Santa Goat is Coming to Town!

The farmer has been ridiculously busy and she refuses to let me use the computer so that is why you haven't heard from your favorite Alpine lately. All is well in the goat world. Daisy and I went on our annual fall dates with the buck and are both knocked up now. I stopped giving milk when the weather got cold because nobody likes cold hands on their teats in the morning! The farmer wasn't happy with that but she was happy to not have to think about milking for a few months. Everyone likes a vacation once in a while. Figaro and Fiona are doing well. Curry, Samosa and Prince Charming have a date with the butcher next week (Shhh.... don't tell them!). I don't mind that situation as long as my name isn't on the freezer list! More food for me if they are gone! 

Santa Goat came early and gave us a few Christmas trees to celebrate with. No decorations but that is fine with me. Tinsel just gets stuck in my teeth anyway. This winter has been good so far. No real snow yet. There has been a couple of -20 degree days. Luckily the farmer has become an old softee and lets us stay inside when it is below 0 in the morning. I would rather not stand around outside and freeze my tail off (literally!). 

Merry Goat-mas and a Happy Goat Year!

Farm 2 Fork Festival

 There's a festival in the nearby by town that is 1/3 farmer's market, 1/3 local food party, and 1/3 farming celebration. The farmer brings some goats every year to show the townspeople that goats aren't so bad after all. Figaro, Fiona, and Curry were chosen to go to the Festival. The farmer wanted a good selection of different breeds to represent. The appearance of Figaro required the farmer to tell everyone that he was a goat and not a sheep because everyone thought he was a sheep. The farmer's friend brought her ear-less wonder, a Lamancha doeling. This required the farmer to explain to everyone that the goat was born that way and the lack of ears was not the result of a horrible accident.

The Festival went very well. It was very cold and rainy in the morning but the sun came out just as the food came out too. Lots of people showed up then. The only problem was that the farmer had to give a presentation on goat care and she brought Fiona up to the stage to show off. When Fiona got back to the petting pen, she had quite a chip on her shoulder for being the "Chosen One" and decided she needed to beat up the friend's Lamancha doeling. Fiona had to be put in time-out and tied on a lead for the rest of the day.

Summer!

Summer is here for sure! It was very hot and muggy last week. All of us goats spent a lot of time laying around the pasture, trying to enjoy whatever breeze there was. All I can say that was good about the heat wave was that it broke up the 42 days straight of rain we have had. Perhaps there's now a chance that hay will be cut and we will be able to eat for another winter?

 

 Here is a picture of me to compare to the below picture of my kid, Fiona. She is pretty much a spitting image.

Daisy is playing "Queen of the Mountain" on the Dogloo. There's nothing like a sturdy dog house to keep us occupied for hours!

 

The boys. Both are getting big. After 10 years of raising buck goats in a dry pen, the farmer finally figured out that she can put them out in their own pasture so they don't have to eat hay. Duh!

And finally, the obligatory Figaro picture.

What's up with me?

Not much to report on the farm this month. The grass is green and getting greener. It keeps growing and growing with lots and lots and LOTS of rain! If it ever stops raining, I will get out there and mow the lawn. I do work in the rain, but not in a torrential downpour -- of which there have been a few lately.

All of us goats are doing well. I am producing just shy of 1 gallon of milk a day. I have kept my conditioning thanks to the lovely grass and copious amounts of Chaffhaye that the farmer gives me. I have been tolerating the abuse by the farmer's kid when she tries to milk me. I guess explaining the finer points of goat milking to a three-year old is kind of tough... Ouch!

Look at me standing so nicely for this torture! I should get a medal!

Figaro and Daisy are fat and getting fatter. 'Nough said.

Ruby is looking good and the baby she is nursing has had a name change from "Curry" to "Godzilla" for obvious reasons. Godzilla is 10 lbs heavier than her bottle-fed brother. Now keep in mind that he was a runt from birth and had some serious health setbacks. He's catching up fast but Godzilla is outpacing him by a mile with her constant access to her momma's full udder. I guess that goes to show that if you are looking to raise meat goats that you are going to get much better returns on them if you leave them on mom. This is something the farmer should keep in mind for next year since her entire kid crop is slated for the freezer next fall. Take a vacation and let the moms* do the work! *I won't be bred next year so I am all in favor of letting Daisy and Fiona take the responsibility of feeding their kids. Heehee!

My two kids are getting big. They are 8 weeks old today. The farmer has been diligent about parasite prevention this year so all the kids are growing fast! There's even talk of trying to breed Fiona (AKA Cinderella (another name change)) if she can hit the 80 lb. mark this fall or winter. She'll be bred to Samosa (the Boer buckling) so her kids should be small at birth and easy for a young first freshener to carry and deliver. 

That's the update. Happy Summer!

Blurry Early Morning Pictures

For some reason, the farmer only brings the camera out during her mad-dash to do chores in the morning. There are three problems with this: 1. She's rushed and doesn't have time for her temperamental camera to focus so most of the pictures range from slightly blurry to UFO sighting fuzziness. 2. The sun isn't up yet and the light is terrible so the flash goes off and gives all of us those creepy blue ghost-goat eyes. 3. We aren't up yet so bed-head and grumpy expressions abound.

 She got me with my mouth full! At least Daisy looked ready for the paparazzi this morning.

 Here's my two kids. My how they are growing! (Don't worry, the one in front does have 4 legs, it's just a strange picture).

 Ruby and her monster-sized kid. Curry is the biggest 4 week old kid I have ever seen.

 Curry towers over her runty brother. Well, actually, we all tower over him. Don't worry, he's starting to catch up and look like a "real" goat and not a funny runt.

Talk about bed-head! Figaro is one perpetual bad hair day!

Money Shots!

Cinderella

Prince Charming

Vindaloo - Boer doe

Samosa - Boer buck

Ruby and Curry - both does

I Kid! I Kid!

I finally did it! I kidded on Tuesday. After a looooonnnnggg gestation of 155 days and a looonnnnngggg labor of 6 hours, I had two healthy babies - a buck and a doe. Both are large kids since I like to keep them in me until the last possible moment. This made labor pretty hard and not much fun for me or the farmer. The buck who was out first was the bigger of the two. He was slow to get into the birth canal because one of his front legs was back and the other was tucked into his cheek. This made a pretty hugemungous blob to try to pass out the ol' pooter. Luckily the buck made so much room by the time he finally came out that the doe shot out before I even had a chance to lay down. The farmer is bottle feeding both kids and they are doing great!

 

 The buck "Prince Charming" is on the left. The doe "Cinderella" is on the right. 

Here is a close-up of Cinderella. Notice her lovely white slippers on her front feet.