Saturday, March 31, 2012

Alvin

A couple of weeks ago, I had promised Alvin his very own photo shoot.  We did that and since he wanted to be right in my face the entire time, this is the best picture that we have.  :)

On Wednesday we moved Alvin to the big boy pen.  The other bucks are in the back pasture with the breeding girls (which hopefully means that we will have winter milk this year) so at least he didn't have to deal with the pushy big boys yet, but Alvin let me know quite clearly that he is NOT a "GOAT" and he absolutely does not understand why we are treating him like he is.  We went ahead and put a couple of the older girls with him so that he would have some company, and although he is adjusting he is still somewhat less than impressed.

Hopefully we will be able to use Alvin some as a herd sire this next breeding season, if he is big enough.  Definitely he will be ready for the following year.

 Alvin at 3 months.

More Babies & the Garden

WOW!  We went a FULL week without having any babies at all!  BUT at approximately 6:30 am yesterday Splash presented us with a single buckling.  THEN, at about 2:00 pm Rosie delivered twins (1 boy and 1 girl) and finally, at 2:30 pm Helga presented us with a single buckling.  I have been expecting Chino to kid any day for the last two weeks.  In fact, I went out to check her just before typing this so that if she had, I could include pictures of her baby(s).

 
Splash's buckling

 
Rosie's twins.

 
Helga's buckling.


Finally, a couple of pictures of the gardens.

 
Here is one of the broccoli gardens.  The broccoli is now over a foot tall and I can taste that sweet tender broccoli already.  If you look at the top left of the picture (very closely) you can see a hint of the other broccoli garden.  Oh........and please excuse the weeds.  The rains was great for the veggies but unfortunately it was also good for the weeks.

 
And last but not least,  a picture of the snow peas.  Growing, but not as well as we would like.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Ginko and Starla Babies

Well, at about 4:30 this morning beautiful Ginko delivered twin doelings.  
Ginko has such a great personality.  I hope her girls are just like her.  :)

 

Not to be outdone, at approximately 10:30 am, Miss Starla delivered two nice big buck kids.  I was sure hoping for a doeling out of Starla, but I guess you can't win them all.  : /


I think there are about 8 more does left to kid out.  I would really like for them to do it either today or wait until Sunday since I have to be gone on Saturday.

Thursday, March 22, 2012

Taboo's Babies

At about 4:00 this morning Taboo presented us with not one, but TWO gorgeous little doelings.  :)
Now, I know that she was bred to a Nubian and that any color combination is possible with Nubians, however since the sire is also black and the majority of his kids have been black, I would never in a million years  have expected for Taboo to have two blonde girls.  :)  I think I am in love already.




Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Macaroni & Mexican Spinach Goat Cheese

My wonderful husband made this for dinner last night.  Of course by the time we finished eating, the storms were here and since we live at the ends of the earth, we do not have internet access when it rains.  Or snows.  Or if it's cloudy.  Or if a bird flies over....You get the idea.

Anyway, it is AMAZING!  Here is the recipe. Keep in mind that he doesn't measure anything, so everything is an estimate, but as with most things, a recipe is just a guideline and we need to experiment and use our imaginations.

Macaroni & Mexican Spinach Goat Cheese
2 1/2 cups of macaroni (cooked and then drained)
3/4 of a container of Canyon Ridge Farms Mexican Spinach Goat Cheese (about 6 oz.)
1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup Canyon Ridge Farms Goat Milk

Directions:  Cook and drain the macaroni.  Mix in the remainder of the ingredients and simmer over low heat, stirring often, until well blended.

I am thinking that the Roasted Garlic & Herb Goat Cheese would be great in this as well as the Bacon Onion Goat Cheese and maybe even the Jalapeno Goat Cheese.



Ciarra & Molly's Babies

Well, as is par for the course, about 5:00 this morning Ciarra delivered a drop dead gorgeous set of twins (the tan one is a girl and the black one is a boy).  These little ones are 1/2 LaMancha and 1/2 Nubian. 


At right around noon, Molly also delivered a fine looking set of twins (also 1 boy and 1 girl).  The one with the white on his side is the boy.

Monday, March 19, 2012

My Pretty Flowers....And More Babies


This morning at approximately 5:30 Pepper presented us with a big healthy set of twins.  Both are bucklings.  I haven't gotten pictures of them since I was trying to get everyone and everything settled before all of the rain starts.  Lord, I know we need rain, but we don't need the entire allotment for the year all at once.  Amen.

I thought that since I have been showing you pictures of all of our gorgeous goats and our pretty gardens (Well, they look pretty right now.  We'll see how they look when all of the weeds start coming.) that I would give you a quick peak at my flowers.  Our yard (both front and back) are literally covered in these beauties.  I guess that we just have a knack for growing them.  Now don't be jealous.  Although I am sure that not just anyone can grow these, I will be happy to save you some seeds and let you try your hand at it.  Just send me a self addressed stamped envelope and I will get them sent right off.  With a little hard work and dedication I am sure that your yard too will be carpeted in these little bright yellow wonders.  :)  Seriously though....In the years before farming I "always" had gorgeous flower beds.  Now - Not so much.  Honestly, I don't even have flowers anymore, but that is mostly because I am scared of the snakes.

Enjoy the rest of this beautiful rainy day friends.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Garden Update

I thought that it is probably time to update on the gardens.  We haven't gotten anything else planted (because of all the baby goats being born), but what we have already planted is looking GREAT!

 
 Pictured above and below is the broccoli that we planted 3 weeks ago.  If you look back at those pictures, you can barely see the plants in the garden.  Now the plants are about 10 inches tall.  We're not sure that they will be ready yet when the farmers' markets open, but when they are ready you can bet that they will be DELICIOUS!  (Hopefully this nice warm spring won't ruin them.)

Below are pictures of the snow peas.  mmmm.......I can just sit out in the garden and eat these!  In the second picture, we planted radishes between the rows of snow peas.  (These pictures were a little challenging to get since I was dodging the sprinkler while taking pictures.)


Claire and Noni's Babies

Well, it was shaping up to be a slow day as far as kidding goes, but along about 11:30 this morning Claire blessed us with two gorgeous little doelings.  We no more than got them all situated and Noni blessed us three fold with triplets.  2 boys and 1 gorgeous little girl.  So, so far today we have only had five babies, BUT there are still 3 1/2 hours left in this day.  :)

 Claire with her twin doelings.


Noni and her triplets.  The one closest to the momma (with the spots) is the little girl.

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Babies EVERYWHERE!!!!


It has been just a little bit busy here on the farm since my last blog.  In the past 2 weeks we have had 44 baby goats born.  That puts us at a total of 64 baby goats born so far this year.  We still have 19 does (I think) left to kid out.  We have had several twins and a couple of single births but we have had 10 sets of triplets so far this year.  This past week I have been sitting in the kid barn for at least 2 hours every morning and 2 hours every evening bottle feeding babies.  We have sold a few throughout the week and then last night someone came in and wanted to purchase all of the babies that we weren't keeping.  Due to pure exhaustion, they got themselves a DEAL!

Here is the break down on births:
  • Playdoe - Triplet bucklings
  • Mozli - Twin doelings
  • Latte - 1 doeling
  • Thunder - Twins - 1 doeling and 1 buckling
  • Mercury - Triplet doelings
  • Halo - Triplets - 1 doeling and 2 bucklings
  • Maggie - Triplets - 1 doeling and 2 bucklings (VERY VERY tiny doeling)
  • Jynger - Triplets - 1 doeling and 2 bucklings
  • Olivia - Triplet bucklings
  • Mrs. Calloway - 1 buckling
  • Red - Twins - 1 doeling and 1 buckling
  • Stormie - Twin doelings
  • Gabby - Triplets - 1 doeling and 2 bucklings
  • Spirit - Twins - 1 doeling and 1 buckling
  • Lyric - Triplets - 1 doeling and 2 bucklings
  • Special T - Twin bucklings
  • Willow - Twins - 1 doeling and 1 buckling
  • Airi - Twin doelings
  • Jitterbug - Twin bucklings
Below are a few pictures of the controlled chaos!  :)

  
Group of little doelings that are being retained for future milkers.  .....Well, our daughter is taking 2 of these.

Group of bucklings.

Willow with her twins (1 girl & 1 boy).

 Special T with her twin boys.
 

Lyric with her babies (1 boy & 1 girl).
(She lost a baby during the birthing.)

 Spirit and her twins (1 boy & 1 girl).
 
 These are Airi's twin girls.  Somehow I got Airi outside before I got the picture taken.  Airi's girls will be retained for future milkers too.
 
The little girl in the forefront is Maggie's little girl.  Both of the boys were nice good sized babies and "at least" 3 times bigger than this little one.  She is a feisty little one though. Her back legs didn't work properly for about four days, but then she finally got control of the them.  She has always eaten good and has a great "Can Do" attitude.  Several people have wanted to purchase her because she is so small, but since she is so tiny, I just didn't feel like I could really trust them.  Our daughter is going to take her and since she is experienced with goats and little ones I think she will do great.

This is Alvin.  He just keeps begging to have his picture taken throughout all of the activity going on around him.  Maybe this will keep him happy until I can get a proper photo session set up.  :)

Thursday, March 8, 2012

P.I.T.A. Had Her Babies!

We have had some really gorgeous weather for two weeks.  Even this morning when I got up at 4:30 to go out and milk it was so warm and muggy out that I actually thought about going back to the house and putting on shorts.  It's a good thing I didn't because by the time that I finished milking the north wind had come up and it was getting really cool, then it started to rain.

As I spent my morning in the creamery doing my morning cheese making I finally decided that I needed a bit of a break.  Since it was still raining and I really hate getting rained on I decided to go through the milk barn and into the holding area and just look at the goats for bit (mind you that if it is rainy.....or cloudy......or even overcast, these girls are SOOOO spoiled that they wouldn't dare go outside.  :)  Well, as soon as I get to the door, I spot the babies.  From that distance it was hard to tell who had had the babies.  There were two black, long eared babies surrounded by 3 pure white Saanens.  LOL  I think everyone wanted the new babies.  :)  It wasn't hard to find mom though.  She was near by trying to get back to her babies, the white goats were just being baby hogs.

Got Mom and babies moved to the nursery.  Babies are fed and under a heat light.  Mom is fed, watered and loving being a mom.  All are doing well.  Did I mention that both babies are boys?  

I guess Round 2 of kidding season has officially begun!