This May Force Us To Sell All Of Our GOATS!

[@vickiemeisinger9632]

Kevin my heart goes out to you and all the farmers in this trout situation. I have been praying faithfully for you. I live in Northeast Iowa and I have family members in Southeast Iowa that have drought issues and I feel guilty because we get rain on a regular basis and are green up here. It rain today on the Fourth of July and we’re getting these nice gentle range that are perfect for the soil and truly well I am very grateful for it I can’t help but feel guilty because I know all around us are states Which are in trouble with the drought issue as well as crops and we are all frightened about what may or may not happen. For me it is simple: go to the Lord because he is in control of everything. I have a cross in my home that my sister gave me five or six years ago for Christmas when I was fighting cancer and it said: “don’t worry about tomorrow, God is already there!”😇♥️⭐️ I can’t tell you how many times I have put my hand on that crush and cried and prayed hard for an issue not for myself but for others. Years ago on the farm my father always said make a list of pros and cons and leave emotion out of it. I think the one of the wisest things you said is: “if I sell now, , I have the opportunity to make a profit on My goats… if I wait until I see whether or not we get rain or the Grass greens up through the winter and all these other issues and it doesn’t turn out for the best, then I’ll be trying to sell my goats at the same time everyone else and the prices will plummet! “… So I think that should be at the very top of the pros list and I think it should weigh a lot more than some of the other things you might put there. I’ve never owned goats but I live through crisis on the farm when you have to sell animals, & it definitely is not an easy decision but it is one that needs to be made swiftly. I watched my dad discuss it over evening coffee after everybody pretty much was in bed as far as the little ones and I know he’s already been mulling it around in his mind for days before he and mother sit down together and I happen to be up because I was making a dessert and fixing school lunches but in no way was I in rolled except toLearn a lesson… and of course they made that list and I saw my dad underline with two strong lines pencil down and got up from the table. Decision was made and the next day the truck showed up and we loaded up life stock. There are tears in my parents eyes and I skids of size as we watched our animals be loaded and we worked hard to No get the animals I’ll round it up. But, you bounce back and life is better until the next issue comes along. Sorry about the duck loss. I think that is just a part of farming… You have to except a percentage of loss/Deas. It is hard and it’s not easy especially when it’s your favorite dress so to speak. But if you can’t deal with his loss don’t have any animals my grandfather always said. I hope somebody will approach you who has Male ducks soon. I believe there is a KZbin channel called “little white house on the hill and they just hatched out a bunch a male ducks. I don’t know how close you guys are in proximity but maybe that could be a doable choice also I think Morgan @Gold Shaw Farms Might have a male duck that you might be interested in as he has a variety of ducks that are beautiful. You’re probably very aware of who these people are and who else has ducks whenever you might be ready to replace your male duck. So my prayers are with you and I will be praying for discernment and wisdom and joy 😊 in between these difficult times❣️❣️♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️ Happy 4th of July🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[@bcrouch2626]

They have more than one male duck I think he said they have 5 black males

[@kimfrommn7162]

Thoughts and prayers for rain !! We are dry up here in MN. One of the tv stations said the other night that June was the 5th lowest rainfall we have had since they tarted recording the weather. Got a little this morning,but nothing to talk about. Reading comments you got a lot of people praying for rain!! So hopefully you will get some soon!!! 🤗♥️🙏🏼

[@lorimurphy9117]

I pray for all my you tube family farmers / Homesteads i love an enjoy to watch. That you all get blessed soon with rain. Xoxoxoxo

[@sandyg3639]

So sorry about your duck. I hope you get some rain soon so that you don't have to worry about feeding the goats. Prayers for rain. Bless you all. 🐐💕

[@lesliehatin484]

praying for rain ....... keep positive ❤ to all

[@devorahrose782]

Prayers 🙏 up! "Off-grid with doug and Stacy has a huge rain prayers success last week. We got this

[@debraelliott8371]

Hello Kevin sorry for the loss of two of your chicks. Hope you had a good 4th. Take care prayers on the way. 🙏 🙏 Take care be safe in this sticky weather. ❤🇺🇸❤🌹🌻🙏

[@debrabeam5474]

Hello from WV. I'll be praying fpr rain gor all the farmers in need. I hope you don't have to sell.your goat's. Love ya guy's. God bless. 🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@gaylevincent2397]

Love seeing all the animals and been praying for everyone to make it through these hard times 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍 thank you for sharing have a wonderful evening 😊

[@pamsjohncrazycountry5523]

hugs from pam and johh stay cool ok we love you all friend iam ohio iam praying for you all as i love goats

[@kimberlyfojtik3468]

Prayers for rain for all who are needing it. God bless.

[@marivanniekerk8167]

Hi from South Africa! We are in winter now and had too much rain at the wrong time. My uncle's crops started to rot and now he won't be able to sell it. He's got insurance but that doesn't help much. That's the life of a farmer. We can only pray that things will get better. God will provide.

[@ceceliacampbell7838]

Here in north central Alabama we havnt had any rain in weeks. Seems like it rains good in south Alabama. Our pond is almost dried up. Praying things change soon for all you farmers. Fir all of us. God bless!

[@Hischild01]

My son used to live in Bartlesville so I understand the green country term. I live in Iowa and just got an inch of rain today. So praying for you and rain

[@barbaramix1683]

I have prayed for rain to come your way, but not enough to flood you out. I know that sounds crazy but I have prayed for rain for other homesteaders and they were almost flooded out. Thanks for letting me know how to pray for you. Don't lose hope. God is good.

[@kimicatcyprowski1781]

Sorry Kevin to hear that you're in a drought right now I'm in Pennsylvania and every day they're saying it's going to rain but I'm not seeing the rain where I'm y'all and when it does rain it's like y'all a store or tornado it's so bad but I'm praying for you Kevin that you do get rain for several days and not bad rain rain that will help y'all so your Feilds will get green and your goats will have green grass to eat again Kevin I love your video and I'm sending well wishes Prayers and positive Thoughts your way and I hope everything works out for y'all now so I win Winter comes y'all won't have no problems 🙏🙏🙏📿

[@gwynethyaita3774]

I grew up on the farm but I wouldn’t want to be a farmer now. To know what to do now would be a very hard decision. I am a 73 year old grandmother. I have seen some hard times I’ve seen some good. I have never seen times like this, our world is just start in a good position. We have to keep the faith pray for God every day that God will take care of us God is absolutely good God bless you dear farmers

[@kathywifall6844]

Sending love and hugs, with our LORD AND SAVIOR sending blessings for relief in wonderful rain and release of the horrible heat and humidity.

[@AuntNutmeg]

We're lacking rain here in Indiana as well. Praying for farmers across the country, that God would supply the needed rain at just the right time. We will certainly need the food come fall and winter!

[@carricowherd3826]

Have you considered cutting down a tree from your woods and dragging it in the pasture for them to eat once a week for a while? Then use the logs for the sawmill.

[@shirleyalavez7387]

Above comment on might be a good option. Even if sometime. Not sure how far the creek property is, but maybe you could cut a tree down from there and move it to the farm on your trailer, just a continuing idea from above post to maybe help you supplement other goat food. I'd hate to see you have to get rid if your goats! Do you think the predatory birds are around more now because of your larger #'s of free range chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks? IDK, just a question. In CA...when I grew up all the way for years, we had true seasons! Anymore CA is so dry, from lack of rain, I'm sure you've heard of our many fires! We got hardly no rain this calendar year! Fires in the foothills are already starting! 😂

[@lsimpson919]

That's my plan, I do it in the fall to push back dropping hay.

[@gr8H8er]

Coppice is a great practice and makes for much larger trees. Look into ‘Tree Hay’ - they love it! Be careful dropping trees for them, as the leaves wilt they become poisonous! Once completely cured, they are fine.

[@Dorpers89]

Make sure you don't feed cherry trees the leaves are toxic when drying out on the tree

[@arribaficationwineho32]

Great idea!

[@ChrisBury20]

We finally had a little rain today. Here in east-central IL , we haven't had rain in a good month. There's a possibility of more all week. I pray we get more and will pray you also get some good rain.

[@RobertJones-ey9qz]

You mentioned the eagle taking a duck when you were hunting. I had a very similar experience, but the eagle took a decoy. It flew about fifty yards and then dropped it. We all laughed about it. As far as the pasture being dry, I saw a guy once put out a lawn sprinkler and water an area for a couple hours in the evening. The next night, he would water another area. It was only greening up small areas at a time, but it did help till the rain came.

[@janinecollins938]

Hobart Tasmania Australia watching this beautiful family

[@carmendoyle9786]

Get water from the pond buy a pump . U all doing amazing in Canada we been so lucky and we liven the hot days we get but we are getting rain . Weather in Canada is always beautiful but summer supper short for us to short ! More snow days than warm day but that how it is ! Praying for u all ti get a week worth rain

[@marjoriebell4956]

Found out my sister Barb has glioblastoma, death sentence, maybe 6-8 months w/o chemo. I am really going down, please continue prayers, thanks, love you all 💜

[@darleenehartwick9806]

This happened a few years ago in Canada. Alberta and Saskatchewan provinces had a drought all summer and there was no hay for their live stock. Luckily us here in Ontario and eastern provinces all had bumper crops. The farmers gave away their excess hay so farmers out west could survive. The railway shipped the hay out west to the farmers for free. Anyone needing hay could apply for it and it was distributed evenly depending on the need. Hopefully the USA can pull together if it doesn't rain and help everyone out. Hopefully it will rain.

[@vgil1278]

Darleene Hartwick -That is so nice-like people are supposed to act(how God wants us to help our brothers out.)

[@margaretporkolab7166]

I remember that situation. It was tough.

[@donaldschweitzer1573]

Just like in winter when I walk on ice covered grass, now you walking on dry grass in the summer wow crunch crunch. I hope gets some rain 🌧 🙏 😩 soon.

[@godsgreenacreshomestead708]

Kevin, we have to routinely water here in Texas. We just had a tropical system move through the area and it all went just east of us. Not a drop. Watering some of your pasture seems cheaper to me than hay or for the cost of grain. You also have lots of woods to clear a path and use Premier 1 fencing to move the goats around. You have good genetics in your herd, so please don't let them go unless you absolutely have to. Texas Deb ❤️

[@shelleysimmons2804]

Pump water from the creek or pond to water a pasture. I just saw a video of someone making a fire system. He used a large cube tank. Bought a waste water pump and a fire hose kit . Worked great. Dual system for fires and watering the pastures

[@bcrouch2626]

Problem is water issues are popping up all over the place. Lake Mead is going to be shutting down very soon. That isn't the only place either . People need to stock up on water

[@bcrouch2626]

@@shelleysimmons2804 problem with that is the water issue is more serious than that and people need to stock up on water and start worry how humans are going to have water. Lake Mead is going to be shutting down very soon . It's getting too low to pump and I just heard a water pipe broke too.

[@dakotawinds9291]

@@shelleysimmons2804 in droughts you want to be careful pumping water from livestock ponds cause those ponds can dry up real quick when doing that. We have done that in the past but only watered the grass around the pond so any extra water not soaked up runs back into the pond.

[@monicaluketich3106]

I've been trimming up my youpons and juniper and feeding that to the goats. They also go into the woods to eat the weeds. I'll still have to feed some grain but the trees get trimmed and the goats love to eat trees.

[@pamtoney8950]

Kevin and Rachel I pray that y'all get some rain very soon. So y'all don't have to sell your goats

[@patiaday1]

Maybe it’s time for a rain dance !! Prayers for rain to all the farms and ranches!! Love your content.

[@lydiarosalieanndamiano7206]

Pray hard for the farmers 🙏🇺🇸

[@katiehathaway743]

In Arizona we used gray water on our grass .Gray water is water from washer and the kitchen sink has a drain directly to the grass .It works great and provides a larger green area

[@irene-starbridgewater2793]

Hi Kevin, we live in South/Central Arizona, with temperatures around 110-120 right now, the local farmers here rotate the livestock and water fields regularly. Since goats are indeed browsers, they will eat just about anything, including the local Cactus, sage brush, mesquite saplings, etcetera, and we have been under drought conditions for years now. Something else the locals do is keep stock tanks, ( natural low spots or man made), filled by hose or truck load, but with leach lines or irrigation lines running away from the main tank in order for grasses etcetera to grow around the tank area itself. We will keep y'all in our prayers, and look forward to seeing how things work out.

[@carmelrose6327]

Cora is getting so big quick 😘💜😘....

[@kathyscarberry1671]

Kevin I don't have animals at all but I have been praying for all of you in Oklahoma. I can see the concern on your face about things.I know it must be very hard. I wish you God's blessings always.

[@darlenepowell5948]

Here in N. E. Florida we have had heavy rain! Hope you get rain soon!

[@bobbiemooser7417]

Hi Kevin, I’m so sorry to hear about the lack of rain. In reading the comments it seems it’s all over the country. It’s such a worry for y’all. You are in my prayers. Hoping for lots of rain coming very soon.❤️

[@suebennett4340]

You and all the farmers are in our prayers God bless you all love you all

[@willowswhispers577]

I know we are in a drought here in Colorado and different states. I pray for rain and not just the 5 mins of drizzle but a good slow rain. Hope things turn around for all the farmers

[@donnaelkins186]

Prayers for rain. God bless 😊 ❤ you all.

[@donnaflanagan6612]

Kevin, I wish I could share our rain with you over there. Where I am in Australia there has been 2 major floods this year with devastating loss of life, properties, livestock, & precious top soil washed away. Currently it’s raining again with flooding in some areas for the 3rd time. Some parts of my country are still suffering from long term droughts. Stock does get moved around to areas that can support them with feed, although that is costly as well. Destocking can be a difficult choice, trying to think ahead to times when the herds can be built up again. I have so much respect for farmers everywhere. Seems like the world over is having similar issues. Praying for rain your way mate. Have a happy & safe 4th July. Take care & cheers 🐨🦘🥰

[@kkeenan536]

For extra feed, Thin out your trees &. dump branches into their pens with grapple. When I needed to get rid of some of my goats, I started with the wildest, problem ladies and just tried to keep my, favorites

[@waverider2319]

I wish I could send you a little of the rain we are receiving Kev. Auckland forecast is calling for rain for the remainder,of the week. It started out as a soft gentle rain, but later on in the early afternoon, It started pouring & at 5pm It is still pouring. Hope you get some soon.

[@joanharris8057]

Kevin, our thoughts and prayers are with the farmers. We dairy farmed for years so we know about the effects of drought, late spring freezes, early fail freezes have on the food supplies for your animals. Thank you for explaining how the fuel prices are affecting farmers and all consumers. If many farmers are forced to sell or reduce their herds, their price goes down. What consumers need to be aware is that next year there would be a shortage of meat and prices will greatly increase. It is the law of supply and demand. It really is a domino effect on all goods and services. Our food and supplies depend on farmers and truckers.

[@shirleyputnam9643]

Prayers for all farmers who work so hard to provide for all of us 🙏🏻❤️

[@catchingupwiththewalkers]

Yes! It’s really getting dry. If we don’t get rain soon we won’t get a second cut of hay. 🙏🏼🙏🏼 for rain

[@hamrad645]

Kevin, I sure hope you golks get the rain you need. I know it's hard when it's so dry. We've had a few years here in North Central Florida that we haven't gotten the rain we needed. We had far too many fires as a result. You have our prayeror your rain, too!

[@hermithag]

🙏 rain

[@southernwanderer7912]

For feeding, you could try pollarding, meaning removing the top and side growth from the trees, which helps it produce new growth, and feed it to the goats. Do it in succession from as many trees as possible, one or two at a time, allowing the trees to put on the new growth, and then repeat. This was done on farms in the past before commercial grains were a big thing.

[@gr8H8er]

Tree Hay!

[@candicehopkins2344]

Okay so here’s an idea! When you are cleaning the pools dump the old dirty water on the brown spots in yard! Any bit of water helps the brown patches !

[@debbiew.7094]

Oh that breaks my heart to hear about the goats! But it is understood being farm life! I just hope and pray you don't get rid of them all. Yes I think a lot of states need rain. I miss seeing green grass. We are suppose to have 5 days of rain this week here in central Indiana. News said we haven't had rain since the middle of May! I pray you all get some soon as well.

[@barbgp4789]

Appreciate your sharing first-hand knowledge/explanation of the situations that small farmers are faced with and the 'okay for now' position that you and Rachel are in. You raised good points many of us wouldn't have thought of on our own. Wondered about pumping some water from your ponds to help green up some pasture but then you said the goats are okay for now. When it comes to feeding them during the winter when you might not have any hay and only feed - I know they like munching on trees and shrubs, maybe you'll be lucky enough to have some leafy branches on your land that you can trim down and use to supplement the expensive grain . . . . Just a thought . . . along with a few prayers for you guys and all of us that we can get through all the 'situations' that seem to be converging and affecting everyone. May we all 'hang in there'

[@Subeesueinaz]

We live in Phoenix are and have been in a drought for 20 years. The farmers here have large sprinklers that they water the crops with. Another thing we do here is irrigate the land, but you have to have the type of yard to irrigate.

[@candicehopkins2344]

Couple weeks ago traveling from Texas thru Oklahoma there were rolled hay barrels in the field! Reach out to hay farmers down there !

[@LegendHold1]

Owls, specifically great horned owls, are usually the main predator that takes my ducks. I've had to cover my duck pens to keep them out at night. During the day, it's not as big of an issue unless like you said, it's an eagle (rare). Fodder set ups are the best in this area. The midwest tends to get a lot of rain and that's a huge benefit for pasture and hay. A few years ago, there were people importing hay due to drought in the upper New England area. I would sell a few goats off to manage the herd. Older animals, "less" productive animals go first. Marketable animals go next when prices are up...Scale back to keep the best genetics for the future. You could also try a gravity fed irrigation system from your stream area. A small bit of plastic tubing, a line of plastic barrels and a solar panel with a slow refill pump in the stream to pump water into the barrels at a high point in the pasture. Then flood the pasture a few times each week from the barrels. Give it an good flood and then dry up period. Small amounts of water all the time only just evaporate from a fine layer in the top soil and draw the roots to the top of the soil where they are damaged more by droughts. Flood irrigation that you flood the field once or twice a week sends the water down low into the soil and pulls the roots down where they are into the moisture longer.

[@lorainewhite727]

👍 Absolutely love the practical feedback / solutions. I do hope HHF take note. Prayers for all those struggling due to no rain. It seems like years ago (but is only 2) that the whole of South Africa was in a drought situation; limited daily supply, could only water plants on certain days ,at specific hours - a total nightmare. And people ignored the rules. But only some were named, shamed & fined! Thought it didnt apply to them meanwhile cattle were dying in the fields. Our dams that supplied the masses were down to +/- 25% & less, but we pulled through. Prayers to you all 🙏. Happy 4th July. God Bless. ✨🎆🗽🙏✌✌

[@lovepickingnc9313]

I hope y'all get some rain soon, not too much though. 🙏 When you started talking about the area of green grass, I thought about a book by Erma Bombeck - The Grass Is Always Greener Over The Septic Tank. My momma had that book years ago. Thanks for the memory.

[@boedacres]

A few years ago we went through this and are getting very close this year. I have a few Tee Post sprinklers to water everything.Even the ones you stick in the ground would work. Make them go full circle. If you have a creek you could pump it from there. I see you have a big chipper. Let Dutch use it, He needs to do a little more clean up. GOOD LUCK

[@chelscooper991]

Your guys property is seriously my dream!!! So inspiring and educational for me!! Thx for the vids ❤️

[@chrisjohanson9284]

I hope things get better with the rain 🙏🙏🙏 here in Utah we are in a bad drought. I don’t know how farmers are doing it. Let’s pray it gets better. Take care , love the videos ❤️🙏❤️🐐🐐🐐🐐🐓🐓🐓🐓❤️🙏✋🤚

[@doncraig6864]

congratulations! You just described every summer in Ct.

[@patshipp9195]

Will pray for you and your family. May God bless you all, and all small farms everywhere.

[@karencummings8242]

Where we live in Tom Green county is in drought and fire band. It is so dry here. You know everything we have has gotten so high. Hope you all get some rain.

[@marthaneuhauser1019]

So sorry for your loss and for the dilemma you are facing! Yeah it's hard everywhere in certain parts of New Mexico we need lots of rain, farms are struggling as well, rivers are drying up which in turn no irrigation system. On and on and on.

[@robbieryburn2830]

While I was watching the last video I told my wife to listen to the crunching when you were walking across one of the fields. We're lucky because we got rain Saturday and Sunday. Probably not enough to catch us up but things are responding quickly to having some good rain.

[@claresinclair8030]

bucket all your house water eg showers and sink onto your land this will help. We did this in Africa. Cool mats are great these might work for Mojo. I hope you can buy hay as feed in bags is very pricy.

[@chrisw3031]

I did my permaculture course in the early 90's. I have implemented many of the ideas over the years. Watching videos of herdsmen feeding goats in Sub Sahara Africa, they would "coppice" the brush - by cutting off some branches from a bush each day and move onto another the next day. So they were continuing to rotate thru the shrubs so that they grew back. In your case I notice a number of trees. The same idea is used in other climates to cut down lower branches (for wood or to feed browsing animals) and each day do the same - cut the lower branches move to another tree the next day. The limbs (with their leaves ) grow back fairly quickly. Goats love tree branches.

[@devorahrose782]

I'm praying for rain for you my dears and the return of symbiotic loving human earth connection...to reign supreme

[@laurascholz7334]

Can you set up sprinklers on the fields, watering will keep the grass fresh to give the goats as much good grass as possible, going into winter.

[@DONNABROWN1959]

Hi, Kevin! I’m sorry about the loss of the duck. I know that if it was feasible and affordable, y’all would already be watering your pastures. I have been praying for rain for y’all, just like I did for Texas and ISS & LL. And all of Morrow Hill. We, in west central Indiana, are in need of rain, also. And, then, there are those places that wish the rain would slowdown, ALOT. We just need to keep praying and carry on. Prayers and Blessings always

[@kathleenpoole7109]

I'm not a farmer, but I do think that the different types of weather that we are experiencing across the country are interesting. In Washington State (west of the Cascade's) we have just been through an extremely wet Spring. We are used to the weather being wet in the Spring (and Fall and Winter), but this Spring was way beyond what we typically see. We've had months of constant rain....one storm after another. Eastern Washington should be much more dry than us...but, I've heard theyve had more rain as well. Today it's 75 and cloudy...hopeful for a pleasant Summer.

[@scotthansel3703]

I am praying you get the rain you need.

[@cynthiajohns5878]

Sorry for your troubles. Call your agricultural department of your local government and see if they have a plausible remedy. Maybe a group of you and your friends could get together and come up with a solution. Good luck and my prayers are with you. Remember Job and his patients. 🍀❤️🙏

[@galeprivett5180]

Praying you get rain❤️🙏🌧

[@lynnechapman6204]

I hope things get better for you. We are not getting much rain in San Antonia, TX either.

[@t.m.button7229]

Good morning Sunshine

[@Dorpers89]

We are in south west Missouri and been focused on drought management for years and have been able to keep all of our animals and have hay when many do not we are very lucky to have a deal with our neighbor for 50 percent of the hay we bail for him so we never pull from our land we always add from other land

[@dawnweck]

I will pray for rain. Hugs to Y'all Ü

[@bonnieisabelle3641]

Praying for rain for you!!🙏🙏

[@flaviasollecito8760]

HOPE JASON OF COG HILL IS DOING HIS RAIN DANCE FOR ALL YOU GUYS!

[@sharihopkins1959]

Praying y’all start getting soaking rain! God bless y’all! ❤️

[@georgedavidson1221]

Expand your pond if it is spring fed and run a pump and sprinkler

[@kathyjones8656]

Keeping you and your family in my prayers 💕🙏🏼🇺🇸

[@carolemetters9480]

Have you tried dog cool mats to help Mojo keep cool. They really do work, they are not that expensive to buy Amazon sell them. Might be worth giving them a go to help keep Mojo cooler. Love the Emu's, when they run they only got one speed, fast!

[@sandyc6569]

😊👍

[@TheLjamal]

i have those for my bunnies, they use them every summer.

[@bcrouch2626]

They have one for him but he seems to be laying on the concrete again for some reason

[@rockinrobin1007]

I don’t have livestock but in NJ the lawns and fields usually go brown every summer. We live in the country-burbs. Suburbs with small farms. Our property line is 30 feet from our house…. They grow barley, soybeans and some flowering bushes on the farm about 20 feet from their side of the property line. We have city water. We pay big $$ for it (we rank 9 in high cost of living) and we have water restrictions in summer. Our lawn is already starting to brown in many spots (we have a LOT of clover) and we have not had a lot of high 90s days yet. (Oh we will!! NJ is like an armpit in summer. Hot and humid lol) We just had rain the other day. The barley is brown (close to harvest I’m guessing) and the soybeans and flowering bushes are still green. They have not had to run the irrigation equipment yet. That’s always a good thing. Maybe think about doing some hydroponics for greens. They grow super fast. My daughter took a class in high school. They had 2 big greenhouses. That stuff harvested FAST! They sold it to local restaurants to help keep the greenhouses running year round.

[@jeffkiehne2545]

Have you looked at growing trees for the goats like mulberry tree that can be pruned back heavily or plants like kale or pac Choi that are high in nutrients or sweet potatoes that can eat leaves and harvest the tubers.

[@dalenmonroe6526]

Only options we have here in Arizona is to either find a good location for a well during our droughts, and that's if you can manage to tap into one of the aquafers in the region that isn't depleted severely. Our water has high calcium in the main water lines that are also from the 1940's-50's barely 2 feet below ground so its already hot, water heaters are almost pointless out there.

[@30547etris]

when I was growing up my Daddy ran the drain hose from the bath tub to the garden.

[@conniebennett180]

Sorry you are having to deal with the drought. We are having somewhat of one here in NC. Fortunately we don’t have lots of animals at my house to worry about. I will help you pray for rain. God bless you and your family.

[@roseanncoffman-davis8485]

Kevin I live in western Oklahoma we are so dry! I am so concerned about all the fireworks! Not long ago a grass fire got up to my daughters home and did burn a lot of their land. That was one of the scariest times of my life! Praying for rain!

[@jrmason304]

Praying 🙏 with you for a few days of good rain, Kevin!

[@grammasgardenofideas5081]

i guess pumping water from the pond into sprinklers requires a heck of a lot of prep. hoping for the best

[@TheCorneliusFarm]

Same here...no rain at all south central Missouri! Ughh!! Happy 4th July! 🇺🇸

[@idablythe4847]

In 1984 my dad had a drought for 2 years in Illinois. We were baling anything corn stalks,bean stubble or grass. Got to a point dad had to get rid of dairy cows and rented land out. He was 77 years old. It’s a hard decision to half to give up way of life. Dad bought farm in 1950 and borrowed $50 from my future mom for down payment. He bought land from brothers and sisters. He bought land for $100 an acre for 160 acres. He paid farm off just after he retired. Land is still owned by 1 brother who still rents land out.

[@naones001]

I will be praying for rain and good fortune.

[@brucesiefkes4081]

here in southern mn we also need rain for the crops corn and soybeans which they started growing back in ww2 around here

[@angleeyes1855]

We had barn band on here in Tennessee and tuesday though friday we have heat Alert for 114°. We had half hour pouring rain friday then sun come out and got hot and muggy so could bearly breath.

[@barbarasmith6057]

Could you cut tree limbs on the outside of the fencing? By trimming the trees up you would also be able to see coyotes. praying for rain.

[@margaretporkolab7166]

For some the people in Arizona they order hay by the tractor trailer loads. Alan did say the price as went up drastically because of fuel prices. If I were you I look now for shipping in. He gets small squares. But you can get large squares and rounds that way as well. I always bought last years hay. Got it cheaper and mixed it with this years. Also I bought alfalfa cubes, or pellets. We never fed grain to our goats only fed top notch hay. We had good birthing rate as will. The got supplements as will. The sheep were fed the same. I hope everthing turns to the better.

[@Mel-pb4nn]

I feel for you Kevin. I think we are all in a drought right now. Here in Ga they were calling for rain everyday for the past 2 weeks but we've got mostly sprinkles. Not enough to help our farmers

[@phoppy4292]

I would look into hardy and drought resistant plants. If you have some extra land you can close off and grow some vegetables, beans, cucumber, eggplant, peppers and most importantly pumpkin or squash. Vine plants are the best to cover a large area with little seeds. (I find that cutting into the vine helps because it will then start growing a branch from where you cut it which gets more leaves and flowers!) IDK if this would help you specifically but my grandfather did this 40 years ago and fed all his animals from that and the hay they had left over

[@angelaboyer1267]

You have lot's of trees that you can cut branches and feed the goats. Trees need trimmed from time to time. Might help the goats out till the rain comes. I know it will be a lot of work though. I am praying you get some rain soon.