And, it appears, a bunch of Halloween decorations yet to store away!
Posted on 11/11/2011 8:56:00 AM PST by ProtectOurFreedom
Last year, Wisconsin led the nation in mink farming, producing 833,430 pelts. Texas was the undisputed king of pansies, growing 1.8 million flats of the flowers. And no state harvested more hops than Washington, with 24,336 acres.
This year? Who knows? The government has stopped counting.
Forced to cut its budget, the Agriculture Department has decided to eliminate dozens of reports, including the annual goat census (current population: three million), and the number of catfish on the nation’s fish farms (177 million, not counting the small fry).
The statistics service said it was forced to reduce the frequency of some reports and eliminate others because its budget was cut for the fiscal year that ended in September and it expects further cuts for the current year. The eliminated reports will save $11 million a year.
“These are not cuts we wanted to make, but budget reductions by Congress made it necessary,” said Matt Herrick, a spokesman for the Agriculture Department.
(Excerpt) Read more at blog.foreignpolicy.com ...
The notion that if the government doesn't do it, then it can't be done, is silly, and with each passing day we are going to be dependent on the network of associations and charities to fill the gap when the tide of government spending recedes.
If not debudded they can be very violent animals and deserve due respect handling them. There is no way I would let a kid be in a pen with horned goats alone.
Sometimes I think most of these jobs were dreamed up by some poor slob who got stuck with a summer intern.
"Please to meet you Mr Local Bigwigs Offspring! You are going to be the head of our goat counting program. Yep, you will be out in the field all summer. No, don't bother to come in, just send your reports in by mail."
But of course you have to write up a report justifying the assignment and it gets entered into the SOP and the next thing you know some dam fool wants you to count cows too. So you have to hire some one for that, then you have to hire someone to file the reports and the next thing you know you have 50 people running around counting things when all you wanted was a little peace and quiet so you could work on the Great Horned Tobacco Worm infestation.
So when they stop counting pigs will we lose track of the number of federal employees?
The first time on the farm I saw a possum in shadow on top of our bales of hay in the barn, scared the bejeebers out of me. Went into the house and told my husband that there was a huge rat in the barn...Later learned it was a possum. duh....
And, it appears, a bunch of Halloween decorations yet to store away!
All four of mine are spoiled!
We brought our 4 home (about 120 miles) in the back of a Jeep Grand Cherokee when they were about 6 weeks old.
They traveled MUCH better than human KIDS I've hauled around!
Not once did they say...
"Are we THERE yet?" or "He LOOKED at me" or "She's hogging the window" or 'Are we there YET???" or "I gotta pee."
I'd have a hard time putting one of the girls back there now!
You have NAILED it!
YaBut....None by Venita Whitegoat, Navajo. They have been occupying Page, AZ for centuries.
No Elsie, I cannot believe your girls/and boy are spoiled...LOL But your wife has some very interesting pots and baskets. Looks like she (or you) love native american crafts..Very nice.....GG
Our main breeder had horns that from point to point was (I keep forgetting) either 44 or 46 inches. He couldn't get in one of the barn doors unless he tilted his head. But they were only nasty during breeding season. Could do you some damage during that time.
Only had one go after me, it was his first breeding season and I had him in a back pen with 3 young doe's and made the mistake of walking back there without watching him. He pasted me to the wall, but saw him coming and was able to back up almost to the wall before he hit me and I was also able to grab the horns and slow down his attack. I got madder than him and he got thrown out of the back barn door, adrenalin is a wonderful thing. If he would have been my big breeder, I would have been in a world of hurt.
That guy and his doe's were in another barn with access to the larger pasture. I never went into that pasture without checking out where he was first, but after breeding he was fine. It took both me and my husband to take him down for hoof trimming.
Most of them I could do myself. We had several wethers that it also took 2 of us to take down. Does, yearling bucks were easy for a woman to handle.
Shearing was an interesting time, we had professionals do that and friends came to help and we went to their farm when the shearer was there.
LOL You have a perfect understanding of how our government works....GG
These were grown and had horns. LOL
The Billy I handled by about once a month grabbing his horns and pulling his head to the ground till he bleated. It somewhat calmed his attitude. But whenever he would follow and get too close I kept a stick or hammer handle with me to rattle his horns a wee bit. LOL He didn't like that at all.
I did have one way of getting the herds entire undivided attention and that was rattling a pack of crackers. Very handy for calling them in or moving them from lot too lot.
They would go out as a flock in the morning and then come into the barn to chew cud. Then they would go out again in the last afternoon to graze again and return to chew cud...Yuk I was scratching one's neck one day when she brought up her cud. God that stuff stunk as she burped in my face....Yikes. Glad they didn't spit like camel and llama's do..
True, as tnhose can be a bit, shall we say, pricey!
And, as clumsy as I am, (I’ve broken one already) well... you get the picture.
ouch!
I can barely get the barn swept out for Jack trying to rub his hornless head against the end of the broom.
He pushes really firmly on the end of the handle and rubs back and forth across his head; then he backs up and sniffs the handle. He then will repeat as long as I'll hold the broom securely.
Ellie Mae, the dominant doe, is now doing the same.
Oh YEAH!
They hear that crinkly sound and come running!
Good way to get stepped on with them feet, too; if you are slow at getting the package open!
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