We love animals, and we could tell stories about our past animals for hours! We have had some really confused animals (like the goose who raised chicks and the goat who thought she was human), some rescued animals (the full-bred Australian Shepherd who adopted us), some highly trained animals (service dogs), some really untrained animals (wild horses that we gentled and trained for the BLM), some interesting animals (a brain-damaged cat), and some normal animals (is that possible?). Due to our transient military lifestyle, we had to scale back for a while. Now that we live in the country, and are hopefully serving our last military assignment prior to retiring to Red Gate, we have managed to acquire a handful of farm critters.
For now, though, let me introduce you to our current 4-legged (and bird) family:
Callie is unique. She has a condition known as cerebral hypoplasia. Resembling a drunken cat, she lacks fine motor coordination, walks funny, falls over easily, and has absolutely no sense of self-preservation or defense. However, she is also the absolute sweetest cat you will ever meet. She is very dependent on people, and the best family cat anyone could ask for!
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Will is a lab/golden retriever cross, and a gentle giant at close to 100 pounds. He joined our family as a young pup, and has a long history as a service dog. He retired from work in 2008, but has adapted well to life as a pet. Like the rest of us, Will loves going to the farm where he can run through the fields, play with other dogs, roll in whatever stinky thing he can find, and chew sticks to his heart’s content!
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We have an ever-changing herd of meat rabbits. For now we have an American Chinchilla doe and a California buck, and raise crossbred kits strictly for meat. In the future, we hope to focus on purebred American Chinchilla Rabbits, a rare and endangered breed. We decided to start “farm-life” with pet rabbits to help teach the kids gentleness and responsibility.
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Our small dairy goat herd has been a tremendous source for our family’s milk supply. In April 2011, we began our small herd. We currently have 2 wet does–a mini-Alpine and a 3/4 Lamancha, the Lamancha’s doeling, a LaMancha/Saneen cross, as well as a Kinder doeling we will pick up once she is bred this fall. In addition, we have an amazing registered Alpine buck, who will be the foundation of our purebred Alpine herd. Now that we have some limited experience under our belts, we have decided to breed all 4 this fall, and begin selling off and culling next spring and summer. We hope to begin to focus on purebred, registered Alpines and Kinder goats.
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Our flock of laying hens consists of several older hens that our currently laying, and a handful of up-and-coming pullets. We have a mixture of Dominiker, Rhode Island Reds, Black Sexlinks, Light Brahmas, and Silver Spangled Hamburgs, plus a couple of Light Brahma roos to keep them company. We free-range our hens during the day, and only lock up their coop at night, which provides us with beautifully healthy, rich, dark-yolked, and nutritious eggs.
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We have an annual meat-bird flock, consisting of an assortment of turkeys, roosters, and cull hens. Due to our high altitude (7500 feet) here in CO, we can’t raise the hybrid meat birds, so we raise standard chickens. While this results in less meat, we enjoy the healthier, heartier birds as they grow.
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The first animals to actually be living on our farm are a small flock of Cheviot sheep. We have started with 3 ewes and 2 wethers. Each one has a name, and, for now, their primary job is to control and fertilize the lush pasture grasses. Unfortunately, it seems S’s mom, who cares for the sheep, has fallen in love with them. When she moves into her new house, she will be taking the sheep with her.
