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This week we lost Juno. She was two months away from turning seven, and leaves Bee behind as the last remaining from the original trio. She never particularly liked attention, but she was pretty and smart, a good friend and a good broody. I miss her terribly.

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Welp, I just wanna say the last few weeks have been nuts. That movable fencing I got? It's great, but don't be stupid like me and think you don't need an energizer for that kind of fencing and just leave it un-electrfied. I had two attacks during the day (late afternoon to early evening ish) that took me from 37 birds to 22. The largest of the 15 that were lost were 8 bantam chicks I hatched out, 3 bantam roosters (Picklepi, Claude, Bloo), 1 bantam hen (Pokey who was the mamma to those chicks), and 3 chicks who were almost old enough to begin laying. Safe to say we have a solar powered energizer for that now and moved the fence where we can see the chickens from the house.

I'm posting this to remember those I lost that were some of our favorite birds. I hope that what happened doesn't happen again, but it's also a reality you have to deal with when owning animals that every other animal would adore to eat. 😅

#chickens #backyard chickens #baby chicks #homesteading

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Cows are tough

@fixusi​ said to @ask-drferox​: Hey! I read your post on why horse anatomy is quite bad, and it was great. I snooped around online some more about it, and I saw someone mention that cows are really tough, kinda like the opposite of a horse. I was wondering if you could elaborate on what makes cow anatomy so good? I wasn’t able to really find anything online, though I’m not even sure what search terms to use. Thanks for the great blog!!

Cows are tough, infinitely moreso than horses though it’s not necessarily apparent unless you’re studying their medicine side by side. So have ten facts about cows.

Here is the original horse post.

Cattle can eat quite a lot of things that are not food, and aside from the occasional inconvenient potato which might get stuck in their throat, most of it will cruise on down to the massive rumen and just kind of… float there for years. Occasionally pointy metal bits will cause a problem and can actually enter the reticulum, and be pushed forward all the way to the pericardium (heart sack) if they are long and pointy enough. This causes an infectious pericarditis which is not necessarily lethal but is inconvenient.

Seriously the cardiovascular system of cattle is quite durable. With a horse a valid method of emergency euthanasia is to slice open the aorta via the rectum. A horse will be dead in 20-30 seconds. A cow will continue to walk around for several minutes and may even have a snack with a severed aorta.

While the guts of a cow are huge, most of it is the rumen which is really too big to go anywhere. They can displace their abomasum (‘true stomach’) but most of the time this is into a position which only inconveniences the cow a little.

Because they’re a ruminant they don’t colic in the same way horses do, but they will get bloat if they can’t burp (the rumen fills with gas and/or foam). If this happens it is an emergency, and it’s perfectly legitimate for a farmer to stab their affected cattle in the stomach to open it up and let out the gas. The cow will probably wander around and have a snack, with a stab wound into her rumen letting it vent, until the vet can get there to patch it up.

While there is lots that can go wrong with giving birth in cattle, it’s not nearly as dramatic as the horse can be. While with a horse if something goes wrong, it goes wrong fast, cattle can survive having their calf die while giving birth and being stuck, starting to rot, and then being pulled out piece by piece.

Cattle have sturdy skulls with well-built sinuses, which is how it’s possible to shoot one in the head multiple times and still not have it be dead.

Their infection resistance is superb compared to the horse. If a horse has retained fetal membranes after giving birth, it’s an emergency by 24 hours. With a cow you can leave them for days or weeks if you can stand the smell.

If they’ve busted their stitches and eviscerated themselves after a caesarian, you can scoop up those intestines she’s been walking on in the mud, hose them off, put them back in, and with treatment it’s plausible she’ll survive. We do caesarians standing in cattle by the way, under local anaesthetic.

They’re actually pretty good at having their organs outside their body. If  cow prolapses her uterus (the whole organ pops inside out through her vagina following the calf after giving birth) then it’s not certain death, so long as she doesn’t run about too much.

Because they have two toes on each foot, instead of one hoof like the horse, if they break a bone in either toe you can reasonably attempt treatment.

In short, when faced with conditions that would devastate another species, cows respond by wandering off and possibly having a snack at the inconvenience.

In addition, cattle can do some seriously weird things. Sometimes they’re born with an extra, non-functional leg. Sometimes you get a schistosoma reflexus. Cattle can throw some weird curve balls and then they just keep going on with life.

That’s not to say they’re bombproof. (Partially bulletproof maybe, but not bombproof). If they don’t burp, they die. They can bloat. They can get anthrax if they eat too much dirt. They can do some serious damage to each other, especially bulls and once they’re down they’re in serious trouble. But compared to the horse, cows want to live.

This post viewed early by my patreon supporters.

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Just chilling with the animals as they graze. Chickens are nosey, goats are trying to eat me. Lol

#chickens #backyard chickens #chickenblr #cute #cute animals #goat #nigerian dwarf goat #baby goats #goatblr #baby chicks

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Mama and babies

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It's hard to really express how big of an udder this is as a first freshener. I realllly hope next year she gives me a doe I can keep because so far she's producing so much more than Sera did as a first freshener.

That's over 3 cups of milk going by this ball jar. Wowza!

#cute #cute animals #goat #nigerian dwarf goat #baby goats #goatblr #homesweethome #homesteading #homestead #my goats #mamma goat #goat milk #first freshener #fresh milk

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Some babies hatching. Opened the lid so I could add more water to keep humidity up. 🥰

#chickens #backyard chickens #chickenblr #cute #cute animals #baby chicks #farm eggs #small farm #farmers #homesteading #homestead

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Damn Tumblr never uploaded my post. Anywhoosles Beez had her babies! Twin boy Cowboy and Gumby, born in that order on the 28/29th of March around midnight.

Also, for those who may care Beez' udder is gorgeous. I love it. Minor complaint about the teats sticking outwards a bit more than I'd like, but her attachments are beautiful imo. I can't wait to milk her in about 2 weeks!

#goatblr #baby goats #nigerian dwarf goat #goat #cute animals #cute #small farm #farmers #farm #homesweethome #homesteading #homegrown #nigerian dwarf goats

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GiVe Me YoUr ChIlDrEn

She's holding them hostage. She was due two days ago and only recently started showing early labor signs. We may have another 12-24hrs. 🥲

It's a good thing I don't have a mainstream job anymore. Have all the time to spend it sleeplessly watching the security cam for active labor signs. 😅

#cute #cute animals #goat #nigerian dwarf goat #goatblr #homesteading #baby animals #baby goats

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Just some happy babies eats on some strawberry chick mash I made them. ❤

#cute #cute animals #homesteading #farmlife #farm #my chickens #chicken breeds #chickenblr #backyard chickens #chickens #baby chicks

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When mom opens the door to the outside world for the first time in a few months. All they did was stare for a few minutes and are now back to stuffing their faces full of hay and other goodies.

And as some of you may notice, Beez (on the right in above pic) is a bit rotund. She is in fact pregnant. Not exactly what I wanted bc the only bucks I have are her half brother and his yearling son (white goats bb from last year). Good news is I may have a pet only home for any kids she may have. A friend of my aunts wants two kids for pets.

Note: yes the breeding was accidental. Buck got out of his pen bc I accidently left it unlatched.

#cute animals #goat #nigerian dwarf goat #goatblr #farm #homesteading

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Hehehe yeah it's been a while since I posted so here's some Ruthie content. I got a couple videos I took, but I'm not sure if they have good content. I was trying to get pics of them playing but... I was a bit too slow. Lol

Also got some Gatsby and indy content. I think it's adorable when they cuddle together. I also gsve Gatsby a bath last month. He's definitely ruin3d his nice clean coat since then with his... special goat cologne lol

Anyways, I'll scrub through the vids latter. See if there's anything worth posting. :)

#cute #cute animals #homesteading #farmlife #nigerian dwarf goat #goat #goatblr #dwarf goats #goat mom

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This fish tank if finally coming together in such a great way. 🧡

#fish #tetra fish #cardinal tetra #betta splendens #bettablr #betta fish #fish tank #aquarium #planted tank

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When the person who's been taking care of the animals while you work a boat load of over time doesn't check all the places eggs could be. 😂

Legit only 3 of those eggs are from other places. I'm glad they like the box there. I figured it wasn't being used so they may like it to nest in. Took some grass hay to put in there as a cushion and they love it.

#chickens #backyard chickens #chickenblr #cute #cute animals #double laced silver barnevelder #silkie chickens #farm eggs #farmers #farmstyle #homesteading

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If you're in the Northern hemisphere, then it's that time of year!

Molting Time!

That's right, every year in the fall chickens drop their old, ratty feathers and replace them with new, clean, shiny feathers!

Molting can be startling for someone who isn't familiar with it. The hens reduce or totally stop laying, and feathers start falling out dramatically. Birds in the middle of molting are often moody or depressed.

This is because they're covered in blood feathers!

Blood feathers are new, growing feathers that have blood actively feeding into them in order to nourish the fresh new feather. These feathers are very, very tender, and rupturing one can be painful for birds. As a result they tend to avoid conflict or handling, because pressure on these feathers is very uncomfortable for them.

And they are COVERED in these little baby feathers during a molt. They also tend to be itchy as the feathers sprout from their little shells and shed debris called feather casings. This encourages a rise in poultry lice population, as they feed on the abundant feather casings. Poultry lice are typically harmless, and do not feed on blood, but can make birds itchy as they crawl around. There are many sprays available that can help reduce louse population on birds to give them a bit of a rest from the itching.

Birds molt in order to replace old, damaged feathers that no longer provide protection, or are too worn for use in displaying or flight.

A bird in mid-molt can be a pitiful thing.

They look scraggly and patchy, often losing their entire tails and other large chunks of plumage at once. Growing in all those new feathers is hard work for the body that demands substantial protein, so hens often stop laying during this time. But it is well worth it!

Once they finish a molt, though, they will be covered in beautiful, soft, clean feathers that are good to last another year!

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When you need a large capacity feeder for ya birds, ya make what ya need. Holds 50lbs bb!🦝😆

Plus a kiddy pool to be able to dip their wattles in in this heat since their other two water sources are cups

#chickens #backyard chickens #chickenblr #cute #cute animals #double laced silver barnevelder #homesteading #silkie chickens #homegrown #farm eggs #small farm #farmers