Winter on the farm

 I think wintertime is the hardest season when living on a farm. I spend most of my time inside opposed to the other seasons where I can enjoy lots of time outdoors. I do spend time outside though. I have to go out 3 or 4 times a day because I have to bust ice out of water troughs and add warm water or I have to change water bottles on the rabbit pens with unfrozen bottles. It is also very cold out so I have to add extra bedding for the goats, rabbits and even though the chickens are in a nice enclosure we still put some bedding in for them to nest in more to keep warm.

Not everything about winter time is bad, as you can see from the top picture, there are some very pretty cardinals that like to come to my bird feeder. I love to watch birds and I think in the winter the colors are magnificent. We also have had a new addition added this winter. Joy had a single buckling and we named him Bardock and he is growing nicely. I have 2 more goats due next month. This is my first winter having goats kid but they seem to be doing well. We have an extra stall that has a heat lamp in it and momma and baby spend the first week or 2 together at night in it and after that there is a small door that only the babies can fit through so that they can get to their mom to eat as needed  (unless it is the baby of a milkgoat and then they are seperated at night after a couple weeks so that I can milk) and then get back into the warmer stall to sleep. I do not know if this is how others do it but it works great for us. Another great thing about winter is that it makes me really appreciate spring when it arrives. I have a rabbit due to kindle in a week so I will be posting soon about that.