Expecting Kids

Hi all! We are very pregnant here on the farm and very excited! We are expecting some cute little kids. Cali, our doe, is...well...she's HUGE. We hope to have some goat kids within the month. Probably sooner rather than later.

As we are novice goat keepers we made a big rookie mistake in keeping our doe housed with our buck. We had all intentions of her getting preggo, but we don't know the conception date, so we're a little lost on the due date. *rips hair out* We know these things:

◆ goats gestate for 140-150 days
◆ we noticed a change in Cali's...*cough* width *cough*in October.
◆ Cali has begun to fill her udder with milk
◆ baby goat movement can be felt in the right side of Cali's stomach (left is less reliable because of rumen)

She is now separated from our male goat, Dexter. We give her lots of hay, warm water to drink, lots of comfy bedding, and a private stall. I check for signs of labor about three times daily. Morning, afternoon, night. Here are the things I look for:

◆ hollow areas around the flank and tail (this indicates a loosening of ligaments and such)
◆ loosening of ligaments around the tail head (usually most reliable predictor)
◆ behavioral change-more stand-offish or more affectionate than usual
◆ "talking"-mama goats do this to bond with the babies
◆ restlessness-pacing, pawing the ground, headbutting fences, nesting, getting up and down
◆ discharge or mucus leaking from the girly parts
◆ full, tight, "shiny" udder (least reliable predictor)

I have been prepping some supplies in anticipation for a goat birth! I hope to share this in another blog post! Thanks for reading!

Pallet Goat Stand

Hi all! We're not as busy here on the farm as we were during growing/hatching season, but that doesn't mean work is at a standstill. In fact, the cooler weather means fewer hours at Mitch's job. He prefers to work on our projects during these months. Since he's our primary project builder, (let's face it, I scare myself with power tools!) it is game on during the fall and winter.

It is time to be preparing our home, barn and garage, and animals for winter. One of the tasks on our list is hoof trimming for our goats. I may elaborate on this maintenance chore in another post, but for now suffice it to say it is something we must do. This chore is made easier with the use of a goat stand with a head latch. While varieties of stands are available for purchase, we chose a simple DIY construction project. We chose this option due to cost and efficiency. Our goats are dwarf size and most options available are for standard sized animals.

We began with a few pallets Mitch can get free from work and a couple of 2"x4" boards we had leftover from a previous project. A couple of screws, nuts, bolts, and a screen door latch made the project complete.

The base of the stand is a skid cut down to approximately 3' wide and 4' long (standard pallet length). Mitch pryed boards from a separate pallet to fill in the gaps. This was done with a pry bar, a claw hammer, and patience. You have to be careful when ripping off the boards since they are prone to breaking and splitting.

Mitch managed to hammer the nails in the reverse direction so that he could reuse most of them. This is also a delicate procedure as the nails like to bend. But, it helped us use less materials because recycling is fun!

We cut a 2x4 down to about 18" for legs. (Make 4) This makes the stand low enough for the goats to hop up and down to get on and off, but still high enough to adequately allow me to milk and perform maintenance duties on the goats. Since the stand was still pretty wobbly at this point, Mitch added a brace to each long (4') side. He accomplished this by prying up 2 more skid boards and screwing them into the legs. You wouldn't believe the difference it made. The front of the stand has additional braces to stabilize the head latch. These connect the front legs to the body under the stand.

The head latch is a frame made of 3 2x4 boards screwed to the base in a rectangular formation. Additional 2x4s are sandwiched in the frame to form the latch. This is done with 1x1 boards and 2x4s. The frame is also braced with 2x4s on each side, securing it further to the base.

One of the 2x4s sandwiched in the frame moves somewhat freely to open and close the latch. This is made to secure the goat's head to keep it steady.  We still have to add something in the front to attach a feeder to so the goats can happily munch while we work on them. Mitch added a bolt to the top of the moving latch board as a handle.

If everything goes as planned, our doe will be successfully bred by this winter and we'll be having a goat kid next spring. This stand will come in pretty handy when I'm using it everyday to milk with.

The goats can't wait to see the new stand. 

If anyone would like to know specific stand dimensions or has any questions, please feel free to ask. I'll do my best to answer them. 

Thanks for reading!

New Furry Additions To The Farm

Hi all! Well, we were going to get a dog, but......we got these guys instead!

I've been dying to get some dairy goats, and I couldn't beat the prices on this registered breeding pair of Nigerian Dwarf Goats. I'm so thrilled.  I thought we might have to give up on them for a while, but we worked out a comfy living situation, and, as I said before, they were priced so well.

Just a few fun facts on this breed:

This is a picture of Biosphere 2 in Arizona and scientist Jayne Poynter with the Nigerian Dwarf goats used in the 2 year long experiment.

*  This breed was used in the Biosphere 2 experiment in the 90's in which 8 people spent 2 years locked in a dome and performed research on ecology. (think Biodome)

*  This breed produces only about a quart of milk a day

*  Unlike most other breeds of goat, this breed is capable of breeding year-round instead of seasonally

*  This breed's average weight is about 75 lbs

*  Nigerian Dwarfs have a higher butterfat content than most other breeds. Standard: 3-4% Dwarf: 5-7% This is great for cheese making!

*  Only just recently recognized as a dairy breed by The American Dairy Goat Association in 2005

*  Though this breed is small, generally it's teats are standard size, which is great for milking

The lady we got them from said that if our female stayed exposed to the male, she might come back into heat so we could breed them and get babies and milk!!

Stay tuned for fun goat updates!

Thanks for reading!

P.S. Their names are Cali and Dexter!