My how they GROW!

Last week I had to catch up hoof trims and shots and what not and I weighed both of the "little girls" - who are NOT so little anymore! Remember Darlene?  Who was 3 months old and 50lbs when I brought her home?  Well now she is 5 1/2 months old (at the time) and weighed this much:

Yup - that says 87lbs! And I'd believe it, she is one side little load of goat! She does so well getting on the stand already for her hoof trims, and behaves too!

Then there is Dixie Chicken - my "little bit of shit" as I call her because she is always into something! Remember her?  She wasn't even 8lbs when she was born, on May 6th, and she was so itty bitty sweetie petitie!

And now here she is, just read THAT weigh tape!

Oh yes, every bit of 63 lbs already! Also very good at hopping on the stand and behaving while I mess with her....she's trouble at times, but still very sweet and mild mannered over all (she's just a slightly spoiled baby). I can't believe she was just barely 3 months old when I got that weight and pic of her!  She's gonna be a BIG girl, I know it!

So...that's the most recent goaty update....I hadn't realized I had forgotten about it till just now!

Milk Test, Round TWO!

Yup - it's that time again haha! ROUND TWO of milk testing...don't worry, I won't blog needlessly and aimlessly about every test date in detail...But, I had realized I hadn't really finalized everything with the last test.

There is my "fancy pants scale" with it's sticker on there to show it has been checked for calibration....

So, pretty basically, your get all your paper work together. This would be 2 VERY simple sheets, and 2 simple yet tedious sheets to fill out.  One just states which does are coming into milk and which have been dried off.  One is like your invoice - which you fill out since you know how many does and thus how many samples you are sending in. Don't forget your money order or check with it LOL.

The DMS213 or your "herd form" is  one of the tedious ones - at least the first time ever, and then after that whenever you add does....it's where your address, times you milked, and your supervisors signature go AND any does you transfer in from other herds or just plain new does in milk from your own herd that have never been on test have to be entered in.  THERE is the tedious bit - lots of little spaces to be filled in with numbers :P

After that you have your DMS201 or "supervisors barn sheet" - another form that CAN be a bit tedious. Once again, when adding does to the milking string, lots of little spaces wanting registration numbers and what not to be filled in :P  BUT, once you are on a roll with the same does as last month, not bad.  DO NOT forget to put the milk weights in!  This is the one where your weights go - kinda crucial right? Also, any changes in reproductive type stuff - like if a doe is in heat, or if she has been bred, these things go on that form too!

Don't forget to make and save copies....you just never know when a box might get crushed and have milk spill all over stuff, or even lost in the mail.  At least even if your samples are lost you will have you info on weights and what not saved so that part can count on your test day data!

After that you wait about 2 - 3 weeks and you will get an email back from Eva at Langston (if that is who you use) with all of this preprinted for next time and a receipt of sorts AND Your test results!!! That was a super cool day, and really nice to see how my does were doing in the butterfat and protein department too!

So, here we are at round two, time for another monthly test....Last night there was a milking and a weigh out....this morning there was a milking, weights taken AND samples!  That's the other part - the MILK SAMPLES!  VERY easy! Your supervisor just uses your little DHIA approved dipper to fill the vial about half full in the a.m. and again half full in the p.m. - per Eva at Langston you want half and half from each milking to fully and accurately represent what that doe is making in a 24 hour period right?  Don't forget to label the vials with a BLACK permanent marker....and bring them in the house.  They do NOT need to be refrigerated (that little tiny tablet preserves them just fine), but leaving them outside can be risky on several levels - if something gets into your vials and destroys your samples you don't want to start over :(

Here mine are waiting for the p.m. milking:

After the evening milking I will box this up with the $$$ (all of $10.46 - easily pulled out of the farm funds lol) and in the morning off it will go to Oklahoma and Langston University :)  Next time we test it will be a "verification test" - no big deal but it will involve one more person. 

Also...don't forget to send in your "Herd Code" to ADGA....Your herd code will come in that email with you first set of test results, pre printed on the form for next time and ADGA will need that to track your records to apply it to THEIR records LOL.  You can mail back the little slip they send you OR you can even email it to them!  SUPER easy to do! I emailed mine the second I got it from one place off to the next :)

So....big excitement and highlight of my day, milk test :)  Who knew tests could be so exciting I said!

Choosing a test plan....

ADGA has SO MANY test plans it accepts for milk test! AHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! It's hard to pick one! Actually, if you call or email them, they will send you a "DHIR Packet" with a lot of this info in there - they have it online as well, and in your handbook you get each year (if you are a member).  I like to have everything they deem necessary in one place, and thus I had the packet sent to me...I can review it all at one glance, highlight stuff, take it in one sheet at a time. VERY nice to have it in one place!

At first, I was going to go "owner sampler" as that sounded pretty basic and simple...THEN I started looking into what I could achieve with my herd...and I THINK I am going to go with their "DHIR 20 Standard" test plan....

On that plan you can (if you are so blessed and have the right does) earn top ten status.  On the owner sampler plans you cannot...now while at this time I have no top ten does (I can tell by weights alone I think) I do have some does who can earn their stars. BUT you never know! In the future I may have a top ten producer...and I want her to be recognized for it if we get that far! I want to stick with one thing, learn it, and learn it well....so I might as well go with the one I will be on as long as possible right? Since the owner sampler plan does not offer top ten status...well...I am going to go with the one that does. I can always change it in the future, but for now it is what finally makes the most sense and seems easiest - DHIR 20 Standard. That's me :)

Also...you need a scale that weighs in TENTHS of pounds! I choose the Pelouze 7800 from webstaurantstore.com - they had a decent price (the best I found) and the scale itself was recommended by Eva at Langston University. It was about $45 after shipping - not bad to have a nice scale for my milking :) you THEN have to get your scale "calibrated" - sounds hard right? Where in the heck do you go for all that?  Well, easy peasy, you can send it off to Langston University (if you are using them as your DRPC) and they will do it for $15 (which pays to get it sent back to you).  NOT BAD! Saves me time, money, and gas from driving around all over the world to get it calibrated PLUS they keep the certificate on file that it was done and it is all in one spot - VERY nice!

THEN...you need the right dipper....Hoegger Supply has the right DHIA sample ladle.  For about $15 after shipping (all I got was the dipper - if I had spent $200 shipping was free...but I didn't need that much stuff lol, just the ladle)....anyways pretty cheaply you can get an approved sample ladle to get your milk samples into their little vials...NOT BAD!

I suggest if you are thinking about going on milk test to research the options, CALL WITH YOUR QUESTIONS! EVERYONE is SUPER nice and walks you through it and answers even the most odd, random questions very well! Then, pick a plan to be on, and get your equipment in line....after this we will be tackling the paperwork!

A Tale of Two Udders

Well, not really a story, but LOOK AT THEM TEATS! Hahahaha...I just love saying that - it NEVER gets old!

First up, we have Lucy - lovely rear attachment, medial ligament could be a little stronger, but nice easy to manage teats, great orifice and steady stream when I milk and LOTS of milk - due to the power outage I haven't been tracking it precisely the last few days, but EASILY clearing the gallon as day mark!  I shall weigh in the morning :)

The there is Pomegranate - with the udder that won't quit I swear!  Took me FOREVER to get her dried up last year!  Yes, the rear attachment could be a little stronger - but REALLY nice to milk!  Buttery soft, good strong medial ligament, GREAT flow, and even more milk than Lucy and Pom is smaller than her!

And no - in real life she does not have one half all pink...I think I tweaked something funny on the camera on my phone...been getting odd, off photos the last day or two...but you get the general idea I believe :)

The best part is you really couldn't ask for better girls on the milk stand!  Oh yes, absolutely sweet hearts, well behaved, no hobbles needed :)  Actually, I haven't had to hobble a goat to milk in AGES!  Everyone has been good as gold for me - which I LOVE!

Once again I have tons of milk - YAY!  I had taken the other 3 girls down to once a day a few weeks ago so I myself could have a bit of a break - and while I was still getting plenty of milk, it's just not the same as having a TON of milk LOL :)  I plan to keep milking Willow, Penelope, and Fajita once a day for a while longer - it's easier on them too you know? - and of course milk these 2 twice a day.  But when every minute in your day counts you have to find a few for yourself here and there ya know? So, in order to have a bit more time in my mornings when I had all of the market/soap stuff going on pre-mothers day I cut out the a.m. milking with the 3 that were already in milk...it was nice to be able to feed in like 20 minutes in the mornings again for a while, I will admit....but now I am back to full swing mornings and that itself is nice too!

I also got 2 out of 3 "goat jails" cleaned today, a NEW FEEDER PIG came today (hooray for bacon in the fall!), and tomorrow I will be getting CIDRs in to the next round of goats to be bred!  Yup, it's that time already! This is going to be a BUSY week! Actually, May is going to be a busy month :P Preparations for more goat breeding, with any luck FENCING BONANZA shall be taking place, and several soap classes are already scheduled :) Now if only that silly laundry would hurry up so I can go to bed - gotta get the hubby all packed up to be off in the morning again and I am waiting on the dryer tonight :(

Oh yes - stay tuned ya'll!  Things should be picking up some on the farming front now that I have baby goats birthed and the last major "soap holiday" until Christmas out of the way!

No baby goats yet...

But ALREADY my sleep schedule is messed up!  UGH!  I am DRAINED already!

I don't know WHY exactly, but for some odd reason, whenever I have does due, from like day 140 until all the kids have finally arrived I cannot sleep right!  I am up until 3 am and then back awake early (for me) between 7 and 9 am!

Is it the excitement? The stress? The worry? The anticipation? I have NO earthly idea but it really wears me out that's for sure!

I was tired like crazy at 10pm then outta nowhere wide awake again and here it is after 2 in the morning already before I am even THINKING about sleeping and I KNOW I will be wide awake too early in the morning after this! CRAZY I tell you!

Oh well...kidding kit is all prepped at least and the does look ready to go any minute.

Pom is doing the disappearing reappearing ligament thing - VERY soft (but still there) one minute and an hour later back again...not getting much fetal movement on either doe (kids usually kinda stop RIGHT before they are born as at that point they are moving into the birth canal)...LOTS of star gazing and stretching going on in both does, and Lucy continues to INSIST I rub her back everytime I go out there (and scratch behind her ears)....

Here's hoping for babies after breakfast again - let's keep THAT little winning streak up!  Oh yes, the last 3 does to kid ALL waited until just after breakfast to kid.  Sure that was WAY back in December and these 2 may not have gotten the memo - but I like that.  Kids come, get everyone all set up and going, and I can relax the rest of the day until it's time to feed again and snuggle with the new babies after a little quality time with the mama! MUCH better than last spring! Last spring it was "kid in the afternoon, so she has to do ALL that work and THEN run around and do dinner for the rest of the farm and THEM dinner for the people in the house and THEN she can rest" - oh yes, that little routine they had me going on was the PITS I tell you!

So...fingers crossed for babies tomorrow at 11am :) (A farmer wife can hope right????)

Ok...so WHY Fodder???

Well...I choose fodder for a few reasons.  First and foremost it is more natural to what my livestock would eat if they had their own choice in things.  Sometimes, they do get a choice - we are on 10 acres after all - but at night they are stuck in their pens close to the house for safety and some days they are stuck there as well.  When it rains the back of the property turns to a bog I prefer them not to play in...plus they won't leave their shelter anyways in the rain, so they stay there. Also, the front is not yet fenced for the horses and NONE of it is properly fenced for goats (besides their pen areas)...so I try to get out there an hour or 2 a day and let them "free range" if you will - that's another blog post though...let's just say that no matter what after a few years of crummy drought conditions anyways I am always prepared to feed my animals plus dairy goats need to eat more than just browse if you want the best, highest yields on your milk...

Anyways, horses, goats, cattle - none of these things go out on the hunt for corn or soybeans in their pastures.  Sure, if they find it they will eat it - heck, they'll eat your garden if they get the chance!  But naturally the bulk of their diet is fresh GREEN stuff!  Grasses, weeds, shrubs...Pelleted feeds make a decent supplement to this (particularly if you are in a drought and there is nothing green left!), but it's not natural at all.  Especially for the goats...goats can get acidosis, or bloat, from things like a corn heavy diet. This article explains it a little better...  Let's be really honest here - go check a bag of pelleted goat or horse feed - a good portion of it is corn or soy.  It's certainly not fresh green stuff at all! So, if by chance an accident occurs and you over feed (like the day I fed and then my husband fed thinking I hadn't yet...that was a doozy) or if you just are over feeding and not realizing it...you are setting yourself up for failure in a way...We actually took the corn out of the goats diets a few years back now and have not had a case of "bloat" or acidosis since then, but it was not uncommon to run up against it from time to time before when we fed traditional goat feeds...

Then, there are our horses...over feeding pelleted feeds can lead to colic.  Too much bagged type feed and not enough roughage and you set yourself up for it - ask our friend who lost her beloved mare after making that mistake...plus it's much harder on their teeth and such to eat those pellets than it is to grind up some grass.  Sure, horses teeth are meant to grind and pulverize - GRASS - which is actually fairly soft, stringy but soft, compared to pelleted stuff - not hard like the pellets in bags are.  Since switching to fodder our middle aged gelding (17 years old - not ancient, but getting up there) has had a much easier time staying the right weight. (And yes, he has been properly wormed, had his teeth floated, etc...but you can tell his body processes fodder better).

That's the other thing - fodder is much more bio-available to the animals to digest...we'll save that talk for tomorrow though...

Then there are all the horror stories and recalls and what not in regards to processed feeds...This article hits very close to home and then there was my own mysteriously dropping poultry...these are just 2 examples of why you have to be careful what you feed your animals.

You also have the whole "non-GMO/organic" vs not side of the debate...it's still pretty easy to find and source organic type barley and wheat to sprout compared to finding organic feed (at least where I live).  Also, even though it may be more expensive to go the non-GMO route, it still is a money saver to sprout it into fodder...

Oh yes - one 50lb bag of seed turns into 250lbs of feed!  You still feed by weight, just as you should with pelleted type feeds, and you actually feed pretty closely to the same amounts.  You just get far more bang for your buck with fodder!  So, it's a money saver that's for sure...They also seem to go through less hay when you feed fodder.  YES, EVERYTHING still needs hay!  Those long, dry, fiber filled grassy bits help their digestion just as humans need the right amount of fiber in their diets.  But we are using less of it that's for sure! Here, during the winter, we were going through close to 2 square bales a day pre-fodder - now that I have made the switch, we are down to about one square bale a day and that will certainly be less as it greens up out there with spring coming on...but knowing next winter I will need less hay to get through is NICE!

 PRE-fodder, I was bringing home 8 to 10 50lb bags of feed every 2 weeks - even after I thinned the herd! Now, I bring home maybe 5.  My goats still get their alfalfa pellets for the calcium (we are a dairy herd after all and calcium out in the form of milk = needing calcium in to make more) and I need the pelleted stuff for the pig some days so I can soak it with whey and milk for him...otherwise he tips the bucket and spills it...messy thing!  I've basically cut my feed bill easily in half even including the hay!

So, without going all scientific on you just yet, that was my initial take on why we were going to switch.  It was more natural to what they would eat, FAR less processed and meddled with by humans, a way to cut back on the feed bill when I ran the numbers in theory (though now I know for sure), and a power packed form of feed that was easy to digest!  The next thing I had to do was look at it more in depth - it seemed like a good idea...but I had to do some more research..

If you go to the following blogs and websites, you will see some of the info I found and can read through it for yourself - these people have put TONS of time and effort into this and have some great material!

Paca Pride Guest Ranch has an awesome blog and videos!
Half Pint Homestead has tons of info and sells kits geared towards smaller producers (like us :) )
The facebook Fodder Group is full of people with tons of knowledge ready to answer any questions you may have!
Here and here are 2 more sites more geared towards the larger producers with their set ups...

Also...remember fodder works for pretty much everything, not just horses and goats....take a look and watch for more to come from me...you'll be amazed when you read through it all...

Thinning the Herd Part 2...and laying the Fodder Foundations...

So...Just before Christmas - actually just before the goats started kidding - I had found FODDER!!!  Oh yes...a miracle of sorts.  It would take nearly all of my need for bagged, processed, pelleted feeds out of the equation. BUT...it would also require some time and effort...and I was still running low on that...

I sat down, and I looked at things long and hard.  I had spent the prior year building my herd of goats up.  We had saanens, nubians, mini-nubians, and a small group of boers who had been painstakingly searched out and located to be CAE negative (which is hard to do around here with boer goats)....I also have a close friend and neighbor down the road half a mile whose herd seriously came from mine...and it was about to grow...

She had a good portion of our original dwarf goats, she also became headquarters for the mini-nubians.  Shuffle shuffle, goats to her place...that way we keep our husbands guessing as to how many goats we each really and truly have right? But what that did in reality was put the herd into groups by size.  Big goats here, littler goats there.  So much easier than dealing with the size difference daily here...adjusting stuff like the milk stand and what not...plus she already had the mini-buck...cool deal...a little easier...

Next came the boer goats...I had bottle raised all three, driven to El Campo for 2, patiently waited the birth of one, and I REALLY had to think about this...I had gotten them under the pretense of raising kids for meat.  Nothing else right?  But really...it's harder to do, they aren't as meaty that's for sure...but really I say...why was I raising a separate breed for meat again when I knew good and well my dairy goats would give me edible buck kids?  UGH!  It was my heart...I have a hard time contemplating eating a dairy kid...

We put the cross bred bucks in the freezer - notice the fellow with the horns?  Yup, I had left them on purpose because I KNEW it would drive me nuts having one with horns around and it did...so the decision was made.  All goat bound for Camp Kenmore would keep their horns...now, see the other fellow?  Yup...Jack, Chrissy, and Janet (the Three's Company Boer Trio) were listed and sold....

It was hard - but now I had the extra time I was looking for.  I spend a good few hours each day doing health checks and such.  The old routine was one breed a day each day of the week - saanen, nubian, mini-nubian, boer, horses, other stuff....eyelids checked for bright red healthy color, hoofs checked for funky issues and picked clean, pens mucked and so on...Now I had 3 full days of no health checks I could devote to research!

I started reading on line, found a group on facebook devoted to fodder and found another few places I hope to share tomorrow where I gathered a wealth of info as well.  Now that we are 2 full months into the fodder program, it doesn't add as much time to my day as it did at first.  Remember, in the beginning, there is research to be done and questions to be asked in a much greater volume than as time goes on.  That takes up a huge portion of your day!  Then you have the initial trials and test runs and system set up and such...I can't tell you how many hours I spent just staring at it willing it to grow LOL....Lots of hours go into staring at it to see what it's doing...LOTS! 

To have a good foundation under you when switching to fodder you need to know what it is, how to produce it, how to feed it, be ready for the challenges that come with it (and there are challenges that will come your way) and how to make it work for YOU!  The last part is the most important - fodder is not for everyone.  It takes a certain amount of human involvement beyond scooping feed from a bag each day.  Plan to spend at least an hour extra a day, each day, for the first few weeks tweaking things.  Maybe even more - if you are like me and have the constant need to go pet it and encourage plan to spend several hours a day watching it grow...

So, stay tuned once again...tomorrow we will begin the fodder journey for real!

The Midnight MilkMaid....

I admit it, I am NOT a morning person!  I function best like a vampire, after dark :P  I think part of the problem is that I spent so many years working nights and crazy hours and the other part of it is that I was born and raised two whole time zones away.  My body never adjusted to central time, I am perpetually on Pacific time.  Luckily though, my goats don't hold it against me!

Other farmers rise with the sun, get a move on their day, and are ready for bed about the time that I am getting productive with myself for the day.  It always makes me laugh a little bit when I have something for sale and people call me at oh...8 or 9 in the morning...because I am half awake searching for the phone! I always try to play it off all cool, but usually I haven't even brushed my teeth yet, let alone fed anything or milked.  I guess it's an assumption people make that if you have a goat for sale, then you farm and if you farm you are up at the crack of dawn.  Well, it doesn't work that way here lol :)

I milk at noon and midnight and feed the other critters just slightly ahead of that.  I get out of bed if I am lucky at 9 or ten and I go to bed usually between midnight and 2a.m. What can I say, I am the Midnight MilkMaid! Sadly though, when summer gets here that may change just a bit...I'll at least try to get up earlier to get everything fed before it gets hot for the day.

I sometimes wonder who else is out there milking at crazy hours, dashing through the dark to feed the horses before the rustling in the brush nearby jumps out to get them...and I think I SHOULD change my ways, but I know I never really will. No really - when I hear things moving in the dark, and the coyotes closer than they usually are, and I see the horses even looking towards those sounds, it makes me boogey to be done just a little faster than I usually do and in those moments I WISH I could reset my internal clock to Texas time.  But I just can't do it!

To any other Midnight MilkMaids out there, know you are not alone :)  There is one more crazy lady out there at midnight milking her goats and checking on things one last time before she crashes for the night, moving in a hurry before something jumps out to eat her alive :) Now I best be off to go milk...

Jail breaks and phone calls slowing my roll.....

Let me start this off by saying I am first a milkmaid, then a soaper, a cook, a house cleaner...if there is anything NOT on the list or at least near the very very very bottom of it, the answer there is "fence builder".  Sure, I can build something strong and sturdy enough to keep a sick kitten in...but that's about it.  It takes MONTHS of redoing, re-stapling and nailing, propping up other sturdy heavy bits of stuff, for me to get a secure fence.  Ask the horses, who often have my truck parked in front of something that needs repair to keep them out of my feed room and in their enclosure! So....

I start my day off with a phone call from a fellow goat herder...she has an emergency at 5am!  She needs colostrum for new born kids and somehow found me...at 5am I said....so out I go to dig in the freezer and wrench my neck JUST RIGHT so it hurts horribly to move my head, woo fun yeah? So...she finally gets here and we get that settled...off she goes crisis evaded and I just want some coffee, but something tells me to head outside first right?

At this point it is about 9 am I head out to feed and milk my gang...only to discover JAILBREAK!!! Here comes Champagne, airplane ears bobbing as she darts my way all excited to see me - a look she only has when she has been bad.  Charyzma is next...also WAY too happy to be running my way. I march over to their pen and TC is MISSING!  Then, I look to my left, slowly, so as not to mess up my neck anymore...oh no!  I have all of my yearlings just destroying the fodder area, going to town on it...really?  Seriously?  They couldn't wait for breakfast, I may just one day out of the blue decide not to feed them, so they handled it themselves I guess...Because I already wrenched my neck this morning and have been up WAY too long and still have NOT had any coffee...what I needed was a jail break right?

 This means that I finally end up doing the shuffle of the herd I have been meaning to get around to - girls go where boys are and vice versa - like I have been meaning to do I say, like I should have done a month ago really...now I am at the point where I have to do it.  I don't know why, but my bucks are EXCEPTIONALLY well behaved when it comes to fences and crappy gates!  I even once left their gate unlocked for a few days (or maybe longer) and they never once pushed out of it and went on walkabout and they were in RUT!!!  The does however, view my attempts at carpentry and fence work as a joke - a puzzle to be worked on and figured out - and if there is a weakness then they simply MUST show me where it is...they have to...it would be unkind of them not to be anything less then 100% honest in their ability to foil my plans to keep them out of things right? Gotta love the smart ones....

So, now, goats shuffled and on lock down, everyone fed except the milkers who are CRYING for me to come relieve them of last nights milk, this farmer is plum worn out from all this AND with a crummy spazzing neck issue...off I go to tackle the rest of my day...Jail breaks and phone calls are slowing my roll today ya'll...and I haven't even had any coffee yet!