Category: farm

Barclay gets stuck

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, farm, pets2 Comments
 If only he had stayed in bed! But instead he went out this morning and chased the stray cat who lives in our hay shed and went right under the floor of the shed – where there was apparently a cat-sized exit hole, but not a dog sized one! So while the cat skedadled off and dissapeared, Barclay was left under the floor, crying and whining. I called him, but he just cried back. I pulled back all the plywood panels to get access under there, and I could hear him, but I was hesitant to climb under there in the dark, spidery recesses. I went and got a flashlight, with his cries in my ears the whole way and ran back, but flashing it around and calling him, I still couldn’t see where he was. Then I thought ‘If I crawl under there and get stuck…’, so I left the flashlight under there and ran back to the house to call Dave who was on his way into town. Just as Dave answered his cell Barclay come running out of the shed at top speed – still looking for that cat!
So a happy ending for all, but I don’t even want to think what if he had really gotten stuck – I suddenly had images of disassembling the shed on the spot! Or if he’d gotten stuck down there when nobody knew where he was. I guess that will be my job for tomorrow – seal up the hole that goes under the shed better, and find out if I can get a trap for that damn cat!

Turkey’s, llamas, and kitties, oh my!

On By stefrobrtsIn farm, mighty, pets, turkeys3 Comments

The turkeys survived their first day. Last night when I went to check on them before bed one was laying on it’s side and didn’t look good at all! I picked it up and saw it’s butt was ‘pasted up’ with dried poo. So I tucked it under my shirt and took it inside and washed the poop off with a warm wet tissue, then took it back out to the brooder. I didn’t think it would make it, but sure enough this morning everyone was walking around eating and drinking, and I couldn’t even tell which one was so miserable last night.


Today was the 4H llama area show, and afterwards I invited our club leader to bring the club llamas and drop them off in our pasture for a few weeks. We have lots of grass for them to eat, and her pasture is getting a little tired after being grazed all winter. So now we have six llamas, well four llamas and two alpacas actually. Jack went nuts when he saw them, baying and barking LOUD and non-stop like we’d been invaded! Barclay wanted to go play with them, but I wouldn’t let him. He doesn’t know not all llamas want to play with him like Houdini did, these llamas might just trample him!

Lastly, Mighty took a moment to pose for me in front of the spring flowers, and the orange sunset light seemed to make her glow! Pretty Kitty!

Safe and sound

On By stefrobrtsIn farm2 Comments

I got news from the goat rescue this morning that everyone made the 2 1/2 hour journey without incident. She let them out into the pasture and they stayed in a flock away from the existing residents, but she’s sure they’ll settle in and they’ll all be hanging out together soon. She said they look beautiful grazing peacefully in her pasture, and she promised to give them a safe home until she can find the perfect permanent home for them, which is all I want for them! So that’s good news. I’ll admit after the crazy time we had herding them up and putting them in the truck, I was feeling uneasy about the whole thing yesterday evening (and I’m still sore from all the sheep wrestling), but I feel much better now knowing they are safe and sound in their new home.

Also, I’ve found a new home for Houdini. Our herding instructor has a large sheep herd, and she breaks them up onto different pastures during the year, and needs an extra llama so each group can have their own guard llama. So hopefully this week we’ll get him moved over there.

Sheep and goats move out

On By stefrobrtsIn farm2 Comments

I have no pictures because my hands were full helping out. The rescue showed up this afternoon with a pickup with a stock bed,and although she was certain it was safe for the sheep and goats, I was not comfortable letting Houdini ride in it. So the sheep and goats were rounded up and put in the pickup (not easily, I might add), and Houdini is still with us out in the paddock. I hope in the next few days to find a good home for him as well.

Tough decisions

On By stefrobrtsIn farm3 Comments

Things just keep getting harder it seems. Business started to pick up and we thought we would work our way through this mess and then we get a notice from our health insurance that it was jumping up our bill to over $500 a month! And we never use it, we’re healthy, we just have it in case something catastrophic happens. Like last year I think they paid out when I crushed my finger while putting up a T-post and had to go to the emergency clinic. But $500 a month? Really? What do they charge people who aren’t young and healthy? And they’re a private company so it’s within their rights to do so. Those guys in DC better get their act together and come up with some kind of a national medical plan regular people can actually afford.

In other news, on Sunday the livestock will be going to a goat rescue up in Kent, WA. I contacted her for advice about placing the goats, and she said she had room for the whole flock. She will find them good pet homes. I am very relieved someone will be able to find them homes where they won’t get eaten, and that I won’t have to spend any more money on feeding them or worrying about their health care. I really just don’t have a dollar to spare right now. It’s just a blessing that there are people who are looking out for the animals, even the farm animals, who can step in to help.

Here is her website, so you can see what a fantastic job she does rescuing goats.

Naughty Goat Animal Rescue

Oh Snow! Not again!

On By stefrobrtsIn farm, snowLeave a comment

I thought we’d had enough snow for the season, but apparently not. Luckily this was just a light dusting. For the past few days the critters have been in the main pasture since it was frozen and I wasn’t worried about them messing it up, but now they are confined to the paddock again so they won’t muddy up the field.




I put the manger under the shelter so the hay wouldn’t get wet, and as they pull it down and leave behind the stemmy bits it ads to the straw they sleep on, so it actually looks pretty cozy in there.

Sheep and Goats and Coyotes

On By stefrobrtsIn farm2 Comments

Well, Annaliese won’t be taking the sheep and goats back, she is worried about the coyotes she heard around their house the other night. I don’t blame her, I wouldn’t want them to get eaten either! So I guess fate has decided they will stay here for a while. We’ll just see how it goes. Luckily winter is almost over, right?

Sheep and goats and Barclay

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, farmLeave a comment

Well, Annaliese, who gave me the sheep and goats to begin with, is going to save the day by taking them back – at least for a while. This will give me a much needed break before I completely burn out, and she’ll enjoy having her little buddies back. Then we can figure out a better way to take care of them by next winter so it’s not such a chore. I mean, I don’t mind chores, but this was really wearing me out!

Probably the biggest cause of burnout is Barclay. He is just coming out of his ornery teenage phase, and turning into a wonderful dog. But there’s a lot of work to do yet, and everyday most of my time is devoted to him. Either playing with him to wear him out so he won’t be as destructive, or teaching him things, or practicing the things he should already know, or cleaning up the swath of destruction he leaves behind if he isn’t worn out enough. He’s sweet, and I think he’s really going to be a great dog, but raising a pup is so much work! Even Dave says it seems like our whole life revolves around him right now.

I can’t imagine having kids and keeping this up for 20 years!! I salute you moms out there!

Yesterday Barclay went to work with me for the day, and had a great time visiting with customers, schmoozing up to everyone, and licking the kids who came in. But between customers he was trying out something new – when he got bored he decided to bark at me, demanding I entertain him. Barking gets ignored, laying down and being quiet gets rewarded. So I got barked at quite a bit before he figured that out. He’s never been a barker, so I don’t know why he decided to give it a try. Just testing the waters I guess.

Then we went to the dog park so he could run off some energy before we left him in his pen all night while we went to see a show. At the dog park there’s a big dog area and a small dog area. I take him on the small dog side. No other small dogs were there. But on the big dog side was a german shepherd, a chocolate lab, a bulldog, and a boxer/pit/rottie mix. He had fun running up and down the fenceline with some of those dogs. After a bit everyone left except the bulldog, so I took him over there to play with him. They ran around and wrestled, except he couldn’t knock that bulldog over for anything – it was just his size by height and length, but weighed 80lbs! He weighs 30! The bulldog kept knocking him over and laying on him, and he couldn’t wiggle out from under all that bulk 🙂 They were having a great time, but he started to get tired and then the humping starts, which is a sign it’s time to go home. He was filthy from the dog grinding him into the clay, and worn out, and that was perfect! So that was his first time playing with a strange dog at the public dog park, and it went very well.

I’m a bit nervous about dog parks because you never know who you’re going to meet, and how they will act, which is why I didn’t let him over to play with the lab or shepherd. They’re just too big, they could hurt him badly pretty fast. And I would never let him play with a pit. Hopefully we’ll find times to go when we can meet up with other dogs his size.

Play dead!

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, farm6 Comments

When Dave and I took hay to the critters they burst out of the back area and into the yard, which I thought was better than then knocking Dave over with the wheelbarrow full of hay. But Barclay started chasing the sheep, and the pasture gate was open, so out they go into the pasture, and before I could catch up he had a mouthful of wool on Marian’s side and was hanging on for dear life as she tried to run away from him. Being a sheep (and we’ve already established that means ‘not very smart’) she ran into the corner of the field, and when I caught up Marian was laying down, all legs tucked under, head straight out forward, chin flat on the ground, eyes closed. Playing dead! Barclay didn’t know what to do with that – he was jumping around, climbing over her, but there were no legs to grab, and she wouldn’t react to him. I finally picked him up and carried him back. When we got away from her Houdini went over to sniff her and she jumped up and shook, and then she ran over to the other sheep, and the whole bunch headed back to get some hay. What crazyness!

Of course, it would have helped if Barclay came when I called her away from her, or if we had the hay stored in a barn, where we could feed the animals without tramping through mud and risking getting knocked down every time. Our layout is just not right for keeping livestock all winter. It’s a lot of work, and the animals don’t have a good place to stay where they aren’t standing in mud and poop. I’m seriously considering finding them new homes and getting out of livestock at all. I feel like if I can’t take care of animals right and safely for everyone (including the livestock), then I shouldn’t have them.

Planning for summer

On By stefrobrtsIn farm, garden1 Comment

I have a lot of things I want to do this upcoing summer. I need to build some deeper raised beds. I have a lot of compost I can use from my animals. I want a bit more space for my bigger plants, like tomatoes. I’d like to plant more berry bushes. I want more stuff growing and for it all to be as low maintenance as possible. I bought a couple more books to help, ones specifically about growing in the NW. I found some of the advice for other regions just doesn’t apply, so I needed some local knowledge.

Funny to be thinking about gardening when last week there was snow on the ground!

Also got in 35 bales of hay last night to help keep the sheep and goats fed. That was an expense I didn’t need! But it was my fault for incorrectly calculating how many bales I needed when I bought it last summer.

And our van is in the shop for the 4th time in a month. First time was a complete brake overhaul ($900), second time was some failed sensors ($350), third time was a bad battery cable ($40), this time it’s leaking antifreeze because during one of the previous visits they replaced the radiator cap, which must have pressurized the system and caused a blowout somewhere else. The bills have been going down, so I’m keeping my finger crossed this is just a hose, and not the radiator itself leaking!