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Water, the Sustainer Of Life

Posted in Goat Care (and General Farm), tagged Goats on June 29, 2009| 8 Comments »

We all know about water. Our bodies, without me looking the exact numbers up, are probably comprised of 95% water (if not more). All living life depends upon water.

Now to my story…

We bought a farm, not known to us, with a low water table. We generally have enough water for livestock, and then we conserve some for our own use.

We burned up a well pump recently because we had done so much laundry (from kidding season, winter, etc…). So, we installed a brand new pump, water a-plenty. But now?

Last night, an hour after I returned from the barn and cooled off (it was nearing 100 degrees), I began to prepare for dinner, no water. I knew, just knew, something was amiss. An hour later, no water. By then the water should have regenerated itself.

This morning, no water.

When I went to the barn to feed this morning I found the hose on the ground and a water spigot turned on. Yes, a goat had worked the handle up and away from the spigot. It had ran all evening and all night.

Bonnie sure was proud of herself, especially the spot on her head worn down to the skin. Guess what Bonnie’s famous trick/line/title is, from her prior owner? “Back Rub Bonnie.” Yes, she gives some serious back rubs. Plant your feed on the ground, space them apart, because when you get a back rub you need to retain your balance. Apparently she did a major back rub on the spigot, enough to move the handle up and allow the water to flow.

Is the well pump okay? I really do not know yet. It is working, but it will take quite some time to know if we are going to have to spend the bucks again for a replacement. The good news is, we do the job ourselves. It is still very costly.

There is now a lock on the water supply at the barn. No head rubs will ever move that arm again.

Life on the farm…tee hee…

By the way, as I wrote this blog post I looked up the water composition in a human body, 60%.

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Girls On The Hill…Beautiful June Day

Posted in Goat Care (and General Farm), tagged Goats on June 28, 2009| 9 Comments »

Sometimes we write about a little bit of nothing…

And Aleecia says, as she stretches her neck way out, “That fencepost sure tastes good!” She is quite the attraction, spots and all. A beautiful, big girl. Always the first to come see what I am up to, and “chat.”

Now, take a gander at Anona, her twin sister. Aleecia has the same markings, only with white spots on top. Anona has the long ear-thing a’goin’ on! Can you tell, I love my nubians?

I still get called Annie from time to time. I just smile. Annie was our first bottle baby. She is very independant, yet, she does not know that she lumbers in the exact spot she did while young, waiting for her bottle. Goofy gal!!!

They are are all entertaining, a lot of work, but I would not trade it for the world.

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Folded On The Boxer Raising

Posted in Goat Care (and General Farm), tagged Boxer Dogs on June 27, 2009| 8 Comments »

From an earlier endeavor…this is my boy, Spike.

My 5 year old boy weighs in at 90 pounds. A big one. I know how innocent he is. He would kill you upon contact…kill you by means of licking. I have heard him growl once, perhaps bark twice…at the trash truck. You know, that big machine that puts mankind at risk?

Spike is quite the snorer, Even when awake, you always know when he is around. My sister says, “Get that boy some sinus medicine!” He is loud. When he lays down he sounds like the air brake being released on a semi truck.

We think there is nothing between Spike’s ears, empty headed. He just hangs around. His favorite things in life are tomatoes and apples (just like his late father, Samson). Forget the steaks, my boy is happy with the healthy stuff. And guess what he has to have done every single night? Mom is required to rub him right between his eyes. The natural sleeping pill. The big head and neck just sinks down. The eyes go dull. Down he goes. Hilarious.

Years ago I wanted to raise boxers. I still have 3, but I no longer breed. It is a huge responsibility. I had nice puppies, large litters, good sized pups, beautiful boxers but…after carefully raising two sets of litters, 20 puppies total, I decided to stick with goats. Puppies are a lot of work! And I tend to get too attached to them.

Spike is from our first litter.

Here is Spike at 4 weeks old, always weighed in 3 times more than his litter mates.

And again, below with his father at an even younger age.

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Sunday’s Dairy Goats and Sheep

Posted in Goat Care (and General Farm), tagged Cats, Friendships, Goats on June 14, 2009| 8 Comments »

Dairy goats and sheep? Wait a minute…that looks like a kitten to me. My apologies, my better camera is out of order. Pictures today are delivered via my phone and my old “bad” digital camera. But not so bad that we turn kittens into dairy goats and sheep.

Do you think these two could pass as future Mr. Yellow Tom’s? Mr. Yellow Tom loves to rough house with one of these look-alikes already.

Nothing like a good old kitten fight. This is what I see and hear when the goats are not mulling around.

Moving on to the feeding of the boer goats. Dusty (a lovely boer/alpine) always needs a good head rub.

Moving on to the milk stand. Chandra the saanan says, “Hey, you have my milk…now let me go dive into the hay with my buddy Cammille.”

And Cammille the nubian says, “You have my milk too…hold on Chandra, wait for me!”

And after everyone is milked out, and the final (2) bottle kids are fed, and the goats are humming and crunching happily on their hay, bedded down for the night…up the barn driveway the goat lady goes…toting warm goat milk back to the house on the hill…reflecting on her many blessings.

And what does the goat lady find when she enters the house? Visitors? There are two new sheep, Wee Little Sheep, beautiful Nativity Sheep on the kitchen table.

The beautiful sheep pair arrived on Friday in a postal box decorated in sheep photos, marked fragile. These beautiful sheep are indeed fragile, beautifully made from clay and covered with lambs’ wool, lovingly handmade by Kathy. Sent to my Ohio home, chosen as winnings from being a commenter on Kathy’s blog, Spot On Cedar Pond.

Not only was the shipping box beautifully decorated in photos of Kathy’s wonderful Jacob Sheep, Kathy also added some additional personal touches. A stunning handmade card arrived with the package, displaying the yarn that Kathy so lovingly crafts (from shearing her sheep, to spinning and dyeing the yarn). With some beautiful spun strands of lamb’s wool threaded through the card. I keep repeating the word beautiful, it really was awesome!

Now I will show you the gorgeous “decorating” of the shipping box!

Kathy is a good friend, an inspiration to me. She is one of the women in my life that have kept me on my toes, in faith. I look for her daily blog inspirations. I hope you visit Kathy’s blog as well, and please do not forget to visit her Etsy shop either, where you will find her wonderful lamb’s wool creations, Cedar Pond Wool Craft.

Have a relaxing Sunday evening!

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Mr. Yellow Tom Is A Helper Too

Posted in Goat Care (and General Farm), tagged Cats, Goat Milk Soap on June 7, 2009| 6 Comments »

I am the sole Annie’s Goat Hill Handcrafted Soaps business person. I manage the goats (my husband helps with purchasing the hay and occasional goat treatments) and I operate the business end of everything. My hats include management, shipping, producing of product, accounting, finance, marketing and customer service. I love my hats…love, love, love them!

My closest friends ask me, “What are you going to do when you can no longer handle this on your own?” They see the growth, so do I. I do not know what the answer is. They are aware that I am aware. But, for now, it will be left to prayer. Leaving something to prayer does not mean that I do not think about it. My best thinking times are not done while sitting down and staring at blank space. I could be on the lawn mower, in the shower, or even feeding the goats in the barn. I do not worry about these questions, I just ponder from time to time. Making life’s decisions, those that are not needing immediate attention, means (to me) to sit back and allow the random thoughts to roll through. It is like putting everything in a mixing tumbler. Let it roll gently, not violently, let everything big and little sift out. The answers will come.

I am way off track from my original topic here, but that is okay, and it all fits together! I like for people to know me for who I am, that is important.

As I was thinking about things in the barn this morning, preparing the milk machine for the girls, I saw yellow ears pop up out of the bucket that I toss used baling string into. Mr. Tom, the yellow cat from the last litter on the farm, had been napping in the bucket. The crazy fellow!

Mr. Yellow Tom was pretty much abused by his older brother, whom is fondly called My Boy on the farm. My Boy is a gentle cat that drank a lot of goat’s milk as he was up and coming. I can rub his belly, play with him like a house cat. And when I find the teeth and nails getting over zealous, he listens to me when I say “that is enough.” I find him following me around like a lost puppy. And I tell him, “Stay out of the road, I need you around for a while.”

My Boy beat up on Mr. Yellow Tom when he was about 2 weeks ol. Mr. Yellow Tom would screech, the claws would fly, and I always said, “He (yellow) isn’t going to make it.” Well, those two are buddies, they were playing after all. And Mr. Yellow Tom ended up being pretty mean. You could not pick him up without a lot of human arm and leg damage.

Two weeks ago something changed. I found Mr. Yellow Tom rubbing against my legs in the milk room, “Meow, meow, meow.” I decided to pick him up. Hmmm…what was that, purring? He now lives in the milk room 90% of the day. He is a fantastic mouser. He has a purpose, and he works for me, even though he does know it! He can sleep with the baling string any time that he likes. He earns it. And I do not need to pay a penny to the state for worker’s comp…hmmm…he is quite the deal!

We have 6 brand new kittens now. Two yellow striped, two black and grey, and two black. The black kittens are mean. I am trying to make a Mr. Yellow Tom out of them, not sure I will be successful. But…each day they get a bowl of warm goat’s milk. They could be well on their way towards earning their own Mr. Yellow Tom Awards!

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The Rain Said Goodbye!

Posted in Goat Care (and General Farm), tagged Goats, Spring on June 4, 2009| 3 Comments »

The rain finally stopped!

Not only have we lost power three times this week, we have had enough rain to cause some of top soil on the slope to collect at the bottom, down at the barn. This morning it was like walking on ice, but actually worse.

The girls got to get exercise again today. They are fairly barn spoiled critters. They think they are not supposed to get their hooves wet.

The pond gets somewhat murky in the warm weather every year, but today it looked like the Mississippi River. Even the geese stayed on the banks.

Spring brings all sorts of weather here (as it does all of us). I love it when it is warm, and I love it when everything is green! I like an occasional rainy day, it feels “homey” to me somehow. But I sure feel chipper when the good old sun comes back out!

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Spring Cleaning the Goat Milk Room

Posted in Goat Care (and General Farm), tagged Dairy, Goats on June 3, 2009| 5 Comments »

It is amazing how much work I can now do while each doe is on the milk stand during the morning feeding.

The evening milkings go very fast. When milking a dairy animal it is imperative that you milk on a regular schedule, or else the good old hormones silently step forward and say, “Hey, time to dry that udder up!” As long as the animal is milked on a regular basis, it does not matter if the spacing is 8 hours, or 12 hours apart. I milk twice a day and generally it falls within a 1/2 hour of 9:30 AM and 4:30 PM. The girls milk out more in the AM, less in the PM. But is a regular, steady pattern.

Back to the topic…my milk/feed room is a mess. It demands a good spring cleaning. A few days ago I gathered the used syringes and began the antibacterial soaking of them, the hot water treatment, the (mild) bleach water treatment, and the final drying and putting the syringes back together. This ends up being a crazy job. 3CC’s, 6CC’s, different manufacturers. But in the end I have wonderful sterile baggies of like-new syringes, all sorted, and ready to use again.

Today, while the girls were on the milk stand I began reorganizing the shelves of one of my supply cabinets. The top shelf is mainly needles, syringes, banding and ear tagging supplies. No, I do not use this many needles. Years ago I thought I had to have a needle size for everything. I had 1/2″, 3/4″, 1″…and then diameter sizes 22, 20, 19. Oh boy. I pretty much stick with one size now, except for the tiny 1/2″ needles for the kids. It feels good to have 2 shelves back in shape. The 2nd shelf is common meds (non-refrigerated, non-biological type), notes, calendars, wormers. Tommorrow perhaps I will get into shelves 3 and 4. And I barely use any of this stuff anymore. I am more into the natural care of the animals. When they need treatment, they get it, but I think both animals and people are very much over-medicated in this day and age.

The rest of the room. If you could just see it, and you won’t, yikes!! I am starting at one end and spring cleaning until acceptable. Kidding season does this to me, I begin the season totally organized. Everything in order, you name it. After kidding season, when the kids are weaned from bottles, etc…, I began to feel the lessening of time constraints and I begin to work towards reorganizing. And believe me, it needs it!

Off topic…today was a zoo. We woke up to no water. The well pump went out during a late night thunderstorm. And boy did we have the storms last night! More than once I put my hands on my phone and looked at the weather warnings in the dark. We lost electricity for a couple of hours again. I am hoping for a calm night tonight. And tomorrow, no water troubles. I fed rather late tonight, and I am praying that the girl’s milking schedules do not suffer from the lateness!!

Wish me luck…I am heading back to the soap shop tomorrow. I hope to post pictures in a few days of a LOT more progress! Today was a tiny set back. We were plumbers, not soapers!

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Goat Kid Weaning Day…Not So Easy

Posted in Goat Care (and General Farm), tagged Goats, Weaning on June 1, 2009| 8 Comments »

The barn has been busy lately with banding the bucklings that we do not want to sell as breeders and determining which bottle kids should be weaned.

Yesterday I chose the kids that were 2 1/2 to 3 months old and decided to give them one last smidget of milk this morning to start their day off right. Tonight they got fresh hay and no “juice” beyond the water bucket.

Let me tell you, weaning is always hard for me. I simply cannot look at their young eyes and feel like I am doing them any good, even though I am. So, I “feel” their stares and reply without letting my heart sink, “You will be healthier now on good hay, water, and some grain.”

Of course, I watch these kids closely even before I wean. They must eat well on their own.

When feeding a bottle kid I follow a schedule that I adopted several years ago. We go from newborn feedings round the clock, to four feedings a day within 24-48 hours, 3 a day thereafter, and at week 3 just 2 feedings a day. They are introduced to hay and grain as early as possible. They never receive more than 20 ounces of milk at a feeding. Because of that limitation I am leery of trying “bucket” feeding, but it sure would be easier on my part for any future bottle kids.

So…today I am down to 3 bottle kids. They are just 6 weeks old so they will be on the bottle for some time longer. And now, lo and behold, I have oodles of fresh goat milk coming out of my ears. Just in time for the promise that I made to myself yesterday. Every curing rack is to be full by Saturday!

By the way…the photo is not a goat kid, of course. It is Sunday, one of my mature boer does. She is one of my favorite gals. She “moowwwws” like a cow, a very nice big girl, and has wonderful big kids (normally bucklings), a watchful dam.

Have a good evening!

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Rose Garden Therapy

Posted in Goat Care (and General Farm), tagged Garden on May 21, 2009| 5 Comments »

I had forgotten how therapeutic digging in dirt can be…

This evening we put 12 small rose bushes in the ground.

When we were first married we had a large rose garden. Our favorites were the Sterling Silver, Tropicana, and any red or yellow variety.

Tonight it felt good to be on my knees, pushing the cool soil back into its place. It felt good to get dirty (not that I don’t as a goat farmer). It was like taking all of the cares in the world and hanging them on a hook, good-bye worldly thoughts, hello to God’s earth. And it felt good to stand back and have high hopes for a beautiful rose garden.

And if all goes well, I will be sharing beautiful photos of blooming roses in the future with you. And if the spot proves to be successful, more rose bushes will be added. We can call it the Annie’s Goat Hill Rose Farm. Soap and goats and roses.

Have a lovely evening!

The “real” baby rose bush…the photo above is a borrowed one:

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Goats and Hay

Posted in Goat Care (and General Farm), tagged Goats on May 19, 2009| 3 Comments »

Bonnie, my largest and oldest alpine says, “Mom, put that thing away, it is time to feeeed ussss!”

The alfalfa is receiving its first cutting in our area this week. Boy, does it look nice. I will receive my new bales some time around Thursday or Friday.

The Mennonite man that we purchase our hay from has been very apologetic because the 16 bales that he had remaining this week was not the usual alfalfa rich mix that I normally purchase from him. He did well, though. When I asked him last fall if he could supply me all winter, he answered, “I believe so.” He did…wow…right on the nose.

My goats are spoiled. I supplement them with good hay and a once a day grain (the girls on the milk stand are grained twice a day). Throw the “bad” hay to them and they instantly come to the fence hollering for something else.

They have been a pushy and picky crew this week, not real settled. Not at all. Soon girls and boys, soon, remember, patience is a virtue! Actually, most of the bucks do not care. It is the does creating the scene!

I love this photo of Bonnie, taken a few moments ago as well. But darn, we didn’t get the chin in the photo. She is a big, big gal!

On to feeding now…busy on the farm today!