Monday update...

Today we almost got the barn cleaned out. Just have a little left to do. The ground will need to be built up though... I have not decided with what though. Gravel, sand, wood chips??? And then cover that with bedding - wood pellets/shavings or preferably straw.

The weather has been really weird. . . it's like October weather in August! Very cool. I guess we have to get ready for a cold winter. Clean the barns, get ready to bed for cold weather, put the insulation back up, built a shed or two, what else? Probably lots more :).

Not all that much to update on. Yesterday we went swimming at the local "Blue Hole", even though it was only 75 degrees outside, but it was nice ;).

On another note, I think Piglet will be coming into full heat in a day or two, and I'm going to breed her. Either to Lando or Parker... haven't made up my mind yet.

My cousin found a feed place that sells a 14.5% protein with 2% fat pellet in bulk. It turns out to be about $4 per 50 lbs. . . super cheap! We started feeding it a week ago and everyone seems to be doing good on it, except for little picky Maggie - she doesn't think it tastes too great. But it cut our feed bill pretty much in half! That is great!

Speaking of feed... it's getting close to time to start buying grass hay to feed the does. I started feeding the bucks grass hay once a day, since they are in rut and several of them only browse for a little while, but not enough to "keep them alive", so to speak. But they will eat the hay, so that's good.

Anyway, time for bed. Here are a few pictures from a few days ago.

some of the bucks out grazing,

Camille, the horse, and Shamrah, the dog,

Goodnight,

Suriyah

life on the ranch, update

Well, Thursday we did not get to finishing cleaning the barn, and neither did we today. So that will have to wait till next week. I got a ton of bug bites from cleaning the barn out Wednesday... bugs really like me for some reason!

I don't know why I did not think of using my CMT (California Mastitis Test) kit before I treated the cow for mastitis, but oh well. I tested her though a few days ago on the teat that I treated and it showed that she had a small case of mastitis. Then just this morning we suspected mastitis in the other back teat, so I tested it (before I treated :)) and it has mastitis also. So I treated it with U.S. Vet Mastitis Treatment for Lactating Cows. That stuff clears it up pretty quickly. The other back teat that I treated a few days ago seems to be doing better also. For now, she has leveled out at 2 1/2 gallons each milking for the past few days... I hope and think that will go up.

I have been meaning to mention - if you use cheesecloth or butter muslin for making cheese/butter/whatever... don't buy it again! Someone on a cow forum I am on (Keeping a Family Cow - http://familycow.proboards.com) mentioned this stuff called Plyban Cheesecloth. It is basically plastic cheesecloth that is washable and reusable, and the cheese doesn't stick to it. It is really, really great stuff!! I hopefully won't ever have to use cheesecloth again. Here's the link to where you can buy it - http://hoeggergoatsupply.com/xcart/search.php?mode=search

The other day we helped a friend band and medicate 5 of her calves. It was quite a show... watching a bunch of ropes flying, crazy calves running, and at one point they roped a calf, but he was very strong and was dragging a few of the boys across the ground since they were holding the rope! Better than a rodeo! Nobody was on a horse, so that just made it funnier :). Everything and everyone got dealt with though, and it only took us about an hour.

Today when I rode a couple of the horses... one was being stubborn and wouldn't stop for me at one point, and he was galloping. Then one of the little bucklings was out grazing and got right in the path of the fast horse. I thought he was going to be trampled, but some how he quickly managed to get out of the way and escape, harm free! Always something to keep us on our toes around here!

Anyway, a few random photos for you.

Here's beautiful little Starlight... I like her a lot!

Getting late... time for bed!

Suriyah

Cleaning time!

Well it has needed to be done for a while.... barn cleaning! We finally got out there with the tractor, and got almost 3/4 done. Yay! The tractor barely fits in the barn, and it can only fit in on one side since the other side slants down and is too short (for the exhaust pipe on the tractor). But, 2 hrs of tractor work saved us days and days (probably weeks) of hand cleaning it! After lunch today we are going to hopefully finish it. It was a little less than 2 ft deep, and that's just from last winter!

Last year I did deep bending - where you just add more and more straw all winter, then clean it out once a year. But then that once a year cleaning is big time hard! So I think this year I am going to not deep bed, and clean once a week or so. On really cold days I will have to bed them in, but not leave it all winter. There was all kinds of bugs living in the bedding underneath all the hay - ewww!

Yesterday I bred Lizzie (Spirit Earth Lizzie, Nubian/Alpine) to Junior Mint. The babies are not registerable. So she's due January 23rd.

Today Kiss and Rustler (Nubian/Boer/Nigerian wether) are leaving to a new home. Thanks to Susan Perkins for giving them a great home!

Suriyah

Vote for Canuck!

My sister entered her Bullmastiff puppy, Canuck, in a photo contest. If you can, please vote for him! You can vote everyday too. Pass it along to whomever you can! Go here to vote for him. Thanks!

around the ranch. . .

Just some photos from around the ranch. . .

tractor,

Tank,

LaWanda sleeping,

Bottle steer,

Blueberry,

By the way, the cow's milk production was up to 3 1/2 gallons this morning. I think she was just in heat. Hopefully it stays up. She is acting more normal too.

Suriyah

Run-down of the day...

The cow's udder is no worse, but this morning she only let down about 2 1/2 gallons, and tonight she only gave a gallon. Somewhat of a bummer. I think it is due to the infection in that one quarter. I did the second (and last) treatment for the mastitis in that one quarter, and have been putting Corona udder cream on it, giving her red raspberry tea and probios. I hope her milk picks back up!

I accidentally made clabber milk. It was fresh milk that had been set out on the counter for about 36 hrs. I skimmed the cream and then realized it was clabbered. Not soured. I had no idea what to do with clabber milk! So 5 gallons went to the pigs, and I am saving 1 gallon to try and make some cottage cheese with and make some more clabber. I guess you can use it also as a starter for other cheeses. We'll see how that goes :).

The other day I figured out what it costs us per doe in milk, per month for the summer months. Since they have pasture (free), alfalfa and grain during the summer. It costs us about $13 per milker per month for during the summer months. In the winter, that will go up some because of grass hay.

I am going to enter a few of my does and bucks into the Miniature Dairy Goat Association V-Show. Pretty cool! I did not get to enter into the last one this Spring. It only costs $2 to enter, and all you have to do is take pictures of your goat and enter it. If you don't know what it is, here's a link that explains it - http://miniaturedairygoats.com/V-Show/index.htm

We decided to try and sell our AMHA/AMHR Miniature Stallion again. He is very gentle, handsome, and only about 2 years old. If you are interested in him, we are asking $400 - email or call me for more info - sf@goodgoats.net 918-598-4004.

Have a good evening,

Suriyah

Photos, and update

(I'm bad at titles :)). Just giving a quick update on things around here. We have not bred anymore does yet... the "second round" has not come in heat yet. We had a lot of rain last week, which was really nice for the pasture!

We got the milk machine new pulsator and it's working, praise the Lord! It came Friday afternoon. But now tonight, of course something had to come up, since everything had been going great since Friday night! She wouldn't let her milk down.. ugh. And she had got a small, somewhat deep but nothing bad, cut next to one of her teats several days ago. It has been looking great. But, the past few days it's been hard around it and tonight it was warm. I don't want to deal with mastitis!! SO I went ahead and treated that quarter with Today, cleaned the wound although it is scabbed over, and put medicated teat cream on all her teats. I also gave her Probios and some red raspberry leaf. I am really hoping this does not turn into mastitis. . . never have had mastitis in any of our goats, ever.

On another note. . . let's see - the bottle steer calf is growing great on his goat milk, the Miniature Horse, Amigo, is very well conditioned only eating grass, all the goaties are doing great on pasture and alfalfa.

Here are some photos of various goats from a few days ago.

Rhia... she is doing great! She is jet-black and just so pretty right now!

Grandma Maggie, as we call her,

One of the Boer yearling does (right now they are living only off of pasture and look great),

another one of the Boer yearling does,

Hope ya'll had a great weekend!

Suriyah

Pics of does for sale & how to make butter

Here are some pictures of the 5 does we have for sale. If you have any questions, feel free to email me (sf@goodgoats.net). Also, they have empty udders in the photos :).

Dream Weaver's MoReen,

Icthus VML Champagne Kiss,

Good Goats Double Bubble,

Adams Funny Farm Daisy Mae,

Good Goats Amarelli Chicci,

The cow saga continues... we got the new (bigger) inflations in the mail yesterday. We tried them yesterday night, but they were too big! So we tried the small ones and they worked pretty well. The hoses needed some adjustment but we milked her out with the machine. But then, this morning it only milked out about half, and I think it was partly user-error, but maybe not. We don't think the pulsator is working though, since it has "worked" but not like it should. Just something else to throw us for a loop... if anyone knows how to work these Surge milkers, that would be great (maybe it's just us, but it's not the easiest machine to figure out!)!

The weather has been nice - raining a little almost everyday. We were going to clean the doe barn out today (*needs* to be done), but it started raining so they are all in there again and it won't happen now that it's almost lunch time.

Oh, BUTTER! I have made a few batches and it's turned out GREAT! I am going to weigh it, but from one gallon of milk I have been getting about 1/4 lb of butter. It tastes great and takes only maybe 10-20 minutes, depending on how much I make. Here's how I do it.

Take your cream, put it in the blender. Blend for about 5 minutes or until you see the butter separated. Let it sit for a minute or two so the butter rises to the top. Pour the buttermilk off (and save for baking if you want). Then take ice cold water and pour it in the blender with the butter, and blend for 30 seconds. Pour that off. Take your butter out, and get as much liquid out as you can. Salt it, and enjoy! I usually form it into a block and put it in a bag in the freezer for a little bit, as it is pretty soft right when you are done making it.

Have a great day,

Suriyah

Update

Not too much to update on. A couple days ago I made my first batch of butter from the cow milk, but it was only a little bit as I got a little bit of cream (and the "milk" I used to skim the cream off of was half milk/half colostrum :)!). But, now I have a good amount of cream warming on the counter to make more butter with.

We have not bred anymore does yet - I think 6 does in one week was enough ;). I am hoping the next "round" will come in in a week or two and breed them for mid-late January kids.

Friday we went to the local (Leach, OK) livestock auction. Got a couple of piglets to raise up and resale later, one young sow to butcher for us in a few weeks, and one older boar to butcher for the dogs.

Here's (finally!) a picture of the calf born 5 days ago. This is when she was just brand-new.

Have a great day,

Suriyah

Does for sale

Well, we have been reevaluating our herd, and have decided to sell some does. There is nothing wrong with any of them - they are beautiful, friendly and very productive - we just have too many! With kidding season coming in some months, and of course we are going to keep some doelings, it's time to thin out some of the older does. I did not have time to get pictures of them today, but if you would like pictures, email me and I can hopefully get them to you within the next few days. So here's the sales list.

Dream Weaver's MoReen - very friendly 5 year old doe. She is a wonderful milker, is easy to milk and produces beautiful kids. Mo last kidded in January (2009) and is still in milk. We just bred her last night to PawPawNin Junior Mint, so she *should* be bred and due for January 8th, 2010 kids. The only thing Mo needs help with are her ears - they're airplane. She is also a 2nd generation mini. Sire: Dream Weaver's PD Leo, Dam: Dream Weaver's Molly. $300

Icthus VML Champagne Kiss - beautiful 2 1/2 yr old doe. She was a bottle baby, and is very friendly but not the kind that wants to climb in your lap. I hesitated to offer her for sale, but I really don't need her. She has a beautiful 1st freshener udder and is easy to milk. She is 2nd generation and has airplane ears also. She was bred to Dreamy-Hollow Lando and is due January 2nd, 2010. Sire: PawPawNin Vanilla Moo Latte, Dam: Dream Weaver's MoReen. $300

Adams Funny Farm Daisy Mae - nice, 6 1/2 yr old doe. She is not the show ring type, but is a wonderful breeder and produces adorable kids. She has a nice udder and is a good milker. She last kidded in February of this year and is still in milk. Her ears are 2/3 drop and when bred to a buck with just slightly better ears than her, the kids ears are wonderful! She is a 1st generation doe. Sire: Artist's Eye FM Cisco, Dam: Adams Funny Farm Rebecca. $275

Good Goats Double Bubble - very nice yearling doe, born in spring of 2008. She is very well put together, has a beautiful body and nice long ears. The only reason I'm selling her is because I have enough other yearlings and doelings out of the same lines :). She is ready to be bred and I could breed her within the next month. She is a 1st generation doeling (75% Nubian, 25% Nigerian). Sire: Good Goats Mr. Goodbar, Dam: PawPawNin Ditzy Doris. $250

Good Goats Amarelli Chicci - this is a pretty, small and cute 3rd generation doeling. She was born in the spring of 2008. Her ears go to the tip of her nose, but the majority of the time she holds them out (weirdo). She is a very small and petite doe. I could also breed her within the next couple of months, most likely, but since she is so small, would want to breed her to a Nigerian to avoid any first freshener kidding complications. Anyway, she is a nice doeling. Sire: PawPawNin Quiet Wyatt, Dam: PawPawNin Vivid Bridget. $250

If you are interested in any of them, feel free to email me with any questions you have - sf@goodgoats.net

On another note, the cow saga continued this morning. She would not let down her milk with the milk machine and ended up breaking the stanchion. So my brother spend the next 4 or 5 hours fixing it. We finally got her in, and milked her out. But she still would not let down a whole lot with the machine. So me and him hand milked 3 gals of colostum, and the machine milked 1 gal (we had to finish it by hand, as her udder still has a lot of edema in it). We got 4 gallons this morning. SO, within the past 24 hrs, we have milked 10 1/2 gallons of colostrum! How's that!?! Anyway, I think things might be finally smoothing out with the cow deal ;).

Have a great day,

Suriyah

Bred Capering Valley P Rhia

Today, I bred one of our Nubian does, Capering Valley P Rhia. I am very excited to finally have her bred! We bought her last winter and she was suppose to be bred, but ended up not being bred. She was also thin. But, thankfully she is in much, much better condition now and is bred! She is a beautiful doe and I hope I get a doeling out of her! Oh, and I bred her to Quiet Wyatt for 1st generation, 75% Nubian kids. So she is due January 8th.

I thought I would post the gestation calculator I use. It is simple and easy and has worked great for me. http://www.goatbiology.com/animations/gestcalculator.html

A lil' bit ago the cow had her calf. . . a heifer. Praise the Lord! We missed the birth and just found the calf about 20 minutes ago, so everyone is still checking her out. We are going to have to milk the cow today as her udder is big and much, much fuller now than those last pictures and she is dripping milk! Pictures will come later, Lord willing.

Suriyah

Big Udder!!

I think the cow is going to calve soon! I'm no cow-expert, but her udder has gotten a lot bigger the past few days... it's HUGE, and I'm sure it will get better once her milk comes in. Once she is in milk, I want to measure it to see how tall and wide it is :). Here's a few pictures of her from this morning.

Here is a picture of my sister's adorable little (or not so little) Bullmastiff puppy. His name is Canuck and he is from Canada You can follow Canuck's life over at his blog - Adventures of Canuck - http://adventuresofcanuck.blogspot.com

Suriyah

Another doe bred and sick Starlight :(

I have a feeling that my postings are going to be about breeding does for a lil' while now! Yesterday (Saturday, the 8th) I bred LaWanda to Quiet Wyatt. So she's due January 5th. It's nice to finally have some does bred. LaWanda last kidded in May of 2008 - she milked through all last winter and has been a good girl!

Last week was really warm, then Wednesday it cooled down and rained a lot. We had left the doelings out in the doe barn - thinking they were big enough. Well I think that stressed them out a little bit but they got over it. Needless to say, at night they are staying back in their stall out back. . . I guess they're still babies :). BUT, the weather change was drastic and Thursday afternoon Starlight (4 mnth old doeling, still getting a bottle a day) was not acting herself and had a 107 fever! WOW! So I gave her Banamine, C&D Antitoxin, baking soda, b vits, and a few other things - thinking enterotoximia. She seems totally normal that night.

Well, early Friday afternoon she was not her normal self again. And her temp was 105. So back to the barn - Banamine, C&D, b vits and Excenel. This time I am thinking pneumonia. I don't know why I didn't think of that the first time especially with the weather change. So we gave her that, left and got back a few hours later and one of her eyes was swollen. I still don't know what that is from. It has some discharge and just today we decided to put some eye-ointment on it incase of an eye infection.

SO, I think she will pull through. Yesterday her fever was down, and today she is acting a lot better but not all the way normal. She is not eating hay like normal, but this morning she drank a bottle and ate leaves and pine needles, and some grass. So I think we may have turned the corner to wellness. Praise the Lord! I hope she fully recovers! Of course it has to be Starlight - everyone's favorite, not just because she's a beautiful doeling but also because she has the sweetest personality ever!

That ended up longer than I thought. Now I'm going with them to go check on the cow - I'm hearing it looks like she might calve soon.

Have a great day,

Suriyah

Bred some does, FINALLY!

Woohoo! Finally some does came into heat (that I have been waiting to come into heat for a while now), and we bred them last night. We bred PawPawNin Maglio Tartuffini (Maggie, she is also polled) to Dreamy-Hollow Parker for 2nd generation kids. And Icthus VML Champagne Kiss to Dreamy-Hollow Lando (he has blue-eyes) for 2nd generation kids also. SO they are both due January 2nd. Kidding will be starting a little later than last year, but sometimes a break, even if it is small, is nice ;).

Other than that, not too much out of the ordinary has been happening. We had a nice hard rain for a little while last night - we've been needing some rain! And it looks like it might rain again today, which would be very nice.

We got another big bale of Alfalfa, this time it's from Nebraska. Our last bale was 4-string and about 1,000 lbs, this one is a 6-sting and a little over 1,400 lbs. The last one lasted us a month, so we'll see how long this one lasts!

Have a great day now!

Suriyah