Facebook and CRS Gold DFM

To all of my Blogger friends and followers, I have taken the plunge.

Alright, I wanted to promote CRS Gold DFM Equine Probiotics on Facebook, so I signed up for a Facebook page. There isn't a way to promote a product page without having a personal account with friends and all of that stuff. So I have given in to temptation and started a personal Facebook page as well.

The good thing is that I can continue to blog here at Spinning Yarns from the Farm and it automatically posts onto my Facebook page. Thanks, Tonya, over at The Simple Life, for that tip.

This means that I won't have to spend all of my time posting on both sites. I also removed email addresses from my blog so you won't be getting my blog emailed to you anymore.

I may eventually add a Rope Halter page but not right now because I have all of the orders that I want to deal with.

Here is the CRS Gold DFM page.

I'm Back

I have finally caught up on most all of my rope halter orders. I currently only have two small orders to fill. This spring has been horribly busy for us and I hope things will slow down enough for us to catch our breath.

My fingers are really sore from working on the halters and the pinky on my left hand and the middle, ring and pinky on my right hand are all starting to curl under with arthritis. Keyboarding is getting difficult for me. I can't imagine not being able to blog anymore. Getting old just stinks and I would advise you younger folks out there not to try it.

Out of 18 eggs my hen managed to hatch nine chicks. All of the hatchlings were banties, most of them have feathered feet. When we broke open the unhatched eggs, the three other banty eggs had dead chicks in them but the six standard eggs were still yolks. None of the standards had been fertilized as I had suspected. I am going to have to get a different rooster if I ever hope to raise some standard chickens.

One of the chicks got smashed by its oversized Mother. The other eight are doing well. Mom steps on their little feet sometimes and they cry and pull but can't get away until she takes another step then the poor things go tumbling. They are great fun to watch, my DH says that in her exuberance to scratch up a meal that she inadvertently buries a few of them but they always manage to dig their way out.

I was tempted to take them away from their Mother, put them in a safe place and raise them myself. But after all of the work that she did and with her knowing how to take better care of chicks than I could ever know, I decided to let her do it herself. Even with these chicks being half the size of what her biological children would be, I still think she knows best.

I am going to do my best to get back to work and blog every day. This is the best way that I have found to keep a daily journal that I can refer back to when I fail to write important dates on my calendar.

Where To Begin?

I know that I haven't posted in a long while. But we are fine, I have just had a few health problems, a death in the family, a lot of halter orders to finish and get shipped and too much to do around the farm. I had promised to blog on Sunday night before going to bed but all of my plans were foiled again.

We were getting ready to leave the house for several hours on Sunday evening and I asked my DH if he thought that I should put Paris in the barn stall while we were gone. She was in the goat shed and had not come out when I fed grain to the others. But we had changed feed and she didn't like it anyway so I thought that was the problem. My DH said that I should put her up but that he had looked at her and he was sure that she wouldn't be kidding anytime soon.

Sunday was her due date but after I evaluated her, I didn't think that she was ready either. Her udder was not full or tight and she was not dilated at all.

I went into the house to clean up and change my clothes and was ready to leave when I heard the water pump running, I asked the DH if he had left the water running outside and he said, yes, so I put my shoes on and went out to turn the hydrant off.

I opened the door and immediately heard the sound of a doe in labor. I could see her from the door and she was pushing hard. I turned around and said, "She is kidding!". He said,"You're kidding?" and I said, "NO, she is kidding!". He ran outside and I ran for towels.

Nothing happened, she was in terrible hard labor but nothing was happening. My DH asked me for gloves and I came in to get them, then came back in and changed into my dirty clothes again. When I got back outside, still no bubble. He tried to open her up to see inside and we could see the bubble but she just was not dilated enough.

We gave her as much time as possible without waiting too long and then he went back in to assist the bubble without breaking it. His hand made her contractions harder and that helped more than anything.

After the bubble was out, still no feet, so we waited awhile then he went back in and found the feet and started pulling. The nose came out with the feet, so we knew we were in the right position. He pulled and she screamed with each contraction.

I tried to push back on the skin to work the babies head out but I could feel the head and it was enormous, I was afraid that it was a single and it was just too big. After a lot of pulling and working her big head popped out and when it did her whole body came out too.

He handed the white with brown headed doeling to me and I slung her around a little bit and really didn't expect her to be alive but she was. We wiped her mouth and nose area. Mama didn't get up and so we put a towel down at her head and since it was a hot day and Paris is a first freshener, we let her clean the rest of her up.

We waited and waited and nothing else happened, we were sure that there was at least one more in there. Finally my DH put his hand in again to start more contractions and she popped out a very tiny, black with brown points buckling.

Paris cleaned him all up and still just laid there. The kidlings were wanting to nurse but she would not get up. My Husband finally helped her get to her feet and from there on everything has been perfect. She passed both of her afterbirths and I let her eat them. She is a very good mommy.

We learned a valuable lesson, goats usually give birth on their due date whether they look ready or not.

More later...

Drying Calico

I have not quit blogging, I have just pushed it back a little ways in my list of priorities. It seems life is getting a little bit more involved with the prospect of Spring. I have had to organize my thoughts and figure out just when these two does are due. I have been struggling with a very sore shoulder and arm plus I had to spend two weeks at the neighbor's house taking care of their animals and wood stove.

My shoulder is improving and I hope that I can get all of my goat and horse rope halter orders completed and shipped out this week. The reason that I had to stop everything and look at my calendar was because Calico's milk production has cut itself in half. It happened overnight, she has just decided to quit producing. She is not even wanting to jump up on the milk stand. She is healthy and doesn't have any problems with her utter.

I looked at the calendar where I write down everything and found that Cooter had gotten loose and with the girls on October 10th. So, that would make her due on March 9th. I don't really think that she could be due that early by the looks of her but if she is carrying a single it could be possible. She got loose on November 11th, which would make her due on April 10th, I think that this is more of a possibility.

Paris and Calico both look bred and neither has come in heat this year, so I guess I will just have to wait and see. If I dry Calico off right now and she isn't pregnant, she is in big trouble. To dry her off I am not milking her completely out and am only milking her when she looks very strutted.

We will desperately miss the milk, I don't think that I can drink store bought milk anymore. The best case scenario would be for her to kid soon with only a single.

99 Bales

We got 99 bales of hay in the loft this evening. We will pick up what's left in the field tomorrow after the dew is off of it. I have a blister from dragging the bales all the way to the back of the loft with my hay hook. It gets easier the more hay that you get in there. The dragging distance shortens with each load.

I also got two rope halters done and ready to be shipped out in the morning. My hands are sore and swollen but hopefully they will recover tonight in time for more hay and more halters tomorrow. I will be so happy when our loft is full, about 800 bales, and our friend's barn is full, about 300 bales. It would be nice if we could also fill the neighbor's barn but if not, we should have plenty of big round bales to see us through.

There doesn't seem to be a hay shortage this year and the prices are coming down. I don't think that the farmers around here are happy about it, but we sure are.

Gripping

Here we are, August 10th and still no hay in the barn. We were suppose to have around 300 bales ready to bale this afternoon but yesterday proved not to be a good day for curing hay. So it isn't even raked yet. Hopefully it will be ready to rake in a few hours and we can get it in the loft this evening.

All I have to do is drive the truck and trailer around in the field, then get in the loft and use a long hay hook to pull the bales out of the elevator's way. The loft floor is nice and slick, so that part is easy. I used to be able to heft, throw and stack bales but not anymore. The hardest part for me now is getting into the loft, I hate ladders.

I am close to finishing a barrel racing website and will be able to start on a local community website soon. When that is done, I plan on completely redoing our website, it gets totally neglected.

I also have 39 horse rope halters to make and ship out as soon as possible. I can only do so many halters per day or my hands and fingers start cramping up on me.
Tying and tightening around fourteen knots per halter tends to make your hands complain a bit.

Between knot tying and goat milking, I have quite a grip. I never have to ask my DH to open a jar for me anymore. When my back Doctor tests my grip by having me squeeze his hands, I can bring tears to his eyes. He doesn't ask me to do that much anymore.

Busy Again

Busy, busy, busy, I have so much to do that I am actually looking forward to winter. My Husband will be very upset by this comment. I don't have time to blog but I will use it as an organization tool.

I finally got most of my Spring surge of rope halter orders finished. I currently only have two outstanding orders that total 6 halters. Then this morning I got an order for 17 more halters.

I am in the process of building a large website for a Barrel Racer and Trainer. I have all of the information and pictures that I need to finish it, I just need to pull it all together.

I also have been asked to do a local website for our community that I would really like to do a nice job on, it will be complicated with a lot of information, I am donating the entire site and my time. At this point, I am trying to figure out how I want to do it. I will post a link to it here when it is finished.

We have sold a horse and possibly another one, this requires some major attention this week because someone will be here to pick one of them up on August 4th, she will have to have all of her paperwork and Vet exam done this week.

I really need to update our website but it always gets pushed to the bottom of my "to do" list. I don't even have the new foals on there yet.

Dishes and laundry are an unending problem for me. As is Cooter who has to be moved from location to location throughout the day. Plus goats and chickens to be fed and cared for.

I spent most of the morning this morning looking for one of my Mille Fleur D'Uccle hens, she has totally disappeared orphaning her three chicks, this is the same hen that was picked up by the hawk a week or so ago. I really hate that I am loosing my broody hens but especially my Millies. I haven't been able to find any feathers anywhere, so it must have been a hawk that got her.

I am thinking about renaming our place to The Fox and Hawk Food Farm or Predator's Ranch.

Another Lovely Day

Before the clock reaches midnight tonight, I thought that I would blog about the day, it was lovely. It wasn't hot like it has been for the last several days, it was just right. I made Cooter a new colorful goat rope halter. He had outgrown his old one and since I am staking him out everyday, I wanted him to be comfortable. The bright colors won't last long with the way he will treat it.

When I went to get Cinder to milk her this morning, Angel ran out the gate while I was taking Cinder out. This was strange behavior for her, so I watched to see what she was doing. She went right straight to the truck and tried to get into the back, she sniffed all around and then went into the barn/house where our large dog crate is and sniffed it. I finally realized that she was looking for Zinc, the goat kid that we took to his new home yesterday. She takes her responsibility for every goat very seriously. She is a great livestock guardian dog.

My Husband thought that the grass was getting too deep in the goat lot, so he put Shorty our miniature horse in there to eat down the grass some. But as soon as his belly was full, he started chasing the goats and horsing around. The goats didn't want to play and Angel didn't want to play.

He was running them from one end of the lot to the other, so I rescued them by opening the gate, they all ran out past me in desperation. Shorty used to stay with them all of the time and they got along fine except when he would get the rips, like he did today.

I put halters and lead ropes on Cinder and Calico, then tied them up in a lush shady spot. Angel and the other goats will not leave them, so every one enjoyed the day and the change in diet.

My poor Husband was feeding some horses and moved a separation gate, then got stung by another red wasp. They seem to have nests everywhere we turn this year.

Separation Anxiety

I did a lot of separation today but most of the anxiety was mine. I took Cinder and her kids out of the goat lot, so that I could put Cooter back in there to get some exercise and sunshine. He has been living in the horse trailer because he has learned to escape from his pen. As soon as we have time to put a hot wire around his pen, we hope to resolve this problem.

I put a rope halter with lead on Cinder and took her through the double electric fence gates and with much coaxing of her two babies and trying to keep the other two does from getting out, I succeeded finally but this was difficult to say the least. I was about half way to the barn with Cinder and babies when the other two does jumped the gates and caught up with us.

I turned Cinder loose and she joined Calico in the barn eating from an unopened bale of Alfalfa. Why they want to eat hay with all of the tall green grass, flowers and weeds that we have growing out in the yard is beyond me.

I haltered Cooter and took him to the goat lot, then went after the two escaped convicts. Catching, haltering and dragging the unwilling Paris and Collette was annoying but having Cooter waiting just inside the gate didn't help much either.

Next I found a kid halter and haltered Jasper for the first time, he did pretty well. I put him in the dog kennel and went after Onyx, she did very well also. I fed and watered them and turned around to find that Paris and Collette had escaped again. I struggled to put them up again, then again, and again. I finally managed to keep them up long enough to get a piece of webbing up higher than the top wire. Hopefully they won't be able to jump the gate now. They never knew that they could jump before. I had hoped that they would never discover this.

I also had to move my Mille Fleur D'uccle hen's nest, because two of my Rhodies kept running her off of the nest so that they could lay their eggs in it.

We went to a Graduation Ceremony last evening and when we came home I found one of my Barred Rock hens dead, I am thinking that it was probably that stupid Fox. I am getting paranoid about leaving home.

Excuses

It wasn't all my fault, I would have blogged yesterday but some loser cut our phone line. Not just ours but the whole neighborhood's, they stole 150 foot of it. I guess it has value somewhere. I hope that they don't get in a habit of stealing it in our part of the woods.

When we finally got our phone and internet service back yesterday evening we were in the middle of a little birthday party for two of the Grandkids. Then of course, I was too exhausted to blog and went straight to bed. Now that takes care of the excuses for not blogging on Thursday.

On Wednesday, I was busy all day making halters that I am so far behind on, I am getting tons of e-mails from people wanting to know where their halters are. My poor hands can only make a few per day without cramping up on me, I have callouses on my callouses. Sometimes I even bust blood vessels in my fingers. Spring is always crazy like this, right when I am my busiest with foaling and kidding, I get tons of halter orders and people wanting updates on their websites because they have new foals as well. I haven't even had time to put my new foals on our website yet.

I worked hard to get caught up on halters on Wednesday, then the rain started and it rained and it rained. Our house/barn is sitting at the base of a hill and we do not have any guttering on it yet because we haven't been able to save enough money, all of our savings went into our horse's bellies this winter. So, we spent most of Wednesday evening trenching and sandbagging. Actually my DH spent most of the evening trenching and sandbagging. I just stood out in the rain with an umbrella trying to figure out where the best places would be for a trench. We did have some success in rerouting the water but it seems like every time we get a downpour like this one it takes a new direction and we have to change our strategy.

Not Enough Time

Sorry that I didn't blog yesterday but I just didn't have the time. Spring brings a lot of extra work around here. I seem to be feeding the bottomless pit named Miracle constantly. If you have ever seen how a foal nurses it's mother, then you know that they eat continually. She is yelling at me all of the time for her next bottles. Plus the fact that her milk has to be warmed up and all of the bottles washed after each feeding, a task that I am getting tired of already.

She developed a bladder infection yesterday, so that meant a trip to the Vet to get medicine. She wouldn't eat for awhile and had to be force fed again, I hate that. She was fine this morning and her appetite had returned to full force.

Then there are my other responsibilities, everyone that has a website with me always want lots of updates in the Spring and I get tons of orders for rope halters in the Spring as well. The sad thing is that I sit around here all winter without much to do, then when foaling and kidding season starts and the weather warms up enough that I want to spend some time outside, I have all of this extra work to do. Not to mention the fact that the Grandkids like to come down and play outside during the warm weather. Morning still needs her dressing changed regularly and the goat has to be milked.

Lack of sleep is making me grumpy...

Finding Time

It is getting increasing hard to find the time to blog right now. I am up all during the night checking on my due and overdue mares and does. I have to switch the goats around during the day because at this point the buck cannot be with the girls who are getting ready to kid. So I turn the girls out in the warm sunshine during the day and put Cooter in the horse trailer, he hates it!

It is also Spring which makes it really hard for me to stay in the house, plus springtime brings lots of orders for the horse and goat rope halters that I tie. I can usually keep up with my rope halter orders but right before Christmas and in the Spring, I get so many orders that I fall way behind.

We are suppose to have rain for the next few days, so that might help me to find some more time to blog. I know that we need the rain for the grass to grow but I hate to see the mud again. The ground is just getting to the place that I can walk on it without the fear of falling. More mud also means muddy footprints on my clothes, for some reason Angel, Paris and Collette cannot keep their feet off of me.

Catching Up

I seem to have gotten behind in my life and need to do some catching up. I have several rope halter orders that need to be made and shipped.

It seems most of my website clients wanted updates after Christmas. We had a horse come home from the trainer and his info and pictures had to be updated on our site. I even took some videos of Leroy with the trainer and posted them, you can see them here: 2004 ApHC Bay Leopard Gelding For Sale . The page has a lot of pictures, so if you are one of us poor peasants who are still on a dial-up, then it will take a while for the page to load and you will have to really be patient if you want to watch the videos.

Leroy may be a famous horse, we got a call the other day from a friend who sent Leroy and Biscuit's pictures in to a magazine, I forget the name of the magazine but he said that they had gotten back with him, wanting to know the reason for their names. I don't understand that, doesn't everyone name their horses Leroy and Biscuit? Leroy had actually been named by the owner of the mare that he is out of. We bought him after he was already registered. Biscuit is an actual descendant of the great Seabiscuit and Lady Bugs Moon, so thus her registered name, PS Lady Seabiscuit, you can visit her page here; 2007 ApHC Chestnut Leopard Filly For Sale .

I just got back in from doing the morning feeding, I can walk on top of the mud now, it is frozen, we have several days ahead calling for cold temps, so I can take care of my animals myself and give hubby a break. He only has 30 something horses to feed grain to every evening besides my stuff, it is taking him around 3 hours at this point.

I broke the ice for water this morning, it was pretty thick. I have to carry water out to my goats and chickens in a gallon bucket because that is the most my back will allow, so sometimes I have to make several trips. I don't even mess with the hoses, even if they have been drained and aren't frozen, they still hurt me to drag them around, the bucket is easiest. I usually get warm water from the bathroom for everyone when it is cold, they appreciate it.

Angel was very needy this morning, I had to sit down and spend some time petting and hugging on her. I really enjoy my life, I would never leave home, if I didn't have to.