Triplets!

Introducing Abby, Gibbs, and Ducky.

Cassie, our Mini-Mancha, gave us triplets on February 16th. They are named after characters on our favorite television show, NCIS. They each weighted close to 3 1/2 lbs, a little more and a little less. They were up and active and sucking very soon.

Took Sir Guy DOWN!

Our young Alpine buckling, Sir Guy, won't be a year old till April, but he thinks he is hot stuff.

This morning, I was in the buck pen, moving their dogloo shelter. Sir Guy jumped up on my back twice. The first time I twisted his ear. The second time, I grabbed one of his front legs, bulldogged him to the ground, and sat on him, holding his head to the ground till he stopped wiggling. This is the proper procedure for teaching a buck that he is NOT the boss.

He didn't jump on me any more after I let him up.

Unexpectedly Preggers

Our herd queen, Orange, is most obviously pregnant. Now. HOWEVER, we didn't realize this until recently. We had been planning on 'milking her through' as she was giving a nice half gallon a day. Then, suddenly, production dropped to a couple of cups or less. The obvious thing to do was dry her off and breed her to kid in the spring when we will be back in Missouri.

HAH! Orange apparently had other plans, starting back in September, shortly after our purchase of a nice registered Alpine buckling.

We had some problems keeping the bucks in when we moved them to a fenced area just downhill of the does. The plan was that we would be able to tell which of the girls were in heat by their flirting with the boys at the fence line. We didn't anticipate the determination of the bucks and their disregard for electric fence tape. It took about a week to get the fence reinforced enough to keep the gentleman restricted to their side of the fence.

Apparently, Orange came into a quiet heat during this time. By mid December, we began to suspect she was in the family way. Here it is, the end of January, and we're watching every day for signs of kidding. We're getting closer. Lonnie is predicting February 7, Super Bowl Sunday! I'm thinking it will be sooner than that.

Snow, Snowbelle, and cheese

The great blizzard of December 2009 lasted from 6:30 AM to 2:30 PM and yielded a whopping two inches that melted from the bottom up.

The goats thought it was highly suspect and stayed in the barn. Snowbelle was enticed out with an animal cracker so that she could be photographed.



Today, I'm making the first attempt at Monterrey Jack Cheese. I'll keep you posted.

Back in Texas for the Fall/Winter 2009

Imagine you've experienced a hard frost that killed your flower garden. Imagine it's 34 degrees when you are milking the goats.

Imagine you can drive one day and change climate! YAHOO!

We made the trip 700 miles to the southwest of the Ozarks. Nine goats, two dogs, and one cat are now safely adjusting to days on the coastal plain of Texas where it's almost 80 degrees in the afternoon.

What bliss!

Health Certificate

We got the new Health Certificate for the goats yesterday, October 15th. I had the names, tattoo numbers, breed, and birthdates of all the goats on a print out for the vet, so that helped things move along.

We had to tattoo five kids, and that took longer than the paperwork. The eared goats (Alpine) get tattoos in each ear. The right ear get the herd letters, and the left ear gets a code for the year (2009 = Z) and then their birth order in the herd. So, a goat will have AAGK in the right ear and perhaps Z2 in the left year. Short eared goats (LaMancha) get tattooed in the tail web. The tail tattooing turned out easier than the ears because Dr. Mueller just picked their back feet up off the ground so they wouldn't have traction, and I did the tattooing.

The tattoo device is like a pair of pliers with inserts for the letters and numbers. You crimp the device on the ear or tail, release, then use a toothbrush to rub in a thick ink paste. That's it! Then, the goat proceeds to get ink all over the place. Do not wear clothes you plan to wear in public again.

Sir Guy (left pic) has managed to get the green ink from his ears all over his face. Snowbelle (right pic) shows off her tail web tattoo ink, all nasty green under her tail. The excess ink wears off slowly, and what was rubbed into the tattoo holes stays.



Just a note about milk production:
I'm feeding two bottle kids a total of 120 ounces per day. That's almost a gallon going to kids, plus we are getting at least a quart for house use. We have wonderful goats!

Fall Update

The newest addition to the Quirky Goat Farm herd is Angel, a dual registered American Alpine. She's a bit thin right now, but she'll fill out on Lonnie's special feed mix and some extra sunflower seeds.

I missed getting a picture this morning after I turned out the last doe from the milk house. Sophie, our Alpine who has to wear a goat bra, was standing by one of the pine trees, and the little kitten was sitting on her back. They were both perfectly calm and gave the impression that this was not new behavior.

We are coming off of several days of rain, and the goats haven't been able to go out for browse until today. I milked the goats separately this morning and checked yields.
Orange = 7 1/2 cups (12 hours)
Sophie = 5 1/2 cups (12 hours)
Angel = 6 cups (24 hours)

Orange is simply an incredible animal.