Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Wow! It is a beautiful morning! There was one of Arizona's famous "sun dogs" in the sky as the sun came up. We finally had a really good thunderstorm and significant rain yesterday. Everything is wet and cool this morning. The goats hate it! Buddy loves it. He's all wet and smelling like a dog. He loves the damp and coolness. He's a little muddy too and wants to share all his good feelings with me by rubbing his head against me. So now I smell like a wet dog too, HA!

I ordered the panels and gate I need to make Falkor's new pen. They should arrive in 3 weeks or less. The dealer sounded like an older gentleman and wasn't too sure about when the truck would arrive. That is OK though, at least I know they will be here eventually.

I rescued the first tarantula I have seen this year from Falkor's water bucket yesterday morning. The poor thing looked pretty bedraggled and I wasn't sure that she would survive. I just fished her out and put her on the ground to see what would happen and went about feeding everyone as usual. After I fed Buddy I noticed that the spider had moved so then I got the dustpan to move her further away from Buddy and the cats. I put her out by the goat pasture and took a couple of pictures. I will post the pictures later. She wandered off into the grass and underbrush. I usually don't like spiders much but I cannot bring myself to squash tarantulas. They are so huge and awesome.

The chickens are out of feed and the animal crackers are almost gone. Guess I'll be making a trip to the store today. Maybe I'll go all the way to Sierra Vista and have lunch with Steve.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

On June 3, I wrote about our saguaro cactus out front. I will try to get the pictures of it on today.

I belong to the Alpaca Breeders of Arizona. They are getting together fiber from alpacas all over the state to process into useful items, like yarn, socks and rugs. I think it is pretty cool and I would like to contribute my fiber but I don't think it would be cost effective for me at this time. So I've offered to sell my fiber to the coop. We'll see what happens.

When I first became interested in alpacas, it was because they were a livestock option that did not have to be slaughtered to make money from what they produce. It's the same with the angora goats. I can shear them every 6 months and, theoretically, make money from that fleece. I have found it difficult as a small farm to do that. In this country, there doesn't seem to be a way to just sell your fleece to a mill and have them do the rest. Maybe I haven't done enough research.

My experience here has been that you must send your fleece to a mill, who charges you to process the fleece. The mill then sends the product back to you and you must make something out of it or sell it yourself at your own farm store or online or whatever. It costs $30 to shear each alpaca, $10 for each goat. Then the fleece has to be skirted (all the short or nasty stuff removed) and washed. Then it has to be boxed up and sent to the mill, at what postage costs, I do not know. The mill charges $25 or more to process each pound of fiber. I am supposed to have a retail tax license to sell anything, keep track of the taxes and be accountable to the state for that as part of my business. It is all very scary and expensive. People say you make money but it doesn't look that way to me on paper. So, what to do? Get more animals and get very busy? Or sell all my animals and forget it? I don't know. That is what keeps going on in my mind.

Anyway, I really enjoy having the animals and the farm so I will have to deal with these things eventually. As for now, enjoy my saguaro!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

On June 7, 2009, I wrote about Falkor, my angora buck. I got some pictures of him too. I tried to get a good shot of his horns which are awesome. Someone said they are a good example of "perfect" horns for an angora. They can be pretty intimidating if you happen to be at the wrong end of those horns. The horns also keep the goat cool and are a good handle for grabbing him for shearing or whatever.
Some one generously donated an old digital camera to our farm. It has a floppy disc in it. To use it I have to transfer pictures from the floppy on to a CD, then I can download them to my computer. I hope to put lots more pictures on this blog.

I took some of last year's kids so I thought I'd post some of them. This little black goat is Valentino. I think I mentioned him before. He is the first kid I ever bottle fed and he is very friendly now. He is not my smartest goat however. I like him because he is friendly and docile and he's the only black goat I have right now.

I also have Valentino's brother, Silverado. Butterfly is the only doe we had that year. She may be going to a new home this summer with some of the white kids from this year.

Friday, June 19, 2009

"Red sky at morning,
Sailor take warning.

"Red sky at night,
Sailor's delight."

I got up to a red sky at 5 am. It is overcast and yukky outside. I suppose the clouds will give us a break from the blazing sun and I'll bet the wind will pick up and we'll get some thunderstorms this afternoon. Change is good, right?

I got a check in the mail yesterday from the auction for my wild does. I got $88. More than I expected. Then I got online and paid the IRS $1000. So I guess you could say I'm still in the hole! Ha! I guess I am happy that we can still pay our bills and support our kids and animals. It would be nice to be out from under the bills though. Someday....

I better go feed all my animals now before it rains...IF it rains!

Sunday, June 14, 2009

I have been rather anxious about giving the kids their immunizations. But, today was the day. I filled the syringes and got cotton balls and alcohol ready to go in a basket. I also got out the toenail clippers, a coke bottle to safely dispose of the used needles and some animal crackers for treats. My gallant husband volunteered to give the injections because I was too nervous. So I got to hold each kid on my lap while Steve clipped their toenails and gave them their shot. They did pretty well for the most part. Mouth was first and he ended up being the most squirmy. Then, of course, he stuck around after looking for stray cookies and chewing on my shirt. Bobbin's buckling is big and healthy. He was the heaviest and almost poked my eye out with his new spiky horns. I have a faint triangle under my left eye. No blood was drawn and it was a lesson for me . I kept those little heads firmly in my hand away from my face after that. That little buck took the shot the best. He didn't move or bellow. Steve said, "He took it like a man!" Of course, he is the biggest intact male! Ha!

I decided to move Bobbin's little white doe out of the pen with the white buck, her brother, and the 2 wethers, Mouth and Bold-Fresh. The buck was already chasing her and practice mounting at only 9 weeks old. The books say to separate the bucklings from their moms and sisters by 4 months or you will have surprise kids. I don't want anything like that to happen. So the white doe is now in with Little Bones. Caramel's on the other side of the fence from them and tries to butt them both.

We had thunder storms and heat lightning toward the south of us last night. It is really windy again today. The weathermen say it is the "official" start of monsoon but it seems too early. I think they are just practicing CYA!

Wow! What a relief to have the first shots done. We have to repeat them in about 21 days but then only once a year. The new owner of the pygora kids will have to worry about them next time. And, he should pick them up right after the 2nd shot. My life will be much easier after that. I will miss the little guys though.

Friday, June 12, 2009

It is the middle of the night, can't sleep. The chickens are sleeping though. That new little door to keep them in at night works really well. No more crowing at 3 am.

The pygora pen looks funny with all little white goats running around and no big gray does. Falkor is more calm now that Lucy is gone too. The new fence is holding up well. I would still like to get Falkor into a new pen all his own. He still likes to ram the gate in the morning or whenever he's impatient for food.

I am mostly recovered from my surgery so plan to get things done this weekend that we did not do last weekend. I'm thinking of moving the pygora kids in with last years kids. That way they would all be close to the barn and I wouldn't have to go as far to feed them.

It was really windy again today. That really spooks the dogs. My daughter's dog got locked in the computer cabinet today because she was dogging my steps and did not move when I closed the cabinet. She tries to get as close to me as possible when it is windy and her mom is not here. It is so dark in the bottom of the cabinet and the dog is black so this old lady didn't notice. My daughter noticed when she couldn't find the dog. I'm glad she wasn't locked in there too awfully long!

Well, it is after midnight. I really should try to get some sleep.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

I woke up at 5:30 and got up to make myself a cup of tea. I thought "Aw! Finally, a quiet morning to relax before everyone else gets up." Sunday morning, right! Quiet, relax, contemplate my life! Yeah right!

First thing. I look out the back door and see Little Bones wiggle and squirm her way into Falkor and Lucy's pen! Oh MY GOSH! I freak! So I run out, in my nightgown no less. What to do? Lucy is already after Little Bones, head down ready to ram her good. Bones leaps out of the way and hides behind a bale of straw. Ok, Ok. So I get a flake of hay and some cookies to distract Falkor and Lucy. Then I stand at the gate and call Little Bones. She sees me and heads my way and, wham! Lucy gets a bead on her again. Off she hops back behind the straw. Falkor is watching me too. He thinks I might have some more cookies so I shut the gate and wait for him to go back to his hay. On the third try, Bones finally escapes and runs out the gate to me. I fix her pen and go in to get her bottle. Then I hear Falkor ramming the pen again! All the fence and boards are all out of wack again. As I watch, Bones attempts to wiggle her little butt throught the maze again. I grab the hose and squirt Falkor in the face. As he backs away I grab for Bones. She keeps on wiggling but I manage to pull her back into her pen. I still don't know what to do. I'm still too weak from my surgery to move any heavy fence board or fix anything. So I let Bones out of her pen into the yard. She follows me around and yells when I am out of her sight. She is having a great time.

Falkor is one smart buck. He thinks, "Ah ha! I ram the fence and she brings me cookies! I think I'll do it again!" So he does. But I don't bring him cookies this time. I squirt him instead! He doesn't like that. He shakes and snorts, then he thinks about ramming the fence again. I yell at him, "NO! you big jerk! " Then I squirt him again. Next time he thinks about ramming the fence, I yell "no" again and raise the hose. He stops and looks at me this time.

So I sit on the goat staunchin in the yard while Bones plays and tries to eat my nightgown. Falkor is still interested but cautious. I never get my tea! I'm trying to figure out how to fix this problem. Finally, my hero, I mean, my husband wakes up. I'm thinking we'll have to move one of the big green gates to fix the pen. Steve says it's too big. He is right. So he goes and gets into his jeans. He measures the pen and cuts a piece of the 2 by 4 no-climb fence. He moves the big wooden board to Falkor's side of the fence. Then he wires the new fence on Bones' side. Wha-La! All is fixed! He is my hero afterall. All this before 8am! I go in and get my tea!

Later, about 11:30, I'm outside watering plants and I hear my phone ring. So I come in to get my phone. Wow! I missed 3 calls. My shearer, Tor, wants to come and get my wild does. Great! He shows up in about 30 minutes. I called Jeff to help Steve catch the does but Tor is a pro. He just walks in the pen, grabs a goat and hauls her out to his truck. No sweat! Steve is getting good at lassoing. He did catch one of them on the first throw! Hopefully, we won't have to do that any more. We don't have any wild goats any more! Hallelujah! Thanks to Tor. He said I should get a check in the mail in about a week.

Soon, this year's kids will go to their new home. Then I will just have angora goats, Falkor, Caramel and their kids, Little Bones and her brother. I may keep Bold -Fresh and last years wethers. We'll see.

Just goes to show, you never know what might happen on any given day. We also fixed a little door for the chickens. I was waking up at 2, 3, 4am to our rooster crowing in his sleep. Now I can pen them up so they cannot get outside until I let them out. The rooster might still crow at those early hours but at least he'll be inside the barn so I won't be able to hear him. Tonight all is peaceful at Saguaro Hill Farm.

Wednesday, June 3, 2009

Our farm got it's name from the giant Saguaro Cactus that is growing in our front yard. I guess it is about 25 to 30 feet tall. I read somewhere that saguaros grow about 3 feet every ten years. So that makes ours, what?, about 100 years old? I also read that it is about 75 years before they get any branches on them. Ours has about five arms.

The saguaro in our yard has become a bird hotel! Sparrows and wrens have nests in the holes that the woodpeckers made for their own nests. Occasionally a giant horned owl will land on top. That makes Buddy, the LGDog, go nuts. He really hates big birds around the goats and chickens. I also saw a couple of peregrine falcons land in the pines out front. They didn't stay long. Mostly we have red-tailed hawks and turkey vultures giving Buddy fits.

Right now the saguaro is in bloom. It gets big white lily-like flowers on top and on the ends of the arms. The insects and birds love that. It must be like having a free buffet at their hotel! Ha!

I have just returned from Tucson Medical Center after having my gallbladder removed. It is really nice to be home again even though I didn't even have to spend the night. It is difficult for me to relinquish the care of the animals and the farm to others but I will have to do that for a little while at least. I cannot do any heavy lifting so someone else will have to take the hay to the goats and alpacas. I think I will still be able to bottle feed the kids and fill water buckets. I am thankful that Steve and my daughters are here to help out. It would really be awful if I was alone and had to hire someone. But, maybe I wouldn't have to do that. Some friends offered to help too. Thanks for friends too!

We are supposed to get sunny hot days the rest of the week and I can't even go swimming! Oh well, I will just kick back and recover as quickly as I can. I'll read a couple of good books and drink iced tea all day!