MsDeb's Journal - Lookin Out My Back Door

[Devonviolet]

Oh MsDeb that is AWESOME!

What a marvelous testament to the goodness of goat's milk!!!

I look forward to following you on your journey, as I work toward getting my own dairy goats - hopefully this Summer.

 

[MsDeb]

Let Alice out of her isolation pen at the same time Tripod and Hazel were out grazing (yes I know it defeats the purpose of isolation but she'll be with them in a few days anyway) and it was literally a 3-goat circus! Poor Alice, who is cooped up in that small pen just wanted to run. Actually I think she wanted to fly. Scared the living daylights out of Tripod and Hazel. They must have thought she was chasing them so they ran, so she ran with them which made them run faster. That got the boys all excited (what doesn't?) and they were running around in their pen. It was quite the show! Of course I'd left my phone inside and by the time I thought to grab it to take pictures they had all calmed down. Alice wants to make friends.... and dominate. Tripod (who is usually a little bully) kept trying to hide under the glider and.... dominate. Hazel just wanted everyone to be nice. Domination is not her thing.

On an entirely different note, my son who was gifted with jars of goat milk for his birthday and my grandson have started making cheese. I don't remember what kind he said it was. Sort of like mozzarella but not? The had the grandest time the other night. Made the cheese and included it in whatever Indian dish they cooked for dinner, then made hot cocoa and fresh whipped cream to top it with. He said it's one of the best birthday presents he's ever had. Mama did good!!!

On yet another note, Alice kicked the bucket last night. She had her second dose of worm meds the night before and I had just said I was probably going to cry pouring out all that nice milk. I had attempted hobbling her back legs to keep the stomping and attempts to kick down and really thought it was working. It wasn't. It's amazing how far 3 cups of goat milk can spread.

 

[MsDeb]

This weekend we got Alice moved out of isolation and into the big pen. She immediately established dominance. The guys got our annoying gate that had to be wired shut in 3 places replaced with a real gate. Grandson Owen learned how to milk and son Cody taught me how to make cheese. Quite the productive weekend!

 

[Devonviolet]

This weekend we got Alice moved out of isolation and into the big pen. She immediately established dominance. The guys got our annoying gate that had to be wired shut in 3 places replaced with a real gate. Grandson Owen learned how to milk and son Cody taught me how to make cheese. Quite the productive weekend!View attachment 8365View attachment 8366View attachment 8367View attachment 8368View attachment 8369

AWESOME! I'm so excited to see your progress!

 

[MsDeb]

Full on goat geek moment here. Made my first ever bread pudding last night using my yummy creamy Alice milk! Suddenly everyone in the house thinks goat milk rocks. Go figure.

 

[Mike CHS]

That looks like it would convert just about anyone.

 

[Latestarter]

Thanks for sharing and it has been a real pleasure reading of your journey So may we have an update? Finn has now been with you for a while and I really enjoyed that journey as well. How is he doing? Have he and Alice come to a truce? I am so eager to start my goat journey but still have a few months to wait.

 

[MsDeb]

Catching up. Wow! I don't think I've posted since we got Sadie. She's a blue eyed ND mix that is now 8 months old. We got her in May. That brings us to 4 does, 1 wether and 1 buck. (Seven chickens, 2 dogs, 1 cat and a squirrel in every tree..insert music notes here)
Milking was a wonderful success for all of us but we had so many long weekends planned away this summer that I went ahead and let Alice dry up. Now it's November and I'm wondering if any of our girls are ever going to go into heat. Max, our buck, feels the same way. Probably much more so. Alice was acting like she was interested a couple of weeks ago so we took her to the boys pen, let Scotchy (the wether) out and put her in. After several rounds of Max's "OMG! I love you! You're so pretty! Let me sing my song for you! Let me spit for you! Let me blow raspberries for you!" and her response being "Hell no, get away from me you smelly beast." He came over to the fence, put his head through and onto my leg and I swear he said "Oh, Ma" like a heartbroken Jr. High boy. Poor guy. And poor Scotchy who has to put up with the ongoing frustration. So we wait and enjoy the sweet fragrance of hopeful buck perfume.
Finn, who still sleeps in the house and faithfully keeps the squirrels treed, is loving the weather change, rolling in dead leaves and fits right in with the guys in all their camo-wear. He seems to play the brother role with the goats. He likes to run up to the fence and see if anyone will but heads with him but he pays very close attention to anyone else who approaches them.
Rita, our chihuahua, has decided she likes the goats grain better than her dog food and "helps" us feed so she can sneak nibbles out of the bowls before they are served to the goats. I now refer to her as our littlest goat.
Life has been hectic but it has been good. Would love more nice weather and more time to enjoy it but we take what we can get. It's good to be back and I'm looking forward to catching up.

 

[Goat Whisperer]

I was wondering if Sadie was new. Congrats!

Glad Finn is doing well, even if he is a house pyr

Glad to 'see' you

 

[MsDeb]

Well this was a surprising weekend. But I'm going to make a short story long and begin on Thanksgiving day when David came in saying "we've got a critter in the shed." It was a sick raccoon in the boys pen and we had to get Max (our buck) and Scotchy (our wether) out so the guys could shoot the raccoon. And, since they were out, and since Alice had been acting a little bit interested in Max lately, we decided to just put them in the pen with the girls to see what would happen. Sure enough, Alice and Max were very interested in each other. Mark ALICE - Thanksgiving day on the calendar and start counting. I would have staked my life that no one else saw any action. I'd be dead.
A couple weeks later (Pearl Harbor Day to be exact) Alice was acting very interested again so there was another supervised visit and we have another ALICE marked on Pearl Harbor Day.
We were still trying to encourage our other does so Max went back in for his final visit on January 30. Alice didn't care but he and Hazel were very interested in each other. HAZEL January 30 marked on calendar.
Hazel is a FF Nubian and Alice is second time around mini and both have been getting very round. "Knowing" that Hazel wasn't due til the end of June I was surprised that her bag was filling last week and was very warm on Saturday. That ligament has been getting softer but we're first timers so what do I know. Maybe Nubians just do that? Alice, on the other hand who may or may not have been bred Thanksgiving or Pearl Harbor Day seems fine. No change other than getting rounder so forget Thanksgiving.
So it's Sunday morning, May Day, and our plans are to feed the critters and enjoy a day laying around doing nothing. I'm feeding the chickens when David says the now familiar "there's a critter in the shed" and heads in the house for his gun. Meanwhile I see Hazel heading back into the shed so I hurry into their pen to keep her from going in. Imagine my surprise when a goat baby stumbles out! I grab it up, look inside and by golly there's another one! Both babies are mostly dry but cords are wet and birthing area in the shed is just soaked. Hazel seems calm but as confused as I am because I'm looking at Alice trying to decide if she looks any smaller. She doesn't. Then I notice that Hazel has definitely given birth.
At that point David is headed toward us with the shotgun and I turn around with two baby goats in my arms. We were both pretty much laughing and crying and trying to figure out what to do. I made an emergency run to Walmart for iodine. (I know goats have been born for years without it but that's the only thing I could think to do. Is that the goat equivalent to "get towels and boil water"?)
Hazel seems to be a great and caring mama but she keeps looking at me like "where the heck did these things come from and what am I supposed to do with them" but she has protected them from our curious chihuahua and the neighbor's curious dachshund. (She's perfectly fine to have Finn next to them.
So we've survived our first couple of days as goat grandparents. And yes, Hazel and the babies spend the night in my laundry room last night. They seem to be taking to the pen fine today. The other goats are being nice.
I'm still trying to figure out the whole Immaculate Conception thing and counting the days from Pearl Harbor Day since Alice hasn't popped yet.
Wow! What excitement!