Coyote Ridge FarmsWelcome To Our Rural Blog

These Sunday morning goat babies seem to be more the rule than the exception.  Shortly after Carol dropped Madison off at the church for Sunday School, she came running into the house telling me she needs towels because Crooked Horn has a new baby on the ground.  She grabbed a towel and I followed with a couple more.

Mama giving new baby Celeste some love.

Crooked Horn’s baby was almost dry.  She looked to be 20-30 minutes old already.  Carol named the little doeling Celeste.  Since the mother’s belly was pretty good sized yet, we thought she might have another kid, but nope.  Celeste was the only one.  So far, both mother and doeling are doing pretty good.

Carol and Madison milked Crooked Horn last year and are looking forward to milking her again.  We are pretty fortunate to have a couple of these dairy does birthing this late in the year.  Carol has been talking about drying-up some of the other does that have been producing since spring.  It’s a good feeling knowing we will have milk for our customers year round.  With these new does coming online, we’ll have no problem keeping up with sales.

On the poultry front, Carol has her winter hen house walls stuffed with straw and ready to go.  It’s spic-n-span, neat, clean and comfy.  During half-time of the Vikings-Bears game, I attached the home-made, three hen :chicken: :chicken: :chicken: , nest box to the south wall.  The boxes are stuffed with straw and ready for a fat hen to start paying her rent.  As you can see, the nest box has been around a few years.

Home made nest box

For the most part, the hens have taken a break from laying, due to the weather/winter season.  A dozen or so hens will be placed in the hen house to get “reset”.  If you limit the hens to the amount of light they are exposed to, then give them more light after a few days, it will re-activate they’re seasonal laying cycle.  What takes place is that we are fooling the hen’s sense of seasons.  The short period of limited light is like telling the hens they just experienced winter… then by giving them more light, it will be the same as saying that spring is here, “Start laying.  Hurry up.”  It’s an age-old farmer’s trick.

Related posts:

1. Carol's Auction Experience