Timber Rose Homestead

                                       Buying a Goat 101 Note: In this post you will find info on buying mainly Dairy and or pet goats. It can apply to meat goats as well though.          So, you've got the urge to buy a goat! You've been scrolling google at all the cute pictures of goats. Goats running, goats jumping, goats sleeping in the sunshine, goats doing yoga, goats wearing sweaters, goats being adorable, baby goats, miniature goats, Let's just face it, you've fallen in love with goats and you just have to have one! Don't worry! I've got yo back! If your heart is just set on gettin' a goat, keep reading, cause I've got 5 tips just for you on buying your first goat! Tip #1 About the Breeds First things first. What do you plan to do with your goat? Are you wanting a goat for meat? Are you wanting a Dairy goat so you can have loads of milk and cheese at your fingertips? Or, do you just have to have one of those adorable, cuddly goats

  Got Milk? It may sound kinda odd, I mean drinking milk from a goat! I know it's not your average 2% cows milk, but I think you will find the nutritional benefits are definitely worth giving goat milk a try! And the great thing is, you can have your very own milk goat, right on your own homestead!  Nutritional Benefits: Goat milk has the ability to:  aid in weight loss  reduce inflammation  optimize digestion  improve bioavailability of nutrients  strengthen bones  boost heart health  strengthen immunity  increase metabolism  prevent toxins from accumulating in the body and  benefit overall health. Wow sounds pretty good right? Did you know that approximatley 65 % of the United States propulation drink goat milk? What about the Lactose? Lactose is in all animal derived milk. It is "natural milk sugar". However goat's milk is slightly lower in the amount of lactose it contains, compared to cow's milk. It's about 12% less pe

                                ~What is Beet Pulp? As per Wikipedia  Beet Pulp is a byproduct from the processing of sugar beet which is used as fodder for horses and other livestock. Beet pulp is the fibrous material left over after the sugar is extracted from sugar beets. It comes in both flakes and compressed pellets. Despite being a byproduct of sugar beet processing, beet pulp itself is low in sugar and other non-structural carbohydrates, but high in energy and fiber.  It contains: 10 percent protien, 0.8 percent calcium and 0.5 percent phosphorus. It has no vitamin A so additional forage is required to provide complete nutrition.  So why would I feed it to goats? Beet Pulp is an excellent source of added calories and energy. If you have a goat that is needing to put on some extra weight, beet pulp can be helpful for doing so! Beet Pulp is not suitable for a whole feed, as it does not have all the nutrients required, however, that being said, If your goat is just n

I absolutely love my Saanen Dairy Goat Firefly! Not only is she beautiful with her white coat, floppy ears and beard, but shes so sweet and a great milker! This year she gave us a beautiful little doe kid!  And the question always comes up! To keep the kid or sell the kid?  Tilly is half Saanen and half Boar. She has her moms beautiful white coat and her dads adorable "baby doll" type face and ears. After some thought, I have decided to go down the road of dairy/meat goat cross and keep Tilly as our next milk goat!  You may be wondering if a Dairy Boar cross is a good milk goat! If that's you keep reading! What is a Boar Goat? Boar Goats are a Meat Production breed. They were developed in South Africa in the early 1900's. Boar goats were bred for meat, rather than milk. They are hardy animals, are generally docile and are fast growing!  What's a Saanen? The Saanen is a Swiss Breed. They are a Dairy goat and are heavy milk producers. In

~This Dish is Dinner all in one!~ Your family is sure to love this dish! It is absolutely delicious paired with green beans or your favorite vegetable. The wonderful thing about this recipe is, you can probably find everything you need right in you cupboard! *For the Biscuits  You can substitute Rice Flour for AP Flour to make this dish Gluten Free. Just make sure to add plenty of sauce to your biscuit, as the Rice Flour Biscuits can be a little dry. 2 Cups flour                    3 T. shortening 4 tsp. baking powder       3/4 milk 1/2 tsp salt Combine dry ingredients. Cut in shortening; add milk. Roll half inch thick and cut with a biscuit cutter (a mason jar works great!)  *For the Sauce Preheat oven to 400 degrees  1 can diced tomato's            1 lb ground turkey, beef, goat meat (whatever you have available) 1 tsp salt                              1/2 tsp pepper 1 tsp Basil                           1 tsp Parsley  Brown the meat. In a

~Raising Chicks 101~ Ever just git the baby chick bug after you see those adorable fluffy balls of cuteness at the farm store? And you just have to have one... or maybe five?!? Well if that's you, I've got you covered! I'm gonna tell you just how to raise chicks from little's to laying! First off, when you set out to buy baby chicks at the store, you will want to choose what type of chicken you are wanting, whether you are wanting meat chickens, laying hens or a dual purpose chicken. Then you will want to pick the breed that best suites your wants. There are all types of laying breeds, meat breeds and even adorable bantam breeds.  Sometimes the store will have "Pullets" which means all the baby chicks will be hens, and sometimes they are all mixed in and you just take a chance on getting some roosters. One time we ended up with four roosters! lol But usually you will get mostly hens and a rooster or two. You will need some supplies before bring

~Chicken Coop Clean Out A clean coop means healthy chickens and clean eggs! A dirty coop is a smorgasbord for mites and parasites and dirty nest boxes will result in poo covered eggs. Keeping a regular coop cleaning schedule will make clean out so much easier and will keep your chickens healthy and at their best! I start by cleaning off the top of the nest boxes. I use a broom and dust pan. Then take all the soiled bedding out of the nest boxes and replace it with clean shavings. I find shavings are the easiest to use, but you can also use hay. Every few weeks I like to pic out the poo and soiled bedding. You can make a pile of clean shavings in one corner of the coop to use when needed. If you need to, you can take a scrub brush and some soapy water and clean off the roosts and boxes. I find keeping up on it and doing quick cleans, saves on having to do big cleans later on!

~Feeding Hair Sheep 101~ Hair sheep are known to be very hardy and parasite resistant. They can generally live on pasture alone (as long as you manage them properly). In this post I am going to go over exactly how we take care of our hair sheep and what we feed them. Disclaimer: Hair Sheep are one of the easiest animals we have ever set out to raise! Much easier than goats, cows, etc! Feeding them is pretty straight forward, but there are a few things to know, so your operation will go smoothly. #1 Rotating Pasture If you have good pasture and can rotate your sheep onto fresh grass often enough, your sheep should be able to completely thrive off grass. Rotating Pasture also keeps parasites at bay, keeping your sheep nice and healthy. Another thing rotating pasture can do for you is help your profit margin! With less money spent on feed, your income will flourish more. When you see that the grass is getting yellowed or trampled down, move them to fresh grass and they will h

                                      ~Border Collie 101~ When we were thinking about getting into Hair Sheep, I knew I wanted to get a dog that would be a great help with the sheep! I'm so glad I made the decision to purchase Luna Mae! At just 19 weeks old, she is already starting to herd the sheep and is so intelligent! She loves to have a job and also loves to play fetch!                        Ok, lets get strated! *Border Collie's are a working and herding breed. They were developed in the Scottish borders for herding livestock, especially sheep. The Border Collie was specifically bred for intelligence and obedience.  *Border Collies are an active working dog breed. Because of this if they are confined without activity and company, they can become unhappy and destructive. So they do best living in the country or with someone that will provide an active lifestyle.  *Border Collies are highly intelligent, learn quickly and respond well to praise. I have notice

~Feeding Chickens 101~ Really when it comes to feeding chickens, it is pretty basic and easy. But there are a few things that are important to know. Here are 5 tips to feeding chickens and laying hens. "Chicken Scratch" contains (Cracked Corn, Rolled or Whole grains such as corn, barley, oats or wheat) and helps encourage chickens to scratch the ground and forage for seeds, bugs, etc. Scratch shouldn't be their entire diet, but is a wonderful treat and will help with boredom when they are in the coop. I feed my chickens scratch daily as the biggest portion of their grain needs and supplement their diet with a good source of protein. This gives them a nice snack to fill them up while they are in the coop. Even if I let them "Free Range" I usually throw them some scratch in the morning to make sure they are getting enough to eat. A "Laying Ration" is going to be important if you are wanting good egg production. Hens will need a 16% Laying Ration

             ~Farm Fresh Eggs~ Eggs are kinda an essential to have in any household! Not only are they a great source of protein, they are also full of essential vitamins and provide us with many nutritional benefits. Plus there are lots of recipes that call for eggs. Having your own eggs readily available can mean a healthier source and less trips to the grocery store! So why are "Farm Fresh" eggs healthier than store bought eggs? They are often times: *Cage Free  *Free Range *Farm Fresh  and *There are no added Hormones What does that all mean? The chickens on most farms and homesteads aren't stuck in cages, but rather live their lives in a nice coop and have access to lots of sunshine, fresh air and are often allowed to free range. They are also usually not given any added hormones. And often times able to free range for bugs, leafy greens and are given healthy grains such as corn, etc. Farm fresh eggs are one of the best sources of Vitamin D

   ~ Country Apple Crumble Pie ~ Apple Crumble.... Caramel, Cinnamon, cheese, oh ya! That sounds like my kinda pie! And I'm gonna tell you just how to make it! It's as easy as pie!  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Crust: 1 1/3 cups flour  1/2 tsp salt 1/2 cup shortening  3 T. water  In a bowl add the flour and salt. Cut in shortening. Add in water a tablespoon at a time. You can roll out the crust and then place it in your pie pan, but I find it must easier and less messy to just poor all the dough into the pie pan, work it into a ball, then spread it out with my hands and form it to the pie pan, making the edges pretty. This way you don't have to clean all the flour and mess off the counter. Prepare the apples: 4 apples, washed and peeled Configure all the apples into the prepared pie crust. Make 1 layer thick. Sprinkle them with cinnamon.  If there are extra apples you can put them in a zip lock bag, put a tsp of lemon juice over them and pu

              ~Welcome To Our Coop~ The coop.... I feel like the coop is the heart of the homestead. Farm fresh eggs are one of our treasures. It's the place we watch chicks grow and become big beautiful hens and roosters. The chickens provide kind of a Livelihood for us. There are so many uses for eggs here and the great health benefits and protein content makes for a wonderful thing to have access to here on the Homestead.                  Making a nice cozy place for our hens to lay eggs, have predator protection and weather protection is important.  A coop could be made of really anything that can withstand the weather and keep predators out. You could use a shed, a place in your barn, make a portable chicken coop, the ideas are really endless. The building you see here was made for our goats, but we turned it into a chicken coop and it works wonderfully! It's big enough to walk into, which makes cleaning easy. It keeps predators out and is great protectio

                                                    ~Winter Blues got you down?~                           Try some cold month Gardening! It is March 14th and still chilly here in Missouri, although we do get some really nice warm sunny days now and again. When the Daffodils come up it just makes me want to get out and plant something! But with a chance of frost still at bay, putting in a full garden would more than likely end in a frozen mess. But that doesn't mean you can't still get your hands in the soil! Here is how to grow a "mini cold weather garden" right on your back porch! You will need: *2 bags of soil *8 bags Lettuce  *4 bags Spinach  *Epsom Salt Plant Food Supplement  (This is what I did, but you can get any amount you want, depending on the quantity you would like to grow and harvest. Also, all the seeds, soil and Epsom Salt came from the Dollar General. The seeds are 4 for $1 which is a pretty good deal, but you can find the