Kevin my heart goes out to you and all the farmers in this trout situation. I have been praying faithfully for you. I live in Northeast Iowa and I have family members in Southeast Iowa that have drought issues and I feel guilty because we get rain on a regular basis and are green up here. It rain today on the Fourth of July and we’re getting these nice gentle range that are perfect for the soil and truly well I am very grateful for it I can’t help but feel guilty because I know all around us are states Which are in trouble with the drought issue as well as crops and we are all frightened about what may or may not happen. For me it is simple: go to the Lord because he is in control of everything. I have a cross in my home that my sister gave me five or six years ago for Christmas when I was fighting cancer and it said: “don’t worry about tomorrow, God is already there!”😇♥️⭐️ I can’t tell you how many times I have put my hand on that crush and cried and prayed hard for an issue not for myself but for others. Years ago on the farm my father always said make a list of pros and cons and leave emotion out of it. I think the one of the wisest things you said is: “if I sell now, , I have the opportunity to make a profit on My goats… if I wait until I see whether or not we get rain or the Grass greens up through the winter and all these other issues and it doesn’t turn out for the best, then I’ll be trying to sell my goats at the same time everyone else and the prices will plummet! “… So I think that should be at the very top of the pros list and I think it should weigh a lot more than some of the other things you might put there. I’ve never owned goats but I live through crisis on the farm when you have to sell animals, & it definitely is not an easy decision but it is one that needs to be made swiftly. I watched my dad discuss it over evening coffee after everybody pretty much was in bed as far as the little ones and I know he’s already been mulling it around in his mind for days before he and mother sit down together and I happen to be up because I was making a dessert and fixing school lunches but in no way was I in rolled except toLearn a lesson… and of course they made that list and I saw my dad underline with two strong lines pencil down and got up from the table. Decision was made and the next day the truck showed up and we loaded up life stock. There are tears in my parents eyes and I skids of size as we watched our animals be loaded and we worked hard to No get the animals I’ll round it up. But, you bounce back and life is better until the next issue comes along. Sorry about the duck loss. I think that is just a part of farming… You have to except a percentage of loss/Deas. It is hard and it’s not easy especially when it’s your favorite dress so to speak. But if you can’t deal with his loss don’t have any animals my grandfather always said. I hope somebody will approach you who has Male ducks soon. I believe there is a RUclips channel called “little white house on the hill and they just hatched out a bunch a male ducks. I don’t know how close you guys are in proximity but maybe that could be a doable choice also I think Morgan @Gold Shaw Farms Might have a male duck that you might be interested in as he has a variety of ducks that are beautiful. You’re probably very aware of who these people are and who else has ducks whenever you might be ready to replace your male duck. So my prayers are with you and I will be praying for discernment and wisdom and joy 😊 in between these difficult times❣️❣️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️ Happy 4th of July🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
Have you considered cutting down a tree from your woods and dragging it in the pasture for them to eat once a week for a while? Then use the logs for the sawmill.
Above comment on might be a good option. Even if sometime. Not sure how far the creek property is, but maybe you could cut a tree down from there and move it to the farm on your trailer, just a continuing idea from above post to maybe help you supplement other goat food. I'd hate to see you have to get rid if your goats! Do you think the predatory birds are around more now because of your larger #'s of free range chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks? IDK, just a question. In CA...when I grew up all the way for years, we had true seasons! Anymore CA is so dry, from lack of rain, I'm sure you've heard of our many fires! We got hardly no rain this calendar year! Fires in the foothills are already starting! 😂
Coppice is a great practice and makes for much larger trees. Look into ‘Tree Hay’ - they love it! Be careful dropping trees for them, as the leaves wilt they become poisonous! Once completely cured, they are fine.
Kevin, we have to routinely water here in Texas. We just had a tropical system move through the area and it all went just east of us. Not a drop. Watering some of your pasture seems cheaper to me than hay or for the cost of grain. You also have lots of woods to clear a path and use Premier 1 fencing to move the goats around. You have good genetics in your herd, so please don't let them go unless you absolutely have to. Texas Deb ❤️
Pump water from the creek or pond to water a pasture. I just saw a video of someone making a fire system. He used a large cube tank. Bought a waste water pump and a fire hose kit . Worked great. Dual system for fires and watering the pastures
Problem is water issues are popping up all over the place. Lake Mead is going to be shutting down very soon. That isn't the only place either . People need to stock up on water
@@shelleysimmons2804 problem with that is the water issue is more serious than that and people need to stock up on water and start worry how humans are going to have water. Lake Mead is going to be shutting down very soon . It's getting too low to pump and I just heard a water pipe broke too.
@@shelleysimmons2804 in droughts you want to be careful pumping water from livestock ponds cause those ponds can dry up real quick when doing that. We have done that in the past but only watered the grass around the pond so any extra water not soaked up runs back into the pond.
I've been trimming up my youpons and juniper and feeding that to the goats. They also go into the woods to eat the weeds. I'll still have to feed some grain but the trees get trimmed and the goats love to eat trees.
This happened a few years ago in Canada. Alberta and Saskatchewan provinces had a drought all summer and there was no hay for their live stock. Luckily us here in Ontario and eastern provinces all had bumper crops. The farmers gave away their excess hay so farmers out west could survive. The railway shipped the hay out west to the farmers for free. Anyone needing hay could apply for it and it was distributed evenly depending on the need. Hopefully the USA can pull together if it doesn't rain and help everyone out. Hopefully it will rain.
You mentioned the eagle taking a duck when you were hunting. I had a very similar experience, but the eagle took a decoy. It flew about fifty yards and then dropped it. We all laughed about it. As far as the pasture being dry, I saw a guy once put out a lawn sprinkler and water an area for a couple hours in the evening. The next night, he would water another area. It was only greening up small areas at a time, but it did help till the rain came.
Thoughts and prayers for rain !! We are dry up here in MN. One of the tv stations said the other night that June was the 5th lowest rainfall we have had since they tarted recording the weather. Got a little this morning,but nothing to talk about. Reading comments you got a lot of people praying for rain!! So hopefully you will get some soon!!! 🤗♥️🙏🏼
Owls, specifically great horned owls, are usually the main predator that takes my ducks. I've had to cover my duck pens to keep them out at night. During the day, it's not as big of an issue unless like you said, it's an eagle (rare). Fodder set ups are the best in this area. The midwest tends to get a lot of rain and that's a huge benefit for pasture and hay. A few years ago, there were people importing hay due to drought in the upper New England area. I would sell a few goats off to manage the herd. Older animals, "less" productive animals go first. Marketable animals go next when prices are up...Scale back to keep the best genetics for the future. You could also try a gravity fed irrigation system from your stream area. A small bit of plastic tubing, a line of plastic barrels and a solar panel with a slow refill pump in the stream to pump water into the barrels at a high point in the pasture. Then flood the pasture a few times each week from the barrels. Give it an good flood and then dry up period. Small amounts of water all the time only just evaporate from a fine layer in the top soil and draw the roots to the top of the soil where they are damaged more by droughts. Flood irrigation that you flood the field once or twice a week sends the water down low into the soil and pulls the roots down where they are into the moisture longer.
👍 Absolutely love the practical feedback / solutions. I do hope HHF take note. Prayers for all those struggling due to no rain. It seems like years ago (but is only 2) that the whole of South Africa was in a drought situation; limited daily supply, could only water plants on certain days ,at specific hours - a total nightmare. And people ignored the rules. But only some were named, shamed & fined! Thought it didnt apply to them meanwhile cattle were dying in the fields. Our dams that supplied the masses were down to +/- 25% & less, but we pulled through. Prayers to you all 🙏. Happy 4th July. God Bless. ✨🎆🗽🙏✌✌
Love seeing all the animals and been praying for everyone to make it through these hard times 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 thank you for sharing have a wonderful evening 😊
I grew up on the farm but I wouldn’t want to be a farmer now. To know what to do now would be a very hard decision. I am a 73 year old grandmother. I have seen some hard times I’ve seen some good. I have never seen times like this, our world is just start in a good position. We have to keep the faith pray for God every day that God will take care of us God is absolutely good God bless you dear farmers
Hello Kevin sorry for the loss of two of your chicks. Hope you had a good 4th. Take care prayers on the way. 🙏 🙏 Take care be safe in this sticky weather. ❤🇺🇸❤🌹🌻🙏
Hi Kevin, I’m so sorry to hear about the lack of rain. In reading the comments it seems it’s all over the country. It’s such a worry for y’all. You are in my prayers. Hoping for lots of rain coming very soon.❤️
Sorry Kevin to hear that you're in a drought right now I'm in Pennsylvania and every day they're saying it's going to rain but I'm not seeing the rain where I'm y'all and when it does rain it's like y'all a store or tornado it's so bad but I'm praying for you Kevin that you do get rain for several days and not bad rain rain that will help y'all so your Feilds will get green and your goats will have green grass to eat again Kevin I love your video and I'm sending well wishes Prayers and positive Thoughts your way and I hope everything works out for y'all now so I win Winter comes y'all won't have no problems 🙏🙏🙏📿
Found out my sister Barb has glioblastoma, death sentence, maybe 6-8 months w/o chemo. I am really going down, please continue prayers, thanks, love you all 💜
A few years ago we went through this and are getting very close this year. I have a few Tee Post sprinklers to water everything.Even the ones you stick in the ground would work. Make them go full circle. If you have a creek you could pump it from there. I see you have a big chipper. Let Dutch use it, He needs to do a little more clean up. GOOD LUCK
For feeding, you could try pollarding, meaning removing the top and side growth from the trees, which helps it produce new growth, and feed it to the goats. Do it in succession from as many trees as possible, one or two at a time, allowing the trees to put on the new growth, and then repeat. This was done on farms in the past before commercial grains were a big thing.
Kevin, I wish I could share our rain with you over there. Where I am in Australia there has been 2 major floods this year with devastating loss of life, properties, livestock, & precious top soil washed away. Currently it’s raining again with flooding in some areas for the 3rd time. Some parts of my country are still suffering from long term droughts. Stock does get moved around to areas that can support them with feed, although that is costly as well. Destocking can be a difficult choice, trying to think ahead to times when the herds can be built up again. I have so much respect for farmers everywhere. Seems like the world over is having similar issues. Praying for rain your way mate. Have a happy & safe 4th July. Take care & cheers 🐨🦘🥰
Kevin, our thoughts and prayers are with the farmers. We dairy farmed for years so we know about the effects of drought, late spring freezes, early fail freezes have on the food supplies for your animals. Thank you for explaining how the fuel prices are affecting farmers and all consumers. If many farmers are forced to sell or reduce their herds, their price goes down. What consumers need to be aware is that next year there would be a shortage of meat and prices will greatly increase. It is the law of supply and demand. It really is a domino effect on all goods and services. Our food and supplies depend on farmers and truckers.
I hope things get better with the rain 🙏🙏🙏 here in Utah we are in a bad drought. I don’t know how farmers are doing it. Let’s pray it gets better. Take care , love the videos ❤️🙏❤️🐐🐐🐐🐐🐓🐓🐓🐓❤️🙏✋🤚
I have prayed for rain to come your way, but not enough to flood you out. I know that sounds crazy but I have prayed for rain for other homesteaders and they were almost flooded out. Thanks for letting me know how to pray for you. Don't lose hope. God is good.
Have you tried dog cool mats to help Mojo keep cool. They really do work, they are not that expensive to buy Amazon sell them. Might be worth giving them a go to help keep Mojo cooler. Love the Emu's, when they run they only got one speed, fast!
My son used to live in Bartlesville so I understand the green country term. I live in Iowa and just got an inch of rain today. So praying for you and rain
Have you thought about irrigating using the creek as your resource for water? I really hope we get rain soon! It's so dry. Sure don't want to see ya'll have to let your herd go!
We're lacking rain here in Indiana as well. Praying for farmers across the country, that God would supply the needed rain at just the right time. We will certainly need the food come fall and winter!
Hi from South Africa! We are in winter now and had too much rain at the wrong time. My uncle's crops started to rot and now he won't be able to sell it. He's got insurance but that doesn't help much. That's the life of a farmer. We can only pray that things will get better. God will provide.
Sorry for your troubles. Call your agricultural department of your local government and see if they have a plausible remedy. Maybe a group of you and your friends could get together and come up with a solution. Good luck and my prayers are with you. Remember Job and his patients. 🍀❤️🙏
Hi Kevin, we live in South/Central Arizona, with temperatures around 110-120 right now, the local farmers here rotate the livestock and water fields regularly. Since goats are indeed browsers, they will eat just about anything, including the local Cactus, sage brush, mesquite saplings, etcetera, and we have been under drought conditions for years now. Something else the locals do is keep stock tanks, ( natural low spots or man made), filled by hose or truck load, but with leach lines or irrigation lines running away from the main tank in order for grasses etcetera to grow around the tank area itself. We will keep y'all in our prayers, and look forward to seeing how things work out.
Appreciate your sharing first-hand knowledge/explanation of the situations that small farmers are faced with and the 'okay for now' position that you and Rachel are in. You raised good points many of us wouldn't have thought of on our own. Wondered about pumping some water from your ponds to help green up some pasture but then you said the goats are okay for now. When it comes to feeding them during the winter when you might not have any hay and only feed - I know they like munching on trees and shrubs, maybe you'll be lucky enough to have some leafy branches on your land that you can trim down and use to supplement the expensive grain . . . . Just a thought . . . along with a few prayers for you guys and all of us that we can get through all the 'situations' that seem to be converging and affecting everyone. May we all 'hang in there'
Kevin try watching Billy from Permaculture Pastures on RUclips and he shows you how to use comfrey and other plants to feed your animals he constantly goes around and plants these plants to feed his animals with. Look him up and Danny from Deep South Homestead. Also consider digging berms and swales on your land to manage water even in your woods which would include cutting some trees down following the natural flow of the water thereby slowing the runoff of the water and capturing it to hydrate your land. 🧡🧡🧡🧡
What to do to feed your goats in a drought? Fence off the wooded areas that you have and start them browse the woods! You might want to start that now. Praying for you…
Okay so here’s an idea! When you are cleaning the pools dump the old dirty water on the brown spots in yard! Any bit of water helps the brown patches !
Kevin, I sure hope you golks get the rain you need. I know it's hard when it's so dry. We've had a few years here in North Central Florida that we haven't gotten the rain we needed. We had far too many fires as a result. You have our prayeror your rain, too!
In 1984 my dad had a drought for 2 years in Illinois. We were baling anything corn stalks,bean stubble or grass. Got to a point dad had to get rid of dairy cows and rented land out. He was 77 years old. It’s a hard decision to half to give up way of life. Dad bought farm in 1950 and borrowed $50 from my future mom for down payment. He bought land from brothers and sisters. He bought land for $100 an acre for 160 acres. He paid farm off just after he retired. Land is still owned by 1 brother who still rents land out.
I know we are in a drought here in Colorado and different states. I pray for rain and not just the 5 mins of drizzle but a good slow rain. Hope things turn around for all the farmers
Here in north central Alabama we havnt had any rain in weeks. Seems like it rains good in south Alabama. Our pond is almost dried up. Praying things change soon for all you farmers. Fir all of us. God bless!
In Arizona we used gray water on our grass .Gray water is water from washer and the kitchen sink has a drain directly to the grass .It works great and provides a larger green area
We finally had a little rain today. Here in east-central IL , we haven't had rain in a good month. There's a possibility of more all week. I pray we get more and will pray you also get some good rain.
Kevin I don't have animals at all but I have been praying for all of you in Oklahoma. I can see the concern on your face about things.I know it must be very hard. I wish you God's blessings always.
I hope y'all get some rain soon, not too much though. 🙏 When you started talking about the area of green grass, I thought about a book by Erma Bombeck - The Grass Is Always Greener Over The Septic Tank. My momma had that book years ago. Thanks for the memory.
Kevin & Rachel, I tracked down your Geo Terra Black Soldier Fly Lavae...in Australia it's called Go Terra & they're in SthEast Victoria Australia, so the other side of Victoria to me...but it's terrific, coz I got some & our birds love them!...Thanks so much for suggesting I get these!😊😘 We had your feed problem...we have been buying grain & ive been giving our ewes chopped fruits & veggies..luckily we found someone we could buy some Lucerne hay from...not cheap...but important because it's lambing season & being on Stones country...(with solid boulders just 1 inch under the surface)..we can't easily grow crops, or grass etc!😖😔 We also don't get alot of rain where we are & if it rains it cant soak in & grow anything 😮💨😤 There's no way we would survive, if my partner didn't work as a welder!🤐😟 I do sell our Muscovy ducks (ducklings), I try to sell the fleece from our sheep (coloured sheep) & I have propagated fruit trees, to sell...occasionally another farmer will ask for kittens, so I usually get a donation for them, when I breed them specifically...but we are not on a big farm ( just 10/11 acres), as my partner wasn't left the farm by his dad when he died ( my partner was only 22yrs)...so he had to buy what he could afford & his sister made sure he paid extra to keep the farmhouse.( Lol..eventhough it's in need of work, our roof leaks in atleast 3 places)...it originally was 300,000 acres...before his parents divorced & his dad got a 'gold digging floozy'!🤐🤫 But we make do & do our best!☺️ Sorry to hear about your male duck..🥺
I did my permaculture course in the early 90's. I have implemented many of the ideas over the years. Watching videos of herdsmen feeding goats in Sub Sahara Africa, they would "coppice" the brush - by cutting off some branches from a bush each day and move onto another the next day. So they were continuing to rotate thru the shrubs so that they grew back. In your case I notice a number of trees. The same idea is used in other climates to cut down lower branches (for wood or to feed browsing animals) and each day do the same - cut the lower branches move to another tree the next day. The limbs (with their leaves ) grow back fairly quickly. Goats love tree branches.
What I see alot in my surroundings is that farmers install pulse systems(pumps that get water directly out of the ground). Even in droughts they are allowed to be used since the water is pumped directly from the ground. They then install some sprinklers that reach entire fields in their range and simply use those in the evenings when the sun is gone. Not just for grass but also for tllip fields and other fields. Works like a charm, but does need some investment. We also have a pulse and sprinkler system, but fairly small to the ones I see real farmers use. It works well enough to water our complete garden about 800m² and we use it for all kinds off stuff when normal water has been limited for use due to drought. I would advise a system like that over selling your goats cuz in the end that does not solve the problem.
Goat's don't need grain unless they're pregnant or nursing, they are also browser's, so right now hay/alfalfa is also not necessary. Hay cubes/pellets is also a good option too. You can soak the hay cubes (to make it easier for them to eat & give them more water in the winter), it's a little late now, but maybe look into cutting the pastures into smaller paddocks & rotate (letting it grow in between) it'll also help with the the worm & parasite issue, if you can keep them off each paddock for 30 day's. We've had to sell off livestock because of drought/feed issue's also, it's not ideal, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. We're dealing with drought also, but thankfully we have a way to water our field's. Prayers are on the wind for all dealing with drought.
@@willowswhispers577 yep. Soaking them I found them to be good to keep the choking hazard down & gives them more water intake that they might not get otherwise. My horse LOVES soaked hay cubes, I leave the water in it. I drain it for my goat's, somewhat for the cow's, pig's like it too.
@@Sapphirez100 yep been there. B4 our current place, we rented a place that was part of a 1,000 acre family farm. It didn't have a whole lot of water shares, so most of it was range land for grazing cattle. Some had been for hay. We had to rely on the landlord to get water to irrigate the 3 yard's, ours & 1 other was a rental & the 3rd was their's. We didn't always get water. We had 10-30 goat's staked out in our back yard b4 creating a good size pen & downsizing a bit. But we avg 15-20. We didn't always have grass for them to eat off of, so we started tying them out along the road, for a while we'd go a mile 1 way. We did a better job at maintaining the side of the road then the road department did. Lol But when food was getting scarce (& mother nature didn't provide much rain) & hay wasn't available, we used hay cubes. We didn't feed grain just to feed it, but the Doe's I milked were giving grain to help produce more milk for their baby's. The buck's not much or often. But my point was, goat's aren't grazers, so let them at the brush/tree's, portion off the grass area, get creative. Selling off, isn't the only answer, but sometimes it's the right one.
@@AlleyCat-1 its really a very difficult situation for many farmers out there, not just for goats but for cattle also. Where I am at the pastures look like they would in august or September after grazing. With goats its a bit easier they will eat almost anything, hope they do not have to down size their herd, that always hurts long term.
Hello Kevin, You have a great array of animals(pets) on the land 😀. It would be quite a shame if you had to sell some of the 🐐. I am praying 🙏🏾 for all you farmers who need 🌧 . P .S. : How about naming that moma chicken 🐔 with the nine baby ckicks🤗. Keep cool, dehydrated & safe on the farm. 🦋🍎
Have you seen any mud turtles or snapping turtles around your pond? A larger one, would take a duck. So sorry you lost him. It's always sad when you lose one. Have a Blessed Week **HUGS & PRAYERS** from Kelly and the critters at Piney Haven Homestead.
How good of well do you have? Can you get a sprinkler head to go on a t-post where you can water about a 70 ft circle every night up close to the barn to keep your grass growing for the goats?
@Lindsay I live on 2 acres and I have my own well in Oklahoma and we have no restrictions like you talk about. I can run my well as long as I want wether for animals, irrigation, etc. Lived here since 1989 and the well has never gone dry and we garden also. I don't know where you live but I'd be moving if I had those restrictions.
@@kipcudd7253 AMEN KIP. I agree. Have read that areas do have "city" lines even out in the country. So yes, they would get charged for water usage. My understanding in areas of OK and Missouri they have to dig down very deep for their own well. That is not cheap, but those who can afford it or budget for one, more power to you get a well placed.
For extra feed, Thin out your trees &. dump branches into their pens with grapple. When I needed to get rid of some of my goats, I started with the wildest, problem ladies and just tried to keep my, favorites
Get water from the pond buy a pump . U all doing amazing in Canada we been so lucky and we liven the hot days we get but we are getting rain . Weather in Canada is always beautiful but summer supper short for us to short ! More snow days than warm day but that how it is ! Praying for u all ti get a week worth rain
I'm not a farmer, but I do think that the different types of weather that we are experiencing across the country are interesting. In Washington State (west of the Cascade's) we have just been through an extremely wet Spring. We are used to the weather being wet in the Spring (and Fall and Winter), but this Spring was way beyond what we typically see. We've had months of constant rain....one storm after another. Eastern Washington should be much more dry than us...but, I've heard theyve had more rain as well. Today it's 75 and cloudy...hopeful for a pleasant Summer.
I really hope your area get enough rain for the rest of the season to help everyone. We live in Florida, and we even are getting lass rain as well, use to be every day in summer and now we are lucky to get 1 to 2 good rains in a week, and some weeks none at all. I know it’s hard decision, but you guys might have to make a backup plan now for the possibility of no rain / not enough rain by divide your goats in one of three groups 1) group of goats you are willing to sell 2) group of goats you are willing to butcher for meat 3) group of goats you can keep and use to rebuild your herd in the future This probably is the last resort you want to do, but you will have to be prepared for an option like this to save as many animals as possible.
North Florida a while back we had a really dry spell. I bought several soaker hoses and my uncle laughed at me and told me I was going to have to cover more of the utility bill (we shared a well and pole.) He had a degree in animal husbandry and knew his stuff. Being stubborn, his picking on me made me even more determined to save the fields and cows. After about two weeks, he finally convinced me to stop with my “foolishness”. A couple days later we got a light sprinkle… My uncle called that afternoon to ask where I had purchased the hoses from. The areas where I had been experimenting with the soakers were bursting with new growth! We were working on ways to get the soakers further out in the fields when the drought finally broke.
I don’t have livestock but in NJ the lawns and fields usually go brown every summer. We live in the country-burbs. Suburbs with small farms. Our property line is 30 feet from our house…. They grow barley, soybeans and some flowering bushes on the farm about 20 feet from their side of the property line. We have city water. We pay big $$ for it (we rank 9 in high cost of living) and we have water restrictions in summer. Our lawn is already starting to brown in many spots (we have a LOT of clover) and we have not had a lot of high 90s days yet. (Oh we will!! NJ is like an armpit in summer. Hot and humid lol) We just had rain the other day. The barley is brown (close to harvest I’m guessing) and the soybeans and flowering bushes are still green. They have not had to run the irrigation equipment yet. That’s always a good thing. Maybe think about doing some hydroponics for greens. They grow super fast. My daughter took a class in high school. They had 2 big greenhouses. That stuff harvested FAST! They sold it to local restaurants to help keep the greenhouses running year round.
Oh that breaks my heart to hear about the goats! But it is understood being farm life! I just hope and pray you don't get rid of them all. Yes I think a lot of states need rain. I miss seeing green grass. We are suppose to have 5 days of rain this week here in central Indiana. News said we haven't had rain since the middle of May! I pray you all get some soon as well.
Kevin and Rachael, I will be praying for you and your situation with the feeding issues with the livestock. Some of the other channels are having issues also. Maybe Chad Doss of Adler Farms will purchase a couple of your goats…not just for meat but for expanding his homestead. Happy 4th of July to you and yours.💕🙏🏻🙋🏼♀️🎇🎆
Chad just recently struck a deal with someone locally to cut his hayfield , they got 5½bales out of it . I can't recall if he'd kept any back though. It was in one of his recent postings that he described it.
So sorry for your loss and for the dilemma you are facing! Yeah it's hard everywhere in certain parts of New Mexico we need lots of rain, farms are struggling as well, rivers are drying up which in turn no irrigation system. On and on and on.
I wish I could send you a little of the rain we are receiving Kev. Auckland forecast is calling for rain for the remainder,of the week. It started out as a soft gentle rain, but later on in the early afternoon, It started pouring & at 5pm It is still pouring. Hope you get some soon.
I was wondering if you can start getting hay and grains now even from the feed stores and start putting it somewhere for the winter! Just a little at a time if that is all you can find! This has been a horrible year for rain everywhere and the price of everything is getting crazy. Prayers you can keep all of your babies and a much better Year to come. 🙏🥰. P.s Happy 4th of July to you all! 🎆🎇
Western Ky is the same way. Early afternoon rains just steam all the crops like a microwave! We need nite rain falls or all day long rains to help. Many prayers needed for farmers and livestock owners.
Hi Kevin and Rachel, WOW this drought is causing a chain reaction 😨. I'm sorry y'all are stressed out,🙏🙏🙏🙏💦. How is the Creek Grass? Could you move some Goats down there or is that not an option? I'll be thinking of you 👍. 💝🙏 For Mum. JO JO IN VT 😆💕
We live in Phoenix are and have been in a drought for 20 years. The farmers here have large sprinklers that they water the crops with. Another thing we do here is irrigate the land, but you have to have the type of yard to irrigate.
I feel for you Kevin. I think we are all in a drought right now. Here in Ga they were calling for rain everyday for the past 2 weeks but we've got mostly sprinkles. Not enough to help our farmers
This is probably not going to be a popular comment, but here goes. The way things are going, you might want to make plans now about storing some of your meat in your pastures. Keeping a few animals back that you won't feel bad about harvesting is a lot easier than resorting to harvesting animals you have a closer bond with. Even if they end up being food for your dogs, it may come to a point where hard choices must be made. Doing my rain dance every day here in north Texas. Hope you get some soon!
Only options we have here in Arizona is to either find a good location for a well during our droughts, and that's if you can manage to tap into one of the aquafers in the region that isn't depleted severely. Our water has high calcium in the main water lines that are also from the 1940's-50's barely 2 feet below ground so its already hot, water heaters are almost pointless out there.
Kevin my heart goes out to you and all the farmers in this trout situation. I have been praying faithfully for you. I live in Northeast Iowa and I have family members in Southeast Iowa that have drought issues and I feel guilty because we get rain on a regular basis and are green up here. It rain today on the Fourth of July and we’re getting these nice gentle range that are perfect for the soil and truly well I am very grateful for it I can’t help but feel guilty because I know all around us are states Which are in trouble with the drought issue as well as crops and we are all frightened about what may or may not happen. For me it is simple: go to the Lord because he is in control of everything. I have a cross in my home that my sister gave me five or six years ago for Christmas when I was fighting cancer and it said:
“don’t worry about tomorrow, God is already there!”😇♥️⭐️ I can’t tell you how many times I have put my hand on that crush and cried and prayed hard for an issue not for myself but for others. Years ago on the farm my father always said make a list of pros and cons and leave emotion out of it. I think the one of the wisest things you said is:
“if I sell now, , I have the opportunity to make a profit on My goats… if I wait until I see whether or not we get rain or the Grass greens up through the winter and all these other issues and it doesn’t turn out for the best, then I’ll be trying to sell my goats at the same time everyone else and the prices will plummet! “… So I think that should be at the very top of the pros list and I think it should weigh a lot more than some of the other things you might put there. I’ve never owned goats but I live through crisis on the farm when you have to sell animals, & it definitely is not an easy decision but it is one that needs to be made swiftly. I watched my dad discuss it over evening coffee after everybody pretty much was in bed as far as the little ones and I know he’s already been mulling it around in his mind for days before he and mother sit down together and I happen to be up because I was making a dessert and fixing school lunches but in no way was I in rolled except toLearn a lesson… and of course they made that list and I saw my dad underline with two strong lines pencil down and got up from the table. Decision was made and the next day the truck showed up and we loaded up life stock. There are tears in my parents eyes and I skids of size as we watched our animals be loaded and we worked hard to No get the animals I’ll round it up. But, you bounce back and life is better until the next issue comes along.
Sorry about the duck loss. I think that is just a part of farming… You have to except a percentage of loss/Deas. It is hard and it’s not easy especially when it’s your favorite dress so to speak. But if you can’t deal with his loss don’t have any animals my grandfather always said. I hope somebody will approach you who has Male ducks soon. I believe there is a RUclips channel called “little white house on the hill and they just hatched out a bunch a male ducks. I don’t know how close you guys are in proximity but maybe that could be a doable choice also I think Morgan @Gold Shaw Farms Might have a male duck that you might be interested in as he has a variety of ducks that are beautiful. You’re probably very aware of who these people are and who else has ducks whenever you might be ready to replace your male duck. So my prayers are with you and I will be praying for discernment and wisdom and joy 😊 in between these difficult times❣️❣️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️
Happy 4th of July🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
They have more than one male duck I think he said they have 5 black males
Have you considered cutting down a tree from your woods and dragging it in the pasture for them to eat once a week for a while? Then use the logs for the sawmill.
Above comment on might be a good option. Even if sometime. Not sure how far the creek property is, but maybe you could cut a tree down from there and move it to the farm on your trailer, just a continuing idea from above post to maybe help you supplement other goat food. I'd hate to see you have to get rid if your goats! Do you think the predatory birds are around more now because of your larger #'s of free range chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks? IDK, just a question. In CA...when I grew up all the way for years, we had true seasons! Anymore CA is so dry, from lack of rain, I'm sure you've heard of our many fires! We got hardly no rain this calendar year! Fires in the foothills are already starting! 😂
That's my plan, I do it in the fall to push back dropping hay.
Coppice is a great practice and makes for much larger trees. Look into ‘Tree Hay’ - they love it! Be careful dropping trees for them, as the leaves wilt they become poisonous! Once completely cured, they are fine.
Make sure you don't feed cherry trees the leaves are toxic when drying out on the tree
Great idea!
Kevin, we have to routinely water here in Texas. We just had a tropical system move through the area and it all went just east of us. Not a drop. Watering some of your pasture seems cheaper to me than hay or for the cost of grain. You also have lots of woods to clear a path and use Premier 1 fencing to move the goats around. You have good genetics in your herd, so please don't let them go unless you absolutely have to. Texas Deb ❤️
Pump water from the creek or pond to water a pasture. I just saw a video of someone making a fire system. He used a large cube tank. Bought a waste water pump and a fire hose kit . Worked great. Dual system for fires and watering the pastures
Problem is water issues are popping up all over the place. Lake Mead is going to be shutting down very soon. That isn't the only place either . People need to stock up on water
@@shelleysimmons2804 problem with that is the water issue is more serious than that and people need to stock up on water and start worry how humans are going to have water. Lake Mead is going to be shutting down very soon . It's getting too low to pump and I just heard a water pipe broke too.
@@shelleysimmons2804 in droughts you want to be careful pumping water from livestock ponds cause those ponds can dry up real quick when doing that. We have done that in the past but only watered the grass around the pond so any extra water not soaked up runs back into the pond.
I've been trimming up my youpons and juniper and feeding that to the goats. They also go into the woods to eat the weeds. I'll still have to feed some grain but the trees get trimmed and the goats love to eat trees.
This happened a few years ago in Canada. Alberta and Saskatchewan provinces had a drought all summer and there was no hay for their live stock. Luckily us here in Ontario and eastern provinces all had bumper crops. The farmers gave away their excess hay so farmers out west could survive. The railway shipped the hay out west to the farmers for free. Anyone needing hay could apply for it and it was distributed evenly depending on the need. Hopefully the USA can pull together if it doesn't rain and help everyone out. Hopefully it will rain.
Darleene Hartwick -That is so nice-like people are supposed to act(how God wants us to help our brothers out.)
I remember that situation. It was tough.
You mentioned the eagle taking a duck when you were hunting. I had a very similar experience, but the eagle took a decoy. It flew about fifty yards and then dropped it. We all laughed about it.
As far as the pasture being dry, I saw a guy once put out a lawn sprinkler and water an area for a couple hours in the evening. The next night, he would water another area. It was only greening up small areas at a time, but it did help till the rain came.
Thoughts and prayers for rain !! We are dry up here in MN. One of the tv stations said the other night that June was the 5th lowest rainfall we have had since they tarted recording the weather. Got a little this morning,but nothing to talk about. Reading comments you got a lot of people praying for rain!! So hopefully you will get some soon!!! 🤗♥️🙏🏼
Owls, specifically great horned owls, are usually the main predator that takes my ducks. I've had to cover my duck pens to keep them out at night. During the day, it's not as big of an issue unless like you said, it's an eagle (rare). Fodder set ups are the best in this area. The midwest tends to get a lot of rain and that's a huge benefit for pasture and hay. A few years ago, there were people importing hay due to drought in the upper New England area. I would sell a few goats off to manage the herd. Older animals, "less" productive animals go first. Marketable animals go next when prices are up...Scale back to keep the best genetics for the future. You could also try a gravity fed irrigation system from your stream area. A small bit of plastic tubing, a line of plastic barrels and a solar panel with a slow refill pump in the stream to pump water into the barrels at a high point in the pasture. Then flood the pasture a few times each week from the barrels. Give it an good flood and then dry up period. Small amounts of water all the time only just evaporate from a fine layer in the top soil and draw the roots to the top of the soil where they are damaged more by droughts. Flood irrigation that you flood the field once or twice a week sends the water down low into the soil and pulls the roots down where they are into the moisture longer.
👍 Absolutely love the practical feedback / solutions. I do hope HHF take note. Prayers for all those struggling due to no rain. It seems like years ago (but is only 2) that the whole of South Africa was in a drought situation; limited daily supply, could only water plants on certain days ,at specific hours - a total nightmare. And people ignored the rules. But only some were named, shamed & fined! Thought it didnt apply to them meanwhile cattle were dying in the fields. Our dams that supplied the masses were down to +/- 25% & less, but we pulled through.
Prayers to you all 🙏. Happy 4th July. God Bless. ✨🎆🗽🙏✌✌
So sorry about your duck. I hope you get some rain soon so that you don't have to worry about feeding the goats. Prayers for rain. Bless you all. 🐐💕
Love seeing all the animals and been praying for everyone to make it through these hard times 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 thank you for sharing have a wonderful evening 😊
I grew up on the farm but I wouldn’t want to be a farmer now. To know what to do now would be a very hard decision. I am a 73 year old grandmother. I have seen some hard times I’ve seen some good. I have never seen times like this, our world is just start in a good position. We have to keep the faith pray for God every day that God will take care of us God is absolutely good God bless you dear farmers
praying for rain ....... keep positive ❤ to all
Hello Kevin sorry for the loss of two of your chicks. Hope you had a good 4th. Take care prayers on the way. 🙏 🙏 Take care be safe in this sticky weather. ❤🇺🇸❤🌹🌻🙏
Pray hard for the farmers 🙏🇺🇸
Hi Kevin, I’m so sorry to hear about the lack of rain. In reading the comments it seems it’s all over the country. It’s such a worry for y’all. You are in my prayers. Hoping for lots of rain coming very soon.❤️
Kevin and Rachel I pray that y'all get some rain very soon. So y'all don't have to sell your goats
Sorry Kevin to hear that you're in a drought right now I'm in Pennsylvania and every day they're saying it's going to rain but I'm not seeing the rain where I'm y'all and when it does rain it's like y'all a store or tornado it's so bad but I'm praying for you Kevin that you do get rain for several days and not bad rain rain that will help y'all so your Feilds will get green and your goats will have green grass to eat again Kevin I love your video and I'm sending well wishes Prayers and positive Thoughts your way and I hope everything works out for y'all now so I win Winter comes y'all
won't have no problems 🙏🙏🙏📿
Prayers 🙏 up! "Off-grid with doug and Stacy has a huge rain prayers success last week. We got this
I pray for all my you tube family farmers / Homesteads i love an enjoy to watch. That you all get blessed soon with rain. Xoxoxoxo
Yes! It’s really getting dry. If we don’t get rain soon we won’t get a second cut of hay. 🙏🏼🙏🏼 for rain
Hello from WV. I'll be praying fpr rain gor all the farmers in need. I hope you don't have to sell.your goat's. Love ya guy's. God bless. 🙏🙏🙏🙏
Found out my sister Barb has glioblastoma, death sentence, maybe 6-8 months w/o chemo. I am really going down, please continue prayers, thanks, love you all 💜
A few years ago we went through this and are getting very close this year. I have a few Tee Post sprinklers to water everything.Even the ones you stick in the ground would work. Make them go full circle. If you have a creek you could pump it from there.
I see you have a big chipper. Let Dutch use it, He needs to do a little more clean up.
GOOD LUCK
Prayers for rain for all who are needing it.
God bless.
For feeding, you could try pollarding, meaning removing the top and side growth from the trees, which helps it produce new growth, and feed it to the goats. Do it in succession from as many trees as possible, one or two at a time, allowing the trees to put on the new growth, and then repeat. This was done on farms in the past before commercial grains were a big thing.
Tree Hay!
Kevin, I wish I could share our rain with you over there. Where I am in Australia there has been 2 major floods this year with devastating loss of life, properties, livestock, & precious top soil washed away. Currently it’s raining again with flooding in some areas for the 3rd time. Some parts of my country are still suffering from long term droughts. Stock does get moved around to areas that can support them with feed, although that is costly as well. Destocking can be a difficult choice, trying to think ahead to times when the herds can be built up again. I have so much respect for farmers everywhere. Seems like the world over is having similar issues. Praying for rain your way mate. Have a happy & safe 4th July. Take care & cheers 🐨🦘🥰
Kevin, our thoughts and prayers are with the farmers. We dairy farmed for years so we know about the effects of drought, late spring freezes, early fail freezes have on the food supplies for your animals. Thank you for explaining how the fuel prices are affecting farmers and all consumers. If many farmers are forced to sell or reduce their herds, their price goes down. What consumers need to be aware is that next year there would be a shortage of meat and prices will greatly increase. It is the law of supply and demand. It really is a domino effect on all goods and services. Our food and supplies depend on farmers and truckers.
I hope things get better with the rain 🙏🙏🙏 here in Utah we are in a bad drought. I don’t know how farmers are doing it. Let’s pray it gets better. Take care , love the videos ❤️🙏❤️🐐🐐🐐🐐🐓🐓🐓🐓❤️🙏✋🤚
Sending love and hugs, with our LORD AND SAVIOR sending blessings for relief in wonderful rain and release of the horrible heat and humidity.
I have prayed for rain to come your way, but not enough to flood you out. I know that sounds crazy but I have prayed for rain for other homesteaders and they were almost flooded out. Thanks for letting me know how to pray for you. Don't lose hope. God is good.
Just like in winter when I walk on ice covered grass, now you walking on dry grass in the summer wow crunch crunch. I hope gets some rain 🌧 🙏 😩 soon.
Have you tried dog cool mats to help Mojo keep cool. They really do work, they are not that expensive to buy Amazon sell them. Might be worth giving them a go to help keep Mojo cooler. Love the Emu's, when they run they only got one speed, fast!
😊👍
i have those for my bunnies, they use them every summer.
They have one for him but he seems to be laying on the concrete again for some reason
My son used to live in Bartlesville so I understand the green country term. I live in Iowa and just got an inch of rain today. So praying for you and rain
Have you thought about irrigating using the creek as your resource for water?
I really hope we get rain soon! It's so dry. Sure don't want to see ya'll have to let your herd go!
I agree
We need some in NC too havent had a good rain in months it seems
Isn't it a dry creek and only has water when it rains? I can't remember...
I agree also
I believe I hear Rachael say they use water from the pond to water things on the farm.
We're lacking rain here in Indiana as well. Praying for farmers across the country, that God would supply the needed rain at just the right time. We will certainly need the food come fall and winter!
Hi from South Africa! We are in winter now and had too much rain at the wrong time. My uncle's crops started to rot and now he won't be able to sell it. He's got insurance but that doesn't help much. That's the life of a farmer. We can only pray that things will get better. God will provide.
Prayers for all farmers who work so hard to provide for all of us 🙏🏻❤️
Hobart Tasmania Australia watching this beautiful family
Praying you get rain❤️🙏🌧
Sorry for your troubles. Call your agricultural department of your local government and see if they have a plausible remedy. Maybe a group of you and your friends could get together and come up with a solution. Good luck and my prayers are with you. Remember Job and his patients. 🍀❤️🙏
Hi Kevin, we live in South/Central Arizona, with temperatures around 110-120 right now, the local farmers here rotate the livestock and water fields regularly.
Since goats are indeed browsers, they will eat just about anything, including the local Cactus, sage brush, mesquite saplings, etcetera, and we have been under drought conditions for years now. Something else the locals do is keep stock tanks, ( natural low spots or man made), filled by hose or truck load, but with leach lines or irrigation lines running away from the main tank in order for grasses etcetera to grow around the tank area itself.
We will keep y'all in our prayers, and look forward to seeing how things work out.
Appreciate your sharing first-hand knowledge/explanation of the situations that small farmers are faced with and the 'okay for now' position that you and Rachel are in. You raised good points many of us wouldn't have thought of on our own. Wondered about pumping some water from your ponds to help green up some pasture but then you said the goats are okay for now. When it comes to feeding them during the winter when you might not have any hay and only feed - I know they like munching on trees and shrubs, maybe you'll be lucky enough to have some leafy branches on your land that you can trim down and use to supplement the expensive grain . . . . Just a thought . . . along with a few prayers for you guys and all of us that we can get through all the 'situations' that seem to be converging and affecting everyone. May we all 'hang in there'
Here in N. E. Florida we have had heavy rain! Hope you get rain soon!
Expand your pond if it is spring fed and run a pump and sprinkler
Kevin try watching Billy from Permaculture Pastures on RUclips and he shows you how to use comfrey and other plants to feed your animals he constantly goes around and plants these plants to feed his animals with. Look him up and Danny from Deep South Homestead. Also consider digging berms and swales on your land to manage water even in your woods which would include cutting some trees down following the natural flow of the water thereby slowing the runoff of the water and capturing it to hydrate your land. 🧡🧡🧡🧡
What to do to feed your goats in a drought? Fence off the wooded areas that you have and start them browse the woods! You might want to start that now.
Praying for you…
Okay so here’s an idea! When you are cleaning the pools dump the old dirty water on the brown spots in yard! Any bit of water helps the brown patches !
Kevin, I sure hope you golks get the rain you need. I know it's hard when it's so dry. We've had a few years here in North Central Florida that we haven't gotten the rain we needed. We had far too many fires as a result. You have our prayeror your rain, too!
🙏 rain
In 1984 my dad had a drought for 2 years in Illinois. We were baling anything corn stalks,bean stubble or grass. Got to a point dad had to get rid of dairy cows and rented land out. He was 77 years old. It’s a hard decision to half to give up way of life. Dad bought farm in 1950 and borrowed $50 from my future mom for down payment. He bought land from brothers and sisters. He bought land for $100 an acre for 160 acres. He paid farm off just after he retired. Land is still owned by 1 brother who still rents land out.
I know we are in a drought here in Colorado and different states. I pray for rain and not just the 5 mins of drizzle but a good slow rain.
Hope things turn around for all the farmers
Here in north central Alabama we havnt had any rain in weeks. Seems like it rains good in south Alabama. Our pond is almost dried up. Praying things change soon for all you farmers. Fir all of us. God bless!
In Arizona we used gray water on our grass .Gray water is water from washer and the kitchen sink has a drain directly to the grass .It works great and provides a larger green area
We finally had a little rain today. Here in east-central IL , we haven't had rain in a good month. There's a possibility of more all week. I pray we get more and will pray you also get some good rain.
Prayers for rain. God bless 😊 ❤ you all.
Kevin I don't have animals at all but I have been praying for all of you in Oklahoma. I can see the concern on your face about things.I know it must be very hard. I wish you God's blessings always.
I hope y'all get some rain soon, not too much though. 🙏
When you started talking about the area of green grass, I thought about a book by Erma Bombeck - The Grass Is Always Greener Over The Septic Tank. My momma had that book years ago. Thanks for the memory.
i guess pumping water from the pond into sprinklers requires a heck of a lot of prep. hoping for the best
Kevin & Rachel, I tracked down your Geo Terra Black Soldier Fly Lavae...in Australia it's called Go Terra & they're in SthEast Victoria Australia, so the other side of Victoria to me...but it's terrific, coz I got some & our birds love them!...Thanks so much for suggesting I get these!😊😘
We had your feed problem...we have been buying grain & ive been giving our ewes chopped fruits & veggies..luckily we found someone we could buy some Lucerne hay from...not cheap...but important because it's lambing season & being on Stones country...(with solid boulders just 1 inch under the surface)..we can't easily grow crops, or grass etc!😖😔 We also don't get alot of rain where we are & if it rains it cant soak in & grow anything 😮💨😤 There's no way we would survive, if my partner didn't work as a welder!🤐😟
I do sell our Muscovy ducks (ducklings), I try to sell the fleece from our sheep (coloured sheep) & I have propagated fruit trees, to sell...occasionally another farmer will ask for kittens, so I usually get a donation for them, when I breed them specifically...but we are not on a big farm ( just 10/11 acres), as my partner wasn't left the farm by his dad when he died ( my partner was only 22yrs)...so he had to buy what he could afford & his sister made sure he paid extra to keep the farmhouse.( Lol..eventhough it's in need of work, our roof leaks in atleast 3 places)...it originally was 300,000 acres...before his parents divorced & his dad got a 'gold digging floozy'!🤐🤫 But we make do & do our best!☺️
Sorry to hear about your male duck..🥺
I did my permaculture course in the early 90's. I have implemented many of the ideas over the years. Watching videos of herdsmen feeding goats in Sub Sahara Africa, they would "coppice" the brush - by cutting off some branches from a bush each day and move onto another the next day. So they were continuing to rotate thru the shrubs so that they grew back. In your case I notice a number of trees. The same idea is used in other climates to cut down lower branches (for wood or to feed browsing animals) and each day do the same - cut the lower branches move to another tree the next day. The limbs (with their leaves ) grow back fairly quickly. Goats love tree branches.
What I see alot in my surroundings is that farmers install pulse systems(pumps that get water directly out of the ground). Even in droughts they are allowed to be used since the water is pumped directly from the ground. They then install some sprinklers that reach entire fields in their range and simply use those in the evenings when the sun is gone. Not just for grass but also for tllip fields and other fields. Works like a charm, but does need some investment. We also have a pulse and sprinkler system, but fairly small to the ones I see real farmers use. It works well enough to water our complete garden about 800m² and we use it for all kinds off stuff when normal water has been limited for use due to drought. I would advise a system like that over selling your goats cuz in the end that does not solve the problem.
I am looking this up on your suggestion and appreciate more info.
Praying y’all start getting soaking rain! God bless y’all! ❤️
Goat's don't need grain unless they're pregnant or nursing, they are also browser's, so right now hay/alfalfa is also not necessary. Hay cubes/pellets is also a good option too. You can soak the hay cubes (to make it easier for them to eat & give them more water in the winter), it's a little late now, but maybe look into cutting the pastures into smaller paddocks & rotate (letting it grow in between) it'll also help with the the worm & parasite issue, if you can keep them off each paddock for 30 day's.
We've had to sell off livestock because of drought/feed issue's also, it's not ideal, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. We're dealing with drought also, but thankfully we have a way to water our field's. Prayers are on the wind for all dealing with drought.
I was just telling my husband that they could use the hay cubes. I saw a video of a rancher feeding his cows the cubes.
@@willowswhispers577 yep. Soaking them I found them to be good to keep the choking hazard down & gives them more water intake that they might not get otherwise. My horse LOVES soaked hay cubes, I leave the water in it. I drain it for my goat's, somewhat for the cow's, pig's like it too.
I think he is talking about the lack of good browsing grass in the pastures and without rain it will just get worse.
@@Sapphirez100 yep been there. B4 our current place, we rented a place that was part of a 1,000 acre family farm. It didn't have a whole lot of water shares, so most of it was range land for grazing cattle. Some had been for hay. We had to rely on the landlord to get water to irrigate the 3 yard's, ours & 1 other was a rental & the 3rd was their's. We didn't always get water. We had 10-30 goat's staked out in our back yard b4 creating a good size pen & downsizing a bit. But we avg 15-20. We didn't always have grass for them to eat off of, so we started tying them out along the road, for a while we'd go a mile 1 way. We did a better job at maintaining the side of the road then the road department did. Lol
But when food was getting scarce (& mother nature didn't provide much rain) & hay wasn't available, we used hay cubes. We didn't feed grain just to feed it, but the Doe's I milked were giving grain to help produce more milk for their baby's. The buck's not much or often. But my point was, goat's aren't grazers, so let them at the brush/tree's, portion off the grass area, get creative. Selling off, isn't the only answer, but sometimes it's the right one.
@@AlleyCat-1 its really a very difficult situation for many farmers out there, not just for goats but for cattle also. Where I am at the pastures look like they would in august or September after grazing.
With goats its a bit easier they will eat almost anything, hope they do not have to down size their herd, that always hurts long term.
Praying for rain for you!!🙏🙏
You and all the farmers are in our prayers God bless you all love you all
hugs from pam and johh stay cool ok we love you all friend iam ohio iam praying for you all as i love goats
Hello Kevin,
You have a great array of animals(pets) on the land 😀. It would be quite a shame if you had to sell some of the 🐐. I am praying 🙏🏾 for all you farmers who need 🌧 .
P .S. : How about naming that moma chicken 🐔 with the nine baby ckicks🤗.
Keep cool, dehydrated & safe on the farm. 🦋🍎
Have you seen any mud turtles or snapping turtles around your pond? A larger one, would take a duck. So sorry you lost him. It's always sad when you lose one. Have a Blessed Week **HUGS & PRAYERS** from Kelly and the critters at Piney Haven Homestead.
Yes large turtles can get ducks and baby chicks.
How good of well do you have? Can you get a sprinkler head to go on a t-post where you can water about a 70 ft circle every night up close to the barn to keep your grass growing for the goats?
@Lindsay I live on 2 acres and I have my own well in Oklahoma and we have no restrictions like you talk about. I can run my well as long as I want wether for animals, irrigation, etc. Lived here since 1989 and the well has never gone dry and we garden also. I don't know where you live but I'd be moving if I had those restrictions.
They have to pay for their water so if they continue to water their yard the water bill is going to skyrocket!
@@joycechivis6317 so they're not on a well?
I was going to suggest watering a small area, too, before the grass is totally dead. You could then keep a small number of your herd healthy.
@@kipcudd7253 AMEN KIP. I agree. Have read that areas do have "city" lines even out in the country. So yes, they would get charged for water usage. My understanding in areas of OK and Missouri they have to dig down very deep for their own well. That is not cheap, but those who can afford it or budget for one, more power to you get a well placed.
Good morning Sunshine
For extra feed, Thin out your trees &. dump branches into their pens with grapple. When I needed to get rid of some of my goats, I started with the wildest, problem ladies and just tried to keep my, favorites
Maybe it’s time for a rain dance !! Prayers for rain to all the farms and ranches!! Love your content.
The key is to have a buffer on feed supplies that allows you to coast for awhile.
Get water from the pond buy a pump . U all doing amazing in Canada we been so lucky and we liven the hot days we get but we are getting rain . Weather in Canada is always beautiful but summer supper short for us to short ! More snow days than warm day but that how it is ! Praying for u all ti get a week worth rain
Keeping you and your family in my prayers 💕🙏🏼🇺🇸
I'm not a farmer, but I do think that the different types of weather that we are experiencing across the country are interesting. In Washington State (west of the Cascade's) we have just been through an extremely wet Spring. We are used to the weather being wet in the Spring (and Fall and Winter), but this Spring was way beyond what we typically see. We've had months of constant rain....one storm after another. Eastern Washington should be much more dry than us...but, I've heard theyve had more rain as well. Today it's 75 and cloudy...hopeful for a pleasant Summer.
I really hope your area get enough rain for the rest of the season to help everyone. We live in Florida, and we even are getting lass rain as well, use to be every day in summer and now we are lucky to get 1 to 2 good rains in a week, and some weeks none at all.
I know it’s hard decision, but you guys might have to make a backup plan now for the possibility of no rain / not enough rain by divide your goats in one of three groups
1) group of goats you are willing to sell
2) group of goats you are willing to butcher for meat
3) group of goats you can keep and use to rebuild your herd in the future
This probably is the last resort you want to do, but you will have to be prepared for an option like this to save as many animals as possible.
Praying for rain for ya’ll✝️❤️🙏
North Florida a while back we had a really dry spell. I bought several soaker hoses and my uncle laughed at me and told me I was going to have to cover more of the utility bill (we shared a well and pole.) He had a degree in animal husbandry and knew his stuff. Being stubborn, his picking on me made me even more determined to save the fields and cows. After about two weeks, he finally convinced me to stop with my “foolishness”. A couple days later we got a light sprinkle…
My uncle called that afternoon to ask where I had purchased the hoses from. The areas where I had been experimenting with the soakers were bursting with new growth! We were working on ways to get the soakers further out in the fields when the drought finally broke.
Awesome
Your guys property is seriously my dream!!! So inspiring and educational for me!! Thx for the vids ❤️
congratulations! You just described every summer in Ct.
I don’t have livestock but in NJ the lawns and fields usually go brown every summer. We live in the country-burbs. Suburbs with small farms. Our property line is 30 feet from our house…. They grow barley, soybeans and some flowering bushes on the farm about 20 feet from their side of the property line. We have city water. We pay big $$ for it (we rank 9 in high cost of living) and we have water restrictions in summer. Our lawn is already starting to brown in many spots (we have a LOT of clover) and we have not had a lot of high 90s days yet. (Oh we will!! NJ is like an armpit in summer. Hot and humid lol) We just had rain the other day. The barley is brown (close to harvest I’m guessing) and the soybeans and flowering bushes are still green. They have not had to run the irrigation equipment yet. That’s always a good thing. Maybe think about doing some hydroponics for greens. They grow super fast. My daughter took a class in high school. They had 2 big greenhouses. That stuff harvested FAST! They sold it to local restaurants to help keep the greenhouses running year round.
Oh that breaks my heart to hear about the goats! But it is understood being farm life! I just hope and pray you don't get rid of them all. Yes I think a lot of states need rain. I miss seeing green grass. We are suppose to have 5 days of rain this week here in central Indiana. News said we haven't had rain since the middle of May! I pray you all get some soon as well.
We are in the same dilemma in north central Arkansas, its a hard decision to make.
I am praying you get the rain you need.
We are under a burn ban freestone county Texas it’s been bad dry here..my lake is down over 2ft 🙏🌧🙏🌧
Kevin and Rachael, I will be praying for you and your situation with the feeding issues with the livestock. Some of the other channels are having issues also. Maybe Chad Doss of Adler Farms will purchase a couple of your goats…not just for meat but for expanding his homestead. Happy 4th of July to you and yours.💕🙏🏻🙋🏼♀️🎇🎆
Chad just recently struck a deal with someone locally to cut his hayfield , they got 5½bales out of it . I can't recall if he'd kept any back though. It was in one of his recent postings that he described it.
@@lorainewhite727 he only kept 2 bales. (Which he didn't even want ) He's already made a deal to purchase some different as his hay wasn't very good.
Prayers for rain. 🙏
So sorry for your loss and for the dilemma you are facing! Yeah it's hard everywhere in certain parts of New Mexico we need lots of rain, farms are struggling as well, rivers are drying up which in turn no irrigation system. On and on and on.
I wish I could send you a little of the rain we are receiving Kev. Auckland forecast is calling for rain for the remainder,of the week. It started out as a soft gentle rain, but later on in the early afternoon, It started pouring & at 5pm It is still pouring.
Hope you get some soon.
I was wondering if you can start getting hay and grains now even from the feed stores and start putting it somewhere for the winter! Just a little at a time if that is all you can find! This has been a horrible year for rain everywhere and the price of everything is getting crazy. Prayers you can keep all of your babies and a much better Year to come. 🙏🥰. P.s Happy 4th of July to you all! 🎆🎇
Love seeing the hen with her chicks ... We are browning out also, dry here in Central Kentucky. Very hot also, high nineties and hundreds.
Western Ky is the same way. Early afternoon rains just steam all the crops like a microwave! We need nite rain falls or all day long rains to help. Many prayers needed for farmers and livestock owners.
Hi Kevin and Rachel, WOW this drought is causing a chain reaction 😨.
I'm sorry y'all are stressed out,🙏🙏🙏🙏💦.
How is the Creek Grass?
Could you move some Goats down there or is that not an option?
I'll be thinking of you 👍.
💝🙏 For Mum.
JO JO IN VT 😆💕
We live in Phoenix are and have been in a drought for 20 years. The farmers here have large sprinklers that they water the crops with. Another thing we do here is irrigate the land, but you have to have the type of yard to irrigate.
I feel for you Kevin. I think we are all in a drought right now. Here in Ga they were calling for rain everyday for the past 2 weeks but we've got mostly sprinkles. Not enough to help our farmers
Happy July 4th thank you for your service 💕🙏🇺🇸
Will pray for you and your family. May God bless you all, and all small farms everywhere.
Praying for rain for Oklahoma.
Happy independence day and sending prayers for rain!🙏
I will pray for rain. Hugs to Y'all Ü
This is probably not going to be a popular comment, but here goes. The way things are going, you might want to make plans now about storing some of your meat in your pastures. Keeping a few animals back that you won't feel bad about harvesting is a lot easier than resorting to harvesting animals you have a closer bond with. Even if they end up being food for your dogs, it may come to a point where hard choices must be made.
Doing my rain dance every day here in north Texas. Hope you get some soon!
Only options we have here in Arizona is to either find a good location for a well during our droughts, and that's if you can manage to tap into one of the aquafers in the region that isn't depleted severely. Our water has high calcium in the main water lines that are also from the 1940's-50's barely 2 feet below ground so its already hot, water heaters are almost pointless out there.