Well in order to take care of some problems around here the quickest way.
I have started a new blog at another site.
I will keep this site around for reference and some new stuff but the day to day will be at the new site...
HERE
feel free to visit often!
sammyd on 09.25.11 @ 10:32 AM CST [link]
Welcome
Wednesday, December 1st
SANY0698
A few of the next crop of milkers. Some nice looking does in here.
sammyd on 12.01.10 @ 10:48 AM CST [link]
bridgette2
Here's a pic of the reserve grand champion doe on the milking stand.
sammyd on 12.01.10 @ 10:44 AM CST [link]
Thursday, September 23rd
finally
Been a while......
Rough summer. We have had lots of rain. Lots and lots.... Right now there's a foot and a half in the basement and the sump pump hasn't stopped running since last night.
Busy year. Finally got to plant the 20 acres behind us to oats and alfalfa. Made the old WD earn her keep pulling the drill. And since the cultipacker is wider than the drill Chris got to pull that around with the 756...lucky kid 
But after looking good all summer the rag weed invaded and then we weren't able to find a combine operator to take it off. Ended up cutting the whole patch and round baling it up. Got 169 round bales of straw, something I really don't need. Hopefully we can sell some.
Planted 2 of the feedlots to roundup ready corn and that looks really good.
The rain this year really messed up they hay, I put up some moist stuff but I got some good stuff too.
Everything worked well and since we aren't keeping any cows over winter we should be set for hay.
We have a bunch of goats. We are milking 6 at the moment but have 13 or so waiting in the wings.
Bought a nice 2 hole milking stand a few weeks ago and the girls are getting used to that.
Have a batch of calves out on pasture...1 bull and 4 little heifers. Sure look good.
Shipped 4 heifers last week but they didn't bring what I'd hoped for.
Chris took a bunch of animals to the fair for 4H. 2 rabbits, 2 chickens, and 3 goats. Got a pile of ribbons and a reserve grand champion with Bridgette for junior miking doe.
Tammy canned lots of tomatoes this year again. Made lots of spaghetti and pizza sauce. We canned some applesauce as well. Didn't do too much else, we still have a bunch of stuff around....
Grew out 50 meat birds and 5 or so egg layers this year. We have 8 meat birds left. Sold a bunch and put 11 or so in the freezer. Will probably sell the egg layers, we need the shed for goats....
sammyd on 09.23.10 @ 10:35 PM CST [link]
Thursday, January 21st
A box of goats Our first kids of the season!
2 cute little bucks the top one is Dusty the bottom is Cole. One of our senior does, Gwen had them last weekend. Cute as buttons!
sammyd on 01.21.10 @ 05:01 AM CST [link]
Thursday, December 24th
Holy cow
Finally got some free time.
We ended up passing on the biggest of the second crop. It turned out to be less than sparse.
Not the best year for second crop in most places.
I bought 22 acres of standing alfalfa that Tammy and I got made. It turned out pretty good but not as thick as I'd hoped.
Still we should have enough for all the goats till next year.
I never got our corn sprayed so it turned quite weedy. I turned the big steers loose in it and it kept them fed while their pasture tried to recover from lack of moisture.
Been busy making firewood, keeping snow pushed, and keeping the animals happy.
Our goats are doing well but we are down to 2 milking. We get a gallon a day. We are drying off Misty so will have to rely on pretty Petunia to keep us supplied.
The young ones are looking very good.
I built an 8x10 shed and stuck it next to the garage and cut a hole in the wall so their pen is 7x13 plus the shed.
I added a lean to on the chicken coop for a feed room. Got the walls insulated and hung silver backed foam for a ceiling. Not the warmest cuz I keep the hatch open so they can go out but I think later we will close it all up and gather all the birds and put them in there. We have quite a few that are hanging out in the goat barn including all 8 guineas that made it through the summer.
I was hoping to be out of the rabbit business this summer but somehow a load of lionheads showed up.
Down to 2 old meat does and the lionheads. We'll see if we can breed the lionheads and try to turn them around for a few bucks.
We traded a bunch of our meat chickens, some ducks, and a couple of rabbits for firewood this fall.
We also sold 3 halves of beef off our steers this year instead of just 2. Our freezer was pretty full from the pigs yet and one half was all we could squeeze in even after giving some to the folks.
We gave most of our ducks to our friends. Not much market for them near as I can tell....
Found a brand new flat rack at an auction for a decent price. I put it on a wagon gear I dug out of the weeds around our shed. Needs new tires but it should hold some bales. Got most of my stuff under roof this year which is nice for the machinery.
Have 4 little Holstein heifers and 2 steers in the cow lot this winter. The first crop we made should be plenty for them.
Just have to keep the driveway to the shed open so I can get it up here for them.
Overall a very busy but good year.
sammyd on 12.24.09 @ 05:45 AM CST [link]
Sunday, July 26th
Well, it has been a while......
Found out the Farmall 400 is in bad need of engine work. Smokes bad and fouls the plugs really quick. Buddy has it torn down and is replacing the rings and checking some other stuff. Have a line on a different one I will be checking on soon.
Made a bunch of hay this year. Got the old haybine working well and the 24T is pounding out bales like a champ. Made about 45 acres of first crop and will be making 50-60 of second since I found a guy who will sell his standing hay fairly cheap. A lot of the first 45 acres is grassy "take it off so I don't have to mess with it" deals but the other stuff is nice alfalfa for the lactating goats.
The garden is looking great. We've been able to keep up with the weeds fairly well this year. Our rasberry patch is producing an abundance of berries. We have been picking nonstop for over a week now and it looks like we've hardly touched it. Sold a bunch and gave away a bunch and made a lot of jelly.
The chickens are growing well and should be ready by the end of August. We have at least 13 ducklings running around as well. We grabbed them as they hatched under the hens and put them in the brooder with the chicks who arrived just shortly before the big hatchout. Kinda fortuitous.
We hope to sell a few of the ducks, but will probably end up giving them away as barter items or just among our friends, either way they will come in handy.
Our steers are looking good, have bought in 2 more little guys to drink up the excess goat milk. The heifers Lady and Star are doing well out on pasture with a little grain.
The goats are thriving. Production is down but we did have Petunia freshen last month and she's producing well. Christy may be dropping soon. The little ones are quite friendly and it is nice to take a goat break once in a while....hop the fence and sit down in the pasture and let the goats mob you.
Getting a bunch of cleanup done in and around the sheds we bought last year. Going to take a lot of work but things are getting better. The old Cat had proven to be a very good buy and is very handy for a lot of the cleanup jobs.
Crops are looking OK, corn is weedy and some of the oats are lodged but overall not the worst. Weather is being uncooperative though...but that's par for the course I suppose.
I'll have to get the camera out later and update the pics around here..........
sammyd on 07.26.09 @ 09:10 PM CST [link]
Thursday, May 21st
The milking herd. Gidget, Cricket, Gwen, Misty, and Christy.
sammyd on 05.21.09 @ 04:21 PM CST [link]
Lady standing and Star laying down. Our 2 little holstein heifers.
sammyd on 05.21.09 @ 04:19 PM CST [link]
Here's my buddy with the biiig tractor and chisel plow. Really got a lot done quickly.
sammyd on 05.21.09 @ 04:13 PM CST [link]
Monday, May 18th
Got the cat 22 busy this spring and made the feed lots more level than they were. Planted 2 to oats/alfalfa and 1 to corn.
The corn planter worked great but I broke off one of the markers on the way out to the field, caught a tall fence post somehow. The drill worked OK but had a bit of cleaning to do as I hadn't got all the seed out of it last year.
The oats are up and the corn has sprouted but hasn't poked through yet. Good thing as we had a frost this week.
Made a bunch of fence on the back acre. 1/3 is for the goats. Less than 1/6 for the little goats and the rest is for the steers. Everybody is happy to be on pasture. We have 8 little goats weaned and on pasture and another 6 to go.
Took 4 goats to auction and brought back 4. Ran into an Amish friend that had brought a nice looking Alpine that was bred to freshen in June (Petunia). I bid on her and got her for 120. Picked up a couple of Toggenburg looking doelings for 45 apiece and a little white doeling for 16. The Togs(Heidi and Brigitte)are weaned but the white one (Marsha) isn't.
Also picked up 6 guineas and 4 Barred Rocks. The guineas decided they didn't want to hang around the yard but are close by. The rocks fit right in with our free range operation and add a nice contrast to the browns we have.
Spent yesterday morning pulling honeysuckle out and moving the winters supply of manure fom the steer lot. Found a broody duck hen with a clutch of eggs under one of the honeysuckles, hope she hatches a few. The other hens are showing no sign of getting broody.
Buddy of mine is lining up some hay land for the summer so we decided that some different equipment was in order. I pulled a nice little haybine out of the shed I bought and will be fixing that up. We bought a decent Farmall 400 at an auction Saturday. Will take a little sprucing up but will have the power to pull the baler and a wagon without too much strain. Plus it has good hydraulics which we'll need for the haybine.
Haven't been out in the garden much. Still trying to get the Sears tiller fixed. Been cold and wet as well. We did borrow the folks big Troy Built and have started tilling in some of the manure I bulldozed yesterday. We have planted all of the leftover potatoes from last years crop, a few tomato starts and a bunch of garlic starts we picked up last week. Tammy canned 4 qts of rhubarb pie filling and there is lots of rhubarb ready to pick.
We had lots of blossoms on the cherry bushes and wild plums. Cherry trees look like they should blossom out well as does the MacIntosh.
Lilacs and the flowering crab are just getting ready to pop. Should be really colorful around here soon.
Having issues getting pics uploaded but hopefully I can get that recified shortly.
Kinda changing the focus of what we are doing on the place lately. We do seem to be getting away from self sufficiency and heading towards farming. I suppose up until big factory farms the two went hand in hand anyway.
sammyd on 05.18.09 @ 03:35 AM CST [link]
Wednesday, April 29th
Well it has been a busy month.
Gave the new spreader a workout. forked out the big goat pen, 8 loads!
Got the Cat working and levelled off the last 2 lots. Got them disced down and ready for my buddy to come through with the chisel plow. Maybe tomorrow if it dries a bit......
Hope to get oats in 2 of the remaining lots and corn in the one I spread the manure on.
Last years seeding is looking OK but still rather overrun with burdock. I was really hoping that keeping it topped off would get rid of it, oh well.
The 3 goats we bought in Feb have freshened. 2 are really nice milkers but 1 will be culled next month. Her udder is about the weirdest looking thing I have seen and she doesn't make much more than a pint a milking. Hope her doeling turns out better.
We will also be shipping the 2 saanens and probably Bubba since we have a few of his daughters in the herd now. We Have a nice Nubian buckling that looks like he will take Bubbas spot nicely.
If the rain holds off we may be able to get in the garden this weekend. Hopefully we will get the throttle cable for the tiller. Having a hard time getting Sears to send the right one.
sammyd on 04.29.09 @ 03:30 AM CST [link]
Saturday, April 4th
firstdoes.jpg
I noticed a problem with this pic in an earlier post. It seems I have 2 pics uploaded with very similar names, the difference being .jpg and .JPG so sometimes the wrong one comes up.
Here are our latest goats, the two in back are Gwens twin does. The 2 in front are Mistys left to right a buck and a doe.
Bundles of cuteness.
The buck is tentatively named Whitey and Mistys doe is Jezebell.
Gwens are Spooky and Bandit.
Of course everybody else probably has other ideas......
sammyd on 04.04.09 @ 01:27 AM CST [link]
May be a bit early and I have received incredulous looks when I mentioned it but I had the plow and disc in the garden yesterday.
Worked up very well, a bit moist but not too bad.
Hauled a couple of loads out to the field with the spreader and it worked like a champ.
Did some repiping and installed a power supply and Universal stallcock so we are milking with a bucket and electronic pulsation.
Bought a few BouMatic barrel claws at auction and cutoff and filled in the front 2 inflation spouts. Capped off a couple of the air tube pipes and now we have a really good looking goat claw without a lot of extra hoses stuck on it. With the new pulsation and claw we have side to side pulsation instead of all at once. Don't know if it really matters since we are not overloading the claws outlet with a goats production though.
Still some cold weather and snow in the forecast. Getting really tired of winter. Ready to get out and get things done.
sammyd on 04.04.09 @ 01:16 AM CST [link]
Thursday, March 26th
Been a busy week. One of my friends is going away for a wedding so I volunteered to do his milking. So a couple of nights this week Tammy, Chris and I have been over there learning the system.
Came home Wed night and found 2 little goats in the pen, Misty had freshened!! And one of them was a doe!!!!!!!!!! Finally.
Then last night we came home and Gwen looked really close, I figured either through the night or early this morning. Well by 6 they had been born a while and taken over by Misty. Both are little does!!
So maybe our luck is turning 11 billys to 3 does.
Went to a local consignment auction yesterday and got a few deals. Tammy was inside bidding on some nice LaCrosse boots they had and got some nice ones for around 5 bucks a pair. Brand new in the box. Got Chris a pair of steel toe work boots and a couple of pair of rubber knee boots, one pair with felt liners.
I found a really nice 125 bushel manure spreader for about half what I would have paid anywhere else. Really good shape too.
Hasn't been warm or dry enough to get much done in the garden yet but we're ready.
sammyd on 03.26.09 @ 09:34 AM CST [link]
goats1
Latest little ones. The 2 in the back are Gwen's does, the 2 standing up L to R are Misty's buck and doe.
sammyd on 03.26.09 @ 09:26 AM CST [link]
goats2
These are the 2 little guys we had to bring in the house. Growing nicely and eating grain and hay.
sammyd on 03.26.09 @ 09:22 AM CST [link]
Monday, March 23rd
Spring is almost ready to bless us with decent weather.
Been trying to get started but winter keeps rearing its ugly head.
Saturday was an awesome day, sunny and warm. But I had to work so I didn't get much accomplished. Took down the goat pasture fence (still 3 fence posts that are frozen in) and drug the little red shed around to start making it into a chicken coop.
Getting a plan together for our decrepit turkey shed. Getting electricity out to it looks like it shouldn't be too bad if I can deal with only a 60 amp service.
Still trying to decide how much of it to save, every time we look we keep coming up with all kinds of ideas.
Been to a couple of auctions all ready this year but haven't drug anything cool home. Wed is the spring produce auction consignment sale. They usually have all kinds of neat stuff there, took a day of vacation so I could spend the whole day if I need to. Have a few things like a manure spreader that we could use, we'll see how things go this spring.
Next weekend I have to do chores for a friend that is headed down to Neb for a wedding. Been a while since I milked cows but I spent a milking with him last weekend and it all came back. Will be over there tomorrow again to make sure I have it all figured out.
Have a bunch of stuff started in the basement and it's looking good. A little early as usual though. Tammy says the throttle cable on her tiller is stuck so I have a bit of maintainment to do before it's ready.
The little Allis started right up last week so she's ready to work and our friends big Farmall 756 is running like a champ if I need some big power. Have to get out to the shed and make sure the Cat starts.
Lots of manure to haul out and another friend has offered to let me use his spreader. We're way past hauling it out with a wheelbarrow anymore.
That's about it around here. Now if this weather can warm up again we can really get some stuff done!
sammyd on 03.23.09 @ 10:17 PM CST [link]
Monday, February 16th
Things have been a bit busy around here lately.
A buddy of mine decided that he wanted to butcher some pigs but needed a place to do the initial kill/skinning part. So I said why not use my big shed. We ended up buying 5 big pigs and spending a weekend killing, cutting, grinding, and packaging. Also a better part of the next week with the brining and smoking of the hams and bacon.
Not a bad time for my first ever pig butcher. But I think if we do it again we will do less than 5 at once.
We took 2 and gave half of one of those to my folks.
The chops are devine. We made maple flavored breakfast sausage and I made a bag of it last night with pancakes, it was eat till you can't move time.
This weekend we picked up 3 more goats. Got a call from my buddy (it's good to have friends) saying he saw an ad for 8 or so locally. I told him to come on over, threw Tammy and Chris in the truck, made room for the buddy and off we went.
He bought a nice little doe on her first pregnancy. Ours are a bit older and bigger. 2 have papers. They are Nubians but aren't as noisy as Bev. We'll see how they freshen and then make some culling decisions. I have my doubts about the 2 saanens Tammy brought home, they have been here a while and don't show any signs of being pregnant. Bev is a nice little goat but her udder is so lopsided it is hard to milk with the milker. Misty is such a bossy thing, she has the whole herd in a constant state of fear. So there are animals we can do without if we get some decent producers in.
The plan is still to use the milk to grow out some calves. Hopefully the market will come around a bit. Feeder prices are kinda low at the moment, but so is everything at the sales barn.
The feedmill is another story...certified oat seed is $7.75 a bu. Hearing some horror stories about seed corn prices as well. Alfalfa seed is $150 a 50 pound bag and up. Fuel prices are down a bit but most fertilizer prices are way up. I hope to get away with not using any of that stuff for the time being though.
Headed to Jungs next week for the annual "blow your paycheck" day....Well not really a whole paycheck but I'm sure we'll spend a bunch, plus we should hit the Golden Corral for lunch. Going with the folks so it should be a fun day.
Got a big bag of potting soil, getting the jars put away so I can get at the plant starting shelf, have to inventory what seeds we have left before we head to Jungs. Still plenty to do inside if the weather won't cooperate outside.
sammyd on 02.16.09 @ 03:54 AM CST [link]
Wednesday, January 28th
browny
This one is called Browny (of course). He's got Bevs markings and is quite an active little fellow.
sammyd on 01.28.09 @ 03:41 PM CST [link]
blacky
This one is Blacky. He looks like Bubba and Tammy cals him Junior.
sammyd on 01.28.09 @ 03:39 PM CST [link]
samgoat1
Here I am getting ready to feed the little guys. Honey is making sure there is no funny business.
sammyd on 01.28.09 @ 03:36 PM CST [link]
goats1
Well we have another early batch of goats.
THese 2 are litle billys. Everybody has names for them but I call them Blacky and Browny. Which is nicer than soup and sandwich. The mom was Bev so they carry her long Nubian ears and face.
Since it is so cold out we lost other little goats and decided to keep these guys inside till it warms up.
They have a spot in Honeys kennel and we have the fun of bottle feeding several times a day.
sammyd on 01.28.09 @ 03:33 PM CST [link]
Tuesday, January 6th
What a suprise today. I was headed out to the truck to go to work and Chris was getting the bunny feed when he let out a big yell. We have baby goats!!!!
Actually there was 1 baby but it looked like there may be 1 more in there. I had to leave for work so I don't know how it turned out yet. Christie, our free rescue goat dropped a little billy kid. I can hardly wait to see if she had another.
sammyd on 01.06.09 @ 06:24 PM CST [link]