Goat Life Photos

Hello Again Blog!  Please enjoy some fun pictures from the goat pen!

Frankincense and Fritz are growing up FAST!  They now enjoy playing "Buck!"

This often includes wrestling!

Fritz and Edna both enjoy a cool sip of water!  

Speaking of water, the "terrible" thunderstorms have finally passed and my goats and I are enjoying some much needed sunshine!  One evening the storm was so intense I had to skip the goats feeding...  Yes, it has been a long couple weeks of rain, rain, rain.  I took all of the soggy hay out of the goat huts, put down lots of lime (to keep the flies at bay), and gave them some nice dry bedding.  Finally!

We have now started drinking Edna's milk!  It is so yummy and sweet.  Fritz is separated from her at night so she can "fill up" for us in the morning.

Fritz also discovered that Edna has two "milk spigots!"  When he was first born, he was favoring one side which made for a very lopsided udder!  I am glad he discovered the other side.  He also seems to have more energy now that he is drinking more!

"This stuff is WHEY too great!"

When we have "whey" too much "whey" (the leftover liquid from making cheese), the chickens get a hearty protein snack!  No waste, hurray for whey!

Name that Goat!

Fritz...

It is sometimes challenging naming goat kids.  I have to be careful not to name them after friends who might be offended or use names that are too beautiful to be used on bucklings who will grow up to be stinky one day!

Fritz got his name from a movie.  "Fritz" is one of the characters in the classic Disney movie Swiss Family Robinson.  This movie recounts an exciting tale of a family who is shipwrecked on a deserted island.  Through sheer creativity and ingenuity, as well as working together as a family, they turn their desperate situation into a sort of paradise.  It is a good reminder to use the resources available (for me right now it is goat's milk!) and use them most efficiently and effectively!

Fritz the goat (not the movie star!) has "wattles."  These are the little dangly growths on his neck.  I personally think they make him look extra nice!

It appears that Fritz's coloring genetics were definitely "randomized!"  Look at his hoof: it can't decide what color to be!

And, Fritz has a wide white belt across him.  It is actually a bit more than a belt...it looks more like he got into some white paint!

Weight Update!

Fritz weighs about 16 pounds now (at 2.5 weeks old)

Frankincense weighs about 35 pounds now (at 6 weeks old).  He is gaining weight so quickly that he is hard to hold anymore!

Until Next Time...

Fritz's Entry

Fritz is now close to 2 weeks old!  And, I am just getting around to posting photos of his amazing entry!  Edna did her "job" fairly routinely.  It is amazing to watch the stages of a goat birth!

We were just finishing up the morning feeding/milking routine when Edna basically fell over and started pushing!  She tried lots of different positions to get comfortable.

First, the "bubble" appeared.

Inside the bubble were two tiny hooves.  Interestingly, goat kid's hooves are white at birth.

The bubble burst, and Fritz was ready to dive out!  After Edna pushed a few times, I could see his tiny nose and his tongue (a lot of goats are born with their tongues hanging out!).

Edna was pushing extremely hard, so I decided to firmly grasp the hooves and gently tug when she pushed to help her make a little bit of progress.  When I did, the whole kid slipped out!  Different from Frankincense who appeared almost comatose when he was born, Fritz came out with his eyes open and let out a little cry!

She immediately began licking the him all over.  She really bonded with him from the beginning!

Isn't that pink nose so cute?

Within 30 minutes, Fritz attempted to stand up!

Even though this was Edna's first "freshening," she knew everything to do.  She stood still so that Fritz could nurse.

I rewarded all of her hard work with some molasses water and grain.  Edna deserved it!

In closing, I found it comical how Charlotte (the herd queen) took it upon herself to "supervise."  I think she must have thought she knew something since she has done it twice!

The Race Goat

Most of the time, the goat pen is a very happy place.  Most recently, Frankincense has been aspiring to be a "race goat," which makes me laugh.  Check out him practicing for his new career:

"Hey, look at me!"

"Here I go!"

"It sure is fun to fly!"

"Kick up those heels!"

"The finish line is just around the corner!"

"I made it!  And won first place!"

While Frankincense probably won't be a professional race goat, his little buckling antics bring lots of smiles to the goat pen!

For Sale

Yes, Frankincense is "officially" for sale!

Frankincense will need to be leaving my herd soon!  I have known since he was born that I wouldn't be able to keep him since he is closely related to both Charlotte and Elly May, so I wouldn't be able to breed him back.  He has a great personality, a beautiful rare color, and desirable genetics.  It will be sad for me to see him leave, but I am hopeful he will get a nice new home where he can be a "herd sire" and possibly a show goat!

At 4 weeks, he weighed 30 pounds!  That means he is drinking a lot of milk and growing very mature!  So, ideally he will be weaned and purchased soon.  If you are interested in purchasing this "great goat" (or you would like more information), please leave a comment with your phone number and email address and I will contact you soon!

Thanks for following me on my great goat adventure!

A Goat Update

A monarch butterfly that we watched turn from a caterpillar to a chrysalis to a butterfly! I love new life!

Sadly, I haven't been able to upload new pictures of the new addition--Fritz--until now due to internet difficulties!  But life hasn't slowed down.  He is growing and thriving!

This little guy gets hugged quite a bit!  It's hard to resist!

Edna sure is a good mama.  She loves her new charge!

I am pleased with Edna's udder.  Fritz only likes to drink out of one side though.  I have been milking out the other side and she is quite easy to milk.  I have seen her milk producing increasing, and I look forward to being able to drink it soon!

Fritz was disbudded at 3 days old (see the silver rings on his head).  I am glad it is over!  The vet told me I should be getting used to it by now!  Disbudding is a goat keeping skill that I probably need to learn next kidding season.

Frankincense likes pestering the other goats during eating time.  He steals their grain or jumps up on the milking stand.  So, he has earned a "tether" when breakfast and dinner come around!

It has been pouring down rain for weeks, it seems!  We have had several very powerful storms.  This morning the storm lasted over 4 hours and over 4 inches of rain fell!  The water you see in the background of the picture is a hay field.  In the front is the pond...everything was completely flooded and overflowed!

"Hoofprints" in the sand!  The soggy ground makes the goat's hoof prints quite impressionable!

Introducing Fritz: The Ultimate Tri-Colored Goat!

Introducing Fritz: The Ultimate Tri-Colored Buck complete with Wattles!

He made his entry at 10am this morning!  He is a happy goat and seems healthy so far!  Edna also seems fine, for which I am very thankful since this was her first kidding!  It is so fun to have a new little kid in the goat pen!

More pictures to come soon!

Lasagna {Using Up Milk}

Using up milk can sometimes be a challenge.  With Charlotte giving almost 4 pounds a day (1/2 gallon), the mason jars quickly fill!  Although I have been drinking as much as I can, I still can't keep up!  So making Lasagna with Ricotta cheese is a great, easy way to use up the milk!  I love it when I can make a recipe with a full gallon of milk, along with many other ingredients that we have available from our little homestead!

Last night I made the Ricotta (See my post about making Ricotta.)  It used a gallon to make about 1 pound of fluffy curd!

This morning I dug out our zucchini lasagna recipe printed off from SkinnyTaste.com (Thanks to my aunt who is frequently inspired by that site's recipes!)

I browned several pounds of beef from our steer.  Yum!

I chopped the onion and a couple cloves of garlic.

I seasoned the meat and onions with some olive oil and salt...

...and some fresh basil!

Next came the crushed tomatoes.

And I let it simmer into a scrumptious sauce!

A bit of Parmesan cheese...

And an egg fresh from the chicken coop...

Made a nice Ricotta mixture.

After grilling the zucchini, I layered all of the ingredients.

And topped with Mozzarella cheese.

Yum!  A nice hardy Lasagna!  Thanks to Charlotte for her milk, the chickens for the egg, and the cows for the beef!  It is fun to live and eat on a farm!

Remember, you may find the full recipe here.