Morgan’s Menagerie

03/12/2023

I love snowfalls like this one!! No wind, it’s not that cold, it’s calm, quiet ((except for the ewe calling out to her baby)), and peaceful..
I do however have a burning hate for mud!! 🪱
Plus my animals are definitely not fans of it either!! I am all for mud for worms & gardens, and all that stuff but not in winter!!

03/07/2023

Some of the random pics since December.. starting from newest to oldest..
I was posting to my page but not here.. I will do some more updates later..

03/07/2023

I know it’s been a year since I posted anything but the entire last year has been crazy to say the least!!
We ended up selling the kids & lambs from last year through private sales and then we have been nonstop dealing with other things that have came up..
We started off this year with our first set of kids January 3rd out of Astrid and the last one was Marigold for January. Then February 9th was our first lamb of the year! We still have about 3 more does and 3 more ewes ((we only have 9 total so once the last 3 are done, we are done for the year! We have yearling goat does that I don’t think have been bred but they have until May to have them)) before we are done for winter/spring season.
We are still using Chester ((look at post from last year - seriously only one other post previous to this)) because we are getting girls from him!! 11 doelings & 6 buck kids are out of him. Branch was old enough to breed for this season but we had some fencing issues during breeding season so a couple of the kids (2 boys & 1 girl) are his.. I guess we see who the dad is to the last 3 does..

As for the sheep, we sold Pumbaa who was used the past 2 years and kept back a couple of his ewe lambs and we bought a new ram - PrinceCharming - who is a Hamp/Suffolk cross. I love black face and black leg breed sheep (Suffolks, Hampshires, Shropshires) with the club type bodies - I sold a couple ewes that didn’t fit in with what I wanted and got it down to 9 ewes for him. I don’t know I will add anymore ewes until later on..

So I thought since I have been randomly searching for another buck to add for any of Chester’s daughters we may keep back ((undecided on any of them positively her)), and a dairy goat or two, and eventually a mini jack donkey and possibly another mini cow (((not for awhile yet since we still have things to do on the farm that should have been done last year but we were doing other things like adding a greenhouse & storage shed, doing some container gardening, painting the garage, doing something with the front of the house instead of just having a jungle walkway, we now have landscaping 🫣 and so many other random things going on!!))))

So for those of you who actually do know me, I will probably posting on the page again a little bit more!!

And to those random scammers that show up to my page, I will be blocking them and depending on how things go this time around with the page, I may see if I can set it up a completely different way - like a group type that I can accept or deny members … not sure I want to go that way but let’s see what craziness will ensue!!

02/21/2022

All kids born this spring are out of Chester. He hasn’t been registered yet but I do have his papers to get registered. His sire is 100% and his dam is 97% so he should be 98.5% or American purebred. He will be sticking around for quite some time because he throws big healthy kids and we are getting more does than bucks from him as well!! And we still have doe kids from last spring that can be bred to him… if ever we decided to sell him, I will have a full count on all of his kids and it won’t be for several years and after we have another buck that we like for his daughters. ((We have already planned on getting a second Boer buck specifically for his daughters that we are keeping.. we already have another buck for the smaller does named Branch - he is a Fainter/Nigerian dwarf buck and the smaller does we have for him are Fainter/Pygmy/Nigerian crosses and some may have Boer mixed in depending on which ones we keep back for him.))

02/21/2022

Lil Red had Teddy in the barn somewhere around 5 am on January 28th… we absolutely love Red and wanted to keep her and Woodrow when we sold the other cows - Teddy is her 3rd calf (first two were with my white bull BabyMoo - first calf she rejected and I bottle fed for 14 weeks before she ended up with pneumonia and I had to put her down — second calf was a bull calf and also premature like the first one who also got pneumonia at only a few days old).. after losing both of her first two calves, this was going to be Red’s last chance at being a mom before she went to the locker — well 3rd times the charm because Teddy is a little tank and Red is being the best mom!! This is also Woodrow’s first calf..
We have had Lil Red since she was almost a year old (she was born 5/26/2017 and we got them early 2018) so she has been here for awhile and it wouldn’t have been a light decision on our part if something happened to this calf — they are beef cows so we will be eating Teddy as mean as it sounds — doesn’t mean he won’t have a good life here and be spoiled..
We have had Woodrow since he was 3 weeks old and I bottle fed him.. his birthday is 5/29/19. I honestly wasn’t sure how much he would grow because it honestly took him forever to get as big as he is now!! I absolutely love him and Red and we will be looking for another smaller breed cow sometime this year — but only a cow or heifer — and I want adult height to be 44” or less and either Lowline Angus (Aberdeen) or Mini Hereford or something similar!! Lol no more white cows (White Park/White Galloway/White Shorthorn) because I want either red/brown/black for main coloring!!
And no these cows are NOT for sale 😅

02/21/2022

Refilling the hay feeder for the big square bales (small bales inside). This is after the older kids had been moved to the other room and the last of the goat kids had been born… we will be keeping the smaller kids/lambs in the barn for longer and they will be moved to the back room/pen when it warms up and while cleaning the barn.. it won’t be for awhile because it’s cold..
All kids are out of Chester ((video and pics in another post — along with Red and her calf Theodore aka Teddy))

02/21/2022

I will be selling the rabbit cages once I can get some cleaned out and unstuck from the ground—the snow has melted but I haven’t been able to move them except when the days are warmer and I can move them around better.. the dimensions of the blue ones are on the last one posted..
If interested, message me and I can get measurements on the others or will later on..
We will no longer be keeping the amount of rabbits we had previously and when we do decide to keep rabbits again, it definitely won’t be as many as before.. and they will have a different set up so I no longer need these cages.. I will price them later on once I can move them to pallets and I get measurements.. the blue sided ones are 15’ long so they need a trailer to get them moved.. I can’t trailer them at this time because my trailers are currently occupied…

02/21/2022

Lil Red chilling in the front pen before she had her calf when it was 1 whole degree outside!! This was her 3rd calf and her last one if she didn’t take care of him/her — well she had a big healthy bull calf and she is an amazing mom so the first 2 were premature and had some problems.. we used a different bull and have to say we love Woodrow and his little boy!! So keep it up Red and you will be staying with us forever!! (((We have had her for 4 years and she will be turning 5 in May — Woodrow will be 3 years old and he has been with us since he was 3 weeks old and I bottle fed him — no the cows are NOT for sale but I will be posting about them randomly)))).
As of right now, no goats (kids or adults) or sheep (lambs or adults) are available until at least April when they are old enough to be weaned and we figure out which ones are being retained for county and/or state fair..

02/21/2022

Long time no update.. We have been redoing things on the farm and figuring out which direction we want to go with the animals… we have sold most of the rabbits and no longer have any available and won’t for some time.. instead we have been taking care of the goats and sheep and figuring out what we are going to do with all of them.. as of right now, we are mostly done kidding (only one open doe and then the doe kids from last spring that we retained have been exposed to our Fainter/Nigerian buck Branch but I don’t think they have been bred yet).
As of right now, we are retaining the doe kids and I am holding back one buck kid while the others will be banded.. we won’t make decisions on any that will be leaving before they are all weaned and then we figure out which ones will get shown for County/State Fair if they qualify.
When we figure out who will be available later on, I will be posting on my private page first followed by the farm page second before I post to any other pages..
I will try to keep this updated but no promises right now since I debated on deleting the whole page and setting it up as a personal page that I can accept or decline new people to follow it..
If you do decide to stick around, I may start posting again.. I did remove a ton of things from the page because we were doing a farm wide quarantine for a few months while we were sick and when we had pregnant sheep and goats.. so no one in and no one out for over winter and none will leave any earlier than probably April..

07/02/2021

Facebook isn’t even loading my page for me to check anything.. hoping others see this. Please send messages to my personal page for responses. I can’t check anything on here pretty much at all 😑

06/09/2021

The toolbox is pretty full of stuff and I just got a new milking stand and will order the trimming headpiece and some other things a little later on.
Going to finish shearing the last 3 sheep and then start tagging everyone!!
A few weeks ago, we added 6 more Commercial Boer doelings to the herd: Daffodil (black caped yearling), Dahlia (black with white dapple-Daffodil is mom), SnowFlake (caped/traditional), SnowDrop (traditional), Katniss (paint/dapple), & Primrose (dapple headed).
Then Cinna & Latte have been bred (hopefully) and we should have baby donkeys in spring right around their 4th birthdays.

05/14/2021

This is the first group of available goats.
2 yearling does & 1 doe kid (out of Blossom), plus 7 buck kids.
All boys are intact right now but will be banded in about 2 weeks.
May end up adding a few more girls to this list after some boys get sold.
Comment or message me. Can get pics of mothers to all but have pics posted of the sire to all the kids and grandsire as well.
Located Outside Bussey and willing to meet depending on location and a few other things.

05/09/2021

I think I need to bring the other feeder over here 😅
All kids will be at least 8 weeks old by next weekend so I will go through the doe kids and the older does to get the list started of all that are available!
And will also be welcoming two Boer/Kiko does that are bred! I will come up with names once I see them in person but they will be flower names along with all the others!

05/07/2021

By next weekend, I will start posting doelings and a couple yearling does. I am picking up a couple Boer/Kiko bred does next week so I will have a couple more yearling does that I would let go. I plan on getting their pics this weekend to start getting them ready. All does have already had CD/T shots, wormed, copper bolused, and hooves trimmed a few weeks ago so will do again just before they leave.
2 of the yearling does have doe kids at their side. I will go ahead and post their pics from when they had babies along with their info and will get updated ones if interested.

05/07/2021

To make it a little easier - names, birthday, cross, and price all in pics.

05/06/2021

Both Pebbles & BamBam will be 7 weeks old tomorrow! They are not available! I will start having lambs available next spring. I will be keeping the girls from this year and will probably only keep about 10-12 ewes at any one time.. and I only need 1-2 wethers for eating yearly so the extras will be available then! I will probably keep about 6 head of wool sheep and then will have the rest be hair sheep - I will have different rams for each (Pumbaa retires after this year as the wool ram and then have to get some girls for Bambi!)

05/06/2021

Here are the boys that are available! All born between 3/1 and 3/8 so all are 8 weeks old. All are fathered by a Boer/Fainter buck named Sage (he has gone to his new home a week before the kids were born - his pic will be last and will get pics of the moms if interested.)
All info will be under each pic. There are a few I would let go as bucks and the others should be wethered first and I will do that before they go or in about 2-4 weeks depending on how well they “developed”.
Dilly, Basil, Habanero, Hickory, Adobo, Allspice, and Peppercorn are all available. Would like to offer them up first before deciding on girls!
Will post them here and my personal page for a few days and then will move them to BST groups.
((Don’t worry I will post some does later but want to get boys on the move before they all are castrated!! Girls will stay until around 12 weeks old so they are better off in the long run...))

All will be up to date on CD/T, wormed, hooves trimmed, and copper bolused before leaving.

05/01/2021

First litter of Californians were born either tonight or last night. These are the first litters of the year & if one of my other does was bred, I will have some unrelated pairs as early as this July.
I will have a couple more rabbits posted here before too long ((Silver Fox buck with pedigree, Tan doe no pedigree, French Lop buck possible mix, a couple others))
There are several other Californians or Californian/NZ does that have been bred to either a pure Californian buck or a Californian/NZ buck, then a couple Flemish/New Zealand cross does bred to a Blue Flemish buck - my purebred REW Flemish Giant doe passed away after getting an abscess in her jaw that antibiotics didn’t treat so I won’t have any purebred Flemish Giants until I get another doe or two at some point later on down the road.

04/30/2021

Just wanted to share one of the doelings we had this spring. She is the one on top. Her grandfather and our first goat on the farm (we had them growing up but none for like 10 years). Her grandfather is a purebred Myotonic Fainter and her grandmother is a commercial Boer doe. She is one of the oopsie babies. She is out of a line breeding from a brother/sister pair*. We plan on keeping her because she is one of the sweetest little girls out here and is a spitting image of her grandpa 😅!!

We have been going through and watching all the kids and have picked out 3 of the boys that we would let go as bucks. All the others will be banded. The ones we may consider keeping intact I will get pics of them and getting them posted and hopefully sold before they get to about 12 weeks old. - the other boys will be posted as well but they will be banded before they leave ((not really good enough to make the cut))

*We didn’t think anyone was bred after failing to have any fall kids with one of our bucks. We bought a red Boer buck (98.5% and out of great lines) to breed the does once he got here. We weren’t sure who was bred after Sage (the dad to all the kids jumped the fence and went back in with the girls multiple times). Turns out he is very good at his job and he was actually sold about a week and a half before the first kids were born & the new buck isn’t related to any of the does (and all the bucklings will be castrated if they stick around on the farm.
We got our new buck about 2 months too late 😅 all the does were bred by the Boer/Fainter buck Sage that was passed up multiple times! I am betting the family that got him will soon find out how good of a breeder he is with the best personality!

04/29/2021

Whenever I get the kids posted, I want to remind you of current market prices for sheep & goats.
Prices will be based on individual kids for breed/crosses along with parents & growth plus expected adult size along with some personality factored into it.
I won’t be selling by weight but what I think they are worth.
Sorry not sorry.

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Sheep & Goat event, every Wednesday 9:00 AM.
Family owned, established market since 1947.
Reliable, competitive, secure! We appreciate your business!

04/28/2021

Just a couple things to have on hand .. I will try to add to this and find a few others for in case..

04/18/2021

Just cleaned out my phone of the old rabbit pictures and just finished moving everyone around. Waiting for does to have babies and didn’t breed everyone so whoever wasn’t bred this time around will probably get bred first part of June or whenever I get the new cages moved out to the barn.
I won’t be adding any new rabbits probably until this fall so breeding does have been set for now.
Once litters have started coming, I will probably post the final round of rabbits I am not going to keep. No more pics for awhile and probably won’t have any additional updates for the next month or two while we are getting household items moved to our new storage container that’s getting ordered this week!

04/14/2021

The ewes have been sheared and just got the hooves trimmed on all the does. Now to get everyone up to date on shots and get the boys moved to their new pen once I get it completed.. then the girls and babies get to go out to the pasture. I will start posting kids in Mid-May once I get ear tags done, all shots and hooves done and copper boluses given to the ones that need it.
Be patient because it’s been a long winter and all kids and lambs were born in 29 days (17 kids & 3 lambs).
We have started breeding different rabbits and should have litters as early as the end of the month and through next month.
There may be a couple additional rabbits posted after that but otherwise we don’t really have any available for awhile..
Pretty much everything is on hold for the next month while I am moving things around and fixing fence and other things. Hoping to get a lot done in this next month or two so that we can get ready for other things..
Probably won’t be any posts for awhile until kids have been weaned, bunnies have been born, and a few other things.
Stay tuned until next time

04/02/2021

Tomorrow will be the last day the rabbits will be available until I go through the potential breeding stock and make some cuts (those will be adult does close to breeding age or proven moms). I won’t know for sure until I get everyone moved around and start making tags again for each of the does & bucks!

When we start having litters again within the next 6 weeks, the crosses will be out of one of these bucks. I will get pics and weights, etc when we start having litters!
•Blue Flemish Giant - out of show lines no papers
•Broken Red New Zealand - has pedigree
•Californian - out of pedigree stock but no papers
•Light Grey French Lop - he will do limited litters
•Black Silver Fox buck - also limited litters

As of right now, we have 2 full Flemish does, 2-4 Flemish/NZ does, 4 Californian does (pure), 2 CA/NZ mixed does, 2-4 pure New Zealand Does, 4-6 New Zealand mixed does for meat crosses with color.

We will probably have some Netherland dwarfs & Holland Lops later this year but will be limited because we only have a couple does of each.

Once rearranging has been completed and everyone is situated, and we start breeding, we wait for babies!!
I am ready for the first of the Californians! ((One doe was bred earlier but I don’t think she took but stayed with the buck for awhile longer - she could be due now up to 3 weeks out))

04/01/2021

Sometime next week, I will be going to Red Oak/Creston along one of these routes. As of right now, I will be taking my car but can take the truck with trailer if anything needs hauled along this route.
I can go within reason outside this route but not too crazy.
I have a 16’ livestock trailer that is empty right now and can do any size livestock (no 🐘🦛🦏🦒 please).
If anything needs hauled, send a message and I can give quotes on transport (What from where to where/when).
I can also transport small animals as well. (Price will vary depending on vehicle and what it is).

((I can provide references. - just ask them about my Jenga/Tetris packing skills 😅 - also have some pics of the stuff we packed in. And I may post some of those later lol!))

03/31/2021

This is the second time this year that this hen has been broody. She has a couple chicks in the house that are going out with her tonight. This time she hatched out more than 5 chicks but I think one of the cats got the others. So she is safe in a cage with her chicks. She will get moved to a bigger outside one when I get it moved and it’s a little nicer out there.
The last pic is another broody hen. She is sitting on several green eggs so she will hatch out some chicks in the next few weeks. I tried to move her with the eggs but she wasn’t having any of it! So I will move her after they hatch! She will go where the first hen is currently at or another cage while she is hanging out with her new peeps 🐣🐣
This is one reason why I haven’t been incubating this spring! The hens are going broody and not laying as much! ((I have two geese sitting on nests currently and at least one chicken.. it’s very possible I have a couple broody ducks right now as well!)

03/30/2021

Available Rabbits - Info is in each picture. Prices vary depending on which one it is. More info will also be under each pic.
Prefer to meet. This will be cross posted.

These are the last of the available ones for awhile. I will start breeding does starting next week.

All will be available up until Saturday April 3rd then I will be culling a lot. The Silver Fox buck and the Lionheads and maybe the pair of MiniRex will be safe but still available past this weekend. I will take this one down and will be making one final list of available ones until we start having babies.

Once we have cleared some out, I will get all info on breeding pairs/crosses and may offer a couple grow-outs that I have kept.
I will be getting pics of all the breeding stock and have updates once litters are born - most will be available but I may keep a couple back to grow out to see how they are turning out!

03/23/2021

Finally got the outside kidding/lambing pen completed along with a makeshift hay rack between them and the big area of the barn. Still needs inside to be finished but one thing at a time! This way the kids can go outside whenever they want and they can’t escape & we can put a couple bales of hay and feed both sides of the barn. Will be getting more big bales after the rain comes in.
We are still looking for a home for Stanley and would like to find one before I try to post him somewhere else.
Since Facebook keeps making changes, I can’t always tell when something has been commented on or I have messages so you may have to message me on my personal account.
We are in the middle of downsizing so we can get a shipping container out front to finally get all household items that have been shuffled around from the house in town to the farm and from out here to different places.. so I will be working on that the next few weeks.
The kids are growing and I still have to get pics of the lambs!
I have the rabbits moved again but still have to sort through again and figure out who I am keeping and who is going. That will be done this week as well!
Stay tuned for the available bunnies and will be breeding the keepers here soon! (I was waiting until we could get some things done and figured out before I started to breed any I didn’t plan on keeping! - that way I don’t have anymore unwanted litters with bunnies I don’t know what to do with!! — some that will be posted are ones that have been posted as long as last spring that haven’t found homes yet...)

Rabbits will be posted soon! Goat kids will be posted by end of April once I get to see how everyone is growing and I decide who I am keeping and who is going! They will all stay here with their moms until weaning. Lambs won’t be available because there are twins and they are out of one of the other rams... we will probably end up getting one new ram next year or we have Bambi around too!

03/18/2021

To Make things easier on the hens and because I don’t have enough time to butcher, 14 roosters have left the farm.
There were 16 but we had a couple escape 🙄. I found them in the shed the next morning and I know those two were on the trailer and I didn’t see them leave..

If it ever stops raining & I am not running around like a chicken with my head cut off, then I can get all the available rabbits moved out to the garage to get pics and post them. I won’t hold for more than a couple days. If they don’t sell, they will go the the Rutledge Flea Market in spring.

Since I have been so busy, I haven’t bred any of the rabbits except Cupcake (REW Flemish Giant doe) to Bodhi (Blue Flemish Giant buck out of show lines but not papered). And Cali (Californian doe) to Benson (Californian buck). Those are the only two expected litters soon. Others I will start breeding again a little later..

I will also update the goat list when Blossom has her kids. She is acting like she is going to be having them soon as well as TinkerBelle.
Once all kids are born and they are 6-8 weeks old, I will start posting different ones. I have a couple people in line that will probably be picking out some kids possibly for showing. If they decide to pass, those will be available as well. Just waiting until the kids are older and closer to being weaned before I make the final decisions. I am not very patient at times so I don’t want to list until they are ready to go so they can be picked up right away.
As with most things out here, they will be first come, first serve and I will only hold for certain circumstances but will have a time before they are passed to the next one in line.
I may possibly do reservations for the goats next year when the does are bred to Chester (Red 98.5% Boer buck - not registered but I have his papers to be registered - his pic will be in the comments).

With that rambling being said, I will be downsizing and have already started. My life is mayhem right now so I am moving out things that are driving me crazy or are too much to handle at this point in my life - once the rain stops, I will get as many things posted as possible. Along with that, I may be able to meet/deliver depending on date & location. If I can’t meet, a time has to be arranged and I will do my best to bring whatever it is to the front driveway to be picked up from there - at least until everything is dry and I have some things cleaned up and moved.
And I will be going back through old posts and removing them if they aren’t up to date. So just keep a lookout for things listed as Available!!

Sorry about the long post and getting behind on so many things! This is Iowa and we are at the mercy of Mother Nature who has frozen us and then has kindly decided to send water falling from the sky for the foreseeable future with little sun to dry us out! ((Only upset because I am impatient and I have some things that are very difficult if not impossible to do while the ground is mush! There is only so many times I want to use 4WD in my own driveway lol))

03/07/2021

8 does have kidded and waiting on the last 2 and also the ewe.
With spring here now, I am super busy but will get rabbits posted hopefully by the end of the week and have been keeping an eye out on all the kids so I can make some decisions with them and the does.

With that being said, I will start posting the available goats the first part of April. Some will not be ready until May or June unless I am selling the does with kids.