Irresponsible Homesteading

If you don’t think animals have any real significance don’t read this particular blog.  I am on my soapbox tonight and rather peeved as well.

I found out from a very good source that if a dairy farmer loses 1/3 of its calves to scours they consider that a good year.   A good Year???   Really??   You have to be kidding me??   No pun intended here.  If I lose one rabbit, one kid, one chicken I am broken hearted!  Yes we raise certain animals for their meat but there is the honorable way and there is the disgraceful way of doing it.

I am not naïve about where my food comes from.   That is why I have chosen the harder road, to raise my own food with love, dignity and respect.  In turn it will provide me better health and a connection I simply can’t get from the supermarket.

At Lakeside Country Farm every animal is important to us, every animal has a purpose, but every animal is loved, respected and treated with dignity as all life should be.  No animal is mistreated and each is socialized on a daily basis.   Yes the chickens are petted and talked too.  No animal is sold before they are fully weaned.  This means we have a larger investment in our animals and therefore they cost more.  And that means they are not available as early either.  This policy has cost us sales.  Do we change our policy because of this?  Absolutely not!  And we won’t even consider doing so.

I am so furious with all the breeders, homesteaders, and farmers out there who only care about their damn profit margin.  But really, how dare anyone sell animals to naive or unprepared buyers just because they can! And to those buyers out there always looking for the cheapest animal they can find.  Well you get what you pay for!  And why would you want a cheap animal that is not socialized, and will probably die on you in a few months or it will definitely be unhealthy?  Cheaper is not better!  And where are those breeders when you are having troubles?

It is irresponsible that animals are being sold before they are fully weaned and maybe only a few days old. These animals have been sentenced to a horrible death, scours.  Milk-replacer is what we call the liquid death.  How can any animal owner be so irresponsible?  No wonder the animal activists are out for blood from this industry.  Farmers and breeders are their own worse enemy and then they try to blame it on fanciful thinking or even ignorance.  Sorry guys!  That just doesn’t cut it. It is because the industry has become so focused on the bottom line and making a fast buck, that they no longer care about their animals.  And their animals know it!

It offends my very sense of sensibility to be considered part of it.  All I can hope to do is stand apart from the herd and do things differently along with others out there trying to do the same.  And I offer up advice whenever possible that might save an animal or two.

The Greenhorn Homesteader

Enough Snow Already!

Oh my Gosh, two blizzards in the same year would be bad enough. But in the same month! Winter on the homestead just took on a whole new meaning. Plowing…on foot…through two foot to three foot drifts to bring feed and water to our animals is getting to be old. I know they appreciate it but holy cow!

And then add to all this wonderful winter fun my hubby decides to take one huge slip on the ice and ruins his shoulder. Now mind you he is the Big Farm Hand on our homestead. He’s the brawn while I am the brains. lol

So now since he is the one arm bandit and guess who gets to carry water to the barns for 8 goats, roughly 20 rabbits and 21 chickens. And this is no little stroll. It’s a good hundred yards if it is a foot. Sigh.

I am anxiously awaiting spring. Bring on the mud!!! :)

But on a high note the goats are kidding and we have three lovely new kids to date on the farm. Sylvie is huge and I can’t believe she has not given birth yet. It will be nice having these little ones jumping around this spring. They bring us such entertainment. We have Farm TV. And I can’t think of anything more enjoyable to watch, except my grandchildren.

Wishing us all an early Spring.

The Greenhorn Homesteader

Winter on the Homestead

Winter on the Homestead is a great time to reminisce about where we are, how far we have come and where we want to be. Some memories are just hilarious, some touching others very sad, and some are only funny after the fact.  It’s those lessons that are learned the hard way that sometimes we wind up laughing about after the fact. One such incident had to do with our wonderful Nubian Buck, Starbuck.  You see most of what we have learned about goats has been in two forms, by books…lots of books and by experience.

Our first goat triplets we purchased were from the same herd and we brought them to our farm together.  They had been well socialized by the children of that particular farm, so much so they loved (demanded) our attention and hung around us.  They really did just fine acclimating themselves. We could let them out of the corral and not have any issues.  They would munch on whatever they found as long as we were in sight.  They didn’t even mind being tethered if they were together, which didn’t work out too well.  But that is another story.

So the day we go to get our Starbuck, it is a 4 hour one way trip up north.  And then another 4 hour trip home after we pick him up taking only one pit stop, for him not for us.  Have you seen a goat at a rest area?  Most people haven’t and oh the curious looks we got.  Now he was from a fairly large goat herd and not too socialized.  And to be stripped from the herd was a bit traumatic of course.  But I knew once we got him home he’d be just fine, since we had 4 other goats just waiting for him to join them and they were Does.  What buck could possibly be confused about those possibilities.

We arrive home and not wanting to force this little guy into the corral right away I thought we would be so nice and just let him walk out of the crate, mosey around and explore the homestead a bit on his own.  Hindsight is always 20/20, and this was probably the stupidest idea I have ever had.  The first thing on his mind was joining “his” herd and it was not on our homestead.  To get a good picture of the drama that soon transpired you have to understand where our homestead is located. It is in a rural area but we are also part of a lake neighborhood.  Our home is in the lake association but our farm is on the acreage behind it and many of the other homes, thusly the name, Lakeside Country Farm.

So we open the door to the crate, out of compassion, to let this poor distressed animal acclimate himself slowly and what does he do, he immediately jumps out of the crate and begins running around like some crazy mad dog.  My first concern was the road, forget what the neighbors think, I am not having a goat-car accident on our first day!  And the two of us were unable to catch him.  Didn’t realize kids could run so fast and maneuver so well.  And now we are not just running on the homestead but he’s taken off across the back yards and we are doing a lousy job of corralling him.  The neighbors if they were looking would have had some hilarious entertainment.  Two adults, not young adults either, chasing this little goat and it is outsmarting us.  Every time we think we had him corralled from either side he would manage to slip by one of us.  The thought kept running through my mind he had to be getting tired but he was in panic mode and looking for the herd.  All instincts were on red alert and tiring was not an option for him.

Finally after 45 mins of constant chasing he makes a fatal mistake.  We are able to corner him into a small cubby at the neighbor’s garage.  There was only one way in and the same way out and we both had it blocked.  He was caught and we were exhausted.  And he was bleating so loud the neighbors heard it inside their home and came out to see what all the commotion was about.  Sigh!  Trying to explain with a bleating, squirming goat was not easy.  But they chuckled and left us to our humiliation.

So lesson learned.  Place all new kids in corral first to acclimate.  Once they feel part of the herd we can then train them to stay on the farm as they roam freely to browse.  It was not funny then.  We were scared to death and exhausted. But we laugh now and think, oh my what a sight we must have been, an absolute real circus for sure.

Looking forward to Spring when all activity gears up again and more time can be spent outdoors with all of our animals, new and old alike.

The Greenhorn Homesteader