Dairyland Rabbitry Poultry Sheep Goat

12/21/2025

I have a few radios in barn... each end and middle!

12/21/2025

Embrace the weirdness: What Pasture Folks Can Learn from Show People

By Tim from Linessa Farms

This is a bridge post.

Not a “gotcha.”
Not a dunk.
Not a who’s doing it wrong piece.

Because whether we admit it or not, sheep and goat producers tend to sort themselves into camps — and once that happens, learning stops.

Pasture folks sometimes look at show people like:

“What are you even doing?”

Show folks sometimes look at pasture producers like:

“How does anything survive over there?”

The truth is simpler:

They’re solving different problems.

And when you stop treating the other side like an alien species, you start seeing things worth stealing.

⸻

1. Show people catch problems early — because they touch animals daily

Show animals are handled constantly.
Washed. Brushed. Walked. Stood. Evaluated.

That daily contact means small problems don’t stay small very long.

Pasture producers are excellent observers — but distance observation misses:
• Early lameness
• Subtle swelling
• Condition loss before it’s obvious

Lesson worth stealing:
You don’t have to baby animals to know them.
More hands-on time equals fewer surprises.

⸻

2. They understand body condition extremely well

Show people obsess over:
• Cover
• Muscle vs fill
• Top line
• Balance

Sometimes too much — but it sharpens the eye.

They can spot condition loss early, before reproduction, milk, or growth suffer.

Pasture producers often don’t notice condition change until:
• Breeding fails
• Milk drops
• Kids and lambs stall

Lesson worth stealing:
Knowing what “ideal” looks like helps you recognize decline before it becomes a wreck.

⸻

3. They’re excellent at animal handling and stress management

Show animals must:
• Load calmly
• Walk on a halter
• Stand under pressure
• Tolerate noise, crowds, and chaos

That doesn’t happen by accident.

It’s intentional.

Pasture systems often deal with:
• Panic loading
• Fence smashing
• Stress-related injuries

Lesson worth stealing:
Calm animals are easier, safer, and healthier — regardless of system.

⸻

4. They are proactive about feet, skin, and coat health

Yes, sometimes it looks excessive.

But show folks:
• Trim feet often
• Watch skin health closely
• Manage moisture and bedding
• Address problems early

Pasture doesn’t magically fix bad feet.

Lesson worth stealing:
Preventative care beats hoping problems “work themselves out.”

⸻

5. They are ruthless about obvious structural flaws

Show people don’t hide bad legs, poor feet, or breakdown — because those flaws are immediately visible.

Pasture folks sometimes tolerate:
• “She still gets by”
• “He’s not perfect, but…”
• Animals that survive, but don’t thrive

Lesson worth stealing:
Structure always matters.
Environment just decides how fast it fails.

⸻

Why this matters

This isn’t about converting pasture producers into show people.

And it’s not about pretending show systems work as-is on grass.

It’s about acknowledging something uncomfortable:

The other side isn’t stupid.
They’re just optimized for a different goal.

And if you’re smart, you steal the parts that make sense for your system.

⸻

Coming next

This is only half the conversation.

The mirror article is coming:
“What Show Folks Can Learn from Pasture Producers.”

Because just as pasture folks can learn from show people,
there are some hard truths show producers don’t always like hearing either.

Bridges work both directions.

12/20/2025

Bottle Babies Are Not a Personality Trait

By Tim from Linessa Farms

This post will make some people uncomfortable. That’s usually a sign it’s worth reading….

I just got a message: “I am brand new to sheep and would like to try a bottle baby. Do you have any?”

So here we go…

Every spring, the same images circulate:

A lamb in a hoodie.
A goat kid in a laundry basket.
A bottle held just long enough for the camera.

And beneath it all is the same type of message:
“ 🩷Look what I saved🩷”

Here’s the truth that tends to upset people:

Most experienced producers are not anti–bottle baby. We are anti-fantasy.

Those of us who have done this long enough do intervene when it is necessary. We just don’t romanticize it — and we don’t turn it into virtue signaling.

⸻

What Real Intervention Actually Looks Like

When intervention is truly required, it often does not mean removing the lamb or kid from its dam.

In many cases, the best outcome comes from:
• Keeping the baby with its mother
• Supplementing strategically rather than replacing nursing
• Supporting weak starts while preserving normal behavior
• Letting the dam provide warmth, immune input, and structure

Bottle feeding is not the goal. A viable animal that remains part of the flock is.

That approach isn’t photogenic.
But it works.

⸻

Why Do So Many Bottle Babies Exist?

This is the part many producers avoid saying out loud:

Many bottle babies are not rescues.
They are offloaded problems.

They’re passed along because:
1. The producer does not want that animal retained
2. They lack the time, labor, or facilities to manage it properly
3. They already know the outcome is likely suboptimal
4. Passing responsibility feels better than making a hard call

That doesn’t make someone evil.
But it does mean the next person starts behind before the first feeding.

⸻

There Are Real Exceptions — and They Prove the Rule

There are operations that intentionally take on bottle baby dairy goats that would otherwise be euthanized — and do so successfully, humanely, and profitably.

The difference is not compassion.
The difference is experience, scale, and systems. This is an art and some experienced producers do it very well.

These are not casual rescues. They are deliberate programs that:
• Control colostrum timing and volume
• Manage housing, sanitation, and grouping precisely
• Keep animals outside and in groups
• Treat them as livestock, not companions
• Price animals knowing loss rates exist
• Make unemotional decisions about continued investment

This works because it is boring, repeatable, and disciplined.

If you’re wondering whether this applies to you — it probably doesn’t yet (but you can get there if this is something you’re interested in).

⸻

This Is Not How You Learn (read that again if needed)

If you are new to sheep or goats, bottle babies are the worst possible place to start.

They require:
• A working understanding of colostrum physiology
• Tube-feeding competence
• Early disease recognition
• Coccidia prevention
• Respiratory assessment
• Judgment about when to stop intervening

If you don’t yet know what a thriving, dam-raised animal looks like, you have no reference point.

You don’t learn by building the airplane while flying it.

⸻

They Are Livestock — Not Dogs

Lambs and goat kids do best outside, with a flock.

They need:
• Movement and sunlight
• Proper gut and immune development
• Normal social behavior
• Species-appropriate boundaries

They do not benefit from:
• Living in kitchens
• Wearing clothes
• Constant handling
• Being raised as companions

Animals raised this way may survive — but survival alone is not success.

⸻

What This Isn’t

This isn’t anti-compassion.
This isn’t anti-helping.
This isn’t “never intervene.”

This is a defense of quiet, competent stockmanship.

The best producers don’t talk about bottle babies often — because when systems are working, there aren’t many. Producers constantly selling high numbers of bottle babies is a warning sign to serious buyers of breeding stock.

⸻

The Line That Matters

Bottle babies are not a badge of honor.

They are either:
• A medical necessity managed carefully
or
• A management failure passed downstream

And the goal should never be to create more of them.

Lambs and kids don’t need a Hallmark ending.
They need fewer mistakes upstream — and fewer people mistaking emotion for expertise.

12/20/2025

12/20/2025

The sun is up on a brand new week. Take advantage of the opportunities that come your way.

12/20/2025

Domestic meat animals are livestock raised for human consumption.
French monks domesticated rabbits for meat around 600 AD, but Ancient Romans kept wild rabbits in enclosed parks called leporaria, for a consistent food supply since the 1st Century.
Rabbit meat might not be a staple meat in the US but it is produced and consumed world wide.
China eats the most rabbit meat by total volume, consuming vast quantities, China accounts for over 60% of global consumption, the world's largest producer and consumer, eating hundreds of millions of domestic rabbits meat annually. Followed by North Korean and Egypt and smaller European countries like the Czech Republic, Malta & Spain/Italy consume most per capita.
American do eat domestic rabbits though! It’s estimated in the US through specific recent figures we consume up to 30 million pounds annually. Most coming from niche markets, largely driven by specialty diets and chef interest.
And yes Isabel, you can and do find rabbit meat at the grocery store, but it’s likely from China. It’s far better to find a local homesteader or producer here in the US to buy from!

12/17/2025

Raising livestock is like joining the mafia:
There’s the moment you swear you’re done…
and then there’s the moment you’re halter-breaking another one anyway.

We don’t escape this life.
We just negotiate terms with it.

12/10/2025

12/10/2025

The Day the Good Breeders Vanished

One morning, the responsible rabbit breeders of the world woke up, looked around, and said, “You know what? We're done. Y'all clearly don't want us here. Good luck!". And just like that, p**f, they disappeared.

At first, the internet rejoiced.
"Victory! Adopt don't shop forever!" TikTok’s were made in celebration. A rescue somewhere popped a bottle of carrot juice.

But then... things got weird.
Pet stores ran out of rabbits in 48 hours. So they started importing them from "some guy's cousin" who breeds in a shed behind a gas station. “They're purebred," he said. "See? They're all white”. No one could identify colors. Someone bred a Vienna to a broken and called the babies "moldy marshmallow pearl”. A woman in Ohio started a line of Teacup Flemish Giants, they're just regular kits, but she swears they stay small if you believe hard enough!

Rabbit health took a nosedive.
Someone tried to treat Gl stasis with essential oils and a prayer circle. Nobody was breeding for health anymore, just for TikTok virality, and whether the rabbit's ears matched their owner's aesthetic. By spring, half the rabbits had mysterious food sensitivities, seasonal depression, and a genetic predisposition to faint if someone opened a bag of lettuce too loudly. One line developed a spontaneous sneeze reflex triggered by eye contact.

Meanwhile, the good breeders?
They were sipping coffee in peace, watching the whole thing unfold like
"Remember when we offered mentorship, and lifelong support?”

And the rabbits?
Well... they deserved better.
Instead, they got mystery mixes with the immune systems of overripe bananas and temperaments that ranged from "feral gremlin" to "Victorian fainting goat."

Moral of the story.
If you chase out the people doing it right, you don't get fewer breeders. You get worse breeders. You get rabbits who sneeze when you say the word 'parsley'. You get "rare" colors that look suspiciously like hay stains and regret.

But wait, Adopt Don't Shop became bored.
The good breeders were gone, the TikToks had peaked, and the carrot juice was flat.
They needed a new cause. A new villain. A new dopamine hit. So the champagne was repurposed. The new mission? End breeding entirely. Everywhere. Forever.

They launched a campaign featuring moody black and white photos of rabbits staring into the distance. They tried to get a bill passed that would classify intact rabbits as "emotionally hazardous materials." One influencer declared, “If we just stop all breeding for 10 years, the overpopulation crisis will fix itself." When asked what would happen after that, she blinked and said, “Well... I guess we'll cross that bridge when there are no rabbits left."

Meanwhile, the rabbits, those that hadn't developed gluten intolerance or spontaneous molting syndrome huddled in their hay piles, wondering what they did to deserve this timeline.

And somewhere, far away, a good breeder looked up from their coffee and whispered,

“Told you."

12/10/2025

Well it's time for Mr buddy to move on to another job site..boer Kiko cross buck....coming 3 in February... up to date on cdt / hooves... have his metal flock id tag...had to cut out it ear got infected..all healed up...was going to... but haven't tattooed information in ear..very laid back and very respectful to all-human or other animals... never head butt or come after...not the typical stanky billy goat...well mannered.. friendly but not overly in your pocket annoying you....got his job done here.... 2 pics of him and was told his mom...raised him on pasture..SEND PM FOR PRICE AND MORE INFORMATION!

11/17/2025

REX IS BIS ARBA 102

First time in history for Rex to win Open BIS