A Few of Our Pullets

We needed to add to our flock this year, so ordered some new chicks back in April. We decided to add some fun different breeds this time. I'll have to post later which breeds we have now. They just started laying eggs for us this last week, along with our new ducks.

Our Nubian and Toggenburg Does

Anna and Phonda peeking through the feed door hoping for some yummy grain. Anna is out being bred to a beautiful Paint Boer Buck at the moment-so we are hoping come Feburary she will be a happy mommy. Phonda was our first milking goat. She has been a great milker-giving us tons of milk while still feeding her kids. One of her daughters lives next door to us and had her first freshing this year (had babies and is in milk now for the first time) She is taking after her mom-giving them over one and half gallons a day!

Kefir and Shekinah our German Shepherd

Shekinah, our young German Shepherd girl, sure wants to herd our goats. The problem is, our goats really don't herd well and just want to head butt the dog. We are working on good manners with Shekinah, and she is learning how to control herself, shaking with excitement the whole time. Maybe we will get a chance to take her out to a herding trial someday and see if she has any real herding instincts in her.

Alpine doeling, Kefir

Our daughter decided to get her own milking doe this year and purchased a nice little doe from the Strong Family. She has tons of dairy character and we planned on waiting until next year to breed her. Turns out that was a good decision, as she decided to break her leg a few weeks back! And of course, no easy break for us. She ended up needing pins put in. Well, she is healing fine and gets her pins out soon. The doctor was happy with her progress, and we adjusted some of our feed since the Doc said her bones were soft. We are now feeding mostly alfalfa and making sure they are getting the right minerals to give them a total of a 2:1 ratio of calcium and phosphorous. We also are making sure everyone has enough Vit. A and D, since we live under a lot of trees, which means a lot of shade. I must say, that was an expensive nutrition lesson, but the little doe is doing great and growing faster than ever!

Our Family Farm

We are a small family farm in Oregon. We have been raising goats, chickens, ducks and turkeys for about 10 years now. We have learned a few things over the years, and are continuing to try and learn more. Chickens were our first endeavor, and we have really enjoyed having them around. We have learned not to leave them free range to early in the morning-and to lock them up at night-the coyotes have had a few free meals here unfortunately. We added ducks and turkeys to the mix, and those have been just as fun. We have learned to move the ducks around in a portable pen made from hog panels. This seems to keep the smell to a minimum and gives them fresh ground to trample on every other week. The turkeys have always done great, and we have learned to call the butcher in Jan. to make an appointment for Thanksgiving time so we can have fresh turkey for the family. And we learned that fresh goat milk is really delicious, nothing like the stuff from the store! Our newest endeavor is meat goats. Our daughters did 4H a couple years back and raised market goats, and the market goat bug has taken root. We now have a breeding Boer doe and some of our dairy goats are being bred to a nice paint Boer buck this year for our growing herd this spring. We are hoping to have a couple wethers to use for 4H and a few extra to sell. If you like fresh duck eggs or chicken eggs, fresh milk, fresh chicken, turkey or duck meat, or would like to try fresh goat meat-give us a hollar. All of our animals are well cared for and given the best life we can give them-even the meat animals, as we think they should be just as well cared for as our pets. We'll post more later!