Paperwork - Who Knew???

Oh yes, goats come with a LOT of paperwork LOL! Kinda like a birth certificate, a registered goat comes with papers that must be finalized and transferred into your name as the owner.  I'm only familiar with a small handful of registries - though there are many out there for different breeds and types of goats.  MDGA - the miniature dairy goat registry (just one of several out there - but by far the most popular I feel). Then there is ADGA - American Dairy Goat Association.  Being a member of both each comes with it's benefits and down side....

Down side being you have to keep up with it haha!  Remembering to renew your membership and pay your dues on time yearly - which is really not that much (usually less than $30) - but still...got to remember to do it! I'm usually pretty good about getting it done on time, last minute, but in before the deadline so to speak...

Benefits being a discounted fee for registrations and transfers of goats - which is NICE and hefty!  It adds up sending stuff through as a non-member! With ADGA if you are NOT a member, just to register one doe kid (as bucks cost more than does) and transfer her into your name it is over $30!!!! Crazy right???  BUT....to do so as a member is less than $15 (and even cheaper if done online with a kid born into your herd!)....so if you are raising goats it's almost a given that being a member is nice and saves money in the long run!

Also, while any goat purchased outside of your herd has to be handled through the mail, you CAN register goats born into your herd online!  SUPER easy, super fast, cheaper still with the online discount and did I mention how fast those papers come?  Like in a week or 2!  VERY nice!

I seriously recommend to anyone even with a handful of goats to become a member of the appropriate and corresponding association for their herd.  Raising minis? Join MDGA...raising full sized breeds?  Join ADGA...the money it saves over time is nice, the convenience of doing your registrations online is SUPER nice, and there are a few other little benefits for members here and there as well...Very much so worth a piddly sum of $30 yearly...in the grand scheme of life it's not much!

So...I FINALLY sent in the papers on TC and Ryz that have been kicking around here a while the other day and I JUST sent Darlenes - the new babies I did online and theirs have been done and final and in my hot little hands for a week now :) It really only takes a minute to fill things out and get them ready to go - I always make copies of EVERYTHING and I, being a member of ADGA, always pay ahead online so I don't even have to worry about that!  But still...it does require REMEMBERING to do it LOL :)  Been sidetracked several times along the way with getting TC and Ryz finished - so while I was on a roll I knocked out Darlene's as well!

Officially, EVERY goat in my herd is registered and done with for now!  NEXT the saga of the yearly blood draws :(  One other bit of paperwork as well....sure, it also has hands on outside work involved...BUT getting the forms and tubes labeled and ready is always a PITA haha! Nice to have a fresh, negative, CAE test back each year though! Really can't be beat as far as the awesome feeling that comes with it :)

Soooo...off to prep for a weekend at the market and then blood draws right behind it :) Also...your daily dose of cuteness from the girls:

NadaLottaRanch Diamond Bar has arrived!

And we shall call her "Lilly" for short LOL :) She is a saanen nubian cross with some GREAT stuff behind her and already has a home! TOTALLY awesome build on this little (BIG) girl!  Born weighing 8lbs 14oz on Wednesday morning to our Lucy and Starmaker she is one HEFTY gal already!  Loves her bottles and doing GREAT!  And check out those ears!  They have a nice little fold in them and she has a nubian air to her face...but BOY can she wing them out when she gets mad at her "sissy"!

She is a LOVELY pale gold color with white markings underneath - and did I mention how well built she is?  So excited to get her too!  Now we have until NOVEMBER before we get any more baby goats!  Kinda nice to have a good long break though...babies are a TON of work!

NadaLottaRanch Dixie Chicken has arrived!

Born Monday afternoon - DURING SOAP CLASS no less - "Dixie" is here!  A single doe kid, mama is our Pomegranate, daddy is our Crisco, a little full blown saanen ANGEL!  Weighing in at 7lbs 6oz she was a hefty little squirt!

We got her disbudded this evening...she is of course a bottle baby....and she is actualyl a spunky, bossy thing!  First doe kid of he year has arrived :)

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????)

Goat Midwifery 101

Alright - so I am not an "expert" (as in I have no formal college training) BUT I would say I have attended enough births of baby goats (and other critters and even a few people with some of my closer friends) that at this point I have a decent set of midwife skills under my belt.  I'm confident, I am prepared and even if I wasn't I have baby goats due again any day so I don't have an option but to be ready!

Enter the "birthing kit" as pictured above.....the big green rubber maid tub has been sterilized and filled with pine shavings (just a few inches worth).  Since we pull at birth and bottle raise all of our kids here following CAE prevention practices (even as a CAE negative herd it helps to keep up these practices "just in case"...adds a sense of security for buyers and my own soul) I need to have a place to put them as they are born. It keeps the kids in a clean spot until I can dip those umbilical cords in iodine, keeps them from getting stepped on by an anxious new mom, and makes it easy to carry them in to clean them up if I get more than one!  Yes, a bucket full of babies is easier to cart around than several kids in my arms if I get more than one LOL! Plus if I am REALLY lucky they will stay put in there for the first 24 hours...making it easy to keep an eye on them and get that colostrum in them in small, frequent bottles - right by my side.  Over protective much? Not me...noooo.....

Under that black deal but still inside my tub there is a box full of clean towels and "wee pads/doggy training pads".  I use the disposable pads to place under my dams so I can catch as much as the "goop/juice" from birth as possible - makes it super easy to roll them up and toss them and VOILA clean pen post birth.  It also provides a nice clean spot for the babies to land on and something to give them a quick rub down with to remove all the "ick" before I towel them off.  LOVE that disposable stuff!  Still...nothing is like a nice fluffy towel to get them REALLY clean and dried off...so I have those too :)

Then, on top of that is ALL the "bonus stuff" - CMPK, BoSe gel, iodine, something to dip umbilical cords with, lube, chlorexidine wash and spray, a scale to weigh kids with, a marker and pens for notes if I need to make any, just all sorts of stuff....made a video actually...it's easier to take about everything I keep on hand "just in case":

So I would say we are ready - any minute now...well, maybe not that soon, but with any luck before the weekend is over I will have baby goats running around again :) I'm almost giddy now waiting on them to get here!

People Really Amaze me....

So, for kicks, I was trolling craigslist this evening - seriously, the amount of bull I see on there is amazing and NO I am NOT talking about cattle for sale! I mean the line of crap in 50% of the ads! Take this one:

"Did you know that a Saanen does not have to be rebred in order to continue to produce"

Quoted directly from the ad - SERIOUSLY???? Um NO!  They ALL have to be bred again at some point - sure, SOME goats will stay in milk forever without needing to breed again. But not Forever Forever - like for a year or even 2 if you are lucky.  But that is IT.  I've never ever in my life heard of not one single doe that was bred once and stayed in milk the rest of her life. They ALL dry up at some point!

Another one that cracked me up: "Goats for sale, 2 toddlers and one adult" Really?  I know they call them "kids" and we tease about them being "teenagers" when they get a little older and act badly, but you are SERIOUSLY marketing something incorrectly and waiting on people to bring you money huh?  Yes, some other inexperienced person will eventually be suckered in and buy that goat.  But jeez-louise at least learn the correct and proper terminology to market what you have!

That's just a few things...I could go on for hours. It sounds mean I know, but my husband and I really do sit here and laugh over some of this.  Most just amaze me.  Please, REALLY I mean it, don't buy something from someone who doesn't even know what they have!  Do your research first and have half a clue before you go shopping - ESPECIALLY for living things like farm animals! $5 says if they lie about how long a goat can produce milk then they lie about everything else...and you may just bring home a sick goat if you aren't careful!

Any day now!!!!!

They don't look ALL that big in that pic - but it sure was a pretty day yesterday :) But yes, as you can see by the title ANY day now baby goats will be here!!!! I am SOOOO excited!  I have 2 saanen does, one bred for nubian cross kids and one bred for straight saanen kid due the 4th of May.  And to be honest, saanens TEND to kid a few days past "day 150"...so most likely it will be any day next week.  BUT...goats CAN kid from day 145-155 so we are now on baby watch officially! I of course am in a state of "almost ready but not really" - I still have some things I need to prep. My "kidding kit" is all ready pretty much together, moms to be are all set with everything THEY need (like cdt booster a month ago and so on) though I do still need to shave udders (clippers died though) and I do still need to shuffle them to the "maternity ward" and all...

Heck, it doesn't SOUND like I am ready does it?  But, I mostly am - after a few kiddings you stay in a state of perpetual readiness I think, like a midwife on call.  Tomorrow I will get everything finalized and prepped.  I just don't want to go getting all excited and have them drag it out until day 155 with me sitting here waiting and all you know?

 Took this pic a week or so ago at the end of the day - That's Pomegranate and she is not even the widest of the 2!

 One of the "baby daddy" photos - CriscoKid, my puffy gentle marshmallow goat :)

 Pomegranate was trying to nap while I was taking her "big belly pictures" - she was less then pleased with my interruption of her "me time"

 Lucy....

And Lucy's belly!  She has REALLY gotten pretty big the last week or so!  She gave me twins last year and only looked half as large, so I am really hoping for twins again this year - twin does would be my preference of course :P

So....I'm nervously anticipating kids any day now and all excited and a-flutter already! I have absolutely been scatter brained like CRAZY the last few weeks since I realized we were coming up on kidding again.  You know, that moment when it REALLY hits you that soon you will be crazy busy with your hands full and no time for anything else? The moment when you have a mild heart attack?  Yup...that was me like April 8th and I haven't really stopped moving since then!

Stay tuned for updates on the expectant mothers :)

April please come back!

No really - WHERE did April go????  I just realized how crazy the last 15 days have been!  Oh my sweet good grief!

Taught a soap class and a goat class, went with a friend to pick up new goats (6 + hour round trip), had to baby sit the tree trimmers the light company sent out last week...still keeping an eye out for them to return....helped a friend with an emergency of the goat kind, helped another friend with her car problems, spent DAYS making new soap and NOW I am awaiting the arrival of baby goats who are due to be born practically any minute!  AHHHHH!!!!!  Where do I start????

I think I begin by turning back the clock...hands of time work with me here....okay...so soap class/goat class day:  It was a BLAST!  Met 2 new great awesome people, had fun, shared tips, tricks, and techniques, and I can't wait to see what they can create on their own :)  SOOOO excited to be doing classes again like I used to do once upon a time before we moved....

Then.....the ride to Hutto = new kids on the block.  No, really :)  New baby GOAT kids are here on our little dirt road!  Meet Hannah (the dark haired beauty) and Nugget (the blue eyed charmer).  Both are mini-nubian doelings and I can not wait for them to grow up to see what they can produce! SOOOO excited and met another great most awesome lady that day as well!

Then the next day had an emergency with another breeder who needed help - that was an all day thing...but it came out well...and then I was WHOOPED for a few days LOL.  I suppose I should post separately for other things huh?  Don't want anyone else as confused as I myself have been these last few weeks - April has been a crazy doozy!

2 outta 3 ain't bad....

It seems I am having a "2 outta 3" kind of week.  First, I am driving on 2 out of 3 new tires because Mr Farmhand thought he was being clever hiding one on the spare....THEN I got 2 out of 3 goat pens all mucked out and cleaned for the spring time today - which is a whole other post to come....THEN I got 2 out of 3 pictures taken well when I was doing the girls "pregnancy photos" today...oh well, I will be okay with 2 out of 3.  Like, for example, if I get 3 kids when the goats pop next month and 2 out of 3 are girls, I will be happy :) 

What?  When the goats pop?  What's all that about you ask??? Well, my saanen does Pomegranate and Lucy are due May 4th to kid!!! Oh yes, SOOOO excited!  Lucy is bred to Starmaker for cross babies (part nubian) and Pom is bred to Crisco for all saanen kids!  I am REALLY hoping for one girl AT LEAST from each as they both gave me BOYS last year!

First, Pomegranate:

From the side it's not too bad huh?  Now look at a birds eye view of that gut!

Yup, she is one wide load!  Got good fetal movement and udder building going on and I am getting excited! Then, we have Lucy, my Lu Goose, my sweet girl (who is actually a mega bitch when she is bred!)

Of course she has perfected the art of laying on the side where the babies are at - but she's still pretty big!

With a face that sweet you would never guess in a million years she has been out there tossing the nubians around for weeks now!  She won't let any other goats get near me - so jealous!  She was like that last year too...it's always a good sign she is bred when she gets SUPER mean since she is normally very laid back! Also, see that dirt on her shoulder?  She was helping me clean the pen today by knocking stuff like my rake over - what a peach right?  But I love her Sooooo much!

So yes, excitement is starting to build, babies are on the way!  Just a few short weeks and they will be here!  Usually I have names all picked out by now, but I have fallen behind :(  I've been so busy making and naming SOAP that I haven't gotten to goat names yet! Hmmmm....it's a "D" year - AGDA thing, I'll explain later when I remember haha! Anyways, I name kids using the year  is for ADGA...so "D" names...someone toss a few my way!