Animals Make the Farm a Farm

We've had to take a phased approach to re-establishing the farm, especially when it came to getting animals back on the property. We've had chickens from Day 1 but needed to put infrastructure in place first for the bigger animals. Wisdom demands patience in the process: first we needed to get fencing up, then we could contemplate getting livestock. Putting fence up took time, given the seasons and the fact that we were working full time, with Bob traveling a fair amount. Each time we had visitors, we took them up on any offers to help out. Bob's sister and brother-in-law, my nephew and his fiancé, Bob's sons all pitched in and helped dig post holes and position fence posts, ran no-climb fence panels and 5-strand barbed wire.

Finally we were ready to start our livestock journey by getting some goats. We lucked out with our first two: year-old Nigerian Dwarf sisters who were coming from a small homesteading operation, who had been bottle-fed and loved-on by 3 kids. They are extremely friendly and funny, with lots of personality. Poppy is the fearless one, ready to try anything and very, very interested in exploring the world outside of their paddock. Petunia is more consistent and determined to climb on anything, as well as claiming the best seats in the sun.

Quickly catching the goat-owning bug, we began to look for two more, perhaps babies. We found a goat farmer in Nottingham who had two six-month old Pygmy Nigerian Dwarf kids, a doeling and a wether. Coming from a bigger commercial operation, these two were not used to human interaction and both were terrified, especially the wether who had only recently been disbudded and banded. We had a rocky adjustment period, with Poppy and Petunia not sure they wanted to share the shed or food or human affection with the two newbies. However, apparently there's nothing that time and Honey Nut Cheerios can't fix, and now they are one relatively happy little herd.

Fencing the larger pasture happened in fits and starts, as we prioritized weekends and free time to getting this done. With family's help, by mid-summer we were ready to welcome the next iteration of livestock: some beef cows. We initially thought to focus on mini polled Herefords and found a year-old heifer, Harper, for sale not too far from us. Wanting her to have a pasture-buddy, we found a Shorthorn-Hereford heifer named Clover and the two quickly formed our small herd.

Cows must be like potato chips- you can't have just one or two. They are "more-ish". We've always liked the look of Highland cattle, but dang, they can be expensive. After seeing postings for Highland steers topping $8k, we'd about given up hope when we saw a posting for a 6-month-old Highland-Longhorn steer at a reasonable price. Of course, by the time we saw the posting and contacted the rancher, the steer was already spoken for, but that deal fell through and we rushed to put a deposit on Finn (Finnigan). He's adjusted well, understands his place in the herd, but is probably waiting anxiously for his horns to grow in so he can exert some influence over the heifers. Dude will do anything for a cattle cube, and we are hoping that halter-breaking him won't be too hard.

Our pressing goal is to get through the winter and keep all the critters alive and healthy. Come spring, we'll have to get serious about what to do with Harper: we will likely go in the direction of full-sized cattle and so will need to sell her before we bring in a bull and another heifer and steer. I don't look forward to making that call. She's full of personality and we call her our little garbage can for her ability to eat.

But that's a problem for another day. For now, we focus on feeding them and mucking out the goat shed and barn and enjoying this new phase of our farm adventure.