Epic Rains and Flooding Hit the Farm HARD

washed out roads and forced evacuations in the Northeast with more rain forecast throughout the day as the sun goes down in Vermont attention is Shifting to major rivers that are forecast to flood overnight and in the morning officials are warning that much of Montpelier will see severe flooding by morning time for you to go to bed Gurley good night so this evening I'm getting ready to batten down the hatches because we are supposed to get a doozy of a rainstorm here tonight in Northern Vermont and so I gotta move my chickens to Fresh pasture because I sure as heck don't want to do it over the next couple of days so the weather forecasts are predicting that we're supposed to have about as much rain as we did during Vermont back when Hurricane Irene hit which people still talk about to this day God knows how many years later there's so much water damage happened when that hit Vermont back in the day so that's what they're saying they're saying flash flooding lots of big warnings but I think my farm and crew should be okay the chickens are all set the moo crew seems like they're about to bed down for the night how's it going there Joseph to see it pal to go enjoy your mom hey Macho Man Audrey Ariel Annabelle I think I see baby b and she's sleeping let's go say hi hi baby b oh you're so skittish now you used to let me pet you and brush you and everything now you don't want to hang out and be near me at least your mom doesn't seem to mind me as much anymore so these guys will just basically stay outside they might get a little bit wet but they're kind of waterproof and they actually don't mind it you know this is a breed of cattle that originated in the highlands of Scotland so they're used to weather like this for sure and so they should be just fine I will come out here tomorrow morning and move them to Fresh pasture though I'm not looking forward to that all right sweet dreams mooku all right Goose Lings we're locking you up come on no hiding under Toby's Hut no no no come on let's go the last two nights I actually haven't locked up the gooselings and I've just let them free range but because of the weather I'm gonna actually keep them in their enclosure tonight I'm also keeping Abby dog down here I think she's just gonna generally be more comfortable versus up on the top of the pasture because you can hang out in the hoop pool come on goosling let's go come on in you go let's go guys let's go come on are you gonna help me you're doing pretty good there girl maybe you will be a poultry dog one day what are you doing hiding in the bushes get back in with your brothers and sisters come on the older ones that are fully feathered I actually wouldn't lock them up it's those little guys who are still teenagers that I worry about most they don't want to go in they're revolting all right Abby we're gonna have to try something a little different and actually the rain is starting to come down I'm actually doing my chores a little early tonight just because I was trying to beat the rain but no such luck all right gooslings everybody in let's go oh it's really starting to come down man hey everybody inside thank you I'll leave your yard open and you can go inside if you want yeah it's raining all right let's feed the dogs we're gonna feed the dogs hang on all right we got some food for the Abbey dog so Abby really likes this tarp here so she'll hang out underneath here come on Toby I'm gonna feed you in the hoop coop wow did you guys listen to that hopefully you'll be able to hear me for this video as I record yeah this is uh for my jungle Paradise is looking like right about now it's also where I tend to feed Mr Toby dog there you go pal I gotta admit it's kind of peaceful being inside of here with the dog listening to the rain but I will admit I'm a little bit scared about what tomorrow's gonna bring [Music] of course I didn't forget about the barn cats got the Ginny portion got my Pablo portion I can't forget my mommy portion thank you [Music] oh boy well we got another rainy one it has rained pretty much non-stop when I was finishing up my chores around I don't know it was like probably eight o'clock last night so you know 6 30 in the morning so it's actually much later in the day than usually you start the chores but yes it is most definitely a rainy one today it does not seem like we have Nary a barn cat in sight I don't know I'm testing out this hat what do you guys think I'm not exactly sure if I like it or not like I usually wear it sometimes when I need good Sun coverage it's actually working pretty good as a rain hat as well hey genevra oh you're seeming pretty cranky there huh did I come back under the barn come here sweetie you hanging in there yeah Ginny loves actually staying in this Barn these days I think of all three of the barn cats she's the one who's adopted it as her home most speaking of the barn Alfred has been making a ton of progress on his stone wall here I think this is gonna ultimately look pretty gosh during epic I mean look at this thing this is a work of art given the weather forecast I do not think Alfred's gonna be doing any artwork today I gotta admit this hat is driving me insane I'm changing into a different one uh that's much better what do you think Jen you're just cranky she's like give me some food and go undercover I don't want to be here I will admit this is one of those Farm days where I don't quite have the same excitement and energy when I come out in the morning that I usually do see how this is all holding up so the other little project that Alfred has been doing lately is he's been designing this Swale so that it sends the drainage you know down this way and down that away towards the stream of course it's looking a little bit soggier than I would hoped also not visible this morning are my large white Farm dogs I don't see them anywhere Kobe dogs Abby dog where are you guys there's Abby dog hey Abby dabby Doo yeah you appreciating staying down here today oh my poor little soggy girl oh hey Toby oh Toby was out patrolling hey pal you're looking a little bit muddy but no worse to wear good to see you buddy good to see you how is it that Abby's the clean looking one this morning tobes you usually always show her that now my Goose links I'll open the gate you guys want to come out you can don't you do your thing wow yeah we've got a lot of rain so far tonight I mean look at this right Pond is starting to fill up pretty nicely a lot of water coming in here it's actually looking really low these poor weird chickens are looking so soggy you might notice I only have five weird chickens out we got rosette we got Mr Frizzle we got that we got Captain Janeway and we got Rosie there's actually one more weird chicken she has started to sit on a nest I'm trying not to disturb her basically and so what I'm hoping for is for her to hatch out some chicks in the very near future I am going to have to modify the stairs for the weird chicken house though there's no way baby chicks can get up and down that and so I'm gonna have to figure out something a little bit different and yes I keep adding more stickers but I'm not going to add any new stickers today because it's too wet and rainy but that said yesterday I actually received maybe the most incredible sticker I've ever seen or actually I should say stickers would you guys look at that Ridiculousness whoever sent me those truly knows my sense of humor and taste and so thank you you things seem rather quiet over at the beehives today we'll let them just stay dry let's go check in on our ducks and geese I think of all the animals on the farm they're probably the happiest about the rain because pretty sure we're gonna have a couple of swales that are full with water right now like we had some like serious like flash flooding style stuff going on last night and so I wouldn't be surprised if we have some swimming activity back here how's it going gooses how are you guys doing how's it going Bruce the goose everybody looks wet but no worse for wear what's this little Runner duck doing out over here aren't you with the other Ducks Hey Ron Swanson age of Magna puddle deck how's it going girl oh she's sitting on a nest you keep doing your thing girl yeah look at that we got a full-on stream going here yeah this is like straight up Duck habitat Heaven yeah between the warm temperatures and the heavy rains you actually couldn't ask for a more perfect situation for ducks to thrive in so I think this part of the plant is working oh would you look at these Intrepid goslings enjoying life on the pond eh all right Abby you want to come with me we're gonna go check on your cows and chickens yeah this is kind of a less enjoyable ride on the bike I guess I could have taken the ATV but I actually worry that the ATV would do more damage to the muddy pastures and so the lower impact of the bike I see is a positive it's like the bike gets less traction when the grass is super super wet kind of an interesting observation so I guess picking up on uh development on the farm that I covered in a recent video but didn't really kind of close the loop with you guys on is I know there was the issue of Abby escaping I think I've solved that problem essentially to solve it what I did was I put two strands of wire like two extra stands of high tensile wire on the fence and then I actually cut a lot of the brush that was touching up against the fence and so I expanded the electrical coverage to be lower and so I think that has taught Abby to stay in place when she needs here of course I haven't really had a chance to put that to the test because actually still haven't quite finished all the work I did the entire south side and a big chunk of the West side but I have not done the north side yet so essentially time will tell on that one it's funny the other night Allison and I were talking Allison has always seen Abby as somewhat of a escape artist and she said I should have known better because ever since she was a puppy and she scaled that puppy fence yeah she's been a little bit sneaky I'm probably gonna have to move Abby's dog house too if I want to keep her close to the cattle definitely not doing that today either good morning crew to Moo how do you do making a whole lots of poo well hopefully I don't get any on my shoe because I don't think that'd be cool hi baby b I actually wonder if I'm gonna even need to fill their water trough yet I switched back to the 100 gallon trough you know I had been actually using this 40 gallon trough here and I'm still filling some water into it for baby b even though she's still drinking mostly milk but uh I'm just finding that particularly on the hot days the cattle go through more than the 40 gallons in a given day and so it means I have to run it multiple times and so I'd much rather run it only like once or twice a day versus multiple times we got some yucky blocky pasture up in here it's probably a couple of days before I can get the tractor up here to brush hog more I've been starting to brush hog certain areas just to keep them from getting out of control I have more grass than cattle and so that's a good problem to have I guess but it is a problem that needs to be managed I know there's going to be some folks who say I should just be hating it but then that means I have to add haying equipment and it's like a whole nother expense and work stream that I have to tackle and I just I don't think it quite makes sense for me right now I think the thing I want to do more long term is just keep adding more cattle one day baby b you'll give me some more cattle right it has Mr Joseph how are you doing buddy good to see you how's my Macho stud good to see you pal baby b you just came to visit me now Abby what do we do with baby b what do we do with all the cattle we respect them remember that we don't get too playful up here how are you doing Annie so I've been doing an experiment with trying out some new fly traps but unfortunately the rain seems to have decimated them here's where there's the extra wires here's where I just weed whackered this whole strip the bottom line is still not electrified because that would short out really quickly if everything else is all right well you look like some gals who could enjoy some fresh grass isn't that right Amanda let me hook you up hey Kelsey come on kills fresh grass fresh grass come on let's go come on come and get it get your fresh grass fresh grass here come on thank you [Music] okay Abby you're reunited with your cattle you happy now you know sometimes people ask me why do I sound like a hot dog vendor at Fenway Park whenever I tell the cattle that there's grass and it's actually something I do to train them and so if they associate me particularly they associate that very distinctive call with fresh pasture it actually becomes a way to call them and so I've had situations before where I've been able to actually get like a cow that escaped by just calling and yelling that there's fresh grass and so it's worth doing and so every time I moved in a fresh pasture I just basically say the same exact thing plus it's kind of fun to do all right let's check on our soggy cranky chickens here huh you guys remember when I said that this would be filled I wouldn't even have to put fresh water in it was 100 correct how's it going there Carmen you're looking kind of a mess yeah chickens hate the water the ducks and geese are always pretty darn happy with days like today the chickens they are not fans at all you guys just decided to stay dry in here I don't blame you even their feet got all wet so these are actually grains from a brewer friend of mine my buddy Jeff over at whirlygig he had uh some issues with some beetles and so it makes Fine chicken and pig feed even though you would not want to use it to brew beer give me a fresh dry scoop on top to encourage you guys black Francis you have had better days that is for sure I don't know if you guys can hear that noise that black Francis is making but it's actually him telling the ladies that there's good fresh food here I think it's called tidbiting is actually the actual name of it and a rooster calls over and provides food to his hens and that's what black francis's job is he's our main rooster we have the Brothers but they're kind of like second bananas happy do you want to stay here or you want to come down with me she's like homeboy that's no choice at all let's see if I can sneak up on the pig s hey lady yes it is a muddy muddy mess down here at the pig yard today all those pig wallows have turned into Pig ponds you know I've always read stories about how like hippopotamuses and beavers have been responsible for many large bodies of water based on their just animal activities you know the Beavers really driving a lot of the stream and Creek activity particularly in North America the hippopotamus is creating a lot of ponds and lakes particularly in Africa and seeing these ladies work this area like this I can actually understand it I mean would you look at this spot right over here like uh this is an honest to goodness Pond that we have in progress thanks to these girls oh boy would you look at that and be having some fruit very soon we're already starting to get mulberries I'm having to fight the birds for them they're actually very tasty that's good yeah the problem is as soon as they get ripe the birds come right in and steal them of course I don't mind sharing with nature speaking of water let's go see how our stream is doing whoa this is crazy wow so ordinarily I could just walk right across this but that's not happening today holy smokes but I will say it is very picturesque in fact actually you can look it doesn't usually Fork like that it usually just runs down this way but it's like actually forking and feeding a second stream over in that direction just to deal with all the water and runoff that actually has me worried full day of rain like they're predicting right now could actually lead to some serious flooding in the spot that I'm standing in hope it doesn't get too bad allow me to present you with a weird chicken moment of existential dread thank you [Music] I will have you guys know that the barn cats have not left the cover of barn for pretty much the entire time of chore time enjoy you guys and stay dry all right now I'm heading into town because I have a whole bunch of stickers to drop in the post office box if you guys receive stickers from me that have like a water damaged envelope please know it's not the post office's fault it's entirely mine but at least you'll know why Governor Phil Scott has declared a state of emergency and Vermont's Emergency Operations Center has been activated flood watches and warnings are in effect throughout the state with flooding taking place in many communities and along rivers and streams hazardous conditions will continue into tomorrow well that's a little unsettling back on the farm oh wait a minute you guys see that what do we have going on here looks like we have some goslings that escaped I hope we make it make it

Channel: Gold Shaw Farm

Views: 104,027

Keywords: gold shaw farm, duck farm, goose farm, vermont farm, farm vlog, sustainable farming, homestead pigs, 99 problems, homestead vlog, farm dog, farmcore, farm dogs, livestock guardian dog breeds, livestock guardian dog, livestock guard dog, gold shaw farm youtube, toby dog, toby maremma, maremma sheepdog, breaking news, vermont floods, vermont farm flood, flooding, climate change

Id: 4c0lmJKdf40

Length: 15min 20sec (920 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 22 2023