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Posts Tagged ‘milking goats’

Annie’s all about Goats has published!

Posted in Goat Care (and General Farm), Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on November 11, 2015| 2 Comments »

goat care, kid goats, caring for goats, book about goats, goat health, how to raise goats, how to purchase goats, goat farmMy latest book, Annie’s all about Goats, is now available in paperback on Amazon.com.

I am excited to publish this book for new goat owners, as well as those that have experience, and for people considering goat ownership. This is a great reference book to start or add to any goat care library!

I cover a range of topics including:

  • purchasing goats (things to consider and how to select)
  • bringing new goats to the farm
  • goat breeds
  • fencing, housing, and storage
  • livestock guard animals
  • feed and nutrition
  • health and wellness care
  • coat, hoof, and horn care
  • breeding and pregnancy
  • birthing
  • raising kids
  • milking
  • ways to use goat milk

My husband sat down and read the book proof as I was cross-referencing page numbers. He said, “I’ve learned about goats all over again! I had forgotten so many things.”

This book is a true and absolute work from my heart. I hope many people enjoy and learn from it for many years to come!

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Up With the Roosters – Tired Doesn’t Count

Posted in All In A Day's Time, Goat Care (and General Farm), tagged , , on January 20, 2011| 14 Comments »

farmer sunrise

Being tired appears to be a catalyst for reflection.

Recently my sister said, “I hope you can sleep in on Saturday.  Catch up on your rest.”  Sleep in? Not.  I am a farmer.  I have an internal alarm clock.  It goes off each and every day before daybreak.

If I sleep in, in theory only – because I cannot (will not?) do it, a couple of orphaned young goats receive late bottles, the goats do not get their hay, I milk the does late (which can set their internal clocks – actually hormones – into an irreversable mode of “okay, time to shut the milk down”).  I don’t get the milk filtered, frozen, or thawed.  I don’t get the soap and lotion made.   Not to mention the crazy cat – whom was also a bottle fed orphan – that now has to be fed (all in the same morning) canned food, then dry, then water…or else.  The day is rushed into a mode that I do not want to be in.  

Lately we have worked extra hours at the soon to-be new farm.  Being a small person in stature, I am lifting beyond the normal bales of hay.  Moving concrete blocks, helping to dig holes, hauling wood, you name it.  Then there is the frozen water bucket situation, oh yes, always a winter joy with farm animals.  I am tired.  We are tired.  We have help, but there are some things a couple simply does on their own.

We are happy.  Why? We GET to work each day.  We wake up and are granted one more day to serve the animals, make nurturing soaps and lotions, and are given the gift to work the small farm and our independant businesses.  

What more can a human ask for? Not much!

Morning is when the wick is lit.  A flame ignited, the day delighted with heat and light, we start the fight for something more than before. – Jeb Dickerson

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