One Big Happy Family

One of the strangest kiddings I've ever had: Maple and Acorn are mother and daughter and I never separated them. Acorn nursed her mother until she was around eight months old and Maple finally weaned her by herself; letting her nurse that long made one of the best does we've raised on our farm. After Acorn was weaned, I saw no reason to separate her from her mother and she was old enough to breed so we put them in with our red buck. Well, apparently, they got bred pretty close to the same time because they both kidded on the same day. Now for the strange part...they both kidded in the shelter within minutes of each other, I'm assuming. I was at work and it was almost dark when I got home to feed. I didn't see Maple or Acorn and I knew they were both close to kidding so I started looking for them. I found them in the shelter with two kids but had no idea what I was about to discover. Maple, the mother, was cleaning a traditional colored doe and I found a red and white paint beside her who looked like he had just been born, still laying in after birth. I figured he was her kid also and she just hadn't finished cleaning him. Well, Acorn (daughter) saw the other goats eating and she went running towards the feed pans. I shined my light on her and noticed signs of birth under her tail. Since the buck kid was still wet and Maple wasn't really cleaning him, she would lick him occasionally, I thought he must belong to Acorn and she had no idea what to do. Also, if he made a sound, Acorn would come running to check on him, but that was it, she would stand around him, but didn't attempt to clean him.

We moved the entire family to our horse trailer because we had the barn full since my horse was in there. After getting them all in the trailer, Maple started to clean the little buck so I think he must have been laying in enough of her after birth (gross) that he smelled like the doe kid and she kind of adopted him. Acorn still liked the little guy, but she wouldn't clean him. Keith and I stood around and watched them from outside the trailer for a good half hour and Maple continued to clean him so we decided to go eat supper and check on them in a few hours. When I went back out to bottle feed my girls in the barn I checked on the new family and Maple had completely cleaned the buck kid. I rustled him up, which always seems to make them mad, just so I could make sure he nursed. He went straight to Maple and started nursing so I knew everything was going to be okay.

The next day, I found a strange situation, both kids were nursing off both does! I saw the traditional doe kid nursing from Acorn and the buck kid nursing from Maple, then they would switch. And yesterday, the buck kid was nursing from Acorn and after a few minutes she made him stop, so he went to Maple and started nursing from her! I can't separate them now so we booted my poor horse out of his barn stall and put down fresh bedding for the big, happy family. Both kids are doing great and so are both mothers so I can't complain. All I can do is stand back, scratch my head, and thank God they are all okay.

Newest Addition

I've been checking my does thoroughly every day patiently awaiting new arrivals and was finally blessed with a beautiful doeling yesterday. I had noticed Ivory's udder was bigger, but it didn't look tight like they normally do before a doe kids so I figured she was a few more weeks off, well she showed me! She gave birth to a cream and white little girl who I have not named yet. I am having a contest on Facebook to come up with the perfect name and have received an enormous response!

I was a little worried about the kid though. She was born in the field and her dam couldn't have picked a better day, there was plenty of sunshine yesterday and it was nearly 50 degrees. She seemed healthy and strong,but I wasn't sure if she had nursed and her dam is one of my unfriendliest does. Keith and I moved them to the barn and continued to watch for the kid to nurse, but she never did, she kept looking for the teat but we never actually saw her attach to it. Ivory didn't like us around her or the kid so we decided to wait and see because 90% of the time, the kid has already nursed and they just want you to leave them alone. She was up and walking and seemed fine, her mouth wasn't cold and she seemed energetic which normally means they have nursed.

We put in fresh hay, water and grain and left the two to bond. My bottle kids are in the stall right next to them so I figured I would check on them every time I bottle fed. I went back to the barn for the last feeding of the night around 10pm and the kid was laying in the corner. I made her get up so I could check on her and she did with no problem. But she was making a horrible crying sound, it didn't sound like a normal kid cry so I got worried and decided it was time to make absolutely sure she had nursed. I had the bottles with me so I milked some colostrum into one of the bottles. I gently forced the bottle into her mouth and she sucked it dry, I had only milked about two ounces into the bottle. After seeing that I milked another four ounces into the bottle and she immediately sucked it down too. I then put her under her mother and helped her get hold of the teat, she nursed and nursed so I'm assuming she hadn't nursed before then. I got out of the stall and continued to watch them, her mother moved around to get to the new hay I had just put in and of course jerked the teat out of the baby's mouth. She followed mom and got down on her knees and got hold of the teat and continued to nurse. After that I felt such relief. I haven't been to the barn this morning, but I pray everything is okay. I will make sure I see her nurse again before I leave for work this morning, but it's been my experience that after they nurse that first time, they know what to do and you don't have to worry anymore. I'm sure Ivory was uncomfortable from having such a full udder and the little bit of milking I did must have relieved some pressure, then when the baby nursed it all came back to her about what she was supposed to do.

The Joy of Bottle Babies

People are constantly asking me "How do you do it? or Why do you do it?" My answer....I love goats!!! Yes, bottle raising goats is a lot of work, it's expensive, and it's time consuming, but the pride you feel in knowing that you raised those beautiful animals is worth every bit of time, money, and frustration you might feel.

My bottle kids are now five and six weeks old, they are from two different dams, which means I have at least six more weeks of bottle feeding. I follow a pretty simple routine that has always worked for me, so why mess with perfection. I give each girl 15 ounces of goat milk in the morning, 15 ounces in the evening, and 11 ounces at bedtime. They also get free choice hay and 16% goat ration from my local Co Op. They are growing like weeds so I must be doing something right. I also vaccinate my kids because, unfortunately, I've lost kids in the past to enterotoxemia. Therefore, all bottle babies receive C & D Antitoxin every two weeks until they are 12 weeks old, then they get their CD/T vaccination. If the kids are from a doe that has been vaccinated with CD/T three weeks before she kidded, and the kids got adequate colostrum from the doe, then I do not give them the C & D Antitoxin because they received the antibodies from their dam. At 12 weeks old, they are also vaccinated with a pneumonia vaccine. These are the only two vaccinations I give my goats and this health regimen has always worked for me.

My bottle baby girls are healthy, happy and spoiled, which is all that matters to. We had a chilly, but beautiful weekend so I cleaned out the barn and of course, they had to help. I piled up the wasted hay and they scattered it back out for me, they kept the cats busy by butting and chasing them, and they occasionally tripped me, so we had a blast! In conclusion, all I can say, if you have the time, the resources, and the will, bottle feed those babies.....you won't regret it!

Updates

Let me start by saying I plan on posting at least once a week if all goes well. I hate looking at blogs that haven't been posted to in forever and unfortunately mine is one of them.

Okay, now for updates....it's been a busy weekend for me. I got a new Kentucky Mountain Saddle Horse named Shamrock, Rocky for short. He's such a sweetheart. I don't know what it is about him, but it's like we hit it off immediately. I feel like I've known this horse all my life, we just instantly formed a bond! I haven't got to ride him yet, but I've had him out grooming him and letting him eat some of the new grass that is growing before winter kills it all.



Then, I got two new goats. I've always said I hate bottle feeding, but apparently I was wrong. I raised five goats on a bottle this year and swore I would never do it again, but I lied. Yesterday, I got two LaMancha/Saanen cross girls. They were born on November 1st and 9th so I will be bottle feeding most of the winter...AM I NUTS??? They are prescious though. I'm actually writing this while waiting on daylight so I can go give them a bottle before work.





I'm expecting several does to kid over the next few weeks so I'm sure I will have a lot more to write about soon. But as I mentioned, I will try my very best to post at least once a week, so please keep reading.

Sad Times

UNBELIEVABLE...less than four years ago I had a herd of 72 goats and could actually afford to feed them! Now, my herd numbers have dwindled down to only 16 goats and it costs as much to feed them as it did when I had 66 more.

There is more demand for goat meat in the U.S. than ever before, but because of rising feed costs, producers can't stay in business. The cost of fuel to operate farm equipment has driven grain and hay prices to ridiculous highs and they just keep rising! The feed for my horses went up 30 cents from last week to this week and a 50-lb bag of 16% goat ration from my local Co-Op is now $11.36. This same bag of feed was less than $8.00 four years ago. I've tried feeding my goats other rations, but the cheaper priced feeds only cost me more in the long run. I've had more problems with hooves, parasites, breeding, and kidding than ever before. I recently switched back to the 16% goat ration and the change in my goats is remarkable.

It's such a sad time...there's an increase in the need for goat meat and more people are interested in goats for breeding, showing, pets, and clearing land, yet few people can afford to get into the goat business and profit. It breaks my heart to see all the herd dispersal sales. On the other hand, I've seen some record goat prices lately so it makes one wonder...are things turning around?

For the past few days I've been interviewing goat farmers for possible articles and so far none of the people I've talked to have any plans to go out of business. Albeit, most have down-sized to 20 or less goats and are striving to keep their heads above water. When asked about the future of their farm, the answers have all been unanimous, "I plan on increasing my herd as soon as things turn around."

As mentioned, my herd is down to 16 goats but I too have plans to grow. I have several does who will kid in the next few months and hopefully there will be some kids worthy of retaining. I'm also looking at several goats for sale and know of at least one doe that I am purchasing.

Truthfully, having a small herd of goats has its advantages: less time spent feeding daily, less hay and grain to buy, less time vaccinating and trimming hooves, and it's easier to observe for any signs of illness. BUT...nobody ever said goat farming was easy and I miss having a large herd.

All I know for sure is that I LOVE GOATS and I will do whatever is necessary to keep Ivy Dale Acres running.

So Proud of My Little Girl

I am so proud of what I hope is the last bottle baby this year. I've been bottle feeding goats since February and I am so over it! Little Ms. Coral was born about six weeks ago, she is the last baby of our prized herd sire, Big Red, who passed away in March. Coral was a twin, but for some reason her mother didn't want to take care of her babies and I lost the other kid. Their dam cleaned them up after she had them, but left them and wouldn't have anything else to do with them. I moved the family to the barn and held the mother so the kids could get colostrum, then I started them on a bottle. Their mother kept them clean, let them sleep with her, and did everything a good mother should do except let them nurse. I've always heard that a mother animal knows when something is wrong with her kids and won't take care of them, but I was certain these two girls were healthy. Unfortunately I was wrong about the paint doeling, she had a seizure while I was feeding her one night, she came out of it, finished her bottle and seemed fine, but the next morning she was dead.

Now, back to why I'm proud of Coral...for the past two weeks I've been trying to get her interested in grain. She never tried to eat with her mother, I have them together in the barn, but I still bottle feed, so I wasn't sure how I was going to get her to start eating. Everyday I would pry her mouth open and put a little grain in and she would spit most of it out like I was trying to poison her or something, but today my work paid off!!! I always let her roam around outside while I'm feeding my mare and colt and her mother. She likes to explore, chase the kittens, and pick a little grass. Today I left the lid of the feed barrel and when I came out of the barn, there was Coral chowing down!!! I was so happy I nearly jumped for joy!!! The teenage boy that I hired to help me was watching her so he thought he would be helpful and went and got her a scoop of feed out, but she wouldn't have anything to do with it. She went right back and started eating out of the barrel. Apparently it's HER WAY OR NO WAY!!! Guess that's just the way we red heads are.

Co Op Must Love Me

I'm pretty sure my local co op must love me. I feel like I'm keeping their doors open. Of course I know I'm not their sole source of income, but dang it, when I give them half my paycheck every week, it sure feel like I am!

I normally make four or five trips there every week because there's always something I've forgotten or run out of unexpectedly. Well, I stopped by the other morning because I was running low on horse feed and I needed to get a bag or two to get me through until the weekend which is when I normally stock up. I went in, they always greet me by my first name or "the goat lady" so I guess you could say we're on pretty friendly terms...lol. Anyway, Glenna, one of the ladies who works the front counter asked me what I needed that day and I said, "just a bag of horse feed today." She said $8.10.....I nearly fainted. $8.10!!!!! for one 50lb bag of horse feed that not more than a year ago I was paying $5.25 for! I noticed it had been going up a few cents every week, but that price was almost a dollar more per bag. I gained my composure, paid her, and proceeded to the back where my ticket is printed out for the guys to pull my feed and load it. The nice young fella got the dolly and was loading my feed and as he passed by me, I said, "you're gonna have to push me out on that thang cause I still ain't recovered from the price." He laughed and said, "hop on." I tell ya, I just about took him up on it.

Moving onto the weekend when I buy my big load of feed, I left Co Op feeling like I had donated a kidney. Goat feed is now $10.92/50lbs with rumensin or $11.42/50lbs without rumensin. I just don't understand why medicated feed would be cheaper, but I'm assuming it's because my goats hate it, therefore, I have to buy the more expensive bag. All in all, I gave Co Op $160 in one day! My husband says I'm crazy and that I should sell some of the animals, but as long as I can, I'm holding on. I have my goat herd down to 19 goats and two more are for sell. The horse population, however has increased to 7!!! Horses aren't worth the feed you feed them these days, you can't hardly give one away, but I love 'em and I'll keep mine.

I think I see a lot of part time jobs along with my full time job in my future :(

Almost the End of This Goat Lady

My local Co Op started calling me The Goat Lady, I'd walk in and someone would be asking them about goats and the next thing I'd hear was, "there's The Goat Lady, you need to talk to her." I felt privileged for them to refer to me with this nickname and I started using it myself. I even use it as a signature at the end of my text message, but then I started seeing others using the same name. I didn't get mad or jealous, I just felt that maybe "we" were part of a unique group....The Goat Ladies!



Recently though, it was almost the end for this goat lady. The temperatures here in East Tennessee have been almost unbearable. We've had more rain than we need in my opinion and the humidity has to compare with the heat from the surface of the sun. On top of all this, the goats have been plagued with barber pole worm, hoof scald, and hoof rot. The heat and humidity have been so bad that the goats just want to lay around in the shade, therefore they quit browsing and eating the grasses in their small pasture and the weeds have taken over. The weeds then hold in moisture (thank you again humidity) and then when the goats walk through them that moisture stays between their toes and causes the hoof problems, and we all know this is the perfect environment for worms to continually hatch out and infest the goats.

It's just been a rough year. I've lost more goats this summer than I've lost in the entire 11 years I've owned goats! I finally decided enough was enough and that it was time to sell out. Thank God I came to my senses before it was too late. There's no way I could live without goats. If I wasn't The Goat Lady, then who would I be? I did, however, downsize my small herd. I went from 32 goats, down to 22 and I plan on selling two more goats. If there's anyway possible, I plan on keeping the herd numbers at 20 from now on, but there will be times when that's not possible. I have does ready to kid anytime, and more does due in the fall, but of course the kids can be sold to get the numbers back down.

Things are still a little rough, but this Goat Lady has decided to stick around. In a few months, the heat will relinquish, the rains will stop, and we'll all be complaining about how cold it is how we'd love to have rain instead of snow. It's just the way things in East TN go, the weather is always mind boggling.


My hat after feeding, notice the one area not soaked from sweat

New Helper

I recently had a new helper at feeding time. This HUGE, 8 foot long, rat snake slithered it's way towards me while I was out feeding a few weeks ago. Rat snakes, have markings on them similar to poisonous snakes so they are a scary sight, but I actually felt sorry for this poor guy. He was simply trying to make his way from my front yard, across the road, and to the creek, but it was a rough trip for him. First, he had me trying to film him with my cell phone along with taking many pictures. Then, Sammy, my Great Pyrenees decided he wanted to protect me so he aggravated the snake to the point I thought he was just gonna ball up and give up. Next he had to cross the gravel road which he stretched completely across from one side to the other, which is how I am guesstimating his length at 8 feet. And finally, he had to go through the goat lot. The goats could have cared less that he was there, it was feeding time and that's all that mattered to them. They were stepping on him left and right and I actually felt sorry for the poor snake, he was dodging goats, and ducking trying to keep from getting trampled. I sent the picture and some video clips to a bunch of my friends and family and the first question everyone asked was, "did you kill it?" Why would I kill such a valuable asset to my farm? He wasn't bothering a thing and he's helping rid the farm of rats and mice, so he's more than welcome here!

Cinnamon Roll

Although it's been about a 1000 degrees everyday for the past month, my Boer goat, Cinnamon, thought she found the perfect bed. I, myself, would think the middle of a roll of hay would be one of the hottest places you could possibly be, but apparently, Cinnamon believes otherswise.

Another New Arrival

I went down to milk this morning and found another new baby! Kind of a funny story....he was laying by the door of the barn by himself, he was red, dry as a bone, and HUGE, so my first words were "GREAT, Cry Baby's buckling has got out!" So I picked him up and noticed he was a lighter shade of red and then Birdie started taking a fit, I set him down, and he started nursing from Birdie. I stood and scratched my head for a minute because the situation just didn't want to sink in.

Needless to say, Birdie has a huge, baby boy who is half Boer and half Oberhasli. I'm guessing he weighs a good 12 pounds and since he's a single, he'll grow like a week.

Yes This Is My Bed, You Got A Problem With It?

Little Miss Chatty Kathy (Chatty) has only been on my farm for a few weeks. She's a LaMancha/Nubian cross and thinks the world revolves around her and her needs. She constantly talks (screams) when you're outside. Her motto is: If you're outside, it's time to feed me!

Well, apparently, she has to have her own special bed too. My nephew moved an aluminum tub into the barn when we first got the kittens. We kept them in it with a top over it until they got used to us before we let them out. Then they figured out they could jump and grasp the side with their tiny claws and that was it for keeping them put up. So we turned the kitties lose and they are loving barn life, but we failed to remove the tub. Therefore, Chatty assumed it was for her and now she makes it her bed every night. When I go down at 6am to milk she raises up and asks "am I having breakfast in bed this morning?" Of course my answer is always, "keep dreaming girl!" She continues to lay in the tub until I'm finished milking then she knows my next step is to feed the bottle kids. At this point, she rises, stretches, and jumps out of the tub to start her long day of grazing and lounging around. Then she starts the loud, unbearable, make you want to pull your hair out, and possibly her tongue, screaming for food. You would think she hadn't had a bite to eat since she was weaned two years ago! So, I have to relent and bow down to the queen and at her request, give all the goats a little morning grain. I'm pretty sure that if I failed to give her grain one morning that she would scream all day long and my neighbors would have me burned at the stake.

Year of the Bottle Kids

On February 15, 2011, my husband (Keith) called me at work in a panic. He was on his way to Co Op and saw that one of our Nubian does had kidded. He stopped the truck and went into the barn to find one beautiful spotted buck kid already dead, a spotted doe kid barely alive, a black and white buck kid that was laying down but doing better than the doe, and then a light tan buck kid behind the barn nearly frozen. He quickly gathered up the kids and put them in the floor board of his truck and blasted the heat in hopes of warming them up. He called and told me to get home ASAP, but I couldn't leave until my boss got back which was about 30 minutes later. Luckily, I only work 2 miles from home so it was a quick trip, well, maybe a little quicker than usual...lol. When I got home, my husband had already put the kids in the house in front of a radiator type heater we have in the kitchen and had put a heating pad on them. They looked so lifeless.




Fawna & Ranger getting warmed up


Remington warming up

We went to the barn and milked some colostrum out of their mama so I could tube feed it to them. I started with the weekest kid, Fawna (check out those spots), she didn't fight the tube at all and I really didn't expect her to make it through the night. Next, I tubed Ranger (the one who was found behind the barn), he too didn't fight and didn't stand a chance in my opinion. And lastly, I tubed, well, tried to tube Remington. He was apparently the last kid born because he was doing much better than the other two and when I tried to stick the tube down his throat he tried sucking on my finger so I decided to try a bottle on him. He took it immediately and with gusto! After feeding each kid, we covered them with blankets and the heating pad and I laid on the kitchen floor so that I could keep a close eye on them and make sure they didn't get too hot. Two hours later I tubed Fawna and Ranger again and bottle fed Remington. This time I saw some hope in the kids.



After the second feeding all three kids were standing, but still weak...

The kids got warm.had a couple of feedings, and started coming around. We didn't want to take them back to barn because they were still fragile looking and it was really cold, so we fixed them a bed in an old laundry basket. I knew that their mother wouldn't take them back but we decided to try the next day. We milked her again when we went out to do the evening feeding and got enough colostrum/milk to do the rest of the night. I slept on the couch and woke up every few hours to check on and feed the kids and the next day, just as I suspected, their mama wouldn't have anything to do with them. Thus, they became bottle babies. Normally, we don't keep bottle kids because it just costs too much to raise them and the time required is just something we don't have, so we usually give them to Keith's uncle who is very experienced in raising bottle babies of all kinds. But, these kids had me wrapped and adjustments had to be made. I slept on the couch and took care of them through the night, but they usually slept all night long so it was no big deal. Then I gave them a bottle in the morning and Keith was laid off at the time so he gave them a bottle at lunch time, and when I got home from work I took care of the rest of the feedings.





We ended up moving them outside when they were three days old. We put them in our goat trailer that is completely enclosed except for the front. We hung a red heat lamp for them and put a heavy tarp over the front to keep them good and warm. They didn't seem to mind it all as long as the bottles kept showing up. Unfortunately, Ranger started showing signs of Joint Ill/Navel Ill when he was two days old. I started treated with Nuflor on him, but he died at four days old. It broke my heart to lose that little guy after all he had been through, but I was comforted by the thought that at least he wasn't in pain anymore.

Fawna and Remington continued to grow like weeds and get more and more spoiled everyday and I was thrilled with their progress. I thought two kids were hard enough to bottle feed along with everything else I have to do daily, but then I added a third bottle kid! A friend of Keith's had a Nubian doe with triplets and she wasn't producing enough milk to take care of them, so he called and asked if I'd take one of them. Like there was any doubt I was going to go look at this kid and not bring it home with me....lol. Anyway, I added a third bottle kid and she did just fine with the other two. There was only a week difference in their birthing so they just thought she was a long lost sister I guess. She had never had a bottle but I guess she was hungry because all I had to do was gently pry her mouth open, stick the bottle in, and as soon as she tasted the milk she guzzled four ounces of milk in about four seconds!



Now, you must be thinking, she's got to be crazy to take in another kid to feed, but hold that thought....

At two and a half months old, they were almost ready to wean, eating grain and hay, drinking water, and doing amazing, and I did the unthinkable......I added a fourth bottle kid!!! Am I out of my mind? Na....well, maybe a little. I purchased a six week old LaMancha buckling that I knew was a bottle kid. I don't regret it one bit either. He is the sweetest, most precious goat I have ever been around. And since he was born on April Fool's Day, my best friend Lynn came up with the perfect name, meet Jester.



I can say it has definitely been an experience and a lot of work, but I'd do it again in a heartbeat! All four kids are doing great. I have started giving them only eight ounces of milk twice a day as they turned three months old this week, so I will be weaning them very soon. Of course Jester will have to continue on the bottle for a few more weeks and I'm sure the other kids are not going to be happy, but they'll get over it eventually. Oh, and in case you are wondering, I didn't have to spend a fortune raising these bottle kids. I was lucky enough to have a LaMancha whose kids I had just sold. She has been giving me a little over a gallon of milk per day since March.

Here are the kids at two and a half months old.....

In Training

Two weeks ago I brought three kittens home. A customer came into the store where I work and he said he was going to take them to the animal shelter, but I said "no way!" I have volunteered for our local shelter and know first hand that if an animal is brought in as an owner surrender and the shelter is full then the animal is immediately euthanized!

I love all animals, but I'm more of a dog person than cat person so I wasn't sure how this was going to work out. I made the kittens a little pen in the barn in hopes that they would like the place and want to stick around and hopefully become good "mousers." I give them fresh goat milk every morning and goat milk and kitten chow in the evenings and apparently that has done the trick. They love the barn and are now out of their pen and so far are sticking around. They are, of course, into everything, but kittens are curious creatures, so what can you expect.

The goats seem to like, or at least tolerate the kittens and even the dogs are okay with them, so now they just need to learn how to kill mice. I've never been around a barn that didn't have mice unless there was a good cat around, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

As for names.....we have Sox, Midnite, and Stripes (or Cuddles as my niece calls him/her). The funny thing is I have been around just about every kind of animal known to man all my life, but still, at 33 years old, I cannot tell the sex of a cat until it reaches maturity, hence the names which are gender friendly. They will be making a trip to my vet soon for a little surgery, so I guess he will tell me whether I'm paying for a spay or a neuter....lol.

I've heard the grass is greener on the other side but.....

I've heard the grass is always greener on the other side, but this is a whole other story.

Meet Coco, she is a three month old Oberhasli who, since the day she was born, has been ruling the roost of my dairy goat pasture. She really thinks it's all about her, no matter what "it" might happen to be.

My husband Keith recently put a roll of hay in the pasture, it was left over from the winter and needed to be used up so we could get ready for the fresh hay so we just left it in the middle of the field. The goats can nibble on it as they please, but this time of year they seem to prefer the greener roughage. Anyway, Coco chose to use this roll of hay as her ladder to reach the nice, juicy, green leaves of a tree. I only had my cell phone with me and couldn't get a real good picture, but I think you can tell what she's trying to do. She was hilarious, she would stretch her neck as far as she could then fall off, hop right back on, stand up on her hind legs, and fall off again. This continued for about 30 minutes until she realized I was laughing at her at which point she demanded that I pet her and give her grain which I obediently did to please her.

My goats are just a tad bit spoiled and Coco is the most spoiled as you can well imagine.

New Arrivals 5/10/11

Woke up this morning to a new set of twins!!! These kids belong to Cry Baby (named because she cries constantly).


She blessed us with a beautiful doe that we have named Serenity (paint) and a very friendly solid red buck that we haven't named yet.

Registered Goat at Grade Price

The price of goats is higher than it's been in a long time and anybody who has been in the goat business through the good times and the bad, is loving it. I'm selling grade goats for the price I used to get out of registered goats.....so it's a good time to be in the goat business!

But here's my problem....if a goat is born on my property and can be registered, I normally don't register it unless I plan on keeping it. I give buyers the option of buying the goat at a grade price or buying the goat at a higher price with an application to register. I normally never have a problem doing things this way, but recently I've had two incidences. The first one went pretty smooth though, a man bought a solid red buck from me as a grade goat. He gave me the grade price that I asked and all was well. Then he called me the very next day and asked me what I would charge if he decided later on to register the goat. I told him it would be $100 because I priced the goat $100 cheaper sold as a grade. He said okay and I didn't hear back from him until later in the year when he had a question about deworming products.

The second incidence however didn't go as smoothly....a man that we consider a friend begged us, literally begged us for a red buck that was born this year. We didn't want to sell him because we lost his sire due to old age and we wanted to keep him as a replacement. We did have two other good replacement bucks, but this one had some really good characteristics so we wanted to keep him. But the man was up here every week offering us everything under the sun for this buck. We finally relented and sold the buck. The man didn't want papers, he had no registered goats so therefore he had no need for a registered buck which were his exact words. Anyway, two weeks ago, he contacted Keith and wanted to know what we would charge him to register the goat. I firmly stated that it would be $100 plus the application fee because he wanted me to do the complete registration since he's not a member of any of the Boer Goat Associations. Anyway, he got mad, but I can't help it. It seemed like a trick to me because he wanted the goat as a grade goat, paid the grade price, and now wants papers but doesn't want to pay for a registered goat. I'm sorry, but this ain't my first rodeo and I'm not falling for any tricks. I've decided to sell goats as grade or registered and if someone buys a grade goat, then it's always going to be a grade, I will no longer offer papers on the goat once it's sold.

People may not agree with my decision on this, but because of those two incidents, I have no other choice.

The Goats Are Trying to Kill Me

I've owned goats for 13 years now and can't imagine my life without them, but I SWEAR they are conspiring to kill me now...lol. I work 9am to 5pm and my husband just started working 2nd shift. He leaves the house at 1:30pm and doesn't get home until after midnight, so needless to say, things are a little tougher now. Keith (my husband) feeds all his hunting dogs and the chickens before he leaves, but that leaves the horses and goats for me to take care of, which includes giving them their daily grain, hay, bottle feeding three Nubian kids, and milking one LaMancha. I'm normally outside until 7:30 or 8:00 every evening, and I'm not complaining, albeit, the goats are trying to kill me.

There's something different going on every day.....one day I thought one of the Boer does was in labor so I put her in the barn. I came home from work at lunch to check on her and she looked at me as if to say "what are you looking at, you're the idiot that put me in here and I'm not ready!" I left her up for three days and then finally turned her back out. And then I've got an Oberhasli doe that looks like she may burst at any moment if she doesn't kid soon, but she refuses to set foot in the barn and she's not friendly, so there's no catching her. Next, one little paint doe just wouldn't stay up, I had to put her up about 10 times one evening and absolutely could not figure out how she was getting out. I finally moved her to a different lot and at least solved that problem. Then we move on to the "getting my head stuck" phase. The same two does like to stick their head through the fence everyday to munch where we all know "the grass is greener because it's on the other side" and then they want to push in the opposite direction as me when I'm trying to unhang them. I have literally sat down and cried because I was so frustrated with them.

But then I imagine how things would be without goats and it just doesn't seem feasible, so if they don't kill me then I'll hang in there lol.

I hope to keep posting as much as possible so read as often as you can.