First Snow 2009-2010

Tiny Lizard...

Taken Saturday, August 16th, 2008

New hay feeder...

Some pics of the new hay feeder I put together.... Holds about 3-4
trashcans packed with hay.

They are really a few super simple homemade pallets... A few 2x4s on
top of a pair of 2x4s.... The 'V' section uses porch rail stiles which
are only about 36" so the bottom rail is raised about 4-6" from the
bottom and that happens to work out good for making the 'V' section.

After that put 2x4 plywood boards on top to keep the tarp from settling
on the hay in the rain and causing mold problems. I used t-posts to
hold the mess together... Then put metal chain-link fence posts over
the t-posts to hold and protect the tarp a little better but they will
probably make better lightning rods.

First post via Mail2Blogger...

Forgive me blogger, it has been over two weeks since my last post...

Not much going on around this neck of the woods. I'll mostly give a
brief run-down.

E-Mailed response to property for rent advert... 50 Acres in Granville
County: log cabin, 15 Acres cleared/fenced/pasture, 2 Acre pond, creek
runs through it. $700/Month... Far above my estimate of what I may be
able to afford by myself... About $300-$400/Month at most... Even
then I know I may likely be stretched in the course of making a jump in
raising livestock.

It has been a just over a month since the cows were taken to market...
I miss them and am reminded of them from time to time. Goats are
enjoying the extra time spent with them now... and they have been more
accepting of the attention... Although I am not sure if the goats need
it or just how much, being winter they are getting supplemental feeding
they would normally not get during warmer months. So that helps.

During that last big rain we had, our skylight re-sprung a leak... I
threw some patch mix on it several times before and after looking at
the roof around the skylight I decided to re-shingle around it... Was
not exactly the smartest thing to do... Certainly not the easiest...
And at the moment it was a had to do it thing which ended up with me
working on the roof after dark with a headlamp. So far no leaks.

Thanksgiving is upon us... My aunt invited anybody whom wished to join
them up north in Delaware... I accepted.

Goats feet

Trimmed goats feet yesterday evening... Something that has been needing to be done for a long time. I picked at their feet from time to time but taking care of the calves took high priority...
Had to chase them down many times and did the best I could to run with them all while holding onto the foot... They were tied to their run line, but they still had plenty to go. Charlie calmed down a bit towards the end, started nibbling at me and mouthing me which I kept correcting him for as that quickly turns to biting. Mack was worse! Yeah... He calmed down a bit too towards the end, but I also let him get wrapped around the post so he couldn't move... Didn't stop his mouth from trying to take a chunk out of me multiple times!... I hauled off on him a few times... He has bit me good in the past... Left a fair sized bruise on my chest!... Close to a prominent place. Mack got himself wrapped around good on the pole... I started to feel sorry for him so pulled him loose and retied with a little slack... That is when he calmed down a bit. I had been out with them for over an hour and light was quickly disappearing, so I wrapped things up and fed them.


My first efforts at doing their feet were hampered by not knowing what a goats foot should look like and also not knowing how to use a hoof knife... I have tried many different methods to trim down their feet but to no avail... Last night was a luck shot that paid off... I just managed to get it right and slowly did the best I could to take slivers at a time off their feet... Despite their raising a ruckus!

The hoof knife is NOT an easy thing to master... and one can easily make a mess using one... However, a hoof knife is simple but very powerful tool! Takes a lot of time and patience to learn for both the user and the animals! But well worth it.

Insanity IS

Fire from each wall
Pain and madness inside me
Insanity IS.

Anger and hatred
Frustration and sadness
I sit in the darkness alone.

I got a new girlfriend..........

Yeah... Sure... My luck! NOT!

However in goat talk.... Charlie seems to be making a complete turn around... Normally Charlie is a goat that runs from me, I got him as an older goat and as older goats go, building trust with him has been a long drawn out ordeal hindered by trying to raise a pair of cows. Last night Charlie for lack of a better way of putting it, in goat speak, Charlie was courting me. Not necessarily good for many reasons... They can do what ever things they want kept between themselves. He was blubbering, tongue flapping and tapping me and the ground with his foot eagerly expressing his interest at me... Now that is bad in that can quickly turn to attempts to mounting and even head butting from aggression.

Ferdinand & Ricardo - Expense & Statistics Report

Weights Via Weight Tape, therefore are estimates.

Age at purchase: ~1 Week
Final weight: ~754 Lbs
Length of stay: 438 Days

Known Costs Breakdown:

• Calves, 2 @ $50: ($100, 6.65%)
• Vet, 3 Visits/Calls: ($297.00, 19.75%)
• Bags Milk Replacer: 5 ($234.75, 15.61%)
• Bags Calf Starter: 23 ($292.89, 19.47%)
• Bales Of Hay: 21 [10 4x4 & 11 4.5x4] ($552.00, 36.70%)
• Mineral ($27.40, 1.82%)

Total Known Cost of Rasing Calves: $1504.04
Net From Cow Sales: $802.96
Investment Loss: $701.08

Ferdinand:

• First Recorded Weight: ~91 Lbs
• Weight Gain: ~663 Lbs
• Average Daily Gain: ~1.51 Lbs

Ricardo:

• First Recorded Weight: ~85 Lbs
• Weight Gain: ~669 Lbs
• Average Daily Gain: ~1.53 Lbs

Got the cheque back from Carolina Stockyards Co...

Looks like they sold as Holstein Feeders...

Combined weight 1545Lbs @ $54.00/CWT amounting to $834.30

Deductions were:

Yardage $2.00

Beef Checkoff $2.00

Insurance $1.34

Commissions $26.00

Deductions totaled $31.34

Net $802.96

Not bad. Price was a little softer than I expected.

Perhaps it could be said that I have gone to the goats. I stopped by CVS yesterday and got them a hairbrush... Tried TractorSupply, but they did not have what I liked. Still think something like a paddle would have been better but they seemed to like what I bought well enough... Mac is fairly tolerant nowadays and charlie does okay sometimes, holding on to their collar helps! Their feet are still crap... with the cows gone I may hopefully be able to make better progress correcting that... Toes may actually not be that bad, but I think I am dealing a bit with a case of high heel syndrome. I try paring the base of the foot down but surely not enough... I don't know what a good vs bad foot looks like... nothing to compare to.

Cows are gone....

Ferdinand and Ricardo... not the best picture.


Sad, sad day... The cows are gone... I know I'll miss them... I should know soon enough what price they will bring... Things I'll miss.. Oddly enough, their putting their nose up to me and letting out a burp! And givin scratches. Sitting with them... Having them rest their (big fat) head on me.

Found out the truck would not pull the trailer I got after I put the cows on it... Not surprising really... the truck I am using is a Ford Explo(d/r)er... Basically a Ford Ranger chassis with an SUV body... NOT suitable for pulling a trailer... Not even sure about pulling small stock trailer with that. Gotta give it credit though... Pulled a little utility trailer with a mid-size (5Ft? roll) hay bale (500-750+ Lbs range)... Did fine... No problems.

It had been a long hard road raising the calves... I would love to have a hand in raising many more... Cannot do it here though for many reasons... mainly too many animals on not enough land. My adventures in agriculture had also had frequent incidents of creating family friction.
Not sure where to go from here... Leasing property is kind of off the radar... Although I do not have high hopes, I am open to and looking for cattle share opportunities. For now I have no choice but to resume with the goats... At least I know where to find does now! Thank you craigslist!

Oh Krap...

Looks like I be entering the blogger world... Who'd a thunk it? Don't expect much you! A little late to be braggin about my calves/yearling cows, they will be heading to auction tomorrow.

I am a Pennsy yocal... Brought into this world via the folks at Crozier Chester Medical Center, one February day in the year of 1977. Raised in the city of Aston and lived there till the day we moved in late November 2004.

Always had a soft spot for stuff like horses... Never took enough of a chance to find out why until having moved to the Carolinas where I spent the last four years of my life working with those wonderful animals! And since then I have taken on Guinea Fowl, Goats and rasing a pair of calves... Even managed to spend a few weekends observing at a dairy farm before they decided to quit milk production.

So? What shall ye find here? Too early to say... Perhaps a little bit of everything.... Maybe nothing! My interests carry along many topics... Horses, Agriculture (Goats, Cows, Dairy, Grazing), Computers (Hardware/Software/Programming)... Pull up a seat if you dare and set a while, rest yer feet if ya dare!

BSE.