Rancho Bajo La Luna

04/07/2025

As we see the increase cost of groceries, products and services with big companies, many are trying to stop paying the middleman and go DIRECTLY to the farmers.

We have a person in the community taking in forms to make a "Food Map" of sorts. The community just needs to know where they are:

https://forms.gle/3XRtneVh5x7NcJsZ6

Please fill out if you are a farmer, homesteader who sells surplus or do agricultural services.

For more info you can go to Olivia Hathaway who made the original form!

Hello! The recent tariff announcement has made many people unsure about their finances or what will be available in the grocery store in the near future. The purpose of the survey below is to 1) Find sources of local food, 2) Find where it goes overall, 3) Find where individual people can access it....

04/01/2025

Now that the babies have been weaned and gone to their new homes we got PLENTY of milk.
Getting 4-6 gallons daily! If you are interested in a milk share message for more info!

https://ranchobajolaluna.carrd.co/

Ahora que los bebés han ido a sus nuevos hogares, tenemos MUCHA leche.
¡Consiguiendo 4-6 galones diarios! ¡Si usted está interesado en un mensaje de compartir la leche para obtener más información!

https://ranchobajolaluna.carrd.co/

04/01/2025

This is no April Fools joke! We are moving platforms!
We’ve been working on adding more to our YouTube & Mewe account.
With Tik Tok potentially getting banned and a lot of issues here on Facebook we are going to try out other places.

Bluesky is where we will do updates kinda how we do on Tik Tok.
Currently working on adding a subscribe option to our website for updates similar to how we do on here.

Mewe will be our Facebook alternative.

2025 has a lot in store but not here.
We have set
• Goat & Dairy cow milk shares
• Getting our chicken numbers back up for eggs.
• Travel Petting Zoo events are starting this month.
• Setting up a new pen locally on the homestead for kids to do the petting zoo here.
For more info save our site
https://ranchobajolaluna.carrd.co

03/27/2025

Hi everyone guess what? Cyclone gets to be a Bunny Calf on April the 12th!

Come meet the Easter Bunny, play with Cyclone, swap seeds, face paintings, a bouncy house and more!

https://facebook.com/events/s/hoppy-days-easter-bash/9329860373767804/

03/26/2025

Not the best pics but I’ll have dad help me pose her tomorrow.
We have a Nubian doe cross (NOT A MINI) in milk with her buckling born today!
3/26/2025

First Freshening. Nice udder. Picture after hes drank. Will have pics of a full udder this weekend
Located in Grottoes VA
Will be available together only.
Last pic is size comparison to one of my Nigerians.

Do remember to find us off of Facebook on MeWe instead!

Rancho Bajo La Luna https://mewe.com/ranchobajolaluna

03/21/2025

I want to say happy birthday to the best man I know. My dad 💕
he’s always gone with my crazy ideas, both the farm and spiritual.

Has always been my right hand man when trying to convince mom on another animal 🤣
Has built pens, huts for my pets, coops, cages and anything while bickering with me.

Has taught me the values of life and death. How to help a cow give birth, how to humanely and with dignity end suffering of others.

Has held me when I cry for animals we had only days from livestock sales and surprised me with someone new.

He finds animal skulls, bones or odd things and first thing he does is think about me. Given me deer skulls, huge ram skulls, longhorn bull skulls, raccoons and other even helped me skin road kill 😂

He’s made me all proud of my Mexican Heritage, showing me his roping skills, Pajarete, teaching me to make some Mexican dishes.

Honestly I could go on for days. All I wanna say is Happy Birthday Jose Gonzalez
Te quiero papi

03/20/2025

Eggs costing too much? Think getting chickens is better? PLEASE RETHINK THAT!

In the past 3 weeks we have seen an influx of posts looking for chicks. We have also had dozens of people calling or messaging asking if we have chicks or hens available. Because of this we wanted to break down the cost for newbies.

STORE BOUGHT VS YOUR LOCAL HOMESTEADER/FARMER
Even at $10 a dozen for eggs homesteaders and farmers are not making bank as you think and in a minute you will see why. At most you would be paying $10 a dozen per week, $40 a month, $480 a year for ONE dozen eggs. Lets look at starting and maintaining chickens.

SHELTER
Its not just the chicken. You need to have proper shelter for them. A decent coop and fencing and, more so, need to check your zoning. Most cities do not permit chickens and local counties Ive seen max 6 hens and NO roosters.

Even a Cheap coop will cost you about $500 if you reuse a lot of stuff like pallets, spare wood etc. Nails and Screws aren’t cheap. Chicken wire keeps chickens in but not predators out; you need Hardware wire for that. Most people will try to buy from Tractor Supply. Many of those coops are made poorly and last maybe 1-2 years. A large enough coop for 6 hens would be over $1,000 from there.

To have proper space the smallest is 3 square feet of coop space and 8 square feet of run space. You are already over $20-$500 what you would have paid for eggs.

CHICKS
Are you looking for more common breeds like production reds, barred rocks, Easter Eggers? More hardy or dual purpose breeds like Brahmas and Orpingtons. White Eggs? Brown eggs? Pink? Blue? Green?
Your more common breed chicks under a week old can cost you now about $5-$7 EACH.
Your more pricier breeds can go for $10
More exotic breeds like Cemanis can go as high as $50-$100 each depending quality.
Be ready that for the 10 you get, you will likely lose 2-3 chicks. Either by sickness, them accidently drowning, somehow suffocating themselves, possibly picking at each other.

CHICK QUALITY
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! If you are going to get chicks, get them from your homesteaders or breed specific farms that grow for quality and not quantity. You will notice more issues with chicks from hatcheries. Many places like Tractor supply will have them be smaller, thinner than the standard for the breed. ALSO never trust “Sexed chicks” unless its breed specifically bred that way. There are countless stories of people going to Tractor Supply buying sexed chicks and out of 10 guaranteed “pullets” they get 2-3 roos. The Unsexed is worse. Ive seen many and myself get more than 50% roosters. Another big issue in quality is that with such large amounts of chicks splay legs is commonly seen. If corrected quickly they can live a good life but many new chicken owners don’t know. Finally its common for people to want egg laying hens but there are also “Broiler Chicks” “Cornish Cross” Those are your meat chickens. Some people have sadly been sold the wrong breeds and then struggle on needing to process them when they didn’t want to do that.

ROOSTERS
You WILL get roosters at some point if you want to have chicks or hatch chicks. Are you allowed to have them? Are you willing to process them? Are you going to raise them and know they will go for food? Selling them? Lucky if you can give them away UNLESS its a pricier breed and even then. Roosters can start to crow as young as 3-4 months. Some ive seen try to crow at days old.

SKIP CHICK STAGE? PULLETS & HENS?
Pullets used to cost $10-$15 since they weren’t laying yet. Many now cost $20-$30.
An egg laying hen can cost now $40-$60, Some at $100.
One year of growth, 2-3 years of constant egg laying, 2+ years of slower egg laying. Average age of a hen is 5-10 years old but there are some who have been as old as 12-13. Are you ready to do all the work for 2 good years of eggs and the rest just caring for them? Or will you sell them once they dont lay anymore.

FEED
Most want to go the organic route. Layer feed, crumbles, mealworms, vitamins, can easily go for $200-$300 a month. More “Basic Food” can easily still be $100 a month.

TOTAL COST.
Essentially you will be paying about $2,000-$3,000 to set up with shelter and the chicks or hens.
And be paying about $1,200-$2,500 on feed.

So why do we homesteaders, hobbyists, and farmers do it? We know what we are eating as we grow it ourselves. The experience is something I would never trade in the world. We honestly love our chickens. We will go in single digit weather days, the pouring rain and sun blazing heat and complain while doing it but will smile when we see our chickens happy and safe.
I didn’t even touch on winter care in this post but please if you are going to get chickens, they are a commitment just like cats and dogs.

03/17/2025

Update: Sold at Auction
Not just cuz they are mine BUT
We have 3 beautiful little heifers available located in Grottoes VA
2 two month old Red Angus cross heifers
1 five day old pure black angus heifer.

The two reds are on grass and grained and starting to wean.
The little black beauty is currently being raised on our jersey but can be bottle trained.
Message for more info.

03/17/2025

The Mosby Foundation will be gratefully accepting those treats your dog doesn't like now. The cat food that didn't suit. The litter that seemed like a good idea at the time...

Is the bag open? No problem, we have tape!

Drop by your pet's rejects at Old Wharf Tattoo, 21 N Augusta in Staunton from 12-7! We will find a pet that loves it!

03/08/2025

Are you a homesteader? A farmer? Someone with livestock? They have a survey at the very bottom of the link.

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/3WBCJ8J?

I think personally we need to start “Certified” Classes to help with basic training and care that farmers could do to help ease the load on vets. I know multiple Facebook groups that have helped a lot of people with alternatives to vet or even more knowledge than vets based on experience.

Virginia is experiencing a shortage of large animal veterinarians and efforts are ongoing to resolve the issue.

03/04/2025

As yall know, my family & I have a homestead & I make spiritual products & services In Grottoes VA!

🔮🐮OUR 2025 GOALS🐮🔮
• Selling Herdshares both Goat & Cow milk. 25 cow shares 5 goat shares
• Selling soaps, lotions,salves etc.
• Start doing markets locally!
• More Mobile Petting Zoo events!
• Leaving Facebook for a decentralized platform MeWe.

Info on the milk products & herd shares you can go to ranchobajolaluna.carrd.co

Find us on YouTube, MeWe, Our Site & Bluesky for both the Homestead & Spiritual

Thank you to those who have supported us over the years. Hope to see yall on MeWe & Bluesky!

First Generation Mexican American Homestead Located in Grottoes VA

02/25/2025

Update: as sad as it was to see her go, she found a wonderul new home where she will be spoiled & loved like she was here.

Unfortunately we have to downsize some of the dairy herd.
Cappuccino is a Red Holstein approximately 4 years old. Has had 2 calves.
Currently in milk. Can be milked by hand or on machine.
Very sweet and knows her name.
Currently running within our Brahma Bull
Located in Grottoes VA

02/19/2025

See more content on our page on MeWe. We are expecting to be gone from Facebook in a few more weeks.
Pics of two little girls born today 💕

https://mewe.com/ranchobajolaluna

02/19/2025

It’s official you guys! Going to start selling herd shares.

Once you sign up give us 2-3 days to respond back & get your order of gallon jars in. Make sure to fill out the form at the bottom and what day of the week works best for you.

Small Family Homestead Located in Grottoes VA

02/15/2025

I need jugs! Need to have lids. We are milking about 5-8 gallons a day from our cows and 2 gallons from our goats and I’ve run out 😅 we can only make so much cheese and stuff for ourselves.
Latte, Cappuccino, Caramelo & Pajarete would appreciate it

Half gallon jugs for goats
Gallon jugs for cows

02/13/2025

New post on MeWe
https://mewe.com/ranchobajolaluna

Would it be worth trying to get another 10 or so hens again?

02/10/2025

AAAAAANNNNNNDDDD done 😮‍💨😅
About 5 hours straight later….
All important (to me) posts & videos have been posted on the new page. Make sure to follow us there for updates and info on the homestead. Will be closing this account soon.

Please remember I will not be posting on Facebook and Instagram anymore in a few weeks. Once I get at least half of my followers onto MeWe l'm out. Find us on YouTube & MeWe.

Mewe (Facebook alternative)
https://mewe.com/ranchobajolaluna

YouTube (for our tik tok videos and soon to he long form educational videos)
https://youtube.com/