goats

Baby Goats in Baskets

sastyk — Tue, 04 Feb 2014 09:14:31 +0000

Baby Goats in Baskets

We had a fence crisis this summer, and for two days had no good containment for our bucks. As is entirely predictable, we also then had a spate of baby goats beginning New Years Day.

Now there is a good reason why most people in the Northeast do not plan goat births for January unless they have heated barns - the week the babies were born involved extreme cold - we had -28F here one night, and weeks where we rarely left the single digits. And to our sorrow, we did lose three babies, but the majority of them (10 so far) survived in our unheated and not very tightly sealed barn, and are doing beautifully.

For the first several nights, however, during the extreme cold, we did bring the newest babies in to warm themselves by our fireplace, to which I attribute our fairly good survival rate, and also the awe-inspiring cuteness. Three baby goats fit well in a full-sized laundry basket. Our two toddlers, Zion (18 mos) and Q. (2) were particularly taken with the little ones in baskets and felt the need to announce "Goat! Goat!" more or less non-stop.

Thought you might want to share in the cuteness. Every year we have a naming theme - this year it is "Movies" - so you see Rosebud (the white one) snuggled up with Lily Von Shtupp and on the left, a sleepy Bogart.

sastyk Tue, 02/04/2014 - 04:14

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goats

I kind of feel like Zion and Q. "Goat! Goat!"

Eeee goats!

(Also, I read your blog all the time a few years ago and then life kind of happened and so I'm happy to be reading again.)

They are very adorable!

Goats for Sale!

sastyk — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 10:44:33 +0000

Goats for Sale!

If you want to know what we've been doing these last few months, read the next post down. But suffice it to say that nothing on our farm has really had the time and attention it deserves. And since we're legally not permitted to feed our goat or cow's milk to any of our foster children (yes, no matter how we pasteurize it, we are still prohibited), we've decided that right this moment, we need fewer dairy animals. Which is really great for you - I have a number of really lovely does from our herd (and some wethers if you are looking for a pet or brush clearing, and a nice buck as well) that I would like to sell to people who are getting started with or expanding their Nigerian Dwarf goat herds. I will make a very good deal to people who offer good homes and want to get homegrown milk and as much pleasure as they have given us.

Email me at jewishfarmer@gmail.com if you are interested. We're in upstate NY, near Albany.

Sharon

sastyk Thu, 10/17/2013 - 06:44

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goats

At my family get togethers we usually had barbecued goat.

The Lazy Goatkeeper

sastyk — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 14:15:46 +0000

The Lazy Goatkeeper

I get a lot of inquiries about goats that go pretty much like this: “I’d love to have fresh goat’s milk all the time, and cheese, but my schedule just isn’t compatible with milking twice a day at 5am and 5pm, 365 days a year, so I guess I can’t have dairy goats, but I love to hear about yours.”

Well, let me start by saying that my schedule is also not compatible with milking twice a day on that schedule. Once upon a time I was routinely up at 5am, and I still start my day between 5:30 and 6, but now that my children sleep later, I’m into sleeping too. Moreover, I can’t face a warm goat until I’ve had one cup of hot tea. I don’t milk twice a day. I don’t milk 365 days a year, and I do go away on vacation. In large measure, we have shifted our milking schedule so that it fits with our lives.

How is this possible? Well, it is not if you plan to run a goat or cow dairy for profit – in that case, you will be tied to the same schedule, because 12 hour, twice per day milkings are necessary to maximize production. Most of us who want a couple of goats, however, do not have to maximize production – in fact, we may not want to. It becomes pretty feasible to make milking work for you.

First of all, no goat milks 365 days a year, unless you choose not to breed her annually. Generally speaking, the last two months of a doe’s pregnancy, they are dry – ie, not milking so that they can put their energies into kid development. If all your goats are dry at the same time, this is an excellent time of year to go on vacation, since they only need to be fed and watered. If you don’t want kids, you can breed every other year, and in this case, you will have to milk all year ’round, with only two months off every other year.

Generally, however, it is pretty feasible to work around goat biology. We milk once per day, in the morning, at about 8am. Because goats, like all mammals must have a kid in order to produce milk, we separate out their kids, starting at two weeks old, at night. From 8pm to 8am (actually we start out with 10pm and gradually move backwards to adjust the kids), the kids are in their own pen or section of the pasture (depending on age of kids and season). At 8am, we milk the does, and then let them out with their kids. During the day, the kids have all the milk.

I could also milk once a day during the evenings, and keep the kids separate during the daytimes, but this works better for us – and I think is preferable for the kids as well, since goats are diurnal and do eat more during the daytime – a day separation would be feasible, however. You can schedule your milking for whatever time is convenient to you. I do try not to push milking much past 9am, since a full udder is uncomfortable for them, but I have no difficulty milking earlier than usual, if we need to be somewhere early, or occasionally even leaving the kids on their mothers overnight so that we don’t have to milk at all on a particularly rushed morning (say, if we have to leave at 5am – this is rare thing, however).

Left to themselves, the kids will nurse for 5-7 months after birth (actually, they’d do it a lot longer, but the Moms get annoyed after a while when a kid nearly as big as they are practically lifts them in the air). So for the first six months (average) after birth, if you keep the kids that long, you can go away. All you have to do is put the kids in the pasture with their Moms and they will be fine – no milking needed.

Some people worry about scours (diarrhea) if the goats were getting all their milk – we’ve never had a case of scours except in goats bought from other farms. Our goats tend to do very well on free choice nursing – and this is, of course, what they’d do in nature. No, the don’t get fat, either – they eat as much as is appropriate to them. Indeed, we recently had a goat from another farm come to ours who had been bottle fed, and we got to see the dramatic difference in size and vitality between bottle and mother fed.

You cannot do this if you have CAE in your herd or are engaged in CAE prevention. Our herd comes only from tested CAE negative herds, and we don’t show or otherwise bring our goats out into the world, so we feel very comfortable with dam-raised kids. Some people will tell you that dam-raised kids are unfriendly and can’t be handled – ours are not. They like to play with us, eat treats and be petted. Indeed, again, our experience with bottle babies is that they don’t fully know how to work in the larger herd – they aren’t sure if they are goats or humans. We like goats who are goats. I would recommend that you purchase goats only from CAE negative herds if you want to be a lazy goatkeeper.

If you kid in springtime, a six month nursing cycle will coincide with the cycle of the grass in most northern areas that get summer moisture. One thought is to milk only on this seasonal cycle – following the grass and drying the goats off during the winter, as they would naturally have dried off. You can then eat your residual milk in the form of cheese that you made over the summer, and milk can be frozen if you have space for it. You will, of course, get less milk in total, but the economics of this are pretty good, because goats need less grain during summers when pastures are lush and may well be able to do acceptably on grass alone. This allows you to be flexible all year round – you can leave the kids on the does in spring, summer and fall and in winter, they will be dry. The only time of year you won’t want to leave the farm is kidding season.

The main disadvantage of this situation is that it sets you to selling the goat’s offspring in late fall. Now if you plan to butcher males and keep females, this works very well – your goats are mature at precisely the point at which you’d want to butcher them anyway. If you plan to sell offspring, most people want their livestock earlier in the year, and more people don’t want to winter goats over, so prices fall – and most people prefer young goats when they are small and cute.

One option is to breed the doelings (if you have a breed that can be bred at 7months – some breeds wait longer) and sell them as bred does – which bring higher prices. Another is to overwinter them yourself and sell them in the spring as milkers, after they have kidded, which also bring higher prices. In many breeds, twins are the norm, and you can sell one of the goat’s babies at 8 weeks, so you can partially obviate this problem, if not wholly. Do remember to wether your boys if you are doing this – by six months, they could easily impregnate Mom – in some breeds significantly earlier.

What if you want year ’round milk? This is the case for us – and the reason we have two kiddings a year, one in July and one in April. In that case, actually going away becomes more complicated, and there are periods of the year in which it is necessary that someone be around to milk if you are going to leave.

Working on that schedule, we can go away and leave the kids with their Moms from May (after the first cycle of kidding) through June, come back in July (for the second cycle) and then are flexible again from August to November. Depending on how long the April babies nurse, we might even be able to get away with December (if you routinely travel for Christmas or other December holidays, it might make sense to have May babies – we do our travelling at Thanksgiving in general). From December to May, if we want to leave the farm, we have to get help milking.

Which is where this thing comes in handy – the Maggidans Milker. Essentially a manual breast pump for goats (the first one was, I believe a modified human breast pump), this takes the skill out of milking, and means that a competent 12 year old (I know this because we used one for several years - at least he started out 12 ;-)) can handle the day-to-day ins and outs of goat care. You will see some decline in production if you go away for an extended period and have someone milk with only this – the milker gets the majority of milk, but for maximum production, you want to strip the goats teats afterwards, to get the last of it (the hindmilk is also the richest). But for a couple of days, we’ve seen no significant drops in production in a doe that is established, and you may find it worth it. There’s another brand as well, the EZ Milker that is more expensive, but we have had a great experience with this one. Given that I have carpal tunnel syndrome from too much time in front of the computer, the Maggidans is helpful – we’re milking 12 does right now, and while two or three are easy, after a point without the milker, it got painful.

If you are prepared to pump and dump for a few days, (ie, give the milk to other animals), you don’t even have to take the time to sterilize. We had no trouble teaching a 12 year old to handle our goats for a few days – and it allowed us to go away and feel comfortable about it. Many more people could have goats if they could rely on a local teen, just as they do to walk their dogs.

The economics of this model work well for us – including the cost of hay, grain, fencing, amortized goat cost (over 10 year breeding life), medical care, etc… my summer milk cost for organic raw milk is $3.11 per gallon. My winter milk cost (where more hay and a bit more grain are involved) is about $4.00 – well below the price of a gallon of organic milk. Besides this our milk has much higher butterfat (ie, more cheese = not all goats have the same butterfat ratios), tastes like sweet cow’s milk (no goaty taste) and we get manure, companionship and kids for sale, replacement or meat. Because I have dwarf goats, two does can easily fit in many backyards, eating weeds and brush and garden wastes for part of their diet. Larger breeds are more appropriate for larger lots.

Although you will not maximize milk production this way, generally speaking lower input (less grain, more flexibility) milking has good economics – yes, you could get more milk out of your doe, but with more concentrates that many of us do not grow. Summer-only production probably has the lowest cost to production, but if you want year-round milk, the numbers still add up.

For many people, concerned with sources of good milk, and with the high (legitimately so – the cost of dairy certification adds a lot) cost of good milk, a couple of dairy goats and lazy goatkeeping could make it feasible.

Sharon

sastyk Thu, 01/24/2013 - 09:15

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goats

What breed are your goats that they have sweet (and not "goaty") milk?

Nigerian dwarf.

Thanks! :-)

Another interesting cost... After failing to find a goat owner cable of selling us milk, we res

Another interesting cost... After failing to find a goat owner cable of selling us milk, we resorted to buying it for $16/gallon when we discovered our son was dairy and soy intolerant. Still very frustrating. As he's gotten older we weened him off of it for economic reasons, so he has no milk and very limited dairy

After reading this, I am seriously considering getting goats sooner rather than later. It's ridiculous how little of our land we use. I was going to wait until I can afford to quit my day job, but I bet I can fit some more early morning chores into my schedule, if I don't have to do too much in the evenings.

What sort/how tall does the fencing for nigerian dwarfs need to be? That is the one thing I've not found addressed, although I may just be looking in the wrong places. Is it the same as full sized goats?

Do you think coyotes would be a threat to the adults? We have a lot around here.

What does a 90 day old Nigerian dwarf nannie kid sell for? I would suspect coyotes would be a problem. My cousin in Mason Co. TX has given up on raising sheep because of coyotes.

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Let the Cuteness Unfold!

sastyk — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 07:03:46 +0000

Let the Cuteness Unfold!

(Mina with Goneril and Cordelia - Regan is on the other side of her out of sight)

No-drama Obama has nothing on No-drama Mina, who calmly gave us triplet doelings last night with no muss or fuss. Yes, that's three little girls from her over-achieverness. And she politely waited until we were done with dinner, and by the time we realized she was in labor, she had delivered three goats and had them all up and nursing. All in all, an incredibly auspicious beginning to our kidding season and just one more reminder of Mina's basic awesomeness.

As you may remember, every season's kids get a name theme, partly because it is fun, partly to remind us what year they were born in. So far we've done Flowers and Herbs, Greek Mythology, Liquors and others - this year, as you may be able to guess from the baby's names, the spring kids will all be from Shakespeare (I'm hoping for a buckling named Sir Toby Belch myself ;-)). The summer babies will have dessert names (the kids are hoping for twins they can name "Trifle" and "Truffle.")

Babies are up and doing great, Mom is, of course providing ample milk, and life is good. Now it is really spring!

Regan and Goneril are almost identical, but Regan has moonspots on her side.

And Goneril has a bigger blaze on her forehead.

While Cordelia, as is fitting, is a little different looking. The cuteness is the same, though.

The happy family!

Sharon

sastyk Tue, 04/24/2012 - 03:03

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Oh, the cuteness! I want - I want NOW! (I suspect Bast wouldn't mind, either)

Who's their father, Sharon?

So cute!!

What a great mama. Yay Mina!

Triplet girls?! How lucky are you?

They are Wiggy boys - hopefully he'll pass on those beautiful udders and attachments that come with his genetics (his daughter Arava has the nicest teats and udder attachments I've ever seen on an ND).

Olympia, I know, isn't it amazing. I'm hoping this year compensates in some measure for last year when we had 2xs as many boys as girls.

Sharon

Sharon- It IS amazing.

I'm sure you've told us numerous times before, but do you care to share one more time what breed your goats are? And are healthy triplets common with said breed? When I was a kid, my parents raised Neubian goats, none of whom could produce a full set of living triplets :(, although they gave birth to three at a time pretty often. They kept having boys, too. :(

They are Nigerian Dwarf goats, and they are somewhat famous for having multiples - I have friends who have had sets of quads and quints. We've never had more than triplets at a time. This is our fifth set of triplets in three years - but our first set of all female trips. We did lose one triplet last year - Mom was a first freshener and I wasn't home, and I think what happened is that she didn't realize she'd given birth to three, so never licked the last one and it never breathed. Otherwise, they've all done fine - and we had a first freshener with enough milk for triplets and some for the pail!

Twins are much more the norm - I actually think that singles are the hardest thing for these goats, because they tend to be a big bigger (kidding problems are uncommon, but the only time we've had them has been with large singletons) and also because they tend to favor one side when nursing which can mean engorgement early on.

So far in 20 kiddings over three years we've had 10 sets of twins, 5 singles and 5 triplet sets. So we've averaged 2 kids per kidding, and twins are the norm, with singles and triplets about equally likely.

In terms of kid losses at or shortly after birth, we've lost one triplet and one twin.

Hmmmm...interesting to see it all laid out like that. Thanks for asking!

Sharon

Sharon, sounds like an awesome track record- such sturdy little animals! And they are, of course, quite mind-blowingly cute- but you knew that.

Put simply, sustainability issues have brought a more focussed & honourable reason to my scientific career.

yes cute aa harikalar sÃ¼pperler yavru hayvanlarÄ±n hepsi gerÃ§eÃ§etin Ã§ok Åirin oluyor. insinanda hayvanÄ±n bitkilerin heryeiÅÃ§n gÃ¼ezil kÃ¼Ã§Ã¼k olanÄ±, mobilya derseniz bunda bir bellona fark yarÄ±tÄ±yor derim sadece. sevimli hayvan yavru resimleri iÃ§in blog teÅekkÃ¼rler ellerinze saÄlÄ±k.

How to Milk a Goat

sastyk — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 07:07:08 +0000

How to Milk a Goat

So you had babies, or are about to, right? Now you have to milk. It really, really helps to see it:

We're on baby goat watch here, and looking forward to the run of milk!

Sharon

sastyk Wed, 04/18/2012 - 03:07

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goats

milking

Boy, I wish I'd had something like this before I had to deal with a colic emergency on my old mare! Nothing like necessity for learning! Thanks for the video.

Sharon or other commenters: anyone here in the U.S. ever looked into raising yaks? Husband and I will retire to a modest house on a fairly large but mountainous lot, a small piece of which is summer/fall pasture. (This won't happen for a dozen years or so, but we're forward-looking. Besides, at the glacial pace the building is moving, it may take a dozen years to build the house.) A couple of the things we've talked about doing is a) putting in a greenhouse, since at 7400 feet the growing season isn't very long; and b) raising some sort of animal for meat and fur. Neither of us is into dairying.

After considering goats, llamas, alpacas, and angora rabbits, he came across yaks. They're smaller than cattle, but big enough to fend off a cougar; they like the high-altitude climate and don't need to live in a barn in the winter (though they do need some overhead shelter and a windbreak); the wool supposedly has an artisan market; and the meat is supposedly tasty. We're going to order some meat from a yak farm in Colorado and test the last assertion. We're not talking a huge herd here; there's not enough grazing room. Just a few animals to shear in the summer and stock a freezer a couple of times a year. Have you heard of anyone doing this?

@Karen As a spinner, I can vouch for the market for yak wool. In fact, it almost always winds up blended with other wools because it's expensive. However, the yield for yak wool is much lower, since it's gathered by combing out the winter coat come spring. Most yaks only produce a few pounds a year. It's lovely to spin and makes gorgeous yarn, though.

Karen,
The following (if it gets let through) is a link to an article about a spinner and knitter who keeps yaks. It's more about her than the yaks, but the first few paragraphs discuss them.

http://web.newsregister.com/news/results.cfm?story_no=273806

Before my mother-in-law broke her knee, she kept goats. My husband's grandmother was living with her at the time, and having been raised on a dairy farm, knew what to do after the kids came along. They didn't get a lot of yield (these were pygmy goats), but it gave her great pleasure to milk those goats by hand. Strong woman. She passed away just last November. Whenever I see goat milk now, I think of her.

Our kids are due mid-May and I can't wait. I'm almost out of the goat milk I froze last season to make my morning yogurt. And I'm almost out of the cheddar goat cheese I made. And I'm looking forward to ice cream (just a tad!) and carmel milk, panna dolce, etc etc etc. Plus, I love my goats. They've been in their summer pens and will soon be moved back to the milk barn for delivery and subsequent morning milking.

My goats are two Nigerian Dwarf goats - perfect for a small family and small enough for the grandkids to interact with. The first season when I milked them to capacity, I was getting almost one & a half gallons of milk a day - way too much, but these goats are "very dairy" as they say. Now its once a day milking and I keep them down to less than a gallon total.

Sharon, just thought you'd be interested to know- one of my long time friends had been quietly doing something, and I didn't have an inkling until I stumbled across a little info on the web. Actually, it's apparently his wife's main enterprise; though he puts in his full share of labor, in addition to his day job running a chef's supply warehouse-

They are now MILKING over 100 Icelandic sheep; virtually all of it going to long-aged artisan cheese.

I was floored! Imagine the work! The do hire help during the milk season; but otherwise manage the flock of over 140 animals with just the two of them. It's a tip-top spic and span business; ought to be profitable from the way it looks. Makes my 6 minus 1=5 Icelandics look pretty paltry! Though we are intending to expand our flock slowly, we're not contemplating that kind of thing.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to Kidding and Lambing

sastyk — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 06:37:03 +0000

The Hitchhiker's Guide to Kidding and Lambing

I know some of you have already BTDT or started earlier this season, but I do know I have some readers expecting their first mammal babies and maybe a little bit nervous about it.

My feeling is that there are three things you should remember in kidding.

1. 99% of the time, the animals should be able to do this fine without you.

2. Even if you have to intervene, 99% of those times, everything goes ok.

3. It gets easier if you know what to expect.

Here's a (very silly, non-technical, done by someone who likes to make a big deal of how gross it is - of course, he's a guy and never given birth himself) video that will give you a rough sense of a normal kidding (it was quads). Do note if you don't want to see animals giving birth, you shouldn't watch these videos - don't whine about it in comments later.

This is a much less silly video of a delivery of abnormal presentations:

Note that it is possible to handle those things with comparative aplomb, even though you are scared out of your wits.

If you are expecting babies you've probably read everything on the internet twice, so I won't duplicate that information, just note that kidding or lambing is a lot like hitchhiking the galaxy - Don't Panic! and have a towel handy.

Sharon

sastyk Thu, 03/29/2012 - 02:37

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goats

The music in the first video was nauseating. Beyond that, I don't think they're going to thank us for the fish. ;)

I think one of the keys is that you limit it to kidding and lambing and not just livestock giving birth. Having raised sheep, cattle and pigs, pigs need the least help, sheep need a little more help (probably more than 1% but less than 5%) and cattle need more help.

Goat Humor

sastyk — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 08:56:58 +0000

Goat Humor

My fellow geeky Jewish goat-farmer Reb Deb sent me this, and I couldn't resist posting it:

sastyk Tue, 01/31/2012 - 03:56

Tags

goats

humor

geekage

Love it! Thanks for a first-of-the-morning smile, Sharon.

Jessie's Girls

sastyk — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 08:16:58 +0000

Jessie's Girls

(Just in case you didn't grow up in the 1980s and need the reference.)

Two years ago, we bought Jessie the goat from our friends Jamey and Carol. We wanted Jessie because of her great genetics - she's a milk machine, and a sturdy, healthy goat who makes stunning babies. Zahra, her first daughter is still one of their best does. Her brother was sold as a breeding buck. We were thrilled to be getting Jessie.

Even more thrilled because Jessie swiftly became my favorite milker. (Sshhhhh, don't tell the others I play favorites.) She's sweet, she's gentle, she's easy going - whatever you do to her she looks at you with mild, interested eyes. She loves to be petted, and well, she's a cutie. Jessie has a snub nose and big brown eyes. She's ummm...built for comfort, not for speed. She *always* looks pregnant - but that very wideness gives her great dairy capacity and she has the useful trait of not milking her weight off even during the winter - that's a good quality for someone trying to breed for low and no grain inputs. Her babies look like what Gund would create if they were to make a Nigerian Dwarf Goat stuffed animal. I couldn't wait for Jessie to kid last year.

We called her "Moby Goat" because when pregnant, Jessie looks like she's going to explode for about 2 months. She was so huge I was plunged into speculation - twins? Triplets? Not quads....but she was soooooo big. And after days of waiting and pretending to go into labor (Jessie's only negative trait is that she (and her Mom) act like they are in labor on and off for days), Jessie delivered...one buck kid. D'oh! I wanted Jessie's daughters.

Now this is part and parcel of goat breeding - 50% of all kids will be bucks. But I had been particularly waiting and watching for a doeling from Jessie, dammit. So I read her a lecture, explaining precisely what would be expected of her in the coming season - I'd like at least one doe, preferably two, and if she could deliver on time this time, rather than being the last goat at it, that would be nice too. She looked at me benignly and I knew she'd understood ;-). All year I would sing to her, during milking, or while scratching that particular place she likes, excerpts from Rick Springfield "I wanna have Jessie's girls. I wish I had Jessie's girls..." It wasn't art, but it was our thing. I can't be the only person who sings to my goats!

The funny thing is that whether she understood me or not, she did just what I asked her. Yesterday Jessie went unequivocably into labor. I caught her pawing the ground and licking another doe's babies, and shut her in our kidding pen with another doe for company. 20 minutes later I went out to check, and there on the ground were two doelings. The boys are visiting Grandma in NYC for Passover (they have my digital camera, so I can't post pictures today, sorry!), but they'd already left me with a list of names - we're shooting for 9 muses, so Urania and Polyhymnia they were! (Raney and Poly).

Over the years, I've relaxed a lot during kidding - I generally don't get involved until the kids are on the ground. Once I pulled a kid, from a young doe who got out and got pregnant prematurely, but even she probably would have delivered fine. One of the things we love about this breed is that the babies are incredibly vital and energetic, the Moms are good and everyone is incredibly healthy. I've literally never had a birthing problem - no breeches, I've never had to put my hands in a goat.

I do try to keep a close eye on the birthing, if only because once we did lose a buck kid to a first-time Mom who had triplets. She was a great Mom to the first two, but never really realized she'd delivered the third little one, and so without his Mom to lick his nose clean, he never breathed. It was sad, but these things happen - and other than one kid born with an obvious problem, that was the only loss we've ever had.

This time, however, something was wrong. Urania was already up and trying to nurse. Polyhymnia, however, lay there shivering like a drowned rat. Her mother was washing her, but she wasn't responding. She squeaked a few times, and tried once to struggle to her knees, but then just lay there.

I went in and toweled Poly off, rubbing her vigorously to get her blood flowing. I squirted a nutritional supplement into her mouth that sometimes helps weak kids. It was cold in the barn, if sheltered from the cold rain and wind, and I ran in and called Eric in NYC to ask him where the heat lamp was from brooding the chicks. When I came back, she was back on the bedding, lying there shivering, Jessie was still trying to get her up, but was distracted by her more energetic and active sister.

I toweled her off again, but she still looked more dead than alive. She was shivering convulsively. I took her in the house. Now this put me on the horns of a dilemma. We do not bottle raise our kids. For the first two weeks, they nurse unimpeded. After that, we separate them at night from their mothers, and milk in the am. We get less total milk this way, but the babies are healthy, and it is a lot less work for us - since we don't run a dairy maximizing milk production isn't necessary - we get plenty. Keeping the babies with their mothers also means we can sometimes go away from our goats - we don't have the milkers 365 days a year tie to home. We have never had a case of scours (diarrhea) or any other health problem, and we attribute some of the health of our herd from the fact that they are raised as naturally as possible. Other goat keepers do things otherwise, and I'm not arguing that they also get good results - this is our way.

I have to ask myself - do I want to keep Jessie's girl alive enough to have a bottle baby? There is considerable evidence that weak kids often don't survive anyway, What if her mother rejects her now? The reason Jessie might reject her baby is that in order to raise Poly's temperature back up and stop her shivering, I'm going to give her a hot bath - at 105 degrees, the water is the same temp as her uterus was. She'll be warm, but she'll stop smelling like Jessie's baby. Jessie might not take her back.

I had also milked some colostrum out of Jessie while I gave her her post-birth treat (goatmeal - oatmeal with lots of liquid in it, some salt, goat mineral and molasses), and I bring this with me. I float Poly in my roasting pan (she weighs about 3lbs, way smaller than a chicken, although she's longer than one). She squeaks in protest, but seems to like the warmth. I wrap her in a towel and rub her dry, holding her against me to be sure she has stopped shivering. I give her another dose of the nutritional supplement, and then first with a bottle (she can't suck) and then with a needle-less syringe, slowly drip colostrum into her mouth. Most of it drips out, but I think she gets some. She's not sucking, though, or seeking it. That's worrisome.

We sit together, she and I in my warm living room, snuggled, looking at each other, and I wonder if she'll be living in the house with me for a long time. I don't really want or have time for a bottle baby, but if I can save her, I want to. But she's still not really sucking, still weak. I need to accept that she may die anyway. I debate whether to bring her back to Mom or just keep her in the house with me. If I bring her back to Mom, the shock of being in the cold again might kill her, even if Jessie accepts her. She's still not really sucking. She might die anyway, but she's more likely to die in the barn if she gets cold and stressed again. Maybe I should just keep her. On the other hand, her Mom is what she needs most - and maybe what can get her sucking. And it may not matter.

My principles say put her back. My desire to protect the little creature says keep her with me. I sigh, and bring her back. I will check back every few minutes, making sure that she doesn't get chilled again. But really, I expect her to die no matter what - she's still weak, still can't stand, still not sucking. I think the odds are good I wouldn't be able to save her even in the house.

I'm lucky - Jessie butts her away once, but she has just finished delivering her placenta. I grab a handful of placenta goo (I've already got every gross thing imaginable on me already, I'm way past worrying about a little placenta) and rub it on Polyhymnia, and I step out of the kidding pen. I watch, and Jessie licks the goo off Poly, but she is still lying there, shivering and weak. I am crying when I go back into the house, knowing I will come back in 15 minutes to a baby in crisis, knowing I will probably lose her. I call Eric and ask him to reassure me that this is right.

I make myself take a hot shower, set the egg timer for 10 minutes. By the time I am dressed and ready to go out to the barn again, I have come to terms with my decision. If she's alive when I go out there, but in crisis, I will bring her into the house and keep her there. If she has died, she has died - that's part of farming. I expect one of those two things will be true, but I also accept that I cannot sit in the barn staring at the goats for the rest of my life - there are other chores to do.

To my shock, I go out and Polyhymnia has staggered shakily to her feet. Her little tail is wagging as her mother washes her some more. She's still shaky, but not shivering convulsively. She butts her mother's udder, one head butt, then two, the universal goat signal "milk, please!" I'm crying again.

I go out again, first every 1/2 hour, then, as the night advances, every 2 hours, I drag myself out of sleep (or what little I am able to get for worrying about my little charge - I jerk awake over and over again, worried I've forgotten to go out to her, that she is freezing....), dress, grab a flashlight and go to the barn. Each time she is sitting or standing next to her mother. Each time I go back to bed, reassured.

Eric calls before I'm even awake this morning to find out how she is and leaves a message. He will call back shortly. I go out to the barn, and Jessie stands protectively over two little goats. Urania and Polyhymnia are exploring each other, sniffing tails, bouncing slightly back and forth. Jessie has done what goat mothers do, she has taken care of her baby. The sun has risen. The morning has come. It is hard now to tell which of the two was up and nursing in moments, and which bedraggled baby barely breathed, they looks so much alike. The two babies bicker over who gets which teat, and I go back inside singing "I'm glad I have Jessie's girls. Where can I find me a goat like that?"

Sharon

sastyk Sun, 04/17/2011 - 04:16

Tags

What a great story to read first thing in the morning...I felt like I was right there, I'm so glad she's OK!

I'm all choked up. I'm glad she made it. Good luck!

Those are the girls! Yay! It's amazing how they often perk up once they get something warm into their bellies.

How long do you have to keep them separated from Mom overnight -- till they're weaned? I like the idea, though when we're in cheese prodution we'll want all the milk. We do the exact opposite: separate from mom immediately and bottle feed, which is a pain, but it means we can reunite them with the whole herd after a couple weeks, when they look only to us to feed. (Though there's always one or two...) Mom gets to spend time with them when their bellies are full, and to nuzzle and lick them through the fence, while they're separated, so they tend to stay bonded. In fact the only bonding problems we've had is when we take goats into the house -- never mind bathing, just separation the first couple of days. BTW, besides hair dryer, Dottie says you can heat milk to as much as 110 degrees to warm up a shivering baby. And one bottle won't prevent them from returning and nursing.

Those are the girls! Yay! It's amazing how they often perk up once they get something warm into their bellies.

Deb, I can see the virtues of bottle feeding for a while and being able to put them back in - we do separate them from their Moms for a few months - they all go in together, and they don't seem to mind. But yes, if I were attempting the Grade A dairy thing, I'd definitely probably separate - but this makes kidding season nice and easy for me.

Good to know about the hot milk - I'll try and next time. I assume 110 is low enough temp to not turn colostrum into pudding? I haven't looked it up - this is literally the first time in years we've ever had to do much of anything. I wasn't so worried about the bottle as the smell after washing, though. I've not heard of goats having nipple confusion, although human babies do. Three out of four of my human babies managed it, though.

Must. Get. Hair. Dryer. We used to have one for defrosting the pipes, before we reinsulated. It was never actually used for hair though ;-). Goes on the yard sale list.

Sharon

You've got a good mama goat there!

When we have to warm a lamb, we put the lamb in a plastic bag up to their neck (just hold it tight around their neck & support the head out of the water) THEN float them in warm water (we use a big Rubbermaid bin usually) - this way they don't lose their sheep smell for when they go back to mama.

The second really great thing to learn is how to tube feed. Take a piece of tubing (like IV tubing, small & flexible) and stuff it down the lamb's mouth - they will swallow it if you keep gently pushing. Blow into the free end: if they cough, you are in the lungs, take it out and try again (I've done this lots of times and never once hit the lungs but you DO want to check). Put a syringe on the end of the tubing (plunger removed) and pour a bit of colostrum (warmed) into the syringe and let it go in by gravity. Voila: you've warmed the lamb from the inside, given it energy it needs, and not gotten it all confused about where food comes from (usually they're pretty out of it when this is done - if they're not that out of it, they probably will take a bottle, or nurse from mama with a bit of help).

I assume the tricks are very similar for goats as sheep, though you'd want to check to be sure. I do know you have to first warm a hypothermic lamb before tube feeding, or the metabolism gets all whacked. Temperature up to normal first, then colostrum, then we let them rest until they get up and start bleating for mama.

Since some of our lambs arrive in the really cold weather, they occasionally get chilled before we notice their mama isn't paying attention, so these couple of tricks are life-savers. Quite often all they need is to be warmed up and jump started with a bit of warm colostrum, then mama takes them back and everything is fine.

I'm glad the little one made it. It's true, you can't save them all .. but it sure is nice when it works. :)

I was so worried at the not suckling part of your story. Even the physically slow kid of mine that didn't have any interest in standing wanted to nurse. So I held him up. And I also told myself that there was something wrong and he could just be dead at any time but he's made it.

And I like the floating them in a plastic bag in warm water idea. That could come in handy....

what a great and moving post! so glad that both baby goats made it :) you did great!

Spring is Bustin' Out All Over Here!

sastyk — Fri, 15 Apr 2011 06:06:23 +0000

Spring is Bustin' Out All Over Here!

Well, first there's the baby goats. Last Friday, we collected our foster goat, Tayish. He belongs to a friend from our synagogue who won him in a raffle, believe it or not. He's a 10 week old wether, and the kids have made a pet of him. Here's Simon holding him:

Then, on Sunday, Bast gave us our first birth and our first doe of the season, Calliope. It was nice for Bast that she just had the one little one - last year in her first season she had triplets!

Each season's babies name choices have a "theme" - this year is Greek mythology. Calliope was a (probably hopeless) expression of the hope we'll get enough doelings to make a full set of nine muses (and a way of avoiding Simon's fantasy that we'll have triplet does he can name Alecto, Magaera and Tisiphone - that's just a little ominous ;-)). On a completely geekily irrelevant note, we already have a cat named Mnemosyne.

Arava was next in line and gave us twin bucklings on Wednesday, Orpheus was tiny and loud:

And his brother Daedalus was big and quiet, at least by baby goat standards.

Here are all three kids with their kids!

There are lots of other signs of spring here - seedlings taking the air:

Hazel catkins:

Angelica Emergent:

Lungwort, Ramps and Bloodroot coming up in the woodland garden:

But let's be honest, around here, it is all about the cuteness!

Time for Orpheus's nap!

sastyk Fri, 04/15/2011 - 02:06

Tags

And my sister said I'm weird because I named my piglets Hamlet and Ophelia...

Would you talk to my husband about why backyard goats are a good thing? I've tried to tell him, but he thinks I'm just enraptured with cute baby goats. That has some truth to it, but all that and goat cheese too? How could he possibly say no?

Hi Sharon,

Great to see the pictures! As a newbie goat person (at 63!) we managed to survive the Hungarian Winter - me, the two dogs and one buck and two does. Suzy, the younger but larger doe presented me with a fine buck kid four weeks ago as tomorrow. Sadly he is now a wether, but one buck on my place is enough. I offered him to a family in the village that have three does, no buck and no milk. Also sadly declined. I think the other doe is pregnant too.

I have a question if you have time for a brief answer - I know you are a busy person. I have a ground cover weed that is speading, mainly because the goats won't touch it. Should I just use Roundup upon it and keep the goats off (goes against the grain), or should I take the mattock to it, bury it in the compost heap and broadcast clover seed instead?

Regards from a regular reader in Hungary,
Steve

Steve, what you do with the weed depends on what it is! If the roots will survive and grow in your compost heap, then don't bury them. If it'll regrow from tiny root-fragments, a mattock may well make things worse (zillions of little plants instead of a few big ones). Equally, if it's bindweed, you'll need to keep Roundup-ing again and again to actually weaken it significantly. If you have the labour to spare, handweeding repeatedly may help (you need to then actually kill the roots - I stick mine in a bucket of water until they rot, then tip the stinky mess onto the compost), but is impractical for a large field. Repeatedly topping the meadow with a mechanical mower or just with a scythe will weaken some weeds quite nicely, but you won't be able to get a hay-crop off it.

Thought you'd appreciate our silly story of how our 450 lb cow got stuck in our doghouse!
http://furlinedtoiletseats.blogspot.com/2011/04/it-was-dark-and-stormy-…
:)

I'm bitter. we just had another snowfall. I want my garden!!!

Also, I asked the boyfriend if I could have a goat. He asked me if I wanted the goat to eat my schoolbooks. Unfortunately, I think he might have a point...

Steve, what Stripey Cat said. What's the weed? How to deal with it best depends on what it is and how it grows.

Teresa, sure - I was just thinking that a goat-related marriage counseling business was my next step ;-).

Sharon

Anyway Project Update: Out Like a Lion

sastyk — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 08:32:11 +0000

Anyway Project Update: Out Like a Lion

Life has been proceeding more or less apace, and it feels like a long time since I've sat down and contemplated anything, much less my Anyway Project goals. At the same time, all this business is a series of steps on the way to actually many of the things done. I hope that's true of all of you!

As you'll remember, the goal of the Anyway project is to integrate our preparations for a harder future with our daily life now, to turn them many parts into a whole. As I wrote previously:

The larger idea of the Anyway Project is to make our lives work more smoothly. Most of us stand with feet in several worlds - our domestic and professional ones, our adaptations to a world with less and our day to day life in a world with too much (in some cases). Making the intersections between these spaces functional, bringing the edges together and connecting them smoothly is the center of my project.

The seed flats are filled with tomatoes, peppers, onions, tomatillos, basil, broccoli, leeks, basil, eggplant, herbs and flowers of all kinds. By now many years the seed flats make occasional forays outside or onto a sunny porch for a sheltered visit to the world, but it is *cold* right now, and winter is hanging on like the old lion he is. The Garden Plant CSA/Herb, Vegetable and Native Plant nursery is growing apace on every window in the house, and with some things under lights as well, as we wait for the cold to let loose. The good news is that next year I should have a greenhouse - our wonderful friend Loren is going to build me one!

Goats are ready to pop in a week or two - today is Eric's barn cleaning marathon day, so things should be ready when the babies come after the first of April. All the winter's manure goes on the parts of the garden that get planted later as well. The first batch of chicks is feathered out and ready to start ranging when the cold spell breaks, and there are more forthcoming.

Eric is totally obsessed with bee keeping - and two nucs of locally bred Carnolian bees are coming in early May. I'm very excited about his obsession, which is frankly, good for both of us. This is the first farm project that Eric in all the years we've been here has truly taken on as wholly his own. I'm a little jealous ;-), in the sense that I've wanted bees for years, but I'm also thrilled to see Eric so fascinated and entranced. Besides, bees could be gateway drugs to something else cool ;-).

I'm also mulling over our planned expansion - we have pasture we're not using, and I have several ideas for how to make it work. For the last four years, we've shared sheep with my friend Elaine, who brings them to our pastures for the summer, and then takes them back for the winter. We get lamb and wool in barter, and sheep to keep the pastures down, but it is time for us to be more fully using that land. So I think this will be the last year of the shared sheep arrangement (which is sad, but she's got other options and it won't affect the friendship!). So now it is time to fish or cut bait on what exactly we're going to do. Raise calves on our excess goat milk, and produce baby beef? Our own sheep? If so what breed(s)? Or should we expand our goat operation into meat goats and/or fiber goats. We're going to do some expansion - I do want to produce Nigora (dual purpose miniature milk/fiber goats) goats, but how far to go? Decisions, decisions....

All of this is also hanging on the fact that once it becomes possible to actually do stuff outside, everything *has* to be done at once. New garden beds. Greenhouse. Planting. Hardening off seedlings. Taking down the old pasture fence and mowing. Running the new pasture fence. Market days and open farm days. Goat baby stuff.

Along with the usual farm projects, there is our family expansion project as well which has taken up a huge space in our life. More than halfway through our MAPP training (foster parent training), I feel rather like I did when the baby started kicking in each pregnancy - "oh, yeah, there's a *baby* in there - all this hassle (puking, classes, depending on the case) isn't for no reason." The kids that will come into our lives aren't babies (we assume) mostly, but we're starting to get focused on the mechanics of real people. Friends of ours whose daughter became engaged realized that their daughter will be needing something other than a set of bunkbeds to sleep on now, and are generously passing them on to us - the bunkbeds and some other furniture arrive on Sunday. I still have hopes of painting the kids' bedroom spring green, rather than the white and muted yellow it is now (boring), but it may or may not happen. We can always leave open the option of painting both kids rooms in the late fall, when everyone can choose their own colors.

We've got books in the bookcase, my mother is starting to look around for used twin bedding, a dear friend has kindly organized a project to knit afghans (more on that at the end of the post), the children have done very well with their weekly babysitting nights, we're still hunting for a van large enough to haul the six of us and two or three more kids (for years we've all driven in one Ford Taurus, which believe it or not can safely hold 6 people with carseats and boosters and buckles - we look like clowns getting out of a clown car, though - very environmentally efficient, but as the boys get bigger, its days were coming to an end anyway) - anyone out there in our general region knows someone selling an inexpensive used 8+ passenger van, let me know!

There are a few more steps in the process - Eric and I have to get fingerprinted (think of the crimes I can't commit now...damn!), my physical is next week, we have to get the well water tested, and we still have a few more classes, but we can see the day coming when we'll get down to the brass tacks. My mother's observation is that she's ready to get to the essentials - ages, gender, clothing sizes. Me too - I always did think that waiting for kids, whether the old-fashioned way or otherwise, took too damned long ;-). Patience has never been one of my virtues - I've always had a "as long as we're going to do it, let's get at it attitude" (actually, I felt that way about labor too), but I'm trying to be patient, and I am enjoying the time with just the four boys. We've planned some family visits and travel for the next couple of months, since we'll be staying home for a while after kids come.

The ties between family and community have been really evident in this - we have been able to turn to friends and community members in so many ways. Our friends and family have covered our weekly childcare (non-trivial, since we can't leave Eli with everyone) for the MAPP classes. Friends have passed along good advice, shared furniture and offered clothing that we won't have (and there's that knitting and crocheting thing again...look at the bottom of the post for more!). After some years of being able mostly to offer help, rather than accept it, we have been turning to others, and the kindness they have offered has been intensely humbling and gratifying. While we're still somewhat flexible we've been trying to do our part too to reciprocate - it is harder in many ways to receive than to give, though, and in some ways, better for us.

A lot of my other Anyway Project Goals are sort of mixed in with this - the nursery business obviously has a lot to do with the farm revitalization project. The family stuff seems part of the project as well - life is tough out there already for a lot of people and just getting harder. It isn't something I can entirely fix, but I'm anxious to do what we can.

We haven't made as much progress on the reorganization as I'd really like, but we have three weeks of Pesach cleaning ahead of us as we get ready for the Passover holiday, and the rearranging of furniture that accompanies the new acquisitions, so I have hope.

Outside work and finances have also not gotten the attention they deserve. I applied for an IATTP Food and Policy Fellowship and didn't get it, so now I have to think about what I will do to support my family in the coming year, beyond the usual, and given that because of new children my normally somewhat limited talk and travel schedule will be *really* limited. I do have to finish the Anyway Project/Adapting in Place book, now in progress 3 years (longer than it took me to do my first three books ;-)), but I'm starting to realize that I probably need to make or find an actual regular paid venue for my writing, because with more family members, our expenses will go up.

Foster parent stipends don't cover things like eating locally and sustainably, so I might actually have to get a real job! Or maybe not - I'm still trying to figure this one out. In many ways I've been so blessed not to be financially pressed - our very low cost lifestyle has made it possible for me to take the speaking gigs that interest me, rather than the ones that pay well, to write for free where I want to, etc... I know most people don't have that luxury, but I'm finding it hard to entirely give up on the possibility - at the same time, who can complain about something so ordinary as having to work for money, rather than for pleasure? The problem is that other things will have to give if that's the case - that's probably less time for the farm, for the things we do that reduce our costs, etc.... Again, this is nothing that everyone doesn't have to balance, but I'm still clinging to the hope we can make things work without my actually going to the lengths of hunting for a *serious job* - I work more or less full time on my writing and also on my farming, but the ability to be flexible has been so important, and losing that would be a real loss.

Time and happiness - our life is overscheduled right now, mostly in good ways and I haven't fully been able to manage this. I haven't kept my "three days a week" resolution as a writer - I've got to figure out what would make that possible for me. I find myself looking more and more towards Shabbat every week, to our sabbath that we explicitly clear upfront - time with friends and family, quiet and peace. I've always enjoyed it, but as we've been busier, it becomes like oxygen, a necessary space for all of us.

After the second week in July, we have purposely planned to stay home, on the assumption that additional children may be part of our family by then. I'm looking forward to this, too. Summer is busy, of course, with harvesting, gardening, preserving, and by July our thoughts start turning to winter, and I'm certain that two or three new kids will turn our lives to chaos. At the same time, just being at home and staying there for a while, building in time to establish a routine sounds satisfying with all the going and doing we've been doing.

Did I mention that I was very fortunate to have kindness and generosity coming at me from all directions? One place it has come from is my longtime internet friend MEA (who I have never met in person but hope to one of these days) also known on facebook as Alyss. I mentioned I was planning on knitting afghans for each of the beds for the new kids, and MEA offered to help and suggested others might as well. I think she rightly suspected that if left to me, the afghans might never get finished! So no pressure at all, but if you are aching for a knitting or crocheting project, and would like to make one or more 8x8 squares, we'll sew them together at a finishing party (hopefully in MEA's neighborhood - I'll come down to NJ and we'll have a bash!). If we get more than we need, we'll donate any additional afghans to other foster kids - there are certainly plenty of them.

MEA put together a facebook group "Gleanings Knitters" to get us started, so if you'd like to join a knit/crochet-a-long please do! I sometimes get lost in the fantasy of doing everything myself - but the project of expanding our family has been a powerful revelation of how reliant I am on my community. I've been reliant on my community here, as many people who have been through the foster and adoptive process have opened their experience to me, and my home community. I feel very lucky that I can rely so much on my community here - thank you all.

So how has this month been for the rest of y'all?

Sharon

sastyk Thu, 03/24/2011 - 04:32

Tags

I still have to send you your tablecloth! (It's finished, it's just waiting for a few tucked ends and good pressing, I swear!)

But I'll add my name to the list of the crochet/knitters. I'll make a few squares, and I'll see if I can throw a nice throw blanket in there or something. Those crochet up in no time (at least, it would after I finish the baby blanket I'm making for my step-sister :-P).

I'm excited for you with all of your plans coming into place and lining up properly. I don't doubt that you'll come to love your foster children, but I wish you luck in any possible struggles to come.

I wish Eric good luck with the bees. Our first year with them was pretty much a disaster, but we're going to try again this year. Bees are utterly fascinating creatures, but even if they weren't they are desperately crucial to our food supply. So I feel it's a duty to try to keep them.

I'm not on facebook, so I don't have access to the afghan squares page. But please post any updates on the project on your blog. I can't promise that I'll get a square done; like you I'm very busy once spring arrives properly. And I tend to do most of my knitting in winter. But if I do get some squares knitted, I'd like to know what to do with them. I might even make the sewing party in NJ, depending on when and where it is.

MEA, if you see this, I've tried your email twice, with and without the capitalization you indicated. It's bouncing back to me as a permanent fail. ??? Sharon, not sure if MEA found my comment on her own, or if you forwarded it to her. If the latter, please pass on the message?

Ah, Sharon... more kids? I was hoping you'd go take your revolutionariness up a notch... I am sad. Just seemed to me that you've done a heroic job in the raising kids department, and there are so many other challenges...

I've been feeling guilty for not saying anything... I remember we helped talk you out of trooping through Albany as a neighborhood organizer... wish I had pitched in more boldly with this one. Sigh. May you path lead you well. Best of luck, in any case.