24%

This morning I loaded Adelaide up in the car and took her to the vet. A tech came out and drew blood. The vet came out a little later and said her red blood cell count was at 24%!! After 2 weeks of the Red Cell and whatever else I've been doing, this is great news. Up 15% from 2 weeks ago. He would like to see it at least around 30% soon. And he said he'd like to do another fecal before I do any more worming. Which I hope I won't have to for a long time.

So now I need to get both pastures mowed. Then let them rest a week. Then start thinking about breeding who to whom. I think Adelaide and Annabelle are just too small still. I will wait til December to breed those two. And I want to use Abraham, the black Finn ram, on them. This is Annabelle and Amarillo is the last picture. She's a lot bigger than them but she's Finn too.

So that's what's going on here at Outback Farm these days. Lots of musical sheep and goats. Hopefully next spring, we'll have lots of cute little lambs and kids jumping around again!

Kind of funny

We have a lot of bike riders out here all the time. Like the racing-touring bikers. With sleek helmets, spandex shorts and shirts. Tight butts on little tiny narrow seats. Crazy leg muscles. They are not very friendly either. I mean they hardly ever wave or head nod or even a finger lift. They look straight ahead. They do not move over. We have little 2 lane roads out here that are hilly and lots of curves. And they don't do single file anymore. No. Some kind of law in Ga. and Tn. that says they can have the whole lane now.

So today, I'm out in the garden planting some cabbage and Brussels sprouts and chard. I see these 2 bikers heading back to town. I can always hear them when they ride by talking. Well, I heard the guy say to the other person "Look at the goats". My sheep were all up in the front pasture by the road. I almost fell over. It was so funny!  (I have nothing at all against the bike riders. I like riding down the road behind them for miles waiting for a place to pass. It's not a bad view. Really, I don't mind at all.)





                                               This is how close the sheep were to the road.                                                                                

Happy Fall, y'all!

I love saying that. Sounds so Southern and Paula Dean. Happy fall, y'all! I thought the first day of fall was yesterday. Isn't it always the 21st? This is my 54th fall, so I could be getting a little fuzzy.



Last week, I got my 3rd Taproot magazine. I love this magazine. Every page, every story, is something I am interested in. Such great writers. And the art! Oh my, It's so frame-able. All of it. I hope everyone checks out the magazine and orders one. And NO ADS! At all. How cool is that?

So I went outside, under my shade tree with the magazine and a cup of coffee. Put my feet up and sat there and read most of it. It was such a beautiful day. I don't do this enough. Just sit and read. Or meditate on good things. Listen to the sheep in the yard munching grass. I love that sound. And the clucks of the chickens. Then the loud cries of the goats. That changes everything.

The articles are amazing. So easy to read and I feel like I am there, in the story.  I feel like I know a lot of the writers because they have some of my favorite blogs. Like SouleMama, Small Measure, and several others.

 I took this right up under my tree. Pretty soon there will be no more leaves. The yard is already full of them. I go outside and there are leaves in my hair, falling everywhere. So I will enjoy these last few weeks of nice weather and go outside more. Watch the morning sun come up and go down again. Watch the leaves turn from green to orange and yellow and red and gold. Enjoy all the beautiful weed flowers of fall. Pick armloads to put all over my house.

And then just sit, like my cat, Gilbert, and enjoy my day. Under the shade tree. Til there are no more leaves.





Happy Fall, y'all!

View from the milk room

I was sitting in the milk room yesterday morning on my bucket seat milking my goats. I love the view outside the door. So grabbed my camera and took some pictures. 

Here is a closer view.The fig trees and the meat chickens and you can barely see the rams in the background. Just kind of peaceful. It was foggy too.

 And inside the milk room, all I can hear is goats munching their feed. And a cat waiting on some warm milk.

And she is happy now. Nice warm milk straight from the goat. Can't ask for much more than that, if you're a cat. Or a dog.

Outback Farm

Outback Farm

I was just fooling around and copied my Outback Farm FB business page. I need a lot more likes so if anyone would like to go like my page, I'd appreciate it! Thanks!

Border Collie visit

Today a friend came with her 2 Border Collies, Bonnie and Lige, her son. Both of them have never seen sheep before. Lige is 6 moths old. He had been sold to some people who just did not have time for him and he was bored so started eating the siding off the house. Poor puppy. So Beth got him back. The first picture is of Bonnie, Lige's mother. She has only herded a horse. She was a bit afraid of Darla, who was going to protect her friends. Bonnie really had no idea what to do with all these big sheep.

She finally got them to move. So they went out front and around the pasture a few times.

This is both dogs in the field with the rams. The rams were not impressed at all. But the dogs chased them for a few minutes.

Here they are in the yard, playing with a basketball. I was trying to get Lige's herding stance and stare. He looked good, staring at his mother and trying to herd her.

Beautiful dogs. I love Border Collies. But right now with all that's going on, I don't think it's the right time for a dog this age with no training. Bonnie is hopefully bred with a beautiful red and white BC. Her sire was red and white. She was bred the first time to a black and white BC and had all black and white pups. We are hoping for some red pups because I want a red and white puppy. So the end of December the puppies will be ready to go. By then everything will be settled down with the gardens and sheep and goats bred and Holiday Market and Christmas over. I'll have more time to spend with a Border Collie puppy. Can hardly wait!

Bad dog!

I went to the garden to pick veggies for my CSA customers. Left the wagon out by the gate and went in for something. When I came back out I saw squash pieces on the ground.

Then saw Stella, the squash eating dog. I forgot she has done this before. I caught her in the act this time though. Look at that bad dog.  Well, I guess she's pretty healthy. She is a raw food dog.

And this is what's left of the veggies in the wagon. I hurried and got them all in the house. They are all bagged up and ready to go. Hopefully Stella won't get in the bags. It's warming up a little so had to come out of the jacket.