4H update

Abigail had her beef breeding meeting, and it went very well. We also had our goat meeting. This was the month to elect officers, so it was a little different from most meetings. I was elected Vice President and Abigail is Secretary. We have a meeting at one of the leader's homes on February 5. All the new officers will have a mentor, as only one of them has been an officer before! It should be an interesting year, but we are all looking forward to it!
If you are at all interested if 4H, don't hesitate to email me about details. You can also call your local 4H extension office where they can give you all the details you need. Hope all you 4H'ers have a good year ahead!
~Bethany~

Cold Michigan!

We have somehow been surviving the cold here. Yesterday morning it was -2, felt like -19! Buurrr! Right now it is 7, feels like -4. It is warming up a bit, but I still have to come in the house for water for the animals. We have a swamp behind our place, and it is frozen now. We have a huge place cleared out, so it is perfect. There are still plenty of trees to make it fun though. Zig zagging in and out of trees makes tag much more fun! There was a goat club 4H leaders meeting at our house last night which lasted till about quarter after 9, so I went to bed without really finding out was was accomplished. Tonight Abigail has a beef breeding 4H meeting, and tomorrow we have a goat 4H meeting. Lots of 4H this week, but this whole year promises to be full of it.
We are about over our colds and nobody appears to be coming down with anything else, so that is a blessing.
~Bethany~

Just an Update!

Everything here is cold but beautiful. We have not yet lost any chicks and they are doing very well. I am thinking that the way they are growing, they are going to have to move from the small box they are in right now to something larger, and soon!
Yesterday was Mom's birthday, and Wednesday Mom and Dad went to Indiana and spent the night at a hotel there. They come home to a clean house(isn't that amazing!)last night around 4. We then had supper and had the birthday party.
Ariel, one of the Boer goats is about to kid. Probably within a week or two we should have some excitement. She has dropped her milk, so it can't be too long! We are all ready for something to happen here, as you all know, nothing ever does around here!(grin)
We all have colds, though I am almost over mine, and Dad is probably going to go to the doctor. He thinks he has a sinus infection. Hopefully he will get over that soon.
Hope this find everyone well!
~Bethany~

Chicks!

We got 105 chicks yesterday! Oh, they are so cute. It was so cold, and they are always huddled up, but so far, we haven't lost any! We got all Isa Browns. Isa Browns are the heaviest brown egg producers and we have used this breed for years. I will post a picture of them later.

Zoe

Last but not least in the remaining 2007 herd is Zoe. She is probably one of the sweetest goats on our farm, and possibly in our farm history! Elizabeth has undertaken the training of Zoe and has done well. She was only shown once this year and placed third. We are hoping that she will mature much during the winter and plan on showing her in the spring. She will most likely end up as Elizabeth's showmanship goat. She will be kept dry for 2008.

Mandie

Mandie is a beautiful Lamancha doe that we purchased in the spring of 2007. She freshened for the first time in April with a gorgeous udder, and was shown several times placing very will. At our county fair she was first place Lamancha! She has grown quite a bit over the last year and has put quite a bit of weight on. We are very excited to show her again in the spring! She was bred to a buck off the farm and is due in March.