The Winter’s Hay

My nephew came and mowed my field on Tuesday.  This is the second cutting off the waterways and buffer strip where there are no animals on it.

We really need to find a time to fertilize it because the goats, making hay off of it, and our drought has really been hard on it.

He didn’t even mow the back hill.

I’m not sure there will be as much as I’d like to have going into the winter, but I do still have a loft full from last year.

Thursday, his dad came out and got it into windrows.

He might have had to wait for the goats to cross the bottom before he could keep going.

Then he baled.

taking it to be put inside for the night

He finished up the last little bit with the round baler before it got dark.

There wasn’t enough to get me what I needed, so he’ll either mow that back hill, or I’ll have to find more hay somewhere else.

The llamas snuck out and were watching him.

I’m pretty tired of this drought.

Around the Farm

I think I’ve decided that the three goslings who hatched this spring are two girls and a gander.

Just some more of the goats.

The goats in pasture

Aladdin and Jasmine

Sidney feeding Thunder (and Lightning in back)

Coral eating those horrible thorny plants

The bucks seem to be starting to come into rut.  Oh lovely smells.

Freddie

Xerxes

We have had some beautiful sunsets recently.  This is partly due to the smoke in the air with the wildfires out west.

sunset over the beans

Another sunset in pasture

I’m going to try to improve on this windmill picture.

It’s been a while since I did much wandering around the farm just to take some pretty pictures.  The deer has made that pretty easy though.

It really doesn’t have any fear of me.  It’s heard me and smelled me since it was born.

I try to stay a respectful distance, and it doesn’t seem to care.

I do think it’s found the bucket of water I put out there.  That’s a good thing since we’re still hot and dry.

We Made It

We are finally past this horrible, horrible cold streak.  Don’t get me wrong, we get those temperatures sometimes, but not for this long.  The longer it goes on, the more it wears on the animals.

I was worried about Myson and Hilda.

I finally ended up putting Blaze in the garage too.

Blaze hiding in the Ranger

She wasn’t too happy with the rest of the company.  They did pick on her, but it was better than freezing to death.

Bambi and Flower (3rd and 4th oldest goats on the farm)

I put Antigone back in the buck room because that was a better option than the cranky old ladies.

Antigone (still under the heat lamp) and Astra

And, honestly, Dolly is her grandmaa, and she was being mean too.  They drive me crazy.

Dolly (the oldest one on the farm)

Anyhow, we got through the coldest night.  It was -22°F when I got up Tuesday morning.  But it’s all getting better.

By the time I got home Tuesday afternoon, the sun was shining.

That led to icicles!

The animals were all standing outside.

Popcorn has done well despite the cold

Even Aurora came out to enjoy the sunshine.  Although, it only took about two days for her to get really demanding about having a big bowl of calf started served to her.

Litha, Aurora, and Trace

I fed them hay outside for the first time in days.

When I went back out with my camera, I forgot my gloves.  Honestly, the still wind, sunshine, and three positive degrees felt positively balmy.

Freddie and Tiger

Tansy

Purl

Of course, the clear skies mean that it was cold and dropping again by evening.  It didn’t take long for them to go back inside.

Litha (the 2nd oldest goat on the farm) in her favorite spot; Aurora and Flora behind her

I am thrilled to see the sun set on this horrible streak of cold weather.

By next week, we’re looking at forty degrees for at least one day.