First Snow Storm of Winter 2009-2010

We had a "quick" snow storm blowing through yesterday with temperatures that weren't actually THAT bad, but we got about one foot of snow (and drifts somewhat higher due to the wind). There was almost no snow accumulation about 8 miles southwest from us. That's Colorado for you.
Well, since posting pictures inline with text is a little difficult, here just a few pictures WITHOUT text. :-)

Appenzeller Spitzhauben

So, i have been thinking about posting a blog about my Appenzeller Spitzhauben but just havent had time yet...

I don't really remember how I came across them, but of course it was online. I read about this breed originating in the Swiss Alps, and thought that that would be just the coolest thing to have, with us living at such altitude with scarce vegetation and my European origin and all. the more i thought about it, the more clear it became: I HAD to have some.

I got my first 6 from Cackle hatchery in June. 5 survived, and i now have 3 roosters and 2 hens. I ordered a dozen hatching eggs from a Spitzhauben breeder in Oklahoma in July. I was SO EGGCITED when she sent me 2 dozen eggs... unfortunately, only 2 eggs hatched (thats the worst outcome i ever had when incubating eggs) and only one survived the first 2-3 weeks. I still don't know if that one chick is a hen or rooster.

I have since gotten in touch with a breeder in Switzerland - Manuela is REALLY NICE and knows a ton about the Spitzhauben.

We have been discussing the quality of my young birds - so far they aren't looking too good unfortunately, because their crests aren't forward facing but rather are leaning back a little. I guess that is a big no-no in the Old World. Manuela doesn't think that the leaning of the crest will change, but i hope that my roos will at least get those horns (their comb) as they mature... I think (if my math is right) they are only about 16 weeks old...

The breed seems to be pretty popular in Germany and Britain, but is not a registered breed here in the US. Now here is another interesting bit -I have looked into the legalities of importing birds or hatching eggs from Europe and it is near impossible! The regulations are VERY STRICT and the importers facilities have to be bio-secure, which any regular farm of course is not. it is just crazy! As it is, Spitzhauben have been imported from Europe only once earlier in the 20th century, so all US birds go back to some 50 chickens brought here by some guy back then. Bummer.

Anyways, I love my Spitzhauben, they are so fun! they have somewhat of a leghorn or mediterruienian attitude, they love to roam, free range and find sustenance out in the field, they are very easy keepers. I will probably sell one of the roos soon, and then hopefully get more hatching eggs or chicks in the spring. I dont want to order from Cackle again (their customer service really sucks - they were SUCH A PAIN TO DEAL WITH!!!) but the petchicken site has them too, though i am afraid they might get theirs from Cackle, too. i will have to ask.

If you want to see how an Appenzeller Spitzhauben is supposed to look like, or just want to learn more about the breed, go to this website:
http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/CGA/Spitz/BRKSpitzhauben.html

Here is Manuela's excellent website: http://www.appenzeller-spitzhaube.com/

New Goats

We've been planning this for a few weeks, but hadn't had the room in the barn until the whole rabbit family was moved to the new rabbit house...
We've got our own two dairy goats!
We found a local dairy goat breeder, Mary Sue Leistico, who has her whole life dedicated to her goats - or so it seems (I can just see her rolling her eyes upon reading this!)
I especially like the goat clock she has hanging in her kitchen, which, somewhat like a cookoo clock, sways her udder from side to side with the tick-tock of the clock. Very cute and so stylish. :-)
But back to the goats... Mary Sue keeps mostly Toggenburgs, a medium sized breed from Switzerland. They are brown (any shade from fawn to dark chocolate) with white markings, the most noticable the two white stripes down the face from each eye to the muzzle.
Mary Sue's Toggs are adorable - they are all very friendly, as she bottle feeds all her babies, and come with pedigrees from very good lines, most of not all her goats are show qualitity. She also has some La Manchas (an American breed with tiny or no ears in any color), Nubians (long floppy ears, also in any color) and some Nigerian Dwarf mixes.
If you want to find out more about dairy goats or would like a goat share (goat milk every week for less than store prices!) give Mary Sue a call... her number is 719-749-2226.

But - I got off track. I really meant to write about our two new goats! We now have a 1.5 year old Toggenburg we named Maya, who will have kids in the spring, and a young little Nigerian Dwarf girl we named Celia. The two of them seem to be doing well in the now free stall in the barn after some slight modifications... we built a "key hole feeder" to Mary Sue's specifications, since they tend to choose and pick through their hay and waste a lot, since they usually will not eat what has fallen on the floor and got stepped, sat or pooped on. I also made a litte 3x3 draft free low roof shelter in a corner, since Mary Sue said that they appreciate a nice warm, draft free spot, especially with winter approaching. Maybe today i will build them a little elevated platform with some 2x4s and a wooden pallet...

Callista has taken to them with enthusiam. since we don't have a goat-proof perimeter fence and the panels I bought for them are protecting the hay bale maze from the horses right now, we take them for walks every afternoon, which the goats, the dogs and even we enjoy immensly. Yes, Maya has tried eating my baby apple trees already and Celia ate down a hollyhock plant... which wasnt that big yet anyways, never bloomed and i think will die soon as an annual... oh well. :-)

Maya and Celia are sweet and companionable as dogs. The greet us when we come into the yard or into the barn. We are very excited. In the spring, we will build them their very own goat house, so we have room for babies, too, which we will separate from their mom when they are born, so that we can bottle feed them and milk the mom. The milk is really yummy, so healthy, and really doesnt taste much different than cow's milk to me. I read that a goat can have up to 90 quarts of milk (that's about 23 gallons) in a month!
Here's a bit of trivia i just found:
"...more people in the world drink goat milk than cow milk, although in the US the opposite is true. Goat milk is similar nutitionally to cow milk, but it contains smaller fat globules and as a consequence it is easier for some people to digest and it does not require homogenization." (http://www.goats4h.com/DairyGoats.html)

Doesn't all this information make you want to buy a goat too? :-)

Pumpkin Patch!

Happy fall to everybody!

We have started our Pumpkin Patch last weekend and so far it has been very successful. We have received a lot of great feedback from everybody. The kids sure love to run around the barnyard, the pumpkin patch and especially the hay bale maze!
It has been a busy few weeks getting ready for our October events, but we are looking forward to having some great tours with our scheduled field trips and parties in the next few weeks.

So far, the weather has been playing along as well... It is a beautiful sunny fall morning out there.

We are hoping to see you out here next weekend!

Rabbits everywhere!!!

Our rabbits have been very prolific... we have counted at least 10 babies in the rabbit stall the last few weeks, but they are hard to count, as the young ones spend most of their time below ground in burrows, and even the tastiest treats only lure the ones within view that are... not napping when the smell of fresh grass or carrots is wafting through the stall and burrows???

We are in the process of moving our rabbit colony from a modified horse stall into a new rabbit shed. So far, only our buck Spotty and his youngest daughter, Shay, who is not mature enough yet to have babies, have been moved over. Remaining in the old colony settings are Gustl, our colony matriarch, and her first daughter, Brown Sugar. I think the big litter with 10 babies is Gustl's achievement. We are guessing that they are about 5 weeks old. we will probably move them into the shed next week, as they can be weaned at 6 weeks and Gustl will deserve a break!!!

A few days ago, we accidentally broke into a burrow while excavating some dirt that has to be moved into the new shed... and found another nest of baby bunnies! These are just a few days old and have just gotten their fur and their eyes just opened. They are so cute!!!
We can't wait till they will venture above ground for trying out solid food and treats.

Last night, disaster struck: The stall door was left open and this morning, we could not see any young ones in the stall at all. Gustl Brown Sugar were still (or again) in there, but no young rabbits to be seen. We then found 4 in a corner behind some 2x4s. a little later, i found 2 more behind the feed bins. Later yet, i found 2 more again behind the constructions wood pile. When my daughter came out of school, we found 2 more. 4 + 2 + 2 + 2 --- great! seems like we got all the rabbits back! but what is that... another rabbit running through the barn! and that - is that another brown and white baby out there in the yard? At some point, I lost count but i THINK we caught at least 12 babies. We still think there might be one more rabbit at least out there... we left the barn doors open last night, too, so it is not surprising that not all young bunnies stayed in the barn. More surprising that i didnt see any half eaten rabbits on the property this morning!

So, we borrowed my friend's Skunk trap (which has proven useful in catching anything but skunks, see previous blog) and hopefully we will catch another baby rabbit or two. Here we had a new problem - how to lure a young rabbit into a trap, when there is a ton of nice lush grass growing in the lawn by the barn? :-) - We decided to give carrots and dried bread a try.

This might be a very weird situation where we start with 10 baby rabbits, then loose them all, and then find 12 more or to have more than we started out with!
You just never know with rabbits living colony style. More about our rabbit colony project in another blog...

Jasper the Donkey

We have a new friend at the barnyard - Jasper the Donkey! Jasper was a really lucky find - he is still pretty young at 3 years old, and LOVES people and especially kids. He comes from a petting zoo and has really good manners. Donkeys are infamous for being - well- stubborn and temperamental. We have never had a donkey before, and it is amazing how they are so much like horses but so much alike! Horses are just sooo cooperative most of the time! It surely is a fact that is not appreciated enough by us horse lovers.
Jasper is a very good little donkey though. He LOVES to get the inside of his huge ears rubbed... he will hang his head and stick out his lower lip in ecstacy. It looks very cute. He is so soft! His fur feels nothing like horse fur... he sure is very shaggy, but is soft like a pillow. A shag pillow!

My friend, who co-owns him with me, has a small saddle that we tried on him, but I didn't like the way it fit, so I bought a small riding pad for him. I think he likes it, and has been very good at giving little kids ride... for a little while. He will tell me when has had enough, donkey way, and I take his hints and set him free after a job well done. Jasper might be a very nice donkey, but he is donkey enough to not let me forget that all the work he does is just a favor to me, not because he really thinks he has to!!!

Getting Hay

It's that time of the year... time to re-fill our hay loft with precious hay. For anybody who has no farm animals, it seems easy enough... cut grass, bale, transport, stack and store.
Well, there is definitely more to it than meets the eye - especially a lot of sweat!

This year, we decided to buy the hay from a local farmer, pick it up in the field with our truck and flat bed trailer and also get it into the loft and stack it ourselves.

First of all, not all hay is the same. there is timothy hay, brome hay, both types are grass hay; then there is alfalfa hay, hay full of clover, hay with too much weed... The list could probably go on and on, it is regionally very different what kind of grasses and legumes grow best.
Most horse owners will buy only one or two kinds of hay and refuse to use other types for their horses. The protein content can be very different and have great effects on the horses health and temperament. An "easy keeper" is a horse that will thrive on a low protein diet and should receive grass hay only with just a little bit if any supplemental grain or pellets.

For the farmer, the most difficult part is to judge when to cut the grass. Cut grass needs to dry, the faster the better, and should not be rained on at all. It needs to be turned, and eventually, baled with a baler. Some bigger operations load up the hay bales as soon as they are baled, transport them and store them somewhere safe and dry, but i have seen hay bales sitting in the fields waiting to be picked up everywhere this year. Once the hay is baled, it should definitly not get rained on at all anymore, as this will most often lead to moldy hay inside the bale, which can make the hay unpalatable at best and dangerous to eat for the intended animals in the worst cases.

Another danger of wet or not suffieciently dried hay is that it can lead to "spontanteous combustion" while being stored! Slightly wet hay will decompose, and decomposing produces heat. Under the right conditions, when stacked rather tightly in a hay loft that is hot from the outside temperatures, this can lead to combustion which can burn the whole barn down!

But back to our hay. We were hauling and stacking, hauling and stacking, then unloading and tossing, and shifting and finally stacking again all Thursday long. It is so much hard work!

We came upon a hay elevator earlier this year - it's really just a very basic conveyor belt, about 7-10 ft long, that one positions with one end on the ground and the other in the doorway or opening to the loft. Then, one can put the hay bales on it and it carries them up into the loft. Ours is electric, so all we need to run it is an outlet. IT SURE BEATS THROWING THE BALES INTO THE LOFT!!!
Just for the records, a bale of hay is usually about 2x2x3 ft large and weighs anywhere from 60-80 lbs. I could definitely tell that i had been lifting some weight after just stacking about 80 bales onto our trailer, and we still had to unload and get another trailer full!

Unfortunately, i hurt my calf jumping off the completely loaded first trailer and had so much problem with my leg in the end, that two of our friends came over and helped Matt get the hay into the loft. Of course it started pouring, too, as we were getting done - we had about another 10 or 15 bales to go when it started raining dogs and cats. Typical Colorado thunderstorm.. we shoved some of the bales into the barn really quick, and used the bales that did stay outside first over the next few days, so no damage done. Thanks to Andrea and Jessica for all their help!

Unfortunately for the farmer, we were the first to pick up hay from his field, and he had at least as much more still sitting there as we picked up. I asked him what he was going to do with the bales that got rained on, and he said he would have to sell it for cheap. Too bad, it is some fine hay!