There's a new buck in town

This is my new Boer buck, Lil Red. I went last night to look at some bucks at a farm over in Lafayette. This guy has a lot of goats. Nubians and Boers and some crosses. I settled on this little cutie. He's just 5 months old but already doing the bucky thing. He's really stocky and has the little Boer head but the thick nose and neck and really meaty. I decided to get a Boer buck to use with Sandy my Nubian who always has bucks. SO I thought I'd just breed for a meatier kid and either sell them or use them for us. I'll put Sandy and Penelope in with him next month. He's a cutie.

I had to move him and John Henry up front because the girls were all teasing them. Poor guys. And they are starting to really stink. Like bucks. This way the back yard can rest a few weeks and grow some more.

Is anyone else thinking about breeding these days? What is going on at your farms?

Sheep Shelters

               Working for sheep sure is hard! But they need some shelters so it has to be done.

My friend Kenneth came today to help me put up the sheep shelter for the ewes in the South pasture. It's added to my new garden shed. It's 8x12 so they should have enough room to get under in a down pour. Later I will add sides to it. But right now I just wanted to get the metal roof on it.

 Kenneth is very easy to work with. He's a lot like me and works til it's done. No need to take breaks. Just get 'er done! I like that. We work well together. All we need to do now is screw the roof on. We were right in the sun the last part of the day. This took 5 1/2 hours! He'll be back tomorrow to finish the roof. But it looks good so far. I am so thankful for good friends. And he's saving me $15.00 an hour!

I did this one all by myself last week. I had some pallets that I got for free from the pallet shop in town. And I had a sheet of the outdoor siding we had used for a pig shelter a few years back. And I grabbed several boards that I nailed across the top. And my friend at the hardware store gave me some tarps he was going to throw away for the roof. And when it starts getting cold, I can put plastic around the outside and another pallet in the front. So all free and used material for a pretty good and sturdy shelter for the 3 ram boys. I put them up front in that pasture for now til I can figure out the breeding arrangements in a few weeks. I'll be playing musical sheep and goats. Sounds like fun, right?

And They're Out!

These chicks have grown so fast. They went through 1 50lb bag of chick starter in 2 weeks. I bought another bag last week. I had to get another today. So they had to go outside and eat for free! They have more than doubled in size and it was so hot in their brooder boxes.

They are 3 weeks old now.




So I added more fence to the little area I had for the other meat birds. They will have plenty of room in here til they get a little bit bigger, then they can go out into the whole yard.  But so far I am well pleased with their progress

This is one of the wooden boxes we used for their brooder. It's big and very heavy. As I was pulling it down the staird I fell right smack on my rear. That hurt. But I got it in there and they can get in it if it rains. I'll try to get the other box out there too.

                                            They are such good chicks. I really am liking them.