Winter Approaching Fast -Updates

While the last few weeks have been very busy for me with Thanksgiving coming and going and a family birthday this week, Christmas concerts and all of the holiday hustle and bustle, I have not gotten around to blog much. 

I have realized that as winter approaches, there is less work going on around here except for the feeding/caring for the animals and of course my husband is still working on cutting trees to clear the pasture for the next round of planting.  I do, however, have a couple of things to report on. 

The first is that we are pretty sure our 2 boer nannies are pregnant!  Yay!  I am so excited about having baby goats running around.  We also, right now, have 2 other goats that came to get bred by our fantastic looking boer billy.  There has started to be some boer babies for sale in our area again so we will start looking again for some more nannies to increase our herd.  Except from the occassional goat out of the fence, which really isn't a big deal since they stay in the yard, we really have had no problems with them this time around. 

The cows are out on the big pasture and have not had to be hay fed yet, but it is fast approaching.  Hopefully they are all bred, but there is at least one I am doubting.  Hopefully next year we can rent a bull or take them to a local bull.  I just feel more comfy with that plan than all the waiting, watching and waiting again for months.  It drives my anxiety level to max!  

The last thing for now is that even though the work slows (mainly due to I hate winter and being outside freezing my butt off!!!) in the cold, it never ends.  I do feel so priviledged to be able to live in such a wonderful place with a wonderful family on our own piece of heaven.  Even though at times all the work seems overwhelming, I wouldn't give it up for anything!  I only wish we had the resources to get all the work completed so we can enjoy the parts I truely love.

Parmak Solar Fencer



We have now had our Parmak Solar Pak 6 fencer installed for a few weeks and what a SUPER BUY!  We couldn't be happier with it.  Every day I check it and it's so easy to check with the charge gauge on the front.  All I have to do is look at it to know if there is a problem!

The installation was super easy too.  It took minutes to do it.  We did already have a ground rod in, but it would have only taken a few more minutes to put in a straight copper 6-8 foot ground rod with the fence pounder.  All we had to do was mount it and hook in the wires and turn it on.  Immediately the charge gauge went up to the green and a little beyond.  We even ran the fence about twice as far as we had planned due to the cows kept getting on another part of the fence in the pen they were in to eat lucious grass on the other side.  We figured this way any animal in there would stay off it.

The cows have been out pasture grazing once again (saving my hay for when its really needed) and staying away from that terrible south fence.  We used the electric tape with the fencer and that works great.  It is easily visible so the kids, or I, don't forget it's there.   Kudos to Parmak for making a fencer that works tremendously well, is easy to see if there is a problem and is pretty affordable!  Thank you also to jefferslivestock.com for selling it at a great price and shipping in a reasonable amount of time.  (I did see today that horse.com has it on sale right now for $157.)

Thanksgiving Thankfulness

In preparing for our Thanksgiving this week -thawing the turkey and ham and cleaning the house for all the guests, I have been thinking a lot about what we all should be thankful for.  In today's world full of crimes against neighbors, kids starving, homelessness and people hurting their own children and all the other things that should not be happening,  I am so very thankful that I have a wonderful life here in the country with a husband who puts up with all of my craziness and 3 amazing children -all of whom I love immensely.  We are sometimes sheltered here from the real crimes that take place elsewhere and I am thankful that my children don't see that on a daily basis. 

 I am thankful that we both have jobs and earn a decent living to take care of our family and finally don't have to struggle, but am also thankful that for a while we did struggle and that makes me even more appreciative of not having to now. 

I am thankful that my children are healthy and growing up with family values and good work ethic.  They understand that if you want something you have to work for it, even though sometimes they would rather just get it! 

Two years ago, 6 days before Thanksgiving my dad suddenly passed away at only 53.  He was a great father and grandpa to all my kids.  We always took for granted that since he was a young grandparent he would be around for years to watch the kids grow.  Each year since, Thanksgiving has been a little bittersweet for me.  I am always thankful, but this year I can finally say it without being so sad at the same time.  I miss him tremendously and wish he could be here all the time.  I know he is watching over my children all the time and at Thanksgiving wishing he could have the turkey legs. 

I am thankful, though, that I have the rest of my family to share Thanksgiving with!  Many of us have lots of things to be thankful for but don't always take the time to appreciate them.  There are so many less fortunate than us in one way or another, we all should be thankful every single day.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Pasture Disking

The pasture has finally been disked!  Since the fields have not been plowed up in at least 50 years it took three times over with the disk to break all the sod.  We also had giant ant hills in this pasture that got broken down with the disk.  This field looks really great now with no trees, no big clumps in it and all the junk grass dead!  This process took about 4 hours for roughly 10 acres.  The average price per acre in this area is $10-20 for disking. 

There is now only one process left for this section:  PLANTING THE SEED.  I will be extremely excited to get this part completed and be done worrying about it for the year.  Then in the spring I can begin worrying again about it coming up!  Our seed is ready at the seed dealer and we can plant anytime after November 15th and before the ground freezes -called frost seeding.  It will just be a matter of which day our guy can plant it and throw the fertilizer on.  He will broadcast seed it then pull the harrow over it so it goes in the soil.  This method is less time consuming and less costly than seed drilling due to the different sizes of seed and the need to plant them separately with the drill.

This has been a long and time consuming process and I'm not really looking forward to doing the larger field next year, but I am looking forward to a beautiful pasture that can sustain lots more animals than we currently have and give us our own hay for winter! I am sure my husband will want to purchase a hay baler next so we don't have to pay someone to do that!  

Anyway, progress is being made and soon it will be completed.  I have learned a lot of things while trying to get this first section completed and will already be aware of the in's and out's of the next section so it shouldn't be near as time consuming.  In the end it should make for some happy cows, horses and goats! 

Solar Fencers

After much time spent researching solar fencers I finally decided on one.  I didn't know much about them at all in the beginning.  Now, I feel a little better versed in solar fencers!  I had no idea when I began that there were so many brands and so many differences between them -it was a bit overwhelming.  I read tons of reviews and looked at the specs of many.  I do believe in knowing which item will give me the most for my $$$.  All the local guys told me Parmak was the best.  Only one of our local stores, however, carries Parmak.  I ended up ordering the Parmak Solar Pak 6 from www.jefferslivestock.com with a savings of nearly $40 even after shipping!  (I usually try to buy local but the savings was just too much to pass up this time)  I did buy all the fencing and stakes local, though.  This Parmak fencer says it will do 25 miles of fence.  There was only 1 bad review I came across when researching it, all the others were highly praising.  It really made the choice easy. 

The Parmak fencers seem to have a high range capability compared to some other brands.  This was a factor in our choice.  It also seems to be a quality built product that should last for years with minimal problems.  Some of the other brands I researched are Gallagher and Zareba.  I'm not at all saying these aren't good fencers, it just seemed to me that the Parmak would work better for us.

It took only a few days to get here and I was so excited to get it out there so the cows could go into the big pasture that still has much to eat and we could stop feeding hay so soon this season.  I unpacked it and saw a tag on the front "must charge outside 5 days in off position before using".  My excitement turned to "wish I would have known that" very quickly.  So, here I sit with the fencer outside charging and still feeding hay to the cows.

We will be able to put it up on Tuesday.  I also thought that we could get all the 1/2" electric fence tape up early so it would be ready to go, but got quashed on that idea as I was informed by my husband that the deer would probably tear it up jumping the fence and would make a mess of it.  I will be more than ready on Tuesday to get it all up and turn the thing on!  The cows will be so excited to go out there and eat like, well, like cows! 

Each day I have thrown around the idea that if we just put the cows out there they would have so much to eat that they wouldn't care about the almost non-existent fence at the south side of our property.  Then pictures of me chasing cows out of the neighbors corn field would fill my head and I just didn't want to risk it. 

When all of our pastures are reseeded and the south fence done this fencer will be used to run each of our paddocks.  Hopefully we chose wisely and it will work like a charm!

A Yearly Review

Every year when the cold starts to set in I begin my mental review of the past year.  Which things did I love doing, which ones did I try new and what did I hate doing?  Basically, what will I do different for the next year?  These questions go on through the winter until I have decided on a plan for next year.  It's also my time to research projects that I am interested in but have not had time to learn about. 

There is one thing I have decided so far for next year and that is what to do with my potato patch.  They did not do anywhere near amazing this year and I had no room for a pumpkin patch.  I really missed not having any pumpkins -1 year I even planted the baby pumpkins.  Next year I will be planting the pumpkins in the potato patch!

We definately want to grow our goat herd next year, too.  We had wanted to get a few more nannies this year, but we had trouble finding any at reasonable prices as the year went on.  We are more interested in the full bred/unregistered reasonably priced ones than the high dollar papered ones.

We also will have to take it easy on the cow herd growing until all the pastures are up and running (unless I see something that I love!).  Next year should be the last year this has to happen.  Hopefully after that we can sustain ourselves in the winter with hay too!!!

As the review begins for this year, I am always looking for new ideas to use on our farm.  I look for ideas that others are doing or not doing and why.  I like to find ideas that are at least cost efficient. 

Fences are My Nemesis!

Fences are my nemesis!  We have been battling old hedge post fences from day 1.  The fences weren't something we gave much consideration to when we bought this place since we had no animals at first, but we knew they weren't in top condition.  They have contained our animals for the most part for the past few years.  As the interior and property fences get worse, we have been replacing them as fast as we can afford but FENCES ARE EXPENSIVE!

Our dilemma now is that our whole south fence is pretty much barely a fence anymore.  The horses stay in there and we're not sure why.  They could easily walk right over it.  Our problem is that we have the cows in the small pasture that is almost out of vegetation for them and the large still lush pasture is the one with that awful fence and a corn field on the other side.  Much too inviting for the cows!!  It is roughly 1325 feet long so it will be an expensive venture.  The cows need to eat so we either will have to replace it quickly or buy electric fence. It is too far out to run electricity, though so we will have to use solar.

After pricing the solar electric fencer from Parmak, which I am told is the best, our decision is clear for now.  For about $350 we will have electric running the whole fence with maybe a day for installation.  The new fence would cost at least $2000 and take lots more time to install.  Eventually that will have to be done, but hopefully the electric will hold them until the pastures are reseeded.  

It always seems as though if it's not one thing, it's another around here.  Someday I am hoping that we will have all new fences that will last the rest of my lifetime!  Too bad I don't have a secret fence fund just to get them all done!  Lesson learned this time that maybe we should have looked into fence cost a little more closely when we bought this place and replaced them before we got any animals.  That would be my sound advice to anyone thinking of buying an old farm that needs updating.