Suck-It Bucket

With 13 kids to feed, doing it one at a time is just not very good time management. Not to mention it would be never ending! Enter the "Suck-It Bucket"

You can purchase a bucket, they are usually called a Lamb Bar. Most supply catalogs sell them, and they can get quite pricey.


My handy husband, Jim, made this one for me. It's a leftover 5 gallon bucket from his work that we cleaned out. He drilled holes in the sides to accomodate the nipples that I purchased from Hoeggers Supply. He drilled it just smidge smaller so it's a tight fit. Next we purchased some clear tubing from the hardware store that fits into the back of the nipple. Sort of like a big straw!



I just fill the bucket with warm milk, and let the little buggers feed themselves. Since I put out one bucket and there are only 5 feeding spots on it, I do split them up for feeding time. The smaller and younger goats get first shot at the bucket and eat until they are full. Then I put it in with the larger kids. This prevents bullying and enables every kid to have a sufficient amount of milk. At this point the smaller kids are getting 3 feeding chances a day and the larger ones are getting 2. The kids that are getting weaned are down to once a day, they are really thinking the world is unfair!

The Secret Lives of Pigs

*Editors Note* I'm not sure how, but sometime this morning the pigs seem to have hijacked the computer and published the following.



"Hello, my name is Leetle Friend, and this is a porkumentary about the secret lives of pigs. No pigs were harmed in making this blog, but names have been changed to protect the innocent."











"This is our standard operating mode. It may appear that we are asleep, but we are actually plotting to take over the feed barrel."

"We spend much of our days digging for buried treasures. You just never know what you might find under there!"

"Gotta keep our strength up. All that laying around makes a guy hungry."

"Yes, we do eat like pigs. Yes, we were raised in a barn. No, we don't chew with our mouths closed."

"We do have a bit of a drinking problem..."

"And we're not too good at construction jobs. Now _destruction_, that's our thing!"

We hope you have enjoyed this blog on the Secret Lives of Pigs. I'm sure you'll never look at them in quite the same way again! Tune in next time for Down Home Hog Wrestling...a new Barnyard Olympic sport!

This ~N~ That

This is a clump of Mini Daffodils that

are blooming in the front garden. They're just so cheerful!

You may be wondering, what happens with all the milk those goats make?

The majority of it is fed back to the kids at this point, although a few of the older ones are starting to be weaned. But before it makes it's way into the house for processing, there are a few "pit stops" along the way.

These are 2 of the luckiest cats on the face of the earth! Anna and Mo have the life, what cat doesn't just dream about a big pot of fresh, warm milk?

Anna Cat really "gets into" things. Head and feet first, right into the milking pail.

However, the side effect of going in face first is a milky forehead! But she'll get herself cleaned up in no time.

Maddy strolls in occasionally to get a quick lick.

But Inky takes the prize, he sits next to me and waits until I squirt milk into his mouth. It was hard to get a picture of it, but he just opens up and laps it out of the air! What a dog!

The 3 Little Pigs

It's spring...time for 4H livestock projects to begin.

Livingston, Oxford and Leetle Friend have come to stay.

There are Men on my Roof!

We've had a lot of very windy weather this early spring, and it has caused the barn roof to lose a lot of shingles.

My husband, Jim, and our son, Tim are putting a new metal roof on this week. Jim is such a talented guy, he knows how to do so many things. Tim is learning a lot from him.

Tim is home on Easter vacation, and Jim has the week off from work. He is a plasterer by trade, and makes some beautiful, traditional plaster ceilings and casts. He also does Dryvit, which sort of looks like stucco on the outside of a building. My 2 favorite guys, I just love em!

Gleason and the Kids

This is Glee (*B Cherry Glen Romulus Gleason) He is the sire of most of the kids that we had this season. He's a tall fellow, long and level, great disposition. And he has a wonderful pedigree! Not to mention, Elvis Hair.

Here are some general pictures from the kids pen. They're eating much more hay now, so after I'm done with the milking stand (which is right against their wall) I put hay out there for them to nibble. They also have a hay rack, but this provides more eating space.

Here is a different shot of the hay eating situation. They just line right up for a snack. Being a month old has certainly changed things for them. They've done a lot of growing and are now eating hay and grain along with their daily milk buckets.

*sigh* and they are just so cute!

Was it Miracle Grow?

Last fall, before the kids went back to school, we got a Great Dane puppy.

Isn't she adorable? Her name is Madison. In this picture she is 2 months old. We've had Danes before, just love them, they make wonderful family dogs.

But somewhere along the way......

THEY GROW!

Passed Out

Guess it was a very hard day being a kid! Bailey looks like road kill, she didn't move at all as I took several pictures.

Honest, she's not dead.

Here's cute Erin, Emma's daughter. Her little head kept bobbing into the shavings, eventually she just stretched out her neck and laid it down.

Dolly, Dolly, Dolly. Cute as a button, you can see why she's Melissa's favorite. Such hard work being a bouncy, energetic kid.

An overall view of the "mass flop".

The Mob spent the day outside in the pasture yesterday. Running, leaping, zooming about.

It's hard work being a kid.