Animal Notes for the week of 1/16/12

Cows:  Vida remains at Deer Hollow Farm and will stay there at least until Mid February, if not longer. She had an incident where she started nursing their cow, Luna, a few weeks back so it may prolong her stay as she is obviously not getting the memo that she needs to stop that before she can come home! 

Cleo is well, ready for programs and a little more attention I think.

Goats:  I know I’ve been saying this for a while, but the baby goats will disappear this month. Sounds like they have continued to be a little too playful with folks, so please bear that in mind while you are hanging out with them. Moki appears to be pregnant, but Coco is not. 

Sheep:  Lambing could start any day, but I am guessing we are still a couple weeks out. Last fall Bruce had a sore from wearing the harness from the previous year and as I a result I did not put it on him. I tried some other methods, but none were too successful and so we don’t know for sure if or when the ewes were bred. However, based on when he went in with the ewes it could start any day, and it does seem like the ewes are showing signs of late pregnancy, though nothing is for sure until we see lambs! If you do happen to see a ewe in labor, or showing signs of labor please let me know as soon as possible. Do not bring groups in to the sheep area if that is the case, though you may stand outside and observe. 

Chickens:  We are very close to debuting the new chicken houses for the pullets down at Steinmanns. I would guess 2 more weeks. We have also scheduled a slaughter date of January 30 for the old layers who are on pasture right now. The new chicken houses will locate themselves all around the ranch. Some in the CSA, some in areas of thick grass. If you have an area that you think would be good for some chicken grazing let me know. They will have an electric fence around them wherever they are, however, this fence will never be on during the day. Please encourage your groups and visitors not to touch, hang on, jump, or anything else to the electric fencing, it will last longer if we treat it well. 

The chickens at the Poultry Palace are officially “fenced in” at this point, so please remember to close gates behind your groups and return wayward chickens to their home.

Pigs:  Mama Tall’s survivors are doing well and she seems to be much less aggressive, nonetheless, remind your groups to be careful as she is still a protective mother. Scarlet has a bit of a mange problem that we are managing, and a small limp that we have our eye on. Fingers crossed that Shorty is pregnant. The Tamworth piglets, or one piglet and Scarlet, will be going to the butcher within the month. This depends on how strong I feel that Scarlet’s next heat cycle is and whether or not I think she will be a successful breeder going forward.