Beau our silver Angora wether (the only wild child in the Angora herd) was in dire need of being sheared. He is a yearling, from another Angora farm/breeder who does not handle her goats as often as we do. Hoping he will settle soon. It took both of us to get him on the grooming stand, plus one to hold while the other sheared. Well, not so much hold as to make sure he didn’t step off the side of the stanchion and hang or hurt himself. Bless his little woolie booger heart, he did the best he could to stand still. He is now sheared, up to date on his vaccinations, hooves are trimmed, had his de-worming meds and de-licing preventative. He went through the check for pizzle and hoof rot. Checked his eyes, ears and teeth. When they are the wild type like Beau, once they are on the stand they get a thorough going over. We prefer to only stress them when necessary. I imagine Beau thinks once every 6 months is too much.
His fleece was not too matted nor did he have much VM as I had expected. He did have more grease in his fleece than I expected. I was so impressed by the shiny grey silver color and the tight curl to his locks. I skirted about 25% off due to his belly, britch and lower legs being extremely stained. His bib and brisket weren’t as bad as I thought either. We feed molasses based mineral licks and the bib has a tendency to collect the sticky supplement.
Put Them to Work
While in town running the weekly errands Saturday afternoon, actually getting a plastic child’s wading pool from Wal-Mart for the pigs. Yep, it comes in really handy as a swimming hole for the pigs. We ran into Jim’s nephew with his new fiancée. Nephew passed on word of Jim being home to other family members. So Sunday the guys arrive to visit with Jim.
Jim’s theory - put them to work, they can visit while they work. They helped band and vaccinate the last of the dairy kids. Now the 3 remaining kids can move on to their new home. Matt also examined, cleaned and treated Isabella’s teat wound, plus gave her a shot of antibiotic. He seems to love to do these things. Hey it helps me, I don’t have to do it and being a para medic by profession he is good at it.
The guys worked on the tractor, did a bit of routine maintenance to the Dually and added 500 lbs. of feed into the pig feeder. The only task on the To-Do list that was not accomplished over the weekend was getting the lawn mower started.
Next Sunday is Father’s Day. Jim most likely won’t be home. We had invited Dad and Mom out for dinner, an early Father’s Day dinner. Since the guys were here working we had a nice family dinner. Jim grilled pork steak and chicken, so I didn’t have to worry about cooking much. Did make potato salad, deviled eggs, a salad and created a new dessert.
Took sponge cake cups (like you can use for strawberry shortcake) filled the center with a dessert cheese (a goat milk ricotta, powdered sugar, coconut concoction) then topped it with Cool Whip. It was pretty good if I say so myself. Light and not too sweet, excellent for a hot summer day dessert.
We also had watermelon. Watermelon is considered an outside food for Jim and his male family members. It is only allowed during Bar B Que’s and picnics. The guys still seem to find much enjoyment in having a watermelon seed-spitting contest, much to my dislike.
For Father’s Day we gave Dad a 30 qt. Outdoor fryer from Bass Pro. Most call them Turkey Fryers or Fish Fryers. I do believe he was happy with the gift. It is hard buying the parents presents. They are at the point in life they buy what they want, have collected all they need over their 57 years of marriage and normally don’t mention things they would like to have.
Jim is wanting an automatic pig watering system for his Father's Day present. Do believe I will oblige and began price comparison shopping this week.
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