Pig Update: Sweet Piggies
Kevin Bacon I and Sir Francis Bacon I are getting big! They are close to 80 lbs now.
We did get a new hog feeder that is much bigger than the old one and the feed actually comes out by itself and doesn’t need human intervention to get it to come out. This new one has a weighted lid so squirrels can’t steal their food nut light enough for Kevin and Frankie to root it up to get at it.
They are going to be delicious :-)
Donkey Fun Facts #1
Donkey Fun Fact #1 - Donkeys like goat ears… Maverick is trying to nibble on Ollie’s floppy ears. Everytime Ollie would move to a new spot to eat his breakfast Maverick would follow him and try to nibble his ears as they flopped through the fence.
BD Farms Welcomes Maverick the Donkey
We welcomed Maverick to the BD Farms family last week. He is a gelded Jack and the day he got delivered we noticed that he was bleeding. Turns out that his gelding site was pretty infected and swollen. We called the vet and he was out the next morning. Long story short he will be okay.
By the way - Donkey have the softest ears and love it when you rub them, in fact, they will seek you out to have you rub their ears. Plus, it lets us check for ticks and other issues.
Finally We’re Getting a Barn!
Not a barn in the traditional sense of a big red building that your livestock go into at night. This is more of a feed, tool and supply storage area and place to trim goat hooves.
Baby Grapes!
We finally have some baby grapes - I wonder how much water they will take? (Foreshadowing: A lot!)
Kevin & Frankie - Pigging Out!
So the first thing we learned about pigs, first-hand, is that they love to eat. They will stuff themselves then go lay out in their pit and nap. Over and over again… All day so stock up on feed.
Finn is in Goat Nirvana!
Finnegan is loving the goats and they are loving him… Mostly because he has treats…
More Goats!!!
Little mischevious Ellie
We welcomed Rainey and Ellie to the herd on May 15th - Rainey is a Nigerian Dwarf goat and Ellie is another Nubian. Ellie is an escape artist and we sometimes find her on the wrong side of the fence and then we fix that spot with timber.
Double the Pig Pleasure, Double the Pig Fun!
Introducing Kevin Artemis Bacon I (red and white) and Sir Francis Drake Bacon I (black and white). These are our first attempt at raising our own food.
They are Duroc cross-bred with Berkshire we were told and they are a ton of personality!
They love to burrow in their bedding and use it like a blanket. We change it every week and pick up their poop and try to keep the flies under control. Once we find great products we’ll post about them or put up a suggested products page.
As far as food goes, since they are not pets and are for meat, we feed them CG Grower by CSS (California Swine Services) which is a local show pig farmers feed that he makes and sells at the local feed store. And the little guys love it!
We’re Getting Pigs!
Before the pigs arrive we need to build a pig pen. Ours consists of 4 16ft pig panels and inside is a 10x10 chain link fence that is covered at the top with horse fencing for anti-predation purposes and a homemade shelter.
The Chickens Are Chickening…
Thunder the Super Chickenista
Chickening - verb - To Chicken; To act like a chicken; to do chickeny things.
The one in the foreground is Thunder, the only one who survived from the old house. At the previous house the land=based predators attacked a lot. Chinks in our armor allowed foxes and racoons to slip through and this chickenista is the strongest I guess… Either that are she is too big for a turkey vulture to swipe up:-)
We Got Goats!
The Buzz & Ollie Show!
-It was the end of March 2020 and we had gone to a goat farm to look at baby goats and we picked out two. These are miniature Nubian goats.
Introducing Buzz and Olliver!
Mountain Sunset
Thought I would share
Right Place, Right Time
Just happened to be out at the right time.
Getting Ready to Farm
So now we have moved in and we have 8 new chicks in the garage keeping warm and eating a ton of food and getting a little bigger. We also got three goats! They are Nubian pygmy goats and we got two bucks and a doe. We pick the bucks up this Sunday, a week after getting wethered, and the doe in a couple more weeks as she was still nursing.
Winter Wonderland!
A week or so after we moved in it snowed; which is not unusual for even our old house. We are 800 feet higher than the old house, how much different could it be?
LOL. A lot. Here are some pics from our frozen farm.
Lots of snow. Chickens love the snow, I’ll try and get pics next time. Dogs are not fans of being outside in the snow; at least our dogs. They would all rather be inside on the couch with their fur-less family. The problem is that one dog is like 11 years old and very crotchety and does not like the younger pups so we have to keep them segregated.