Big bird

A real bird.

An imaginary bird (image from Wikipedia).

I knew Big Bird (right) since I was a small boy. Initially, I didn't know that his feathers were yellow, thanks to our first TV, a black and white Motorola (yes, Motorola used to make TVs).

And I have Sesame Street to thank for since that's where I learned my A,B,Cs and 1,2,3s. It's also the reason why I pronounce the letter Z as 'zee' and not 'zey' like 'hey' which was the way they taught in school back then, and I think they still do today. Sesame Street was a part of my life perhaps until college. And then one day I "grew up" and became a part of the working class.

Then there's another big bird that I thought would not do well in our country because of the year-round high humidity and a long wet season. That's what I thought until my father proposed that we try raising ostriches. This idea came about when he saw a booming ostrich farm in a neighboring province which led to his lofty idea of being the first in our province to have an ostrich farm. Since I could sense that he was dead serious, I reluctantly consented.

The remaining trio, the male is in the middle.

My father suggested that we start with seven chicks. But when I learned that one young chick costs almost US$200.00 I wanted to back out. That does not include the cost of feeds and supplements. Not to disappoint my father I just closed my eyes and prayed that these chicks better not go to ostrich heaven or else I'm gonna be a very, very unhappy man. It was a gamble.

How I wish this female was sitting on some eggs.

As the chicks grew and the years go by, the seven ostriches became six, then five, then four, then three --- their current number today. The six became five because, as it turned out, there was only one male in the flock. Like any other birds it is hard to determine ostrich sex while they are still young. The ostrich farm agreed to exchange one of their male ostriches for two of our females. Hmmm... sounds like an unfair deal.

As expected in animal husbandry, there will be mortality. The other ostriches succumbed to various ailments. Thank goodness there's still one male alive. But I'm beginning to think he's either sterile, gay or impotent. Eventually, one of the females managed to lay two eggs. We thought we'll be hearing the sound of chirping baby ostriches soon but both eggs were unfertilized. Since then they've never produced a single egg.

Near the shed which serves as their shelter at night and during bad weathers.

Even though my father's dream of an ostrich farm did not materialize I'm thinking of keeping at least 2 or 3 ostriches so that the presence of these big birds will not be missed. Sometimes visitors would come just to look at them and marvel at the sight of these oversized but graceful birds.

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A house is not a home... an update

There was an old house in the farm that was in a state of deterioration because it has fallen into disuse. That was the subject of an older entry I called "A house is not a home."

To make a bad situation worse, the wicked October storm blew away the roof of this unused house. And so it looks like it is just waiting for the final blow, for the walls to crumble down into a heap of rubble.

The state of the badly damaged house after the passing of a strong storm...

But as part of the farm's rise from a hard fall, along with the other damaged structures, this old house was also refurbished. A new roof and door frames were installed, the surrounding areas were cleared and spruced up, and a cable fence was erected around it. It looks like someone is going to call this a home after all...

...and its spiffier look after some repairs.

Because our flock of sheep were left homeless when their shabby house was demolished by the storm, they have been left to weather the on and off downpour in the open field. Since the evenings have been cold and wet for the past couple of months they needed a warm and dry place to stay in after sundown. A vacant house and some homeless sheep, just the perfect fit.

The sheep leaving their new house in the morning to forage on the fresh grass outdoors.

One particular blogger friend (hello Andrea...) commented on my "Home-made" post that the house for our goats are way better than some of the houses of the rural folks and more so than the slum dwellers in the urban areas. I wonder what she'll say when she reads this post :-)

Even the veterinarian who regularly visits the farm to check on the health of the animals was surprised when she saw the new residents of this old and once empty house.

postscript:
In the rural areas, a typical house is either made of wood, bamboo or hollow (or cinder) blocks. Most hollow/cinder block houses have unplastered walls due to financial constraints.

The parable of the lost sheep

Our cute little newborn sheep that got lost during the strong October storm is now over two months old.

The newborn lamb that got separated from its mother during the storm.

Because he was rejected by his mom, in fragile state, and required constant bottle-feeding, he had to be kept near our house so he could be closely monitored.

The young lamb with other lambs in the pen.

Now he's grown older and no longer require extra attention. He's with his own kind now and is doing well. He's starting to eat what the other sheep eat, but is still bottle-fed from time to time for extra supplement.

While his human 'parents' are inside the pen he would follow them until they leave the enclosure.

What's so endearing about this little guy is that he's bonded well with his foster parents. Whenever any of them goes into the sheep's pen, he immediately leaves the flock, comes running to greet them and follows them around, not leaving their side until they leave the pen.

Might as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb

December is going to be another quiet month in our farm and garden while the people in charge are busy picking up the bits and pieces to restore it as close as possible to its pre-storm state. This would also mean that there would be not much to write about either. Right!

I guess I spoke too soon.

I received an early Christmas present in the form of a text message from back home. A great news!

Photo from Wikipedia. The St.Croix sheep.

Brief flashback: Several months ago our farm applied for another shot at the government's starter sheep dispersal program. They are giving out a limited set of five ewes and one ram of the St. Croix breed to every qualified applicant. This new batch of sheep were all imported from the U.S.A. After the required inspection, our farm was again selected to receive this grant. But we had to wait for several more months until the the sheep arrive from the U.S.

Fast forward to today: The good news I received from my mother says that the sheep are now in the regional breeding station and are getting acclimatized to our local climate. The target release date is early 2011. We were advised to prepare our farm and the payment for insurance.

Insurance? Well, this is another requirement before we can take the animals out of the breeding station. Just like the case with our previous livestock grants, we need to have them insured just in case something goes wrong. But unlike before where the insurance was relatively cheap because the animals were already bred locally, this time it will cost us a hefty sum since they are coming from another country. I guess its time to tighten my belt even more, which unfortunately is already very tight. Ouch!

And why is it a great news? Considering that the amount required to insure all six sheep costs almost the same as buying a single pure-bred mature St. Croix from a local breeder, then that's quite a bargain. Still, the initial cash I have to come up with for the six sheep would be around PH₱54,000.00 (± US$1,260.00). Some may say that that is cheap, but to an ordinary folk (like me) that is a LOT of money. And it must be paid in full, not installment.

So why is it a great news again? Because not everyone who applies for the grant gets approved. In fact, because of the limited number of livestock the government can give out, very very few applicants are chosen. It would be unwise not to accept a rare privilege such as this.

So while my belt is already too tight due to the recent setbacks (read this and that), I have to tighten it more by one notch. Financially I'm already hurting, so I might as well be hung for a sheep as for a lamb.

It never rains but it pours

It's been a month since my last blog entry. There was not much to report for November since the farm and garden is still staggering from the lingering effects of a couple of wicked weather disturbances that visited our area.

After a devastating storm last October, a week-long and non-stop heavy rain poured down during the first few days of November.

The constant rain was not the result of any storm. It was simply due to a weather phenomenon called Inter-tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). It is not an unusual weather occurrence, what's unusual was the amount of rain it brought down this time. It flooded much of the low-lying areas of the northeastern part of the country.

The water in the picture is not a river but a flood submerging large swath of farmlands. This was the view from our farm of the town down below.

The rivers swelled and overflowed their banks due to excessive amount of water coming down from the surrounding mountains. As a result, it drowned farmlands and other low-lying areas. Our farm and garden sits on an elevated section of a valley so we were not directly affected by the huge flood even though we have a major river as a next door neighbor.

Indirectly, the flood affected us too. The carpenters we hired to build a new shelter for the sheep were unable to come because their homes were submerged by the flood and so had to attend to their own needs first. As a result our poor sheep were exposed to the elements the whole time the sky was weeping and wailing.

The young Boer/Kalahari Red buck hybrid (right) bought 4 months ago died of pneumonia along with seven other goats.

The sheep, however, are resilient creatures. They were able to survive nature's direct assault. I wish I could say the same for our goats. Eight goats including the young male Boer I asked my parents to buy died of pneumonia. The continuous wet weather, high temperature, high humidity and cramped living conditions may have contributed to their untimely demise.

It is now early December but the strong rain still keeps coming and going, a very sharp contrast from just a year ago.

The farm is still healing from the deep wounds inflicted by the October cyclone. With so many things to do and so few workers (no budget to hire more), the farm is just barely crawling towards normalcy. It's been over a month now since the storm and yet there is still no electricity. They're relying on a 4 Hp. generator which we had to buy because of this long and continuous power outage. It is only used a few hours in the evening and switched off before bedtime to conserve on fuel.

On the brighter side, Mom said it's like spring in the farm, the surviving leafless trees are sprouting new leaves.

Out of difficulties grow miracles

"Out of difficulties grow miracles."
- Jean de la Bruyere (French essayist and moralist, 1645-1696)

A few hours before typhoon Juan dumped all its fury, one of our pregnant sheep gave birth to a cute little lamb. During the wrath of the storm, the shelter for the sheep collapsed. Probably sensing the impending disaster, the sheep abandoned their shelter so when it came tumbling down no one was hurt. And so we thought.

The newborn lamb that got separated from its mother during the storm.

After the deluge has passed, all sheep were accounted for except for the newborn lamb. They thought it might have been carried away by the fierce wind and was counted as one more casualty.

Three days after, as they were sifting through the debris they found the little lamb crouched under a pile of wood covered in mud, silent but alive. Separated from its mother for several days, it was visibly weak from lack of nourishment. Quickly they took the young animal and cleaned it to get rid of the thick and heavy mud.

The collapsed shelter for our small herd of sheep.

They tried to reunite the young sheep with its mother but the natural bond between the ewe and her lamb has been severed. The mother no longer recognizes her own young and refused to suckle her baby. Now the lamb has a new family. Its human foster family take turns in bottle-feeding her.

Miracles do come out of difficulties. And sometimes they come in little packages too.

Beast of burden

One of our mother water buffalo suckling her young. From the looks of it she seems to be saying "A little privacy please?"

The domesticated water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) is a common but precious livestock in the Philippines and parts of South and Southeast Asia. Like the cow, it is also a source of meat and milk. Although its meat (called "carabeef") is not as prized as that of the cow, its milk is considered superior in taste than that of the cow's.

In rural Asia, the carabao (another name for the water buffalo) is employed to plough fields prior to planting rice, corn and other crops. Known for its inherent strength, it is also used to carry or pull heavy loads. While the West have completely shifted to machines for farm-related tasks, rural Asia continues to stick to its trusted ally, even though it's much slower than its mechanical counterpart. Plus, it is much cheaper to buy and take care of this animal than to purchase and maintain mechanical farm implements.

Some of our carabaos grazing on the grass in the lower garden.

They are also used for transportation. In typical countryside scenes, it is very common to see adults or children (or both) seated at the back of the carabao for a leisurely ride. Normally, it has a gentle and very slow stride but a little whip near its buttocks and it will move faster, a hard whip and be prepared to literally hold on for dear life.

Reproduction is very slow. Gestation takes 9 to 11 months and after giving birth it takes almost two years before the adult female is ready to reproduce again.

Other water buffalos grazing in an open space in the upper garden.

Feeding is easy. All it needs is a fresh supply of green grass. A lick of salt will endear it to its master. I remember on my last visit to the farm, I was astonished why our carabaos would come close to my Dad whenever they see him and start licking his hands. Dad explained that sometimes he would handfeed them a little salt and they just love it.

The water buffalo, another livestock species that still roams with relative freedom in our small farm.

Crazy about the goat

A few months back, I recounted the blooper my parents committed when they unintentionally purchased a different breed of goat from what I asked them to get.

Well, it happened again!

It seems like they can't get the right breed whenever they buy a goat. At first they bought a Boer when I asked them to get an Anglo-Numbian doe. Because of that we now have a female Boer with no mate and a male Anglo-Nubian still with no partner.

So a few months later I asked them to get a Boer buck and an Anglo-Nubian doe. Because juveniles are cheaper than adults, that's what we planned to get to fit in my budget.

The newly bought Anglo-Nubian doe (6 months old) and the hybrid Boer/Kalahari Red buck (4 months old) in a quarantine cage.

Finally they got it right with the Anglo-Nubian doe. But to my surprise they also brought home a mixed Boer and Kalahari Red buck! What the ....? Must I fly home to make sure they do things right?

Ah, my dear parents! I don't know if their goal is to collect all existing breed of goats or maybe they simply find pleasure in driving me crazy. Maybe it's payback for all my mischiefs when I was younger? The last time I checked I was never the black sheep of the family. But that's another story.

This little piggy went to market...

... and brought ten little piggies back home...

That's my modified and shortened version of the popular "This Little Piggy" nursery rhyme.

When I visited the farm over a year ago, there was only one young female pig in our small backyard piggery. Since it was still a juvenile back then I wondered when can it fill up the other empty pens adjacent to hers. I wasn't feeling optimistic back then, knowing that it was just a mere wishful thinking.

So when I recently received this picture of that very same pig - now a full-grown sow - with a litter of ten cute little piglets, I was really delighted. When these little pigs get bigger they will be moved to the empty pens. I hope they all survive and someday produce more little pigs.

The pigs raised in our farm are not for commercial production but mostly for domestic consumption. But whenever possible we also sell when there's an extra to spare or when someone is interested to buy. As of this writing two of the piglets have been sold although they will stay with mama pig until they have been weaned.

Demo farm

Last Friday, a caravan of three vans full of people from a neighboring province came to visit the farm. Those in the farm were not surprised by the sudden deluge of visitors since they have been informed weeks in advance about this "invasion".

It turns out our guests were new recipients of the government's sheep module program. And they have been advised by the local office of the Department of Agriculture to visit our farm. They wanted to observe how our farm raises the sheep we received years ago from the government's livestock program. Dad escorted them during their entire visit to answer their inquiries.

Because of our success, ours has become an unofficial demo farm. In a way, this trip was to inspire the new recipients to strive in their new endeavor knowing that success is possible.

Got milk?

The three new Boer kids suckling from Mama goat.

The kids of our very first Boer goat are doing well. The boisterous three are now showing more signs of independence from Mama goat, which makes her very uneasy whenever they wander away from her. Boer does are known for their excellent mothering instinct.

Aside from getting the wrong breed, the reason why I didn't warm up before to our Boer goat is because I thought it's another breed of dairy goat. And I'm not interested in goat milk production. Probably because I'm not a milk drinker? Actually, my goal is the meat. Anyway, I must be high on something that day because I thought Boers are for milk. Well, that's what I got from reading just a few articles in the internet.

Further readings proved that I got my facts wrong. Now that I know that Boers are bred primarily for their quality meat, my dislike for our Boer goat has totally vanished. Does that mean that I don't like the Nubian now? No. We got it almost for free so why hate a gift.

So now I have a new goal, that is to get the female Boer a mate of the same breed. Hmmm... sounds familiar?

'Got Milk?' is a popular advertisement in the US beginning in the 90's to entice more people to drink cow's milk.

It's payback time

This post is way, way overdue. Its been waiting for me to hit the 'Publish post' button for weeks. Finally I did...

Last February, a representative from the Department of Agriculture (DA) called to inform that someone will be coming over to the farm to collect two young female sheep. This is not a surprise since it was part of the deal the farm agreed to when they signed up for the government's livestock program.

True enough, a few days later, two vets from the Agriculture department came to get the two sheep. This serves as partial payment for their sheep-raising starter program. And this is also when the vets confirmed that the female goat we bought is not Anglo-Nubian but rather a Boer goat.

The foraging grounds (which takes up over half of the farm and the site of the 'future' garden) for the goats and sheep have been drastically cut in size. They still have a significant size of grounds to feed on, except that now the sheep and the goats no longer share the same space.

This redistricting is the result of the construction of the dirt road, which is the first stage in the planned gradual conversion of the animals' foraging area into a lush garden space.

Have a cow about the goat

There are only a handful of cows in the farm, less than the total number of fingers in one's hands.

When a cow gets pregnant, the period of gestation takes time, more or less as long as it takes for a human baby to develop. And unlike goats giving birth to two or three is common, a mother cow produces only one. Then it takes years before a calf matures. As such, they do not multiply as fast as the sheep and goats do. So it's always a joyful event when a calf is born.

A newly born calf in the farm.

On some other note...

I received a text message from Mom to let me know that the pregnant boer doe has given birth to three healthy female boer kids. I sensed the feeling of joy and excitement from them but I did not respond to Mom's message so (as I expected) I got another one the following day. Still no response. It seems like someone was not showing any interest at all. Can you guess who that is?

I really need to get over the sorry fact that we've been had, that we got the wrong breed of goat and just move on. After all, it's not her fault that she ended up in the farm. It's what we'll do with her that matters now.

By the way, the by-products of these animals are an excellent source of fertilizer for the plants in the garden.

Scapegoat

I knew it! Im so frustrated!

The first time I saw a picture of the "Anglo-Nubian" doe they recently bought, I knew there was something amiss. I told them the goat looks more like a Boer, a different breed. But since they bought it from a so-called 'certified' breeder they were confident they got the right breed.

Then a few days later, representatives from the Department of Agriculture came to the farm to collect two female sheep (ewes). They confirmed that the goat is a Boer.

I'm so furious! I feel like I was robbed, with a receipt to remind me. I need to find someone to blame for this mistake.

That opportunistic seller preyed on my parents' lack of full knowledge about goat breeds. He is lucky there's an ocean of a barrier that separates me from him. I feel the need to shove that pregnant Boer down his throat or up his a&%.

So now we have a Boer doe, another goat breed we didn't intentionally plan on breeding. And yet we are still left without an Anglo-Nubian doe, the one we planned on buying.

And all along I thought we got two for the price of one!

Two for the price of one

A month ago, I had a conversation with Mom and Dad about the lone Anglo-Nubian buck that the farm received through a government grant to upgrade the breed of our native goats. My concern was that if anything happens to the buck, then we might lose our one and only pure-bred.

The first Anglo-Nubian doe in our farm. They named her 'Nubian'. Care to guess the name of the buck?

We thought it would be good if we also have a pure-bred female Anglo-Nubian to keep the breed going. They could try to apply for another government grant but that will take several months, and that is if the application is approved.

A very pregnant goat.

So I thought that we should just buy one instead. And so they inquired with some breeders how much it costs to purchase a pure Anglo-Nubian doe. It's quite pricey but the benefits outweigh the cost in the long run so we went ahead and bought one.

For some reason (maybe so he could gain our business that day and perhaps even in the future), the breeder knowingly sold us a pregnant doe for the same price as that of a non-pregnant one. In a few more weeks we may have a first pure-bred kid grazing in the farm. Hopefully, when the time comes, the doe would give birth without any complications.

We are anxiously anticipating the arrival of the kid.

Kidding aside

In my two older entries, "Kids stuff" and "New kids on the block", I wrote about the new additions to the farm, the hybrid kids (or 'upgrade' as the locals call it), offsprings of our native does and a purebred Anglo-Nubian buck. Missing in those entries are pictures of the baby goats.



Finally! After waiting for several weeks, I got hold of some pictures of our very first batch of upgraded/hybrid goat kids.

There are now six kids, four girls and two boys. Although brothers and sisters from different mothers, they all display distinct traits of their father, a bulky body and long, drooping ears.

The kids aren't weaned yet so their moms have to be around to feed, groom and change their diapers while their dad is busy flirting with the other ladies of the flock.

These pictures were taken using Mom's cellphone camera, so the image quality is not very good. But still, aren't they cute?

Kids stuff

Within two consecutive days after the first pregnant doe gave birth to twin female upgrade (hybrid) kids, three more pregnant does added three (2 females, 1 male) more to the population of upgrade kids. Now there are five (4 females, 1 male) upgrade baby goats in the farm.

The three new additions were much bigger than the older twins. The latest arrival was a male and it was way bigger than the rest that it had to be pulled out of the mother goat.

All the kids trace their paternal lineage from our currently one and only purebred Anglo-Nubian buck.

New kids on the block

I just received a text message from my mother bearing good news.

One of the pregnant does carrying a hybrid (Anglo-Nubian/native) has just given birth to twin female kids. As of this writing the kids are only 3 hours old, still struggling to stand on their own feet.

I was told the distinctive characteristics of the Anglo-Nubian breed are very visible. The kids have long, dangling ears and longer necks.

The mother doe had no problem giving birth. Since she was carrying two kids the babies were smaller than if there was only one. Also a female kid is usually smaller than a male kid. Another factor was that this was already her third time to give birth (but first to carry hybrids).

The mother doe that died (see "Big") was carrying a male, big kid and it would have been her first time to give birth.

There are two more pregnant does due to give birth anytime this month. They are also first-time mothers so they are under careful observation.

At least we're happy that now we have our first hybrid (also called 'upgrade') kid. Not just one but two and both are females. Hopefully they grow up to be good mother does also so that their kids will be even closer to the Anglo-Numbian breed.

Big bucks!

"Big bucks! Big Bucks!"

I remember that phrase shouted like a mantra by all contestants of the gameshow "Press Your Luck" (and years later its reincarnation called "Whammy!") as if the game board will hear them and bring them big money.

In my August 20 blog entry "The buck stops here", I mentioned about an Anglo-Nubian buck that the farm received from the government. Since I didn't have an image of our buck back then, I borrowed one from Wikipedia. Finally, my brother e-mailed me several pictures of our new he-goat.



What a handsome creature indeed, with a dignified posture and a lean body. But they forgot to mention that it's bigger than the local goats that we currently have.



Now that's a big buck indeed.

The buck stops here

I know, this is an idiomatic phrase.

But the buck did indeed stop, albeit not here but at the farm. It's an Anglo-Nubian buck.

NOTE: Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

An Anglo-Nubian is a breed of domesticated goat. Considered a dairy breed, it is known for high quality, high butterfat, milk production. It is of mixed European, Asian and African origin.

Remember my topic about a government bureau lending livestock (see 'Of good governance') to farmers? The bureau has granted our request for another goat (of different breed) to improve the breed of the goats that we have on the farm today. Introducing a new and better breed will not only alleviate the problem of in-breeding that usually happens but also improve the quality of the livestock's gene pool.

After paying all the required fees, the buck was picked up and brought to its new home. When the quarantine period expires, it will then be allowed to mingle with the ladies of its own kind.