What to say, what to say

The stanchion is not yet built. But, Patch has become more comfortable with us, and we or I should say my husband, can milk her without the stanchion. I however am still getting kicked.

Mama should be in heat according to the charts, but I have not seen any mounting from Lott.

Winter garden time!

Today I will be tilling up the ground. You need a north side wind block and south side sun. Got that behind my house. Till it and pluck out any roots clumps. Cover with a black landscape tarp and wait a few days, allowing the soil to warm up a bit more. I'll tell you the rest later.

Not sure what else to tell you. You have all been rather quiet, but I see you.

Help on the homestead

I was asked how does one get their own squatter. It's simple really. We just happened to know ours.

I know a few homesteader's that will advertise for help. They trade work for room and board. Just remember that a lot of the people that will answer this type of job are running away from something, so be prepared to deal with those issues. You can look up to see if they have warrants, before allowing them to move onto your property.

I can't tell you what to look for. Sometimes your gut will let you know if you should allow this person to stay around, sometimes not. You want someone that is willing to work, not for money, but for food and shelter. Down times, like winter would be a great time for your help to get work, save up his or her money for extras during the long spring, summer and fall work schedule.

Make sure that you tell them the rules of your 'stead up front. Include everything, even common sense rules, from drinking, to if you expect them to attend church with you. You will also need a zero tolerance policy, and boot them out with any infraction. Just don't be hypersensitive, mistakes do happen.

There isn't medical help when it comes to this type of help. You can be up front about this, you can offer to help them seek out state help. Also remember that you will be required to pay for medical expenses should the help get hurt on your property.

It is just like someone apply for a regular job, make sure you interview well. Do all the necessary checks that make you feel comfortable. Other than that, be careful. Homestead help can be wonderful or a nightmare. Another option is look for urban dwellers that are interested in learning to homestead. You can get weekend help this way in exchange for canned goods, or a promise of living on property should things get really bad. (this topic will be covered more over on women not dabbling, long term Urban/suburban prep)

How to Milk a Goat, for the 1st time

Pictures would come in handy here

Last night was our first try at milking Patch. We do not have a stanchion built, yet. My husband did pull out the supplies to build one last night however. We tempted Patch with some food, and lead her up the ramp that the other goats use to get drinks from the cattle tank.

I used warm water like I do on my cows, and washed her udders as good as I could, then dried. The entire time being kicked by little hooven feet. I scratched her belly like I do with my ladies before milking them, and that seemed to calm Patch down a bit, until I attempted to grab me a handful of teat. I was kicked. Patch apparently needs dinner and a movie before I am allowed to get fresh with her. She continued to side step away from me, until she was in my husband's lap. I was having a real difficult time getting her started. I did it just like the family I bought her from did, well, I guess not. My husband however, got it the first try. So I allowed him to get it going. But then he didn't stop.

I held Patch's collar as my husband got fresh with Patch. No, I'm good, I wasn't jealous of Patch. She would kick him, then slowly raise her leg like a dog about to spray, and stand there for a few seconds, before kicking. I don't know if she yet knows if we are to be trusted. It is a lot like milking a cow, except you have to gather more of the teat in your hand, and there is really no pulling down, just squeezing.

We got almost 2 quarts of milk from her last night. I filtered it and placed it in the freezer for 1 hour, just as I was told to do to help with the goaty flavor. It doesn't smell any different than cows milk. It's even a brighter white than what my ladies give me. It is in my coffee right now. I will bring up the courage to do a shot of it here shortly. I know, wuss.

This evening a stanchion shall be built.

on another note. My husband discovered the "OH MY" spot on Lott. He likes to be scratched really roughly behind the horns. We have a slight issue with him trying to get into the barn when I am milking in the mornings, so I have taken on tricking him with feed like I have to do with Mama (who should be going into heat any day now) We are also prepping for a harvest dinner. If you would like to join us, email me, and I will tell you how to get here, and when it is. The only thing I ask is that you bring a locally made beverage, and a chair.

Had to share

Meadowlark sent this one to me. I had never heard it, and thought some of you would get a kick out of it.

A Montana rancher got in his pickup and drove to a neighboring ranchand knocked on the door. A young boy, about 9, opened the door.

'Is yer Dad home?' the rancher asked.

'No sir, he ain't,' the boy replied. 'He went into town.

'Well,' said the rancher, 'Is yer Mom here?'

'No, sir, she ain't here neither. She went into town with Dad.'

'How about your brother, Howard? Is he here?'

'He went with Mom and Dad.'

The rancher stood there for a few minutes, shifting from one foot tothe other and mumbling to himself.

'Is there anything I can do fer ya?' the boy asked politely.'I know where all the tools are, if you want to borry one. Or maybe I could take a message fer Dad.'

'Well,' said the rancher uncomfortably, 'I really wanted to talk toyer Dad. It's about your brother Howard getting my daughter, PearlyMae, pregnant.'

The boy considered for a moment. 'You would have to talk to Pa about that', he finally conceded. 'If it helps you any, I know that Pa charges $500 for the bull and $50 for the hog, but I really don't know how much he gets fer Howard.'

HA! Now I know what to say if I end up in this situation with one of my boys

Oh the Drama!

Lott the bull has calmed back down. He is bored with following the horse, and the sheep and goat won't play with him, so he is done with them. He is now all cuddly with Edie. Mama is not a foreplay type of gal.

Our good neighbor came over yesterday. He helped fix part of the fence that the neighbors horses keep folding in half. We got the back up and strung some horse fence. We decided against the bull wire, we aren't going to need it. Lott likes to walk up to the fence and make, "come out and fight" noises at the horses. But the horses are now board of him, and he gets ignored. We figured that will stop shortly as well. He didn't butt into the hay bale last night, instead he was willing to roll over and play dead for a cookie. Everything is now nice and calm, the only "incident" was that Lott dragged off the good neighbor's ladder.


It is a lot different than it was the day before. My post on Lott's first night worried the owner. Which I can understand. She asked one of the family cow boards if this was normal behavior. I attempted to reassure her that it was. I will say there is a good reason I don't do those types of boards, the drama gets to me. I was a little ticked when a woman started scream typing in response, telling the owner I was uneducated and that she should go get the bull and bring it back right now. But then I got a good giggle. Lott doesn't need meds, this woman does.

Yesterday I went to look at the dairy goat I was telling you about. It's nice that lately my livestock has been coming from fellow homesteaders, rather then large scale farms.

Her name is Patch, she has one horn due to the previous owner (not the one I bought her from) had an issue with dehorning, one grew back. She has been well milked, as you can see. She may or may not be bred, we have another 2 weeks before she goes back into heat.

The mother and daughter showed me how she jumps right up on the table, and how she should be milked. We loaded her into the cage and then into the back of the truck. We discovered that she had a little gas on the way home, as the back window was open and she was more comfortable facing backward. My seven year old was laughing so hard, tears were streaming down his cheeks. At some point we got into "what would you do for a Klondike Bar" turns out he won't do too much.

Once home she hoped right down and walked into the goat pen. Poor girl was shaking. Until that is, she saw all the boys who came running out to see the unicorn. Then Patch was fine. She followed the boys around the pen when they grew tired of the new pet. She wasn't going to leave their side. She was not happy to see Dora and Donkey. Dora was blase about it. Donkey was more terrified than Patch. No one touched noses, no one met. We will see what they are doing when we get out there when the sun finally comes up. Patch jumped when Edie mooed, and she did come nose to nose with our youngest calf, Urth. She seems to be more of a people goat than anything else.

He needs Medication

I am exhausted. Plum tuckered out. On Friday I drove 40 minutes to my husband's work, only to be put to work pulling motorcycle parts out of a shed. Saturday I went back to the shop for the open house, if you are interested you can read more about Broadway Street Bike's open house, here.

Sunday we went and picked up Lott. We had to borrow the pick-up from our squatter (he still hasn't found an engine for my truck that is to pay his rent). The ball hitch had to be changed out to fit the horse trailer. We got up early, but didn't get on the road until 1130am. Our youngest son went with us. We made good time, and didn't run out of gas. Lott's owner's are great people, and the men had Lott on the bus in no time. We chatted a bit before heading out. ( she brought up a few subject that she would like me to talk about in detail)

The drive home was interesting. You could feel Lott shifting in the trailer. We stopped at the toll booth the pay our bill, when suddenly the entire truck shook like it had been hi by straight line burst of wind. The toll worker looked at us with huge eyes. Lott had lunged into the side of the trailer, shaking all of us. We shrugged at the toll booth worker, and said he was getting restless.

We pulled into the drive, then out into the field. My ladies stared at us for a moment until I called them. They came running. We let Lott out with our neighbors over to gawk. Lott eased out, more interested in the horses that had ran up to the fence to see what was going on, then the ladies that stood a few feet away. Urth, our youngest calf, ran up to him first. They stood nose to nose for a moment until her mother, Edie, got nervous and ran in between the two. She smelled Lott, then waved her horns at him, and took Urth off. Lott tried to follow her until Uma, the oldest calf came up with her mother, Mama, in tow. Mama and Lott hit it off. She should be coming into heat soon. But then Sunny came into the picture, and Lott decided to follow him around the field. Lott got kicked once, but that didn't even slow him down, he continued to follow the horse around the field. I have a feeling that Lott had never been around horses. Sunny has been around cattle his entire life, but I am a little concerned about Lott and what he might do. Today we will pull Sunny out of the field, just to be safe.

I have decided that Lott has ADHD. He doesn't seem to be able to keep his attention on one thing. He will follow Sunny out into the pasture, then get lost and not know how to get back up to the corrals. So he makes this cute, husky moo, trying to get the ladies to answer him, but they ignore him. Urth will run out to see what he is doing, he will spot her and start running back, but then the other horses will catch his attention, and he will run back out to the field. I assume he has never been exposed to goats and sheep before either, because the next thing you know, he is chasing them around the pasture. He gets lost, and calls out again.

We have a couch and a love seat stacked up next to the panel fence. It has been sitting there for awhile, waiting to be burned. The girls like to rub on it, so we haven't been in a rush to burn them. Lott discovered them, and in quick order had that love seat on his back. He dragged it out, and had been playing with it ever since. He is sharpening his horns on it, preparing to defend his new ladies from other suitors. We decided to leave him the couch and love seat out in the field, hopefully to distract him from tearing up our fence posts. We don't have the trees for him to sharpen his horns on.

My husband lit a fire last night. We had to burn a few things. Urth was mesmerized. The poor girl will be a pyro if we don't watch it. She would just stand there, it had to be hot, and watch the fire. My husband brought in a square bale for the ladies and Lott to nibble on. As soon as he walked through the gate Lott was right there, sticking his horns into the bale my husband was carrying. My husband had to push back, several times, to be able to stay standing and defend himself. Lott isn't as docile as he was pretending to be at Blessed Nation Ranch. He did allow my husband to scratch his head for a moment before shaking his horns at him.

Lott also flipped the banny coop.

Today we are going to do a bit of rearranging. Our peaceful coexistence is no more. Lott isn't use to this kind of atmosphere, so we need to make it safer for everyone. I am also going to pick up some bull wire today so he doesn't chase the horses through our fence. That is the last thing I need. My ladies are use to be herded by horse, Lott however, doesn't seem to have that respect (hence the thought he might have never been exposed to it)

Once again I find our homestead in chaos. Restructure once again is a must. But this is only temporary, Lott will go home at the end of October.

I had pics on a cell phone of Lott with the ladies and the love seat on his back, but they haven't shown up on my email. If I ever see them, I will post them.

edited to add as the owner is concerned. This is normal behavior. He is just testing his boundaries, showing off for the ladies, letting everyone know that he is the new boss, and he is just playing with some new toys, like the couch. He has not made a threat towards anyone. The docile comment was tongue and cheek. Lott will be just fine, give him a few days and he will settle down with the destruction part of the attitude and enjoy some of his new toys.