To Be or Not To Be...Preggers?

She was bellowing this morning. By my calculations, her heat cycle would be about September 12 if she is not preggers. So I called her girlfriend Doc Mary to come out and check Karma's parts to discover if she's knocked up or just moody and loud. She'll let me know when she's able to make a date.

In other news, if Karma's not preggers, Doc Mary may know someone who has a virile bull. We'd have to contact them and see if he's into spoiled brat little Jerseys...

Three Sisters

The Three Sisters Garden of the Iroquois is made up of corn, beans, and squash. Our pasture area never grew to fruition and so it is being transformed into a massive site for composting and gardening. The first planted row is a Three Sisters Garden.

As our animals' pens are cleaned, their manure is set in thick rows in the pasture area so that it can decompose and become fertile soil. The goats produce the best manure as they are picky eaters and tend to leave behind the bits of alfalfa they don't care for. Their leavings are a nice balance of poop and dried plant material, perfect for composting.

A dip along the center of the wide rows is made. The seeds are set in and covered lightly. Using old soaker hose covered with straw has already proven a simple and effective way to irrigate. The seedlings have shown themselves today:

Alpaca Shelter

This ugly but functional house was built from 12 wooden pallets, some 2x4s and corrugated metal roofing. The pallets are bolted and screwed together for added strength. It is about 8x8 feet inside and provides good rain shelter for the fluffy boys. The best part of all: they actually USE IT! The alpacas shelter inside or on either side of this new house, depending on where the sun is in the sky. On a real hot day, the shade in there feels pretty good. When it cools off some, I'll be adding siding and my favorite barn red paint.

My design is slightly based on the one here: http://www.petdiys.com/gallery/wood-pallet-pasture-shelter/  I didn't cut my pallets at an angle though, as electricity is limited to a generator at the ranch, and I don't like to mess with it much. My version was built with a battery powered screwdriver/drill. My roof has less of an angle and is mounted on the 2x4s which were set at a slight pitch atop the pallets.

This project took me about a week to finish as I can only work on it when the weather is tolerable and for as long as my drill had a charge. Two people could probably finish this, if they have electricity, in a day.

To Raise or Not to Raise?

Summer was harsh on the Gigantic Garden. The extreme heat, well over 100 degrees most days, and the lack of a strong, humid monsoon really took a toll on production. We had a few handfuls of cherry tomatoes, a decent crop of potatoes, maybe 7 zucchinis and 5 cucumbers. That's about it if you don't count the pretty sunflowers. Our young trees are straining to survive and all this with daily watering.

I've always believed there is no better water for a garden than rainwater. The evidence is clear after a nice downpour, when the plants stand at attention and act like that's the first real drink they've had in weeks.

We've always had raised beds in the garden, beginning with thin rows, then wider rows, but I built a prototype raised bed with rubber fence slats to see if the extra depth of loamy soil will help roots develop better and soil be retained and moist more so than a wide row on the ground.

I'll decide in a few weeks if I want more of these contraptions (which are very easy to build).

Today it was planted with peas, spinach, lettuce and green oinions. There is an existing fruit tree and surviving potato plant already in the bed.

Bellowing Update

Since her first date, Ms. Karma has not bellowed.

The consensus is that she's knocked up. Good job, Doc Mary!

First Date Update

Karma's first date didn't go as planned. Doc Mary showed up. Ms. Karma made her way (albeit a bit suspicious) into the milk stall and I managed to get her mother's halter on her and lead her the rest of the way into the headgate. Cookie, her ever faithful friend, had to be coaxed out of the milking stall.

With the bribe of hay and sweet feed, Karma was positioned to meet her first boyfriend.

After a pelvic exam, Doc Mary confirmed that indeed, our little heifer was in heat. Karma is very obvious about being in heat. She bellows all day long and wants nothing more than something to pet her and rub her and whisper sweet nothings in her ear. She also jumped up on Cookie's back to let us know what she wanted done.

Doc Mary went to retrieve Karma's boyfriend, but returned to say there was a problem. Oh no! It seems the frozen miniature Jersey straw burst in the tank, spilling all over the bottom. Um ew. Karma was left with no date or...the second choice of a handsome straw of Dexter semen.

After some deliberation, we opted for the Dexter. We believe our previous steer (Baby Cow) was a Dexter. It's an Irish breed of cattle known for being small and also dual purpose (meat or milk). Doc Mary has both miniature Jerseys and Dexters at her place. She did say that Karma is a small Jersey and breeding her to a standard size bull was not a good idea.

The decision made, she went in from the upper hole to feel around and be sure when she was going in from the lower hole, that she had things in the right spot. Karma seemed pleased with this attention, which was a little weird, to say the least, but I guess she can't be too choosey as there are no bulls nearby to pick from.

Doc Mary found the right spot, pulled the trigger, and that was that.

First Date



Karma eyeing me.

Karma has a date tomorrow. Her first date ever, and it's with a mini Jersey bull. Well, sorta. More accurately, Karma has a date tomorrow with Doc Mary's gloved hand and a straw of mini Jersey bull semen. She has been leery of the milking stall ever since the tattoo, ear tag, shot ordeal. So (pictured) I'm trying to convince her that the milking stall isn't always where bad things happen to sweet milk cows. It's a place where she can find alfalfa, bermuda, sweet feed, and mesquite bean pods before we quickly close the gate and the headlock and well... you get the idea. There a several reasons we don't want a bull to borrow or keep. Bulls are strong and when there's a lady cow in heat, they want to get to her. Like male goats in rut, they will push a person aside or plow through whatever is keeping them from their lady-love. I don't want a bull. I have enough trouble with my sweet milk cow getting her way because she's so big and strong and spoiled. We're trying AI this first time and opted for mini Jersey because that was what was available and because a smaller cow is a good thing.