Our little heifer Fireball who has been with us from the day she was born
Has been growing up and hopefully is bred
So we decided to remove the goat pen and install a tie stall and keep her for a family milk cow. Here are some pics of the installation. The last remaining bit of goat pen, the kid cave.
Here we figured out where the stall was going and started knocking out the concrete



Then we formed the curb and set the stall


Mixed and poured new cement


And finally removed the form after a day




Should be a nice place to keep Fireball over the winter and at night during the summer. We hope to pour a 2" slab in the stall to help keep her cleaner but that might have to wait. Looks like winter is fast approaching.

Finished the corn a week ago or so. Got 4 loads total. Here are some pics of the last load being made

And a video
Looks like we should have plenty of corn to feed Tammys pigs next year!

Last time I planted corn my stupid corn picker broke when it was harvest time and I ended up picking a bunch by hand and losing a lot of it to the weather. This year however the picker I am using is working flawlessly and the corn is coming off quite well. Pretty good crop so far this year, not as much as I'd hoped for but more than I expected after the drought hit.
Still enough to make shovelling it all into my makeshift cribs a process I would not care to do every day.
So here are a few pics of the stuff..

SHould be plenty for raising a few pigs next year, and if Fireball has a bull calf we can feed him out on the Tender Leen program and not have to use much hay.
Here's a couple of videos too..

Well it has been a while since my last post. Chris had a great time this year showing a cow instead of goats at the fair. He even got to enter 2 fairs. A local one at Athens and the Central WI State Fair in Marshfield. One of the 4H leaders let him work with and show a Lineback spring heifer she had. He also took a bunch of other stuff to the Marshfield fair. Our first batch of birds is ready to go. Tammy wants to have some plucked this year so she lined up a chicken plucker to rent yesterday. Got there and couldn't get it to fit in the vehicle. So the birds got a reprieve for now. Had some regrowth on the back pastures and the cattle are out taking care of that. Nice to not have to feed hay for a while. Picked up a little cattle trailer and when the cattle get put in the next pasture we will try to load up the bulls and get them out of here. Corn is almost ready to pick. Here's Chris and Ana at the Athens fair

And a few pics from the Marshfield fair...

And a few more...

Happy July 4th Corn is well past knee high!

A few pictures

Our first batch of 27 birds. We will get another 25 in a couple of weeks.

Went out to check the corn on Emily's birthday and found it this tall!!!

Bo looks a little small but he's headed out to freezer camp anyway.

been pretty busy since the last post. We currently have no hay to make. Neighbor sold the stuff around us and the other neighbor decided to do something else with the ground we used by him. Had a chance to make some organic hay but passed it up. Not really in a postion to go far to make hay this year.
Got our birds on the 7th of June and they are looking good. Sold the last of the goats yesterday, will have to see how they did at the auction. Got Bo rounded up and tied off for his date with Smith Brothers Meats tomorrow. Just have to get a trailer together and get the other 3 moved around. Chris wants to sell Big Money and I have been asked for the use of Handsome Jack. Fireball will probably either go with him or get tied in the shed to tame up a bit. Corn is looking incredible. We got some rain at an opportune time and good sunny hot days since. I am hoping it will be head high by the 4th of July. Garden is doing OK where the goats didn't eat everything. Looks like lotsa pickles coming on.
Tammy was thinking about doing something at a local farmers market but I don't think we have enough to bother, we'll have to see. This market looks to be one we would be interested in. No crafts and you can only sell produce you raised, no buying at the Amish produce auction or Sam's Club or where ever and reselling. So this year looks like it will be sort of a rebuilding year. The pastures could use a bit of work and I would like to re-do some of the fence and buildings. Now if the heat would back off a bit so we could get something accomplished without sweating to death.....