Year of Death
Sunny, 83/59, Fair to Change. Well most of the farm events are described in the post below. We are getting ready to plant corn though. Plowing is finished (well.... almost) and disking will start. We are planting some Reids open pollenated corn this spring. Some of grown by us for seed and some of it bought because we didn't get enough from last years drought.
Speaking of drought. Since Jan 1 we have had 6.41 inches of rain, thats over 10 inches BELOW what it should be this time of year. Things don't look too positive for the year to come. I'm holding off planting a couple of weeks hoping for the rain, but this is a dangerous game because the Japanese beetles around here love corn silks.
Well, I try to find humor in everything, but unfortunately, there won’t be much in this post. I’m looking back at this past year and trying to decide what I can do differently this year to change it.
It started last spring when a dog decided he wanted our broilers more than I did. I keep them in a moveable pen and he jumped on top of the pen and fell through. While he was in there he took out half the flock, little did I know, that was only the start.
In October, one of my mothers kidded twins. She was a great mom to them and took care of them well. One day in December, I noticed she was only taking care of one. After a search all I found was the carcass of one leg.
Around December, I lost a mamma goat to being stupid and some loose corn. She saw some corn near the rear tire when I was backing up. I never saw her. Around the same time I noticed one of the goats had some scours. I thought it was worms, wormed her and that didn’t help, wormed her again, but she just got thinner. Started giving her some sugar water to keep her up, but nothing helped, just before I put her down, I noticed another with scours. For the second I tried antibiotics, but that didn’t help and she slowly went the way of the first. Then a third got it. I doctored and doctored, but once again, a .22 caliber bullet was the only shot that worked. The bonfires were getting pretty regular around here. Finally after the third, the herd was starting to look healthy again.
Monday my wife came back from the goat pasture. She said we had a problem. She was right. Seems a Weimaraner got loose in the herd and decided to have some fun. When all was said and done, four nannies, one billy (no, not that Billy), and 3 kids were down and out. It was time for another bonfire; I sure am getting good at building them.
Last night, I decided to take a break from the farm. I was feeling down a little and told my wife, I was just going to sit in the rocking chair for a while. She brought me one of the victims of the dog attack. A two day old nanny kid who has to be bottle fed. She told to watch it and feed it, while she and the boys went to church.
After the first feeding, the little thing kept trying to fly, or it seemed like it, off our woodstove hearth. It would jump in the air and twist, and then go do it again. I started smiling. After it got tired of that, it just following me around the house, I couldn’t shake it. One time I had a race it to the bathroom to get some privacy. The blasted goatling almost won!! Then after another feeding it curled up next to my feet and went to sleep. I looked up at the ceiling and gave a “Thank you God” and went to bed.
This morning, I seem to be back in the mode. My list got a little longer from taking yesterday off, so it’s off today to grease the planter and mount the cultivator. The fence didn’t get fixed over night like the elves said it would, and that one renegade bull still needs a rubber band so he’ll be less of a rebel.
I’ll tell ya’ll, that’s the thing I like most about taking care of this little piece of land here in Alabama. It may not always be happy-happy-joy-joy, but it’s never boring.
Speaking of drought. Since Jan 1 we have had 6.41 inches of rain, thats over 10 inches BELOW what it should be this time of year. Things don't look too positive for the year to come. I'm holding off planting a couple of weeks hoping for the rain, but this is a dangerous game because the Japanese beetles around here love corn silks.
Well, I try to find humor in everything, but unfortunately, there won’t be much in this post. I’m looking back at this past year and trying to decide what I can do differently this year to change it.
It started last spring when a dog decided he wanted our broilers more than I did. I keep them in a moveable pen and he jumped on top of the pen and fell through. While he was in there he took out half the flock, little did I know, that was only the start.
In October, one of my mothers kidded twins. She was a great mom to them and took care of them well. One day in December, I noticed she was only taking care of one. After a search all I found was the carcass of one leg.
Around December, I lost a mamma goat to being stupid and some loose corn. She saw some corn near the rear tire when I was backing up. I never saw her. Around the same time I noticed one of the goats had some scours. I thought it was worms, wormed her and that didn’t help, wormed her again, but she just got thinner. Started giving her some sugar water to keep her up, but nothing helped, just before I put her down, I noticed another with scours. For the second I tried antibiotics, but that didn’t help and she slowly went the way of the first. Then a third got it. I doctored and doctored, but once again, a .22 caliber bullet was the only shot that worked. The bonfires were getting pretty regular around here. Finally after the third, the herd was starting to look healthy again.
Monday my wife came back from the goat pasture. She said we had a problem. She was right. Seems a Weimaraner got loose in the herd and decided to have some fun. When all was said and done, four nannies, one billy (no, not that Billy), and 3 kids were down and out. It was time for another bonfire; I sure am getting good at building them.
Last night, I decided to take a break from the farm. I was feeling down a little and told my wife, I was just going to sit in the rocking chair for a while. She brought me one of the victims of the dog attack. A two day old nanny kid who has to be bottle fed. She told to watch it and feed it, while she and the boys went to church.
After the first feeding, the little thing kept trying to fly, or it seemed like it, off our woodstove hearth. It would jump in the air and twist, and then go do it again. I started smiling. After it got tired of that, it just following me around the house, I couldn’t shake it. One time I had a race it to the bathroom to get some privacy. The blasted goatling almost won!! Then after another feeding it curled up next to my feet and went to sleep. I looked up at the ceiling and gave a “Thank you God” and went to bed.
This morning, I seem to be back in the mode. My list got a little longer from taking yesterday off, so it’s off today to grease the planter and mount the cultivator. The fence didn’t get fixed over night like the elves said it would, and that one renegade bull still needs a rubber band so he’ll be less of a rebel.
I’ll tell ya’ll, that’s the thing I like most about taking care of this little piece of land here in Alabama. It may not always be happy-happy-joy-joy, but it’s never boring.
posted by Brad Bachelor at 7:27 AM
6 Comments:
Hi Brad, Man this farmin stuff is fun ain't it. I was out there in the snow and rain and mud shovelin manure today and was havin a real hard time figurin out why I like doin this.
Guy
That made me smile, I thought about that while lifting those soggy goats out of the creek gagging up a storm (you'd think an old Army medic would have a stronger stomach...). My 19 year old son looks at me and says "Most guys take vacation and go somewhere, you take vacation to bury goats". I had to smile at him, but I sure wouldn't have it any other way (alright, maybe I wouldn't like to be burning goat carcasses).
Gentlemen,
So you all have days like that too! If I wrote about all our wrecks around here I'd be called Northern Failier! (Gee I hope the spelling was right on that).
It never gets any easier either seeing disasters. With calving coming here I'm steeling myself for what could come. You just never know. But through the years there's been some successes that throw out every rule in the book. In fact quite a few of them. That said I suppose we'll have a wreck around here tomorrow :)
Afterthought; Does anyone else ever have problems with that word verification thingy on blogger when your about to post a comment? Anyway here goes try number 3!
Yep Tom,
Guess I'm about through with my pity party. Time to roll up the sleeves and get to it. 4 new heifers coming Saturday and all.
I noticed the problem with word verification too. I think the thing times out and I usually have to type it in again. Its a little bit of a pain, but it sure does save on posts from temptresses like Bambi and Buffy and the like...
Morning Brad,
How are ya doing?
hope ya don't mind that I stoped by!
Farming can try a person, but to me, I would take it over ,What some would say the finer things in life! :)
Blessings
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