Category: farm

Second garden bed

On By stefrobrtsIn farm, garden1 Comment


I added a second raised bed specifically to plant the corn I picked up a couple days ago on clearance. I was supposed to put them in four to a square foot, using the “square foot garden” plan which has worked well for me so far. I think we got a little closer than that. Oh well. I had room leftover to plant the two plum tomatoes and the watermelons on each end so they can hang over the side.


And over in the potted tomato section – the hint of success to come. Tiny little tomatoes are starting to appear…


At sunset we enjoyed watching the sheep peacefully grazing. Look how big the lambs are! We docked their tails with elastic bands and they just fell off in the last week or two, and little Indy was ‘fixed’ the same way, his little sack just fell off the other day. It just left a little scab. Amazing! Also, he is done with his cast, he’s seven weeks old now. His leg is pretty scrawny from not being used, but I’m sure he’ll get to using it again. He gets around fine even on three legs.

Scoops and Patrone have been playing in the sun all day, wrestling and chewing on each other’s necks. They are inseparable buddies.

4H Llama show

On By stefrobrtsIn 4H, farmLeave a comment

When I was a kid I wanted to live on a farm and be a 4H kid, but I lived in the city, and with my family – well, let’s just say that wasn’t going to happen in a million years. So I was delighted when I got to know my friend Martha and got to help out with her 4H llama club, and last year I became an official 4H Leader with her club. We have a couple new families in our club this year, and one doesn’t have llamas yet, and wanted the kids to try it out first and make sure they enjoyed it before they bought any (a very good idea). And that is how these two boys came to borrow my llamas Scoops (the grey one) and Patrone (the white one with a brown tail) for 4H.


I load up the llamas and bring them to club practice days so they can work with them, or they come to my house to practice. We teach them about how to show off your animal to the judge, prepare them for the questions the judge will ask, and then we set up obstacles and get the animals used to them – things like going over little jumps, walking through brush, walking over a tarp.

Saturday we had our first show. Both of the boys did great. They had to brush their llamas out and present them for judging, and did obstacle courses with them. All their work at practice showed, because a llama won’t work for you if he doesn’t trust you, and the boys got the llamas to behave better than I had expected, and go through most of the obstacles without any fuss. And look how clean Patrone was for the judge! That boy was persistent in brushing all the hay out of that llama!


By the end of the day they both had accumulated a slew of ribbons for their hard work, and they were a little more prepared for county fair, which is only a month away. I was really happy with how well they did, and how well they treat the llamas. I’m also really happy that I am at a point in my life where I have my own little farm and I can help other kids have that 4H experience I never had a chance to enjoy. It’s fun to teach them, and to watch them work hard, make friends with the other llama kids when the clubs get together, occasionally suffer indignities when their llamas try to humiliate them (I’ve seen llamas drive kids to tears at fair), and come out smiling at the end. I guess that’s a pretty fun way to build character!

The economics of hay

On By stefrobrtsIn farmLeave a comment

I do not understand the economics of hay. I don’t know how many bales you get per acre, but I’ve seen plenty of hayed fields and know about how far apart those finished bales lay, and it’s not all that many. For all the work it takes, the specialized equipment that has to be maintained, and the hours spent driving them around that field making bales just when summer turns ridiculously hot, and then selling the bales for a few dollars a piece, it seems to me like there just cannot be that much money to be made in it.

It’s hay season again. I’m glad hay is still as cheap as it is. This winter we had to buy supplemental hay for our animals at $12-$15 a bale from the feed store. Luckily there was still grass to be found out in the pasture. I can see why so many people were trying to trade their horses for hay to feed their other horses this winter! If you had a big eater, you would have gone broke! Later we were able to get a few bales from a local field for $4 a bale, and that got us through the spring, though we still picked up a bale of the really good green stuff from the feed store for Mom and her lambs.

This is our first hay season looking out for animals of our own. Prior to this we only had a friend’s llamas staying on our pasture, and they went home in the winter. This year we adopted the sheep and goats, and Houdini the llama, and then bought Patrone the llama, and his friend Scoops has come to stay with us as well. So there’s three llamas, four sheep (since Mom had twins), and two pygmy goats. We put away 65 bales of hay for them to tide them over this winter. If it’s not enough we’ll hope we can buy more of the $4 hay when we need it, or they’ll be eating high on the hog with the feed store hay again! The llamas also get special grain with llama minerals in it, and the sheep and goats get a little grain to distract them from stealing the llamas food. All in all I guess it’s not too much to spend for the entertainment of having them around.

What’s that bug?

On By stefrobrtsIn farmLeave a comment

I am the kind of person that will be working along productively, then I see an interesting bug, stop to take a picture of it, and halt work for the day so I can go look it up on the net (and not disturb it in case it’s something beneficial). So today I spotted this guy and everything screeched to a halt! He’s about an inch long, maybe a little less, and was hanging out on a blue tarp I was getting ready to wad up and throw away.

The red on his wings was stunning, but they look too short to fly with. He didn’t try to fly, so I suspect he’s fresh out of the cocoon and his wings aren’t ready to go yet. I looked up on What’s That Bug in the moth section and found the Cinnabar Moth from the UK, and further reading indicated they have been introduced to the US to eat Tansy Ragwort. Well, more power to him! Just yesterday Dave picked a five gallon pail of tansy out of the pasture! Go little moth, go!

Shearing

On By stefrobrtsIn farm, spinningLeave a comment

On Thursday the shearing guy came over and did Al and Mama sheep. It was amazing. He rolled them over and did their bellies, and then he just worked his way around until the wool was off in one big sheet. The sheep just lay there and let him do it, but they’re very happy to leave when he’s done!

Before

After

We couldn’t catch Houdini the llama, but Friday we finally cornered him and got him haltered up. He came back and sheared Houdini, with me and my husband holding him down by the ears. Really, when they start getting contrary, you grab an ear and twist and they suddenly become more compliant (I would too). But it was important that he hold still to avoid getting hurt by the shears, and it was important he be sheared to avoid heatstroke this summer. So we twisted his ears and he survived it all just fine. Though he’s still holding a grudge. I can’t blame him, llamas look ridiculous when they’re sheared.


Now, what will I do with three big bags of wool?

Splint day!

On By stefrobrtsIn barclay, farm, petsLeave a comment


When Indy was born the vet came out and put a splint on his broken leg. Then last week I took him to her office and she re-splinted it – but it cost $100! Well, it did take time, materials, and three people to hold him down. But she showed me how to do it so this week was our turn. Dave held him down while I removed the old splint and put on a new one. We did it on the packing table in the shop. He was really good (Indy AND Dave) and we got it done pretty quick, then let him and Marian out in the pasture with Mom for a few minutes while we cleaned the stall and paddock.

Barclay helped clean the stall – ewwwww!

Horse trailer

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I have been wanting to get a horse trailer for hauling llamas in (it’s a bear getting them in the back of the van – it works, but it’s not easy). I could also think of a lot of other uses for it, like hauling brush to the recycling place, or taking the mower to the shop. Our llama friends had an extra they offered to sell us. It needs new paint, but it seems to be solid. And it has cool old car fenders on it. First order of business is to hook up working lights.

The Maternity Ward

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The vet suggested we set up a temporary stall so the lambs wouldn’t run around too much and mess up the splint. Also they won’t get stepped on again. Thanks to the flexibility of the new shelter, it wasn’t hard to do. I mounted the big gate to swing both ways, so instead of using it on the catch pen on the end of the shelter, I swung it the other way and it closes against the next post over under the covered area. Then we put up a length of wire fencing and tah-dah – maternity ward!

Gimpy Lamb!

On By stefrobrtsIn farmLeave a comment

Well, the vet came out and had a look at the new lambs, and the one with the gimpy leg seems to have broken it. She thinks maybe a llama stepped on him. So now he has a splint. It seems to help though, because already he’s getting around more. It must have really hurt before.

The lambs are a boy and a girl, and the boy has the splint. The boy is black and the girl is dark brown. I think we’ll name them Indy and Marian, since the Indy movie is opening tonight. Luke and Leia would be appropriate too. We’ll have to think about it.

While the vet was here we did ‘herd health day’ and everyone got their shots. I have to say I was very happy with the vet, and this was our first experience with a farm vet. We got Dr Betsy from Amazia in Brush Prairie. She was very nice and explained everything and had no problem answering all our stupid questions, since we’re new to having livestock. We had to catch everyone one by one for shots, even Houdini, and it all went much better than expected. It was easy to catch everyone in the pen, and no one fought too much. Even Houdini just stood there and didn’t kick or anything. So now everyone is up to date on their vet care.