Man vs Gate

Man vs Gate or Man vs Goat?

Sometimes disagreements can be funny. I don't always have to be right. Neither does my DH. In fact, we are really good at both being wrong about some things. I do have a hard time keeping my opinion to myself, though. And occasionally I've let slip the awful, "I told you so." I know, I know, bad wife. Some of our arguments are over the silliest things: how to fold his shirts, which Nascar driver to root for, how many squash plants we need, etc... One ongoing disagreement that has brought some humor- and frustration (got to be honest, sometimes my mom reads this blog and she will call me on a fib)- is the fence line in the goat pen. From the day we put the pen up I have tried to tell him that a shared line is a bad idea. And ever since he has begged to differ. BEGGED TO DIFFER. About MY goats. Can you imagine?

So our bucks and does share a fence line. And the only way to get into the buck side of the pen is through a shared gate on that shared line- the same shared line that has been busted through and mended over and over since the very first rut season. That line that has the shared gate that has been busted through and knocked plum off the hinges every year that the fence line held. Yes. That one.

This was one of the seasons when the fence held longer than the gate. Once the gate was broken, the pen was a free-for-all for all the happy goats until this past week. Because we were down to the wire, again, on getting everyone separated for kidding. (Not that kidding is an issue but feeding and milking is.) Trying to keep the bucks out of the grain for the milker- we don't feed grain to the bucks ever- and off the milk stand- which is still freestanding in the outdoors- is a nightmare.

Allow me to show off our mended gate, which I have been assured is now goat proof. It was SUPPOSED to be goat proof the last time it was mended but this time DH is sure- absolutely, positively, stainless steel scrap welded- sure that no excited (ahem) buck is going to be able to bust through in an attempt to get to the attractive doe on the other side.

You can also see the section of fence that was the first site of damage before the gate was attacked. Since it had been repaired with another panel, DH was able to block it off with a piece of plywood between the panels. That will prevent any kids from getting stuck while they are young but that section will need to be repaired before next rut season. Unless... we decide maybe it's time to not share a fence line before then. OR, on the off chance that DH is right and stainless steel is the way to go, maybe he will have collected enough scrap by next season to weld up a goat proof fence. Who knows? Meanwhile, though, I'm working out which side of my tongue I'll have to bite in case an "I told you so" is warranted.

Heat Pack Removal

It's that time of the year. Again. Already! Actually, the heat packs in the goat sheds should have been dug out last month but winter kept hanging on. As soon as warm weather returned, rain came along with it. In fact, it's been pouring buckets all morning. But the forecast says Friday will be sunny and 70* so I'm mentally preparing to get that dreaded task done.

I expect the recent rains will make hauling the stuff harder. I pull a wagon back and forth from the sheds to the garden. It will take all of one day and maybe two to get it all out. Last year DH was here to help but that won't be the case this time. While I'm at it, I'd like to get the rest of the winter's wasted hay but I know it's going to be soaked and heavy. We will see.

And every year I wonder why I put myself through it. Why not just get rid of the durn goats? I think it just comes down to stubbornness. Well, I KNOW it does. I don't want to admit defeat to my bad back. Those goats represent what I want- freedom to grow my own meat and milk. I'll go down kicking and screaming (and probably over medicated) before I'll give up. Besides, I love the little boogers! (Let's just keep that between us.)

Dairy Free?

Despite my best efforts, the milk supply did not increase in the dairy goat. Increased grain, increased calcium supplements, emptying the udder more often, I tried it all. She has turned 7 years old this year and I think her body is winding down. This is also the first year she's thrown a single. So I am making the call to stop milking and let her use her energy to just raise the little doeling.

In the next few days I'll be doing a lot of thinking and number crunching to decide if I will try breeding her again or if she will go into retirement. I have always thought does were retired around age 9 but I also have to take into consideration that she was a sale barn goat and wasn't in the best health when she first came here. She's been an excellent keeper and will live out her days here as a companion goat no matter what I decide.

If Ronnie does go into retirement, I'm not sure if I'll ever have a dairy goat again. The doeling looks more like the pygmy buck every day and will likely not be a milker. In order to get a dairy goat, I would have to buy one or keep breeding Ronnie to try for a dairy doeling. Even if I do breed her again, it will be two years before we would be getting milk from the kid- two years of feeding Ronnie, bucks, and kids with no return except meat from bucklings. On the other hand, we could buy a quality doe or wait it out. Then we would also have time to rig up some kind of milking shelter (hello- milking in the rain sucks!) and a kid pen to separate doe and kids at night.

So many thoughts! Sometimes the decisions are tough! Homesteading on a small property allows less room for mistakes. I can't keep "extras" until I know which way is going to work best. I've learned that putting a little more time, effort, and money into an animal pays off in big ways when there's little wiggle room but management plays just as big a part. Wise decisions matter!

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Eenie, Meenie,...

I finally got a chance to get some baby goat pictures! Like I said before, the gate broke on the buck pen the day after the planned breeding and I walked out to find both bucks in with the doe the next morning. And now I'm playing "Who's Your Daddy?" Anybody want to take a guess at which buck gets to pass out the cigars? I have no idea!

First: the bucks. Both are miniatures, Moose is a Pygmy and Dilly is a Nigerian Dwarf. Dilly is the planned sire because I wanted a new dairy doeling. We keep Moose for meat babies.

Moose on your left, Dilly on your right

And now: Ronnie (the doe) along with her adorable, bouncy kid

 I know absolutely nothing about goat genetics. Who passes on what and which is dominant? For what it's worth, Dilly has blue eyes and the kid has brown. And we have bred Moose to Ronnie before. That resulted in some kids having the brown inner legs, belt, and eye markings like mama goat while others didn't.

So, I believe we have an unsolvable mystery. But it is fun to try and guess. Be my guest to join in! Meanwhile the men are trying to work it out the old fashioned way:

Silly boys! Around here, you're all Hoosier Daddies!

Who's Your Daddy?

We got a new little tail wagger! Ronnie kidded sometime in the wee hours this morning. I was up til midnight dashing in and out of the rain to her little shed, checking on her. She really did not want me around and about 12:30 I dozed off. When I went back out at 6:30 this morning, there was one little girl on the ground- dry, clean, and warm- and one proud mama looking over her. I was surprised there was only one since she has always had 2 or 3 babies in the past. Since it was raining her companion wether was also in the shed. I did a little chasing and cornering and sliding in the mud and finally got him into the buck pen.

Speaking of bucks, the original plan was to breed Ronnie to Dilly, our Nigerian Dwarf buck. But the day after that planned "date" the gate between the two pens broke. So Moose, our Pygmy buck, also got a "date" with her. I'm not really sure which guy got the deed done, the kid looks like both of them. Hmmm

Today I will leave mama and kid alone as much as possible. Tomorrow I will be taking all kinds of pictures to share here. Maybe y'all can help me figure out who the daddy is.

How to Build a Goat Shelter- Update

"How to Build a Goat Shelter" is the most popular post I've ever written. Ever. It shows up in my stats every single week. And it's also the easiest project we've ever completed. Ever. We just opened a box, ignored the directions, messed up, read the directions, fixed the mistakes and had a goat shelter. In. That. Order. You can click here if you want to see how we did it.

Yesterday I received an email asking about how the shelter has held up. So today I'm going to answer that question for everyone who has wound up here in their Googling to find "how to build a goat shelter." I'm even removing my tongue from my cheek because, in all seriousness, maybe this can help someone.

First off let me say that when we originally built that shed we had only one little buckling. Our goat adventures were just beginning and I had NO CLUE what to expect from a full size buck goat. Followers of this blog will know the damage that goat did to fences, gates, and myself. Many times I would be inside my home wondering what was making a terrible racket outside. Further investigation would reveal a goat RAMMING the side of his shelter. He managed to knock the doors completely off! I do not know why. But I do know that the little Rubbermaid shed held up to the abuse until we built a more solid shelter from wood and a dog pen. You can see that shelter by clicking here.

As our goat learning has increased, so has our plans for our backyard herd. Right now we have 2 miniature bucks (1 pygmy and 1 Nigerian dwarf) and they spent last winter together in the little shed. This winter we will move our doe to this shed and the bucks will have the bigger shed simply because the Rubbermaid shed is on the side of the fence I prefer to keep the milk stand on. The shelter is 3 sided but deep enough to keep the wind off the expected Spring babies and she has successfully kidded and raised kids in this shed twice before. I fully expect it to be an adequate shelter!

And last I will say this- all goats are different. They each have a personality of their own and what is good for one may not necessarily hold up for another. Also, weather conditions play a big factor in providing shelter for any critter. My goats prefer to sleep outside most of the time. They seek shelter when the temperature is at or below freezing or in times of snow/rain. They will spend the majority of November through March nights in the shelter. But if the sun is shining, the wind is calm, and the snow isn't too deep, they will spend almost every daylight hour outside, munching hay or lounging on a wooden platform.

As for the shed, it has worked well for us and I would do it over again. If it had not worked well for our goats, we wouldn't have had any trouble finding another use for the little shed so our losses would have been minimal. Your mileage may vary.

Goat shed from front

from top, roof open

from top, roof open

DH added a bar to hang trough and mineral feeder

Some cuties enjoying the sunshine

If You Give A Moose A Peanut

The topic of the day is goat minerals, those handy little supplements goats need to stay healthy and in good condition. From the time we got our first goat, we've been doing what I call the mineral dance. 

It goes like this:

Day 1  I would put the loose (important because goats don't have rough tongues) minerals free choice into a mineral feeder inside the goat's shed.

Day 2 Find goat berries in untouched minerals. Use a whisk broom to sweep out mineral feeder and place a smaller amount of minerals in it.

Day 3 Repeat day 2

Day 4 Repeat day 3

Day 5 Top dress the alfalfa pellets with a squirt of cooking spray to hold the minerals on.

Day 6 Use a whisk broom to sweep minerals out of pellet trough then repeat day 5

Day 7 Give up and feed minerals by hand. Which some goats loved...and fought over...and slobbered on...knocking me around and leaving a wet, sticky mess in my hand. But some goats turned up their noses.

So I broke down and bought a mineral paste. It's a little more inconvenient because it's not free choice. I have to measure and figure dosage. And I have to be sure each goat gets its share. At first I was top dressing their pellets with the paste but some goats like the taste and some goats don't. And Moose? He thought I was trying to poison him- POISON I tell ya! What to do? What to do? Why, sneak the little booger's minerals into him of course. We started out with marshmallows. I mean, who doesn't like marshmallows?  Moose doesn't like marshmallows. Or animal crackers? Or saltines? Bread? Uh uh, nope. Finally a few weeks ago, I discovered Moose's treat of choice. Peanuts. So once a week I crack open a peanut, dump the nuts out, measure in the paste, and press the shell halves together to hide a mineral dose.

And now? Now I'm happy to report the goats are all looking great-the picture of health! Coats are shiny!

In the Mud and the Muck and the...Hair

Follow up of the first day of milking:

I came, I milked, I conquered! It went pretty much the way I expected/remembered. Ronnie (short for Veronica, since the question was raised) was not a happy camper but settled down once she realized she didn't really have a choice. The hobble was more of a hindrance so I'm rethinking using it again. And the quantity of milk was small even for a middle of the day milking. I was left with a great curiosity about how this whole venture will pan out.

 The kidding happened way too early in the year so Ronnie has an abundance of winter coat and lots of udder hair. My first batch of milk looks like this

Blech!

Luckily the chickens aren't picky about hair in their food so they will get to enjoy this. I, on the other hand, am never going to drink milk like that. 

So today I went out and stood in this

Blech!

just so I could do this

Since it was the middle of the day again, I didn't milk her. I figure the clipping was enough stress for one day. But tomorrow morning, with a little luck, the ground will be drier and I'll get out there before the kids steal all the good stuff!    Goat milk?

A Dilly of a Goat

As promised, here are pictures of the new little guy:

In the buck shed

According to the dictionary, the word dilly means remarkable. This buckling is certainly that- with his pretty blue eyes and sweet demeanor but I call him Dilly for a different reason. All our goats- from the first one we ever got (Archie)- have been named after Archie comics characters. This one has been dubbed Dilton Doily. Dilton Doily was Moose Mason's best friend in the famous comic book. But that name is just too big for such a small goat! So... Dilly it is!

Sneaking up on Moose, Betty, and Veronica

Introducing a New Goat

In my search for a companion for Moose, I ran across an ad selling a blue-eyed Nigerian Dwarf buckling. Um, score!! I am so excited! DS#3 went with me to pick him up Tuesday night and now I am introducing him to our "herd."

 I find the introduction process very intimidating. The older goats can get a little rough when they're putting the young'uns in their place. On top of that, this new little guy is tiny. TINY! He's smaller than most of the kids that have been born here, although he's about 3 months old.

After much thought about how to integrate him and protect him at the same time (while the little dude snoozed in a pet carrier in my living room) I decided to use the same plan I used to introduce Moose to the does. In order to explain it in a way that might make sense, you'd have to see our goat set-up. So I drew it out in Microsoft Paint to give you a general idea:

not to scale, open spaces are gates

In an effort to keep him safe, all the other goats are in the doe pen. They are separated only by the cattle panel and gate. So he has their companionship- in a way. 

It didn't take long for him to figure out that he could fit through the panel and join in the fun on the other side of the fence. It took only a few seconds longer for him to find out that it wasn't friendly over there. So back through the panel he went! Right now he can go back and forth as he pleases. My hope is that by the time he's too big to fit, he will be totally accepted by the other goats. This worked well before, fingers crossed!

Coming soon-pictures and a name for the new guy.

Wether or Not

It was a balmy 32 degrees when I woke up yesterday morning. I know it has to be colder today but I don't want to look at the thermometer- it will make me want to crawl back into my nice warm bed!

Where did fall go?? I thought I would have more time to work on goat management but once again I find myself playing catch up. Right now Moose is still running with the ladies and they all snuggle up together on the cold nights. But soon I will have to move him into his own quarters and I'm worried about his little pygmy body in that drafty buck shed. He's going to need a companion.

My thoughts were to get a Nigerian Dwarf buck to get more dairy genes into our kids next generation. But just the smell of one buck in rut has changed my mind. Our little space just can't handle that much "perfume." So now I've decided to get him a little wether buddy- one with no name that we can send off to freezer camp next spring if our does have successful kiddings.

Unfortunately, one trip to the auction has opened my eyes to how much that little investment is going to cost me. All the wether goats were going for over $100. Yikes. Of course they were all nicely filled out- last spring's babies. So now I'm scouring Craig's List and online livestock sales looking for a wether. Wish me luck!

Ooh Ooh That Smell

Can't you smell that smell?

Walking around our little grocery store the other day, I got a big whiff of it- buck. goat. in. rut.
So I kept sniffing as people walked by. I got a few odd looks but I did not care. Goats aren't really common in my area and I wanted to know who had a stinky guy in their possession. Finally- someone to share goat tales with! Yippee!!

And then I looked down and noticed I had forgotten to change out of my chore attire before I went to town. Yep, I was sporting Eau de Moose in front of all the locals.

Call me nutty but I'm guessing all those odd looks were not because I was sniffing them. I guess they were sniffing me. Or trying not to!

Winter Coat Storage

According to the goats, the best place to store your winter furs is along a fence.

I've brushed and brushed but they still look shaggy and rub the fence a lot. I guess that's proof that their bodies made an extra thick winter coat for the harsh winter we had.

To Have and To Hold (Goat Horns)

Ah, The Great Goat Horn Debate

 The topic comes up in goat discussions everywhere...and it can get heated.  I don't think there is a one size fits all answer to keeping or removing goat horns. If you are trying to decide which way to go, good luck!

We keep our goats horned and here's most of the reasons why:

1. Size of herd
 We live on one acre so our "herd" has to be small and on a dry lot. Right now we are at capacity- one buck and two does with a little bit of space for future kids. Since we're small, we have to be selective. We've decided our buck will be a small breed variety. Pygmy goats are more prevalent in our area and finding a disbudded Pygmy is very difficult.

2. Cost
 Sure we could disbud our own but we don't have access to a livestock vet. Every time we tried to disbud, we would be taking a chance that something could go wrong and we would have to locate and travel quite a ways for medical treatment. Our current practice for medical emergencies is to put down humanely any animal that can't be treated by us with advice and medicines from our pet vets. There it is- a hard truth. So unnecessary risks are not happening here. The medical expenses are nothing compared to the emotional toll of putting down an animal. So we paid more for goat fencing -no screaming horned goats looking for rescue from fence holes.

 3. Comfort
 Some folks believe that horns are a way for goats to dissipate heat in the summer. I don't know if that's true or not (I asked them but they wouldn't comment.) If you've ever suffered through a humid Indiana summer, you would understand why I prefer to err on the side of caution.

4. To Hold
 Since we are so small, our kids are dam raised. I spend lots of time in the pen, taming and loving on them. But in my opinion, dam raised kids are still more skittish. Having horns to grab onto when needed is so helpful! Even the does need to be caught from time to time. Today, when I entered the gate, both does tried to make a run for the green bush just across the path. They came right up to me when I rattled the bucket of pellets, but not-no-way-not-no-how were they going back through that gate until I got a firm hold on their horns and wrangled them back in. It wasn't pretty but I got the job done a lot faster than if I'd had to hunt up a rope to haul them in with.

5. Protection
 Every night I'm lulled to sleep by the sound of my Beagle barking at the howling Coyotes- they are very near and very hungry. I find "evidence" of them in my yard often. (Yuck!) Sure my fence is secure, but nothing is foolproof. I like knowing my goats have some kind of weapon on them. Yes, an aggressive goat can turn that weapon on me. It's happened before. You can read here to find out what happened to him. Aggressiveness will not be tolerated here, horns or not.

So, there you have what works for us. Your mileage may vary.

Ain't Nothin' Purdy Here

Caution: This post is not for the faint of heart. In fact, it was all I could do to type it without sobbing. There's ugliness here....

 Let me start by saying I WAS raised with a mama who instilled some type of fashion sense in me. At least she did her best... But while I was in Florida last month, my critter sitting DS#3 sent me the following text: "All good at home. By the way there's a green snake living under your front steps." Yep, all matter of fact I got that good news. So I'm not stepping foot outside my door without boots of some kind on my feet.

There I am, in boots and shorts (shudder) and a pair of DH's old crew socks so the boot tops don't rub blisters (double shudder!) You'll only see it this once, unless you stop by and catch me ducking behind a tree or the trash can.

And I'm not the only girl on this place wearing something hideous. Oohhhh Noooo. Check out my sweet Ronnie.

There she is with her fashionable duct tape/ coffee can ensemble. She earned the right to wear that ugly contraption when she started self sucking- the collar of shame! She knows how embarrassing it is to wear something so ugly...I believe I caught her hiding behind a tree when the mailman drove past.

 We got the self sucking stopped but there are other udder problems going on.

So Ronnie is getting lots of massages and vitamin C. She hasn't been hand milked for a few weeks and her kid is just about weaned so she will be completely dry before long. After that, she probably won't be bred again-at least not for milking. She has a great temperament and will be an excellent companion goat for when we decide to get a real dairy goat, though! I can't put a price on the amount of knowledge I've gotten from her. Ugly or not, she's a keeper!

Kids!

I've been here, there, and yonder. Yonder is a fun place to go! In the meantime, Ronnie stayed home and gave me these little beauties......

 The white one in the rear is a doeling and the darker one is a buckling. And just because there is no such thing as too much cute, here is another picture.....

All together now...AWWWWW

There were originally 2 doelings. And since this blog is about everything I have learned, maybe someday there will be a post about my first experience with culling. Someday. In the far future. After a night of heavy drinking... Until then, I'm busy playing with kids, reading up on banding bucklings (yikes!) and sanitizing milking stuff, and getting everything ready for the big snow that's heading our way. I sure do wish spring would come!

Up On The Milk Stand

Funny how much stuff a buck can destroy. Immediately after ours got into Ronnie's pen, we hauled out the milk stand. DH had put hours into building it. He didn't have a pattern to build it, he'd borrowed an actual stand and fashioned a replica. We couldn't let it get demolished by "that darn goat!"
 Now the stand has been returned to it's rightful place. I don't have a milking parlor, shed, room, roof,... Nope, Ronnie and I enjoy our milking experience in the great outdoors. That's the main reason I leave her kids on her while she's in milk. If it's raining or sleeting or snowing or freezing cold, I don't have to worry about milking. Of course I don't get as much milk that way. But I don't use or need a lot of milk so it works for us.
 While "that darn goat" was in her pen, I took Ronnie off of grain so he couldn't get into it. But she is getting it now. I give the grain and pellets to her on the milk stand. That guarantees she will willingly jump up on the stand. She hasn't been milked since last October so I've been getting her used to my touching her this week. She REALLY doesn't like it and I can't say I blame her. But once her head is locked into place, she tolerates it.
 Today there is some ice on the stand but we did a practice run anyway! I took some pix even though she refused to put on her happy face....

"Does this stand make my butt look big?"

"Goat Chow, nom"

"Seriously? Stop watching me eat!"

"Did I hear you say you need clippers?"

After, I put the pictures on, I was proofreading before I hit the "publish" button. I noticed that my girl is starting to fishtail so I'm off to find some copper. (Sigh)

The Hard Stuff

I've got a lot of catching up to do! I leave you all for a few days and all kinds of stuff goes on. I'm planning to spend an afternoon of tea drinking and blog reading. DO NOT do anything else until I get caught up! :)

 Here's what we've been up to:
First, while DH was home, we decided it was time to take Archie to the processor. We (meaning DH) have never shied away from doing the deed ourselves, but golly, we NAMED this one, he slept in the living room.... And we have to take these opportunities when we get them. Who knows when DH will be home again? (If you DO know, will you please tell me? I can't plan anything!)
As soon as his sickness abated, DH spent a day in the garage- building panels for the bed of our truck. It was a double blessing to get rid of some used wood and now have livestock transport. (Ever haul a goat in the back seat of a Cobalt? I have!)

So Archie got to leave in the back of the truck. I went along to help DH unload him. It was a 5ish mile trip that seemed to last for days. That was about the hardest moment of this homesteading business we've gotten involved in. The deep down, nitty gritty stuff can be tough. I KNOW this was the right thing to do. He was too aggressive to sell, I couldn't pass a problem goat on to another person. In order to recoup the money we had invested in his feed and care, this was the most sensible option. Yes, we shared a few tears on the ride home. But we can rest at night knowing we did the right thing. I'm chalking this one up as "one sustainability lesson learned the hard way."

And then, DH got sent to Florida. And me, being the sensible girl I am, went along to soak up some sunshine and heal my heart. But I'm back now, ready to tackle new challenges- like the fact that poor Ronnie's belly is about to drag the ground. So, it's kid watch for me! Since we don't have a for sure breeding date, I'm betting she will deliver any month now (doe "code of honor" don't ya know?)

A Love Story (of sorts)

 This is a story of a homesteading girl, well a new-to-homesteading girl. She was real green when it came to things like gardens and chickens and sewing and.... And she had no clue about anything to do with goats. At all. But she wanted to learn. And she was fascinated with the thought of fresh goat milk, making her own cheese, and growing her own meat. So she did a little research and decided she would like to raise Kinder goats. Kinder goats are a cross between a pygmy buck and a nigerian doe. Perfect little goats for milk, meat, and small areas. So she went to the auction and bought her first goat. The story of that can be found here.

 And that adorable baby goat wormed his way into my heart. He's the golden boy on our little place-first one fed, first to get scratches and treats... If you want to follow the Archie saga, you can find details about his growing up by clicking on the "goats" tab on the right of the page. But now "that darn goat" as he is lovingly called, is all grown up. Or is he? I've learned that most goats grow for 3 years! So he's halfway grown up. But he has reached the size where I can no longer handle him. If he isn't willing to do something, forget it, it isn't happening- no matter how many times I shake my finger at him. He's a good 200 pounds of muscle and he knows how to use it. And when he is in rut, even the trusty cattle prod doesn't faze him. He butts it like a mortal enemy!

One of these things just doesn't belong here

 Two nights ago our sweet little doe, Ronnie, who is in the middle of a raging heat decided she would like a visit from Archie. Their pens adjoin with a gate between them so she slipped the bungee cord off the gate and invited him right on in. I'm sure they spent a passionate evening together before I discover the lovers munching on hay the next morning. Oh boy. Not only am I now faced with a possibly pregnant doe (and worse, the two doelings) but I have a burly smack-dab-in-the-middle-of-rut buck in the wrong pen. DH is out of town for the month and I am home alone. There was no way I was going in that pen by myself and nobody to call for help (that I wanted to place in harm's way.) So I did the only thing I knew to do. I sat down in the cold pouring rain and cried. I guess you can figure out how much THAT helped.

 After two days of hanging buckets of pellets and water on the fence so I wouldn't have to go inside, I got a break. Archie and company ventured into his pen and one of them had leaned against the gate-closing them all in! I quickly fed Archie from the outside and while he was busy munching away, I slipped through the girls' pen and hauled slipped the harem through the adjoining gate. Shew!! I also wired that gate shut so that couldn't happen again.

 Now, I'm faced with a situation I should have dealt with before all this happened. I have to decide what to do with a buck that I love so much but can't handle on my own. I don't have a lot of options.We aren't in "goat country" so there isn't a neighboring herd I can add him to. DH can take him back to the same auction house we got him from. Or I can keep him and spend my days worrying about his getting out again. I guess for now this story is "to be continued...."

The Goat Plan

 I will never forget the night I brought my first goat (Archie, who has recently been renamed "that darn goat" ) home. He was just a little bitty thing and I was so thrilled and terrified at the same time. I remember calling my DD while we were riding home and having her do an internet search of baby goat feeding. Click here for the site she found that had all the answers.Talk about an impulse buy. We had NOTHING prepared for the buckling who turned my life around!

 But we had talked about getting goats "someday" and had a pretty good idea of what their purpose would be here. We already had enough pets and even though I believe that animal companionship is an awesome task for an animal, we had decided that any other critters we brought onto the place would have a different purpose.
 Our "Goat Plan" was-and still is- to have one buck (for breeding), one doe (for breeding and milk.) Now let me stop right here and explain that since there are only 2 people living here and one of those people is on the road 21-27 days out of every month, we don't need a lot of milk. In fact, the chickens appreciate that we often share our expired store milk with them. So one doe is the plan for now and we will add another if needed.
 Of course in order to get milk from a goat (just like any other mammal) she has to produce kids. So kids have to be in our goat plan. That is, for us, a double blessing. First, by having dam raised kids, the doe doesn't have to be milked as regularly. If I want to go on the road with DH for a day or two, I can. When I need a little milk for cereal or a cornbread, I can just make sure I've milked out that much in the couple of days before that. And any extra milk can be frozen and saved up for cheese making or creamed soups or..... Second, kids shortly after being weaned can be sent off to freezer camp.
 Ah ha! Now we've gotten down to the purpose of this long post. (It took me forever to get here but I finally made it-pshew!)  And let me tell you, I will never forget the look on your face when you read that sentence about freezer camp (I can see it in my mind.) If you are one of  my friends from the south or the west, you were just nodding along, in agreement, wondering what was the point of all this. And if you are one of my friends from the east or the north, your mouth dropped open in horror and you re-read it to make sure you didn't misunderstand the first time. That should answer the question for you south/west readers.
 So there it is in black and white er green. Sometimes homesteading is fascinating to people who don't live the same lifestyle. And sometimes it isn't. But for now, it is what we try to do and I wouldn't want it any other way!
 Oh, by the way, I didn't forget about the post of washing a goat's udder. Sanitation is the number one priority when dealing with raw milk!! It just turned out to be really boring! So I wrote this instead and got it off my chest. If you are looking for more info about that, click on that link above and dig around, you'll find it.