Wings

I am really enjoying the birds this summer.  You know there’s going to be bobolink pictures.

bobolink

Yep.  There were two males engaged in a little territory spat.

The juvenile eastern meadowlark was out there.

eastern meadowlark

The fritillary was enjoying the flowers in pasture.

fritillary

I noticed this nest of barn swallows.

Two days later when I went out, this little one was sitting on the floor beneath the nest.  After a couple of pictures, s/he flew off.

barn swallow

It looks like the rest of them are about ready to fly away too.

The recent rains have made it easy for the butterflies, including the admiral below, to find a drink.

admiral butterfly

I also saw a red-tailed hawk being mobbed by the blackbirds.

red-tailed hawk and red-winged blackbird

I captured my first black swallowtail of the season.

Lots of things flying around out there!

Munching

This time of year is hard to find the critters doing anything but hanging out in pasture munching on grass.

Odie, Maybeline, and Aurora

Flora has managed to get stuck a time or two trying to eat through the fence.

The whole herd

Maybeline

Penelope with Bambi behind

Odie

Aurora

Pistol

Popcorn

Except Myson.  He’s usually standing in a tree or on a rock.

Myson (Cinnamon in front, Reva. Cutie. Addie, Sonny on the back rock, and Moose behind)

We’ve had great weather for the grass to grow into this amazing jungle.

Selling, Weaning, Moving, and Milking

I started milking with Ava.  I wanted to ease into milking to get my hands back in shape.  I must say, they’ve done well.

Ava

That means I was ready to add more girls to be milked, and that means I had to start shuffling goats.  First, I let Margarita and Joy out with their kids.

Margarita

Instead of being on the front pasture and in the buck room, they got put back with the main herd.

Joy and Seven (Sidney behind them)

I only have the small buck room on the front pasture for shelter, and I had to put kids in there to keep them weaned.

Fannie, Freddie, Avril, Jester, Joker, and Six

I added both Astra and Cinnamon’s kids.  They joined Freddie and Fannie.

Six trying to figure out how to get back to her maa.

Antigone and Aphrodite are still there with their kids too, but they will get moved when I need the space.  I also need to make sure Kate and Edith will be able to keep up in the Back Forty.

Antigone with Kate and Edith (nursing)

Then I started milking Cinnamon and Astra.

Cinnamon

Astra

Before I could wean more kids, I had to sell Uno.  I need to put my little bucks up with Xerxes, and Uno is really big.  He was picking on Freddie for the few minutes he was with him.  Uno needs to find a forever farm.

Uno (with Xerxes in the background)

I also sold Marge.  She was not intended to be a keeper, and it’s the pandemic that delayed her being sold.  My nephew came and helped me tag and load them.

Uno and Marge ready to leave the farm

It was a rainy trip, but I managed to get them hauled to the sale barn Saturday morning.

Waiting to unload behind some sheep

With them gone, I can next add Zinnia and Cutie’s kids to the group that got weaned, and I can start milking both of them.

Cutie always has the most cud-stained mouth and beard.

That will be five girls.  I’m already getting five quarts per day with just the three girls.  It should probably double when I add those two.

2 1/2 quarts–the morning milking

That’s a lot of milk.

draining chevre

I’ve started making cheeses–first up is chevre.