tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-155991202009-04-13T10:10:17.830-06:00~for those who fancy farm living~Kathleennoreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15599120.post-65275801845723816542009-04-11T01:19:00.003-06:002009-04-11T01:59:57.380-06:00

I love spring and fall. Besides having awesome weather the wildlife is abundant. We live on a migration route for Canadian geese and Snow geese, (among other things). I would love to be able to share some great pictures with you but when I try to take pictures with my little camera you can barely make out the subject. This holds true with the few pictures I took today. You will have to use your

Kathleennoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15599120.post-84205562527201375302009-04-03T03:16:00.003-06:002009-04-03T03:28:11.423-06:00

Mucking... who comes up with these expressions? I must say though, that as expressions go, this one is a pretty good description of the task, eh?I spent most the morning mucking out one stall, (nasty business but somebody has to do it). I have decided that I am too old for this crap, (and I mean that literally), so I have decided that until I can buy a little front end loader I will strategically

Kathleennoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15599120.post-61936768723775851532009-03-05T22:47:00.007-07:002009-03-14T06:32:14.280-06:00

It may look as though I haven't posted anything since last year but that just isn't so. I created another blog for myself titled Almosta Farm. I wanted to separate general farm stuff from the goings on at Almosta Farm so things wouldn't be so cluttered. This took up much more of my time than I had anticipated.After creating the new blog site I spent quite a lot of time moving posts around so they

Kathleennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15599120.post-54218108244034260092008-09-10T22:46:00.008-06:002009-03-26T19:45:12.417-06:00

Back toward the end of June through the beginning of July I witnessed an odd ritual by a tiny little bird. I would see this pretty little bird on the side of the road each day as I went to work. After the third time I saw her I slowed down to take a closer look. When I did she puffed herself up beyond recognition and started spinning around in circles. I was certain that this little bird had

Kathleennoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15599120.post-70631724246888722302008-06-02T13:54:00.006-06:002008-06-02T15:01:34.737-06:00

There are two things to consider when talking about chickens. Color and breed.A commonly known chicken is the Barred Rock. Everyone thinks that Barred Rock is the breed. Actually, barred refers to the color. The breed in this example is Plymouth Rock. There are actually many different colored Plymouth Rock chickens... Barred, White, Buff, Silver Penciled, Partridge, Columbian, and

Kathleennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15599120.post-49658388626114135182008-02-23T07:43:00.005-07:002008-02-23T09:43:01.247-07:00

With as much snow as we have had it has pushed some of the wildlife down from the highlands into the valleys in search of food and I would imagine a little warmer temperatures. from February 14th to February 18 we were visited by an elk herd out on Weiser Flats where I live. They appeared, what seemed like, out of no where and disappeared just as quickly, (don't underestimate their sneakiness).I

Kathleennoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15599120.post-36757986453774486812007-07-12T03:26:00.000-06:002007-07-12T03:36:06.046-06:00

An old man, a boy & a donkey were going to town. The boy rode on the donkey & the old man walked. As they went along they passed some people who remarked it was a shame the old man was walking & the boy was riding. The man & boy thought maybe the critics were right, so they changed positions.Later, they passed some people that remarked, "What a shame, he makes that little boy walk." They then

Kathleennoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15599120.post-1160192224275094742006-10-06T04:30:00.000-06:002006-10-09T09:07:49.593-06:00

I woke this evening to a chilly fall wind. Quite a difference from a few weeks ago when we were in the throws of 100 degree plus temperatures with fires all around us. Our emergency department, and many others around the state, kept pretty busy this summer treating the fire fighters that came from all over to battle the persistant flames. Some of the fires were closer to where I live than

Kathleennoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15599120.post-1141478702779273072006-03-04T06:06:00.003-07:002009-03-26T20:04:19.639-06:00

A tribute to my dear friends who are facing loss and hardship. I love you and my thoughts and prayers are with you. May you be comforted in the journey which lies ahead.TWO HORSESJust up the road from my home is a field with two horses in it. From a distance, each looks like every other horse. However, if one stops the car - or is walking by - one will notice something quite amazing.Looking into

Kathleennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15599120.post-1140945656644128522006-01-30T02:00:00.001-07:002006-02-26T20:30:22.756-07:00

To WETHER a goat is to castrate a male goat. The goat is then called a wether. Wethers are widely used for pets and pack animals and more recently are used in herds to clear unwanted weeds from river banks. I actually just sold a wether that has gone to a weed eating herd.There is a variety of ways to wether a goat. The two most common ways are cutting and banding.CUTTING is just as it implies. A

Kathleennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15599120.post-1140943996237967312006-01-30T02:00:00.000-07:002006-02-26T20:13:15.396-07:00

Disbudding is removing horn buds before a kids horns mature.There are several ways of disbudding. Some of these ways are chemical disbudding, mechanical disbudding, and burning. Of these methods I choose to use the latter.CHEMICAL DISBUDDING is when a caustic compound is used to chemically corrode the horn buds. It is vitally important to follow the manufacturers directions for use. Accidental

Kathleennoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15599120.post-1131351459377685702005-11-07T00:47:00.000-07:002005-11-10T21:36:40.430-07:00

When David commented about Mel and the chickens getting along it reminded me of a story Alan recently told me.Alan and Ani have been adopted by a stray cat. They call him Mel. Mel is a young, but large, yellow cat. (Herman and Mel pictured to the left) Earlier this summer Mel was very curious about Alan's newly hatched chicks in a not so friendly way. He was thinking they looked like a pretty

Kathleennoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15599120.post-1131261233957901922005-11-05T23:38:00.001-07:002009-03-02T16:40:32.171-07:00

Well, I may never know exactly how light and dark effect egg production, but I am satisfied that hours of darkness do play a significant roll. Alan may have put it best when he simply said in an email to me that, "What this means is that you can't leave the light on all night. They need a period of darkness." Well Alan, the experts agree with you!A group of scientist went so far as to put one

Kathleennoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15599120.post-1130978417971645762005-11-02T16:38:00.005-07:002009-03-26T20:09:50.052-06:00

It is not uncommon for egg production to go down as the nights get longer and the weather gets colder. Any chicken farmer will tell you to leave a light on to increase egg production in the winter. I once mentioned this to my friend John. I told him that in my experience it really does make a difference. What he said next has me bewildered.John said that when he was studying agriculture he was

Kathleennoreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15599120.post-1130455189332352522005-10-27T17:08:00.000-06:002005-10-27T17:49:40.453-06:00

This information comes from the experts. I thought I would pass it on as I have found it useful a couple or three times. Enjoy :)There is a definite "classical" method one should strictly follow while one's horse is bucking.1. Ensure that you have an audience. There is absolutely no point in being decked by your horse unless there are, oh, say a hundred people around to watch. This way, you will

Kathleennoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15599120.post-1130167154672099062005-10-24T09:15:00.000-06:002005-10-24T13:22:19.700-06:00

I have come to realize that living in the country does not always mean living in harmony with nature. When wild animals and humans share the same space there are bound to be conflicts from time to time. The conflict this week was with a skunk.Max always is barking at something in the night. He has done a really good job at keeping unwanted critters, wild and domestic, out of the yard. But

Kathleennoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15599120.post-1127111196504659442005-09-18T23:36:00.000-06:002005-09-19T13:18:42.170-06:00

Sasha and a girl friend had taken the dogs for a hike yesterday. After a nice hike they headed back to the Jeep. When they got with in about 100 feet of the vehicle they noticed something about the same distance away on the other side. There, in all its glory, stood a great, brown, grizzly bear.Even from that distance the bear loomed above the roof of the jeep. Fear swept over the girls' which

Kathleennoreply@blogger.com3