The summer is flying by here at Serenity! We have slowed down on tours as the temperatures have been in the triple digits almost daily. We’ve done one a week this month and that’s been a mixed blessing I suppose.
We have a new batch of chicks in as of yesterday (and turkeys!). We ordered 15 chicks and 1 turkey and as Cackle Hatchery does they sent a few extras–17 chicks and a whopping 4 turkeys. As surprising as that was, we also knew turkeys can be pretty fragile when young and so we were fine with the number. Everyone arrived very perky and healthy but unfortunately we lost a turkey today. He was by the food dish and we think he may have choked on his food. Turkeys are not intelligent, to say the least, but what they lack in brain they make up for in their cuteness! They have the biggest eyes and just lock eyes with us. *swoon*
A few days ago we opened the llama pastures so that all three llamas are now together. Unfortunately the two new llamas have been misbehaving and I can no longer tell people tame llamas don’t spit at people. Boy are they nasty sometimes! It seems to be a combo of not knowing us, stress from the long journey here, and taking advantage of us because they can tell we have no idea what we’re doing. Oh and Banner, the tallest llama, does not do well with the other two (basically they don’t like him) and that also adds to the spit factor. I know they’re taking advantage of us because I had two llama people come out to do a tooth trimming and fiber trim and they did not get spit on a single bit! In fact they said that our spittiest llama was lovely. Hmm.
Somehow in spite of their spitty behavior (shitty? spitty???) we were motivated enough to have a llama parade on July 4th. It was absolutely adorable and was done on our property in front of the camera (no audience). Check that out here.
Other news–we set up the electric fencing, intending to separate the pigs so that the females can be without the male–many pig people have said that pigs won’t breed with each other if they’re raised together. That seems absolutely ridiculous because hormones are hormones, but we’re being cautious because that would be very upsetting if it were true. However, electric fencing takes some training and in the triple digits it just hasn’t happened very much, so it’s currently sitting empty.
A few days ago Trinket, our Mini LaMancha buck who has been with us since our first goat adventures went off to a new home. He worked himself out of a job here since he sired so many babies, five of which we have kept.
I have some new lofty goals for our farm when it comes to goats but most of that won’t unfold until 2021: some better quality mini milkers (registered stock) and some Kiko goats to bring in more meat and some good parasite resistance.
I’ve been busy this month touring farms around me and checking out new animals. I met some Highland coos, as they pronounce “cows” in Scotland.
I got to visit some baby goats born here last year.
I got to know a Jersey heifer due any day with a calf. I visited another friend’s farm pigs (the HUGE kind) and meat cows. I visited a new friend’s cool farm with chickens and the sweetest Anatolian/Pyrenees LGDs. And I visited my Mini Nubian breeder who I hadn’t seen in a year to exchange some beef (my family bought 1/4 Dexter cow from yet another farm friend who does things totally organically) for some Kune Kune meat so we could finally see what our pigs will taste like some day! Something unexpected happened–in spite of the fact that I’m not a baby animal person (monster, yes, I get it. But bear with me—adults are predictable and calmer and I like that, LOL!) I fell in love with a moonspotted mini Nubian doeling. Eee! She’s so pretty.
Speaking of goats, I finally got the tests back on our does–Dolly is NOT pregnant, in spite of her size (134 pounds! We bought a livestock scale!). All herd testing came back clean. So I started milking again a few weeks ago and have been busy making cheese again. And also passing it out to friends since we can’t sell it and it makes a TON each time!
We haven’t been too pleased with the condition of Dolly and some of our other goats this year and we’ve made the decision to back off alfalfa hay and add in some hay that is less protein and calcium. I think it’s causing too much weight gain and some other issues that I’m reading about in a fabulous new book I bought, “Natural Sheep Care” by Pat Coleby. I cannot recommend her books enough; we have “Natural Goat Care” as well. I am focusing again on better nutrition for the goats (you wouldn’t think it was possible to feed better when you see our feed bills, yikes!) and getting their 14 mineral system back up and running again. I have one goat who really has a hard time staying healthy with the Barberpole worms and I’m just determined to get her better again permanently. Diet is EVERYTHING. It really is. Hippocrates said “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” Wise guy, that Hippocrates!
I also recently signed up for an essential oils course for livestock and indoor pets, taught by the essential oils vet in Austin. I’m very excited to see how that goes and to compare it to the homeopathic vet course I have taken before with another Austin vet.
This past weekend we traded our sweet little Aspen (the mini LaMancha we bottlefed because his mother rejected him due to his small ears) for a 2 year old buck named Burt Reynolds. As much as we loved Aspen, it just didn’t make sense to keep him since so many of our other goats are related to him. I could not have found a better home for him–the new owner does EVERYTHING we do, all the natural care practices including no vaccines, herbal wormer, garlic/ginger paste, and essential oils. That is such a relief. Her family loves this buck we received but it was the same deal–he’s related to too many of their goats. So yay for trades, yay for like-minded farmers and for feeling really good about the situation. I know we will keep in touch.
Last weekend a friend came over to celebrate his birthday and I made a Dr Pepper Sheet Cake. That thing was amazing in spite of me subbing Paleo flour and coconut sugar into it, as well as using the cane sugar DP instead of the original yucky HFCS kind. Highly recommended! Got the recipe from some magazine that I didn’t even order, Taste of Home maybe? Good stuff!
So that’s our mid-July update for you. We have a few more animals coming in the next month so I’m hoping to blog again soon. I hope everyone is staying healthy and having a great summer in spite of the chaos of the world right now. Prayer is really getting me through these difficult times. I know that God is good; it’s just hard for a control freak like me to let go and have faith sometimes. I’m grateful to have friends who remind me that things will get better. Love and Light, everyone! <3