The Goat Dairy Farm Diary (To Answer Questions)

A small break from goat milk soap soap talk to answer some farm related questions...this is one of my barn white boards, photo taken a few weeks ago.

On this board I record kidding information (date, dam's name or ear tag number, the number of kids, and the kid's sex).

This board plays an important role on my farm. It determines when the kids are weaned (either bottle or dam raised), and it helps me to determine when a kid can be sold. And, since I am part of the USDA Scrapies program, when the information is copied to paper, it is the record keeping that I am held to.

I'll answer some wonderful questions now:

Do you dam or bottle raise your kids? Both. The boer kids are dam raised (except for those that are special needs cases, such as an abandoned or very sick kid). The dairy kids are always bottle raised on pasteurized milk. When there is a deficit in milk, and there is one right now, the kids nurse on both fresh goat milk and a fraction of milk replacer. I always inch more towards the fresh goat milk (pasteurized) due to the cost, and mostly due to the nutritional value in the "real" goat milk. I have 29 bottle kids today.

How long does it take you to milk? That is difficult to say. It depends upon how many does are in milk and what time of day it is. My day runs like this: 6:30-9:00 (answer email, check in on blog and contacts, prepare milk, eat breakfast, place orders out for shipment), 9:00-10:45 (feed and milk), 10:45-11:00 (break), 11:00-11:30 (prepare for making soap or other bath products, answer email, or prepare for what I plan to do after lunch), 11:30-12:15 (lunch), 12:15-2:30 (make soap or bath products, work on website, pasteurize milk, post on blog, answer email, and other business related duties), 2:30-3:00 (rest), 3:00-4:00 (prepare milk for bottle kids and clean up), 4:00-5:30 (feed and milk), 5:30-6:00 (rest, answer email, read online), 6:00-6:30 (prepare dinner), 6:30-9:00 (prepare customer orders, answer email, relax, and work anything else in that I can, along with another short feeding for the bottle kids). 9:00 (call a friend and then I zombie out). I consider anything after that time "family" time. I love it...shut the door, turn off the phone, enjoy the quiet!

How many does do you keep in milk? Right now I have 8, I generally keep 11 on rotation.

Do you take vacations? No. I do not miss vacations. I do, sometimes, feel as if I am chasing my tail. My schedule is not always as tight as it is right now. After the kids are born the herd more than doubles. But later, after months begin to pass, there are certain times in the year where feeding can take 20 minutes, twice a day. But then there are other duties to catch up on such as hoove trimming (which is needed right now).

How long are the kids on milk? A kid that is a wether (castrated male), one that has grown well, is weaned between 2 1/2 and 3 months old. A doeling is left on the boer dam until the next breeding season. The doeling is then removed to ensure she is not bred at a young age. And kid's are fed different amounts of milk depending upon their age, and at different times (hence the importance of the white board record keeping again). Right now I have 25 goats on 2 bottles a day, some on 1/2 bottles (10 ounces), some on full bottles twice a day, and 4 that are on 3 feedings a day (full bottles).

I hope that helps with some of your questions, and let me tell you this, your questions are more than okay to ask!

I also keep calendar's in the barn of due dates, wormings (only when needed), medications (I try to go as natural as possible on this farm), and other records. Fun times...now I need a nap, but I am late for preparing milk for feeding! :)

Bottle Goat Kids...Cold Brings Back Necessary Barn Attire

Today I wanted to do an update on Chandra's kids, amongst a few other things fresh on my mind. The boys are doing well. This particular buckling, my husband nic-named "Hoppity," has had a rough time but he is moving forwards by leaps and bounds. He has shown a lot of strength and perseverance, similar to the thoughts I wrote about the day the c-section was done that brought Chandra's twins into the world last week.

Every year we encounter a special kid goat project or two. Some are our own projects, some have been projects given to us by friends. Annie was such a project. She came from a difficult birth. My friend lost both her dam and her brother, and I was given the task of bringing Annie home and nursing her to strength that very cold and wet morning. It worked out very well. She is one hefty boer gal now. There is Amelie, also given to us by a friend. When we first saw Amelie she was coiled up in a Rubbermaid tote. It was not a pretty site. After a month of "goat therapy," as we call it, we got her to stand, strengthened her spine, and now she is a beautiful, healthy, nubian doeling at a year old. The list goes on.

Chandra's boy had double trouble given to him last week. In the process of figuring out the bad birthing presentation, he was pushed back, pulled forward. He was the one huge kid laying twisted under the other. And, he also had the thin rope around his neck as the vet proceeded to try to fish the boys out. Eventually, after the c-section was done, he sat with his head up, but was purple in the lips, requiring oxygen several times. His brother by that time was walking around on the examination table.

This week Hoppity went from not being able to walk, to walking on a bent leg (day 4), to my husband stinting his leg, to swelling badly in the hoof, to now limping, and sometimes walking on all 3-s, to hopping around as a baby goat should, to beginning to eat like a horse and put weight on. You can see the sparkle in his eyes.

I still have 4 of these critters in my house, why? They are the weakest. One developed pneumonia, one had pink eye (of all things), and then there are Chandra's two that I am not ready to put in a barn pen yet. They need to continue to regain strength, but we are going to do it!

As far as I am concerned. I really am ready for spring weather. I am ready to hang up the old warm barn coat. The Muck Boots have proven well for me this year, and they will do a great service year round. Funny how years ago I went from black pumps and a briefcase, to the barn boots that I love, to the heavy coat that is growing frazzled, but ever so warm, and the constant attire of jeans and a sweatshirt. I would trade it all to a farm again tomorrow, yes I would! When I made the switch from the office to the barn, I learned very quickly that not only did I need the proper equipment to run the farm, I also needed the proper attire. But again, I am ready for warm sunshine, and 80 or 90 degrees, and yes, I will still wear the boots with shorts while cleaning the milk room, or the barn. I am a farm chick!

Enjoy your day, whatever you do!

Reclaimed Lumber A Treasure This Saturday

Call the couple that lives at Annie's Goat Hill a little on the different side. But are we?

Bob likes to work with wood, especially reclaimed lumber.

I love old things. I have several things around the house that others have asked, "Why did you want that?"

These past few months, each time we drove to pick up a load of hay, we noticed an old red barn being dismantled (but never caught anyone at the job site). Once it became obvious that the barn was being taken down very carefully, Bob decided to find out who owned the property. We live amongst of community of Amish and Mennonites. Someone normally knows something, if you start asking. The person working on the barn project, cool as can be, does indeed rebuild old barns! He gave us permission to remove any lumber or materials left on the ground (not a structural part).

We claimed red bead board siding, other types of red painted lumber, and my treasures are...(drum roll)...an old barn door with rusty hardware! I am thinking about having it hinged in 3 places and using it as a screen in my living room. Yep, you read that right! And, under the huge piles of rickety lumber I found an old primitive dresser. The dresser was beyond repair but the drawers looked like keepsakes to me. As you can see in the picture above, they are heavy duty drawers. I actually could see them hanging on the wall in the front room of my house. Some of the drawers have 4 compartments. But they are too heavy, despite my plaster walls, I still think I would create troubles. So, we are going to build a rustic desk of sorts, and attach the drawers to the back, as if they were shelves, compartments. I am way too excited!

Annie's Goat Hill sells gift sets in wooden crates, and when I say they are made from reclaimed lumber, you can trust that they are. You may be getting a part of a 100 year old barn, you may be getting a part of an old piece of non-repairable furniture, you never know. And in these times, I try to go as green as possible (re-use paper, packing materials, and wood). It is no longer tacky, it is smart to the environment and economical!

Some of the barn siding...

Sharing Our Harvest

I have been working on inventory in the shop. Today, I announced on the news page of our website that we will not be holding an Odds and Ends soap sale. Instead, I will be installing clearance sections into our online soap store. My goal is to have this completed by 1/12/09.

Onto a different, and very important topic...last night a friend forwarded an article to me out of one of our local newspapers. My friend, Bob, knows that I am very much interested in agriculture, small business, and ways to support others (beyond monetary). From reading the article, the brain wheels started turning. It is amazing what we think of when we really put our minds to work.

How many times have we had such a bounty of vegetables grow from our gardens, even after canning and freezing, that we have turned to giving extra food items away before they spoil? We give the food to neighbors, friends, co-workers, but how often do we give the food to the homeless, shelters, or food banks? And I began thinking this goes beyond perishable vegetables, what do we do with our unwanted soap products? We might think that the bar of lemon soap, for example, is way too lemony for us, or way too lemony to sell, and perhaps too ugly. But who says that small and ugly soap would not help inspire a person in the shelter to see a brighter horizon? Or what if that soap puts a smile on that person's face for one day?

To keep this article within reasonable length, I am going to insert bits and pieces and links of what I have read today.

Meetings are going to be held locally regarding the aspects of development of a local community garden, put together by volunteers, with the produce being given directly to local ministries and related organizations (the last sentence really touched my heart):

http://www.wnewsj.com/main.asp?Search=1&ArticleID=172305&SectionID=49&SubSectionID=&S=1

"Sugartree Ministries is likely to receive the greatest amount of produce from the farm, based on the heavy community involvement and its central location, said Swindler. “I’m very excited about what this could mean for feeding people in Wilmington,” said Willoughby. And, he said, for the people themselves. Just imagine a sign over a mound of fresh produce, reading something like this: grown especially for you, by your neighbors."

I did a Google search on charity gardens. Americans may have a lot to learn from our friends across the seas. Entities such as the following have been around for quite some time:

http://www.ngs.org.uk/gen/about_us.aspx

"Few people realize that through this we raise £2 million each year for nursing, caring and gardening charities. Since 1927 we have raised over £40 million (£22 million in the last 10 years). Our office is small so most of the money goes straight to the charities we support."

I found good links for ways to share your local harvest, and if I had the time just this very moment, I would imagine there are many more links on the internet. These are now bookmarked, and I will be reading more! Here is one example:

http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/org_vegetable_garden/110595

"Rather than alienate friends and family with the results of your exuberant gardening turn to those who would truly appreciate it- the needy poor in your community. When your neighbors lock their doors, and your family shuns your tomatoes- look to your neighbors elsewhere in your community so that your efforts will not go to waste but uplift the hearts and souls of people in need."

Amen!

The Farmer's Diner

We do not eat many meals out these days. Everything seems to taste pre-frozen, boxed, processed, salty, and very expensive to boot.

I have been doing quite a bit of reading on farm sustainability and supporting the local farm. In my readings I stumbled across The Farmers Diner site. They seem to have a great concept started for bringing back a network of restaurants that utilizes locally grown food. What an ingenious way to make money (through their own idea) and to help bring the local economy(s) back as well!

What a mission statement!

Quotes from the Farmer's Diner About Us page:

"The Farmers Diner. Food From Here. We're a great diner based on a simple idea: prepare and serve hearty meals with fresh ingredients from area farmers and small-scale producers."

"Our goal is a national network of The Farmers Diner restaurants, serving typical diner food sourced from local area farmers and producers. We expect The Farmers Diner to be a leader in family/casual dining because local fresh food tastes superior, customers prefer to support their neighbors and communities, and we will always provide great service at reasonable prices."

http://www.farmersdiner.com/index.php