Long week

I combed a lot of goats this week. Bags and bags of cashmere. Some goats are nearly completely shed out: others are loaded and just getting started.

The filly at the farm went for training today. And none too soon. She and the older mare have taken an extreme dislike to Lori's little grey Buckling.

Wednesday I saw Maya lunge at him with her ears back and grab him by the back. "MAYA!!!" I screamed and she dropped him and he went sprawling and I escorted her out of the barn with a shovel threatening her big behind.

Then the filly was caught three days in a row charging through the main herd in the big pasture, singling out the little grey buckling with her head down and teeth bared and feet flying.

Don't know what got into those mares, but I suspect a long standing hatred of Lori and her Mom, Lois, because there are seven babies and 30 adults yet they are picking on him. And there is another grey buckling about the same size, but they can tell them apart, apparently.

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Beautiful weather today, but we still have a bunch of snow on the lawn. The goat pasture has a steadily receding line of snow that I keep chasing back with the twice daily hay feeding. Nice to have clean snow twice a day to put the hay on.

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Radiation fallout from Fukushima is being picked up in the US, and in milk in Vermont. I have a feeling that in order to protect oneself only food harvested before the Fukushima accident should be consumed. Good luck with that.

Blood Ties

Busy busy busy! Spending a lot of time at the farm and not enough on my own place! Spring is in full swing!

The farm geese hatched out three goslings. They are pilgrim geese, the only color sexed breed of geese. The males are white- sometimes with gray patches, and the females are gray. The male goslings (2) are yellow and the female is dusky.



I finally snuck a pic of Bonnie's twin bucklings out of Zeus. Still, they were hiding.


My oldest, C, has been working the last few stretches at the farm with me. Here he is with the silly filly, Estrella, who walked right up to my camera and slobbered all over it.


Willow came in today, and had a chance to feed the bottle baby, one of Ursula's twin bucklings out of Nibbeola.



And one more doe yet to deliver, doesn't she look comfy? LOL. Uureka.

Wednesday

My oldest, The Boy Who Lived in the Tree, is working at the farm with me. He is supposed to be extra combing help, but the two days he has worked, the goats have been too wet to comb, so he has been learning farm chores.

He's working really hard and seems to enjoy it and is showing some enthusiasm. Even though the weather was a freezing drizzle today, he kept up with R and I and got the job done. He's very smart and I hope he isn't getting too annoyed with me being too detailed oriented! I am so used to working with his younger brother who needs explicit directions and then still wanders off in the opposite direction! The Firebird is smart, too-both smarter than me most likely-just the middle one has some challenge with direction.

So, I'm pretty tired! I thought I would go back to my regular hours this week, and then Boss asked if I could pull extra hours combing and I said, sure, everyday but this Tuesday (yesterday) and I think she took that literally! Well, P is also taking the rest of the week off to make up for extra hours last week, so even if it rains I still am pulling the extra time.

Not to complain! Jobs are hard to come by and the extra money I can put towards a million things! Mostly I need to start saving for another vehicle since mine , well, I never know when it might be its last trip...and I'd like to have some cash put by for that inevitability!

let's see, what else, the farrier came by to the farm Monday. The filly, Estrella, was terrible! She just about laid down in the crossties. I had BWLT holding her head, and I ended up pressing my body against her shoulder and chest, with one hand rubbing her back and the other looped around under her neck, basically holding her up and to prevent her from leaning forward. The little brat!

The farrier is relatively new-she does a good job, but doesn't know how to lay down the law. My old farrier wouldn't put up with anything and they stood stock still til he was through. One of my mares broke a rope once, and after that he tied her around the neck so she couldn't do that again. He's retired now or I would try and get him for the farm horses.

Trying to think of a clever note to end on and I just don't have one! So that's it for now!

Thursday

I worked the farm this am and combed Beatrice. Then I lugged four bales of second cut hay up on the hill. Well, I lugged four bales out of the lower barn and tossed them over the fence-and broke part of the fence in the process. Along with the broken post from yesterday, that pen needs some work!

Then I loaded two bales at a time on a plastic tobaggan, secured with a bungee cord, and pushed it up the hill. The bucklings were very excited about that! Then P and R showed up with the grain so that distracted them long enough to stow the first load and go back for the second. I said goodbye to Feisty-he and his brother were leaving for their new home this afternoon.

While I was hugging him, he whipped his head back and I took a horntip in the crease of the nose! Ok, Tonia, horns do hurt!

R and I hauled some brush and gave a big load to the main herd, so it was pretty uneventful. We cruised through the bucks and I quit early since I had to run some errands. I picked up the 2X4's for the little shelter, so I hope to do that tomorrow and bring my two new boys home after work on Saturday. I hope that all goes well, since my herd has settled nicely since Nic is gone...of course I can't stand peace and quiet, so I have to go get two more goats! LOL

I got some good filly loving today, too. She got kicked out of the barn while the aisle was getting grained, and since she can duck the chain and I had just arrived, I took the opportunity to distract her. We have a good rapport. I am a horse person first and foremost. She is young and full of it and wants and need the attention.

I like to rub her face with my hands-I brush the crud out of her eyes, and rub her forehead, and behind her ears, and her cheeks, and her nose, and she mouths me back. I like to wrap my arm around her neck when she lowers her head and wrap my other arm around her nose and scratch her between the jaws.. Sometimes if we have enough of that, I give her a hand curry on her back to fluff her hair up.

I miss having my own horses.