Raising our own meat.

This week we made our much dreaded trip to the grocery store...And I just could not do it...I could not bring myself to buy the over priced, questionable in quality meat from there...Not to mention knowing the questionable practices on Factory Farms and in Abattoirs. Not just here in the USA but from around the world...Come on we have all seen the disturbing  and cruel images and videos from these places...

So we took the leap and called the butcher and this morning dropped off "Lamb Chop" the first of 3 ram lambs we intend to use for food for our family.

I should point out that "lamb" is anything under 12months old...Our rams are 9 to 10 months old...So those freaking out at the idea of a "little lamb" being food this is not the case.

So many people are shocked when we tell them we intend to butcher and eat our sheep...(well not all our sheep, we of course intend to keep our breeders)...These same people have no problem walking into the store and grabbing a packet of meat or buying a steak dinner at a restaurant...SO why is it different for us to butcher those we have raised ourselves?

Yes we have put a face on the meat, but they all have faces to begin with, just because you have not looked in their eyes or scratched their chins while they nibble treats from your hand, does not make the animals that end up in the stores anymore or less living creatures than those on my farm....The difference however is...Mine is healthy, chemical free and raised in a safe, loving environment...they are not neglected, tortured or crammed into little crates or dry lots where they are force feed food that was never meant to be eaten by any living creature.

My sheep know mine and hubbies voice and will come when we call...We talk to them and will scratch the offered ear, feed them treats from our pockets if they approach us out in the fields and make sure they well taken care of...I appreciate them and that their body will become good food for my family, so to honor that, I treat them with love and respect while they are here on the farm.

Eventually we hope to get to the place were we do it all ourselves...from birth to plate...In the meantime we have a wonderful butcher just 2 miles from here...Today Lambchop made that very short drive with us, I gave him one last scratch and an apple flavored horse treat and said goodbye...he was a little confused but certainly not stressed or upset...I know they will handle the job swiftly and humanly. To me this is a much better option than sending any of our animals off to auction where we have no idea the conditions in which they will life or die.

Next yr we hope to add a bully calf and maybe a pig or two to our property...With the money we are saving on our red meat we can afford to switch to buying from the Laughing Chicken Farm in the future when we want chicken.

Blessings Kelsie

Getting on with this Sheep Business

This week has been all about the sheep.

So much going on and we take the next step.

PRODUCTION.

On Wednesday a dear sweet lady, friend and mentor, came out to visit our little farm..Her husband and her have a very long history in the development of Hair Sheep to Florida and our sheep are decedents of ewes from their flock. We got lots of great information and pointed and a thumbs up on the condition of our ewes. And found out that our young growing ram lambs require 2x the feed to put on as much weight as the girls. So we have doubled their evening rashions. Can't wait to get one of those bad boys in the freezer...YUM

Ruth did a  FAMACHA test and found them to look good and health, which of course is great news for us as the less you have to worm the better the health of  your stock is.

Young Ewes at Evening Feed Time.

Katahdin/St Coix 

As I mentioned before we are taking the next step and starting production....So hubby and I build a new "love shack" in the north pen...For the next 35 days (2 heat cycles) Rocky the Ram Lamb and the 6 2yr old ewes will be housed in this pen....It is going to be a long 5 months (gestation period of a sheep) to see if this was a successful interlude.

Farmer Brown and his goatie helpers working on the love shack.

Rocky the Ram Lamb inspecting the work so far...That Lamb loves Farmer Brown 

And of course there is the never ending feedings...So when ever possible I use child labor lol.

Hey as long as I don't actually pay her it is not illegal *wink*

Yup, that is the "wee one" totting the buckets of feed out to the "meat sheep"

Meat, Lambchop and Jr are very excited to see her. 

The goats are less than impressed the sheep are being feed first.

Other news, we had a 4H meeting this week at school and Sara is loving it...She is half way thru her activity book already and has a whole month to do it lol.

It is that time of yr again, having been hanging out with a couple of my fave ppl painting backdrops for the Kids Choir Christmas program...Though the wee one opted not to be a part of the choir this yr I still love to do the backdrop.

I will be back tomorrow with a very special post. Until then

Blessings Kelsie

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Popcorn Lamb

Exciting news....WE HAVE A LAMB....Born on Sunday...Popcorn the Ram Lamb will be coming to live at Our Country Home on Monday...Just in time for our Easter Photo Booth ♥

I had hoped to simply borrow a lamb for the weekend, but seems that was not meant to be...So instead Popcorn (white lamb front and center) will be coming to live with us....You know, because I don't already have enough to do, so am adding bottle raising a lamb to my list...not to mention the chicks and the ducklings that will also be coming home with us next week.

So let me say sorry in advance for dropping of the face of blog land lol...between the increasing number of photoshoots and now baby farm animals, I foresee me being a little busy this next couple of months.

Thank goodness I have handed over the veggie garden to hubby this season :)

Blessings Kelsie

A visit to Calovine Farm

 Last Thursday we had the opportunity to visit Calovine Farm just down the road (about 40minutes) from us in Williston...Lady Farmer Ruth was wonderful and gave us a tour of her farm and all her lovely animals...We came away with a better understanding of how much more we need to get done before we bring sheep onto our property....But this was not the only reason for our visit...Ruth has generously agreed to allow me to use one of her lambs in an upcoming photo event I am hosting at my place.

 She breeds St Croix...A meat breed that has hair not wool and more suited to the Florida climate...They not require shearing because they shed their winter coat in the spring.

 She also breeds St Augustine hybrid sheep, but alas I did not get any photos of those lovely ewes because,  wally that I am, I left my camera backup battery in the car.

This is one of her very Handsome Rams.

And her new  Great Pyrenees  puppy...yes puppy, he is but 12months old and just as sweet as can be...that is unless you are an intruder or predator then look out....I dream of the day we have enough sheep to warrant owning such a wonderful animal to protect them.

Anyone that knows me knows I am a sucker for a Jack Russel...

This little guy a wire hair was just too cute for words..

We had picked up Sara straight from Head Start and headed over to the farm...I did pack her a change of cloths but she would only agree to switch to her boots...She was so funny, climbing up on the hay bales and yelling..."Take a photo of me"....makes me wonder if I spend to much time pointing cameras at this kid hehe...Notice the disheaveled hair and dirty knees...She had a blast running (crawling) around with all the dogs...Picking flowers for Miss Ruth and just loving being on a true working farm.

Can't wait to visit again....So inspired and encouraged that my dream of raising sheep in FL WILL indeed come true..

Blessings Kelsie

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2 Days, 2 Farm Tours

My dear husband has been ever so patient with me the last 2 days...(his days off work)...First on Wed, I drag him to Miracles Happen Ranch to visit Boots our goat and help worm and vaccinate 24 other goats...

Here he is with one of his new friends Lola the donkey...she is so sweet but very loud.

Helping Worm and Vac the goats.

Don't worry I chipped in and helped...I got to try out the super easy goat milking thingie...so much better than by hand :)

Hubby helped too...he held the lil buck Logan's lead so he would stay off of the milking station...And in case you could not guess by looking at him...it was HOT

As I mentioned yesterday, we also purchased our first Doeling while there...Deenie is Hubby's and will be the beginning of his miniature animal breeding empire...Oh and giver of milk.

Here she is from the other side...As you can see the sun was ubber bright and it is hard to photograph white goats that are group together in such conditions...

And lastly @ Miracles Happen Ranch..This is Patches...I was so brave and did not even need a fence between me and him...though declined to grab him and move him away when asked...Hubby came to the rescue and did it instead...(for those reading this that do not know, I am deathly afraid of horses ever since I had one kick me in the face and break my nose at age 13)

So because Wed's heat and humidity was not enough...I made arrangements for us to visit Miss Beth at Double Blessings Farm to check out her lovely sheep...St Croix and Katahdins ( I think...I am tired and my brain is fading quickly)...They are hair sheep though the lambs did look a little wooly until the will molt (rub) it off and look like the older sheep...We were nice enough to include lil Sara on this tour.

Of course we fell in love with the little tri-color gal in the back of this photo..

Then there was the friendly turkey to pet.

and a sweet (so they tell me..see above horse disclaimer) 30yr old mare...Again I am getting tired and forgetting names...Please forgive me Beth

Sara blending in with the young ones.

And even seem to make a new friend of this ewe lamb "Manna"...

We enjoyed our visits so much and today came home with a bunch of young trees to put out in our fields for shade trees (in a couple of yrs) thanks to Miss Beth.

After we got home we had 5 cubic yards of cow poop delivered so we can start prepping the soil for the fall veggie garden...I am so looking forward to a shower and my bed tonight...

Blessings Kelsie


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