Not a Good Morning

Yesterday morning was not good. We have not had predation problems since the red-tailed hawk. I was just starting to get over my silent anxiety that all my animals would be okay when I showed up to do chores.

The coyotes got to the chickens in the trampoline pen. It was awful, like entering a battlezone after the war ended. We for sure lost Curly, a New Jersey Giant white hen who had two curved toes, and also our beloved Theresa, the tiny game hen who always wanted to fly up on us and be petted. There may have been others because we have so many chickens that they all don't have names.

There were five wounded. Two who have one wing ripped right off and two who have leg wounds. The fifth has a chest wound similar to what my old rooster had when he was attacked by coyotes. I cleaned up the injured birds and sprayed them with BlueKote.

I think they'll make it. I hope they will.

The mystery was where the coyotes came in from. I thought everything was secure. But when we returned for evening chores, Farmer C found this at the back part of the property:

All the birds have been moved to more secure locations and the hole was filled with wire, dirt and tamped in with an old tire for good measure. But I worry. This coyote is doing something they never did before. It's taking the time to dig under fences. It knows what it's doing.

I spoke to Gucci and told her to step on it if it comes back.

Roof Over Their Horned Heads

Earlier we built the goats a pallet house. We were quite pleased with the ease of construction and were able to assemble it in one day.

The goats laughed. They had their babies in it and promptly went to work ripping apart the corrugated rubber roof. After they dismantled that, they began scratching and rubbing against the walls, compromising the integrity of the building.

We left the skeletal remains up all summer and gave up.

Until today. I scavenged three long beams from a fence panel the bucks had all but destroyed and nailed them atop the panel walls.

The goats chuckled, amused. Big Momma rubbed her head against the beams, testing their strength.

She watched me nail on an old tarp and smirked. It's only a matter of time before they destroy this...again.

Or is it?

Hanging out with Cattle

Karma the calf has continued to become friendlier. She needs to be halter trained, but I suppose we'll get around to that out of necessity eventually. She likes face rubs and can usually be bribed by them. Karma's scheduled to get her Brucellosis shot and be dehorned (EEK!) in October. Poor baby.

Baby-Cow the Black Angus steer is continuing to grow into a healthy, chunky if not tall, fellow. I had thought I'd need to get his hooves trimmed but when I started free ranging the cows, he ran so much he broke the overgrown tips right off his hooves. Now they look nice and neat.

Gucci developed an abscess on the bottom of the bad quarter of her udder which I was instructed to treat by the vet. That means no milk for us, all for her baby who gladly has taken up that job. The abscess has mostly cleared up and is starting to close, but I worry over it every day and keep it clean and medicated. Gucci could care less what I'm doing down there as long as she has food.

Cattle Limo

We've been watching the classifieds aka: craigslist for a decent used trailer. Since we likely won't be moving our large animals around a whole lot, we figured a small two horse model would be fine. One came up for sale yesterday and it was still available when I called, so we drove on out to Sahuarita and checked it out. It belonged to a nice family who had several cows, goats, and chickens and children of their own. They had moved up to a much larger livestock trailer and didn't need the little one.

It looked good enough for our needs and needs a little bit of TLC, but nothing too crazy, so we hitched it up and brought it on home. I think it'll fit in just fine and if we need to take Gucci to ger her nails done at a cow salon, now we can.

New Goose Address

The geese have moved to a new spot at the rear of the garden. There were just too many birds in the newish duck pen (which is completely enclosed to prevent red-tailed hawk poaching).

I feel the geese are simply way too big and loud for a hawk to take, especially when they're all together. The way they bite at strangers I bet they could take down a hawk and eat it for breakfast...just saying'.

The section of garden they live in now is away from our regular feeding route, so we are spared the raucous goose alarm each time we walk by with a flake of alfalfa. They have their own pool, doghouse and get fresh weeds every time I'm in the garden working. It's handy.

They seem to like it just fine. We are pretty sure we now have 3 females and one very big male. BB, Silly Goose, and Bruce Goose (a girl) are watched over by a boy goose we named Sue. Why all the gender confusion? I guess we like to keep folks guessing.

August Heat




Mojo with his temporary sheep wives.
He's quarantined from other bucks
until his half a horn heals up.

It hit 110 degrees today. It's too hot.

The buck goats have managed to beat the heck out of everything in their pen. They've ripped the corrugated roof off their brick mansion. They've rammed a hole large enough to walk through in the back of the old Creepy Coop and claimed that building as their man-cave. They've torn through two layers of wire fencing and I had to steal corral panels from Gucci to keep those troublesome stinkers in place. The next thing to go is going to be their gate. It's hangin' by two chains and keeps getting whacked so hard that it turns cock-eyed. Only a matter of time before they tear it off.

Mojo beat the coop so hard he busted off half of one of his very thick horns. It was bloody and gruesome looking but it's dried up. Max the dog stole the busted off piece and has it hidden somewhere on the property.

Do you think it might be breeding season or what?

I guess the point of this post is that goats are super strong. Bucks are even stronger than that when they want to get to the ladies. So, if you want to have goats, invest in heavy duty goat proof panels. It's on my To Do list.

Surprise!

Farmer K and Surprise

Yesterday morning, Farmer K told me there was a lamb in with the sheep. Since I had recently moved our first round of lambs to another pen for easier access and to keep them from interbreeding, I figured I was up for some fence repair. I counted my lambs and all six were there.

"Are you sure?" I called back, wondering if someone had snuck an animal onto our ranch.

"Yes, Mom. A lamb. A tiny one."

Well, that was a whole different story entirely. Mama Sheep had popped out a little baby ewe. We had no idea she was pregnant again. That lady wastes no time. Meet her lamb who we named Surprise.