Cox's Critter Corral

Come buy our farm and home 💜 13 acres, 2,685sqft home with 3 beds and 2 full baths, an office/craft room next to the mud room, ans beautiful open concept kitchen/living room/dining room/bonus room...plus all that square footage of a beautiful screened in back porch, perfect for pool and darts and a bar, with a great view of the Tiki Bar and Grille and huge saltwater pool, pond in background.
This house had lasting memories made, and is ready for another family to enjoy country life outside of the DFW metroplex. 💜 OPEN HOUSE SAT+SUN 12-4 6/11-12th

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1617-County-Road-123-Gainesville-TX-76240/244358107_zpid/?utm_campaign=androidappmessage&utm_medium=referral&utm_source=txtshare

1617 County Road 123, Gainesville, TX 76240 | MLS #20065995 | Zillow For sale This 2685 square foot single family home has 3 bedrooms and 2.0 bathrooms. It is located at 1617 County Road 123 Gainesville, Texas.

I couldn't help it 🤣😂😅

Welp...maybe Jay is going thru a mid-life crisis after buying a brand new dirtbike WEEKS AGO and truly wants the kids and I to get to go with him out on trails, or maybe he is tired of hauling one ton of feed around the farm, but whatever the reason 🙃 he surprised me with a brand new 2022 Kawasaki Mule 410 4x4 UTV , 6 person seating, a DUMP BED that can extend, etc etc plus a custom rhino lined paint job and a pretty awesome Bluetooth surround system and other things that go over my head. So...if you see us cruising around to go check the mail I will 100% deny it and pretend I needed to go drop some feed off somewhere on the 13 acres 🤣😂🤣....actually, BRB, I need to go throw a decoy bag of feed and some baling wire in the bed now so it always looks like I'm always doing something "farm related" 🤣😂 the kids and I spent exactly an hour cruising around the property this morning, giving them opportunities to see spots on the farm we normally don't take them! What should we name it?! My vote is either Farm Tax Write Off 😂🤣🤭 Yall have a GREAT weekend...I need to call our tax guy now...🤣😂🤣

The boys and I just came home from a 7 day trip to see family in Louisiana, and I tell you what, it's amazing how much has changed on the farm in just a week! Canna's are blooming, lanatana is blooming, and the view from laying in the pool, and by the bar and grille, is gorgeous with the mimosas blooms!! Ooh Texas weather, thanks for the rain and please don't do it anymore 😂🤣

Little splashes of color out in the fields on dreary days...you also have to literally splash thru all this soggy sandy loam to get out there, so please, whoever was praying for rain, can you stop now? We got it 🤣😂 A little over 6 inches in a week with more storms on the horizon 🙃

"Who teaches us more than the beasts of earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of Heaven?" - Job 35:11

Yesterday evening Jay and I took a walk around the farm, talking about what projects we need to get started, what plans we have for the farm...and I was consistently amazed in all the ways I found God. Do you see that teeny tiny frog?! We have millions of them all around our pond, and I was so humbled to be in the presence of such artistry. It's so easy for my mind to slip into the thought process that the God I serve is just a cosmic ATM, a granter of wishes and an overwhelmed therapist who listens to my disjointed prayers...sometimes I need to be reminded of His greatness, that my God is the ultimate creator 💜

🍷👀 Does anyone know what wine pairs nicely with fence maintenance and repair? I found out today! 😂🙋‍♀️ Our goats have realized there are wild plums all along our fence line, and coincidentally have made a jailbreak EVERY 👏 SINGLE 👏 DAY 👏...apparently the grass, err trees and shrubs, is greener on the other side! 🙄🤭

I'm completely late to post a sweet Mother's Day post...but, here goes:

To all the mommas holding babies, to all the mommas missing babies, and to all the mommas wishing for babies -> you are loved and cherished, and I'm praying for you 💜 AND to all you surrogate mommas, you mommas who chose to love unconditionally, thank you 💜 To those who long to be mommas, to those who mourn their unborn babies, I feel and understand your pain and I lift you up in prayers. 💜

🥓🥓 Anyone one else feel like BACON is LYFE?! 😂 Breakfast request from the turd-lers was "bak-ee" and eggs, and I am so thankful to be able to raise our own yummy pork! Imagine feeding your family meat, being able to know EXACTLY how humanely the meat was raised and EXACTLY what all went into that animals diet and body! 👀👀 For us...it cancels out the occasional donut holes or French fries that the kids eat 😂😅 It's all about balance, right?!
🤩🤩 This mornings pictures feature Abel Benjamin (3y/o) aka Bubby/Bubs and Noah James (almost 2y/o) aka Smooch(ie)/Bubba...both with crazy bedhead 😂 and a burning hankering for bacon 👇👇 Abel's facial expression when I told him he had to eat his blueberries before he could have more bacon 🤣😂 Both boys could easily eat a pound of bacon every morning 🙄😅

Our thick 🤤 cut 🤤pork🤤 chops are prepping for sous vide ...thats right, those are our PORK CHOPS and they are what made us fall in love with the breed of Red Wattle, and chose to raise them for butcher. Yeah yeah yeah..."but what about BACON, Kirstin?" 🙄 Look, if they somehow genetically modified a pig to produce only bacon, I would be first in line to buy a freaking herd of them. 🐷 However, Red Wattle pork chops have the perfect amount of marbling, tenderness, and "jucy-ness" to never be dry 😍🍽 I mean, a pork chop that resembles a steak...what's not to love?!?

🌠 What are some things that bring you JOY? 🥰 I like to celebrate the little things that make my heart happy, and one of the things that brings me BIG JOY...is having big ol' calf nose in my face 😂🤣 You can't help but smile when you get chased down and loved on by sweet cows that think they are puppy dogs 😂🥰

🌠 We had a ton of messages regarding our "Goat Harem Issue" with Gandolf, our buck, causing the females to miscarry. I mean, it's insane to think of an animal doing, right?! 😳
But in reality, it's a breeding goats basic nature to have the continual drive to breed! A good stud will constantly ensure that his harem of "ladies" are fertile and open! Goats are not continuous-estrus animals, they are seasonal - which is basically a pretty way of saying that the female goats, does, only come into heat during certain times of the year and not monthly. When you have a stud buck and a harem of does, he will run himself ragged trying to make sure that he has bred each and every female...the ugly side of that is that often the males can smell pheromones from the females if they are bred and not in estrus, and that caveman part of the bucks brain has synapses firing and telling that buck that the female needs to come into heat and not carry a baby so he can start this whole process over again.
☺ Are you still here? 😬 Uncomfortable, right? I̶f̶ ̶y̶o̶u̶ ̶w̶a̶n̶t̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶g̶e̶t̶ ̶R̶E̶A̶L̶ ̶u̶n̶c̶o̶m̶f̶o̶r̶t̶a̶b̶l̶e̶ ̶w̶e̶ ̶c̶a̶n̶ ̶t̶a̶l̶k̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ ̶h̶o̶w̶ ̶g̶o̶a̶t̶s̶ ̶p̶e̶e̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶i̶r̶ ̶f̶a̶c̶e̶s̶.̶.̶.̶
Moving on...😂🤣 We haven't had this issue with Gandolf, before. This is new and uncharted territory for us. Now, naturally the answer would be to sell him and buy a new buck, or separate him from the females. We LOVE our stinky boy and would never want to get rid of him, and if you know us, you know we keep all animals on open pasture (except for the piggies) and don't want to have to set up a single animal by themselves in a fenced area. We've had so many issues with predators, coyotes mainly and aggressive dogs...we just had two dogs attack our livestock a few months ago and while they didn't hurt any of our goats our cattle were bitten up. And if you're wondering on why our goats are still living and have survived dogs and coyotes...well it's because of our buck. Gandolf is a fantastic protector of his ladies and has put his own life on the line to keep the does and their kids safe. Our fear is taking him away from the herd and what could happen to the girls without him there.
What a predicament, right?! That's farm life, I swear 🤣😂 There is ALWAYS some weird issue that we have to really sit down and problem solve!
But we will get there! We aren't in the market for a donkey, right now, and a LGD isn't in the cards for us right now - for anyone sweet enough to reccomend! 💜

Totes-Ma-Goats. 🐐I had my camera out to try and get pictures of the moo-moo's 🐄 but the goats took it as a challenge to hog the camera 😂🤣 Y'all, let's be real, if I'm going to die...I'm okay with going out by being trampled by these goats who think they are puppy dogs 🤣😂

Happy Hump Day! We are almost thru the week 🥳
We've been struggling with our goats, lately. This normally would be a time where we would have multiple kids on the ground and does birthing...however that's not been the case for nearly a year. There have been several pregnancies, however we are fairly certain our buck, Gandolf, is forcing the does to miscarry so he can keep breeding them. Natural hormonal instincts in breeding bucks (intact male goat) are to continually breed their "harem" herd, and it isn't uncommon for those bucks to ram the sides of female goats to ensure that they remain barren and are able to be bred over and over. It's an insanely weird and depressing situation to be in, and is forcing us to make decisions and changes to how we farm and raise our animals. 💜

Oh FB fam, where to even start?! How have y'all been?!? 👋 Have you been running around like crazy, that sweet air of spring making you frisky and whispering beautiful thoughts of gardening and sitting back in a hammock while sipping something delightful?
We have been incredibly busy, but instead of immersing ourselves in chores we are immersing ourselves in quality time together 💜 Which means that my garden beds are scraggly and bare and empty, and my camera photo roll is full of pictures of the boys.
Honestly, it is a chore in itself to keep up with a 3 year old and a soon-to-be 2 year old 24/7, not including the 2 pups we've added to the household family! My days are full of potty training, little toddler homeschooling lessons,, and nap strikes, now! So instead of compromising my time by rushing thru my days, frantically stressed and mentally unstable trying to divide time to include the millions of farm projects I want to do...I'm spending my days soaking up little boy love!
So I apologize for no exciting pictures of seed sprouts or mucking out animal "fertilizer" or even fun anecdotes of farm animals, and will instead leave you with pictures of sweet, smiling little faces of these two sweet boys we have! 🥰 Happy Friday, y'all!! I hope you will be spending your weekend with people and things that bring you JOY!

Y'ALL 😳😳 I have done NOTHING productive around the farm. Seriously. I have my seeds laying in their packages in a cabinet, I have raised beds that need a ton of top soil added to them, garden beds that need alpaca 💩 mixed into the soil....etc. I need to get my bitt in gear if we are going to have another great garden of veggies this year!! But...until then, I'll keep running in circles, chasing these two wildlings and watching them grow rather than my seed starts 😂🤣😂

Accurate 😆 Literally ALL the faces Jay and I made last night, as we had a sweet romantic stroll around the property after the kids went down, loving on the animals, only to have Gandolf the goat come up in the sunset on the hill...and then p*e all over his face 🤣😂🤣 Goats are simultaneously the best and the worst 🤣😂

It's Wednesday!! We are almost done with this week, and can you believe Daylight Savings is this coming weekend? 🤯 I have not done ANYTHING for garden prep yet and am starting to feel the panic setting in 😬🤣
My brain works like this: omg Daylight Savings! Then Easter is basically around the corner...which means it's already spring...which means we haven't put out pre-emergent or seeded pastures, and it's basically summer now and there is no garden and now it's winter and our farm is ruined. 🤣😂🤣😂
Is anyone else hardwired to be neurotic like this? No? Just me? 😂🤣🤷‍♀️

Life has been crazy over here at the farm! We've had allergy infections, teething induced-ear infections, trying to play clean-up around the farm from the Snopocolypse, and somehow trying to maintain sanity 🤪 I'm mapping out garden beds and what all veggies to start from seed for this summer...and secretly praying with ferverence that our fig tree survived the negative degree temps we had previously, because...life just won't be the same if we can't have figs and fig butter this summer!! How are yall doing?!

I'm an 8. Or a 3. Nope, let's stick with a solid 8 🙃
How are y'all doing FB fam?! We have finally gotten thru the battleground of Teething and High Fevers with Smooch...only to start playing the game of "Is it a Cold or Just Allergies?" 🤣🤦‍♀️ Stay strong, to anyone else with an epicly awful week!!

🤣😂🤣 Something to haunt your dreams with 🐔 But on a bright note, Texas should actually get up to 70° this week, which is 74 degrees warmer than it was last Monday 🤟

We did absolutely nothing productive today on the farm (aside from Jay fixing one more busted hose in the goat barn) except celebrated Abel turning 3 years old today! I've had 18482 breakdowns already and am a weepy mess today, so I won't share the 50+ pictures I posted on my FB page of him growing up, or get sappy and babble on about how he is the sweetestfunniestsilliestlovingmostamazingkidthathaseverwalkedtheplanet, but I'll try to remain optimistic in knowing that he is one year closer to being able to operate tractors and muck barns which means cheap farm labor for us! 🖤

We rotated constantly in bed like gas station hot dogs, but I think we survived the Texas Snopocolypse of 2021. This post is to remind me to never open my pie hole this summer about *hOw HoT iT Is*. Our house got down to 40 degrees...inside...with a fire 😐 If I hear any of y'all start complaining this summer about the weather, I'm going to smack you upside your head with our Frozen DVD collection and will charge you triple price for pork and beef 🤣😂🤣👌🤟🖤

A great friend just tagged me in this, and this couldn't have hit home more! We lost power Sunday, power to the farm and house, and finally had power restored Wednesday afternoon. Which doesn't sound too bad, or stressful, except for the fact that our home could never maintain over 40 degrees WITH a raging fire in our fireplace, and our home has been packed to the brim with 6 dogs and two toddlers. But the temps were in the negative here. I'm talking we had -4°, and I hand-to-Bible never wanted to know what -4° temps felt like. We are fortunate that my parents live 1 mile away and had electricity, so we packed up yo stay there. So, every day, every couple of hours through the day, those days with sub-freezing temps and no electricity meant that Jay was having to HAND CARRY buckets of water filled from the last reserves of our hot water tanks inside, and make multiple trips to each pasture, to break up ice and give the animals water, at the very least of 3 times a day. It's having to increase our feed bill to be able to ensure all of our babies are able to maintain their energy so they stay healthy and warm. It was a nightmare, and still is a nightmare. Today the high will be 30° and I never understood how excited I would be to have a 30° high. See, Texas farms and farmers are not equipped to handle this winter storm. Our water lines aren't buried deep, we have acres after acres, pasture after pasture, of animals in various places...we have multiple barns meant to be able to allow airflow thru to keep animals cooler in our constant warmer temps, not insulated to keep them from freezing to death. It was a nightmare of epic proportions, and now we are just waiting for the feet of snow accumulated to melt, to be able to find all the busted water lines and dig them out and fix them, as well as busted faucets. But I'm thankful that our animals made it through the worst winter Texas has seen in decades...so don't be surprised when our prices are comparable to Japanese Wagu beef, because we basically killed ourselves living in the cold to make sure they stayed warm and fat and healthy 🤣😂🤣 Just kidding, but please pray for all your local farms and farmers, not all of them were as lucky as we were to not have lost livestock 🖤

Texas ranchers scramble to keep animals alive in unusual cold Texas ranchers worked overtime to haul water and hay to cattle to keep them alive during a freak winter storm, but some cows have already succumbed to unusual icy temperatures that also killed chickens, idled meat plants and threatened crops.

Public Service Announcement: After literally walking miles in the snow to feed and constantly hand deliver water to our cows...we will not being selling anyone beef who puts ketchup on their steaks 😂🤣😅

Welp...we definitely got snow 🤣😂🥶❄🤯 We also spent the night with our electricity constantly cycling off and on...and staying off more than it's been on 🙄🥴 So we braved the 1 mile drive to my parents, and are enjoying the luxury of electricity and a fire! All farm babies survived sub temperatures and snow last night, even with heat lamps not staying on for the babies. We are remaining hopeful that these animals will remain healthy...and we keep our sanity having to do some crazy hokey pokey to keep everyone and everything warm and working!! How's the weather where yall are?!

It happened. We've been getting snow steadily since the wee hours, and it's sticking pretty good! Jay loves the snow and has been praying for this white monstrosity for days...I, on the other hand, despise this frozen sorcery. So we compromise and Jay continues to make multiple trips, loaded with 5 gallon buckets of boiling water in each hand, to go soak grains for animals and pour over frozen water troughs...and I remain inside, warm, with fluffy cinnamon rolls and whipping up cream cheese icing (with the exception of my hurriedly snapping a picture of Jay's second trip to the barns). How is yalls weather?! Are yall staying warm?!?! ❄

Well, our "high" of temperature today is 27° and will be the warmest temperature we will see until next Wednesday, with a snow storm coming tonight! Say a prayer for all the farmers and ranchers out here! Days of freezing temps and rain/snow mean extra feed and hay for animals for extra calories to help them stay healthy and warm; it means an insane electric bill having to run heat lamps and water warmers; it means having to haul bucket after bucket of hot water out to pastures to mix with grains and melt the frost on their water troughs; it means round the clock monitoring and checking all livestock to make sure everyone is staying healthy and keeping any kind of sickness at bay! 🖤🖤 Stay warm, FB family!!!

The weather is freezing...literally, and there is no way y'all are going to get any cute farm animal pictures because, well, baby it's cold outside. So instead we are spending our time baking cookies, trying to keep up with 2 toddlers and 6 dogs inside the house, and convincing Jay that we should bring the bottle calf inside too 😂🤣 How is y'alls weather?!

We've had an insane week so far! With constantly checking on animals with this freezing weather, to having our goats and calves attacked by dogs yesterday...we are ready for some nice, sunny, warm weather and a break from this cold chaos! So today we are stuck inside and eating our weight in bacon! Yes...you read that right...BACON!! The only brightside of all of these chores is that we have a huge freezer full of farm fresh, homegrown pork 🤩😍🐷🥓

Happy Monday, FB fam! 👋 Is it wrong that I already have a hardcore case of the "I don't wanna's"? 👀 Because I already don't wanna do farm chores this coming week and weekend!! Looks like Jay and I will have a nice, romantic stroll to the barns to start hanging extra heat lamps and freeze-proofing water troughs and pipes! Fingers crossed the weather changes and we don't have to deal with snowpression on the farm 🤣😂🤪

If you know Jay or I, or have been a part of our Critter Corral page for a bit, you know our deep love for animals! You also know, by now, that Jay doesn't buy me bouquets of flowers or boxes of chocolates...he buys me guns, diamonds, or animals 😂🤣 (and I think we know which ones I like more 🐶🐷🐄🐥🐱🐐🦙) So...welcome to the family Gator, aka GatorBakedPotator because he so chonky. He is a reverse F1B goldendoodle and will be Stella's boyfriend 🖤

Happy Thursday, FB fam!! We have had our hands full with the farm and our new puppy, and I've been swamped participating in breeder education courses...but, we just recieved our Homegrown By Heroes certificate for the farm!! Homegrown By Heroes is a branch off of Farmer Veteran Coalition that vets and certifies farms that are owned, operated, and worked by veterans of the United States Military! I am so PROUD of our little farm being certified by this amazing label and brotherhood. In case you a new here, Cox's Critter Corral is 50% made up of a US Naval veteran, Kirstin! 🚢🎖⚓🇺🇲

Ooh mercy, what a week we had...well, last week 🤣😂 We had little piggies that went to market so YOU can have farm fresh pork soon! Then it was back to the drawing board of farm projects and scheduling when to re-seed pastures, etc. Then we welcomed a new member to the farm, Stella! She is a F1BB parti cream goldendoodle and she is genuinely a doll!

This little piggie goes to market... FINALLY! And all the cows and goats had to come in from pasture to watch one of the "little" piggies leave for..."freezer camp". A bittersweet moment, but such a rewarding life we have being able to raise farm pastured pork! I mean, where else are you able to know EXACTLY what all went into the meat you are eating AND if it was raised humanely and with love?! 🙋‍♀️🙋‍♀️ Cox's Critter Corral, you betcha! 🐽🐷🐖

Today is an icky-ish weather day, here in Gainesville, TX, but I refuse to let let my heart or mind be full of "icky-ness" in spite of all the political unrest and so much hate towards each other. So today I'm hopping off social media and going to put some onion babies in the earth, and if you're heart is heavy or your mind is bogged down, I suggest you do the same 🖤🤘 much love, FB family.

“An anxious heart weighs a man down, but a kind word cheers him up.” ~ Proverbs 12:25

Sweet little Reese aka Reeces Pieces Peanut Butter Cup Angel Baby...she has some white eyelashes 😍😍😍😍😍 this little doll is quickly becoming everyone's favorite little heifer 🐄 Happy Monday, y'all! May we all stay healthy and happy and have lot's of joy and love in our hearts! 🖤

Let's start normalizing farm selfies with cows 😂🤣🐄🥰 The best part of having another bottle baby calf...is watching the 4 month olds all try and butter you up, trying to get a bottle too 😃

Some husbands buy their wives flowers or chocolates...mine buys me calves 😍😍😍🐄🐄🐄 This little heifer is a full Hereford and a week old and I am pathetically in love with her already!! Meet Reese (Reeces Pieces because Jay likes to name the cows after "chocolates" for me) 🤣☺

Anyone enjoy long romantic walks with your sweet lover? On our farm, we enjoy long romantic walks to feed and quality check all the animals, ha! Here are 3 little piggies enjoying some nonGMO/no soy peanut and milo feed! These little porkers are growing up beautifully and will be pretty amazing quality pork later in 2021!