Happy Thanksgiving!!

We give Thanks this day for all our friends and family.  We at Oldesouth Farm especally would like to Thank our Clients and Customers for making this year a wonderful year!!!  THANK YOU!

Once again the Turkey's are safe.  These are a couple of Royal Palm Turkey's at Oldesouth Farm.  To beautiful to eat, they have paid their way by producing young turkeys to sell.  I do love my beautiful turkeys... 


Had an interesting outing last night when the water well would not work.  Yes, got off work at 830 pm and off to the farm to see what was going on.  All electrical lines & plugs & breakers fine, removed the well house, opened the electrical box, shine the flash light and see a group of ants hanging out at one of the electrical points.  Of course, when playing with electricity, always remember to turn the breakers off.  Getting zapped like the ants is not fun. 

Then I took a nail emery board to scrape the dead bodies melted to the electrical points.  They are attracted to the current (heat) and their remains cause a short, where the two points can no longer connect, stopping the pump from working.  Took about two minutes to clean them out.  Once the breakers were flipped back on, the tank began to fill and we were in business once more.  I guess I need to kill some ants.  Will think about the options to not contaminate the well, but keep them out of the electrical components.

Back to the hospital at 0700 this morning, working the Holiday and will enjoy Turkey Dinner baked by the ladies in our cafeteria. 

Thanksgiving is almost here...

As we ready for the beginning of the Holiday Season, we give Thanks for our family and friends.  November is flying by and Christmas will be here shortly.  We especially Thank our clients and customers who purchased Livestock and Dairy Products from us.  We also Thank the Lord for our good fortune and a great year.  Thanksgiving is a time of giving thanks and we are grateful.

We have dried off several does and are milking Scandal, Liz and Oldesouth Silver Princess has come home to be milked.  She has two lovely daughters sired by Superb.  SunRa is still milking, and insists on coming in to be milked, but will be dried off shortly.  NC Promisedland SIA SunRa has just been awarded her SG (Superior Genetics) award!!  She is an ELITE sweet girl now!  SG is a combination of conformation and production, calculating out to be in the top 15% of the entire Nigerian Breed!  It takes a pretty girl who can milk to receive this award!!!  My sweet SunRa is pictured below doing what she does best, milk...

UDiamond, Oldesouth Belladonna, Oldesouth Babette, Oldesouth Cocoa Delight, Oldesouth Summer, Oldesouth Blue Reba have all been dried off and have earned their milk stars with CLASS!

  UDiamond is very pregnant, probably with quads and was drying up for the show in Dothan.  I think everyone has earned their star except for Little Tot's Estate Silene.  Silene is an older doe, LAed 90, but has not been milked, so it is a big if as to if she will make her milking star.  2012 will be her make or break year.  I hope to freshen her daughter mid 2012, sired by Oldesouth Shell Foop.

The girls will start freshening again in December, hopefully after Christmas to give me a break.  Next year no one will be freshening until the end of February. UDiamond and Sunra are due to kid in January 2012.  I do hope UDiamond has a couple of does.  She had bucks this past year.  The final numbers will come next week, but I believe she hit the 1000 pound mark as a first freshener.  Will post the final numbers when we get the last milk test results.  UDiamond is pictured below.

Our weather has been a bit up and down, with temps in the 70s and humid with rain, and now a cold front is passing through.  We received some rain which I hope will make the planted winter grazing take off, reducing the need for so much Hay.

Oldesouth Blue Alexa is due to kid the middle to end of December.  Her kids are sired by Superb.  I am really excited about this and think Alexa will be my first home grown SG (Superior Genetics) doe.  She milked over 700 pound of milk and LAed at 85.  All this as a second freshener.  I can not wait to see what she can do as a third freshener.  This little doe is under 19 inches tall as well.  She is a true Nigerian Dwarf!!




Most of the Icelandic sheep have gone to their new homes.  I really miss old Havvah and that goofy Boing who would jump into the feed bucket and hook her horn in your pocket or bucket.  I have their lambs and will keep a few Icelandics for myself.  I do love their fleece and especially their lamb meat.  I have three young rams going to the processor Nov 30th.  Lamb is so healthy, sweet and good for you, one would be crazy not to keep a few.  I held back Havvah's son by Snow Man as herd sire once Snow Man went to his new home.  The Trump is still here, but went through some tough times.  The Trump had to have his horns cut, had horrific fly strike and almost died.  I scrapped maggots FOREVER off him and shot him with every antibiotic I had to save his life.  Trump, not being all that friendly, would not get close to you to check him out.  It was not until he was at deaths door did he let you know, all was not well.

I noticed him not out with the girls, his ewes.  Had to run him down with the Kawasaki Mule to get a hold of him and see if he was OK.  HE WAS NOT... and collapsed, thinking I had killed the stubborn SOB, had Philip, his brother Evan and myself gather him up and then we saw the full extent of his problem...  OMG!  Maggots like I have never seen in my life, all over his face, head, down into his horn beds, around his neck, down to his shoulders. I did not have to temp him to know he was in BIG TROUBLE!  Trump was to the point of delirium.  I got the reciprocating saw, lopped off the horns and started digging out maggots!!!  Shot him up with Biomycin and Exenel to start, then switched to Biomycin and Extended Pen G. I sheared his head, down to his shoulders.  It has been so cold here I darned not shear him completely in fear of loosing him to pneumonia.  He looks goofy with his head and shoulders shorn, with the full puff of fleece over the rest of him.  Trump has never been friendly, but knew he needed help and did not fight our doctoring and his recovery.  I am happy to say, I think he will be OK and live to see another breeding season at least...  I do love the beautiful Morrit lambs he produces...

This is the last photo of The Trump with his horns in August 2011, photo below.

Alabama Fall Continues...

The temps have gone from cold to more pleasant.  We have just returned from a Monday Goat Show at the National Peanut Festival in Dothan, Alabama.  We came home with Grand Champion SR Doe in Milk and Grand Champion JR Doe!  We were very pleased to also win best Nigerian Dam and Daughter, Sunra and Scandal, as well as Best Dairy Herd.

 Brush Creek Liz is an older doe I had picked up in a group acquired in March.  We are really impressed with her udder when she freshened the beginning of October and gave us a drop dead moon spotted little buckling.  The buck will be retained, sired by *B Lost Valley PG Superb *S.

Liz is pictured to the left with Nick showing her to Grand Champion Sr Doe and Best of Breed in the Nigerians.

Liz from the side pictured to the right.  She is a very dairy doe with a great topline, udder and will be going on DHIR mid November.







Our JR doe is Farm Oldesouth Sweet Donna, daughter of Oldesouth Belladonna, sired by *B Rosasharn MR General B *S.  Donna is a sweet little Diva, photo below.  She won Grand Champion JR Doe and has her first leg toward her championship.  The judge was Daniel Young from Georgia.

It was a long day and we enjoyed fresh, boiled peanuts, which are a favorite of ours while watching the show.

We are Thankful for the wins and on the way home the truck broke down on 231.  It suddenly started making a loud noise like a hole was in the muffler, then power was lost.  We made it to a BP gas station, where I called Mr Paul and he drove from Selma with his truck, two hours away to pick up the trailer loaded with 13 goats.  We arrived home safely at 130 Tuesday morning.  The truck was towed to Selma and the Mechanic is working on it as I write this passage.  It has been to 3 different shops, four times.  Hopefully the problem will finally be diagnosed and fixed.

We have an intern volunteer helping us for 3 weeks, Joshua Spearing.  He is from the WOOF program, learning about goats, sheep and goat showing.  He helped prepare the goats and with the showing.  He has learned a lot and we will have photos of him shortly.  He also is quite the Chief and we are enjoying his cooking with lamb, beef and deer meat.

CRISP OCTOBER

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!

It has been unusually cold the last week or so of October.  We have had several frosts already and nights in the 30s.  We usually have these temps the end of November.  I have waited to shear the Icelandics, hoping the night temperatures would get back into the 50s.  I do not want to loose any sheep to pneumonia.  If the temps remain, we may have missed the window to shear until spring.

The goats are mostly bred back and my best milkers are drying up before a final show.  Next year we will breed a month to 6 weeks later to avoid this from happening.  We have 4 lambs to be processed and will be making arrangements for them shortly.

Lots to do at the farm, preparing for winter and we are going to need another trailer of hay to make sure we have enough until next spring.  It is the time of the year to pick up hay string and clean up downed branches in the orchard.  We plan on harvesting some pecans as well.  The trees are very old with small pecans.  Holley's True Value will shell them for us.  I have offered pecans to folks who can come and pick them up (for FREE).  Funny how folks do not want to pick them, and then complain about the high prices.  Folks are just to Lazy to bend over and pick them up off the ground.  Some folks just do not appreciate what nature has to offer.... 

Love October!

October is my favorite month, cool weather, beautiful sunny days and Fall Colors.  Of course in the south, full Autumn color does not arrive until mid November.  Oldesouth Blue AnnaLynn and Oldesouth FLA Amber Blue are enjoying the dry doe pen after earning their milking stars.

What have we been doing this month...  Fall Kidding is over and we have had a buck fall.  We did have a beautiful MOON SPOTTED buckling from Brush Creek Liz.  Liz, for 7 years of age has a really nice udder.  Brush Creek Charlie's Angel also had a really nice doe for a 9 year old.  All these kids are sired by Superb.







The handsome young man to the right is Philip.  He helps us out with feeding and caring for the livestock.  He is a big help and enjoys working with the animals.

We traveled to Jackson, Mississippi for two days of goat showing and did fairly well.  UDiamond won two Reserve Championships and Best Udder.  Sunra won both her classes as well.  Did not have a lot of time to take photos this time.

We are gearing up for the Peanut Festival which is on a Monday.  This will be our last show of the year and most of my does will be dried off.  Really need a break, I am tired of milking....  UDiamond is up to 950 pounds of milk as a first freshener.  Oldesouth Cocoa Delight has 620 pounds as a yearling first freshener.  Belladonna is up to 710 pounds as a 19 inch second freshener.  Poor old Little Tot's Estate Silene is drying up and will not make her star this year.  Maybe next time.

We are Dispersing our herd of Icelandic Sheep to focus more on the Nigerians.  We can go to more spring and fall shows if we do not have to spend the time shearing.  Check out our sheep sales page for more information:  http://www.oldesouth.citymax.com/sheepsales.html . 

The Trump pictured to the left is for sale too.  He is a beautiful ram and currently with the ewes until sold.

We will have several Nigerian Wethers For Sale over the Holiday Season.  Since we wether all but the best bucklings, we will have several to offer. An example is the little fellow above.  He is $75.

We also processed a couple of geese and David Powe came over to help out.  We plucked and plucked and plucked till our fingers were raw.  We processed two and left the other two for another time.  Boy, there is goose down covering the entire farm.

Brush Creek Liz, one of the older Does kidded a really nice buckling with moon spots.  Her udder was very impressive for 7 years.  Below are some photos, not filled up of her udder.

Enough for now...

September Bliss...!!!

Has it been a great September or what!!!  The weather has cooled down and humidity has dropped!  A bit of Fall color is starting to appear!  Fall is my favorite time of Year!

We are all Very Happy!!  The bucks are in rut and most of the girls are bred back for January kidding.  We prefer our does to kid early, they do better in the cooler weather and the does milk like crazy when it is cold.  We offer heated water trough so freezing is not an issue.  Butter Fat is high in the cooler weather too.

Pinky and Angel are pictured to the left above.

The rams are starting to notice the cooler weather.  The photo to the right is Victor, a mini cheviot and a young Icelandic Ram, Bandit.

Our last milk test had a herd average of 8% milk fat!  That included the Nubian!  We are trying to dry off Ariel, the Nubian, which is not easy.  I am going to synchronize her with medications and AI her according to appointment.  Heat checks with my schedule are next to impossible.  I am going to attempt to breed Imani GAB Pink Ariel 2*M to SGCH Golthwaite Bonny's Black Tie *B.  I will save the fancy semen for next year, once I have my Technique down.

Oldesouth Blue AnnaLynn 1*M has earned her ADGA star and is pending on her *D and NDGA stars.  (left) Oldesouth FLA Amber Blue 1*M has also earned her milking stars, pending *D and DAR+.  That makes 6 stared does to date.  We will take UDiamond all the way to 305 to see if she can hit the 1000 pounds of milk mark.


AnnaLynn just made her star... she got out of the Milking Diva area and had partied with Superb, because I was not sure she was going to make her milk mark before kidding.  She is very pregnant!  She dried up in a week and is starting to bag up again!  She will have some awesome blue eyed kids!

We will be going to some fall shows in October and November and will keep you updated on our adventures.

Check out our Fall Kidding Schedule at http://www.oldesouth.citymax.com/ or call us at 334-327-9252. 

The sheep will be going into their breeding groups shortly for next springs lambs.  Lambs will be going into the finishing pen after shearing for a month of feed for spectacular tasting lamb.  We have a couple of lambs available, call us if you would like to reserve one, they go really fast.

Our sheep herd lounging near the barn.

This lovely heifer is Beyonce.  She is half Angus and half shorthorn.  She will be calving shortly for the first time.  She is bagging up, so it should not be to much longer...

Dog Days of August are Almost OVER!

August has been HOT!  But then we had several days with low humidity and we so enjoyed the pleasant days.  But now back to the usual hot and muggy.
We lost our hay to the rain and humidity.  It molded in the field and we left it there, not worth paying help to bale up rotten hay.  We need to rethink the hay situation and have decided to sell the baler and purchase hay, since we have ended up purchasing hay the two years we have had the baler anyway.

We have our first load of hay, a semi trailer. Some 450 square bales of Coastal Hay. This is hay for the milkers and my goats. We will get some large bales for the cattle and sheep. Goats waste large bales because they jump on them, urinate and defecate all over it and then will not eat it. Sheep do not do this, which is good.

 Trailer full of hay.

 

Hay stacked in the barn.









We have sold our Bull Brutus, a Beef Master to buy hay.  We have 3 young heifers and 3 bred cows by him.  We do not need to feed him through the winter and now all the cows and young heifers are pastured together to save on labor with the automatic watering system in the pasture.  We will purchase another bull next year.  I personally want a pure Angus Bull.



Brutus pictured to the right.





We look forward to fall coming and the weather cooling down.  We have several does who will be kidding this fall and several more have come into season.  Fall is a noisy time for goats, lots of hooting and hollering, snorting and grunting.  The bucks are pretty stinky already.  The urine perfume can make your eyes water if one gets to close to them.  The girls think the boys are the rage in their odoriferous splendor...

Oldesouth Shell Foop, one of the Nigerian Bucks sired by The General.  He is white, but the rut of fall has him showing the urine stains of a buck.  He is mighty stinky.

Oldesouth Shell Foop in his glory of buck nasty mess.  The yellow staining is urine...  Yeah, the bucks spray urine all over their face and front.  He even has urine stains on his back.



We have two more does who will be dried up next month and one the end of August.  They have finished their 305 day lactation and have earned their milking stars.  Ariel my Nubian looks like she will hit the 2000 pound mark, which is neat.  That is 250 gallons of milk!  Ariel is 6 years old and I hope to AI her with semen from SGCH +*B Lakeshore Farms Star Status LA 91 EEE.  Photo below:






I bought his semen a couple of winters ago and now he is an elite sire and deceased!  He was the 2010 ADGA National Premier Nubain Sire!  It would be so cool to get a doe by this buck.  We shall see how our AI skills play out...  I have two other sires in the tank for Ariel down the road.  I am not into Nubians, but have had Ariel for many years and she has fed many a bottle baby goat and lamb, not to mention our family.  She is so cute getting on the milk stand, having to duck her head to get into the short, Nigerian stanchion.  She is a family member like one of our dogs.  She LAed 83, needing a fore udder and more rear udder.  She is mostly teats, but has a nice body, topline, and great feet.

My Quarter Horse Gelding Joe, he is 5 years old.  A beautiful horse, 16 hands and has not missed any meals.

We are offering my Quarter Horse Joe For Sale.  He is pure Quarter Horse, but not registered.  He is from a long line of Cattle Cutting Horses.  He is broke, 5 years old, 16 hands and about 1200 pounds.  He is a big boy.  Loads easy, stands quietly for the blacksmith to trim hooves and easy going.  He will trail ride and do what ever you ask of him.  $1500.



We also had a wind storm the middle of August which brought down a tree in the Pecan Orchard.  The Orchard is the ram pen and we counted and checked the rams to make sure they were all OK.  Thankfully no one was hurt or under the tree.  We are thankful the tree did not fall on the fence either.  Usually any branch or tree that falls, seems to end up on the fence.

 Pecan tree uprooted.

 Rams are OK and accounted for.

Trump is OK too.  He is pictured above.

September is upon us and we have just received our License to sell raw Goat Milk and Chevre Goat Cheese for animal usage.  We are milking 10 does now with several to be dried up and several more freshening for fall.  We will have Goat Milk and Cheese for the fall and winter.  We will sell off the farm by appointment for pick up.  Our number is:  334-327-9252.  We will do some delivery, depending on the quantity purchased locally.  We appreciate folks keeping their appointments out of courtesy to us and our busy schedule.  No shows will be removed from our customer list.

We will also take reservations for Lambs.  We will have several Icelandic and Shetland lambs for slaughter this fall.  The sheep did well over the summer in spite of the heat.