At Headwaters farm they have chickens (layers and meat birds), horses, goats, barn kitties, 3 fun and crazy canines,  and a very soft indoor kitty- Meow Meow.  This year they also introduced 4 Highland Cattle (one which was pregnant but didn’t have the baby until the week after we left).  Our first morning we learned the morning animal routine: feed and water the barn cats, feed the horses their grain and minerals and a bale of hay and freshen their water, feed and water the new baby meat birds -when big enough and in the field move their chicken tractor, feed and water the hens and gather the eggs, feed the goats and make their cereal (grain, minerals, and molasses all mixed together) and hay and water, haul a big 55 gallon bucket of water to the cows water trough in the field if needed.  Little Plate really enjoyed helping with the morning chores.  Gathering the eggs, feeding Buster and Gracie the barn cats, and of course riding on the Gator.  She loved going with Linda while Mommy and Daddy did some other work.  Such a big girl-stop all this growing nonsense!

We didn’t always get assigned the morning chores as their are a lot of volunteers at Headwaters and the tasks were mixed up regularly so everyone had a chance to try multiple jobs which was nice and it was always a treat to feed the animal.

There was one stretch where the cows and goats kept escaping!  We’d come home from dinner at the Big House and need to cajole the goats back to their fence.  The cows got out quite a bit as the farm learned and improved their new fencing system to accommodate the addition.  Fencing is a ongoing project at every farm!

I’m kicking myself for not taking more photos of the animals but here are a few.