Merry Christmas 2010

Mariposa

As you can see, little Elsa still loves her Mariposa! She has decided that she wants to milk her all by herself, so every night she goes out with me and milks while I sweep. She is doing a great job!

Here is a great picture of Mariposa taken when she was a junior doe - right after her first breeding. I still need to get a good udder picture of her. She just had her second freshening and
gave birth to these gorgeous little blue-eyed bucklings sired by our herd sire Image.

Fairywood IM Bonnie Prince Charlie (pending) is already sold! He will go to his new home as soon as he is weaned in October.

Here is Charlie from the back. He is going to make a fine herd sire for his new family!

Charlie's brother (nicknamed Gremlin) was tragically killed by visiting dogs. He was very curious, and had learned he could slip through the gap between fence and gate. Unfortunately, the dogs thought he was the perfect plaything and he couldn't outrun them. Elsa was devastated to lose him, and so was I. It is one of the hardest lessons about farm life - we can't always protect everyone however hard we try, and so sometimes we lose an animal. But we learn from our mistakes, make improvements, and hopefully reduce future risk. It is part of the circle of life. We must accept death, but there is always a new birth to remind us of the beauty and miracle of life.

D'Artagnan

This is our young, new hersire, Fairywood CS D'Artagnan. He is sired by Flying Goat Cassanova *S and out of our lovely little doe Bamboo Acres BP Mariposa. We have bred all of our junior does to him and can't wait to see the results!

Image

Here are current pictures of our herdsire, Big Enuf SI Image of the Moon. He is looking a little older and more "filled out", but he is healthy and happy and sweet! We love this guy and boy has he sired some gorgeous babies for us!

Merci's Quads

Well, we knew she would at least have triplets again as she was huge!! And I did suspect quads. Sure enough, February 9th, Merci kidded with one solid black doeling, two black and white bucklings, and one chocolatey brown buckling with tiny white spots. They are just as amazing quality as last year's triplets, without the flashy coloring. All will be available for sale and should be weaned around Easter.

Mini Nubians are Soooo Cute!!

Last fall, when faced with the problem of breeding our dear Nubian doe and no available Nubian bucks within easy reach, we decided to go ahead and try breeding her to our darling Image. Well...it worked! And, the kids are just the cutest things we have ever seen! February 11 KitKat kidded with triplets (last year, bred to a Nubian buck, she had a single buckling...) One very dark mahogany doeling, one black and white extremely outgoing and adorable buckling, and one brown with amazing moonspots and sweet personality buckling. We wil keep the doeling, but will probably sell the bucklings. They will be available as either bucks or wethered for pets.

Gidget Does it Again!

February 1st Gidget gave us twin doelings again! This is the third time in a row for her, and since it is her 3rd freshening, she has only ever had twin does. This time they are both blue eyed as well, and just as beautiful as ever. Gidget and Image throw gorgeous dairy doelings! The little buckskin looks just like her mama and will be named Fairywood IM Saint Bridget, and the black with white spots will be Fairywood IM Snowdrop. Both of these babies are available for sale.

New Year Baby

Mocha totally surprised us by giving birth to this sweet little guy on New Year's Day! We had thought she wasn't bred, and were about to re-breed her to Image, but apparantly she found a moment with our Jr. Buck (not jr. any more!) Fairywood IM John Muir...and this darling little buckling was the result. We were calling him "Early Bird", but it has been changed to "Lightning Bolt" by the neighbor boy who will soon be his new owner. Lightning Bolt will be wethered and go to his new home for Easter.

Raw Goat Yogurt

That's right. Raw. Made from milk fresh from the udder.
I did some research and am soooo happy with the results! This is the best yogurt I have ever made, probably the best yogurt I have ever tasted! Just as good as the yogurt in Europe, which I thought was divine...

Here's my method:
1. Milk goat
2. Strain milk
3. Put about a quart of still-warm milk into a jar low enough to fit in the Yogotherm
4. Stir in 3-4 spoonfuls (the kind we eat cereal with) of Straus Family Creamery Organic Whole Milk Plain Yogurt (I buy it at Sprouts or Trader Joe's) then close the jar.
5. Put jar in Yogotherm bucket and add HOT water to surround it.
6. Put the lids on the Yogotherm.
7. Move it to a corner of the counter where it won't be disturbed.
8. Leave it alone for 10 hours

After 10 hours it is so thick and creamy with just that perfect tangy flavor. I don't have to add any thickeners at all. This may be because Princess and Gidget have been lactating for several months so the butterfat content is high enough.

Delicious!!!

Pumping by hand?

When I first started milking Princess, it was a disaster! She did not want me under there, and would just lay right down on my arms and the milk bucket. NOTHING would convince her to stand up and let me milk! And believe me, I tried everything! We even tried hoisting her up in a sling, but no good. Why bother? Well, my Lucy can only digest the raw goat milk, so if she wants milk, I have to milk...and my only goats in milk right now are Princess and Gidget. That's right, my two wildest goats, lol! Now, Gidget is really, really shy. So shy that after two months of milking, she still runs away from me. But once she's on the stand she is one of the most well-behaved goats I have ever milked! Her udder is nice and smooth and easy to milk. But Princess...what was I going to do? I needed her milk! Suddenly I was hit with a stroke of inspiration. I still have a breast pump (non-electric) which I barely used....would it work with goats? Yes!! It took some fiddling to get it in just the right spot, and definitely needed the extra-suction valve, but once I got going it worked like a charm. Princess stood quietly while I pumped away, she even stopped squatting. It was really slow, only one teat at a time, so it took almost 10 minutes to milk her out, but well worth it. And after about two weeks, we were able to transition to hand milking in to the pail again. She still thinks about laying down on me every now and then, but a few gentle bumps up and she's standing straight again. Yay!