When I trim the cypress I just leave it in the goat pen for them to munch on. They love it and it's a natural dewormer. Fall and cold temperatures are coming. That means I will have to disconnect the hoses and begin watering with buckets. That always makes the chores more difficult, but it has to be done. Romeo is doing much better now that he has been separated from the bully bucks. The slide I repurposed for a pig trough is not exactly what I envisioned, but it's working. With cold weather approaching I give the animals fresh straw bedding. KuneKune's are not usually active and destructive rooters, but they can and will root. This is especially true if they are lacking for something in their food source that they need. I have enough pigs that their pasture is becoming stressed so they have begun rooting. I will need to change their food or increase rations as Autumn brings lower temperatures. I replace the metal water pail the bucks had last winter which sprung a leak. I need a metal water pail so I can put a heating element in it to keep their water from freezing.
Every day my family and I are learning what it means to run a hobby farm. We started with chickens then added myotonic, or fainting, goats, and eventually kunekune (kune kune) pigs. Throw in some Guinea fowl and turkeys and cats and dogs with a creek and tons of wildlife and you start to get an idea of what our hobby farm is like. Hobby farming is time consuming and hard, but rewarding and fulfilling. There are daily chores that never stop. The animals need to be fed and watered. Pastures and pens need to be fenced and built. Goats and pigs need to be rotated in their pastures to give them fresh food and to rejuvenate the land. Food is planted and grown for the animals. Medicines are given orally and injected to prevent and cure sickness and combat parasites. Hooves need to be trimmed. Babies need to be raised. At any given time we have gilts, sows, boars, piglets, bucks, does, kids, chicks, chickens, keets, guineas, turkeys, etc. that need our attention, love and care. Follow along and we’ll learn and grow on this adventure together!