"This year is a defining year for the farm", Laura has told me this a few times this semester. Starting a farm from scratch financially is a huge investment, one she says they will probably never get their money back on. To start their farm they cleared the land of 15 acres of trees, leaving some in places, but mostly cleared to make way for the house, barn, paddocks, pastures and other infrastructure which has all been put in by Laura and her husband. She has shared some financials on land clearing, barn building and animal and feed costs from week to week. Laura has also said if she had to do it all over again, she would probably buy an existing farm with pasture and infrastructure already in place. Pastured land has been a huge issue for them, trying to get grass established well for the livestock. They are in their fifth year and have already been through a drought year, and this past year a record wet year, so it has been hard to get good grass established, but they are trying. In May she will start selling at the local farmers to try increase awareness of the farm as a local resource on their mountain, and with the hope of selling more milk herdshares. She said it is a defining year in getting farm sales up to help cover the costs of raising her animals and running the farm. She has a set budget each month for the farm, and shared her annual income with me, but they are definitely not making a profit vs what they put in every month and receive back in sales. Longer term she would obviously like to come out ahead each month, but if this spring/summer market doesn't improve farm sales, she said she will have to scale back some of her animals to decrease operational costs. It has been interesting to see feed costs, vs what you would actually sell an animal for as a calf, or raising it for milk sales or as a meat animal. I really think you would have to be on a fairly large scale to make a decent living. Laura has shared a lot of stories with me of farmer friends of hers, who have lost some individual animals and some dozens of animals in our area due to the excessive rains and temperature fluctuations we have had this past winter, farming, and especially livestock rearing is not for the faint hearted or those who are not diversified in other areas, to help supplement potential losses. I am seeing the wisdom of polycultures, and how having different animals, vegetable/fruit farming and other products even like soaps or crafts to bring income in at markets if you are a small farmer, is necessary to be able to maintain your lifestyle and keep farming.
This week increased the farm population by two, with the addition of Sugars two new female kids, Laura was thrilled to have two girls born, as she has had many goats born on the farm, but never two females in one delivery. They are very shy and Sugar is super protective of them. It is interesting to see her nuturing and protectiveness of her babies vs the Neubian moms, who stay close to their babies but don't fuss if you get too close to them or hold them.
Vannas two babies are up and playing and growing really well in their second week of life outside the womb. The black female is a lot smaller than the brown male, but both seem really healthy are growing and nursing well. The brown one has an issue with his left ear, where it seems to be folding over and not laying well like a Neubians long ears should. Laura did some research and has devised a way with some cardboard cut outs that you fashion almost like a prosthetic over the ear for a couple weeks while the goat is still very young, to help rectify the issue, so it will grow probably and not look 'wrong', as Laura said this will affect the price she is able to sell the baby for if it is not in perfect condition. All her goats are registered and she has a clear record to sell them with, as she recently had them all tested, and her animals are clean and free of diseases that could persist on other farms.
The puppies are desperately cute and their eyes are all open and they are waddling about trying to get their legs straight under them. Some are trying to bark and their are so soft and lovely to snuggle.
Abby came up for a visit again after school, and just loves all the babies on the farm.
Nala is proving to be a wonderful mother to her babies, although she does love her outside time. The pups have not ventured outside yet, but are getting bigger, to where Laura is going to put the side of the whelping box down so they can go in and out, now that they are walking some, and then can walk around the stall the box is in.
The baby goat that lost its sibling, is the prized pet of the barn, and just loves Abby and climbing all over her, the neighbor kids are also having fun loving on all the babies and playing with them, I think if we were able, we would need to bring this little guy home, as Abby has bonded with him and they seem to have a little thing going on!
Goats are abundant on the farm at the moment, and some are being listed to sell, mostly the younger ones and the herd of Lamanchas, once Sugars babies are old enough. These are the girls in the pen outside the barn, that are used for breeding, its mayhem when you go in with the feed and they just swarm you to try get the first bit.
These are some of the male breeders, on the other side of the farm, in a separate pen form the girls, the one in front is the size of a small horse, I have never seen such a big goat, he is of the same stock as Heidi (who had the black boy that Abby likes to play with), Laura said they are more purebred stock so a lot bigger and better quality than some of the other goats she has.
The meat chickens are doing extremely well, they are loving the warmer weather and all clamor for the sunshine during the day. Its a large tractor to move each day, and Laura said the next batch she does, she is gonna build two smaller tractors and run smaller batches, that are easier to manage than one large on like this.
They also are quite the entertainers and very curious, slipping out under the fence when I move them, but too conditioned in their short lives to realize there is 30 acres out there for them to run around on, instead they slip back under as soon as they can again to be with their flocks and eat their grain.
The empty waterer is a good place to hang out and get some sun!
The ducks are also enjoying the warmer weather and I gave them fresh water to bathe in and drink, I love watching them and how they love the water.
My big lesson for the week at the farm was: ALWAYS ASSUME THE WIRE IS HOT! and then five minutes later - curly wires under gates are also HOT! Lesson learned!! I got zapped really bad twice, the fence has been off most of the last month, as it had some damage in places, from trees and rambunctious cows, and Laura had gotten tired of waiting for her guy to come and fix it, so she jury rigged it back up again, to keep the cows from wandering off. Normally she switches it off when we are at the barn, and I had gotten used to it not being on, so went about my chores feeding everyone, and learned the hard way, that that wire is HOT and painful.
This girl is feisty and did not want me stealing the eggs under her, so Laura is teaching me how to be in control of the hens in the laying boxes, which was another painful lesson for the week after getting pecked hard twice by this one.
Last but not least of the beautiful long-necked goslings, they are super sweet and like to huddle, and I'm excited to watch them grow and move out onto the farm.
