About three weeks ago, the Lord granted another set of goat kids, this time to our full Nubian goat Betsy. She gave birth to two little bucklings, which are also full Nubian; and we decided to call them Stanley and Ollie.
Here they are shortly after being born:
And here they are now (Ollie on the left in the first picture; Stanley on the right; vice-versa in the second picture):
And here’s their moving picture:
Full Nubian Goat Betsy with New Full Nubian Bucklings Stanley and Ollie
We are again very grateful to the Lord for granting these provisions; and we again pray for guidance in raising them and continued provisions for the herd.
Almost a year ago in August, Dave and I were looking to sell our pure Nubian buck, Donny. We said in our ad that we would also consider a trade for another dairy buck. A local man called us and said he had sold all of his bucks; however, we discovered he had a LaMancha-Saanen dairy doe he was willing to trade, which, he said, was pregnant and expected to drop within a few weeks. We were very satisfied with that deal. The name they had given her was Hannah, one of my favorite names; so we decided to trade for her and keep that name.
Well, those few weeks came and went; and it didn’t take long to figure out Hannah was not pregnant, and we think possibly hadn’t been before, based on the size of her “bag” (udder); but we weren’t sure. Anyway, we were disappointed but so pleased with Hannah’s disposition and gentleness. She has been easy maintenance and a joy to have, for a goat. 😉
We put her, along with our other eligible does, in with our buck, Shatner, in early December. About four months later, we noticed Hannah’s little udder starting to puff out a bit, then a bit more, then a bit more, until we were very excited at the prospect that she was pregnant. We narrowed down her potential delivery date to sometime in early May. Her bag had become so large and engorged we knew the time was getting near. One morning, I went out to milk and noticed her bag had gotten bigger overnight; and I was cautiously optimistic that this might be the day! So I decided to prep the sheds with fresh hay for her, just in case, and took our digital camera with me to chronicle the day:
LaMancha-Saanen Doe Giving Birth to Half Nubian Buck
I have been somewhat protective of Hannah since we got her because she is low on the totem pole and her gentle disposition makes her a default bullying target for the stronger does. And assuming this was her first kidding, I asked, if it be His will, that the Lord would allow me to be present for her delivery. Some goats like the moral support of their owner by their side, and it seemed Hannah appreciated me being there. So I was very thankful that He granted my request, and I was excited that some new neighbors came by to visit right when Hannah was going into hard labor, and they had the opportunity to witness it as well.
It is now several days later, and our new “kid” on the block, Wahlberg, is doing just fine. Again, we want to be careful to give God all of the credit and glory for perpetuating our goat herd:
Once again by His graces, the Lord has granted a new calf to our Longhorn cow Rosa, a little bull calf. He comes from the bull we’re are borrowing we call Toreo (because he’s a bull that looks like an Oreo cookie!). And so, we decided to call this new little bull Rosoreo.
Here he is in the center:
And here is a video:
Video of New Longhorn Bull Calf Rosoreo
As always, we are grateful to God for His continued provisions, and for this one, in His graces and mercies.
Well, it’s about that time! Almost 150 days ago, we started putting our older does in with Shatner, our billy goat. Actually, Sue put Winnie in with him a little earlier than the rest because she looked like she was in heat; and apparently she was, because she just “dropped” (slang for giving birth) two new kids — two females.
Sue and I have both sung in barbershop quartets in the past, and so we thought we’d call them Adeline and Nellie. (Can you guess the songs?) And so, here is Adeline on the left and then bottom, and Nellie on the right and then top, in the two pictures, respectively:
And here’s a video of them (they’re about a week and a half here):
Video of New Goat Kid Does Adeline and Nellie
Once again, we are grateful to the Lord for granting this provision, and a safe delivery; and we look forward to any goat milk He grants from Winnie once we start milking her.
When we bought some new chickens late last year, two of them were game hens. Well, apparently they’re good setters, because we’ve now had a second one go broody (here was the chick from the first hen); and the Lord graciously granted some new chicks to be hatched!
And here they are:
This is something of a big deal to us, because, in our desire to separate unto God and His direct providence, if we’re to have animals and their products, we need them to perpetuate; and having chickens that do that has been spotty at best, because most of the ones we’ve had don’t sit.
And so, we are thankful to the Lord for His granting of these new chicks and hens that are good setters; and we pray the female chicks pick up the sitting trait so they can continue to propagate here on the farm, according to God’s will.
The Lord granted our first calf this year, a little heifer calf, to our cow Carlita. As you can see, she’s a light tan, and so we’re going to call her Caramela, which is caramel in Spanish:
And here is a little video:
Video of New Longhorn Heifer Calf Caramela
We are grateful once again for God granting continued perpetuation of the cattle here, and for the granting of this new heifer calf. We pray for God’s glory in her, and wisdom in raising her.
Recently, Wilma, our gilt started to look very pregnant; so I put the farrowing “runners” in the shed; and we looked forward in anticipation to the day.
Well, this past Monday evening, I went out to feed the pigs; and lo and behold, a little piglet was running around:
Wilma the Duroc Sow in Labor
We were excited the process had begun. However, minutes went by, then hours, and no other piglets. We started to look online to try to investigate the situation: some sites said they should be coming out every 15 minutes or so, some said up to and hour, some longer. After several hours (which included the several it looked like had passed before we even found the piglet, as the piglet was very dry, and its umbilical cord was already dry), we decided to try to check if we could find a piglet in the birth canal and pull it out. We found it about five to six inches in, but were unable to grab onto it in any way. We solicited help from the Bunkers, who have dealt with pulling animals before; and they worked for a couple of hours trying to pull the piglet out, but could not. We even tried using salad tongs. When we couldn’t get it out, we thought we’d leave her for the night, and see how things were in the morning, as maybe she would pass it. We also pulled the born piglet out of the pen and took it with us, so it would be warm (as there were no other piglets and her mother was incapacitated and in labor) and not get squashed or that other harm might come to it.
The next morning, there was no change. I called the vet, and he suggested we either need to get the piglet out, or bring her in for a C-section, or euthanize her. He also suggested that by then, the unborn piglets were probably dead. We weren’t going to bring her in for a C-section (he even suggested we not do that for economic reasons); and so we tried various other things, including pliers, to try to get the piglet out, all to no avail.
At this point, there wasn’t much left. We spent several hours going back and forth, trying to decide if we let things be and see what happened, because maybe she’d pass it; or butcher her, losing the sow we had thought maybe about having for a couple of litters. After prayer and lots of indecision, we made a decision. This video could be a little rough if you’re not used to this. Sadly, this part of the process didn’t go as we had hoped — it usually goes better than this:
Slaughtering Wilma the Duroc Sow
As I mention in the video above, the plan was to kill her and quickly get to the unborn piglets, in an attempt to get them out and breathing. Here was that process, which I believe no one around here as done before (at least with the people participating). If you’re squeamish, this one is pretty intense:
C-Section of Wilma the Duroc Sow
And then it was to the butchering station:
Butchering Wilma the Duroc Sow
It was a rough couple of days. Sue was up about every hour the first night (and has been similarly since) tending to the piglet, and the whole ordeal was fairly stressful.
But, the Lord, in His graces and mercies, allowed a successful butchering, which appears to have yielded quite a bit of meat and fat; and He has graciously granted a new piglet — His providentially perpetuating the species. The new little piglet didn’t have to be the first one out — she could have been behind the stuck one, and so we are very grateful.
And yes, I said “she” — it’s a female piglet; and because her sire’s name was Fred, and her dam’s name Wilma, we’re calling her Pebbles. And here she is:
Wilma the Duroc Sow’s Piglet Pebbles
I know some of these videos could be somewhat shocking if you haven’t seen or been around these kinds of things before, but I wanted to include them so you all could see some of the experiences that are part of life here on the farm.
Another aspect about being here on this farm is that we are part of a community of like-minded brethren. I was able to put out a short-notice solicitation for help with the processing of Wilma the pig, and many folks showed up, representing every household that had someone available. That is a lot of the reason we are all here: Christians serving their (spiritual) family.
Finally, once again, we thank the God of creation for His graces and mercies, and allowing us the provision of this new piglet; and we pray that He might grant this little piglet to grow and be a productive part of the homestead and community, as He might will.
Heb. 11:8-10 - "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."
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