Changing goals and speed

[Goat Whisperer]

Our Pekins were, until we kicked their butt out to go forage. Our egg khaki Campbell's lived mostly off of grass. Same thing with our geese. If they are on feed our geese get angel wing

 

[CntryBoy777]

That is one of several reasons I'm wanting to get this fence done....but, the main one is to eat the dang Bugs around here like those ticks, grasshoppers, and plenty of others...along with the slugs.

 

[Bruce]

Won't be any left for you and Joyce!

 

[AClark]

I'm the same way, if it's a small load just carry it.

I'm a small framed person, 5' 5" and 100lbs.
The guys at Southern States are always shocked. Not long ago we were loading ~30 bags of feed, they stand on the loading dock and toss the bags over while I load them. I wasn't quite ready and as I turned around a bag was coming at me, I caught it in mid air with one hand and stacked it. The looks on everyone's face was priceless!

Plus, I'm pretty sure shoulders are made just for feed bags to sit on.

People think small "chicks" are weak, love to prove them wrong

Small people get stuff done! I'm 5' 3". My first job out of high school was at our local hay broker/feed store. I can't even tell you how many bales we would load a day, but it was by the ton. Bales are easier to handle because it's compacted and not a sack of pure dead weight.
The photo is of me some years ago, the horse I'm on is the size of a large pony (13.2 hands tall)

I have a lot of nerve damage in my left (and dominant) hand and arm. I had an accident when I was 8, I fell through a window, and it cut through the top of my arm and out my elbow. I had surgery on it 2013 because I lost motion and feeling in half my hand. Mostly the muscle wasting is getting to me but I try to keep active and use it so it doesn't deteriorate anymore.

That said, as long as you can still do it, do it. I get my "busy" life from my grandparents. Grandpa will be 89 this year, grandma 85, they still unload their own feed. It was just in the last few years that grandpa stopped hauling the hay and stacking it in the barn by himself, he passed out and fell off the top of the stack (we think from the heat) and we figured it's time to stop and have someone else do that kind of hard work. Grandma still lifts the bags of horse pellets, and she's tiny with a bad back. Obviously, when we're there we do it for them, but they are still capable. I think that kind of lifestyle keeps you out of the nursing home to be honest.

My quail hatched out on Saturday afternoon. I think there's 70 or so (out of 108, 30 eggs were duds, and a few had babies that didn't get out of the shell). I was cleaning out the incubator yesterday, and I heard chirping. I found 1 egg with a live baby quail still in it, but it had shrink wrapped and he was stuck. I know everything I read said not to help them, but he'd been stuck in there for days, so I cracked his shell off of him. He's tiny, and kind of curled up. He's in my bedroom on a heating pad in a box and not in with the small herd of dinosaurs. Now, I didn't have much hope for him, I figured he'd been stuck for too long, but he's looking better and moving around, and he was chirping when I got up this morning. His name is Bob (whether he's a boy or not). If he makes it, he gets a stay of execution and no trip to Camp Freezer.

 

[Baymule]

Here's hoping for the best for Bob! I hope in my 80's I am still tossing feed bags!

 

[CntryBoy777]

I really don't think I'll make it to 80, but plan on being as active as I can until I do "Check Out". That sure is a whole lot of peepers there, hope they all make it to size...especially Bob/Bobi.

 

[Bruce]

You can aim for 75 @CntryBoy777 , that gives us a good long time to enjoy your company.

 

[AClark]

You never know Cntry! It is a ton of "peepers" (funny, that's exactly what I call them). "Bob" is still with us and looks better by the day! It's still in my bedroom, on a heating pad in a box, but it's straightened out from being cramped in the shell and hops around, eats and drinks, so the odds are improving. Bob won't be going in with the rest of the dinosaurs, as he? is smaller and I'm still concerned they'll pick on him. We decided he gets raised in the bedroom in an old rabbit cage when it's time to upgrade his digs. When he's big enough, we'll tag him so he doesn't end up on the short ride to Camp Freezer. I'm glad my husband is as big of a sucker as I am, as he isn't phased by having a baby quail in our bedroom and even brought up that we can't eat him before I did.
I think that's the key to a good marriage; marry someone as weird and eccentric as you are!

Since Bob has a name and can't be eaten, here's a glamour shot of the little critter.

 

[CntryBoy777]

I understand that, for sure. We knew nothing about goats before we got our 3 almost 2yrs ago now, and since it was a doe and 2 wethers, several have asked if we are going to eat them...and immediately commence to telling us just how Delicious goat meat is. We just smile and thank them, but we got them to learn from, so they will be untouched as long as we are living. The only way we would consider it is if there wasn't anything else to eat. We have been talking about expanding and going in a bit of a different direction with it, but they will always be our teachers and pets.

 

[AClark]

I'm much the same way. We've named all the goats, and have no plans on eating them. When our two does eventually kid, their kids will probably be sold rather than eaten. I mean if I can't sell the bucklings, yeah I'll make them wethers and probably eat them, but it seems that Kinder goats have a market. I'd rather sell them off than eat them really.
It's kind of like the rabbits, they have names, and when they no longer produce will just be pets. Their offspring is fair game for food. I don't know, I don't eat anything with a name, so I don't name things I intend to eat, and I don't get them friendly. At the point they are friendly, they are pets, and I can't make myself process them. No name and not a pet, not a problem.