27 June 2022
It’s around 5am, daylight has begun and I’ve just muted the TV in favour of listening to the birds begin to sing. In the background I can hear the River running through it.
The house is old, and needs work. Although it’s managed to keep us warm and dry for the past two years. Nearly two years, we made the purchase and closed on
August 4, 2020 and moved in, in September.
Money is scarce, and so it makes things difficult. Makes it hard to get things done. I guess I could, maybe, go get a job! I might do just that, but if I do it’ll mean giving up most of the things I/We’ve worked for to this point.
There simply aren’t enough hours in the day, nor energy in my days to do a full time job and run a farm. Although we don’t have large animals, like Cattle, do have upwards of one hundred mouths to feed! Having smaller animals, pigs and goats being our largest, just means being able to have more on less land. As does using rotational pastures. A full time job, not something I’m likely to be able to find here anyway! Most jobs here, if you’re lucky enough to have one at all, are usually Part Time, with 3-4 hour shifts at minimum wage. With the cost of fuel, and wear and tear in the vehicle, it wouldn’t leave much!
The nice thing is, having bought most of the equipment and tools already, I think most of the spending has been done. My biggest expenses going to the tractors, and their repairs! Having two tractors, one not working and being limited in what I can do with the other due to not having tire chains, is frustrating.
The LoBoy has definitely cost me the most, and needed the most repairs, but the one I like the best! Probably because it’s the one I’ve used the most! It’s pictured here…
International LoBoy
The other tractor, far more popular and considered more desirable by most, is the …
Still need tire chains for this bad boy!
I like them both, and once the LoBoy, that yet another mechanic friend is working on! Hopefully he can fix it!?
Once that’s back, then I’ll decide what to do!
Keep them both or sell one?
In the meantime, my money is all tied up.
It’s much the same with …
Try feeding these Boys for 6-7 months
And …
Goats only bring money when they have Kids to Sell
Pigs only bring home the bacon, pun intended, when they reach market weight, and goats like to be fed wether they’re dry, or with kids.
Yet, it’s only through the sale of their kids that we get the money to feed them!
The good news is, I guess, that the three Pigs, Larry,
Curly and Moe, will become Pork Chop, Ham, and
Bacon by November. Selling the Pork by the Side will help restock the coffers for next year!
The Goats, potentially four of which may be bred, could have potentially up to 8-10 kids, but likely only 2-4. Those kids should be born over the next month, and therefore weaned and ready to go by the end of September. Prices and demand has dropped some, but should still bring enough to keep the mothers in feed for the upcoming year!
In the meantime, however, with the ever rising costs of fuel and feed, it’s becoming difficult to make ends meet when all the money is going out, and little coming in!
Thankfully we have…
Chicks and Eggs help bridge the Gap!
It’s quite the balancing act! Easy to mismanage!
We thought we had Nanna due to Freshen, that’s what it’s called when a Goat gives birth. She was bred, but unsuccessfully, I guess, and should of had kids in January. That would have provided about $500.00 income!
It didn’t happen, although it looks like she’s now due in the next week or so. Those kids, likely two, potentially up to five with Nigerian Dwarf Goats, will be weaned and ready to go by September.
Still not sure if our other goats are with child, or not!
They spent about six weeks with a young Buck in February and into March, and if successful should Freshen in July.
However, we’re running very low on Hay, and thankfully have the goats on pasture. Otherwise we’d be deeper in the hole! Did I mention it’s a balancing act!?
One foot in the hole and the other one the edge!
All The Time!
It’s a slippery slope…
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