Things are moving right along here on the farm!
Jasper got a little attention here recently. We had the farrier out to take a look at his hooves and he got a nice new pedicure. He was not impressed. We haltered and tied him to the barn.
CJ was at his head while the farrier handled his feet. I stood by feeding Jasper apples to try and calm him down and distract him. I am not sure how often he has had this done in the past. He certainly was not comfortable with it. He did behave well though. While he did not like anyone messing with his feet, no one was donkey-kicked in the face as I suspected would
happen. You could tell he was just trying to get away. I was impressed with the farrier’s complete lack of fear with Jasper. It was interesting to watch and he manhandled my donkey quite well. He would take hold of Jasper’s leg and would not let go of it until the job was done, even if it did cause him a few bloody knuckles.
Overall, Jasper’s hooves just needed a little trimming. He did have a slight case of thrush on one hoof that we are treating with peroxide. We will continue the treatment and keep an eye on it.
Cow Cow is doing well and getting bigger every day! I can tell he is lonely and wants to play so I got him a beach ball to play with. He absolutely loves it! I could not believe it! I have CJ go
in with me (just in case) and throw the ball around with him. He pushes it around with his head, gets excited, and starts bucking all around. Admittedly, I normally run away at that point and then go back when he is calmer. It is so cute to watch him play and it makes my heart happy.
We did set up a better system for delivering water to the pastures. We hooked up enough hoses to reach the pastures. This works much better than carrying multiple buckets. This sounds pretty simple but CJ was concerned that the water pressure would not be able to push the water that far and uphill. I think CJ just enjoys working hard. I however, really do not like carrying buckets, so I tested it out to see. Works like a charm and now is the go to method.
I think CJ and I will be setting up an electric fence in the pasture to where we can get in there and do what we need to while still being separated from Cow Cow. He wants to play and even went to the extent of jumping up while CJ was cleaning out his water trough. Cow Cow had both front hooves up on CJ’s shoulders! Not cool, Cow cow! Bad cow. He is getting big enough to push even CJ around. CJ was able to swat him off and no harm done. However, if that had been me, he would have knocked me down and trampled me to death. This is not acceptable.
Due to his loneliness and eagerness to play, we are discussing getting another cow for him. I am not sure how I feel about this. On one hand I know it would do Cow Cow so much good to have company and another animal to play with. On the other hand, this is more work, more feed, more issues, and I am just not sure we are ready to take that on. CJ is of the opinion that two cows would not make any more difference than one. He often reminds me of my “just do it” attitude. I do not think that he realizes how much that particular attitude has changed! I fear soon I will be the victim of a cow gang. We will discuss the issue further before we make a decision. While we have learned a lot, there is still more to learn and I want to do better than our first cow purchase experience.
We have found another resource with a gentleman that plowed our driveway last year. He is also a farmer, and has stated that he could provide us with hay this winter for the cow and donkey. He also has a connection with a Jersey cow farmer and she is willing to come out to our farm. She is happy to give us advice on what type of hay is best for the cow this winter and any other tips that she can give us. Hopefully she can come out next week. I am excited to meet and learn from her!
The egg laying hens are doing well and back to laying eggs regularly now that the temperatures have calmed down. We did lose the one sick hen. We are still not sure what was wrong, but she continued to decline even though she was isolated from the others and had access to food and water. We are down to 5 hens now and the rooster. The rest of them seem to be healthy and doing well thankfully.
We are gearing up for the new meat birds coming in September and already have customers placing orders! So exciting! So proud of CJ and his crazy idea of farming. When he sets his mind to do something, nothing can stop him! He is achieving his dream! I love experiencing this new adventure with him, even if most of it is spent with me running from the cow!