Been a VERY exciting week!

Hi readers,
I have been quite a busy girl lately, so that explains my lack of posting!  Here's the rundown of this past month...

On February 6th, me and most of the family headed out on a 12 hour roadtrip to TN (for another consultation with the Lyme doctor), leaving the farm in the hands of my dad who stayed home.  That was an event all in itself  :)

When we got back, the farm was, well, in somewhat of a mess.  But, everything is fine and back to normal now!

This past Monday, a neighbor drove up in my driveway and told me he had a stuck, breech kid and needed help getting it out.  So, we hopped in his truck bed and off we went to his barn!  The doe was having a lot of trouble, so I stuck my fingers in there.  The reason it was stuck wasn't because it was breech, but because it was folded in half.  Since my sister's hands are quite a bit smaller than mine, she was able to get in there and reposition the kid to where it would come out.  Everything went smoothly and the mama and kid are happy now!

That same day, Cloudy, our Saanen doe, went into early labor, having slight contractions and a filling udder filling and squatting.  Me and my sister got up a few times in the night to check on her...nothing.

Then, at about 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Cloudy had her first kid...a little, pitch black buckling!  I'd say about 30 minutes later, she had another black buckling.  Everything went smoothly and her placenta passed with ease.  The significance of this birth was this was my problem birther 2 years ago!  You can read the whole story here: http://7thundersranch.blogspot.com/2011/02/indy-kidded.html

Cloudy's two adorable bucklings

In addition to Cloudy having her kids, about two hours later, I came out into the barn to find a doeling of Frosty's (Frosty is one of our Nubian does) on the ground already, being licked off by Cloudy, LOL!  Before it was all over and done with, Frosty ended up with two beautiful doelings!

I'll just say that I've slept very well for the past week from being so tired!  It's been about a year since we've had bottle kids, so we're getting back into the swing of things  :)

The first doeling of Frosty's

This is what makes farm life fun and FULL of surprises!  In one way I look forward to kidding season because I like bottle feeding and playing with the kids...but on the other hand, I always get just a little bit tense before a goat birth as you never know if the goat will deliver perfectly or have a stuck kid or...the list could go on and on about what "could" go wrong at a birth.  Thankfully, we've never had a goat die, but we've had a few close calls.  It's not always glamorous life, but it's a blessing of a life to live.  I praise God for putting us here on this beautiful piece of property and allowing us to have a farm and be as self-sufficient as we can be right now.

Hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing it  :)

Goodnight!

~Hannah

P.S.  I'm, Lord willing, going to a Ron Paul rally tomorrow to see him speak, so I'll try to post about that when I get back!  I went to a Ron Paul sign wave yesterday afternoon at the corner in our town, Tahlequah.  That was pretty fun and we got a lot of response!

Weekend projects

WOW is has been SO hot outside!  The UV index was 110 yesterday and today it's 105, so you can just imagine...working outside can be exhausting.  Thankfully, our little ranch has accomplished a lot in the last few days!

SUNDAY July 10th
My dad was able to dig 4 holes for our new meat rabbit barn...and considering the fact that we are in "rocky soil" country, that is a BIG accomplishment!!

I got to trim all 17 goat's hooves yesterday and groom them all some.  I also started two new compost piles in my bins, since the compost I started back in April is done doin' it's thing and now the rich, dark soil is in the garden, feeding our plants.

After I was done with all of that, I decided to re-take all the goat's pictures and do more "professional", show type pics.  Here are all of the pics I took yesterday...

MERCYFARMS JC INDY

OAK WHISPER KWS ATHENA

MERCYFARMS MO2 OHARA

COSO FARMS RCBY HOLLY

OZARK HIGHLANDS MAUREEN OHARA

7 THUNDERS STORMY GAIL

UHOH BLUSH NOISETTE

7 THUNDERS COCOA CASCADE

MERCYFARMS SNICKERS CREAMSWIRL

7 THUNDERS LS WILD DIXIE

UHOH OREO DANCY PANTS

7 THUNDERS BABY DREAM BLOSSOM

MERCYFARMS BROWNIE SUMMIT

7 THUNDERS CLOUDY DELIGHT

JUST BECAUSE DC FUDGE BROWNIE (took this pic a couple days ago)

If you'd like more info on the goats above, please go to the "Does" page...Click Here

I'm also selling the NuMancha wether.  If anyone is interested in him, please contact me at:  bannerbonanza@yahoo.com  -  Here are pics of him...

MONDAY July 11th

I think I might know why our breeding season didn't go very well this year.  We own a buck, but he's about 10 miles away being housed at a friends house...so we would take our does over there when they were in heat.  Unfortunately, I heard that they can lose their heat on the drive there, and that might explain why the buck wasn't interested at times :)  So, since that didn't go over very well, we built a buck pen on our farm, that way the does don't have to travel very far and be all stressed out when the time comes to get bred.  We had already made the pen, and all I needed to get done was get a shelter up, but I haven't had the materials to do it.  Today, I finally mustered up some materials to build the temporary buck shelter and now the pen is finished and ready to house a buck!  Praise God!

Here are some pics of the shelter and pen...and yes, it's very "okie", but hey, if it houses a goat and keeps it dry for a couple of weeks, it's fine with me!

Inside of the shelter

I built it with 3 pallets, a piece of particle board and some junk sheet metal I had laying around.  It was pretty simple to build and almost free  :)  I'm planning on putting a tarp around the outside when it rains, but for now it's gonna be nice and "airy".

Stay cool!

~Hannah

Shared on:  Frugality is Free  -   Homestead Revival Blog hop #19  -  Meet Me Monday  - Mingle Monday