This is officially my first day of chronicling my experiences as a beginning farmer. I have actually been "farming" or preparing to farm for the past two years (purchasing equipment and attending workshops/field days, etc). Now that I am officially finished with grad school, I have begun the process of adding animals to my place.

Phase one was getting protection. My main goal initially was to raise strictly cattle. However, over time, I discovered that other farm animals would make life even more interesting. Plus, I have two young boys and I feel more comfortable having them around animals that are less threatening size-wise. So I decided to raise goats, sheep, and chickens.

Unfortunately, small animals are more prone to become prey. So I decided that I needed a donkey. I purchased a 8 yr old female jenny named Ms. J. A day later, I brought in 16 Dorper sheep--10 ewes and 6 ewe lambs. I hope to get them bonded to each other within a few weeks.