Fun Size Ranch

02/17/2026

Hilarious!

12/25/2025

Merry Christmas

12/12/2025

Every time I see Wabbit and Waldo, giving them hugs, or just appreciating them from afar, I think how awesome it is that we have descendants of the donkey that carried Jesus. Okay, maybe they’re not direct descendants, but there are no other animals I know of that have a cross already built into them. Pretty cool, regardless of the season.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DSIZApSCneM/?igsh=MTkxdmoyN3J0anczNg==

11/07/2025

This pretty well sums it up, ad naseum.

🐐 GOATS.

They just die.
No warning, no explanation — just “boop, I’m out.”
They really take the “live” out of livestock. 😅

Too much alfalfa? ➡️ Bloat.
Too little alfalfa? ➡️ Malnourished.
Too much feed? ➡️ Urinary calculi.
Too little feed? ➡️ “How dare you starve me.”
Use the wrong wormer when they’re pregnant? ➡️ Abortions.
Use the “safe” wormer instead? ➡️ The worms throw a party because it doesn’t even phase them.

And fences? Oh please.
To a goat, a fence isn’t a boundary — it’s an IQ test.
And they always pass. 🤦‍♀️
Hot wire? They’ll test it.
Field fence? They’ll climb it.
Cattle panel? “Challenge accepted.”
If there’s a way out, they’ll find it — and if there’s not, they’ll make one.

Toys? Oh, you mean hazards.
“Let me just stick my leg in that bucket real quick.”
“Oh look, a hay feeder — perfect for getting my horn stuck right before feeding time.”
Water trough? Great place to stand in with my poop-covered hooves. 🙃

And then there’s the babies.
Might have one. Might have five.
But she’s only feeding two — and it’s never the ones you want her to.
Bottle babies? Congrats! You’ve just gained a screaming, milk-drunk toddler that will follow you everywhere and cry like it’s being murdered every time you walk by. 🍼

They’ll climb on your car, chew your hair, eat your feed scoop, and somehow escape the most secure pen known to mankind just to stand on your porch and yell at you through the window.

But then… they nuzzle your hand, wag their little tails, and look at you with those big square eyes — and somehow you forget everything they just did. 💕

Because goat people are just built different.
We love these tiny chaos machines, no matter how many times they make us question every life choice that led to owning them.

09/24/2025

LOTS going on at Fun Size Ranch! In the last week or so, we’ve had four kids born. Sadly, the first baby didn’t make it. 😢 The other three and their mommas are doing great.

Target (with the French pronunciation) had the first one, RIP. Hershey had a boy—we’re thinking of naming him Kiss. And Crema had two boys. We’re thinking Thing 1 and Thing 2 as a nod to Dr. Suess. While “Oreo” would be a great choice for at least one of them, we’ve used that before and it’d be weird. Any ideas?

We’ve also got our 501(c)3! Pretty soon we will be set to take donations, contribute, or take some of the animals to kids (of all ages!) with disabilities/aging to enjoy friendly, smaller ranch animals. A non-profit status makes it possible for others to sponsor us and get recognition. Clearly, HomeBase Solutions (https://www.facebook.com/HomeBaseSolutionsTN?) will be a logical choice. But we’re certainly open to others, as well.

Chickens… we’re realizing we just are not having good luck with them. Without attrition, we should have 14; we’re down to 3, none of which are laying yet. They’re getting close, but the 6 dwindled to 3 in a matter of a couple weeks, so we have an unresolved issue. We’re very tempted to scrap the effort until (if/when) we ever make a dedicated full-size shed/coop that has a very protected run. That, unfortunately, eliminates the free-range chickens we wanted for their sake and for removing bugs—especially ticks—from the property.

Mini-donkeys… Waldo and Wabbit are doing great! They’re full of personality, some of which could use a slight ‘attitude adjustment’, isn’t that right, Waldo? He seems to be going through a bit of teenage rebellion, so we’re hoping he steps away from his goth attitude and gets more in the groove of lovin the attention.

Bees… They’re just not cuddly. At all. 🤣 We have one or four hives still going and neglect has served them well. No idea how much honey is in there, but they are still very active. Like the chickens, we do not see the benefit of carrying on at this time.

Dogs… three Great Pyranees—one of which, Maverick—are doing their job very well. The other three are just pets and are not responsible for Livestock Guarding.

All in all, we’re having fun. Once we have liability insurance and contracts for interacting with the animals, we will be available to bring the animals to more events.

02/19/2025

Nope! We’re not selling any of ours, either.

A trade for an intact male fainting goat is, however, something we’d like to have happen. If y’all know of anyone, please send them our way before we ‘band the boys.’

02/19/2025

What do you do when it’s 26 degrees, expecting snow, and just get home from meetings? Outside to get the goats cozy warm, of course!

We actually had installed dog house heaters in each of the IBC totes-turned-goat houses before the last cold spell. The kids found a way to chew through each of the four heaters’ temperature probe 🙄. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.

I almost said “shocker,” but that might be misinterpreted. 😆 No worries—it’s low voltage. But the heaters don’t work without the probes. So we fixed them and routed the wires through some scrap BX shield and even some PEX to cover the connectors. Not bad for a makeshift solution that should keep them from doing this a second time.

01/21/2025

Got the kids a play structure. Toffee and Donkey took to it right away. Just after I stopped recording, Fiona and Shrek showed up to check it out, as well.

Which reminds me, I’m not sure we’ve officially announced the names of the kids:
Toffee, Donkey, Fiona, Shrek, Moose, and Oreo.

01/13/2025

We have six fainting goat kids born the week of 12/12. They’re adorable! Four are bucklings. I’m looking to trade a buckling for another so that we can continue the herd without inbreeding. Let me know… the clock is ticking for keeping one intact. 😉 All the others are part of Fun Size Ranch (look us up on Facebook), a petting zoo for kids with disabilities.

Looking for a donkey or two, as well.

Thanks!

P. S. Pics are not necessarily the bucklings, just showing that we have kids. 😁

12/22/2024

Trying something new. Under “Your Story” I’ve added a poll to see if our followers (existing and new) would consider eventually contributing to our yet-to-be-released nonprofit status as a 501(c)3.

We have to build a fence, get more totes, heaters, etc. And that doesn’t even come close to covering the expenses associated with feed. Or the vet bill: Latte’s eye cost over $1,000!

The other poll I think I’ll try is if anyone would be willing to buy the things our animals produce: eggs, honey (some day, I hope!), goat milk and byproducts from it (cheese, soap, lotion, etc). We also have plenty of loose dog fur, but we’ll give that away for free. 🤣 Seriously, though, I’m interested in what y’all think as this is still a very small ‘focus group’ and your opinion matters!

Thanks a million,

Steve & Darlene

12/22/2024

BUSY WEEK! All the mamas have had their kids! It started with Macchiato having two (Oreo and Toffee). Then Crema had one. Followed by Target who had two. And Hershey rounded things out with one. All kids are healthy and took to teats right away.

I don’t get why goats would think it’s a good idea to have their kids when it’s so freakin’ cold, but they do. At least it was daylight when they did, and no rain. So it’s been a good week for birthing, apparently.

Those IBC totes you see that hold 275 gallons of whatever make great dog/goat houses, too. We’ve spent a small fortune on these and adding dog house heaters to them to keep them toasty warm. Nothing’s too good for our grandkids. 🤣

I’ve got all kinds of pictures and videos, one of which shows the actual birthing process. If you want to see it, I will find a way to post it with the caveat that some might find it hard to watch. 🤷 I think it’s pretty miraculous, but it might be a bit much for the youngins.

12/12/2024

She just had her kids moments ago!