Goat-Keeping Report!

Dear Emma (and other readers of this blog who have doubted the existence of "The Great Goat Adventure!"),

Thank you for reminding me recently that my last post was May 16th.  Ouch! A whole three months ago!  This summer has been fast and furious.  In fact, it seems that most days I spent more time out-and-about than actually on the farm.  But summer is coming to a close and I am reevaluating my priorities.  Goat-keeping reminds me that life isn't all "out there."  There is so much beauty and fun to be had "right here."  I truly enjoy my animals and pursuing an agrarian lifestyle.  It is important to me to enjoy yummy goats milk, observe playful goat antics, and work hard to provide my goats a clean, healthy environment.  And so, despite the lack of blog posts, I whole-heartly march on with this goat adventure!

Last time I posted, my little goat kids looked like this...

Frisky bundles of energy!

All of the disbudding scabs came off of the kids.  Overall, I was very pleased with the results of my DIY disbudding!  Hillbilly and Hurray are completely clean.  Howdy, Hilarious, and Holster ended up with very minimal scurs.  All of them were better than the vet did last year, so I call it a success!

The goats had a little adventure at the beginning of the summer (of which I have no pictures to document, sorry!).  We left for a week-long vacation at the end of May and had plans for friends to come do the morning/evening chores.  We left at 5am and I admired the beautiful clear sky as I told my goats "goodbye."  That evening we were notified that our community was experiencing record flooding!  (Something like 22 inches or so?)  I was unsettled because I wanted to be able to care for the goats and know that they were okay, but thankfully they were all fine after the rough storm passed!  Their pen is up on a hill so they didn't experience any harm.  However, we had just hauled a whole trailer full of hay to our hay/cow barn.  The water backed up at the creek and flooded the whole lower field and up over the whole barn!  All of the hay floated away!  Bummer!  We had purchased the hay from a friend who graciously sold us their next cutting several weeks later.  I am thankful!

Also, our garden did fairly well at the beginning of the summer before it got stifling hot.  We got some yummy onions, squash, tomatoes, and cucumbers.  

I was able to sell Holster (Charlotte's buckling) at the beginning of the summer.  I am still trying to sell the bucks.  It has been hard to downsize the herd.  And the longer I keep the kids, the more I like them!  

I have also been reluctant to wean the doelings.  I have the bucklings (Howdy and Hillbilly) penned up by themselves and I do not have another area to keep the girls separate from their mamas right now. It actually makes the chores much easier because the doelings drink quite a bit of milk so I don't have to worry about finding ways to use 3 gallons of milk a day!  Usually, we get about a quart or two daily from all three goats which is plenty for our family!

Hilarious gets to eat with Charlotte (her mama) during the evening!  Each milking doe is getting equal alfalfa pellets, beet pulp, and grain (a cup of each) at night.  In the morning they get 2 quarts of grain.  

Always ready to climb and explore!

Edna has been growing quite the beard!

I forgot to get a good picture of Hurray (Edna's doeling) and the bucklings last night when I was snapping photos and now it is storming out!  I'll have to get a better picture soon!  She is really changing colors right now and turning quite black.  Hurray has a really sweet disposition and I am often accused of showing favoritism towards her!  

I was disappointed when I realized that she has four teats (goats are only supposed to have two!).  I did some research and it is debatable if she should be bred or not.  I am still deciding what to do with her...

It has been amazing to watch the affects of restored copper levels for Elly May!  What used to be an orange/brown coat has now returned to jet black!  She is also so silky now!

(See how rough and shaggy she looked this Spring?)

Elly May's udder has also returned to normal.  After I weaned her buckling, all of the pimples on her udder seemed to clear up.  Maybe he was just being too rough on her!  Being a first freshener, Elly May has had to learn her manners on the milking stand.  Every morning is a race to get her milked before she eats all of her grain!

Thank you for following my goat blog!  This goat adventure is great!