I Should Have Done It Sooner

It is hard to believe that I have already owned goats for TWO years now.  They seem to just fit into the rhythm of life!  They have brought so much fun and I am so thankful for this adventure!

Even though goats now seem to fit into my rhythm of life, there is ALWAYS something else that needs to be fixed, tweaked, purchased, improved, etc.!  This week I did something I should have done a lot sooner!  I bought carabiners for the buckets to hang on the fence.  I was growing increasingly uncomfortable with the fact that the goat's feed buckets were being set on the ground.  After they were done eating, I would stack the buckets and manure and dirt would get everywhere.  It was quite unsanitary!  So, I finally washed all of the buckets and disinfected them.  Then, I tied a piece of paracord with a carabiner on it to each handle.  Now the buckets can hang from the fence and they will stay nice and neat!  I really should have done it sooner!

Hay There!

I have been greatly enjoying the generosity of some fellow goat keepers!  They gave me access to a free hay source.  I was able to load up the truck and get enough hay to last the summer (hopefully)!  It is such a blessing to have others share their resources with me!

I have a new hay feeder for the new hay source.  This feeder holds a WHOLE bale of hay.  I was having to refill the hay every day or so with the other feeder which made for a lot of work!  This new feeder (designed and constructed by my brother) makes chores much easier and the goats like it too!

Now, for a few random goat pictures:

Edna...she seems to miss Fritz quite a bit.  I hadn't started weaning Fritz, so she found it quite a shock when he left the goat pen and never came back.  She most misses him after milking time when she makes a sad, low goat cry!

Charlotte's udder!  I am milking only once a day, and she milks about 3/4 gallon.

This picture accidentally got uploaded with this group of photos and I thought I would post it anyway!  This was sometime last spring.  It is amazing how much Elly May and Edna have grown!

Filling a Goat Tummy

My goats get really excited around food.  I step outside in the morning and they immediately start yelling for food.  They jump up on the gate and almost knock me over just because they know I have charge of the feed bucket.  They always lick their buckets long after they are finished, hoping to get another sweet morsel of food.  They fight each other when I bring out the compost scraps.  Yes, they like food.

Here is how I fill my goats' tummies:

Every morning, the goats get their individual grain rations.  The goats also get free-choice hay made up of local natural grasses.  Since this hay doesn't have as many nutrients as alfalfa, I supplement with beet pulp sheds and alfalfa pellets during their evening meal.

 The goats get a big scoop of beet pulp.  Beet pulp serves as "carbs" for the goats.  It helps them maintain their body weight.  The type I purchase is sweetened with molasses, so they think that is really neat!

The goats also get some alfalfa pellets for protein.

Every couple of days, I give them a tablespoon or two of apple cider vinegar.  Apple cider vinegar is good for so many things, including fighting worms and getting the goats ready for kidding!  Thankfully, the goats don't mind it in their food despite it's strong flavor.

I pour water on all this in the morning and let it soak.  The beet pulp especially likes to absorb liquid. If you put it dry into a goat tummy, it would absorb lots of the liquid out.  Yikes!

In the evening, this is what the soaked mixture looks like.

We throw some more grain on top...and take it to the goat pen.

Yum!  Edna likes to lick her lips after eating her yummy supper!

Rain, Rain, Rain (Again!)

Rain, rain, rain!  We received 6 inches of rain in the past two days.  Combined with the 7 inches we received two weeks ago, we have had 13 inches of rain total this month!  Wow!

Our bottom land flooded...We baled hay on the "lake" earlier this spring.

The sky cleared a little bit last night around 8:30, so I thought I would go cut some browse for the goats since they had been stuck in the shelter all day and needed a treat.  I retrieved the hedge trimmers and headed to the grove of trees down the hill.  By the time I got down there, it had started raining again!  I quickly cut some branches and headed back to the house.  The goats wanted to eat the browse, but I didn't want them to stand out in the rain.  So, I tied the branches together and clipped them to the inside of the goat shelter!  It was a little hanging tree inside the hut!  I laughed, inspired by my own ridiculous ingenuity.

The hanging of the greens…

Just trying to keep everything and everyone DRY!

"Sisterly" love?  I suppose so.

Edna and Elly May are glad the clouds have cleared so they can enjoy being outside!

Hurray for Hay!

Mmmm…nothing is better than alfalfa hay.  At least for a goat, that is.

So far, my goats are spoiled on 100% alfalfa.  Alfalfa, although dried and compressed, still maintains its greenish color and has little "juicy" leaves interspersed among the straw.  Yummy!  It comes in two or three string bales which weigh between 60-100 pounds each.  And each of those bales have a nice big price.  Around here, the hay is trucked in from Arizona and New Mexico and a small bale is about $16 and a large bale can be about $30!

When I first brought home the goats, I was feeding them out of a hanging hay bag intended for horses.  It had a small hole in the bag where they could eat the hay.  Well, there was soon more than one hole.  The goats tore it apart at the seams and anywhere else they could manage!  I was wasting lots and lots of that alfalfa hay!

So now I am trying the "Health E-Z Hay Feeder."  It was recommended on The Goat Spot forums and I thought I might give it a try!  It finally arrived in the mail today and I am excited to see how it compares to the hay bag!  (It cost about $50, but I am hoping the investment will be worth it!).

It holds a few flakes of hay…

"The Hay Shed" currently consists of the cattle trailer parked next to the goat pen.  I have a tarp over the hay with some pavers to hold the tarp down.  I am also keeping a pitchfork in here so I can easily carry loads of hay to-and-fro!

 Charlotte gets EXTREMELY excited whenever she smells fresh hay!

 Hurray for Hay!  The goats love the new feeder so far!  (Also, notice the rope and carabiner included with the feeder!  Nice!) 

 At least for now, the new feeder has the goats' "seal of approval!"  We will see if it gets my "seal of approval" as well in regards to efficiency, durability, and hay saving!

A Week in Review

Goat and life.  Life and goats.  Sometimes it seems that goats are my life!  Then other times, it seems life gets in the way of the goats!  This past week was one of those weeks where there was a lot more "other life" than "goats!"  Here is a week in review (in pictures)...

I thought summer was here in full force last week.  We had soaring temperatures which threatened to hit 90 degrees!  I found this wasp attempting to build a nest under the porch railing.  A sure sign of hot weather!

But then, surprise! surprise!  I woke up one morning and the temperatures were "cool" again.  I pulled my jacket back out of the closet to do morning chores!  As I write, I think the cool front has passed, but I am glad for the last little kiss of winter (Texas winter, that is).

Goats are browsers, not grazers.  They would much rather eat trees and brush than grass.  Since it was not an option to put the goat pen around trees, we have been cutting "browse" from various trees around the property.  The goats love it!  In addition to browse, they have also been eating from the kitchen compost bucket.  So far, carrots are a big hit.  The following pictures give you a glimpse of their eagerness around carrots...

"Here comes the Goat Girl…Hey, Edna, what do you think is in that compost bucket?"

"Oh, goody!  Carrots!  Yum!"

"Let's be greedy!  More candy for me!"

"I can't believe these are so yummy, Elly May!  Aren't they just amazing?"

"Hey, girls.  Move over.  Give me those!"

Moving on from carrot eating pictures, Elly May has this really funny tuft of hair on her back.  The hair grows in the wrong direction causing the hair to always stand up straight!

Best Friends (who enjoy a good head butt for fun)

Elly May and Edna both have cracked hooves and pasterns.  A fellow goat owner told me it was vitamin A&E deficiency.  So, they get their daily dose now!

A good picture to end on--the milking routine!  Charlotte has been producing about 4-6 pounds per day, for which I am very happy!  She has definitely made some improvements such as excitedly jumping up on the milking stand in the mornings and evening when I milk, eating more grain, and patiently waiting to be milked.  Such a good goat!

Frustration

My sister and I were discussing the word “frustration” today.  We were talking about how it is an abstract word which is difficult to precisely define.  Frustration comes in many shapes and sizes.  The New Oxford American Dictionary defines frustration” as “the feeling of being upset or annoyed, esp. because of inability to change or achieve something.”  I especially relate to the last part of the definition…“because of the inability to change something!”  Yesterday brought a situation that I was powerless to change, yet it frustrated me.

I woke up early Saturday morning looking forward to a relaxing, restful day.  It had been a long week of learning to milk and care for the goat, and I had carefully planned to get up and milk then go snuggle back in bed.  Ha!  The life of a “farmer?”  Anyway, I prepared the scale, milk strainer (which consists of paper towel on top of a pitcher right now), the iodine teat wash, and the bottle for Edna.  7:30 am and I am out the door. 

The night before had been “perfect.”  Charlotte had eaten all of her food and we had a lot of fun directly squirting the milk into our mouths (nothing like milk straight from a teat!).  Well, I went out to milk and Charlotte would NOT eat her food.  She nibbled a little bit, but she is supposed to eat 2 quarts!  Then, she just laid down on the milking stand.  I set the little bit of milk I had milked outside of the goat pen because the kids were trying to drink out of the bowl.   Another uh-oh: The puppies came bounding up to the milk bowl and spilled most of it!  Frustrated, I next tried bottle-feeding Edna.  She has always had a voracious appetite, but this morning hardly sucked.  Why do I worry myself silly over these ridiculous goats, I thought to myself!  So much for my relaxing morning.  I did go back to bed, but it was more in retreat than in relaxation.

I thought I would try giving her more grain later.  I tried, but still she didn’t eat.  More frustration—I couldn’t change the situation.  I noticed Charlotte laying on her side in the goat pen.  I tried to keep from over-reacting, but I didn’t know if skipping a meal and laying down funny was serious or not.  Did she have some sort of “disease?”  Was the weather changing?  Could Charlotte sense something I could not?  Did I need to give her any type of medicinal “boost?”

Dinner-time rolled around.  Charlotte only ate a handful of grain.  I called the farm where I purchased Charlotte and they graciously told me to just wait.  It is probably the heat, they told me.

Thankfully, this morning and evening Charlotte ate about a quart of grain at each feeding!  She still needs to eat more, but at least she has an appetite.  Edna drank her milk, too. 

What I learned from my frustration:  A friend was recently explaining about worrying about new animals.  She explained about having a lot of “head knowledge” but only a tiny bit of “experience.”  I must gain the experience in order to truly understand what is worth concern.  I learned a little bit more about the nature of frustration, more about how Charlotte reacts to weather changes, and how to trust the Lord in all situations (like when the goat doesn't eat!).

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6&7

The "Set-Up"

About 7:15 this morning, Charlotte started her desperate calling to be fed (and milked).  Guess where she chose to perform?  On the milking stand!  Whew!  She had gotten up there by herself, so no more lifting that silly goat.  She also ate all of her grain this morning.  And, she gave another 3 pounds, 9 ounces of pure, frothy milk.  She stood still for the whole milking and didn't put her foot in the bucket.  Lots of positive improvements for Miss Charlotte!  But lest you think she is perfect, she really butts poor Edna.  She also doesn't let Elly May nurse very much.  And she is still looking for Elvis like everyone else (Elvis is Elly May's twin who was left behind).  But life with a goat is good.  I have a growing appreciating for these amazing creatures.

I thought I would post a few pictures of the "set-up."  Although it is far from perfect or permanent, it seems to be working for now.

The goat pen:
The goat pen is made up of 8 "goat panels."  These panels are 5 feet high and 16 feet long, with 4 inch square openings.  Even with the small openings, the kids still poke their heads through the fence.  Eventually, I would love to have a goat pasture instead of a goat pen, as there is soon not going to much vegetation left!

The hay bag:
Building a real wooden hay feeder is on the list of projects, but until then, a hay bag intended for horses is working just fine.  It doesn't waste too much of the expense alfalfa hay Charlotte, Elly May, and Edna seem to think is so tasty.

The water trough:
This big black water trough is next to the hay bag.  It was at an unsightly slant, but a few concrete pavers put under it quickly fixed the problem.  We have to keep the trough full so the Edna and Elly May can reach the water level, but that will change as they grow.  It has already had to be scrubbed out once because it got leaves and goat hair floaties in it (and someone on the farm washed out their ice cream bowl in it, what!?).

The mineral feeder:
This mineral feeder is zip-tied onto a piece of wood in the shelter.  It has baking soda (needed for good digestion) on the left and minerals on the right.  The goats really go after the baking soda!

The kid crate:
We have tried several methods of separating the kids at night.  We tried putting them in the cattle trailer at night, but Charlotte and Elly May start "singing" to each other.  So, for now, Edna and Elly May sleep in a large dog crate in the shelter.  This seems to work good because Charlotte can lay next to them in the evening.  I feel good about leaving the kids under Charlotte's "care" at night, too.

Until next time...Elly May says thanks for stopping by the Great Goat Adventure!

Mix It Up

Good grain is important for goats.  For my goats specificially, Charlotte needs a quality daily ration because she is producing a ton of milk (not a ton literally, but 1/2- 3/4 gallon a day!).  And Edna and Elly May are growing kids, so they need a good feed too.  Feeding my goats a high quality, natural grain ration is important to me because I am drinking what I put into the goats!  No GMO's allowed.  I had begun feeding Edna the Texas Naturals Sheep & Goat feed before I got the other goats.  However, Charlotte and Elly May had been eating a special homemade mix that I thought would be fun to try.  I wrote down the recipe when I picked them up and I was able to find all of the "ingredients" at Tractor Supply and the local feed mill.

The mixture is half barley and half oats with a few other things.  The originally recipe made 100+ pounds of feed, but I only wanted to make about a third of that to try it out.  We decided to use 17 pounds from each of the 50 pound barley and oat bags.  17 pounds filled up a 3 gallon bucket to the brim.  We also found out that oats and barley weigh about a pound per our scoop.  (Wonder how we got these specific amounts?  The bathroom scale.  We really need to invest in a "barn" scale!)

Here is the oat bag (I didn't get a picture of the barley bag, it was just plain brown!).

The bucket of barley.

 We also added about a scoop of BOSS (Black Oil Sunflower Seeds).

 A little bit o' beet pulp...

 

 And a cup or two of molasses drizzled over the mixture.

 The feed was mixed in a wheel barrel with a hoe.

In the end, there was about 40 pounds of feed.  It is being stored in a cow lick tub that has a snap-on lid.  It seemed a tad sticky, so next time I might reduce the molasses.

 The grain mixture was well received by the kids!  (Charlotte's appetite is still a little off due to the stress of moving.  She is eating a little over half of what she should be eating.)

Yum! Yum!