Bah, Bah White and Black Sheep...

We have added two Suffolk ewes to the herd. Hannah Montana Sheep and Sally Pearl. They are to help start our market lamb program, and will be well taken care of. They were purchased through the 4-H lamb program, and we are happy to support the kids. The sheep boss the goats around (for now), but seem to fit in well. Sally in the front, Hannah in the back.

The new girls.

We finally have our goats. We purchased 2 does from Mr. Head @ Montgomery Central High School this Friday. They are curious and a little shy, but we are working to make them feel at home. They are percentage Boer goats, and are still young and growing. We think they will be a welcomed addition to our "herd". These girls will help us get ready for a transition into fiber production on a small scale.
The white faced goat is Peppermint and the brown faced is Snicker-doodle.

Goats and goodbyes.

Friday is the day the the two goats will be coming to live at our house. We also said goodbye to our dog Charlotte, who passed away last Tuesday. She was with us for over 7 years. She was my buddy. We will miss her dearly, but we have Biscuit to help us work through it. More to follow when the girls arrive.

Update 5-31-09.

Hay, hay and more hay. It's that time again, so we are several fields into our hay cutting and rolling. We are buying our boer goats from MCHS possibly this week, and will be building fences this week, too. Photos to follow.

Iowa and the garden...

I recently finished a course for my master's degree at Murray State University. We traveled in vans over the course of one week to Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa to visit several manufacturing plants for agriculture implements. Quite an eye opening experience. We also toured two cattle farms while on the trip, and I was able to see a more progressive show cattle operation in action. I was able to take a few ideas home to discuss with dad, and I think we will shift gears again to up the ante this show season.

The garden is partially planted, and will hopefully be all ready by Friday. We have 3 new raised beds and the rest of the plants will be in our regular garden spot.

We have purchased our first goat feeder from Christian County High School, and I am eager to finish constructing the goat coral. I am considering purchasing goats from Montgomery Central High School's agriculture program. I will know in the next week if they have some does for sale. I will post some pictures soon, and update more frequently.

It's been a while....

It has been a few months since the last update, so here goes. Cattle farming is going strong, and the last of the spring calves are on the ground. We had a few close calls, but all is well. We will be adding new additions to the farm this summer.... a couple of goats, some chickens, maybe a horse and possibly some ewes for wool production. We have began preparations for the garden, and the cows are steadily fertilizing the freshly tilled soil. I have been student teaching agriculture this semester, and have been gone from dawn 'til dusk every day. Soon all will be back to normal, and hay season will begin. More to follow.