NO BULL

A couple weekends ago, this guy was on the property behind us.  He laid there for a bit watching me.

He never took his eyes off of me.  Made me a bit nervous but hey, I kept doing my thing.  Then I got a bit closer to the fence line.

Then he suddenly stood up.  He was huge.  Like the size of my old Fiat huge.  He stood there like this and started making strange noises.  He even ran a bit toward the fence but stopped.    

I texted a pic to a friend I've known since we were kids (and still helps his parents at their ranch).  He grew up around cattle and he ID'd it as a Charolais bull..a French breed of cattle.  He said there was either another bull nearby or the bull thinks I'm in heat.  Then he added "I wouldn't worry, just don't stare him in the eyes".  OKAAAAY...with that I decided it was in the best interest of yours truly to just move to the other side of the house to work on stuff instead of things near the fence line.  Sure barbed wire will work in most cases but an amorous/jealous/angry 1000 lb bull?

Nope, not gonna take a chance.  

No bull.

TEMPORARY VISITOR

At the farm, there was a visitor while I was working...

Black Baldy

...this little cow.  Note that it is on OUR side of the fence!  Well, it was a bit older than a calf but was still pretty young.  I wanted so bad to do some head scratching but alas, I guess social distancing has gone to the cows too, ha.

It came from the property behind us (more than 100 acres) and while we didn't find a fence line gap there, at the back corner where our property, the next-door neighbor's property and the cattle property all adjoin, there was a section of wire down and somehow it got through.  "R" from 2nd Family was going to get the cutie back home and fix the wire.

He's awesome.  2nd Man is going to bake some bread for them next weekend.

Look at the face!  A dear friend who's been around cows at his parents ranch for most of his life says this is a "Black Baldy" which is a cross of an Angus and Hereford.  That face reminds 2nd Man and I of a Rorschach test.

We both saw a bat, ha.  

TINY LITTLE GOATS A SORT OF INSPIRATION THURSDAY

Can animal be an inspiration?  I suppose they can be.  Recently we were watching a TV show on farms and gardening and the people owned a few of these little darlings.  We were immediately smitten...

Nigerian Dwarf Goats, image via wikicommons

This is a picture I found online of what breed they had.  They are called Nigerian Dwarf Goats.

Of course I had to immediately "Google" them to see what they were all about.  The link underlined above takes you to the Wiki entry about them.  Apparently they are quite popular according to their National Association NDGA.org.  They produce milk as well, as much as two quarts per day...though we imagine that milking them must be somewhat different than milking a regular size goat.

Perhaps someday, when we are ready at the farm of course and are there full time, we could have these...Do they have to be in a dwarf barn, grazing in a dwarf pasture?  LOL!  

ADORABLE is all we can say.

Be inspired!

SAD NEWS

We got some sad news from 2nd Family last night...

They lost Geraldine the baby goat last week.  "J" was vague on details because she said she wasn't ready to talk about it and we didn't want to push it of course.  Apparently she was sick and took a turn for the worse.  The vet came to the house but wasn't able to save her.  

They think she had a congenital defect that was undetected.  Perhaps that's the reason she was found abandoned, maybe Mama knew there was something  wrong and left her.  We'll never know. 

She was a "look at me" personality out there and we always stopped to visit when we could.  

We will all miss her...

 

BABY CHICKS

Stopped at the feed store the other day to get some fertilizer for the fruit trees and we noticed that it was that time of year...

They had two large galvanized tanks full of baby chicks running all around!

Is it wrong that for a brief moment, I wanted to just get in there with them and lay down while they crawled all over me?  Ha!

They are so adorable, that's for sure.  

BABY DONKEY GROWING UP

Thought you might all enjoy seeing this...

Remember the fluffy baby donkey that we posted about a couple of months ago?  It belongs to the neighbors on one side of us.

He (she? tried to see but couldn't, ha) is growing up fast.  Color is changing a bit too.  Getting a bit darker and less fluffy.

They all roamed over to the fence line while I was outside and wanted to see what was going on.  

I think this is Mama, as they stayed really close.  The one in the bottom corner of this picture was super friendly, letting me give it some good ear scratching.

We had one carrot left in the house and I chopped it up and gave it to them.  Not sure if the little one got any, the bigger ones ate it up quickly.  

Next time I'll bring more!

Hope you are having a good weekend.  Weather is hit and miss here.  Hot, rainy, cooler, hot again...lather/rinse/repeat.

Update tomorrow including a really pretty harvest and garlic and fruit tree updates.

DONKEYS FRUIT TREES AND HARVESTING

Since Sunday was Daytona Day, we knew we'd be limited this weekend.  Of course the weather didn't exactly cooperate.  It was drizzling rain and cold when we got there.  Low 50's.  Then it got warmer and more humid.  Sunday we made it to 80. 

Some new friends.  Two donkeys, both very friendly.  Came over to the fence to see me when I called for them.  The bigger one came right up and nudged our hands and let us pet her.  The smaller one was a bit more hesitant but still very curious. 

I worked in the raised beds a bit, it was still cold at this point.  I pulled weeds/grass from the open beds.  It'll soon be time to turn the soil, add some more compost and get ready for Spring planting (which should happen in early March).

Where does the time go?

In Spring planting preparation news, we needed some fruit trees to replace the two that didn't make it last Summer.  One of the two apples died and I found this one, an "ANNA" variety, suited to our climate...

...and I found this peach tree. It is the "TROPIC BEAUTY" variety.  It will replace one of two we have that seemed to be struggling.

Notice they are both already in bloom. I guess Spring is coming soon!  Speaking of...

LOOK! It might only be weeds, ha, but at least something is turning green.  Nothing on the mesquite trees yet but soon, it'll be soon!

And in garden harvest news, yes, we finally have cabbages!  Two of them!  The big one is perfect, it's firm and looks like a store cabbage.  The smaller one I went ahead and cut because it was the second biggest and I'm not sure with the warm temps if we'll get the rest.  Jury is still out on growing cabbage again.  The Napa cabbage we grew Fall before last had a much better harvest.  We might do that again.

The collard greens though have been great.  This is another bunch of them.  We LOVE them.  More of them next Fall for sure.  

And just for fun, he's another pic of the little donkey...  

Oh what the heck, here's another because the little thing was so darn photogenic!

Hope you had a great weekend!

BABY GOAT LOVE

Is it possible to spend almost two hours, doing nothing except watching a baby goat bounce around?  YEP IT SURE IS!

Geraldine the baby goat

We're in love with Geraldine, the baby goat that 2nd Family recently rescued and then adopted.

Look at that face!!!!

Bottle feeding a baby goat

Bottle feeding time!

I got a text from "J" and she said they were about to bottle feed her, did I want to come do it.  I about fell off the porch to get there, ha!

She is just so sassy!

Bouncing goat

And filled with bursts of bouncing energy...

...ears flying about as she hops around.  

She was sampling some grass, working on her grazing skills, and I swear from the back, with her hooves in the grass, she looks like a dog.  

This is one of their dogs, Alice.

Related?  

Little goat

Nope, she's a goat for sure.  A really cute goat.  

Her fur was softer than I figured it would be.  And her ears are like bunny ears.  Soft and velvety.  She makes the cutest little noise too.  

"R" brought some logs for her and stacked them up. She checked them out a bit and... 

...was up on them in no time. 

Baby goat on logs

"Queen" of the hill, that's for sure.

Hey baby goat

Look at that face.  I mean seriously.  We literally stood around for almost two hours just talking and catching up while watching a baby goat run around.  We can't think of a better way to spend the time.

COW AND HER TWINS

OK, cute picture time.  So a couple weekends ago, I was roaming around the property checking fence lines mostly and I saw this black cow with her baby...

But as I got close to take a picture, a second one peered out from behind the safety of mama!

Two for the price of one!  

They walked further away from the fence, wary of this stranger with the camera.  THEY WERE SO CUTE!  But they stood there, staring at me for a bit...

...and then decided caution was the better option and wandered away.  This is a property of a few hundred acres that backs up to ours.  The cows have free range of the whole property and so when we have them by our fence line, we're always appreciative of their visits.  We find cows such interesting creatures. as they really do seem to be curious.  They do however, more often than not, remain wary of strangers.

We wish they'd just come to the fence line for a head scratching.  They have no idea what they are missing, ha!

2ND FAMILY NEW ADDITION

2nd Family emailed us last week and said they had a new family member. "R" found an orphaned goat.  It had gotten out into the road, in the freezing weather, the mother nowhere to be found.  Somehow this little one survived.  He couldn't track down the owners so he brought her home.

They put her in the bathtub with blankets and towels to get her warmed up and keep her safe.  They have been bottle feeding her every two hours.  They think she's a couple weeks old, maybe right around Christmas or New Year's Eve.

Geraldine the baby goat

Here she is today, a week later.  They've filled up the tub with shavings and have a heat lamp set up.  She's doing great, though "J" said the bathtub will be a total loss, ha.

They have named her "Geraldine".   

It's a yucky weekend.  It's warm, even though this looks cold, and it has rained on and off.

Update on the farm tomorrow.  

NEIGHBORS COME TO VISIT

At the farm, as I was in and out of the barn, I kept hearing noises on the property next to us.  So I glanced outside and saw this.

I walked closer to get a better view...

And leaned over the fence to get a better look. I think there are some new ones from the last time we saw them.  Saw a few young ones too, we guess they are breeding.

They were actually friendly, these two came over to the fence and let me scratch them on the head.  Beautiful animals for sure, we love their coloring and the curve of their horns.  Very exotic looking.

Not sure if they are all the same breed, etc, but it was fun to interact with them and watch them do their thing (eat everything). Having neighbor animals at the fence when I'm outside (be it cows or donkeys or horses or these guys) is like having company over.  Plus they are fun to just have around and we can leave whenever we want to, ha. 

COW WRANGLING

FYI:  First things first...Brisbane update, he is almost back to normal today. Vet said it's just old age and his digestive system not working as fast as it used to. No blockage, just slower movement and a frustrated cat. We'll spare you the gory details but all seems back to normal now and he's catching up on lost sleep. Vet said to just watch his litter usage closely and give him the special laxative as needed.  

So this weekend, among watering and edging and general projects that I blogged about YESTERDAY, I also had to engage in some cattle wrangling...

For weeks, we've been noticing occasional hoof prints in mud, cow patties scattered around but no cow.  I told "J" from 2nd Family and she said they hadn't seen anything either, maybe we had a ghost cow.

Sure enough, captured this on one of the trail cams.  It's a GHOST COW!

OK, so no ghost cow, it was an actual real live cow.

 In our yard.

Mowing the grass.  Hmm, wait, that's not such a bad idea, ha!

But she wasn't there all the time.  A few weeks would go by and then she'd be back.  Here she is one foggy/humid morning. 

There is no sound on these trailcams but this one from the other day cracked us up. It looks like she was stopping, looking right at the camera and expressing her displeasure.  

Saturday I was walking around checking things out, rounded the corner of the house in the backyard and came face to face with her.  After a few seconds of panic (the kind you have when you "unexpectedly" see a large animal and your life flashes before your eyes), I realized it was OK.  She just stood there.  I tried to go up to her but she backed away.  

SO I went down to 2nd Family's house and got "R".  He came up with one of his dogs (Ruben) following behind.  I wished I had recorded it, that dog was so excited to play with the cow.  He would run around, she would put her head down like a bull ready to charge but he was around her in circles. "R" said that the cow belonged next door, he recognized her. Because of the dog running around, she started moving quickly.  We followed along and between us and the dog, she went right back out the way she came in. Ruben was herding her and keeping her on a path and we were there to occasionally encourage her with taps on her rump and cowboy words you'd hear in old Western movies, LOL.  It worked out well and she went exactly back through the same spot in the fence that she came in. "R" and I then fixed the barbed wire, temporarily, and he's going to go over to the neighbor's property and make sure she's in her pasture now and patch up the fences.

I was excited. "Does that make me a cowboy for a day?" I asked 2nd Man.

"Um, NO, that's not how it works", he replied.

Fine. 

She regularly came and went through two fences to get to our property...maybe the grass is indeed greener on the other side...