Farmers Without A Farm

We've had a delightful spring as we try to live our dream while not having the farm. We worked out a deal with a friend of ours who has land. We buy the animals and feed. He provides the land and care. In the fall we share the meat. However, life took a bit of a turn, as it often does. Our friend wanted me to see if I could find some dairy goats as he enjoys the milk they give. I found a woman with Alpines and negotiated a good price for 2 does (pictured above). He wasn't really looking for purebred, registered goats and thought it was a bit pricey for him. By this time we had spent a fair bit of time at the goat farm and seen what good goats these were. We decided to buy them and keep them at his place, sharing the milk. However, we discovered they needed to be milked twice a day which was a bit much for his busy schedule so I was volunteered to go out once a day and milk. So far I'm loving it. So much so that we have bought a doeling (first picture below) and buckling (second picture below). They are both stunning kids and we are confident the buckling will make a fine herdsire. Did I mention that I intended to have meat goats NOT dairy goats. Oh well, we will have some dairy but still mainly meat (Kiko) goats. It's been a great experience to work with these animals and learn some of the issues relating to goats such as - hoof trimming, disbudding, dehorning, deworming, feed choices and supplements.




We didn't stop with the goats however. We also have...



... 4 Pilgrim Geese, all ganders and now much bigger then in this photo ...



... 22 Crossbred heritage turkeys (still poults) ...




... 15 Chantecler buff chickens (still chicks) ...



... 5 Bourbon Red heritage turkeys (still poults) with another 8-10 just hatching out, picking up on Wednesday ...



... 4 Chantecler partridge laying hens (in a backyard chicken tractor) ...

... 2 Tamworth piglets (girls) set to pick up on Friday/Saturday when they are weaned at 8 weeks, and hoping for another 2 when the next sow farrows in about a week (will need to wait until they are weaned at 8 weeks though to pick up) ...

Still no farm but we are making progress. Our friend has a large forested area (approx 5 acres) that we are fencing in now with the plan to put most, if not all, of the animals in to see how they do in that type of management system. We will still feed limited grain, in an attached smaller pen, so we can train them to enter it and catch the milking does/work with the kids. It will also be handy when we need to catch things for butchering.

However, our friend doesn't have much in the way of winter barn space so most of the animals (except the dairy goats) will need to be butchered before cold weather sets in. He has outdoor plumbing to the pens right now but it will be turned off before freezing in the fall/winter. Our Bourbon Red turkey poults just won't be ready by then (new years maybe) so we have made a similar deal with another friend (the one we bought the dairy goats off) to take the Bourbon Red turkey poults there. She has a good set up for it and it will be fine once colder weather sets in. It's further from us but since she can handle the care, it will work out just fine.

These pictures are a bit dated and everything seems so much bigger now. I will try to get some new pictures and post them.