Panic over hay/Johnny Reid

Hello ya'll


We started this week off in a bit of a panic.  We are running out of hay and the fields are in rough shape.  The mild winters and little snow is not allowing the fields to grow back properly.  In addition to the fact that the spring has been unpredictable and the pasture we do have hasn't grown in fast enough.  Decisions, decisions.  When I got home Monday my honey was a little worried.  We hooked up the mule (the Kawasaki variety) with our home made mini harrow we use to drag the riding arena in fear that the fields were still to wet for the tractor.  That didn't make an impact on dragging the fields,  so the tractor it was.  To our surprise there was only one corner that couldn't accommodate the tractor.  We attached the spreader to the tractor and off my honey went,  first to fertilize and then to seed.  The horses will not be able to eat fresh pasture now until mid to late June to allow the pasture mix to catch and grow.  Poor little darlins, they are just itching to get out there but they will have to endure more hay until the fields are ready.


Tuesday was the Johnny Reid concert.  He was amazing as always.  His voice is so distinct.  His lyrics, so inspiring.  His energy made me jump up and dance and clap much to the regret of the people sitting behind me. Finally his wonderful personality shone through again.  He took special care of including the elderly and mentally and physically challenged.  In my book, if you can extend your kindness to special needs people you are an incredible human being.  You are a wonderful entertainer Mr. Johnny Reid and a joy to listen to.  Thank you for a memorable evening I enjoyed with my daughter Kaytlin.

Hockey is very boring this year.  My Montreal Canadiennes and Sergio's Boston Bruins are not playing plus there are no Canadian teams to cheer for so it's not very popular with me.  Now,  if my team was playing,  the play offs become my favourite TV watching time of the year.  I am their best cheerleader.  I also become a commentator, coach and Don Cherry's competition at home.  Everyone gets a kick out of my "enthusiasm".


The animals are just thriving.  The clover and dandelion is now ready to pick.  I spend almost an hour every day after school picking it for them.  They are soooo excited when I open the cage and they start eating fresh cut grasses.

The baby bunnies are finally out of the nest and hopping around the cage.  They were very interested in the fresh cut grasses today.  I double counted them this afternoon and there are 12 babies.  With the one that passed away this would make the biggest litter  we have had on the farm so far.

The babes at two weeks

Mommy and baby... sweet hunh

Aren't we adorable

Yummy

The chickens are doing well. One of them has been on strike since the snowstorm in April.  I have only been getting 5 eggs.  They are now laying 3 eggs by the time I get out to do morning chores.  I was very disappointed when I went in to collect my eggs  today.  After the three this morning,  there were no more eggs this afternoon.  Sergio had told me to leave them in the coop until they had all finished laying but I didn't want to leave them  all day so I brought them in the house.  I thought I had confused them and thrown them off their routine.  All is well though, my mom brought her neighbour and her grandchildren over for a visit this morning.  Mommy picked up the eggs and brought them in the house.  

Moomoo spent his first night outside last night.  I was a little worried that my little muffin would be upset or cold but I left the bedroom window open all night and didn't hear one little "moo".  This morning I snuck up on him in his pen and he was comfortably tucked in to his outdoor shelter.  He is still drinking two 2 litre bottles of  formula a day.  One in the morning and one at dinner time.  I have been told that I should be weaning him off the bottle but he is only 6 weeks old and too darn cute when he drinks it.  I will be bottle feeding him for a few more weeks or until I am ready.

My adorable Moomoo.  He is growing so much.

Here's Pepper our buck

Pepper is a handsome boy and a respectful buck. He is waiting anxiously to breed again but that will not happen until the end of the summer when  Mamma goat comes into heat. The two new goaties may be able to breed this year.  Goats will stay in heat until late November so hopefully they will be old enough to go into heat this year .Pepper has his moments where he gets up on his hind legs and looks like he's going to charge but we have that pretty well controlled.  He did head butt Cujo last week and THAT did not go over very well.  Cujo was very insulted. He began growling and when Pepper didn't back off he nipped him in the ear.  Lesson learned Pepper.  DON'T mess with the boss.  Needless to say, he hasn't bothered Cuj since.  Our old puppy does his job very well.  He is irreplaceable.

Mamma Goat is feeding only one baby.  The other one was sold two weeks ago so her udder is quite full. Her baby is due for harvesting this week end so I am hoping that she will accept the two new baby goats.  I am not very optimistic though.  Speaking of the baby goats, Nina the youngest has developed diarrhoea.  Thanks to Google, I was at the pharmacy last night buying pedialite and peptobismol in order to try and control it.  She had no other symptoms of anything more serious so let's hope she shows some improvement in the next few days.  It was quite comical though..  The pharmacist said she hoped I felt better as I was paying.   I told her that the medicine wasn't for me but my baby goat.  That sparked great conversation with her and the lady behind me.  I love talking to others about my babies.

With the warmer weather this week, the horses are losing hair like crazy.  Tonight we groomed Scottie and Booboo.  They were so handsome when they had a good brushing.  Sergio thought he'd hop on Scottie and go for a trail ride.  It was a nice day for it.

Have a good week end ya'll!!!  Talk to you soon.