rachels.haven's Journal

[farmerjan]

HOORAY....... that is WONDERFUL NEWS...... I hope/ BELIEVE you got it caught and straightened out in time before it got into your real good milking does... sorry you had to sacrifice the nigerians,,,, maybe it was for the best... and hopefully the people that got them will get lucky also.

Have you gotten any of the rain that has shown on the radar lately? So many places were showing rain and it wasn't doing much like the green on the radar was showing.

Kids out of school and all???? Everyone else doing okay? DH eyesight still holding status quo? Bet the "baby" is getting big.... I know, not a baby anymore....

 

[rachels.haven]

HOORAY....... that is WONDERFUL NEWS...... I hope/ BELIEVE you got it caught and straightened out in time before it got into your real good milking does... sorry you had to sacrifice the nigerians,,,, maybe it was for the best... and hopefully the people that got them will get lucky also.

Have you gotten any of the rain that has shown on the radar lately? So many places were showing rain and it wasn't doing much like the green on the radar was showing.

Kids out of school and all???? Everyone else doing okay? DH eyesight still holding status quo? Bet the "baby" is getting big.... I know, not a baby anymore....

Hi!
So far the ND are doing okay where they are. I've decided not to look back so I'm not watching too closely.

We got just a little tiny bit of rain at the beginning of the week at our place. We may be heading into another drouty year. We'll see. Dry is not bad for goats. I may need to start my alfalfa stash earlier.


Yesssss! The kids are out of school. We're at Reelfoot lake right now for a spouse mental health break and Mom has the two FF milkers that freshened later under control. We finally got the toddler weaned so I'm just me, I have no more excuses or special status and it's time to start one heck of a diet-THANK GOODNESS. The little guy will be a baby to me until he starts talking-he's late in that regard. We just started him on certain speech therapy youtube videos my sister inlaw who is going to school for teaching recommended and he's actually starting to talk now (finally there too).

Mark's sight have gotten no worse, his pressure is great. There's no getting back what was lost but he's holding ground so far.

I'm not sure where I got the 12 weeks of cae testing thing. I don't think that's correct. We're just going to keep testing and testing for like 2 years. Aw well.

Which kid do you think is the more intense one who is sleeping in the same room as his brother for this trip, do you think?

I have goat pics too, but this is this week. We head home tomorrow.

 

[farmerjan]

Okay... The oldest is the hyper alert one? On the right? Aiden? Then Dangerous Dan.... the fearless one... and the little one is Sean? He is really growing up... I'm not real good at remembering names... But I always think of Dangerous Dan and his fearless try anything times you were ready to have a heart attack over his antics....
They are all nice looking kids....

 

[Baymule]

Negative! That’s freaking awesome! I know you will keep testing, but this is a milestone and negative is fantastic news.

Vacation time! It’s so nice to get away and enjoy just being somewhere different. Glad y’all are having a good time.

 

[Ridgetop]

So happy for the negative results on testing for CAE.

Now that your herd is negative, it would be a good time to buy a pasteurizer with heat treat function. Pull kids, milking consistently, heat treat colostrum, pasteurize and bottle feed kids. Milking is time consuming but seriously the only way to control CAE. Also by milking and keeping milk records, you can go on test and try for milk stars. Look for a tester in your area, or pay for tester training for a willing friend. Some friends who want to be on test both take the training and test each other's herds. If you still have those Lucky Star LaMancha bloodlines you should be able to put milk stars on those does. Kids out of star milkers are more valuable when you sell.

 

[rachels.haven]

Okay... The oldest is the hyper alert one? On the right? Aiden? Then Dangerous Dan.... the fearless one... and the little one is Sean? He is really growing up... I'm not real good at remembering names... But I always think of Dangerous Dan and his fearless try anything times you were ready to have a heart attack over his antics....
They are all nice looking kids....

Thanks! You got their names too. I'm impressed.

So happy for the negative results on testing for CAE.

Now that your herd is negative, it would be a good time to buy a pasteurizer with heat treat function. Pull kids, milking consistently, heat treat colostrum, pasteurize and bottle feed kids. Milking is time consuming but seriously the only way to control CAE. Also by milking and keeping milk records, you can go on test and try for milk stars. Look for a tester in your area, or pay for tester training for a willing friend. Some friends who want to be on test both take the training and test each other's herds. If you still have those Lucky Star LaMancha bloodlines you should be able to put milk stars on those does. Kids out of star milkers are more valuable when you sell.

We were actually on test this year for a while. One doe was on course to make well over 3,000 lbs of milk over a 304 day lactation. I can't wait to start again and have Lucky*Star kids on the ground from them.

Excluding one or two does I did pull all the kids and bottle feed. I've been pasteurizing in a small pot. When we outgrow my biggest pot I will probably get that pasteurizer.

I will probably have to use my milk machine again.

Today I got home and stripped all the "dry" does of milk. Just like last year a few of them are refusing to be DRY and look like they are now trying to be both fat and in milk and were just filling more and more and more full until they were waddling around obscene looking udders. I guess we'll see who refills...as if I don't know who that will be. Lol.

 

[rachels.haven]

Emmi wants to be milked. This is her, "Pick ME!" face.

...Emmi is dry.

...Poor Emmi.

Sneaky saanen likes to rub it in.

Emmi is frustrated.

 

[rachels.haven]

Emmi was the smallest of either triplets or quads and has a very expressive weird face with a permanently snuffly nose. And she grew extremely slowly. But she is one of my favorites.

 

[Bruce]

If posed correctly, Lamanchas have ears like proper goats!!!!

 

[rachels.haven]

My most difficult kidding season to date has ended. Twin doelings to a Nubian doe named "Botswana" aka, Betty.

The one with the less white on her head is demanding so getting pics of her is easy.
...next year, I want them all born in the first week of January. Too hot, too many flies, too many parasites and the whole thing dragged on for ever! Too many age groups...and bottles!