it's been really icy. But on days where we have snow like this, it's just not all that comfortable to wear the spikes. So, we're actually going to just take a moment and pull them off
Whoa. Hey. Hey. Ho ho. Looks like we're getting just a little bit of snow. Welcome back to the farm, everybody. It is a nice snowy morning. I think it's about 28° Fahrenheit here on the farm. And watch this. We got ourselves a Jinny Barncat hanging out with us this morning. Say hi to everybody. Jenny, you know, I've actually been getting a lot of complaints lately on my videos when people get mad at Jenny Barncat because she has this habit of whenever she climbs up on my shoulder, she will turn around and just basically flash her booty hole. And while some people realize that that's just what cats do, other people get very, very mad about it. So, for that, I apologize. It's just her being a cat, you know. Speaking of being a cat, you can see Pablo Barncat is right over there. He's looking a little bit cranky this morning. Our friend Pablo never likes the snow. It's actually kind of funny. Over the last couple of days, . I actually really like these things and think they're totally worth it. And they're also really easy to take on and off. So, if you do a lot of working around ice, I strongly recommend those.
Uh-oh. Doesn't look like we have any large white farm dogs out this morning. I'm wondering where they can be. Here's one of them. Good morning, buddy. How's it going, pal? Hi, buddy. A good to see you. How's my Toby dog, huh? You're such a snuggle bug. Let's go inside. Come on. And look, we got sleepy head coming out. What's going on, girl? How are you doing? It's always so nice to be greeted by these dogs. You know, one of the tricks that I found to your chore time go better each morning is like having these little moments that you can look forward to. And one of the moments I look forward to every morning is being greeted by the dogs. It just makes me crazy appreciative of the life here on the farm and the work that I have to do. And so when I have to get up in the morning and get out here, it's just always nice to have one of those things that you look forward to. Careful, Genie Barn Cat. I don't want you to fall in there. Huh. Doesn't even look like I have to clear the ice off the boys water. It's a little slushy from the snow, but they can break through that no problem. Hey, be very careful there, Jenny. Oh, Jenny, don't knock over the camera.
All right, let's open the door. Morning birds. Wow, it's actually kind of dark in here today. That's because we have like snow that just fell and like we only got about an inch of snow overnight. But just that inch of snow on top of the coupe makes a lot less light in here. And it actually it probably makes it a little bit cooler. Hold on. It's like only about 12° warmer in here right now than it is outside. And that's because uh we don't have the sunlight coming in warming this place up as quickly as it usually does. All right. release the quacken. So, I fixed the door once. It didn't take I really actually need to go in there and like reframe the door jam and like I think I have some ideas for improving it, but I can't really do it this time of year. So, it's just going to be something we have to work through. Come on out birds. Don't worry. I'm going to pour you some fresh water here.
There's another thing that actually has made a world of difference in my farm chores and just having some efficiency savings and things that just make my farm run better. And so, for example, the fact that I'm able to fill up all of my bird water troughs like on a pretty much automated basis where I just have to flip on the switch, wait about 5 minutes, and then everything does itself. That just makes all of my chore time that much easier. And I genuinely think that this was actually something that it took me a while to learn. the idea that like, you know, if you're just doing something once, doing it somewhat inefficient doesn't matter. But I'm going to probably fill up like a watering setup like this in the winter months in this exact space probably like 130 times a year or at least on 130 days, probably sometimes even multiple times a year. And so the fact that I'm not having to wait here and wait for each water bucket to fill up before I move the hose to the next one to the next one to the next one, that just becomes a massive time savings and it makes a huge difference and it adds up. Like the fact that I saved myself, call it 5 minutes times 130 times Oh, wait. I didn't really think that through. I'm going to have to do math here for a second. All right. So, wait. 130 * 5 = 650 / 60. Yeah. Like I almost saved myself 11 hours over the span of a year by doing my water this way versus having to like sit there and manually watch it. So that's like 11 hours of time or I guess 10.83 repeating hours of time that I would save in terms of if I had to watch that. And so one of the things that I've done over the last couple of years has been to focus on finding ways to add more of that efficiency. And as I think about my farm plans for the rest of this year, finding more ways to do that is is definitely going to be on my radar.
Wow. I am pretty sure that this is like the prettiest part of my farm. Anytime we have fresh snow, I always make it a point to like just walk over here and look at the pretty snowcovered trees and just admire the serenity of the forest and what it all looks like because it's moments like this that just make farm life entirely worth it. And so do moments like that. I don't know if you guys just saw it, but Abby Dog and Toby Dog were giving each other kisses, which is kind of always adorable. And Toby Dog's getting to work because we have the fresh snow. That means fresh snow needs fresh pee. And this is how Toby Dog keeps the predators away. You know what they say, watch out where the Tobies go and don't you eat that yellow snow. I know, Abby dog. I forgot to bring their food. We're going to just jump the fence to avoid the bird mosh pit because the second the birds know that I have food, they will swarm me. Abby dog, I think you're blocking the door. More birds want to come out because it's kind of a snowy day. I'll feed them inside, too. Hang on. Hang on. I find it makes life much better if I can split up where I feed them. So, I have some eating inside and a whole bunch eating outside. And that just makes it all that much more efficient.
So, there was one bird health update I wanted to give you guys today that I think is worth talking about. I don't know if you guys remember it, but I had this one buff goose that had a cut on her face and she like I don't know for about 2 or 3 weeks she is like bleeding on the regular out of this like scab that she had. There she is. She's actually doing okay. But one of the things that I've noticed is she's had like a like this like bump start to develop and I don't know. I'm a little bit worried about it. I don't typically take my poultry to the vet. And I don't plan on taking her to the vet. Like that's for a multitude of reasons. Like number one, from a farm business standpoint, it actually doesn't make that much sense economically to do it because the cost of the vet would be, I don't know, probably 10 to 12 times the cost or value of the bird itself. And and so I don't just make decisions like that on the farm just based on money. But something like that does factor in just a little bit. If there's a bigger issue that could potentially affect my whole flock, I would be much more likely to consider it. But her situation is definitely a one-off that is like really only a problem she's experiencing. So that makes it uh like a lot less useful and valuable. And then the other like more practical reason I don't take the poultry to the vet is because when it comes down to it, there really aren't any vets nearby like within an hour, hour plus even that do poultry. And actually even more extreme, there really aren't any who do geese within 2 hours. And so I don't know, it just doesn't make sense for me to try to tackle that one. But I am watching her closely and I just want to make sure she's doing okay. She seems like she's eating and drinking just fine and hasn't been losing any weight or experiencing any significant problems. And so because of that, I'm not like rushing to do anything about it. But I do call it out because it's kind of weird and I've actually never seen something like that before. And it does make me wonder what's going on. As I've done googling and like looked on bird forums to see what could be the issue, I haven't really seen much other than people potentially suspecting that it is like just scar tissue buildup. But if anybody has any thoughts or suggestions, I would be curious to hear them down in the comments. It was not an issue before she got that cut. I actually wonder if the cut wasn't even just a cut, but actually the development of some sort of growth or maybe a tumor. It's not a tumor. And so, as always, leave your thoughts and opinions down in the comments. I'm actually curious to see what you think.
All right, we are looking for goose eggs, and we still haven't had any goose eggs, which is actually another troubling circumstance here on the farm. By this point in March, we should be getting goose eggs. Usually, it happens like mid late February, but we are not getting any goose eggs right now. And I'm maybe getting a little bit concerned. It's not an issue with the age of my flock. I don't think it's an issue with nutrition because they're eating the same stuff. It's not an issue with light or weather. I don't think I just don't know what it is. Maybe they're just for for some unknown reason. Maybe because we've had a slightly colder winter. Maybe they're holding on to their eggs until later. Maybe they're starting their cycle later. I don't know what it is. But it is definitely something I'm watching closely. And I'm actually a little nervous because I just worked on getting my incubator set and getting everything in like good shape there. And so now really all I'm waiting for is goose hatching eggs. And if I don't have any goose hatching eggs, that will be a huge issue. But what you going to do? I know what I'm going to do, and that's going to be go say hello to the goats. Good morning, boys. How's it going, fellas? How are you doing this morning? All right, Abby, you want to go say hi to your goats? Come on inside, Lauren. You big lunk. I've been actually letting the goats come out every once in a while and walk around and explore just a bit. They're such sweet animals that it actually is is kind of nice to have them wandering around. They'll follow me like puppies. Barnacus and Tmicus, who's that one right there? Those two, they are both like really chill and they will follow me. Lauren, who's the big guy? He can get a little sassy. Like he never gets fresh with me, but he also won't like do what I tell him and sometimes he'll just start wandering somewhere and go his own way like right now. And then the other two always follow him. And so that's always the thing I got to be careful about. Pablo Barncat is never a fan of the goats. Like in fact, did he just try to pee on the goats right there? I'm pretty sure he did. Like he wants nothing to do with goats. And the goats want everything to do with these alphalfpha pellets so I can actually lead them back in with me. Like they know as soon as I have this bucket that they better go back to their yard because that's going to be their best chance to get some of these yummy, yummy pellets that they just crave. pretty soon once all the green stuff starts growing, I'm going to turn you loose on this farm and I won't be feeding you much anymore. But yeah, actually a big part of my plan this spring and summer is to have these guys work as a grounds crew. And to encourage them while they're doing that work, I'm actually going to cut their diet way, way back to just the bare necessities so that they know to follow me and they remain very bucket trained. Abby Dog is very curious about what's going on here. She loves to investigate, but she also likes to stay with me cuz she sees the goats getting treats and then she wonders if she can get treats, too. Sorry, Abs. This is a goat feeding time only. You get your feeding time later in the day. All right, we're filling up some goat water right now. You know, basically each morning I have a pattern where I will give the weird chickens who are over in here last night's dog water and then I'll give fresh water for the goats and dogs that I'll split over one 5gallon bucket. And it usually works out to be perfect. And then around dinner time, I'll feed the dogs some fresh water again. That means I only have to pump 5 gallons of water into a bucket each morning. That is much more manageable. All right, fresh dog water. Here you go, guys. Enjoy. What's the matter, Abby? You don't want any fresh water? All right. Well, I'm going to go give goats the water, too.
The biggest secret I've found to farm chores is the more efficient you can be while you're doing your chores, the more likely you're going to be to enjoy your chores, and the less hassle the entire experience is going to be. My my, would you look how pretty that is. It's like a postcard. Got shaggy cows, white dogs, fluffy snow. It makes me really happy to live here. Come on, Abs. Let's go. Going to do cow chores. All right, let's go. I know the dogs want to go inside and visit with their cows. Hang on. Hang on. Hang on. In you go. Inside, Topes. Come with me. Anna Green Gables. I will say I'm pretty sure I can see your baby bump right there. Looking pretty apparent. Would you like a treat, Annie? So Ann, while she's actually pretty friendly with me, she does not like it when I try to feed her out of her hand. Out of my hand. And so what you're noticing is she does this every time. She will try to knock it out of my hand with her horn. Hey, girl. You want this? You're going to ignore it. All right. Well, I'll drop it on the ground and you can let everybody watch you eat it. You love these. You know you love these. All right. Here you go. See? Like these treats are her favorite. Or maybe she's gonna make me look silly. She's like now ignoring the treat on the ground. Well, I'm sorry. You look like you're chewing your cud. So maybe that's what's going on. Actually, if you look at Annie Oh, there she goes. Now she's eating it. But if you look at her, right, look at how her belly is going out. Like you can clearly see there is a baby bump starting to develop in there. And she'll probably have like a I don't know 60 or 70 lb calf in about a month, which is not insignificant. And you know, for cattle, they have a gestation period that is very close to humans. It's they're both about 9 months. But with the cattle, obviously, a baby calf is much more developed than a baby human. Like, they'll come out, they can't walk. Pretty much all they can do is scream and sleep and suckle. But when it comes to baby calves, they will within the first hour be up and drinking and moving around. It's kind of the same thing that I saw when I was down at my friend Jess's house with the goats. And and really what it comes down to is this. When you have herbivores that are prey animals, they evolve in a way where they need to have their offspring ready to move and they can be kind of independent pretty quickly. And so that's why they have a much longer gestation period and and their babies basically come out much more developed versus us humans. You know, really the only way we could evolve to have such big brains and walk upright, was to have our babies earlier and earlier and smaller and smaller. And so, you know, evolutionarily speaking, that's why even though like a human gestation period is about the same as a cattle gestation period, the results of that gestation are wildly different. But, as I was saying, I'm expecting Annie to be one of the earliest to have. So, you know, Annie for sure. I'm pretty sure Ann of Green Gables's daughter, Belinda Carile. Hey, Belinda. How's it going, girl? So, Belinda was the first calf ever born on the farm. And if I'm looking at her, I don't know, she actually doesn't look necessarily as pregnant as her mom or as full as her mom right now, but she's definitely also starting to show some signs. And so, I wouldn't expect if that's too far away. Same thing with her sister, who you can see over here, or halfister, Bonnie McMurray. Bonnie McMurray. I'm pretty sure Ariel, who actually you can see last year's calf right here, she is going to be one