Life on the Ranch

WOOHOO!! The first kids of the new kidding season are here. We had been bringing Little Maggie into the barn stalls at night for the past several days. In the day, we had been letting her be out in the goat yard. Well, tonight when we went out to get the milkers, there were 2 kids standing in the doe barn (the third was found dead a little later, most likely a stillborn). Soooooo, this is the beginning of many (Lord willing) kids that should hit the ground. Time for some sleep . . . . . . even though we have 2 more does in the stalls out the back door with big bellies and big udders!

Here are some more pics of the horse training that has been going on at the ranch. These were from yesterday. It was too icy to do anything this morning and, there is another storm heading our way right now. Part of the training process involves many hours of watching . . . We also got pics of several of our other animals out in the snow also. Here is Canuck, the big puppy: Kitty Boy, the big tom cat, that made the trip out from CA with us: And, believe it or not, one of my daughter's bunnies:

The blizzard of December 2009 hit us pretty good. I am not sure what the official snowfall is for our area but, here are a few pics of it the next day. This doghouse is outside our front door and got a lot of snow drift piled up on it. Here we go on our way out the side pasture to play. The hay feeder is a popular spot these days! My boot on top of the hay drift outside the buck shed:  My boot inside the hay drift outside the buck shed:

Well, it was a beautiful day outside today. There was horse-training, dog-walking and other activities going on outside.          My nephew has been teaching some of the kidos how to ride and train horses. Here are some pics of some new horses that they are in the process of breaking with him.     Later on, some of the kids were taking the bullmastiffs (  www.regardsbullmastiffs.com  ) for walks on the property. Here is one last one of Bear by the pond:

We were given a few pounds of already shelled pecans (Thanks Pearl & Ruthie!) so, I made candied pecans. How good were they? Well, there aren't even any left to get a picture of them, so I that means they were delicious! 1 egg white 1 TB water 1# pecans, shelled 1 C white sugar  3/4 t salt 1/2 t cinnamon 1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. 2. Whip egg white until frothy. 3. In another bowl, mix sugar, salt & cinnamon. 4. Add pecans to egg whites and stir to coat nuts. 5. Add sugar mixture to nuts and stir well. 6. Spread on greased or sprayed cookie sheet. 7. Bake for one hour, stirring every 15 minutes.  8. Cool & eat.

Hello all, We just started a Yahoo group called Northeast Oklahoma Hay & Feed Coop. It is a list for information of hay and feed available in the Northeastern Oklahoma area. It is also going to be sort of a "help" list of information regarding things livestock owners deal with and/or need help with , to name a few: disbudding services, shearing sheep & llamas, locat, good vets, breeding services - just to name a few. Please feel free to join even if you are in one of the states surrounding Northeast Oklahoma. Also, if you are in the area and know of a good place to get hay and/or feed, feel free to join and share the information, please, thank you! Every couple of months, or more often if need-be, we can order a big load of really nice Alfalfa/Grass square bales from a guy in Missouri. We have got hay from him before and it is great stuff. We don't have to feed alfalfa pellets or straight alfalfa hay anymore either and our milkers are doing great on it. It is

Well, it was another chilly morning out today but, all the animals seemed to be in frisky mode. This first pic shows Ace, our resident 200 pound Boer buck, trying to break through the fence (again!) to get to a doe in heat. This is Calevah, the old girl of the ranch, guarding her doghouse from any goat intruders. Here are a couple of does battling it out. After several minutes of this, they wandered over and started eating hay with the rest of the herd. We had some produce that was given to us and was not to human-edible so, the does fought over the sweet potatoes, onions, tomatoes and potatoes. Bear is our year and a half old dog that likes to try to get the goats to play with her.  And, in this picture, you see Caleb & Shamrah going at a good game of chase & chew.

Well, just when we thought we had completely left CA behind . . . we find some surfing going on . . . HOG SURFING, that is:

We have been forgetting to bring a load of hay up from the hay barn down below sooooo, we have had to go on several "hay runs" over the past few days. Here are a few pics from this morning: The road home . . . sometimes it seems LONG! THANKS for the HAY!!

We have a big Brown Swiss cow for sale. She is currently in milk and gives about 5 to 6 gallons a day. We are asking $1,000 for her. She calved about 5 or so months ago. She will stand in a stanchion and let you hand milk or machine milk her.

Well, it is 18 degrees out, the wind is blowing some and it is snowing with the sun shining! Here are a few pics I took this morning. Frozen waters!! Frozen hoses!!

Here are a few pics from feeding time this morning. It is a chilly morning out. The END of feeding time!!

I have a very talented friend. She has started advertising her Vaquero Western Art. Here are a few pics of some of her things and a little write-up about them: "This original art is influenced by gear used by early Californio Vaquero's and a handful of Cowboys today... Each of these pieces are hand done and each is unique. No two sets or pieces are exactly alike, much like the gear represented. The Art work is done in "permanent' bake set, non-toxic acrylic paint. The art should be treated with care when cleaning; harsh abrasives, excessive scrubbing and extended soaking are not suggested. These dishes can be used as decor to add a touch of old style to any room or used to spice up a dinner table or given as gifts. The brown/green hand crafted ceramic mugs display old California Style spade bits in white acrylic, Each mug $7, the set of two mugs $12. The brown/green hand crafted ceramic platter displays and old California Style bridle; spade bit, browband headstall,