Baby things...
- Jackie
- Feb 10, 2019
- 3 min read
Helping with chores was a little more productive on my end this week, as I am getting the hang of how things are done, I got to collect eggs on my own and help, make bottle for the baby goats and cattle, which is always a fun time as they are so eager and happy to see their milk coming their way.
The milking of the cows, is still observational for me, as I am watching Laura and seeing her steps for calling the cows in - which is really sweet, she has a wonderful connection and care for her animals and they respond so well to her love. There are four cows, as she rotates breeding them, and tries to only have two in milk at a time, Tina was first at the barn door today, showing me all her beauty as she patiently waited for Laura to come let her in.
The girls also are having a much easier time walking up to the barn from their pasture, as Laura has found a gravel solution to all the mud from the excessive rain this winter, and it was sweet to watch them slowly and a lot more comfortably saunter up to the barn today. I am learning a lot from Laura on how her farm (being newer and built from scratch) is evolving and how she is overcoming and learning herself.
The two that weren't being milked wait outside the barn to be fed while the rest of their company goes in for milking. I'm getting more comfortable being around large animals, Laura is good to teach me who kicks, and who is calm and how I should approach them and let them in, they know the routine well and I'm the student, so I try to respect that for my own learning process and safety.
Our other big project for the day was starting our seeds, between Laura and I, I think we have about one of everything available!! I had brought my trays up and some of my seeds and we spent a good few hours, sorting, running out for soil and then planning and see who was planting what. We are going to be building a garden for Laura and I am duplicating some stuff at my house and planting my seeds for my new garden out front of my house.
The chicks and ducklings had grown quite considerably since last week, the ducks are surpassing the chicks in size and weight, but the chicks are definately showing some color in their feathers and there was a whole lot of noise and a lot of poop to clean up this week!!
They had eaten 36.5lbs of feed this week (12.5lbs up from last week). One duckling died, so there are 10 ducklings and 62 chicks.
The chicks weighed in on average around 0.55lbs and the ducklings around 0.78lbs. The ducks were hilarious to watch when you removed them from the brooder as they were so distressed and very vocal about letting you know what they thought about being removed from their brood.
On the homefront this week, I re-sketched my garden out and Laura gave me some great ideas for trellising with cattle panel, that we may incorporate. This is the idea I have in mind, as I really wanted a walk under trellis, and this a great much cheaper option, that is in my budget.
I purchased all the supplies for putting the black plastic down, and the edging for the frame of the garden, but weather hindered us this weekend and were not able to complete what we had planned for the weekend, so adding it to this weeks list.
Lastly, here are some pics from the week, loving being around all these animals
THANKFUL and GRATEFUL...
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