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Archive for the ‘Goat Care (and General Farm)’ Category

I have a few escape artists on the prowl. They love to climb.

I was bottle feeding some of the kids and did not think anything about the door to the feed and milk room being open. Actually, my thought was that they can do no harm because they would not be able to climb 4 bales high. What was I thinking? I knew better. I did not start raising goats yesterday. Tee hee.

I heard a crash and 5 young goats came running out. I still did not get excited.

After finishing the bottles, I gathered up my bottle bucket and my sitting stool and headed to the feed room. Oh oh. What a mess I found! I had left a 1/3 of a bale (untied) on top of the bales of hay. It had been knocked to the floor. Oh yeah, you betcha’, it was pretty well scattered. Another bale, still tied, was pushed to the ground. And there were young goats hopping everywhere. Yes, that is hay stacked 4 bales deep.

And, like a comedy act, when they realized they were going to have to leave, they jumped, 4 bales down, straight out the door. How do they do it? πŸ™‚

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I was bottle feeding in the barn yesterday and saw heads bob up and down, out of the wheel barrow. I quietly removed my phone from my pocket to catch a moment of the scene. One (doe on the right) almost fled the scene (notice the open mouth, the baa warning signal was being announced).

They love the fresh scrap hay in the bottom of the wheel barrow, it is quite the enterprise to them now!

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Love Those Ears

How about the ears on the wether? Thought you would smile at this one!

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To say that I am fond of goats is rather an understatement. I find goats to be very interesting.

A goat can be comical, stubborn, affectionate (yes, they can), smart, sneaky and the list goes on.

I can think of no other animal that can provide friendship, milk, and even meat, as well as a goat can.

This particular doe, Cammille, a reverse spotted nubian, is one that acts like she has a mind of her own (she does), but she sneaks in the affectionate act when you are not looking. The bottle fed doeling pen is right in front of Cammille’s pen. Each day, as I bottle feed the girls, I feel the tips of a goat’s ears lightly brushing across the top of my head. And I often get the chin laid on the top of my head as well. When I look up, I get the nose against nose…but wait…this is Cammille showing affection. She is slipping! πŸ™‚ Cammille, you cannot tell in this photo, is a big strong girl. One that will be with me on the farm as long as I can take care of goats, and as long as the good Lord allows her to remain here. Her daughter, pictured in my blog post on 3/21/09, is a beauty as well, even though she is the product of a nubian/boer breeding, I am strongly considering raising her as a dairy goat. A gift to me!

If you can stand some more goat talk. I have to tell you the youngster story behind Cammille. She is fondly nic-named “Snake Eyes.” When she was young she would get this “look” in her eyes, and she would stand very still and quiet as the look crossed her face. The next thing you knew she would head butt every animal around here, hence the nic-name, the sneaky little doeling, Cammille!

Anyhow, that is my goat talk for the day.

Have a good evening!

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There are two things that seem to happen when we enter the goat kidding season. One is the Doe Code of Honor (Jennifer of Goats In The Garden) mentioned recently. This means we wait and wait, similar to the old statement about a “watched pot that never boils.”

If we are not waiting, we are being surprised, as we are today. Of course, I enjoy all of this, especially when I feel refreshed and not terribly tired. But even when I am that tired, I feel honored to be involved in such a wonderful event despite the fatique.

This year I bred the dairy girls to a boer buck. I keep my farm within certain numbers, approximately 30-35 boers, and the same number of dairy does. I love the hardiness of the nubian/boer cross, and I did not want to produce more dairy kids this year.

Many dairy farmers bottle feed their kids (calve, kid and lamb). That is my choosing. It was difficult at first, but now I appreciate knowing I am the one milking the udder, knowing the condition of each udder, knowing how much milk we are producing, and knowing that the milk is being pastuerized and is not passing along anything harmful to the dairy kids. It is a lot of work, and some day I may change my mind. For now, I still hold the dream of a large milking barn, a commercial operation, with udders that produce some mighty fine milk. And I will still make goat milk soap because that is my passion!

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Sometimes it is next to impossible to get one single photo of a goat. Today is a beautiful sunny day, a perfect photo day. But as soon as one of the crew sees me, one will sound the alarm. There she is, let’s go!!! Goofy, aren’t they?

These are some of my babies from last February. Growing up. I always dislike their spring coats. They start losing that winter fluffiness, and begin looking a little scraggly for a few weeks, until they are completely down to the smooth shorter spring/summer coat.

We had a rough night. The husband’s gall bladder did a flare up. So, I trekked to the grocery for plenty of low and non-fat foods and then I worked in the office.

Today, Spike helped (Tyra’s boy).

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This is Tyra, the very obedient boxer.

I looked at Tyra tonight and said, “Teeb, what do I write about today?” My husband replied for her, “Write about me.” Okay, with as many photos I have posted of Tyra, it is time she gets some chat.

Tyra is 6 years old. She is a big girl, as you can tell. There isn’t an ounce of fat on her though. She is solid as a rock. She is always at my side. Usually her back is to me as I write or work. I can see the beautiful white stripe down the back of her neck as she waits patiently. She hears and notices everything.

We live in the country, but in an older home that sits very close to a busy road. Behind us there are no houses. So Tyra, the only boxer of ours that can be let out the back door with little supervision, knows that she can go anywhere behind the house, even down to the barn, but not one step in the front or side of the house.

On very nice days she walks down the hill, and when she is ready, she darts back up. She runs so swift and smooth, with her big lips pressing back. It is a wonderful, happy site. Sometimes we still get the “poodle jump,” too. The poodle jump consists of jumps up in the air and twists of the body that lands her in the opposite direction, back up in the air again twisting, landing face towards you, and then she repeats it over and over again. I have no idea how that child gets that big body up in the air, but she does it well.

Tyra was a mistreated youngster. We bought her when she was 9 months old for $100.00 . She was being replaced with a dog “much less hyper.” Her papers, crate, toys, collar, dog treats, and her horrible fears were all sold to us (cash only). The poor girl was afraid to go outside by herself, even though she had a beautiful fenced in yard. I had to fool her by going out with her and sneaking back inside quietly. To this day, when you leave her alone, outside of her crate, she will cower when you enter the room. She has never been in that type of trouble in our home. Sad, isn’t it?

I registered her as Zipporah Sarai and decided to breed her to my (late) boxer Samson. 10 beautiful pups were born, including Spike, the monstrous big son that we still have. He is not as obedient as momma, but he is just as precious. I was not going to put momma into the breeding business, so we only had one more litter. I believe in good solid boxer dogs, and I hope each one of mine has proven that much.

That is the story behind Tyra (Tyra Byra, Teeb, T.B., Mother, Momma). You will see a lot of her, she is a constant companion.

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On this gorgeous Saturday, I thought it would be nice to share with you a (not yet) 24 hour old boer cross doeling born to us yesterday from Cammille. Spots galore!

I am here on the farm pretty much every day, and sometimes a break is good (like yesterday’s road trip). But today, the good feeling is to be on the farm doing the things that I feel I need to do to organize a bit. It makes me happy. I am far from being where I want to be, I need an entire crew to be at that perfect state. But the most perfect place to be is where the heart is, and that is shear happiness.

I hope you are having a bright Saturday too!

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The spring flowers are pushing through the ground. The daffodils always amaze me how they barely appear one day and seem to grow 6″ the next.

I have been busy these past few days. In fact, I missed posting on Wednesday. I moved the last of the bottle kids to their new barn suite yesterday (except for one still in special care), and guess what happened? Twins were born early, and the mother had no colostrum. All of this occured within 2 hours. I thought the tiny babies were dead when I found them, but good news, they just needed some nutrition. The buckling’s front hooves are no larger than my thumbnail. They are quiet little house guests at the moment.

I hope to make it out to the shop this evening. I am itching to try an idea I have for a new soap. I will share pics as soon as the process starts!

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The best plans sometimes get set aside when there are does in waiting.

This is a photo of Annie. It was taken 4 months ago. If she looks large in the pic, she is very large now!

Today is day 144 of Annie’s gestation. She normally kids around day 149-151. The earliest a doe should kid is day 145.

This morning Annie did not eat in her normal full-fledged herd queen fashion (she resides with the dairy herd). She ate a little grain, ate a little hay, and then went off by herself. She looked sunken in, as if her unborn kids had moved. I checked her ligaments, yes, they are gone. Her body is preparing for birth.

So, instead of visiting with friends, we smiled and stayed home. It was actually a very nice day. Beautiful, sunny, relaxing, just as a Sunday should be. So, it was a blessing in disguise. There are lots of those blessings when we watch for them! As far as our friends are concerned, we will make it another afternoon this week, perhaps have some lunch together then.

As far as Annie is concerned, we are still waiting. A doe in waiting…!

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