# Farm is almost complete ......



## kelebek (Oct 5, 2007)

We raise Registered Nigerians and Registered Myotonics, but we also have a couple Nubians for extra milk.

Last fall, we decided to get chickens, and along with them came 2 ducks. Well I fell in love with them. With much talking with my husband and where we would like to take our farm to produce as much of what we need - we decided that we wanted to add to our farm and try to produce as much of our own food as possible....

So we added the following ----

10 muscovey ducklings - thank you to Ahart Acres, Lebanon OR

2 calves - thanks to kelli at beef Northwest in Quincy WA

2 Myo does - thank you Megan at Jackson Earl. Moses Lake WA

Now we just need our pigs which will be born in November.

Introducing our new additions -



















Kiss - heifer calf










Bubba - steer calf










Myo does


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## ChestnutGrove (Apr 30, 2009)

Love them all! I love ducks (currently have 14) - thoses ducklings look like they will be colorful - can't wait to see them all grown up!

Love the faces on Kiss and Bubba - what are your plans for them?

Flashy pair of goats! They are pretty!


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## kelebek (Oct 5, 2007)

i havent talked to hubby completely yet - but will probably breed bubba to kiss and then butcher bubba. but not sure yet .... may just sell kiss and keep bubba - who knows

the ducks are awesome - i am so excited - i love the almost pure black one


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

How neat...what cute animals.... :greengrin:


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## kelebek (Oct 5, 2007)

thanks Pam - my family is like "WHAT are you doing" as I was never raised on a farm or had natural meat - so they are not understanding where I am getting this - yet they are the first to say - we want half a pig or quarter cow or what ever - LOL!


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## kelebek (Oct 5, 2007)

I must say - I have never enjoyed my farm as much as I am now  Hubby actually is coming out last night and this morning and helping feed the calves. He really does like them  He keeps petting the heifer and saying - one day you will be a momma!


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## OhCee (Feb 26, 2010)

Awwww! I'm so glad that Kiss is bringing your hubby around so fast  That's awesome!


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## kelebek (Oct 5, 2007)

Here are a couple more pics!!!


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

> thanks Pam - my family is like "WHAT are you doing" as I was never raised on a farm or had natural meat


 Your welcome... :wink: Aww yep...life on the farm....nothing better that....... :thumb: .... and ...you know where your food comes from.....no guessing... if it has bad things in it...... :hi5:

Aww ...look at them... so cute.... :greengrin:


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

I'm so happy to see that Muscovy ducklings aren't hatched with those "only a mother could love them" faces! :greengrin: ADORABLE little fuzzies!

Those calves aren't very old are they? Are they a Holstein cross?

I'm guessing that Bubba isn't a steer yet if you're gonna put him to use with Kiss :wink: 
Bottle raising calves isn't much different than bottling kids...just more goes into the bottle.


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## kelebek (Oct 5, 2007)

we know that the mom's were angus - and ONLY meat breeds are at the feed lot - so we are guessing that they are Angus/Herford - called Baldy. Kiss - the heifer - is 10 days old today and Bubba the bull is 3 days old today  He is HUGE compared to her. They said in the three years that they have been there and saving the calves, from being shot at birth, this is the biggest bull calf they have every had born there. They almost kept them for themselves!

It is totally the same as bottle raising the goats - biggest difference - instead of butting your leg - these guys get ya in the butt when they bump for milk - LOL!


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

For meat..Angus/Hereford is a good cross, they bulk up fast too and the size of Bubba now just means he's got an awesome start at packing on the pounds. LOL...just wait til they get a bit bigger and can lift you off your feet when they are looking for that bubby!

Are they on replacer or are you sharing the goat milk with them?


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## kelebek (Oct 5, 2007)

unfortunately i dried up all but my one nubian - and I barely milk her.... her daughter is almost 3 months old - and nursing like a hog. I seperate at night - but only get about 3 cups in the morning because when I am in a hurry - that is the one thing that I will skip. 

The feed lot gave me a BUNCH of milk that they had them on from the dairy down the road - but I am slowly introducing them to the replacer and I was told to put a couple teaspoons of yogurt in each bottle also - so it has that in it!


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## Mon Reve Farm (Jun 25, 2010)

OMG!!! I love Kiss' face! So sweet!!!! You could just kiss her LOL

It will be your fault if I have to go get myself a little heifer now... hmmm where am I gonna put her...


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## kelebek (Oct 5, 2007)

BAHAHAHAH!! They are awesome - this morning Bubs was finding his legs and springing around.... he fell with his legs straight up in the air and looked at me like - HELLO - you better help me up!!! LOL!


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

The cute antics of calves are as much fun to watch as kids! Those legs tend to have a mind of their own once they get moving. Sounds like you are going to have lots of fun raising these babies.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

oh awesome additions from the ducks to the goats to calves - very nice!



kelebek said:


> He is HUGE compared to her. They said in the three years that they have been there and saving the calves, from being shot at birth, this is the biggest bull calf they have every had born there. They almost kept them for themselves!


just a tad confused -- if its a feed lot why would they shoot the calves at birth? wouldnt that defeat the purpose of the meat breed? :scratch:


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## kelebek (Oct 5, 2007)

That was my exact question to her when she said it. The animals that are brought to a feed lot are adults and owned by others. They are brought to the feedlots to "finish" before going to the butcher / processing plants. When the animals get there, she said that - depending on the owners - they will sonogram so many. If none are pregnant then they will just put them in the respective pens. If some show up pregnant then they will Lute just the ones they find preggers, a certain percentage, or all - but normally it is a few - or if the cow is over 8 months pregnant they will leave her. But a nursing mom does not put weight on, which in turn lowers the amount of money that they get for the animal - so they were shot at birth..... until these people took over and would pull the calves out and bottle raise them on the "sick cow milk" from the dairy down the road which is cows that are on antibiotics.


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## StaceyRosado (Oct 5, 2007)

oh thats kind of cool -- makes total sense I get it now.


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## bheila (Jan 10, 2009)

I wish they were closer. I wouldn't mind "rescuing" a few calves. Even better that they're beef breeds.


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## kelebek (Oct 5, 2007)

They are definately worth the drive .....


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## bheila (Jan 10, 2009)

Do they even charge you for them?


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## kelebek (Oct 5, 2007)

Oh yah - they do -


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## bheila (Jan 10, 2009)

Okay, I'll have to compare prices to what our hay farmer charges. Thanks!


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