Zarah Belle and her clones

Went out this morning to feed the animals and milk a few goats. Zarah wasn't there, so I figured she had already had kids or was getting ready. And sure enough, there she was in the back corner of the barn, laying down and pushing. I went ahead and put her in the back stall. Did all the chores. Came back out with some feed and warm molasses water and a few towels.

I had to pull that big John Henry Jr. out. Zarah was screaming like a banshee. Why are bucks so big? And of course he had to be first out. So got him out and cleaned off Zarah went over to the other side and looked back, like she was thinking, what the heck just happened here? I kept waiting for more to come out, but she just stood there. I got the buck cleaned and put him over there with her. She started licking him then. I figured that might stimulate the labor again. And then she laid down, I saw another water bag, and plop, out came another kid. And it's a girl!!! Looks just like her grand mother, Abby.

Then I saw another water bubble. But nothing happened. So I got her up and it it broke. Got the kids to the milk bar and the girl latched on. It took awhile for the boy. I had to leave.

So we have a John Henry clone and an Abby clone. Just stinkin' adorable! I'll put an album on my Outback Farm FB page. So if ya want to see some adorable goatie cuteness, come on over there. I'm the one with the sign on the header, in Chickamauga, Ga.

Looking forward

I am done with my whining now. I sounded like a baby. I am now looking forward to nice warm spring days, lots of sunshine and blue skies. Flowers everywhere. And trees with pretty new green leaves all over them. I love bare nekked trees, but I have had enough of them for awhile. I want some leaves now. And I am looking forward to getting my seeds and tilling in the garden and planting the seeds. I am looking forward to seeing new baby plants coming up. And then picking the yummy fresh veggies again. Just to play in some DRY dirt would be great!

I am also going to be getting some bees about the middle of March! I am SO excited. I have a friend who has hundreds of hives and he's ready to downsize soon. I'll be getting 2 nooks (?). And I really am not sure about where to put them. I'll also be taking a bee class in April. There's a blogger not too far from me who is having a workshop. Sounds like fun. I will learn as I go, I suppose. I'll ask the guy I'm getting the bees from where is the best place to put them. And if they are near the gardens, can I mow near the hive? How much noise can they handle? I will soon find out!

And baby lambs will be bouncing all over the place soon! Another sure sign of spring to come. And more goat kids too.

So there are a lot of good things to look forward to. It's not all mud and slime and mess. It'll be better soon!

What are you looking forward too?

Crappy day

This is my arm. Does it look like I just might be a little allergic to sheep? I have 2 of my ewes with cracked hooves. I've been trying to get them trimmed, which means I have to wrap my arms around their necks and try to get the right foot and then get the trimmers and all the other things I need, while trying to hold them still.  Then this happens. Big whelps all along my arms. I wash my hands and arms as soon as I can with soapy water. But this happens every time I have to do anything like this.

I did get some Kopertox from the Co-op after calling the vet just to make sure I was doing all the right things. I still smell like that stuff. And it's supposed to start in raining again. When my friend comes to shear, I am going to do all the trimming of hooves then. It's just really hard to do by myself. I would really love to have a trained Border Collie to help out. (And they are going to lamb in a week or so too.)

Anyway, it's just been one of those crappy days for me. Last night I gave all the kids their CDT shots. Then went out later to put the kids in another stall by their selves for the night. I felt wet on my pants but didn't think anything about it. Just thought it was some urine. But this morning, one of the buck kids has diarrhea. His whole back end is a wet mess, poor thing. I think I must be feeding them too much? The past few days I've been giving them a full baby bottle in the morning and evening. Plus they have been getting some milk from Abby. So tonight I didn't give them a bottle. I just don't know what to do anymore.

And, this morning, I had to get Abby out f the barn to come in to milk her. But she just stood out in the holding area, panting really heavy like a dog. I called the vet. He told me to take her temp. It could be pneumonia. But her temp was only 99.9. Well, he said that was too cold, I needed to get her warmed up. And to give her Red Cell and a shot of B Complex. Did that. Plus she went outside in the sun. And this afternoon, when I got home, she was way up in the back, eating grass, kids hopping all around her. I so wish I could sell these 2 bucks. I just am at a loss as to what to do with Abby. She has a good day, then a bad day. And she looks horrible too. And, I have noticed when she poops, there is a lot of grain in the poop, like she's not digesting it all.

So any advice or suggestions about any of this?

More milk

I didn't put the kids up the night before last. I didn't feel too well. But I did last night. This is Penelope's milk this morning. Some of Abby's is in the bottles. I added some of P's milk to them to feed the boys.

The family that wants Ursula is going to go ahead and get her probably tomorrow. I am probably going to keep Phoebe. I'll be getting Trudy's buck kid when he is weaned. So I will use him to breed any Boer cross does next year. I think this is what I'll be doing. Not totally sure about it though. I have hopes of selling goat meat soon. There are several people interested in it. So we shall see. I read that if a buck and doe with elf ears are bred together, they will have kids with ears. I really want to see if this happens, since both Phoebe and this little buckling have elf ears. Also, Phoebe is polled, so I want to see if she's carry the polled gene in here like Penelope does. So a little experimenting going to go on here at Outback Farm soon.

I am ready to be back in the milk business. I have had one person from last year calling to see if i'll have milk this year. And there are 4 others too. Plus my daughter wants to start drinking goat milk for her digestion. She was at church last Sunday and the preacher talked about goat milk. Saying he knew someone who had horrible stomach problems, ulcers, I think. He found some raw goat milk and drank that for 3 months stright and went back to his doctor and it was all gone. So she wants to try it herself. I already know it's trua and it works!

How does this happen?

I have been wanting to clean out my cabinet that holds all my little storage containers for the longest time. It's been a mess. So how does this happen? Who is taking all the bottoms to all these tops? Where are they? Does someone have a bunch of tops with no bottoms and they come into my house at night and take all the bottoms and leave the tops? I have no idea where all the bottoms are. And I have at least 50 tops to nothing. So what do I do? Save them in hopes that one day they will be brought back to me? Or throw them all away? Then I will have a bunch of bottoms with no tops soon. It just never ends.

So does anyone have a bunch of bottoms that need tops? Would you like me to send these to you?

I am off to clean out the horrible messy stinky regions of the refrigerator now. If I don't come back here soon, I have fallen into the depths of the fridge, never to be seen again. It's been fun!

First official milking this morning.

This is Penelope this morning. I put all 4 kids up in a stall last night so I could milk in the morning. Abby too. This is what Penelope looked like. I milked out almost a half gallon! And left some for the kids too. Very impressive for such a small doe and a first freshener too. Her teats go forward a bit but I don't mind at all. She is very easy to milk and pretty fast too.




And this is after milking. You can see her teats now.

The answer my friend, is blowing in the wind...

the answer is blowing in the wind.

Saturday, clothes blowing in the very strong wind. I had to go outside several times to chase sheets. Once out in the field next door. But they were dry in a few hours. Now, we haven't had rain in 4 days straight! So hopefully we shall dry out too. (And I love that song.)