parasites causing anemia and the blood becomes thin. The swelling is like an edema under the jaw. It is possible for the entire face to become swollen.

If one treats if fast enough, it can be reversed. I have seen 4 bottle jaw cases in the past 3 years. It is uncommon, but very serious. If not treated quickly, the animal will usually die. My regimen to treat an ewe with bottle jaw is as follows:

First check the eyes and see if pale to white in color. Then inject ewe with 1 to 1 1/2 cc of Vit A,D, E and give 5 cc Super B complex (150 pound ewe). Then I would worm orally with Valbazen for 2 days in a row, wait a week and worm a third time with Cydectin. Do not give Cydectin to a sheep or goat who is down or really weak. My experience has been that Cydectin will push them over the edge and kill them. I am not sure why, but that has been my experience. Do not use Cydectin on kids or lambs under 4 months of age.

After 24 to 48 hours I give the sheep a 1 cc IM shot of Dextran, which is an iron supplement. Continue to monitor the animals and if not eating, give them a good 30 to 60 cc of power punch. This has vitamins and sugar and gives them a boost.

Got to go to bed to get to work in the am... more later...

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HOT & HOT!!!

It has been so hot!! The humidity is high and the last couple of days including today have hit the 100 mark. With all the rain we have had, plus the heat, equals PARASITE heaven. We have had a lot of problems with parasites (intestinal worms) since the first of June. It has hit hard and fast. We have lost 3 young goats. They are fine one day, show some loose stool and are gone by the next day. The young are the most susceptible.

The pictures above are of Blue and her quints (the fifth one moved out of the picture). They are half Boer and see how big they have grown already. I am supplementing 3 of them once or twice a day. They attack their mom like sharks and fight over the 2 teats if their bellies are not full. The three hanging through the pen are the bottle babies looking for me to feed them. They are all for sale and all have blue eyes. The bottle babies consist of one doe and two bucks. The smallest one with the dark head is a buck. Email me if anyone is interested at: oldesouth@charter.net.

I have a couple of young Nigerian Does who are new and we have put them in a pen to dry lot them. Dry lot means to remove from pasture and feed hay. This eliminates the chance for them to become infested with parasites and gives them time to grow up and develop their immune system. I also have my new Cheviot rams on dry lot and in the pecan orchard shade. They came from Washington State. They have not been exposed to the southern parasites and I want them to acclimate slowly. Last summer I lost an expensive Mini Cheviot ram due to parasites and do not want that to happen again.

The most susceptible livestock are the yearling sheep with lambs. They are still growing and nursing a baby. They need to watched the closest and have their eye lids checked weekly. The goats are most suceptible when they are 4 months to under a year. They don't always show signs of illness until it is to late.

I have not had a chance to Blog due to all the problems we have been having. The months of June, July and August are high maintance with sheep and goats. Even with pasture rotation, the parasites have been bad this year. It has been a chore just trying to keep the grass cut around the buildings. It grows about 5 inches in a week and we need to keep it cut to keep snakes away and control the parasites.

We have sold all our young Boers and Boer crosses at the sales. There is one here in Uniontown and another in Clantin. Clantin offered better prices. But it is always a gamble when one goes to the sale. One week it is good , the next it is not. I always seem to hit the sale when it is not...

The picture to the left is our garden. It does not look to impressive at the moment, but just wait a few weeks. We have 4 rows of sweet corn, tomatoes, beans, cucumbers and we have added much more and will have photos of that later. We were late at getting the garden in, due to problems breaking the ground and getting someone to help us by working up the plot. Now we are squared away and the garden is taking off.

Got to go feed some hungry bottle babies...