Mid-winter Break and a Lunch Date

We have a welcomed mid-winter weather break and it's blue skies and mid 60s on the farm today. It definitely brings Spring Fever with it as I have lunch in the backyard and eyeball all of the bare gardens that will be sprouting in a couple of months.

As is the norm anytime there is a meal at the backyard picnic table, my buddy Crow the big Brahma rooster shared my sandwich. He's a fan of backyard picnics and his waistline definitely shows it.

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Team Greta

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...

Snow Update: She's A Rock Star Circus Pony

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...

The winter that nearly wasn't

After basically months of 60 and 70 degree temperatures, winter finally decided to show up last night and dump a whole three inches of snow on the farm. Three inches. I know! It's like snowpocalypse over here. But don't worry... because the ground is not cold at all, nearly all of the snow was gone by noon. It's been a while since I've updated this blog and a proper catch-up is long overdue, but for the moment here quickly is our current situation: I'm still running my own full time soap business that has steadily done well for eight years now. Our herd of dairy goats is still going strong. Current count is 5 does (including Greta who is permanently retired due to her surgeries two years ago), 2 boys (our buck Tick and his buddy wether Arlo), and six babies. The kids are just approaching 3 weeks old and are all up for sale, going to new homes at 8 weeks. The Boy still works full time outside of the farm and spends his evenings and weekends doing project...

Beaman's Fork Farm Blog

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