Thursday

Little goat takes a lot of time so haven’t gotten half my to do list done   Lots of dishwashing and some kitchen cleaning. Got feed, hay delivery,  took out some trash, kept everyone fed and watered. Little goat spent most of the day outside. 

Went to do chores and found Bashful all wound up in the shade cloth. Got him untangled pretty easy but his leg is pretty swollen. 

What is it goats and feed sacks?   Midnight’s boys are real chunks. 

We got a little sprinkle of rain with a lot of wind so I milked a bit late, expecting a huge downpour any minute but no such luck. 

Well tomorrow is another day. Good night 

Tuesday and Wednesday

I managed to get some strings tacked up for the Armenian cucumbers. 

I love day lilies. 

Picked a few peppers and garlic chives. Cooked the peppers in some butter and added some cooked chicken. 

And then I added some cream. Yes that is cream that I skimmed off the goat milk and put in the freezer a few months ago. Cold it is so thick you have to scoop it out of the jar. 

Creamy pepper chicken over brown rice. It was yummy 

Wednesday little goat stayed outside with mom and brother all day. 

The worm boxes are ready to harvest some castings. 

These chicks need to be split up and have more space. 

Trying to finish the canopy over the milk stand so we don’t get too wet when it rains. 

Really Latte?

Got some dishes and laundry done and worked both days at my part time job. With all the things going on it’s hard to keep up. 

Sunday & Monday

Sunday was cooler than it has been so little goat spent some time outside with mom

And brother. But mom doesn’t love him like she does his brother. Although she calls for him when I take him back in the house, when he’s out with her she isn’t really interested and she refuses to let him nurse. She is being a good mom but to brother. 

Found a funny looking egg in the nest box. 

And a surprise in the yard. I probably wouldn’t have seen this Western Diamondback except the cat had been messing with it and made it mad. 

Mr. Sweetheart   This little Nankin is the sweetest boy. Jumping up for me to hold him and talk to him every morning. 

I ended up watering by headlight on Sunday. 

Forgot to take pictures but Monday was some potting up of overgrown pepper seedlings, making soap, dishes and laundry, feeding the baby and all the usual feeding, watering and milking. 

Little goat put his self to bed. Good night. 

To Market, To Market

Saturday morning at the Globe-Miami Farmers Market. Of course I was up at 4 to feed little goat and do all the other chores. Then load up and go to market. 

I mostly had Goat Milk Soap and Lotion. Been just a little too busy this week to pick greens or pack up some plants. Maybe next week. 

Little goat was a big hit at market and there was no shortage of baby sitters. 

Came home, fed the baby, unpacked the car, took care of some paperwork, ate lunch, fed the baby, started to do chores when the storm hit. Why do monsoon rains always have to come at milking time.  I ended up milking with girls tied up in their pens. They were not thrilled with the change in routine and we had some spilt milk. 

Put away the milk, fed the baby, edited the video and went to bed. I’m baaaaad. I didn’t even wash dishes. 

Farmer Friday

Dreamed all night this little guy didn’t make it. I was almost afraid to touch him when I got up because it looked like he hadn’t moved all night. A little weak but alive. And after 1 1/2 ounces of milk pretty frisky. 

Doing the usual morning chores. And there are Midnight’s twins in with Chocolate and Gazelle. I put them back where they belonged. 

They did it again so I just put Midnight back in the pen. So far things are good. 

Got caught up on processing eggs, just 3 days behind. 

Little goat was hungry after his nap. 

Made deliveries to Superior. Did chores. Forgot to get a picture of Storm on the milk stand. One side of her udder was getting full and tight. Milked out a pint of colostrum for the bottle baby. 

Another pic just because. 😛

Not sure which one has longer ears! This is bottle baby’s brother. 

Dark thirty when I got done outside and even then probably forgot to water something. 20% chance of rain tonight. Fingers crossed. 

And a Crazy Thursday

Midnight’s boys doing fine. 

Storm’s boys doing on AM check. 

Went and got feed. Added some shade cloth to Storm and Esmarelda’s pen. Did the usual chores. Cleaned up and went to lunch with a family friend. It was 100° F at 11:00 am. By mid afternoon it was 110° and Storm’s boys were struggling, especially the little black one. So they got to come in the house and cool off. Midnight’s boys were panting a little but seemed ok. And all of the adults looked fine. 

Did the usual evening chores. It was still really hot but I put the kids back with their mom. Got milking done and checked on them. Little brown baby was up bouncing around. Little black one was going downhill fast. Just too hot. So he’s probably going to end up as a bottle baby. Part of the problem is he is still wobbly on his legs and having a hard time staying close to mom. And while mom doesn’t hate him she’s not paying as much attention to him as to the other one. 

One of Midnight’ boys found a way into the pen next door. I hustled him back to mom. Not sure what Gazelle and Chocolate thought. 

Stayed up late to make another batch of orange blossom lotion. Washed up milk things, some people dishes and lotion equipment. It’s 10:00 pm and barely under 90°.  I hope they are right that it will be cooler tomorrow. 

My Wild, Whacky, Wonderful Wednesday

First chore of the morning, hay the goats. Midnight’s boys are doing great. 

Major agenda item, fly control. Mocha, Latte and Posie share a small pen and they all pee in the same spot. Wet manure draws flies. All the wet bits get dumped in chicken pens. The chickens will scratch through it, eat some of the waste hay and pretty much all the fly larvae. I mucked out about 35 buckets. To say I’m a bit behind is and understatement. 

I cleaned the milk stand and the area around it. I put a good bit of lime down to help dry things out. While I’m loathe to use it loose I did scatter some fly bait just outside the pen. 

This little garden looks a bit sad. I’m not sure if it’s infested with nematodes or not.  A dwarf mulberry, two figs,  a rose and some random stuff in there. It might just need more regular watering. So I watered while I cleaned the goat pen. 

And an exciting find while I watered the potted tomatoes. 

Unmolded the soap from yesterday and made another batch.  I also made another batch of lotion. 

Storm didn’t get up right away when I took out afternoon hay. 

She was in labor. It was 106°. Fortunately we got a little bit of a breeze. And the sun was starting to go down. 

Twin boys. The little black one was first and didn’t have his legs in quite the right position. The front legs should both be extended so the kid comes out feet first with its nose resting on the legs. This guy had one foot barely under his chin. When I hooked that one and got it straight I realized his other foot wasn’t out. His leg was curled under and it was pretty easy to get hold of and then he just plopped right on out, followed quickly by his brother. 

The black boy is a bit smaller and weaker than his brother; he keeps doing the splits when he’s trying to nurse. So I held him up while he got his first drink. And at first Storm wasn’t too sure about this nursing thing. Amazingly Esmarelda hung out and seemed to just ignore everything going on. Of course she is most interested in filling her stomach. 

I went on and started milking (about 45 minutes late, everybody was hollering for their snacks). Almost done, I went to get more grain and the little black boy was laying all covered in hay dust, with his head turned back and I couldn’t tell if he was breathing or not. 

In a terrified panic I ran in and scooped him up. Whew he’s breathing. But not very lively at all. Maybe too hot? Maybe didn’t get enough to drink?  I grabbed the bottle from the kidding box and since I was in the middle of milking I grabbed the warmest jar and poured some in. Once I got him to latch he ate with gusto and downed about 1-1 1/2 ounces. (Good amount for newborn!). 

Whew. Ok back in with mom but I’m worried you are going to get lost again since you aren’t as sturdy on your legs as your brother. Finish milking, feed chickens, fill water buckets. Get milk put away. Thaw some frozen colostrum and break a canning jar while I’m at it. 

Boil more water, get out more colostrum, wait for it to hit 100°

Talk with my friend, another goat keeper. She reminds me some B complex might help. So prep a syringe ( it’s an injectable).  It’s after 8 and full dark. Go out with my headlamp and sure enough little guy is separated from brother who is sleeping and mom is eating hay. Sigh. He just keeps falling down and the pens slopes so he ends up down hill. Not interested in the bottle now, hopefully that means mom has fed him some more. A little B12 by mouth and a B complex shot in a teeny little hip. Put him over with brother and mom comes to snuggle up with them and chew her cud.  Fingers crossed we’re good in the morning.  A cup of tea, finish writing this and now it’s waaaay past my bedtime! 

Zzzzzzzzzz