Gray Hobby Farm

11/11/2024

I saw this today and had to share. Many years ago, Mary would tell me we need to get fresh water to chickens everyday. We have continued to offer that. The reality, though, is that they are still instinctual animals. When it rains, they askew the fresh water and run right to the puddles. And while they will eat out of feeders, if you throw it in the ground they are much more excited. That is their instinct. Their instinct is also to be cautious as they know pretty much everything on earth is a predator to them. Yet, our birds have learned they are safe and treated well and many of them run to greet us, sit on command, and enjoy being cuddled. They are smarter and capable of more than they get credit for.

11/10/2024

This photo made me laugh. As many of you know, Mary and I do not butcher any of our animals. We think of them all as pets. If I want to eat chicken I'll go somewhere else to buy it. LOL. So we have a lot of free loading slackers. Haha. Chickens usually lay eggs starting at about 6 months and then they're pretty strong for 2 to 3 years before they start falling off. But a chicken can sometimes live up to 8 or 10 years. Often times the second half of their life produces no eggs. We get baby chicks every year to ensure egg production continues. So we often spend time tending to them and feeding them without getting any eggs in return. This is why we lose money selling eggs. Commercial producers butcher chickens when they're egg-laying primes are over. We Don't do that on our farm. We let them graze in the pasture and eat organic feed and enjoy life until it comes to a natural end. And we hug and cuddle them, even the freeloading slackers. 😊

10/10/2024

Mary and I typically post about our farm, our animals, while sharing our love and blessings with others. But every once in a while, I find something extraordinary, that is outside our normal realm of posts, that I feel is worth sharing.

For the past 3 years, we have taken a small petting zoo to the fall festival at Wildflower Early Learning Center on Burnsville Parkway. We have gotten to know the owners Josh, and Carrie, during this time. And we find this Learning Center amazing. Granted we are well past child-bearing, but every year, Mary and I talk about how if we had small children, this would be our place. The nature-based learning opportunities are so awesome to see. We met probably 200 people at the fall festival and many families that attend the school. These children are smiling and happy. The parents are engaged with their kids. The instructors at the school are there assisting outside normal work hours. They do fun runs, and exploratory learning. The kids love it. Learning can be fun. So if you have a young child, check it out if you want. We have truly been impressed by how hard they work and how much they care.

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13/09/2024

The last public goat yoga class of the year is Saturday, September 21 at 10am. It's already 60 percent full. So grab your spot quickly for one last goat snuggle. :).

05/09/2024

Mani/Pedi day for the goats was yesterday. We trim their hooves to keep them from splitting, getting hoof rot, or putting undue strain on their joints. We also give them their organic supplements, and love them up, pet their coats, etc. It takes a long time to do this to 15 goats, but Mary and I have a system down now.

23/08/2024

Thanks to Jenn who coordinated a private group goat yoga event yesterday. Clearly the goats love you!

15/08/2024

When you own a hobby farm, and provided services like goat yoga, farm classes for kids, and have to take care of the animals, garden, etc. it is a lot of work daily.

Despite the work, there is big upside. We eat healthier, we get more exercise, and we get to love our animals. Most importantly, we do as much of it together as possible. Here we are taking some time with our babies. The babies know they are loved and are always so excited to see us. We are equally excited to love them back. This photo captures their love and playfulness all in the same picture.

12/08/2024

Precious!
Beru is a first time Mom this year. And she had a set of twins (Jaden and Reid). Named after two of our favorite Timberwolves. She has been a wonderful mom and her babies are sweet and cuddly and lovable. Yesterday I was able to capture a photo of her letting her baby Jaden feed on her. She loves her babies. And she has done a good job of preparing them to be adults. But she still lets them nurse which is adorable. Thought I'd share. Reid is on the other side trying to get on as well.

10/08/2024

Interesting egg facts:

The photo below was an egg that had been laid about 10 seconds earlier. I saw it come out of the chicken grabbed my phone and took a picture. If you look closely you can see that it's wet. That wetness is a little tacky and called a bloom. When it dries it seals the pores of the shell. Therefore, we can store those eggs on the counter for at least a month at a time.

The laws that grocery stores have to abide by requires eggs to be washed. When you wash an egg you remove the natural protective coating (the bloom) that seals the egg to keep it fresh. That is why the eggs we buy in the store are in the refrigerator. In many countries they do not refrigerate their eggs. People simply buy the eggs from the store off of a shelf and then wash the eggs themselves. That is also how we sell our eggs at the farm.

20/07/2024

Snowy is adorable. She is our rodent control specialist at the farm. And while she may like her snuggles with many farm visitors, I wouldn't want to be a rodent. This is her favorite place in the morning to gather sunlight.

16/07/2024

As most of you know, these poor babies lost their mama tragically. Otherwise, we would not be bottle feeding. We believe it's in the best interest of the babies to bond and feed with mama. But in tough times, we make due. While I love holding the babies while I feed them a bottle, there are times where time is of the essence. They love this bottle feeding device I built. And it's so cute watching them chug. They are adjusting so well to their life without mama. And growing so fast. Look at those tails wag.

04/06/2024

Sad post:

Sometimes farm life can be emotionally devastating. You haven't seen many posts about the most recent babies for a reason. Unfortunately we lost our beloved Daisy. Daisy was the best goat mom ever. She always loved her babies, paid attention to them and actively made sure they were doing well. Unfortunately she got very sick during delivery and a large stillborn baby was too large for her to deliver. We rushed her to the University of Minnesota to see the vet team but they could not save her. Daisy delivered three healthy babies but the fourth one was larger than those three combined. Unfortunately there is sometimes nothing you can do.

This is the last photo I have of daisy. She was not feeling well and she just wanted to put her head on my chest and have me rub her cheek. Mary reminded me that she likes to be scratched right on the side of the jaw. Mama knows best. Before she passed she was able to make it to her feet one last time and feed her babies and give them all kisses. She was a tough lady.

Daisy will be extremely missed. She was in the first kidding that we had on our farm. She also was our best jumper. Moving forward, we have three orphaned baby goats. We give them tons of love and have been bottle feeding them five times a day. They won't be in yoga right away as they aren't big enough to fend for themselves yet, but they WILL make appearances.

God blessed us with a special animal for 6 years. She knew her name, many commands, and was just an absolute sweetheart. She will be deeply missed by all of us.

28/05/2024

This was about a half hour ago. I left for one second and Mary yelled for me and there was another baby. Daisy loves all her babies so much.

28/05/2024

Here are Daisy's triplets. #3 born just seconds ago. Precious!

28/05/2024

Jaden and Reid are learning to jump. Preparing for goat yoga.

28/05/2024

Mary needed a snack, so I was laying on the floor helping babies to nurse and getting licked by Daisy when I turned and there is Mary with Snowy. Snowy spends a lot of time with the goats but I've never seen her in the barn. She knew something must be going on. She climbed In through a window.

28/05/2024

Daisy is in labor. First one came out beautifully. Second one stuck with head down. Mary had to go in and rearrange, break amniotic sack and pull out the baby. Our vet Sharon walked Mary through it. Sharon is awesome! We nursed the baby to health and now mama is loving it up, kissing it, etc. Daisy is a good mama.

This photo is what is going on in the stall right next to us. Beru's babies are sleeping through it. They are exhausted after a long day of play time. And they are snuggling. It is adorable. Pictures of Daisy and her babies will follow when we are in the clear.

27/05/2024

Beru is such a caring and beautiful mama goat. These babies were her first kidding. And she has done wonderful. If her babies leave her side, she bellows for them and searches for them. It is precious to see that relationship. The baby boy with the white on his face is Reid, and the baby girl that I am holding is Jaden. A very precious family.

FYI: Daisy is due any day now. I plan to post videos of the birthing if it isn't too hectic. I couldn't do that with Beru as I wasn't home at the time, so Mary was hectic. More photos and videos coming soon!