Escape Artist Cows

Thought I would share this funny little story about what happened to us the other night.  It would be funnier, but since we have a definate hay shortage it is less humorous!

We were moving a round bale in with the cows off the trailer in the middle of our most recent snow storm when my husband and I were talking about how fat our 2 hopefully pregnant cows looked.  I was thinking "boy they are huge for this early in pregnancy".  Our biggest one was as big as a barrel.  I had just looked closely at them a couple days before and they hadn't looked that big.  I offered a handful of hay to her and she just sniffed it, which is totally unlike her.

My daughter and I went into the barn to get a look at the other one when I looked up and the big girl was heading up the aisle to the inside of the barn where the hay is stored!  She looked over at me as if she was saying "oh s--- she saw me".  I told my daughter to go get dad, quick!  I jumped the fence and got in front of her not paying any attention to the hay bales we do have left.  My husband came in and opened the door so they could back out.  We got them out and looked at the stack of hay . . . partially demolished! 

We don't think they ate as much as it looked like at first but it's hard to tell.  No wonder they were fat and didn't want the round bale!  Someone had either left the small door leading in there not latched all the way or we have cows that can unlatch a door.  We now have a pile of hay to use out of for the miniature horses and goats instead of small bales.

I made my husband go out later just to make sure they hadn't gotten in there again! 

Winter Animal Update

As winter seems to go on and on I have a few updates of things that are happening or will be happening around the farm. 

First of all, the goat kids are now weaned!!!  All went very well with this and they are all eating their hay and grain.  Also, it seems that their water consumption is lots more now.  I am also ready for spring to get here so we can put them in the outside goat pen! They will love to run and jump around.  We do, however, need to buy some cattle panels to redo the goat pen first.   

Secondly, for the first time ever we are running low on hay!  Bad to need hay in the winter as everyone thinks their hay is worth a fortune this time of year!  A little to my disgust is looking for hay for sale only to see prices double what they are in the summer.  Seems a little like taking advantage of the ones in need!  I would feel guilty for doing this to people and hungry animals.  We did try and estimate the number of bales we would need for the winter, but it is not an exact science due to no one knowing exactly what winter will hold for us until it's here.  This year happened to be cold and snowy and with the drought last summer not much to keep eating in the pasture.  We have resorted to buying some big round bales, which we have no way to move around except for good old muscle strength.  They are a little overpriced in my opinion, but the cheapest we could find.  That definately ups our feeding cost this year!

On the bright side, I definately think we have pregnant goats.  One obviously more than the other.  By my calculations the earliest we could kid would be March 4th.  With March right around the corner I am getting very excited!  I love all the spring babies and these will be our first baby goats born here!!The only problem is the enormous white goose that chases me and only me is with the goats.  Today the goose went on craigslist!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Beginning the Goat Kid Weaning Process

The youngest of our 8 goat kids are now just over 6 weeks old.  They are ready to begin the weaning process.  They have been eating good amounts of hay for a couple weeks, eating a little grain and drinking fresh water.  They are still under shelter in the barn due to our continued wintery weather here. 

Since they are eating well, today they were cut down to 1 bottle of formula per day.  This is about 2.75 cups per day.  This feeding schedule will continue for 2 weeks then they will be taken off formula altogether.  Hopefully by then the weather is nicer and we can turn them out with the other goats in the pasture!  They will truely enjoy being able to run around more than they can inside the pen.

Since we had never had little goat kids before, I have been amazed at how fast they grow and the different body types we have.  Since our first 2 purchased are 100% Boer, they sure have a shorter, more dense body shape than the Boer/Dairy crosses.  They seem very heavy for their size!  "Big Boy" as I call him is a cross and is much larger than the others.  Then there is Cleo.  She has a black head with brown stripes and a white body.  She is very petite and will be a beautiful goat for my daughter to show in the dairy class at the county fair. 

Yes, we do have to plan now for the county fair!  It seems very early, but if we don't plan now we will be scurrying when it comes time to ID animals!

As always . . .HAVE A GREAT DAY!

only 34 days til SPRING!!!