Vickir73
Ridin' The Range
The name of my farm is The Chunky Dunk (TCD). This comes from the sign I have hanging above my stove - 'We don't skinny dip, we chunky dunk!!!'
'Course my city friends like to make fun of me and say I've got Texas' next chicken ranch
My first love is my two children - my next love is my flock and I've found that affection is growing stronger and stronger each day for the newest addition to TCD - goats. A few months ago I got a call from my mother. "You have to call this lady! She's wanting to give away her goats and I told her we (what she really means here is YOU) would be interested in taking them." GREAT!! . . . I have no way to haul them, no place to put them, no fence, no food, no knowledge about goats, no anything - but what the heck! why not??
So I call the lady, who seems like a very nice lady. Her kids have gotten into steers and they don't have time for the 3 does, 2 of which are pregnant. Oh and the momma goat has a double teat - no problem there, right?
Well, after borrowing my brother's truck (he had a large animal crate we put 2 of the goats in) and putting one of the goats in the back of my small SUV (yes, that was an interesting trip) we finally got the goats to their new home. The girls were a bit skittish at first; however, I've worked with them everyday on the stand - brushing, petting, talking - they've calmed down quite a bit.
We have named them - Momma Goat, Daisi, and Dafni. Daisi and Dafni are Momma Goat's twin does. They were her first. Since coming to TCD, Momma Goat has dropped twin bucks, Stripe and Oreo, and Daisi has dropped a single buck, Pikachu. I've discovered I need more girls I've milked Momma Goat a couple of times - still nothing serious as her kids are only a few weeks old, but I've discovered her double teat is big PITA!! REALLY????? I can see that wanting to duct tape it is going to be very tempting some days . . .ok, fine, most every day - jeez, I'm hoping I'll warm up to it, but right now . . . .
Anyhow, I live in a small town about 100 miles north of Houston and I work in Houston. Yes, I drive this far everyday and I've been doing it for over 2 years. I tell people that I've been blessed with a great place to work and a great place to live and they just happen to be 100 miles apart.
I live on 15 acres. My family has owned the property for about 35 years. My 89 year old grandmother and my 60 year old mother also live on the property - luckily not in the same house as me and the kids, but close enough on some days, not far enough away on others Yes, I love them dearly, but I know there are people reading this that understand what I mean. Although there are days they drive me crazy, moving back home (I lived in Houston after graduating high school) was a great blessing. I get to see them everyday and my children get to know their grandmother and great-grandmother and will hopefully have a lot of memories of them when the kids are older.
My children are just turned 10 (DD) and just turned 6 (DS) and I already know that my daughter will be encouraged to go to college somewhere outside of the state - some of you will probably remind me of this in a few years when I'm telling her she needs to stay at home - but I'll right now, I'm searching for colleges over seas . . .My son will be President one day and I'm hoping he won't still want to be sleeping with me
The kids love the animals - they really enjoyed going to their first chicken show early in the year and winning blue ribbons - they weren't as happy when they discovered they didn't get to keep the $3 "we" won as prize money
Let's see. What else - well, I've had to rebuild by flock twice from dog attacks and I've started gardening this year. I've canned my first green beans and beets - super yummy!! I'm looking forward to planting more stuff this fall. I love be able to provide for the kids and myself knowing where the stuff came from and what it's be treated with (so far, in my case I haven't treated with any chemicals )
I grew up raising animals for meat and show (rabbits, goats, pigs, broilers, 1 lamb, and 1 steer) and forgot how much I missed it. For me, it's very rewarding and relaxing (although there have been moments I've wanted to throw my hands up in defeat). Until I attended my first poultry show this year, I'd forgotten how that "high" feels and I look forward to becoming more and more active in poultry showing and learning more and more about my flock. This, in turn, is of course, flowing into my small herd of goats. I look forward to learning more about them and increasing my herd size. I would love to be able to provide cheese, milk and meat for my family. I'm also very interested in adding a few cattle to TCD too, for milk, but mainly meat purposes. A pound of 80/20 beef is over $3 !!!!! Can you believe that ????!!!! It's horrible.
I'm gonna go back and reread some of the questions I could post and answer on here. If any one has any questions, please let me know, but when it comes to me, just so you know - my mind is (1) either in the gutter or (2) not far from it - I'll try to remember that I've got to keep my pages "family friendly" but it's gonna be really, really hard
'Course my city friends like to make fun of me and say I've got Texas' next chicken ranch
My first love is my two children - my next love is my flock and I've found that affection is growing stronger and stronger each day for the newest addition to TCD - goats. A few months ago I got a call from my mother. "You have to call this lady! She's wanting to give away her goats and I told her we (what she really means here is YOU) would be interested in taking them." GREAT!! . . . I have no way to haul them, no place to put them, no fence, no food, no knowledge about goats, no anything - but what the heck! why not??
So I call the lady, who seems like a very nice lady. Her kids have gotten into steers and they don't have time for the 3 does, 2 of which are pregnant. Oh and the momma goat has a double teat - no problem there, right?
Well, after borrowing my brother's truck (he had a large animal crate we put 2 of the goats in) and putting one of the goats in the back of my small SUV (yes, that was an interesting trip) we finally got the goats to their new home. The girls were a bit skittish at first; however, I've worked with them everyday on the stand - brushing, petting, talking - they've calmed down quite a bit.
We have named them - Momma Goat, Daisi, and Dafni. Daisi and Dafni are Momma Goat's twin does. They were her first. Since coming to TCD, Momma Goat has dropped twin bucks, Stripe and Oreo, and Daisi has dropped a single buck, Pikachu. I've discovered I need more girls I've milked Momma Goat a couple of times - still nothing serious as her kids are only a few weeks old, but I've discovered her double teat is big PITA!! REALLY????? I can see that wanting to duct tape it is going to be very tempting some days . . .ok, fine, most every day - jeez, I'm hoping I'll warm up to it, but right now . . . .
Anyhow, I live in a small town about 100 miles north of Houston and I work in Houston. Yes, I drive this far everyday and I've been doing it for over 2 years. I tell people that I've been blessed with a great place to work and a great place to live and they just happen to be 100 miles apart.
I live on 15 acres. My family has owned the property for about 35 years. My 89 year old grandmother and my 60 year old mother also live on the property - luckily not in the same house as me and the kids, but close enough on some days, not far enough away on others Yes, I love them dearly, but I know there are people reading this that understand what I mean. Although there are days they drive me crazy, moving back home (I lived in Houston after graduating high school) was a great blessing. I get to see them everyday and my children get to know their grandmother and great-grandmother and will hopefully have a lot of memories of them when the kids are older.
My children are just turned 10 (DD) and just turned 6 (DS) and I already know that my daughter will be encouraged to go to college somewhere outside of the state - some of you will probably remind me of this in a few years when I'm telling her she needs to stay at home - but I'll right now, I'm searching for colleges over seas . . .My son will be President one day and I'm hoping he won't still want to be sleeping with me
The kids love the animals - they really enjoyed going to their first chicken show early in the year and winning blue ribbons - they weren't as happy when they discovered they didn't get to keep the $3 "we" won as prize money
Let's see. What else - well, I've had to rebuild by flock twice from dog attacks and I've started gardening this year. I've canned my first green beans and beets - super yummy!! I'm looking forward to planting more stuff this fall. I love be able to provide for the kids and myself knowing where the stuff came from and what it's be treated with (so far, in my case I haven't treated with any chemicals )
I grew up raising animals for meat and show (rabbits, goats, pigs, broilers, 1 lamb, and 1 steer) and forgot how much I missed it. For me, it's very rewarding and relaxing (although there have been moments I've wanted to throw my hands up in defeat). Until I attended my first poultry show this year, I'd forgotten how that "high" feels and I look forward to becoming more and more active in poultry showing and learning more and more about my flock. This, in turn, is of course, flowing into my small herd of goats. I look forward to learning more about them and increasing my herd size. I would love to be able to provide cheese, milk and meat for my family. I'm also very interested in adding a few cattle to TCD too, for milk, but mainly meat purposes. A pound of 80/20 beef is over $3 !!!!! Can you believe that ????!!!! It's horrible.
I'm gonna go back and reread some of the questions I could post and answer on here. If any one has any questions, please let me know, but when it comes to me, just so you know - my mind is (1) either in the gutter or (2) not far from it - I'll try to remember that I've got to keep my pages "family friendly" but it's gonna be really, really hard