Around the Farm Update

BUSY BUSY BUSY is a good description!

I had a doctor appt. Monday and have been told I'm pre-diabetic. Yet on tv the doctor on a talk show said there is no pre-diabetic. Either one is or one isn't. That being, I guess being my blood sugar in the dr. office was 128 and the fasting blood sugar level prior to that was high, "I am". When I had the fasting test done, I had decided that I need to really cut back even more on sugars and carbs. So when I got some candy, I got sugar free. The chocolate syrup for my morning milk is sugar-free now too. I have more tests to get done and hopefully this new doctor will decide what she thinks. Either way, bah humbug. Both of my parents are diabetic so I figured at some point I'd become so too. I'm just glad it decided to wait til I'm 60 and didn't kick in when I was 20 - 30.

Raquel, the FF milkstand bronco, had FINALLY gotten to the point she was easier to get milked and with much less drama has injured herself! She got 2 cuts on her udder and a horrible inverted "V" on her teat. It's on the teat that she was letting me milk the easiest too, darn it! The cuts are where the teat and udder are attached on the other side. All is healing well but it's extremely painful. I can't milk it without causing her a LOT of pain and tearing it open so I'm only milking a bit to check the milk, get a feel of the teat, etc. She's drying up on that side which I hate, but I know it hurts like the dickens. She had been self-nursing and on that side. She sure quit that, which actually might have been better for her udder. We can't undo what's done! We can only fix things the best we can and deal with it. FORTUNATELY, she didn't cut deep enough in any of the 3 spots to leak milk. That's a huge blessing and much better for her of course. She does like milk so I'm also offering her her milk with hopes it is innoculating her system to hel avoid mastitis. Some folks do believe this helps with mastitis and I'm willing to give it a try with hopes it does and it helps her heal and not have problems for life from it. She's too nice a doe and with her nice-sized teats and great orifices, she milks really easy. I'm getting almost 2 quarts a day from her good side. Her dam is a GOOD and easy milker too.
I've been trying to get some good goat pics. They don't cooperate much! They are too busy trying to get me to give them treats so we are all working different agendas!

I did get this cute pic of the last kid, PattyCake. She's tiny, cute cute cute and just a sweetie! She's also been a pest when I'm milking. She decided if I'm milking that who ever is on the stand is her next snack producer! Personally, I think she had a hidden agenda. I think she decided to find out who's milk she likes best. She has given her mother up and adopted a new one - another FF no less! Her newly adopted momma likes her too and couldn't stand being on the stand the other night when her new daughter was outside and got out of sight! What a tizzy until Patty came running back to the barn door in response to the yelling! Danika had a buckling and I pulled him at birth! So this surprises me that she's decided she wanted a daughter! Patty's dam is a "NuPine" and Nipper, the ND buck, is her sire. She has a ND looking head and she's small. She also got all the frosting on her ear, muzzle and tail. Her "star" looks like a pair of wings.

The chicks are still hatching and drying off. There are around 25 chicks and 2 have died. One who is living has large eyes that bulge a bit. I have no idea why so am trying to find out. It looks like I'll have a nice bunch of chicks though. I'll have maybe 5 blue Cochins and a few blacks.

While cleaning out the other brooder, one of the little turkey poults flew out and before I could react, the 2 dogs close by grabbed him. Unfortunately, he died. The 2 dogs are still on my "bad dog list". I don't think they meant to hurt him but they did. They shouldn't have put their mouths on him at all. They should know better as they don't get allowed to do things like that ever.

I also lost my "Orpicauna" hen. She had gotten caught by the leg. I rescued her, but her induries were bad enough she didn't make it. I had her protected in the pen in one of the laying spots (hers) and was giving her milk, feed and water but she didn't eat that I saw. She's the one who laid the drab, olive greenish color I was enjoying. I have a daughter of hers from my first egg hatch who is also gold. I so hate loosing a layer!

Between being so busy and lots of rain, I've not been able to do much gardening. Everything is growing well except those raspberry plants. There was one with sufficient roots and it's doing well. I'm still hoping that some of the others can root and pull through. Unfortunately, the weeds are also trying to get ahead of me!

I also was told by my local feed mill that they are going out of business. This is VERY bad news. It means that I'll need to do 34-mile round trips to get feed. I have the goatie granola custom mixed and it's so nice and convenient to have it done locally and only a couple miles from home. I'm also going to miss the couple who own and operate it. Unfortunately it's another sign of the economy as several of their customers have gotten rid of their critters due to the rises in grain prices, economy and all. So they've had only 1 month in this year that they've been in the black. This will affect my decisions I'm looking at for the coming year and especially for winter care and numbers.

So, there's the update, as long as it is. And to think it's only the "highlights" of the last 4 days!