About Our Blog

The Blog   

Some days I blog w/o checking for errors - you'll know it when you read it

Feb. 28, 2009
- More goats sold and born.

I finally got to friends Jeremy & Kelly's house to check out the progress on the sheet rocking.  Yesterday I told Jeremy I would look things over then, but an hour or so before I was to hit the road, we had another first time goat mama go into labor... and gosh... it was so cold yesterday.  I think morning was -15ºF - way too cold for birthing.  But the goats themselves don't really care - when it's time... IT'S TIME.

On my home from Jeremy & Kelly's, I stopped by John's place to pick up his dehorning tool.  Since we still had the 3 LaMancha bucklings, and I was in the area of John's house, I might as well get it.  It was suppose to be a 5 minute stop, but John knows a lot of stuff, so when he talks I wanna hear his opinion.  While I was talking with him, Carol kept calling my cell phone.  I didn't want to be rude [to John] so I just shut the ringer off... this happened a couple of time.  Well, on the way to the car, John's son came out to let me know that I was to call home... lol.  I guess Carol called John's wife to make sure I knew to call home.  When I called, she asked if she should sell the LaMancha buckling at a reduce price, as the guy who was looking at them only wanted 2.  After a short discussion, we both agreed that a single buckling is a lonely buckling.  In order to keep all the LaManchas together, she sold them all.

With the bucklings sold, I told John I no longer needed his dehorning tool.  Kind of a thanks but no thanks.  Off to home I went.  About 2 miles from home, Carol called me again.  One of our other first time moms was giving birth and I was to get there ASAP.  Without changing into some chores clothes, I head straight to the barn.  When I arrived inside, our young doe was just about to drop a kid.  As soon I got a little closer to her, I could see the nose of the goat baby.  OH CRAP!  I quick jumped in and removed the membrane from the little ones nose.  As soon as I did, I could see a little gasp, then the nostrils moved... whew!  It's still alive.  In another few minutes, the baby was on the ground.  Madison and I grabbed some rags and dried him off... yep, I said him.  It was a buckling.

Carol finished helping the guy who bought the bucklings and we soon had the new mother and her little buck into a new pen.  Carol mentioned that supper was ready and we could eat anytime.  Madison said she thought the doe who just had the buckling, was going to have another.  Well, Carol and I knew better, so we went in to eat.  When I finish my meal, Madison was drying of the buckling's twin sister.  It seems Madison knew what she was talking about.  After a few minutes, we brought both goat kids inside to dry them off and to warm them up.  Without doing so, we were bound to lose both kids, due to the extreme temps.

Sometime during all of the commotion, Carol informed me on what I already knew... that heat lamps are dangerous in a barn.  As it turns out, when Carol came down to get the LaMancha bucklings fed for the afternoon (before they were sold), she noticed that one of the does in a nursery pen had turned one of the lamps onto a 2"x6".  Carol saw the smoke, as it was so hot it was burning the wood.  Here's the kicker, as you can see, it was only inches away from a small stack of straw bales.  We have since put all of the heat lamps in warming barrels for the goats.

see the scorch mark?  it could have turned out real bad

Snickers, the young doe we were using as a wet-nurse, has since rejected Peaches' kids.  We are now forcing Peaches to stand for her twins, so they can nurse.  We are also bottle feeding them.  I sure hope she calms down and lets her kids nurse.  I'm not sure if I have the patience to "help" her nurse her babies 4-5 times/day.

Before heading to bed, we did a late night barn check, making sure all of our little ones and their moms were doing well.  It's been a long day.

Feb. 27, 2009
- More goat babies.

We didn't get the 11 inches of snow they were predicting, but did get about 6 inches of the stuff.  I did some more snow blowing done.  I tried to get the loader tractor started, but that was a no-go.  On top of the snow, the temps were frigid... about -2ºF.

It was kind of a bad news - good news type of day.  The bad news was our doe, Snickers (a first time mom) kidded.  Carol found Snicker's dead doeling, cold in the barn, this morning (around 6:30 AM).  The doeling was a big girl with such unique coloring... what a waste!  It was so cold overnight, the little thing didn't have a chance.  We weren't expecting Snickers to kid when she did, otherwise we would have checked on her overnight.

The good news was that another first time mama, Peaches, had twins.  She gave us clear signs of the impending moment.  After Madison came home from school, she went out to check on Peaches and then rushed into the house with twins in tow - a doeling and a buckling.  Unfortunately, we couldn't get Peaches to let her kids nurse... so we tried to let the little ones nurse on Snickers.  Well, we got the doeling to nurse on Snickers, but not the buckling.  Carol and Madison brought the buckling to the house to bottle feed him.  While they were at the house, I got the doeling to nurse for a second time on Snickers.

As if we didn't have enough newbies on the farm, the girls had a rabbit that had babies this afternoon.  One of the rabbit does had 9 mini-lop cross kits - 8 black ones and 1 white one. 

I'm guessing tonight will be a long one.  Either Carol or I (or both) will be trying to get the new kids to nurse from Snickers or Peaches every couple of hours, until tomorrow.

Feb. 26, 2009
- Let it snow, let it snow.

Last night, the weather forecasters were telling us we would be in a winter storm warning from 6AM to 6PM.  Well, not much was happening before 8:30AM today, just a few flakes.  The flurries started at 9... it has been snowing ever since.  I think we have gotten around 4-5 inches thus far. 

Carol had some problems milking out one of our new dairy does (Lucy) this morning.  Once Madison came home from school (schools closed early), she went out to the barn to see if she could milk the doe out.  A short time later, Madison came up from the barn with the stainless steel milking kettle in hand.  Madison told us that she didn't have any problems milking Lucy's udder half.  We called Madison the milk-maid of the farm.  She's really very good at getting the goats to milk out.

Madison, trudging through the snow after milking the farm's dairy goats.

Later in the day, we got an email from my sister Amber, who lives in NW Arkansas.  Actually it was an invitation to view her Kodak Photo Gallery.  It seems she and her hubby are experiencing some of the same things we're experiencing here - the birth of baby goats.  The newest arrival on their farm is a little Pygmy goat.  Except for the horns, the baby looks like a Mini-Me version of the doe Zoey.  She sent some cute photos.

The heavy snow has stopped.  We're still getting some flurries though.  For the first time in years, it looks and feels like winter.  When I say that, I mean the winter that I remember as a child - big snow drifts, roadways with drifts from ditch to ditch, and low visibility.  Although it's a bit bothersome, it was fun doing chores tonight with all the snow.  Next to the milk house, we have a water hydrant.  With all the snow, we have a 6 ft snow drift next to the door, nearly covering the hydrant.  Because of Madison, I was able to find the 2 water buckets.  They were hiding in the snow drift and she remembered where I had set them.

The wind is still blowing the snow around, so, hopefully, I'll remember to take a few pics before we put tracks all over the place tomorrow.  In spite of the wind, I decide to fire-up the snow blower to clear the driveway.  If it fills in overnight, so be it... if not, it will be one less thing I need to do tomorrow.

Feb. 25, 2009
- Another storm?

Carol fired-up the incubator this morning.  She put 30 eggs into it... about half turkey eggs, the rest were duck eggs.  28 days from now, we'll see what we get.  We're hoping the weather will be nice as March looks like it will be coming in like a lion.  With that in mind, it should go out like a lamb, right?

Puga had Zoey only 7 days ago.  I wanted to show how much she has filled out.  She's certainly a little cutie.

a photo of Zoey nursing on mama

On the horizon, we have another winter storm.  Temps are suppose to drop to the lower single digits with a dumping of 9-11 inches of snow.  To make things even better, mix in some 20-30 mph winds and we have a good old fashion Minnesota winter.  Truth be told, I'm kinda looking forward to it.

After helping Farmer Mike with a little project, I went over to his place to get some organic milk.  Carol has deprived the family of some fresh baked bread, due to the fact we we didn't have any milk.  Forgive me if I seem a little inexperienced in the theatre of the kitchen, but I didn't know we needed milk for bread making.  I knew we needed eggs, I think... some flour and yeast for sure... maybe some water (but I'm not sure about that either).  I guess if I took the time to look on the recipe page I could find out.  I'm better at eating than I am with cooking or baking.  As long as Carol is a good cook, I will be a good eater.

In anticipation of the oncoming storm, I fashioned another barrel warmer... this time, for the new goat twins.  A warming barrel is nothing more than a plastic 50 gal. barrel  with a hole cut towards the bottom (big enough for a small goat to enter) and a heat lamp in the top (see my Feb 17th blog).  The warmer keeps the goats toasty and draft-free in the coldest of temps.  It's a life saver in hostile climates like ours.

Feb. 24, 2009
- Babies.

The new goat twins are doing well.  They are nursing on the doe regularly, between naps under the heat lamp. I think the babies are getting a little annoyed with the chickens, who seem to sneak some heat lamp space while the goats are sucking.  As most of the chickens are bigger than the kids, the little ones are on the fringes of the warmth.

Our little pot-bellied piglet is growing and has started to fill-out.  When Zoey was first born, she was a little thin.  It amazing what a difference a few days make.  Now she's getting round and a little pudgy.  She's starting to look like a little pig and not just a newborn.

We still have a few LaMancha bucklings.  They are doing well and are very friendly.  One cannot give them too much attention.  We're hoping to sell them, as we believe they would make some family wonderful hobby-farm pets... These little guys would also make great 4-H projects.  They're that good.  If we end up keeping one (or more) of them, no big deal.  They'll just be sold with our other meat goats this fall.

As soon as Madison got off the bus today, she had to quick grab a bite to eat so she could get to 4-H Bunny Bowl.  When Carol & Madison returned home, they had about 5 minutes to get to the 4-H meeting.  When they finally got home, it was chore's time... really late chore's time.  Towards the end of chores tonight, Carol discovered that we may have another goat, close to kidding.  She was pretty excited.  At least we know George ain't shot'in blanks.  FYI:  George is our Spanish-cross Billy goat.

Feb. 23, 2009
- Goat twins.

Madison made her way to the milk house, where we do the milking, as I headed to the barn to start chores.  When I opened the door, I heard the bah'ing of the 3 bucklings... I also heard the noise of other goats.  Instantly, my attention turned towards the goat pen.  I saw one little goat near Dolly, the llama.  After I went into the pen, I saw another baby under the manger.  I moved the one next to the other.

As Madison was finishing the milking of her first doe of the night, I told her that when she was done milking, she might want to check the goat pen.  I then went to the house to let Carol know of the new twins.

The doe who had the twins was first time mom, Jill.  She's a gorgeous red headed Boer-cross.  These twins are also the first kids from George, the Spanish-cross buck we got from Shepherd's Paradise this last summer.  The official announcement is Jill gave birth to a red headed buckling and a red w/black striped headed doeling with black socks. 

When Madison & Carol first looked over the twins, they noticed the kids were cool to the touch, so they scooped them up and brought them to the house.  The baby goats were put in a box and a heat lamp was the heat source.  After chores, we boxed-up the goat kids and brought them to their mother in the new nursery pen I put together.  Between the 3 of us, we got the goat to suck until the bellies of the kids were full of mother's milk.  It was chilly in the barn, but decided to leave the kids with Mom.  Carol said she would check on them before heading to bed.  If they were chilled, she'd bring them back to the house.

here are the twins when we brought them into the house to warm up

Feb. 21, 2009
- No such thing as a free lunch.

Since Wed., Running's Farm & Fleet Store has had customer appreciation days.  They offer a hotdog and a coke for 25¢.  On Friday,  Carol and I had a taste of appreciation... actually, I had 3 and Carol had 2.  For the record, I love hotdogs.

Today, Austin and Madison went to Willmar, for whatever reason.  Of course, they stopped in at Running's for the 25¢ feast.   Several hours after their return home, Madison started itching her legs.  She had a bad rash.  Then it spread to her arms... even her face got blotchy.  As soon as it came... it left.  Usually Madison pukes on hotdogs, this time she broke-out in hives.  There's a lesson to be learned in this day.  I just wish I could pick up on it.

Feb. 20, 2009
- A late night sale.

Carol got up before I did to get Madison woke-up for school,  It was then, she discovered our little pink piglet was on its last breath.  Moments later, but before Madison was awake, the little one died.  I guess we knew it destined to happen.  From the get-go, she didn't do well.

While I was sipping my coffee in the morning, Carol informed me that the milking goats are gradually increasing the milk volume that they are giving up.  And after morning chores, Carol measured this morning's milk... sure enough, we are averaging nearly a cup more than what we got when the dairy goats arrived.  Oh yeah... we have been having problems with Granny's daughter, Annie, getting on the milk stand.  Tonight, for some odd reason, Annie got on the stand for Madison and I.  She milked out like a pro.  Madison does the milking most of the time... with Carol doing it when Madison lets her... lol.  I teased her tonight, calling Madison a real-life milk-maid.

Around 6:00PM, Carol got a call from a gal she's been talking with about buying one of our llamas for her sheep flock.  To the best of her ability, Carol also explained, what kind of llama Gandhi was - friendly, alert, big... the regular stuff.  This gal was also interested in a female llama.  Carol mentioned Madison's llama, Bingo.  The lady wanted to learn more... then became very interested... the problem was this: Madison had yet to say it was OK to sell Bingo.  Carol talked it over with Madison and permission was granted. 

OK... enough of the blah, blah, blah.  Around 9:00PM, the gal showed up.  In about 5 minutes, we got Gandhi & Bingo loaded in the back of the truck.  I then mentioned that we had goats.  She wanted to look at them.  A few minutes later, she bought our purebred Alpine buckling... maybe I should say that her son bought him - his first animal purchase ever.  The kid was so excited... I'd be surprised if he was be able to get to sleep tonight. 

Those folks who charge the big $$$ for their goats, miss out on moments like this.  There are definite advantage to charging [what we call] homesteader prices, for the purebred stock we sell.  In the short time we have been doing so, we really have enjoyed selling our purebred dairy goats.

Feb. 19, 2009
- Pigs & goats.

Puga is still in the house, nursing her piglets.  The little white one isn't near as strong as the black one, we're expecting the worst.  We think she may have been injured right after birth, as she had a bruised head.  For the most part, Puga has been a good mother and seem to be aware of where her babies are.  If she happens to lay on one of them, she keeps moving until the little one stops making noise, then she settles down.  Feeding time seems to be every hour to an 1½ hours.  The black piglet tries to suck from 3 or 4 nipples, the white one just sucks from one.  We doubt she's getting enough milk.  From time to time, we feed her goat's milk.

On a more positive note, the bucklings we are bottle training are doing very well.  In fact, it's getting hard to feed them with only one person.  They now know what a bottle is and they all seem to want it at the same time, practically fighting for it.  In another few days, they will be ready to be sold.  Speaking of goats, we have been contacted by several parties today, inquiring about the goats we have for sale.  It's very encouraging.

Feb. 18, 2009
- Weez got pigs!.

At 3:30PM, I went out to check on Puga.  As soon as I opened the door, she came to greet me.  I gave her a couple of pats and was ready to leave her.  For S's & G's, I decide to look at her 'nest'.  I saw 2 little piglets.  One that looked like Wilbert and the other resembled Puga.

here's our little Puga with her babies.

She's in the house now.  It was 9ºF outside, which made it a little chilly in the brooder house, where she was.  Although we had a heat lamp for her, the little ones were getting chilled.

Feb. 17, 2009
- Keep on truck'in.

We had another warm day in the forecast for today.  It didn't take long for some of the chickens and turkeys to venture into the grove.  Doing morning chores seemed to go quick... with weather like this, it's fun. Before going to the house for breakfast, I did some more barn cleaning.  I had a good start yesterday, I wanted to keep it going..  In short time, I found myself half done with the big goat pen.  It looked so much better.  I read on one of the University/USDA websites that it is recommended that you need to clean their goat pens [at least] once a year.  ARE YOU KIDDING?  Once a year?  Seriously.

Anyway, while I finished up pitching manure, Carol came down to tell me about a call she got.  A local goat dairy had a few bucklings for sale.  He said that if we took them all, he'd give us a good deal and even meet us part way.  These goats weren't what we were used to, but we agreed to give it them a try - all bucklings (3 of them LaManchas).  We were to meet him at one of the local cafes.

We ate a quick lunch and off we went.  About 10 miles from home, we felt a tug, then a slight pause in the pickup.  I checked the gauges - everything looked normal.  Hmmm, that was weird.  Then we noticed a little vibration... then a lot of vibration, quickly turning into a dull rumble.  I pulled the truck to the side of the road to check things out.  When I looked under the truck I saw we had a little smoke and some flames coming from the drive shaft, near the rear axle.  Normally I wouldn't be too freaked out, but this particular truck has a slight gasoline leak on the tank.  I thought it was best to get the truck moving, hoping to blow out the flames.

After a few more minutes of driving, the truck was knocking pretty bad, so we turned around and headed back home.  Then I thought that the damage to the U-joints was already done, so I headed back to where we were headed.  Carol tried calling the guy we needed to meet... but of course, being in the hills of Sunburg, there was no cell phone signal.  She wanted to let the goat guy that we were having problems and we might be late.

The noise in the pickup cab was horrendous.  Carol plugged her ears to help keep her sanity.  Me, I was hoping the drive shaft would drop.  If it did, I would simply put the truck in 4-wheel drive and motor along with the front axle, and begin to enjoy the quiet drive.  I wasn't that lucky.  All the way to the cafe and all the way home, we had to put up with the mind-numbing noise.

The good news was that we were only a few minutes late picking up the bucklings.  We were now new owners of 3 purebred LaMancha bucklings and 1 purebred Alpine.  They looked healthy and Carol was excited to have a few more goat babies to bottle train.  We will have them nursing on the bottle and eating feed before we try to sell them.

After getting home, I decide to do some more barn cleaning... the weather was perfect.  When I got as much cleaned as I wanted, I decide to ready a pen for the new bucklings.  That means taking the two goats that were in there, back out.  I plugged in the barrel warmer and retrieved the bucklings.  One by one, I put the little goats into the warmer, hoping they would stay in it until it was time to eat.

here are the goats resting in the homemade warming barrel

When we got to the barn for chores, the little goats were in the barrel warmer, resting nicely.  Tonight was the first night of bottle training for the new kids.  It went as well as could be expected... after all, it was the first meal these little guys had w/o their mamas.  Madison was very excited to be able to feed little goats again... I think Carol was too.

Feb. 16, 2009
- What a bunch of crap.

We are having such great weather here in Minnesota.  The poultry is waiting by the door to get out as soon as it's opened in the morning. 

The temps reached an unseasonable 39ºF.  Anytime it hits the 30's, feels like the perfect temp to do a little work outdoors.  With that in mind, I grabbed the old, taped wrapped, manure fork and started pitching it out the door.  Our farm doesn't have a skid loader, so much of the work is done by hand.  And since we don't have a manure spreader yet, it all get pitched out the door.  I have a pile that's hitting 7ft high.

As a new farmer on a tight budget, my big regret is that we don't have manure.  We have enough to be a burden, but not enough to put enough on the fields... or warrant the investment of a manure spreader.  I guess it will come in time.

We are keeping an eye on Puga, our pot-bellied pig.  Her earliest due date is tomorrow.

Feb. 15, 2009
- Who and what is having babies now?

Carol and Madison did the morning milking of the goats and we very excite to see the goats gave more milk than the morning before.

Not too much happened during the daytime hours, except for the one of the rabbits that was in the house had a baby of some kind.  She only had one but it looked like a little lizard and it was born dead.  To say it had some kind of birth defect would be an understatement.

Later in the afternoon, Oreo, a Mini-Lop had 9 kits.  She had them in the barn.  It was to chilly for them to stay there, so Madison brought the little one into the house.  All but one was in go shape.  The bunny that was not doing well was very cold and had to be warmed up quickly.  Madison put it in warm water until it started to move around.  Carol then took it, dried it off, then stuck it under her sweatshirt (in her bra).  An hour passed when Carol finally took the bunny out - she said it was moving around too much.  All of the rabbits were doing well after that.

When we did evening chores we noticed goat goop coming from from one of our young doe's backend.  We checked her ligaments and figured she was still a few day out.  She was alert, eating well and didn't have a starey gaze. But... just incase we were wrong, I spread a bale of fresh straw in the pen corners.

Feb. 14, 2009
- Valentine's Day?  For who?

Carol's day started out stressful.  She was getting the bathtub ready for Chastiti', but forgot about the running water.  Normally, an over full tub isn't a problem, but the tub we have doesn't have an overflow drain, so the water topped the tub and ran onto the floor.  Not good.  When I got in from chores, Carol had tears in her eye from being so stressed out.  She knows that the house we're in cannot take too many wet floors before they fall apart completely.  For the most part, she had the water mess managed, but for some reason, the CFCI outlet tripped.  We have yet to get the circuit to stay on... which really sucks.

The chores for the day was easier than the last few day, but already the family missed the little goat kids we were raising.  We still have the kid pen set-up, which reminds us of the the goats every time we walk past it.  Carol and Madison are wishing we hadn't sold them all.

Carol made a few calls, trying to locate more goats, but our sources we sold out.  We were told that we should be able to get more in March.

Friends, Jeremy & Kelly, who are working on their old farm house, wanted to look at the house Carol & I used to call home.  Years ago, I was a "taper" or "mud-slinger" and since then, have done some work on our past house.  Jeremy & Kelly, were interested in seeing some of the ceiling textures I had done and the 'bull-nose' corners I had put in the house.  The house smelled a little closed up and "mousy" from not being lived in for nearly a year, hopefully they didn't think it smelled like that when we lived there... we're not stinky people.

Later that afternoon, I got a call from John, the gentleman we bought the 3 adult does from.  He was feeling better and said it was OK to come and get the milking stand.  Having the stand should make things so much easier, as we have been kneeling on a cold cement floor at milking time.  That evening, when it was time to milk, Lucy, the Alpine, jumped up on the stand... no problem.  Annie took a little encouragement.  Having a stand to milk the goats was so much more comfortable (at least that's what Carol told me).

We have 2 Boer goats that should be giving birth any day now.  Peaches, a first timer, looks like she's getting close.  Her ligaments in back can hardly be felt... that's always a tell-tale sign for us that we need to keep a close watch for new babies.

We also have a couple of expecting rabbits in the house.  The doe that was pulling hair first, has yet to have her babies and the other one (a little Hotot) doesn't look like she's pregnant.  I guess the Hotot breed is known for the tiny litters, so most of them don't look pregnant.

Other than that, everything seems to be going OK.  Til' next time.

Feb. 13, 2009
- SOLD OUT!

Who said Friday the 13th was bad luck?  Not us.  It was more of a bittersweet day for us, here on the farm.  We lost the weak little female this morning (as expected) but sold the other 5 (4 doelings and 1 little buck) in the evening.  We will be getting more in March.

Milking the two does is becoming easier for all of us (the does AND us).  We are learning our routine and they ours.  This morning, Carol and I did the milking and the evening milking duties fell to Madison and I.

It was another late evening, as we really didn't get started with chores until after the the last of the Alpines kids were sold.  After chores, Carol brought in a Mini Lop doe who was in labor.  She was afraid that if she didn't, we would have frozen kits by morning.  The thing is, she already has orders for show quality, purebred Mini Lop rabbits.  The doe (Puddles) took 1st place in open class competition at the Kandiyohi County Fair as did the buck (Moses), he, too, took 1st in open class.

Feb. 12, 2009
- We sold a few goats

WOW!  The phone seemed to ring of the hook and the emails came flying in all day.  We sold our first Alpine goat kids today.  The family that came out, drove over an hour to get here.  They bought 2 bucklings as pets and 2 doelings to be future milking goats.  They seemed surprised to see such good quality goats for the price we were asking.  To have them purebred was icing on the cake.  They also bought 2 bunnies and a bale of straw.  It was nice to see our little goats go to such a young loving family.  The kids are going to have so much fun with them.

The weather was much cooler today than yesterday.  It was my chance to do a little barn cleaning.  It went pretty easy and even though it wasn't the most pleasant job, the sense of accomplishment is often the reward when nothing else is.   Oh yeah, I guess we have a cleaner barn now... maybe that's the reward.

The day's milking went very well.  We chose to milk in the morning and the evening, hoping to increase milk production.  The dairy goats were only used to being milked once a day.  They did great.

All but one of the remaining baby goats are taking the bottle so much better than yesterday.  By evening, only the weak doeling wasn't sucking very well.  She tries.  The others are sucking the milk down in a minute or two.  We fear the struggling goat will be dead by morning.  It is very sad.  The nice thing is that she doesn't seem to be suffering... she is sleeping almost continuously.  Carol was taking it harder than I would have expected.  We finally got back in the house around 9:00PM.  It was a long day.

We have another 2 families coming tomorrow to look at our goats.  They are each planning to buy two.  Maybe we have the goats prices to cheaply.  I guess if we aren't losing any money, we're accomplishing our immediate goal.

Feb. 11, 2009
- Getting up before sunrise.

Carol and Madison learned that early mornings are part of the daily life of a milk-maid.  They were out and about at 5:00AM.  Although they didn't milk the mature does, they did feed the little babies.  It is hard to transition goat kids from the doe's teat to the bottle.  It was tough going, but they got through it.  They loved the experience.

Madison got off to school on time and we continued with our regular chores.  After lunch, Carol and I fed the baby goats again.  This time, the bottle training went better.  Many of them started slow, but finished quick.  Others still didn't get the hang of it at all. 

The little doeling we were concerned about, seems to be getting weaker.  Carol listen to it's lungs but other than shallow breathing, she thought the lungs sounded clear.  Carol and I discussed the possibility of tube feeding, but Carol thought there was something more serious wrong and felt that tubing her would do more harm than good.

The nighttime feeding of the baby goats went even better than this afternoon.  Most of the kids took the bottle right away.  The weak doeling didn't do as well as the others.  It doesn't appear as though she is growing like the rest.

With over half of the babies taking the bottle, we decided to take out an ad to sell a few of them.

Carol and Madison milked the dairy goats for the first time today.  Madison was pretty proud of herself for doing such a good job of hand milking.  She got a little help from her mom, but did most of the milking of the 2 does.  We'll use the milk to feed the goat kids.  They will do best on goat milk and not on a milk replacer of some sort.  It was a fun day on the farm.

Feb. 10, 2009
- Goat milk.

Today, we went to get the baby goats - 10 of them.  Before we picked them out, we took a tour of their goat dairy.  Much to our surprise, the goat barn was very quiet.  I guess when we think of goats we think of lots of activity and even more noise.  I think these folks said there were over 250 goats and kids in this one barn, yet the barn was very clean and the goats looked quite comfortable.  We were impressed with their set-up, with them and their herd.  We got the baby goats home (7 doelings & 3 bucklings) without incident. 

I had just gotten the goats settled into their straw filled pen area when Madison got home from school.  Instantly, she fell in love with them all.  Our job now is to bottle-train these babies.  Once we have them all sucking on the bottle, we will put them up for sale.  We want to give other homesteaders the chance to buy an affordable purebred Alpine dairy goat or 2.

Shortly their after, Carol, Madison and I took off to John's house to retrieve Carol's milking goats.  This was the 2nd time the girls have been there, they went to look at the goats last night.  The goats we bought from John were in incredible condition.  It was obvious that he took very good care of these girl.  The 15 year old doe looked to be in as good of shape as her young daughter.  John explained to us the goat's routine, how to feed them and some of their favorite treats.  We could sense John was having a hard time letting go of these does of his... and with good reason... these nanny goats are real sweethearts.  We are honored to have these girls passed onto us.

For many years I have told people I will never have dairy on the farm... we now have 3 adult does (2 milking) and 10 purebred Alpine goat kids.  One could say we are in the dairy business.  Tomorrow, will be the first time Carol will get the chance to milk her new goats.  She's very excited.  But tonight, we got the babies started on their bottles.  Some took the bottle, most did not.  We spent a lot of time making sure they got their milk.  The folks we got the babies from, sent goat milk with us for the first feeding.  Of the 10 kids, we noticed one wasn't quite as active as the rest of them.  Carol had a feeling this little doeling might not make it.  She said we need to keep a close eye on her.

Feb. 09, 2009
- Got milk?

Carol and I have been talking it over whether buying baby Alpine goats, who have been on their mamas, was something we wanted to take-on.  Baby goats, heck... babies of any kind... take a lot of time.  I guess our goal is to break even - there is the cost of the goat kids, the gas to get them and whatever the cost is to feed them.

The folks who were selling the kids told us they would order the goat milk replacer from their milk processor.  The cost would be $105 per bag.  OK, not bad.  $315 for feeding 10 goats for 6 weeks and if we sell each goat for $25... hmmm, that's not what I would call breaking even.  We need to find a less expensive source of milk.  I called Farmer Mike.  He told us that his regular price of $2.50 gal is already the lowest he could sell it for.  We didn't really think he'd budge, since it's organic and all.  Compared to the store's price on organic milk, it's a steal.  Mike suggested we call his brother, who is also a dairyman.  We did call him, and yep, he was cheaper.  In fact, buying milk from him would save us a few bucks over the cost of goat milk replacer.  Not committing to the deal, I made another call.  This time to our neighbor just north of us.  He said he'd be happy to sell us milk for the goats for $1.50/gal.  The best part of it is this... whole raw cow's milk is a better choice than the milk replacer.

Let's try this math again and see if it will work.  After refiguring, it still does not quite work.  How about if we charge $25 for each of the goats that are a couple weeks old and more for the ones that are older.  OK!  This will work... or it should.

Compared to the folks that sell their bottle babies for $50-100/kid, we should be able to sell an affordable goat to folks, who are just like us, and wouldn't normally have the cash to buy a purebred Alpine.

Next step - set-up a time to buy the goats.  Carol did just that and boy, was she excited... and so was Madison.  The plan was to pick up the goat kids at 12:30PM.  That wasn't soon enough for Madison.

Oh Yeah!  During Carol's conversation with Mike (about the milk), she learned about an acquaintance of ours (John) who was selling his milking does.  Mike told Carol that he thought of her when he talked to the guy about his goats.

Carol then called John and got the details about his does.  It seems he had 3 does - 2 milking and one old gal (the mother of one of the milking does).  Like Jethro Bodine, of the Beverly Hillbillies,  Carol did some siphoring (sy-for-ing).  Perhaps, these milking does could help supply the goat kids with real 100% doe milk.  Unfortunately, John had somebody else interested in his goats.  Carol was bummed.  The good news was that John called later back and said the other interested party only wanted one goat, but John wanted all three to go together.  He then offered them to Carol and she accepted his terms and he accepted her offer.  Carol is now the dairy manager of the farm.

Feb. 08, 2009
- Getting ready for babies.

Puga, our mini pot-bellied pig is due in about 10 days.  So we retooled the chicken brooder house to a birthing house for our little fatty.  She is very swollen in back and has been for a week.  Hopefully she'll pop before the 17th.  She looks so uncomfortable, yet seems to be in good spirits.  We're hoping her piglets have the same sweet demeanor as she does.  Puga loves to cuddle.

Carol has been interested in buying a few Purebred Alpine goat kids.  We have some folks we know who have a Alpine dairy farm up north.  They are having a hard time selling all of their kids, so they are willing to give us a good deal on a few if we help sell the rest.  Fair enough. 

With the weather being so warm guess we spent as much time outdoors as we could.  What that means for me is a little barn cleaning.  It was a great day... no really.  It was!

Feb. 07, 2009
- The girls are gone.

Compared to the last 2 days,  today was quite uneventful.  Carol and Madison went to Hutchinson, MN to attend a poultry clinic.  I'm not sure what they learned, but they both came back pretty excited about chickens.

Speaking of chickens... after more than a year, our chickens are FINALLY starting to use the nest-boxes we have set-up.  Yesterday, Carol said we had 2 eggs in the 10 hole'r nest box... today we had 3 eggs.  The rest of the eggs are still being laid throughout the barn, in the straw bales.

Oh ya!  Yesterday, we found this tiny egg.  We think it was laid by one of our bantam chickens.  It's perfectly shaped... just itty-bitty.

here is a bantam egg next to a regular sized egg

Feb. 06, 2009
- Carol had a bad day.

While Farmer Mike and I were in Belgrade, MN, attending a soil health workshop.  Carol was "playing" with the llama and the cattle.  It seems as though Gandhi, our llama, jumped a fence and took off after our cattle again, much like he did yesterday.

Carol left a message on my phone sometime after noon.  I listened to it during the meeting's noon break.  I had no idea what she said, but did realize she wasn't doing well.  I called her back anyway.  It seems she was witness to some of the cattle crashing through the fence and had she not gotten out of the way, she would have been run over by a good sized Highlander cow, with one good set of horns on her (the cow, not Carol).

By the time I called her, she had the llama in the sheep pen and the cattle back in their area.  Since the fence was torn down (including the wooden post holding everything up), Carol parked the farm truck near the fence line, hoping it would help keep the cows in until I got home.  To read about what happened in her own words, check-out Carol's blog entry. 

I think it was safe to say, she didn't enjoy her time alone at the farm.  And as a FYI-  The cattle and the llama were still in the pens Carol put them in.  She did good.

Back at the meeting, I think Farmer Mike and I learned more than we thought we would.  The speaker was Gary Zimmer, a well known author/consultant/speaker in the organic/biological farming arena.  I wouldn't be surprised if Mike considers changing some of his approach to working the soil after harvest.  This Gary Zimmer guy rattled off so much info in such a short time I find myself more confused than educated.  I'm sure once things set-in I'll be more confident with the idea of being a new farmer, who is in transition to becoming organic. 

I am becoming more assured that organic farming is not so much about the product as it is about the lifestyle... the same holds true for the animals we raise as farmers.  Healthy soil helps produce healthy crops... healthy crops help produce healthy animals... and healthy animals give us all healthier milk and meat.  And all of this can be achieved without chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides in the soil.  Healthy plants are very much immune to most of what big industry has us believing we need from them.  Of course there is more to it than that, but you get the idea.  Maybe I need to read the Guide for Beginning Farmers [PDF, 1.67 MB]