Beaman's Fork Farm Blog

Friday, February 9th started off as a normal day in the barn, but as I was doing chores and feeding the horses and goats, I quickly suspected that Greta, one of our La Mancha goats, was showing early signs of labor. It was her due day, so I wasn't surprised. I removed her from the herd and placed her into one of the three kidding stalls in our barn so that she could have some peace and quiet. Four hours later at 10:46am, she delivered two beautiful big twin boys. As per her normal (this is her third year with babies), she was quite proud of herself and insisted on showing them off to me nonstop. The twins were up and wobbling around in no time and Greta was a busy mom fussing over them. Saturday morning was uneventful and Greta and her twins were comfortable in their kidding stall, but by early afternoon, something wasn't right. Greta wasn't finishing her meals and she just seemed tired. I took her temperature at 3pm and it was normal -- 101.9 -- even though she...

Kidding season is here and if you are interested in a 2018 baby, this is where you will find the most up-to-date info aside from talking with us directly. We do not sell babies to single goat homes. Goats are herd animals and need to be with at least one other goat. Buyers must already have a goat, be in the process of buying a second goat (baby or adult) or buy two of ours at once. All of our babies are disbudded, CD&T vaccinated, and come from a CLOSED CAE NEGATIVE herd. PLEASE NOTE: Expected wean dates listed below are approximate! We take deposits for babies on a first come, first served basis. Please scroll to the bottom of this page for information pertaining to each dam and sire. If you have any questions, please email thefarm@beamansfork.com or call/text 252-349-0004 ↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓ 2018 Kidding Season $50 nonrefundable deposit to hold - Click photo to enlarge DAM x SIRE BREED KIDDING DATE BOYS GIRLS Matilda x Tick 100% Lamancha...

Here you will see Cliff (aka The Boy) install a package of bees the simple way here on our farm. This isn't the ONLY way to do it, but it has worked very well for us and has become our preferred method. We find that the bees don't get nearly as stressed.

Kidding season is in full swing here and if you are interested in a baby, this is where you will find the most up-to-date info aside from talking with us directly. We do not sell "bottle babies". All of our babies are raised naturally by their mothers, handled daily, and weaned around 8 weeks of age. The only exception would be situations where that is not possible due to unforeseen emergency situations. We do not sell babies to single goat homes. Goats are herd animals and need to be with at least one other goat. Buyers must already have a goat, be in the process of buying a second goat (baby or adult) or buy two of ours at once. All of our babies are disbudded and come from a CLOSED CAE NEGATIVE herd (most recent test date Jan 2017). For biosecurity reasons, we do not allow public access to our farm or animals unless you are buying a baby. We want to insure that your baby comes to you strong and healthy! PLEASE NOTE: Expected wean dates listed below are approximat...

Rule #1 of living on a farm: Things rarely, if ever, go as planned. You would think that by now I would know this but, to be quite honest, I think there is something in my brain that just completely ignores it and goes on a coffee break. The arbitrary "plan" was that we really wouldn't expect any baby action in the goat world until Friday or Saturday, but... So my Monday morning started off like every work day morning: I'm a semi-early riser by default, I stumble down the stairs toting mini blind dog Marla in one arm and a water bottle in the other, trailed by my 100 pound white fluffy Pyrenees sidekick Casey (who would sleep until noon if left to her own devices), to greet my earlier rising husband who has been up for at least an hour. And Seife. Oh, bouncy bouncy getupinyourbusiness soap dog Seife. He's always that way too cheery one in the morning. Fast forward a few minutes and I have coffee in hand, mini dog has been walked, slippers have been traded in...

After taking more than a year off from raising chicks, our first little fuzzy munchkins arrived last week via USPS from a hatchery in Iowa. I ordered them late last fall for their first 2017 delivery date, and instead of going with our usual production layer breeds, I opted for the rare breed section and pretty much just kinda sorted ordered two of everything. Looks like we will have an interesting flock this year but that's not really what I am here to talk about. Living on a farm of any size, especially with livestock, is a lot of work every single day. Goats, chickens and horses don't take holidays off and neither do you; you have the same morning, noon, and evening chores no matter if Santa is flying in or a hurricane is blowing through. Throw in elderly animals with special needs (we've got two horses well into their 30s and a blind dog with congestive heart failure), and you've got an additional element of care and attention on your list. Sometimes you ne...

Our original plan (with our vet) was to wait until this fall to test Snow for Cushing's Disease because the test would be more accurate. However, despite the diet change, supplements, restricted pasture access and constant monitoring, Snow has continued to have Cushing-type symptom issues, including increased hoof tenderness. (If you're jumping in now and don't know the back story, we found our 30+ yr old miniature horse Snow having a seizure in her stall in July. You can read about it here.) We have been consulting constantly with our vet through the whole ordeal and we made the joint decision that we should go ahead and test her as soon as possible as well as x-ray her hooves to look for the beginnings of any rotation. Of course we have Hurricane Hermine moving in on us, but Dr. White was determined to get this done sooner rather than later so we can start treating her with the medication she needs if she is positive. [caption id="attachment_2071" align="al...

This past Saturday was going like any other -- I had just gotten home from selling soap at the local farmers market, my car full of the stock I brought back with me, I was a hot and sweaty mess, and ready to relax. It had been a busy week and an equally as busy market day and I had been looking forward to putting my aching feet up for a couple of hours of quiet time. I got out of my car and before I went inside the house, I remembered that the horses were in their stalls because severe storms had been threatening to blow through, but the weather was clearing and they could safely go out and stretch their legs for a few hours. I walked down the long aisle way of the barn to the stalls in the back where Pebbles was sticking her head over the gate watching me and quiet rustling noises were coming from Snow's stall. And that's when I saw it. Snow, our miniature mare, was facing the back of her stall, wobbling on her back end, and jerking her head rhythmically up in the air, almost ...

If you haven't seen already, we have a YouTube channel that has been pretty active lately... Don't forget you can subscribe to our YouTube channel and keep up with all of our new stuff and silly farm shenanigans!