Fall is almost here y'all, and that means we have to start preparing our farm for the new season. From breeding plans to calving to pasture management, we have a lot of work to do! Our first task as we prepare for fall is drying off the mama goats in preparation for breeding. We are going to start that process today! We have been milking twice a day since April and we have A LOT of milked stored up to get us through the fall and winter months. We plan to breed our goats in late October or early November, which means we will have kids jumping around the farm next March/April.
October brings Trexy's second calf! I seriously can't believe we are only 32 days away from her due date. If y'all remember we bred her to Cornahir Outlaw, a red dexter bull, in hopes that maybe we would get a little red calf from her. I have a suspicion that she is carrying a little bull calf, but only time will tell. As far as preparations, we just ensure that we have the supplies we need in case of an emergency. Our calving kit includes gloves, lubricant, towels, rope halter, thermometer, calf bottle, oral calf feeder, colostrum, iodine, naval dip spray, chlorhexidine, and calf chains. Most of which we haven't had to use but it always best to have it on hand for emergencies. As we get closer to her due date we will watch for any signs of labor but we let them decide where they want to have their calf, unless we suspect an issue. We do prepare a "moo-terntity" stall for after calving, and if you want you a click the link to read all about What Happens When a Calf is Born On Our Farm.
Once we get through calving season and goat breeding season it will be almost time for us to rebreed the cows! We are working to move Madeline and Trexy to the same calving season to make our lives easier. Spring calves are fun, but fall calves are best... in my opinion. It also makes it a little easier not having a cow and a goat delivering around the same time.
Another fun fall task is pasture management. Sometime in the late fall we will close the pastures and keep all the animals in the barn lot, this allows the pastures to get some much needed rest and prevents them from getting over-trampled all winter long. Last year we had an awful drought and we chose not to overseed our pasture because we didn't think it would actually grow. Many farmers in our area spent a lot of money to over-seed, and saw no growth from that. This year we are really hoping that we can over-seed and improve the quality of our pastures for next year. We are praying for rain and the right conditions to get our pasture even healthier.
We are also hoping to take advantage of the cooler fall weather and finally build our greenhouse. We have all those windows just sitting in the barn ready for us to use but we just need to carve out the time to get it done. Jordan already has the area partially prepared and we have a good idea of the greenhouse layout we want, now we just need to get it on our schedule and get that beauty built.
I think that's enough to keep us busy for a while. Even with all the work ahead of us, fall on the farm is truly my favorite season! I love the cool, crisp weather and being able to enjoy sitting outside without being bombarded by mosquitos and flies. Fall can't arrive soon enough!
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