Animal Babies: New Life In Osage County Kansas

How's that little baby doing now? I sure miss watching a little donkey grow up. Ruby is such a sweetie. She loves to be hugged and follows us all over the place. I think she would follow me into the house if I let her! Be sure to handle that baby as much as possible and it will be like a puppy dog!
Keep us posted and good luck!

Hey Dave --

I haven't eaten donkey, but I would never say I wouldn't if I got desparate enough. The donkeys are here to harass the packs of coyotes that roam this territory -- and they provide endless entertainment. So far we've not lost a chicken or lamb to coyotes since they've been here.

The sheep are hair sheep and so we raise them for meat and the cattle are beef cattle. Right now we are keeping back females with flock or herd potential, but the bull calves and ram lambs will provide high-quality protein when the time comes. One ram lamb from this year is likely to become a flock ram -- he is big, blocky and very masculine, just like George. His markings are striking too: black with white spots arranged in interesting patterns. He's named Constellation because of his markings -- we just call him Connie though.

Hank, new life is always special on the farm. Surprise ones are even more special. It is interesting where animals pick to have there young. We once had a litter of pups under the house. They keep yelping and keeping us awake at night. Finally my Dad crawled under the house and found that there had been an old well that was now dry under the house and the newly born pups had fallen into the pit where momma couldn’t reach them. He brought them out from under the house and all was once again good with the world. I’m not sure what ever happen to those pups, but I’d like to think they were given away. They were Cocker Spaniels mixed with we didn’t know what. Hazel was my first dog as a kid and these pups were the first babies that I can remember being born on the farm. My Mom says that I was probably about three years old when that happened. Good luck with all you newly arrived animals.

Do you raise your animals for some other purpose than pets? I seem to remember a blog post that hinted to the fact of grass fed beef in the freezer.

Hey Jackie --

We haven't figured out whether the newcomer is a Jack or Jenny yet. I just moved our Jack and George the ram out of Valentine's paddock this morning and then watched the little one suck from a distance before heading off to work. Valentine and the little one are with the ewes and lambs now and Karen texted me to say that they are frolicking together. Cool, eh? Jack is complaining a little about being separated from Valentine, but he and George get along great.

How awesome to see Valentine with her own baby!! So exciting! What a cutie...is it a jenny or a jack? Valentine's sister, Ruby is still doing great out here on our farm with the goats! Good luck! --Jackie Wilt