Looking for good quality hay

Winter is coming and there is still so much to get done. Does it always feel this way, or is it as you get older that time seems to close in on you? Maybe there is just more to get done!

We have been stocking up on hay, finding it where ever we can at this point. We found a great source just outside of Alamosa. At least for now the hay has not gotten wet. The farmer also stores most of his hay in a hay bar. Imagine that.

Wild horses on the way to get hay. These were only a few miles from our farm.

Last week we went to La Jara for hay. Organic alfalfa. Field stacked. Richard tried to dig into the middle of the pile to get to the best of it, but as we use the hay now, we are noticing more and more moldy chunks throughout. Too bad. That was a great farm. Off grid. Old farmhouse with solar panels. Passive solar barns. They had Churro sheep! And a couple of Clydsdales, which they use to plow and do the farm field work. Awesome! Those are some huge horses. I would've liked to talk to the farmers there (They were out of town when we went. We met the ranch hand.), except for that moldy hay thing. Not sure I could hold my tongue.

Farmer tip: If you are going to be in the business of hay, build a hay barn!!!!!

So, while thinking about draft horses, I discovered some really cool people using miniature horses to plow and even pull wagons full of hay. Cool. I have to reexamine my thoughts on miniature horses. They may be good for something besides looking cute. Here's a link to some interesting info on minis.

I have also been considering a Dexter cow to add to our farm. I like cow milk. I prefer it over goat milk. but, regardless, the kids can't have either. No casein for my kids. Still, it'd be nice to have some cow milk now and then. Dexters are an old, dual purpose breed, both good for milk and meat, but much, much smaller than an average cow. They eat less and are easier to deal with. That's what we are looking for...easy to deal with. And, eats less...very important.

Now, I scan Craiglsist, looking for Churro sheep, Dexter cows and mini draft horses. And hay. I'm always looking for hay.

Richard has been working on the turkey/rabbit/duck house and it is coming right along.

Pallet turkey house

Winter is coming

We had our first snow on the ground on October 15. Not much really, but enough to excite the kids. My daughter gathered up snow to make a nice sized snowball, which she then set on the windowsill on the north side of the house, so she could keep an eye on it. It took several days for it to melt. I think it finished melting just yesterday, October 18.

Snowball

Before the snow came, Richard picked a bunch of red cabbagges, which he took to the Taos Food Co-op Farmer's market (no website, but here's an article in the Taos News), which happens every Wednesday afternoon. We also have some catnip and a couple of huge pumpkins at the Co-op...available for sale. We still have carrots, onions and potatoes in the ground in the garden, plus, Richard is trying to nurse some kale and chard along with blankets and tarps to protect it from the nightly freezes.

Red Cabbages

On the way to Taos on Wednesday, we stopped by Farmer Daniel's to sell our eggs for his Wwoofers, who love them, and saw a flock of sheep wandering in the fields and in the road. They have a Great Pyr guarding the flock and maybe functioning as a shepherd as well. I love rural America. Or maybe it's just the magical air in NM that allows scenes like this to make me smile. I'm still pining away for a flock of Churro/Navajo sheep to keep at the farm.

Sheep

We have sold several goat shares this past week and some goat cheese too, which will supplement the cost of hay. A herd of eight goats, one alpaca, five llamas, plus two rabbits eats a whole lot of hay. We are now on the constant search for affordable hay.

Richard is still working on the goat/llama barn and also trying to build a house for the turkeys, ducks and rabbits, who we are going to put in together.

It sure feels like winter is closing in on us and there is still so much to do! The days are getting shorter and colder and sure seem to vanish in the flurry of fall farm activity. If only we had some housing, I'd love to sign up for some wwoofers to help on our farm. Perhaps another season.

Beans, barns and Yaks

Garbanzo beans

Picking dried beans...not too much fun in the cold, blowing wind. Spent 20 minutes and still have so much to do. How many hours? I have a lot of respect for people who pick dried beans by hand. A little each day, I guess, and it will get done. While I pick the beans, Richard works on the barn for the animals.

Goat barn, newly expanded. Goats on turkey box.

Yesterday we went to the Yaktoberfest held by Cho Ku Rei Ranch, in Crestone, Colorado, which was entertaining (Yaks are cool).

Baby Yak at the Yaktoberfest, Crestone, Colorado.

We also went up toward Saguache and a house that is for sale up that way on 40 acres. The house needs work, but it's a great old Victorian, much like the house we used to have in Colorado Springs. I always used to think if I could move that house to a piece of land in the country, it would be just about perfect. So, here is a house, much like that one, in the San Luis Valley, on acreage enough for our critters and our Sanctuary...

Wouldn't it be something to live in a real house again? A solid, old house with hard wood floors, and enough bedrooms for all of the family? There was even a barn, big enough for all of our animals, and another little room that could serve as a milking parlor for the goats. So, there's that. The owner may do owner financing.
But, I'm a little nervous to ask now. I sent a lengthy e-mail to the owner of the church on 40 acres that I really want. It's about ten miles from where we are renting now. It has a stable area and a well in, but no electricity or running water. It would be a lot of work, but I'm game. But the owner wouldn't rent it to us now. He wants a sizable down payment before he will do an owner carry.

The house up near Saguache is surrounded by farms--big, commercial farms, growing potatoes and grains. I have to wonder if they spray? It feels a lot different up there, energetically. And it's a long way away from my beloved NM. I feel safe down here in the southern end of the valley. I will leave it to the Universe and see what transpires.

Alfonso...herd sire?

Alfonso has been getting friendly with the female llamas. We may have some crias next year after all, and can try out that llama milk for the kids, hoping it might relieve some of their autism symptoms. We finally had enough money saved to get some more tests run on the kids. We found out they are indeed gluten and casein sensitive, big time, and also peanut butter, almond butter, eggs, flax, some citrus, beef, lamb...and some other things. Wow. This limits their diet even more. No goat milk. No eggs. What is the point of the farm? Oh yes, we enjoy it so, and maybe one day when we can heal their insides, the kids will be able to have some of these things again.

There is some speculation that camel milk will help kids with autism, or help kids with leaky gut syndrome. This is why we picked up the female llamas, to breed them for the milk, because llamas are genetically close enough to camels that the milk should be about the same as far as benefits go. Now, how do you milk a llama? I have no idea. I hear it is quite difficult, but we are willing to try for the few precious ounces of milk that may make a significant difference in our kids' behaviors.

A hybrid alpaca/llama is called a Huarizo. A llamas gestation is about a year, so maybe next October we will have some little Huarizos/crias running about. They should have lovely fiber and be a manageable size. Just what I was hoping for. Or am hoping for. We shall see what kind of critters we get.

Alfonso has been busy with the ladies and has taken to chasing off the three gelded males whenever they come near the fence. And he wins, too. The male llamas run away whenever little Alfonso charges at them at the fence. That Napolean complex seems to be big around our farm. Makes me laugh to see proud Turbo brought down a notch. Barnyard antics...more entertaining than a television...any day.

Chicken Processing Workshop

Richard is holding a chicken processing class on October 12, from 10am to 3pm here at the farm. $40

If you are interested in learning how to take the old hens or unwanted roosters from your flock and make them ready for the freezer or stew pot, this class is for you. During this hands on workshop, you will learn how to humanely kill the chickens, defeather and clean the chickens so they can be safely stored in the freezer for future eating.

If you are interested, please contact Richard ASAP as space is limited.

Plan on wearing old clothes, dress warmly, and if you want to take a processed chicken home with you, please remember to bring a cooler with ice. Live birds will be available for purchase at the farm. It is not necessary to purchase a bird to learn the processing techniques.

Fox in the hen house.

Last night or early this morning there was a fox in the big chicken coop. It appeared to have taken one of our black hens and injured the rooster pretty badly. Sad. So Richard processed the rooster for the freezer. That rooster was protecting his flock, doing his job, and we appreciate him for it. But it was his time.

And on October 12, Richard will be holding a chicken processing workshop here at the farm. The rooster was on the list for that class anyway. He had been getting unpredictable and was not past attacking me when I went to collect eggs. Some of our hens are well past prime laying age and they all seem to be pecking each other pretty badly in the big coop. They are older birds, some of which came down with us when we moved from our homestead in Rockvale, Colorado a couple of years ago. It is time to cull the flock.

The class will teach anyone interested how to process chickens for the freezer or stew pot. It's that time of year to stock up the freezer. We will have the live birds here and students can purchase birds to process and take home with them after the class. The workshop will run from 10 am to about 3pm, depending on how things move along. The suggested donation fee for the class is $40 per student, but no one will be turned away. If you are interested in attending, please e-mail Richard to register and get more details. Bring a cooler and ice if you plan on taking processed birds home with you. Also,it might be a good idea to wear old clothes, and maybe bring a change of clothes with you.

As a result of last night's chicken thievery, Richard spent this morning fortifying the old coop. He dug a trench around the coop and put chicken wire in the ground and up the sides of the coop. The fox is a digger. Hopefully the wire will keep the fox and any other predators out.

Chicken wire around the coop.

Chicken wire in trench around coop.

Back fill over wire, in trench, around coop.

Introducing the goat herd.

Goats...so many goats.

Today when we came up the road from our trip to Alamosa (we bought straw for the barns and a freezer) the herd of goats, plus two llama girls came running across the field, along the fence, like a bunch of dogs, running to greet us. Silly goats.

We have so much milk now, we are going to start freezing it. That combined with our house fridge freezer full of vegetables from the garden, we definitely needed to upgrade to a chest freezer. We found a little one at Sears.

So, anyway...goats. I want to introduce the herd, starting with the new girls. A nice family gifted them to us because they are moving, but actually not too far away from us, so they can come and visit often.

There's Pinky. She's an odd sort of color, and a mix of something...Alpine, Nubian? She's very big and very bossy. She likes to shove her way through the gate to get to the milk stand. And she likes to dance around when she's up there, which means, I get to hold her back legs while Richard milks. That way, she doesn't kick the milk bucket over. We learned the hard way.

Pinky with baby Aspen behind her, and Oreo's head in front.

Pinky's baby doe is Aspen, and she's just adorable. She is polled like her mother, which means they were born without horns. I love polled goats. Alpine likes to lay in the middle of the hay trough or hay bale if it's on the ground while she eats.

Aspen

Oreo is a unicorn, the result of a disbudding (dehorning) gone bad, but her one horn doesn't bother us much. She is pure Nubian. We did all have to learn how to get her head in and out of the milk stand though. I also have to hold her legs when Richard milks, but she is getting better everyday. She is the best at standing still of the three new girls.

Oreo, flipping her head around so her ears stand up.

Oreo's baby girl is named Cookie and she is a Nubian/Alpine cross. She came with a cough, but it seems to be getting better. She also has one horn.

Cookie

Bluebell is my favorite of the new girls. She is full Nubian and disbudded. She just is a nice looking and nice acting goat, although she has her issues too. She likes to lean to the right when she's on the milk stand, pushing against Richard as he milks her. If he gets up, she keeps on leaning, nearly falling off the stand. I do have to hold her legs when we milk. I think all of these girls may have been hobbled on the milk stand. They'll learn over time.

Bluebell

And of course there's Jewell, who came to us about a week prior to the five new girls. She's older and seems like she's feeling her age a bit. She's a big Alpine goat, and very well behaved on the stand. She is also disbudded. She does eat a lot of grain though, almost like she's slurping it up, and she licks the dish clean, every time. Her udder is drying up now.

Jewell

Our first girl, Fairy Dust, who is polled and a Boer/Alpine mix. She is the littlest of the goats, but very well-behaved on the milk stand. She does have some issues with trying to figure out her place in the herd. She thinks she needs to be milked first, maybe because she was the first one here. She had been with the billy almost full time, until we got Jewell and separated the billy goat from the girls. Fairy's udder is nearly dry now and I think she is pregnant. We may be getting goat babies around the Winter Solstice.

Fairy Dust

The male is Molet. Big, red, full blooded Nubian with giant horns. He scares me a little. We have tried to find him a new home through Craigslist, but he's still here, sharing his male goat aroma with the rest of us at the farm.

Molet

Quite a herd gathered in such a short time. And we have more milk than we can deal with. We will start freezing it, but it would be ideal to start up a goat share program. So, if you are local, and in Colorado, and would like to own part of a lovely goat herd, send us an e-mail and we can talk about how that works. The share will get you fresh, raw goats milk weekly. We may also do a goat cheese share.

Llamas and alpacas do not get along.

What a ruckus! We passed the Fall Equinox and someone turned on the wind. Welcome to Fall. And, the animals are being crazy. Llamas jumping fences...

We had our three gelded male llamas separated from the two females, who are in with the goats. We added the male alpaca to the females and the goats. All was good...until Taylor jumped the fence into the male llama yard. She spent the night there just fine, while we tried to figure out what to do, or how we were going to get her back in with the goats without letting them all out. The goats are a little crazy too. They try to shove their way past when you open the gate.

So, we were milking the goats this morning when a real ruckus broke out in the llama barn. Alfonso had jumped the fence, apparently to defend the honor of Taylor, the female llama, and was now fighting the black llama Vader. Luckily, all of them have their fighting teeth removed, but still, the llama probably outweighs the alpaca by a hundred pounds, or more.

Vader and Alfonso

We rushed to break them up, but as I was yelling, clapping and creating my own ruckus, while debating running for a hose to spray them, Richard managed to frighten them enough to get them apart. None of them want to be touched by human hands, and they avoid us to no end (unless they are haltered and tied). He caught Alfonso and tied him up. Thankfully he still had his halter on, which I have been meaning to take off.

We finished milking the goats. Alfonso got loose on the outside of the yard, where he was tied, and he kept running back and forth, humming, mad, because Vader had jumped the fence and was now in the goat yard with Patty, the other female. Richard tied Alfonso to the car.

Meanwhile we let all the goats into the llama barn, got the other two male llamas back out to pasture, and herded the female llama, Taylor, back into the goat yard. Richard fortified the short chain link fence they have been jumping, added two lines of electric tape on top, just a visual, but it should deter them because of the height.

I chased llamas for a while, trying to get Vader corralled. No luck. I enticed him into the chicken yard with a bowl of grain, and we got him back out to the pasture with the other llama boys.

The goats were herded back into their yard and we put Alfonso back in with the girls. Everyone was back to normal, with  the males all talking snotty to each other over the fences.

What a morning. And this afternoon, the wind still blows...

Herd of goats

First Frost

Last night we had our first frost. We were warned by checking the weather, and also by a farmer friend. I had a feeling it was coming. So yesterday, we worked like mad to catch up on everything and try to get our tomatoes covered in time.

Frame for plastic to cover a row of tomatoes.

Quick hoop house over tomatoes.

My adult daughter and her significant other came to visit on Friday and Saturday. It was a lot of fun. They showed up just after we got the new goats unloaded and into the goat yard. We all learned to milk the goats that day.

New goats.

Richard has been working like crazy to get an extension on the barn done for the goats. It rained really hard on Sunday night and flooded the fields. Too many animals without shelter had us up early and working on getting everyone out of the weather. The barn is not done yet, but at least most of the critters have a chance to get out of the rain now.

Bigger barn.

While Richard put up the barn addition, I picked the produce. I pulled all of the cucumbers, no matter what size. I picked three varieties of peppers, found three red tomatoes, collected more calendula seeds, found a few marigold dead heads to save for seed, jarred my dried rose hips, and put mullein seeds in a paper bag to dry. And then I put straw mulch over the onions and carrots, just to be safe.

Cucumbers...some have been turned into pickles.

We worked like mad. It was a long hard day. But we did it! We got the tomatoes covered, picked the produce we could, and got the shelter made for the goats.

And...it frosted.

Frost bitten pumpkin vines.

But we were prepared. I am thankful our hard work paid off. And I am sad to see the gardening season winding down as winter closes in.