Life on the Ranch

   A few weeks ago my son got a new Boer buck, named - are you ready for this - Buttmaster Rastus!!  Here are a few pics of him for now,  since I need to get off of here and help in the kitchen - it is PRE-THANKSGIVING time in the kitchen!  I am hoping to do the next letter in the Ranch Animal Alphabet tomorrow - the letter T is what I am on next!

N is for Nubian & Nigerian Dwarf          The very first goat we owned was a Nubian named Mama. She was a big Nubian that had a very well used udder! She would give us about a gallon a day. Sometimes she would stand on the stand but, at other times, it took several of us to milk her because we had to hold her feet still.  We sold Mama before we left CA but, w e have a few of her daughters in our herd to this day so her genetics have been carried on. Here is Mama:     Since then, we had many Nubians come and go. We do have several that have been with us for years now. They are great milkers, have personalities of their own and do well in just about any setting . . . whether it is the dry desert of Southern CA or the humid and moist enviroment of NE Oklahoma.      This is Vanilla - she is one of Mama's daughters. We have had her from our CA days. She was one of our first bottle babies. She is a strong goat.  ...

K is for Kids     K is for kids . We have lots of kids around this ranch. There are 2-legged kids and 4-legged kids . The goat kids are fun to have around. The bottle babies are some of the best to have as they are very playful.      With 26 goats bred right now and about 30 more to go, we should have lots of kids next year (Lord willing).      Here are just a few pics of the kids that have been at our ranch:     These are some special pics of a little buckling that was born here. He was MINIATURE for sure!! We named him Tic Tac and he is still here at our ranch.       These are a few pics of a recent emergency c-section we had to do on a Boer doe. Unfortunately, we lost the mother but, we were able to save the buckling (Fighter has become his name).

31 for 21 - G is for Goat   Goats, goats and more goats!  That's what we have alot of around this ranch. Just this morning triplets were born to a Boer doe we have. I could tell you lots of info about goats BUT, again I am running late and have lots to do still sooooo, here come some pictures for you.

It has been different having a 200 pound Boer buck around after only dealing with mostly Mini Nubians. He has messed a few fence lines and we have had to reinforce those and others. Here are a few pics from his first week with us: Here is my youngest son being a goat herder to the bucks: And, here are the bucks fighting it out for lead position in the herd:

Last night we brought in a huge FB Boer buck named Ace. He is a massively built buck that my son is hoping to use on his FB does. Here is a pic of Ace: I also went out to the garden for a quick peek at things. As some of you know, this is my first time ever at having a garden. It has been a learning experience and one that has me wanting to gather more info for the next garden. We managed to plant some various Fall crops (although, my garlic is still sitting here by the desk waiting to get in the ground!). Here are some morning pics: Some kind of red leaf lettuce from a surprise seed package we got on Ebay: More surprise lettuce: Radishes are a fast growing crop: Here is what the turnip patch is looking like now: And, just a few more shots of some of the kids doing things around the ranch this morning: