WHAT I'VE LEARNED THIS LAST YEAR ON THE FARM

I have learned so much on the farm within the last year. Myotonic / fainting goats are not really easy to sell. They are a niche goat (not meat or dairy) that is kept mainly as a pet. I love them and find them easy to confine them, but I find it difficult to find ready buyers for them. That is for various reasons including how the economy is at this time. That's ok as I did not start this farm to sell animals. KuneKune's are very popular right now and the market is a bit flooded. Therefore, they are not as easy to sell as you would think. I don't advertise or put it out there that I have animals for sale, but I keep my ears and eyes open and will sell when I can. Prepare ahead of time for a potentially big
increase in your farm's population when you have a pregnant KK. Mine had 10 (seven survived) and it caught me a little off guard. I think my young goat was bullied to the point that it may have stunted his growth. I have to be more careful about how I keep my herds. Turkeys are fairly easy to raise and aren't aggressive. I would raise them again. Goats will not eat down their pasture if they are fed an ample supply of have and grain. If you want them to eat their weeds, don't feed them as much hay. The pig birthing process seems so much easier than with goats. But be careful that mama isn't too stressed and hurts her babies. Maternal instincts in my animals are amazing. I think I love animal crackers almost as much as my goats!
Every day my family and I are learning what it means to run a hobby farm. We started with chickens then added myotonic, or fainting, goats, and eventually kunekune (kune kune) pigs. Throw in some Guinea fowl and turkeys and cats and dogs with a creek and tons of wildlife and you start to get an idea of what our hobby farm is like. Hobby farming is time consuming and hard, but rewarding and fulfilling. There are daily chores that never stop. The animals need to be fed and watered. Pastures and pens need to be fenced and built. Goats and pigs need to be rotated in their pastures to give them fresh food and to rejuvenate the land. Food is planted and grown for the animals. Medicines are given orally and injected to prevent and cure sickness and combat parasites. Hooves need to be trimmed. Babies need to be raised. At any given time we have gilts, sows, boars, piglets, bucks, does, kids, chicks, chickens, keets, guineas, turkeys, etc. that need our attention, love and care. Follow along and we’ll learn and grow on this adventure together!

[@williamblake7386]

pretty cool
any plans for some other animals?

[@rsftalesofahobbyfarmer]

@@williamblake7386 no hard plans, but anything could happen!