Photos of livestock

[Lyds]

Great pics - love that expression.

[Guest]

Great thread Naomi I really enjoy seeing other peoples' livestock pics, lets have more!

Lynda

[Imp]

Ohh, I forgot to log in, I'm appearing as 'guest' above... Having a funny 5 minutes

Lynda

[Naomi]

Well to keep it going here's a few more photos of my lot.
Broody buff sussex My old mare Daramis
A couple of my ducks
There's loads more but I am likely to bore you to tears.

[ina]

My first attempt at posting pics! Haven't worked out yet how to make them any smaller, but they seem to appear ok, so let's leave the editing for next time.



This is my cat Frankie - I hope she's still my cat, haven't seen her for a couple of days... But she left me the entrails and a bit of fur of a rabbit yesterday .


And these are my two "lawn mowers", Ginger (on the left) and Fluff. They do have their own two desks (very intellectual goats ). And I know they are very untidy around the back, I should have given them a second combing, they don't moult all at once. But as usual, I never got round to it.



I can't take the credit for the photo of Frankie - my friend took that. I think it is very artistic! She lent me her camera today, so I could take a few pictures of the goats. I'm quite proud of myself, got the photies, got them on the computer, and even on here - and it's not even midnight yet!

Ina

[Millymollymandy]

Well done Ina - they are great piccies. What kind of goats are they? I think I could do with some to clear my overgrown jungle!

[ina]

They are cashmere goats - therefore the need to comb them! I did get two bags full of fibre off them, but I could have got at least half that again. Anyway, it's enough to try out to process it, so that next year hopefully I'll know what I am doing and can spin it properly. And in a few years' time, maybe I'll have enough for a jumper.

France is goat country - I'm sure you'd have no trouble getting a few goats from somewhere! I wouldn't keep just one, they are very gregarious and easily get bored. They need some shelter - they hate rain and wind. If I had the time and space, I'd keep a couple of dairy goats, too. I spent half a year in France on a goat farm, making the most wonderful cheeses. Nothing quite like that here, although even in Scotland you can now get a wide variety of excellent cheeses. I think it's partly to do with the soil (and the climate, of course) and the herbs that grow there.

Ina

[Millymollymandy]

How much land do you have them on? I think I might do a bit of research about goats. Half of my property is just wild woodland but is getting really overgrown with brambles and as we just mowed pathways through it in Spring the long grass is past its best, but without specialist mowing equipment I don't know how we will ever clear it - it's a bit too much for the scythe and the ride on mower (useless machine) prefers bowling green type grass! It may be worth thinking about because it's not suitable land for horses or donkeys.

And I'm always thinking of ways to add to the compost heap!!!!!

[ina]

Sounds ideal for goats - the woodland bit gives them some shelter, too. That's what we did where I was in France: they had improved grazing twice a day for one hour at a time (after all, we needed to get some milk out of them...), and the rest of the day they spent in woodland. Good fencing is VERY important, though. If you train them from an early age, you can tether them, but I would only do that for short periods of time, an hour a day or so, to eat down a particular area that can't be fenced off.

If there is not enough food for them, it can be supplemented with all sorts of things: veg and fruit scraps from the kitchen (they love grapefruit peel and other strange things), and mine get some barley, too, and a handful of hay over the night. But then, they don't really have enough grazing in my garden. Oh, they get armsful of weeds every day, too. Got to be careful with some types of weeds; creeping buttercup for example is a bit toxic, so is ragwort (very much so), and rhododendron. There was one scrub in France that I can't remember the name of - that could kill goats; we lost two during the time I was there.

And yes, you are right - they produce wonderful compost in handy pellets!!! I call mine not only lawn mowers, but also composting machines...

Must rush, off to work, need to go into town to HQ today

Ina

[Millymollymandy]

Thanks for the info - I think I'll start a bit of research!!

[Imp]

Love the ducks Naomi, are they runners? I've got white Campbells and they're sooooo sweet I love seeing other people's animals but feel wary about showing people outside of these forums for fear of appearing saaaad. My husband was going to take some pics of the poultry into work, then sanity/reality kicked back in and he thought better of it (don't want to be a chookie and duck bore )

Ina, what a lovely goat shot, it should be on a card with a caption! Anybody got an idea for the first one...?

I think the cat's beautiful too (big cat lover here )

Lynda

[Naomi]

Yes imp,
I do have Indian Runners . They are great egg layers. Lovely greeny blue colour and very big. The eggs are great for baking cakes etc .
Mine are certainly not show quality, as very good runners should be completely upright. I am guessing mine are not 100% pure, but have some campbell in them. Either way they are lovely birds and very prolific layers.

[2steps]

my bunny, Amethyst



and Chino

[AprilAWZ]

Oh boy, I really do need to get out and take some pics of the farm...I just have turkeys and chickens on film so far...

But anyway, here they are!

Lunch and Harold, the two Bourbon Red toms. Yes, Lunch has lasted on the farm a little longer than I'd anticipated...


And the girls (and a boy) free-ranging in my front yard last spring. You can see the bare veggie garden in the background...yeah, got a late start last year!

[Driftwood]

LOL, cheers, I love the idea of a turkey called Lunch. although he must be getting worried, with X-mas approaching.

Tone