Saturday, November 10, 2012

This morning I butchered the last 12 Freedom Ranger chickens!!!! I am so glad that's done. And they are ALL sold too. I also put an ad on Craig's list last night for my laying hens that aren't laying. I had a guy call this morning about them. He came out this afternoon with his oldest daughter and they bought 4 Barred Rock hens and Russell Crowe the rooster. So it's a little quieter here now. The Americana roo has not crowed yet. Maybe he will now that Russell is gone.

So I took all the fence and fence posts down and cleaned up the lot where the FR were. Buried all the guts and burned the feathers in a big brush pile. I am going to use the fence to divide the front pasture for the sheep. I think I'll have enough fence to do that. I have plenty of fence posts.

And I need another milk goat! Abby, my older LaMancha doe, is drying herself up. She has nothing. So I am just milking Sandy, my Nubian. I have 2 other young does that are pregnant, but will not freshen til about the middle of February. I have never bred goats this early before. I hope we don't have a blizzard about then. So if anyone close by has a milk goat in milk right now, please let me know.

We bought a brand new Wonderlux wood stove a few days ago. Had to have it delivered. Plus had to have a piece of metal special made for the front of the fireplace. My husband was just trying to get the pipe to go into the back of the stove and has decided we will have to have an adapter for the back of the wood stove. So yet another day before we can use the stove.

We also bought lumber and tin roofing to build a wood shed to keep all that wood dry. I guess we will be doing that tomorrow since husband has to leave Monday morning. Sometimes our weekends are nonstop busy.

I hope you all are having a great weekend and enjoying this beautiful fall so far.

5 comments:

Teri said...

Hi Kris,
reading your post I could have sworn you copied and pasted from my blog! LOL! I know all about busy busy weekends! You go from sun up to waaaaay after sundown.
We are pretty much set, for buildings, wood in the wood barn(altho we still have 3 cord to go yet) Hay is under cover, all sheep bred, just 3 rams to bring to market end of November, most of my soap is made and spinning orders almost caught up.
And then after Thansgiving back inside the house for laying the pine flooring! The only time I stop is when sleeping!
Is this your first year heating with wood? It is a great way to heat your home. We heat 3500 sq. feet using 3 wood stoves for about $500.00 a season. Of course, all three stoves are not in use all the time.
Take it easy, and do what I do when I'm tired ... pray for rain!
Have a great day!
Teri

Kris said...

Hi Teri. No, we have heated with wood before. In our first home, we had just about the same stove and our house was probably 1000 sq. ft. It got hot! And when we moved to our 2nd home, we had a fireplace insert after that first winter with just an open fireplace and LOTS of wood. When we bought this house, there were gas logs which we used for about 6 years, then couldn't afford the propane. So took out the gas logs and burned wood last year in the open fireplace. SO this year I said I was getting a REAL wood stove. All the wood so far has been free. I hope we get the shed built and the stove all hooked up and running before husband has to leave again.

It's hard NOT to be busy when there is so much to do on a farm. I wish I could be certain all my older ewes are bred. I have 3 ewe lambs that are still small but are old enough to breed. Not really sure what to do. I thought I'd wait til the end of Dec. to breed them. Or if they are still small, I'll wait til summer for fall lambs. I just wish they could all be lambing at the same time.

We are supposed to have lots of rain Monday, that's why I want to get that wood dry. Have a great day!

Kristin said...

It's nice to see you back, Kris. Congratulations on the wood stove! There is something that's oh-so-nice about the heat they put out. We heat our house with a fireplace insert I bought a few years ago. The heatpump only kicks on when it drops below 60 in here. At least there's no tax on firewood yet (at leaast the kind you cut up yourself).

I'm glad those stinking birds are done. We did a butcher day yesterday. 23 birds. I had most sold, but a few people didn't show up. Will have to send an email to sell them today or scrounge for freezer space.

Sorry to hear about your doe. I'm getting 70% of my milk from Trixie these days. Kat has been down to about 3c a day since August and the One-Teat-Wonder Onyx is a first freshener and only gives me about a pint. I've considered drying them up, but that adds up to a lot of milk over a week! Plus I can't seem to get the 2 of them bred! They were both in estrus on Friday which means they will be again over Thanksgiving when I won't be here to do anything about it!


Kris said...

Oh these goats! I am going to put the bucks back in with the does one more time just to make sure. Sandy is giving about a quart a day now. And I have had to tell my latest customer that he's out til next spring. And this next half gallon will be it for my other customer. Then I'll just have my half gallon a week customer and us. I just called a lady about some Nubian does up in Spring City Tn. She has 3 does and a buck. The 2 black ones are $125.00 each. I want them. They are 1 1/2 and ready to be bred now. I told her I would come up Monday if she still has them. I might just call her back and tell her to keep them for me. That's a good price for them. And I need more goat to milk.

Yes, there is something about wood heat that just warms ya up better than electric. We have central heat and air and I have to keep my heat at 67 to keep it from running all the time and kicking in the aux. heat. I hate that thing. So the wood stove will pay for itself this year already.

I hope you get your does bred soon. Good luck!

Kristin said...

That's a great price for them! I just paid $200 each for my new Alpines, plus a stud fee to get them bred. I canceled all my milk customers over a month ago. With 2 growing boys, 3/4 gal a day is just enough for our personal use (and a gal a week for my parents. I have to pay the farm hands). :)

I think I've been in denial about Onyx. Hoping I didn't really see her go into heat 3 weeks ago. I know for sure she did 2 days ago. I guess it's time to plan another trip to Carrollton.