tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10898350238827575622024-03-13T12:12:44.561-07:00Generation Farm Kiko Goatsgenerationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.comBlogger105125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-3040239347809362812022-03-12T16:24:00.004-08:002022-03-13T05:47:53.340-07:00The years just flowed by like a broken down dam...<p>...in the immortal words of John Prine, sung so poignantly by Bonnie Raitt, and from one of my all time favorite songs - "Angel from Montgomery." I can't believe so much time has passed, but it is all good. I have been flying solo for nearly three years now, and my focus in that time has been rebuilding and moving forward in all areas of my life, and I honestly believe I am better than I have ever been. Who would have thought I would just be hitting my stride in my fifties?</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjSp3Bxr5xFGZF_8ynBRxdcFXX9HcaACg75-HowhwBuaEdyGvd1Ube06qxQwCIAl6OK0LsQaNuoo-4i66GJXnj64LNkmisNXrTMwVzG70xDB97OydInjEZIOt4ugXRRRCanCH0bIgmo85hGfnf7QjzEjnNTo3Wv-aXjlNAqwKinHMshvdOYsfa7AZ0l=s1244" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1244" data-original-width="857" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjSp3Bxr5xFGZF_8ynBRxdcFXX9HcaACg75-HowhwBuaEdyGvd1Ube06qxQwCIAl6OK0LsQaNuoo-4i66GJXnj64LNkmisNXrTMwVzG70xDB97OydInjEZIOt4ugXRRRCanCH0bIgmo85hGfnf7QjzEjnNTo3Wv-aXjlNAqwKinHMshvdOYsfa7AZ0l=s320" width="220" /></a></div>This year, I have dedicated myself to rebuilding a registered Kiko herd. I still have some of my original genetics, thankfully, the toughest and most hardy, and I am working to register the does as they produce kids by my new registered buck. I still have my ECR Southwest Shaw son and am registering him. We just call him Red. Red is an older gentleman now, and his mother, SDR Paula Bear (a Loverboy granddaughter), just passed away this winter. Red is a tough old guy. He broke something in his fetlock years ago, but he never let it slow him down. Many of my current does are his daughters. This is a picture of him from September of 2020.<p></p><p>I purchased a new outcross buck over the summer of 2021, and his first kids have just been hitting the ground. Virginia wanted to name him Napoleon Dynamite, but I steered her towards just plain Napoleon, as I thought he might need a slightly more dignified moniker as he grows to maturity. I picked him out sight unseen, from only a baby picture and pedigree page. He has an old goat of mine in his lineage, and I liked his frame. I thought he would be a solid outcross to what I have left on the farm and I hope his frame indicates what he's going to be as a mature buck. Here is a particularly bad photo of him in the weeds. So far, so good with him. He is hardy and he Famachas well. I will be interested to see how the kids do and plan to keep his doelings if all goes well.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjldeXrc-zhTDHUjFUVksXL0-M1WT0rutazAVWc3p7DeWMZZ9HsUSRipLeVkvGj8OhQMS6MJ0Ts1sgPK5IOJnrAGvssj8P_WqyxvFwwZq1k0b_Ypgfel1E7MA_grQyQyp8U-rQTuW5QquHKDGMDSFNm3GmEUHzQbH-K1K2zU2RxCUeHL57f-iA9F7Ea=s492" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="428" data-original-width="492" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjldeXrc-zhTDHUjFUVksXL0-M1WT0rutazAVWc3p7DeWMZZ9HsUSRipLeVkvGj8OhQMS6MJ0Ts1sgPK5IOJnrAGvssj8P_WqyxvFwwZq1k0b_Ypgfel1E7MA_grQyQyp8U-rQTuW5QquHKDGMDSFNm3GmEUHzQbH-K1K2zU2RxCUeHL57f-iA9F7Ea=s320" width="320" /></a></div><p>As fortune would have it, the first of his kids to be born were out of a doe by Red and out of a GHK doe by Wild Bill (Terminator lines). My goal had been to bring together multiple strands of Terminator for parasite tolerance and resistance, and this doe is full sister to the young buck I plan to use as a breed back buck to some of Napoleon's daughters in the future. The GHK doe was a Rusty Rita daughter, and died when this buckling and his twin were about a month old. He became Oliver Twist and she because Little Orphan Annie. Annalee is still disgusted that I named them that, but it was the natural choice and we've had so many goats now that sometimes we must take the path of least resistance. These names are at least slightly more creative than some of the others. Case in point are our goats Polite Goat, Talkative Goat, and Crazy Goat.</p><p>The second set of Napoleon kids are out of a goat that Virginia named back during her Thomas the Tank Engine phase, and I had not realized was about ten years old. I was looking back through my old blog entries and had posted pictures of Thomas as a yearling. She's the grand old dame of the farm now and pretty much runs the place, just as did her dear old mother, Marshmallow. Marshmallow was our first registered Kiko doe - purchased from BBM Farms when they dispersed their herd. She was a tremendous doe and was productive into her teens. It looks like Thomas will follow in her mother's footsteps. Thomas' sire was our solid black buck, BBM Nick's X232. Her twin daughters reflect that color history. I certainly hope these doelings grow well and ensure these longevity laden lines remain well represented in my herd. </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjVAh-2fxwLbv7hqxl0VQcNspQmmQ4bB41npNXF2raKgdcp6Q8u-srPLTt1M553SiDacFZGZeFXRKGId10mXfZPCsaIVUW-wbM_9TjwxLolKOSzI44d9Kzo8TPKyFU6WTQlkf8YVSDd1huQD5MaO3JpO6VohIrh9AwQb7fsKIBYO95zM7VQyZ9slTxb=s1039" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="851" data-original-width="1039" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjVAh-2fxwLbv7hqxl0VQcNspQmmQ4bB41npNXF2raKgdcp6Q8u-srPLTt1M553SiDacFZGZeFXRKGId10mXfZPCsaIVUW-wbM_9TjwxLolKOSzI44d9Kzo8TPKyFU6WTQlkf8YVSDd1huQD5MaO3JpO6VohIrh9AwQb7fsKIBYO95zM7VQyZ9slTxb=s320" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjwaHl2qZDQz-Q0LDl3x_atcRCeMyUYx1h_N9tlDPYeHZn8hxcUa686r_quVQCMPP07KKJJosT-hQhklw5rOptp5V_vcne_h9V6gdf7QU3_LG8RiL1nmGXDVHioumsNtry_XSl4Ivf7tqGTeEMNS6GysyC4ECMtIObPZJ-aSso3qwNG3PQ-YYrsKbY9=s875" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="832" data-original-width="875" height="304" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjwaHl2qZDQz-Q0LDl3x_atcRCeMyUYx1h_N9tlDPYeHZn8hxcUa686r_quVQCMPP07KKJJosT-hQhklw5rOptp5V_vcne_h9V6gdf7QU3_LG8RiL1nmGXDVHioumsNtry_XSl4Ivf7tqGTeEMNS6GysyC4ECMtIObPZJ-aSso3qwNG3PQ-YYrsKbY9=s320" width="320" /></a></div>My goal here remains the same. Anything I've learned along the way, I hope to share. I have had several people ask me for advice or assistance over the past few years, and I hope I have been able to help. My particular niche is raising Kikos on small acreage in a challenging climate. You name the parasite - we have it 'round here. You name the invasive plant species - we probably have that, too. There have been so many things I have learned over the years that I hope can help other producers. The first thing I want to mention has had some recent publicity. I have been using copper wire particles in bolus form for many years with good results, but I gave up on feeding them whole many years ago. I had been pouring them out in a handful of feed and trying to direct my hand at the target goat in the crowd and stuff the contents into the mouth of said goat before the rest of the herd could maul us both. You know what? It works. If you have high iron soil, you are doubly challenged by copper deficiency because iron binds many other essential minerals so they are not effectively absorbed. Northern Stokes County is known for its deep red high iron clay soil. It leaves a stain that is pretty much impossible to get out of white clothing, and the iron in the well water eats traditional pipes. It also allows me to use copper wire particles in addition to a high copper cattle formula mineral, but I will discuss the minerals I've found locally available in my next installment. I am looking forward to talking to you soon! <br /><p><br /></p>generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-59740986735944754942014-01-29T20:43:00.001-08:002014-01-29T20:43:10.205-08:00Exhausted by baby goats...Well, the testing of the first semester is over at school, and we have just started new classes with new faces. If that were not enough to wear me out, I also spent last weekend and today at the farm with kidding does because Chuck had to work. Normally it isn't a big deal, but last Friday and Saturday were unusually cold for this area... like single digit cold with a 20 mph wind. Yikes. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Notice the outdoor temperature. A balmy seven degrees.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj50oCFzBqVNQDOQyGmuGQq1yIpkoiV2XKvOTAW6rZeVwid33w-kPZEtQPDT-lEqHILyz5sWpdLGa4opBatRNGw3mfaNiJVbHN40g9jxZwzuG7pXbfmyiEY78ye2mr2dj0CkAJjE3Ml9g/s1600/IMG02880-20140129-1514.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjj50oCFzBqVNQDOQyGmuGQq1yIpkoiV2XKvOTAW6rZeVwid33w-kPZEtQPDT-lEqHILyz5sWpdLGa4opBatRNGw3mfaNiJVbHN40g9jxZwzuG7pXbfmyiEY78ye2mr2dj0CkAJjE3Ml9g/s1600/IMG02880-20140129-1514.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baby goats.</td></tr>
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We might get a couple of days this cold every few years, but this time, we have had it on and off for over a week! Then we had snow on top of the frigid ground. We had made it so we could sequester the does that were bagging up and looked ready to kid near the barn, so we thought, well, they can go in the barn to kid and they'll have a windbreak (which our pastures sorely lack). Cool. We normally have maybe a couple does kid at a time, followed by a few more the next week, and so on and so on. Since we have bucks on the farm pretty close to the does all the time, we've never really seen the "buck effect," which is when all the does come in heat at one time due to the introduction of a buck and his pheromones.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-1U5P0MUBltIXozSQ8CLuMp897EhDx-aqEdSFhu49RVaVVj4mqCv0kci8k482WUlZgs6g2ty9-ScqEJ46LeJ9o73ymjRer2ZpKXBEFKxLhdN_35qF9SAzQqwJbYrb6GtBetA5lXgE-Qg/s1600/IMG02881-20140129-1515.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-1U5P0MUBltIXozSQ8CLuMp897EhDx-aqEdSFhu49RVaVVj4mqCv0kci8k482WUlZgs6g2ty9-ScqEJ46LeJ9o73ymjRer2ZpKXBEFKxLhdN_35qF9SAzQqwJbYrb6GtBetA5lXgE-Qg/s1600/IMG02881-20140129-1515.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And more baby goats.</td></tr>
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It would appear that some strange alignment of the planets about 150 days ago turned our farm into a giant "love in" of epic proportion. Chip's goat, Tempy, kidded on the 23rd. Chuck had picked Chip up a little early from school, so Chip got to be there to see his brand new baby goats. All well and good. It was cold, but these guys were doing fine, so no worries.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjOrow1V5b1LjP_ocmXJ73suiGpyVrHU5HHT6tvWqSf3L6P56FA_vLX-YMGNrTwcogjg6i0ncxV3O-9A7v6JtfyrGFpSMhyphenhyphenV4PYTDKYuUzHAkkw-Ow9WtFPkp9Q8LIHkNmchj4XWMjwUE/s1600/IMG_20140123_175614-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjOrow1V5b1LjP_ocmXJ73suiGpyVrHU5HHT6tvWqSf3L6P56FA_vLX-YMGNrTwcogjg6i0ncxV3O-9A7v6JtfyrGFpSMhyphenhyphenV4PYTDKYuUzHAkkw-Ow9WtFPkp9Q8LIHkNmchj4XWMjwUE/s1600/IMG_20140123_175614-1.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chip's baby goats.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJCZb17xzEyVMig4JJ0k8aWwEEImXwPWeUMiAlsusuMeilSUW3aWPsXJPYQ_ixD9qoTloCqmRIZFbbu7YOBBE2nLaX7PB6gbfeoucqBx8_Dxr7D33rEsW_X2z8JhfyGiow0pK1t8FXtyw/s1600/IMG_20140127_174347.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJCZb17xzEyVMig4JJ0k8aWwEEImXwPWeUMiAlsusuMeilSUW3aWPsXJPYQ_ixD9qoTloCqmRIZFbbu7YOBBE2nLaX7PB6gbfeoucqBx8_Dxr7D33rEsW_X2z8JhfyGiow0pK1t8FXtyw/s1600/IMG_20140127_174347.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The littlest guys so far.</td></tr>
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Then, the floodgates opened. Does started dropping kids right and left (or so it seemed). The cold remained brutal. I sat in the car and watched a 50% doe go to a shed, have her kids, and frantically spin from kid to kid, cleaning furiously. I went to check on them after a few minutes and ice was already forming a crust on the kids' fur, despite her best efforts to warm them. Fabulous. I grabbed them up and took them to the car and toweled them off. I had the heat in the car blasting to the point even I was miserable (did I mention I had all three human kids in the car with me?) and Annalee, Chip, and Virginia were begging me to turn down the heat. I took the kids back out and the doe came over, but they would get cold again and lose the strength to try to nurse. Great. Annalee helped me catch the doe and milk some colostrum into a syringe, and I took the kids back to the car and once they warmed up, they drank some from the syringe. These kids were quite small, so part of their problem was a sheer lack of body mass. They just got so cold so fast they lost strength. The human kids were wailing about starving to death, so I drove the goat kids home with me. Chuck was about to get off work, and he could drive them back up. I just knew there was nowhere I could put them that they would have a chance to retain any warmth.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And more baby goats.</td></tr>
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By the time I got home, the kids were completely dry and rather invigorated. I had two tiny little urchins sliding around on the floor trying to nurse everything in sight. Chuck came home, filled up water jugs with hot water (keeping water available has been a challenge), and took off back to the farm. He said that when the doe heard her kids, she nearly crawled into his car. He was able to reunite the family, and the doe took over. Chuck weighed the kids, and one was a little under four pounds and one just a little over. Our kids aren't normally that small, but this doe is a second time mom and still growing herself. We have weights and sized all over the place this year.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWEDeIZRoVMfrD3FRWZVFP83vc14gSPE4EioFtKOzgV8fUpX7ICqPp646eEC9gcBZ3Ck2g_iVNgS_wdzdqPXBrlkwjF9nmbwebVbdoTUcpRfR1sJG4aB1DBiUCKDw34xxmD1S2IEAGg3s/s1600/IMG_20140127_174704.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWEDeIZRoVMfrD3FRWZVFP83vc14gSPE4EioFtKOzgV8fUpX7ICqPp646eEC9gcBZ3Ck2g_iVNgS_wdzdqPXBrlkwjF9nmbwebVbdoTUcpRfR1sJG4aB1DBiUCKDw34xxmD1S2IEAGg3s/s1600/IMG_20140127_174704.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Would you believe more baby goats?</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjK38v4V4ldTkMowmw8c_Rg5dfPXFh8XRhVhs8k1Ema2WHTzpz1yeguH-pdB5Vw4CDuRXbiy6L_MilUKs9aVlS3gGc7Ntm6UjqLaTR8m43BYv40HdfWlZwbL-z2QX6xSseglmKFojCu-4/s1600/IMG_20140127_173829.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjK38v4V4ldTkMowmw8c_Rg5dfPXFh8XRhVhs8k1Ema2WHTzpz1yeguH-pdB5Vw4CDuRXbiy6L_MilUKs9aVlS3gGc7Ntm6UjqLaTR8m43BYv40HdfWlZwbL-z2QX6xSseglmKFojCu-4/s1600/IMG_20140127_173829.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baby goats to old mamas.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXKGWbwkprhR6GjUM4TXCxZ8EPHFiJesg7d0zOBKXRoEOSEtWn_bJK5mVl6A-kHuz44fnEyCmbHzkXIV_XiRGMZWfmIYrTL63CM1Ge7ILTPZXws5e2C008xvLcZJIG0oRETO7e0kMNYZQ/s1600/IMG_20140127_173604.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXKGWbwkprhR6GjUM4TXCxZ8EPHFiJesg7d0zOBKXRoEOSEtWn_bJK5mVl6A-kHuz44fnEyCmbHzkXIV_XiRGMZWfmIYrTL63CM1Ge7ILTPZXws5e2C008xvLcZJIG0oRETO7e0kMNYZQ/s1600/IMG_20140127_173604.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baby goats to new mamas.</td></tr>
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School was cancelled today, and it also cancelled tomorrow. There is an optional teacher workday, and I sure need to go in to play catch up. Annalee and Chip are on a two hour delay. I want to post some pictures of the kids, but I will have to finish writing later because I am just that tired and I have laundry to finish. Oh, how I am looking forward to the more typical temperatures forecast for later this week! I think we are somewhere around 25 baby goats in the past few days, but I'm not even sure. It is a bit of a blur...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We even have triplet baby goats.</td></tr>
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generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-75249978403728888142013-12-29T17:38:00.003-08:002013-12-29T19:32:47.806-08:00Happy New Year!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Annalee and I did make it to the Christmas Eve Moravian Lovefeast.</td></tr>
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If it seems like I missed Christmas, you aren't far off the mark. I was so happy to leave work Friday afternoon before Christmas - my students had for the most part held it in the road and didn't get too crazy anticipating the holiday. I had so much to do. I needed to do <em>all</em> my shopping, decorate the house, and of course, catch up on grading for school. Nowhere in my plans was time budgeted for what got me Friday night - the same horrendous stomach bug that had been causing student absences on and off all the previous week. Lovely. Chuck had been fighting a sinus thing and trying to get all the farm work done after work, which doesn't always work out too well, as our broken hay feeder can attest. He tried to get the round bale in the center of the feeder out in the dark field, but he missed and managed to knock the bolts loose, so it must be repaired. The goats are working around it, and a few really like hiding under the trailer.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We meant to get the hay off the trailer but Chuck broke the hay feeder trying to aim at it in the dark...</td></tr>
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As it turns out, I had a minor Christmas miracle as I felt well enough Christmas Eve to pick up some food to cook on Christmas day, and to buy my gifts. Christmas morning, I realized I might have overdone it with my trip to the Mall with Virginia, who had scooted on her back across the floor like a deranged crab/inchworm at several stores when my hands were too full to hold her in my arms, and who had me darting through clothing racks hot on her trail as she ran away from me, giggling with glee. Virginia was a very easy baby, but I am really paying for it now that she is two.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdsPjD-42P2wKfmz_cyLxM3LsFazSNePID4yskffStctJ23vaOzKJTgBUy4eBOqEIIXkYMvbLWVyZkRUvOeG6dEZwLerKvmNdrtQJqsN18mvZ85jhpBZ-cqwOuX3lxzYjkdfYGv_I3LO4/s1600/IMG02798-20131229-1545.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="224" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdsPjD-42P2wKfmz_cyLxM3LsFazSNePID4yskffStctJ23vaOzKJTgBUy4eBOqEIIXkYMvbLWVyZkRUvOeG6dEZwLerKvmNdrtQJqsN18mvZ85jhpBZ-cqwOuX3lxzYjkdfYGv_I3LO4/s320/IMG02798-20131229-1545.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wondering if this mom and daughters (best of 2013) are bred.</td></tr>
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So, as the Grinch discovered in the Dr. Seuss classic... Christmas came just the same. We managed to visit my Mom at her assisted living before the end of the day. Santa Claus made it, so it all turned out okay in the end. As of day before yesterday, I was actually able to eat real food again, which was a welcome development indeed. I am a week behind in the work I needed to do for school, and we haven't cleaned out the barn to prepare it for the kidding does since Chuck won't be able to check the farm as often as he used to before getting a retail job. The barn is an absolute wreck. I have told Chuck a few times I am going to tote off all his chickens myself. Since the chickens and turkeys have run of the place and they aren't potty trained, it is pretty gross. We also had a few of the goats who broke out of the field over the past few months go in and complete the job of trashing the place. Very little was left standing. I have a plan for what I want to do in the barn to create two separate goat areas completely shielded from the weather while retaining most of the space for storage, but since I was sick for most of Chuck's days off, it doesn't look like it will happen any time soon, and certainly not soon enough to be of use for kidding. It would appear from looking at some of the does that their kids will be like Christmas - they are going to come, just the same.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX8G4ca7NM_nQpU1Ta4Vw70lhCKjI9YjRTuZ5XS_wbuqvXJNalL_uIjTZ1tK0_iwd8DCJR0hGT-9QePWiTYbo0nVfrItiMzI5MIhZCF5irmp_RjOa1ceZ_9DqqEF0hp3jGm2yMbmd9gaA/s1600/IMG02790-20131227-1656.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjX8G4ca7NM_nQpU1Ta4Vw70lhCKjI9YjRTuZ5XS_wbuqvXJNalL_uIjTZ1tK0_iwd8DCJR0hGT-9QePWiTYbo0nVfrItiMzI5MIhZCF5irmp_RjOa1ceZ_9DqqEF0hp3jGm2yMbmd9gaA/s320/IMG02790-20131227-1656.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brown doe looking a little grubby, but bagging up.</td></tr>
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I'm still not ecstatic with the does' condition going into kidding. They have adequate weight and for the most part the Famacha scores are really good, but several look kinda grubby. I've added some black oil sunflower seed to see if it will add what they need and improve their haircoat. I also want to be sure they have a milk booster since there is nothing green growing at all. We caught does and gave CD&Ts to anyone showing signs of an udder. There are several who appear to be gearing up and I am looking forward to seeing what they have this time. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJyVMGUA0226zOMAEGNtD8ah0wsHmSbcJOhJWyV-i9LvInyv1sk1O7ScPqd0pz-VhqLtozhGJPIFRSyrrlYjU9L3m5Fgw-S6vTQzrPqNhe6j-lgVPmoChN4gFQd7JkFICsbfnoj6Qk1wY/s1600/IMG02794-20131229-1523.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJyVMGUA0226zOMAEGNtD8ah0wsHmSbcJOhJWyV-i9LvInyv1sk1O7ScPqd0pz-VhqLtozhGJPIFRSyrrlYjU9L3m5Fgw-S6vTQzrPqNhe6j-lgVPmoChN4gFQd7JkFICsbfnoj6Qk1wY/s320/IMG02794-20131229-1523.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Different ages from the same mom - one Boomer's and one Ace's.<br />
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I'm really able to see the differences in the kids sired by Boomer and Ace now that I've seen what several does produce with each. Boomer adds length but not height. His does have nice udders, and they have remarkably good feet, as in never having to trim but always look perfect feet on a couple of his does. Ace, on the other hand, adds height, bone, and bulk. Even his doelings are little body builders. He also adds a tremendous amount of hair. I don't know if this is really a desirable trait or not, but in the winter, I don't worry about the Ace doelings being cold.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPBETbsMG-FF5TZ2WqD7juXGRF2uTd-0MYG_5i-uRvMgY6tLgLIYUVC0EwwkXCqOXauWuAbWKdRPQP6hPtYXSHcc7pgPa3-LsjsjCxYylSmAVL1V-oRcxVFmC6JWB2N-SyQT1Wv9h-BR4/s1600/IMG02799-20131229-1545.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPBETbsMG-FF5TZ2WqD7juXGRF2uTd-0MYG_5i-uRvMgY6tLgLIYUVC0EwwkXCqOXauWuAbWKdRPQP6hPtYXSHcc7pgPa3-LsjsjCxYylSmAVL1V-oRcxVFmC6JWB2N-SyQT1Wv9h-BR4/s320/IMG02799-20131229-1545.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mudbug, an Ace doeling sporting the Ace body and hair.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXH8zNTncgXxhMxrTK-ByZIzSMDkiGrbP_i7lTH2_xgVBVsCPcjsRrRowTye3DMG7DiV1Uvs5P_2U7ZrOTjk0uy4L0VyN9fKHvegbVxBHoFUTa6C6BPbeKYzu-0dmRLDgIOXshjrfbQS0/s1600/IMG02800-20131229-1557.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXH8zNTncgXxhMxrTK-ByZIzSMDkiGrbP_i7lTH2_xgVBVsCPcjsRrRowTye3DMG7DiV1Uvs5P_2U7ZrOTjk0uy4L0VyN9fKHvegbVxBHoFUTa6C6BPbeKYzu-0dmRLDgIOXshjrfbQS0/s320/IMG02800-20131229-1557.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The white one is bagging up, but I'm not sure the biped is still bred.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbs6itXnOi8Q_KkCJNdMA6-sOXsz7CiFzsHY-pwfD4kgmPMDOXyIhTdHx5-1E7jlfIylcZWpOaIMFkC-OwLJRzgrKM-1d-hCMtFwIse0mJ8RP0VTwc1H0vM7Q5jkQ4tUCiDxu4HebuMws/s1600/IMG02801-20131229-1557.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbs6itXnOi8Q_KkCJNdMA6-sOXsz7CiFzsHY-pwfD4kgmPMDOXyIhTdHx5-1E7jlfIylcZWpOaIMFkC-OwLJRzgrKM-1d-hCMtFwIse0mJ8RP0VTwc1H0vM7Q5jkQ4tUCiDxu4HebuMws/s320/IMG02801-20131229-1557.jpg" width="320" /></a>Right now, the odds are on this white doe to be the first to kid. She is one of the does Chuck bought at Cream of the Crop, and she was confirmed carrying twins by ultrasound. I'm not sure if the brown and white doe standing against the fence (she stands a lot) was ultrasounded, but she sold as exposed/bred, although I'm not thinking she still is. Oh well. It happens. Since this white doe is new, we know nothing about how she does with kids, but she is at least still in the small quarantine pen. This is a doe I wouldn't mind getting a buck from, although I usually want does. She is a Raiz-N-Kane daughter bred to Cherokee Fiddler, a Loverboy son, so her kids will be very heavily Loverboy. This could produce a nice buck to use in the future, but only time will tell. Right now just getting the kids here healthy and in an uncomplicated fashion would suffice. That may be a tall order if January and February prove to be wet and icy. Cold, they can handle, but wet and cold is another story. Here's hoping for a little dry weather! <br />
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Here's also hoping for a wonderful New Year for each and every one of you. The New Year is really something I have started to appreciate. It is carte blanche to leave behind anything that wasn't working in order to improve and be our very best. Life is mighty short. We might as well really make it count.<br />
<br />generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-39647046641228291122013-11-28T04:48:00.002-08:002013-11-28T04:48:47.641-08:00Happy Thanksgiving!It's been a busy month with school (we're gearing up for those tests that measure one moment in time but are responsible for how we are all judged) and the general day to day challenges at home and farm. I wanted to be sure I took a moment to stop and wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving. I hope this one finds you all well and with those you love! It is so easy in this materialistic world to stress over the things we can't afford, rather than being appreciative of the wonderful things we do have. Thanksgiving is always a good reality check moment for me. I may not have much, but I have what counts.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjimh0uMoOPAbD4mtZcgWQdJX4JdDmEEMcHpVuS0ozDs9Ak7IadnD3GPqxnulquMBWOlElyTAZsGl1aybnpVK0qMNshF0hySzv9zko2_1dJ4uUtLflewB_oXyaGx9Dzuw4zc99fkvqZZ-s/s1600/IMG02757-20131117-1523.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="338" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjimh0uMoOPAbD4mtZcgWQdJX4JdDmEEMcHpVuS0ozDs9Ak7IadnD3GPqxnulquMBWOlElyTAZsGl1aybnpVK0qMNshF0hySzv9zko2_1dJ4uUtLflewB_oXyaGx9Dzuw4zc99fkvqZZ-s/s400/IMG02757-20131117-1523.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happy Thanksgiving!<br />
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generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-39776342063623126612013-10-20T04:56:00.000-07:002013-10-20T04:56:05.319-07:00More toxic plants and Cream of the CropNow that I have a moment, I'd like to post a better picture of toxic Perilla Mint. It is starting to lose its leaves in my neck of the woods, but this is what it looks like in late summer. If you pull it up or mow it, you'll know it by its pungent, minty odor. It almost smells nice, but not quite.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnBd_WsDjXsTDne9I8MIHythNtFU9bTCo3bsGKWIhCRJkbde-8ETHfgLC08mE29VLdgyRoTwL-6Y3rH4WdKiM-matkHwWAAjXKB78a8qMLexgHC-h01VrHTI8izBXziTi_GBOCwtff9ac/s1600/IMG_20130929_140335.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnBd_WsDjXsTDne9I8MIHythNtFU9bTCo3bsGKWIhCRJkbde-8ETHfgLC08mE29VLdgyRoTwL-6Y3rH4WdKiM-matkHwWAAjXKB78a8qMLexgHC-h01VrHTI8izBXziTi_GBOCwtff9ac/s320/IMG_20130929_140335.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Perilla Mint - toxic plant</td></tr>
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I need to post some good pictures of wild cherry leaves and the distinctive bark on the wild cherry trees, but most folks have a pretty good idea what that looks like. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXRbVZehjDSjX2quPlGpvwhVhvAcUgsmX7sxQHiwA9vDV5wOof-IHZIEeAxloi-cVOEc0EFS1Lfqq4cKjXYKq3wphYt9wcRTQRG9kc6l4MCYb6hmiYhYZ-R7W3oCrlVAcvCTFcZKTattA/s1600/IMG02433-20130804-1634.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXRbVZehjDSjX2quPlGpvwhVhvAcUgsmX7sxQHiwA9vDV5wOof-IHZIEeAxloi-cVOEc0EFS1Lfqq4cKjXYKq3wphYt9wcRTQRG9kc6l4MCYb6hmiYhYZ-R7W3oCrlVAcvCTFcZKTattA/s320/IMG02433-20130804-1634.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A surprise this August. This <em>should</em> be the driveway.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtBIeL9Wr3F3LlcSMoFv3wGJz902_j684JlhH7y8WhDUWgrUDnp7_kEeMxiXNsHjWJgXJY_TuvAwH_U8mh0o4Q2qH7US_1zXLWHKKB5gp7FIY8sHRvip5YDD-5ZkEiVgl2nhIjDfXUitM/s1600/IMG02435-20130804-1802.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="247" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtBIeL9Wr3F3LlcSMoFv3wGJz902_j684JlhH7y8WhDUWgrUDnp7_kEeMxiXNsHjWJgXJY_TuvAwH_U8mh0o4Q2qH7US_1zXLWHKKB5gp7FIY8sHRvip5YDD-5ZkEiVgl2nhIjDfXUitM/s320/IMG02435-20130804-1802.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A close-up of the wild cherry leaves.</td></tr>
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I wish I could find any good information about how long wild cherry leaves remain toxic after they begin to wilt. The cyanide apparently dissipates, but how do you know when it is safe? This particular tree was chopped up and the leaves were brown within the typical week, but we found that the cherry trees we cut in the top pasture stayed green nearly three weeks after they were cut and on the ground. It was insane. I wanted to get goats moved in, but was afraid to do it as long as there was any green in the leaves - and these were quite green. When we investigated to see if somehow they were still attached by a small bit, we found that the trunks were far away from the stumps, but when we scratched the bark, the green layer just inside the bark (is it cambium or am I confusing it with a geologic era?) was still green and juicy at the two week mark. Could there have been so much moisture this summer that it preserved them like cut flowers in water? Who knows. I finally bit the bullet one day when I had the kids at the farm, and the four of us, two buckets of feed, and the gator herded Boomer's does up the hill and into the fresh field. Nobody perished, so I apparently waited long enough.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuKUUNmBTdbfgJ9mjiCSnNDFoGqXd9-L8qwQbJKiW20bRNwmfv6_ZfEQYGLOJAxSegc0qte3SrJ24E7xsiLSQFnksGN5F-LMjJuMRUK2b6fnFsSU4XdGhSyZCBEJwBPTlctuNAVyxLBXg/s1600/IMG02557-20130907-1241.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="161" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuKUUNmBTdbfgJ9mjiCSnNDFoGqXd9-L8qwQbJKiW20bRNwmfv6_ZfEQYGLOJAxSegc0qte3SrJ24E7xsiLSQFnksGN5F-LMjJuMRUK2b6fnFsSU4XdGhSyZCBEJwBPTlctuNAVyxLBXg/s320/IMG02557-20130907-1241.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My summer and weekend help, on a break.</td></tr>
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<br />
I have some tall flowering weeds in one field that I have no idea what are. They are about five feet tall in huge clumps with broad leaves, and they have a showy yellow flower. The goats won't eat them, so I need to find out how to get rid of them.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFvrpLrGtJdzVdWdcbe51uz5u7yacR9j5B0sa4dhDa0uP5ZYv1gqAm_5kNcte0K0qLJTU2MUB5U5ArMLVloFAiTcVslDpoNGezKphLyU9HtppwtjULWUUwTotJ1prjk2nz6GwIcMLVDVg/s1600/IMG02610-20130928-1751.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFvrpLrGtJdzVdWdcbe51uz5u7yacR9j5B0sa4dhDa0uP5ZYv1gqAm_5kNcte0K0qLJTU2MUB5U5ArMLVloFAiTcVslDpoNGezKphLyU9HtppwtjULWUUwTotJ1prjk2nz6GwIcMLVDVg/s320/IMG02610-20130928-1751.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Does and hay in front of the unidentified yellow flowering weed.</td></tr>
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On a more interesting note, the typical quarantine pens made of goat panels that we use for new does are containing the ones purchased at both sales Chuck attended quite nicely. Nobody has attempted to escape (or at least, nobody has succeeded), and the does are settling in fine. There are bred does in this second group, so they will likely stay in quarantine quite a while, but it will depend on how much fresh ground we have to slide them around on. I like to use these moving pens because they are on clean digs every few days and they have fresh forage all the time, but it is harder for Chuck to pull off since his farm time is divided with his work time.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm-2BHIpXNvbFQw56jZjlmXLGW0vw3_jnvRosIYPsxZrBoc-S3D35hkbMVokfxVubkwNSfSmB5Nyu0VApJOWx_-GJsp5wAZmEWfj8Jx6f324CEca4uH7zIY-PfVmPxkbGFZX4SFnLOVl0/s1600/IMG_20131009_160043.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgm-2BHIpXNvbFQw56jZjlmXLGW0vw3_jnvRosIYPsxZrBoc-S3D35hkbMVokfxVubkwNSfSmB5Nyu0VApJOWx_-GJsp5wAZmEWfj8Jx6f324CEca4uH7zIY-PfVmPxkbGFZX4SFnLOVl0/s320/IMG_20131009_160043.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two of the CofC does, in a pen Chuck is sliding down an empty fenceline.</td></tr>
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<br />
Now that Cream of the Crop is over, I am not sure Chuck is going to be allowed to go to the goat sales without me. He apparently got frustrated when a woman bid on every goat he wanted, and she would just put up her number and hold it up until she got the goat. She got Aggie's sister this way, and I think maybe the doeling named Anna Leigh that Annalee wanted for purely sentimental reasons. After all, you don't find a goat with a name like yours every day, especially when you have a bit of an unusual name. Now, there is a male parent koi at a koi breeder in New Jersey named Chuck that we had owned for a bit, but that is another story.<br />
<br />
This Anna Leigh was purely a coincidence, and our Annalee was disappointed that she did not get her goat. She also had wanted us to buy Aggie's sister, and since we like Aggie, how she mothers, and what she produces, we planned to bid on her. Aggie (GHK Iron Agate) was a triplet, and we had bought her and one solid black sister (who we found dead in a field without good shade on a day the heat index topped 110 degrees). The third triplet went elsewhere, so when we saw her for sale, we thought, "How wonderful - we can reunite the sisters!" <br />
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That thought didn't last long, because Aggie's triplet sister was the high sale goat at this year's Cream of the Crop, selling for $3,700 bred. Yikes. Well, I guess it can't be a bad thing to have your doe's sister be a high selling goat - unless you wanted to buy her yourself, of course.<br />
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Chuck's frustration turned into determination to get at least one of the does he had driven there to buy. He did so, but when I saw what he had paid, I nearly had an apoplexy. She is confirmed bred with twins, but my rule of thumb is not to pay more for a doe than I think she will return with a set of twins in our market. Our local market is still ruled by a relatively depressed economy, so we tend to have our goats priced accordingly. We don't have the basic free time to haul does to sales (and even in a normal year, we tend to sell out of doelings), so we just price them to get them out there. They need to be producing for people in our climate. That, for me, is the true test of our doelings. If they can get out there and produce for the typical goat keeper in our area without much trouble or intervention, I'm happy. Our climate is a challenge. We have hot, humid summers, but also can have plenty of ice and sleet and the occasional snow in the winter. We have huge temperature swings in spring and fall. We have droughty times. and saturated times. This year was the latter - the tobacco guys said their wheat was a loss because it all sprouted, the soybeans had a fungus, and they said the tobacco "went to lace" when cured. This was a very difficult year all around in these parts.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDBmdvesafaNWU-TkHHPx6vBO4gJ0UBVfqUADAUQtI6JAR0ESEPqcXv-OUlW34la_M4VvQKEkKxkT6UZhfkXy0yb1a2rNXf3muqR3Ur68t4kry0Av96eTyy2CKEho0EPUkKvTs8iQdb8Q/s1600/IMG_20131009_155915.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDBmdvesafaNWU-TkHHPx6vBO4gJ0UBVfqUADAUQtI6JAR0ESEPqcXv-OUlW34la_M4VvQKEkKxkT6UZhfkXy0yb1a2rNXf3muqR3Ur68t4kry0Av96eTyy2CKEho0EPUkKvTs8iQdb8Q/s320/IMG_20131009_155915.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">CofC does. Chuck was in a lot of trouble over the big white one.<br />
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</td></tr>
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There were a couple of Marshmallow granddaughters in this sale - one of which we particularly would like to have purchased because she was bred and she had the body type we are after. We think so much of Marshmallow. Part of me hopes she begins to only have singles soon, because she is going to be an eleven year old this upcoming Spring, but I sure hope she has a doeling we can keep. Unfortunately, someone else was even more enchanted with Marshmallow's granddaughter, because she shot right out of our price range. <br />
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The two does that Chuck was able to land were also more than I wanted to spend, but hey. They are a brown and white doeling that is very closely related to our Puddin' doe (who always does a great job) and also has CCR Ms Moneybag as a maternal grandmother. With that particular cross, I don't see how she cannot develop a body style similar to Puddin'. Chuck also picked up a red Rusty daughter to cross back on the Ace line and the Shaw line. We'll see how it all worked out in a couple of years. His big splurge was the white doe. She is a Raiz'N'Kane daughter out of a Boulder Hill's S77 daughter. Our Jesse is a BH S77 daughter and <em>always</em> has good kids, so we hope this new doe does the same. She better, or Chuck will hear about it. We need a new slogan, I think. Goat friends, don't let Chuck bid frustrated at the goat sales.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglG9JtEi-Nr8yUxdK6gjwsKTyzfbWZvrcvR5jK8ncfx_I-FO39Lk22affm08tSupgizLxgTDSFvBUhG18JA5RngcQ_gkn-ZkzWyRwQ3XQxUuUgDklbdEoEBCxKi5N6yuzBgeCEhyphenhyphenctqUw/s1600/IMG_20131009_155824.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglG9JtEi-Nr8yUxdK6gjwsKTyzfbWZvrcvR5jK8ncfx_I-FO39Lk22affm08tSupgizLxgTDSFvBUhG18JA5RngcQ_gkn-ZkzWyRwQ3XQxUuUgDklbdEoEBCxKi5N6yuzBgeCEhyphenhyphenctqUw/s320/IMG_20131009_155824.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The new girls. Two are confirmed bred, one is exposed. Fingers crossed.</td></tr>
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generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-57466980463149146252013-10-12T09:42:00.002-07:002013-10-27T05:53:29.418-07:00Well, three of the big Kiko sales of the season have come and gone in the past few weeks. The Appalachian Kiko sale and the Chatham, Virginia sale were the same weekend, so Chuck went to the sale in Virginia. It was so much closer it allowed him to get back home in short order, which was important, because it was on Annalee's birthday. We had asked her if she wanted to go to the goat sale and eat breakfast out, or if she wanted to play soccer, and she went back and forth a few times until she finally decided to stick with her soccer team. She had a good game, although she wore out before the end of the game. All the kids were pretty flat by the last few minutes. I'm trying to teach her to push through being tired, because as we all know, it only gets crazier and busier as we get older.<br />
<br />
At her game during the Cream of the Crop sale, which I will write about when I have more time, I intended to get an action shot of her running the ball down the field (I get a guilty vicarious thrill when she runs down and takes the ball from the boys a full head taller than she is), but this was more than I bargained for - I got her running right out of her shoe! Anyone who has had kids at the soccer field knows that losing a shoe is a pretty common occurrence, but this is the first time I have captured it for posterity.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeuFiRHaq3Rqs7joHlWotFuyv6S99hX5cjhRlKXkniyDZDu_RC6RcVljBKlvL-NVfasFgV6-3SFx6BXpdSlUDarYeG2QJyZPCkOP9VH-Tv78pCuF2je248WBo0f86SVWRR-K9vSMyHQrc/s1600/IMG02619-20131005-1019.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="235" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeuFiRHaq3Rqs7joHlWotFuyv6S99hX5cjhRlKXkniyDZDu_RC6RcVljBKlvL-NVfasFgV6-3SFx6BXpdSlUDarYeG2QJyZPCkOP9VH-Tv78pCuF2je248WBo0f86SVWRR-K9vSMyHQrc/s320/IMG02619-20131005-1019.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Annalee in action (notice the shoes)</td></tr>
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<br />
While Annalee was playing, Chuck was emailing me pictures of goats from the sale. This is how a sale works when I'm back on the home front. The two of us study the catalog and see what bloodlines look like a good fit. I have currently been seeking close relatives of some of our best does. We have a few does that are the total package - they are great mothers, have great deep bodies, good udders, and rarely need deworming even in our challenging situation. Since losing goats in that storm this summer, I have been scared into trying to have the best of the best on our farm heavily represented. I don't want to lose an entire lineage in one doe.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUNgxQdVX5kECpOe8DRNApDrduY56pSJDsk-iqf5byB48gIAKp_yA0MQIgmOWsHTAjs2rzdPuA-rfvlVbjZKiwCpOrhigM3X0rCeULdeAwEbHV16QxtsskJK_4geJDn6G5d9ZwehJJGWs/s1600/IMG_20131009_152513.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUNgxQdVX5kECpOe8DRNApDrduY56pSJDsk-iqf5byB48gIAKp_yA0MQIgmOWsHTAjs2rzdPuA-rfvlVbjZKiwCpOrhigM3X0rCeULdeAwEbHV16QxtsskJK_4geJDn6G5d9ZwehJJGWs/s320/IMG_20131009_152513.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">doeling - Generator/Onyx bloodlines</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0SsKqHXYPZNs_xW-_KAjAOiZBdJGiMUL-RMLE82RyBdTwT7nURAZ4OVEbkLIpxCFESHT8952nsfHIIDgVKmrPOGFuPhTo-tsXxR1aMRxueW51ijfNDxpOSUqoUOA7Ratk8mTpQ988kCE/s1600/IMG_20131009_152507.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0SsKqHXYPZNs_xW-_KAjAOiZBdJGiMUL-RMLE82RyBdTwT7nURAZ4OVEbkLIpxCFESHT8952nsfHIIDgVKmrPOGFuPhTo-tsXxR1aMRxueW51ijfNDxpOSUqoUOA7Ratk8mTpQ988kCE/s320/IMG_20131009_152507.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">mature doe - Nick/Lightin'/GUL/Chantelle</td></tr>
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It is not easy to find daughters and granddaughters of some of the great does of the breed. Bucks have lots of offspring, but does, even when flushed, only have a handful at most each year. After I have researched the bloodlines, Chuck takes pictures of the does at the sale that look strong in person, and we match the "good on paper" to the "good in person," and try to come up with a bidding strategy. Sometimes it works out, and sometimes it doesn't. At Chatham, we got a doeling that is a Generator granddaughter on the top side, and a Tay Onyx great granddaughter on the bottom side. We also got a large doe who is related to the late, great doe, "Fifty," who we lost in the hay bale collapse this summer. This one is more of a gamble. We've been burnt before buying "used" does. Some, when you get them, are pretty well used up. Others have become extremely productive members of our herd, like old Marshmallow. I hope this doe has some productivity left in her because she has a great body type and strong old bloodlines (Nick, Lightin', Goats Unlimited, and Five C Chantelle). <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTIsf1-rQzixhkz8kiJiTa-CM85hDsJjqlICFx9UD3Z1z6Mdej-wF8HgIXRas_Lyigt0NzwYtZC4pGunoHnRKMZWb2Us5GEmwTn2W0-ZmxJ7ZpHv8cMZkBRqga1Ai4j2Xhr41ktHJ2SuQ/s1600/IMG02460-20130810-1820.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTIsf1-rQzixhkz8kiJiTa-CM85hDsJjqlICFx9UD3Z1z6Mdej-wF8HgIXRas_Lyigt0NzwYtZC4pGunoHnRKMZWb2Us5GEmwTn2W0-ZmxJ7ZpHv8cMZkBRqga1Ai4j2Xhr41ktHJ2SuQ/s320/IMG02460-20130810-1820.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Mudbug" earlier this summer, sporting a tick on one ear.</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRj4w43ZWlfR1ssQdugBiKFjoQBbI0kvtOLTutbtk9Ypb0-S5v8Zoq_31k5ENp8JUvHKdAFS8tvZRbC3NkAHLUJPrc8muK0UppCFORfNNeumaModv_ncnGQnYKvfe-bT6zGRmcj_q80wE/s1600/IMG02674-20131026-1441.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRj4w43ZWlfR1ssQdugBiKFjoQBbI0kvtOLTutbtk9Ypb0-S5v8Zoq_31k5ENp8JUvHKdAFS8tvZRbC3NkAHLUJPrc8muK0UppCFORfNNeumaModv_ncnGQnYKvfe-bT6zGRmcj_q80wE/s320/IMG02674-20131026-1441.jpg" width="290" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A more recent picture of Mudbug. Ace doelings are generally chunky.</td></tr>
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After the sale, Chuck got a call from a friend of ours who bought a buckling from us a few years ago and who has been carefully selecting does to build his own herd. We've seen him at sales, and he has gone home with some does we wish we could have taken home with us! If any of you have been reading my blog for a while, you may remember little Longstem. Chuck found his brother dead and Longstem nearly dead in a freezing puddle after Louisianna's first kidding. He warmed him on the dashboard and got him some colostrum, and we were able to reunite the two the next day. Louisianna cleaned him as if he were brand new, and took over from there. We don't know what happened that night, but Longstem was always a tough little nut, and when we sold him, Annalee was angry at us for days. Well, at the Tennessee sale, a Longstem buckling brought a premium price for Josh. We were thrilled, as all his hard work is paying off for him.<br />
Over the years, we've seen that Boomer always outproduces himself, and Louisianna also has really strong kids. The combination worked the next year and this year, Louisianna had two good Ace kids for us. We are keeping her doeling, and she will become "GNX Ace's Mudbug." She's a little goofy, but so is Louisianna, and she's turning into a solid little doe. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLEZ-oNK2bxbyUSFE0erphRMLJeLaA998IhNM7KPRcQRVv_NuebGJH_DEDJ9d34GCsSGXcYMPulbZrbtgPrR1Bm3_ORg1yOF2s_YHstyJ6JX3HKIOVvmq0COSMv1XcBGuaEQyyEQiuyKQ/s1600/IMG02554-20130907-1239.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLEZ-oNK2bxbyUSFE0erphRMLJeLaA998IhNM7KPRcQRVv_NuebGJH_DEDJ9d34GCsSGXcYMPulbZrbtgPrR1Bm3_ORg1yOF2s_YHstyJ6JX3HKIOVvmq0COSMv1XcBGuaEQyyEQiuyKQ/s320/IMG02554-20130907-1239.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Virginia's doe, "Thomas" - by Boomer and out of Marshmallow</td></tr>
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After Chuck got home, we were able to get the important items of the day done. Annalee wanted to go to Build-A-Bear, so she was able to craft the perfect Rainbow Dash for her birthday. She liked the goats okay, but it was Virginia who declared that the little one was, "So cute!" and would be hers. She had already named Marshmallow's yearling doe "Thomas" (yes, so we have a doe named Thomas), so now Virginia has two goats she can claim as her own. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-xiLcxRjNuj6RDc7fPF1AYZqeorZyXgCrrtLcXCy4MolIzc5fqUu6QbX5gSb7hW24oVxb_AnEkBnUZWhqMWd9inTs58nhPBaQKa2Ljb81csNizlcq5QgwiipWrXv1gYWTddqA3-UBZ8Y/s1600/IMG_20130921_191336.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-xiLcxRjNuj6RDc7fPF1AYZqeorZyXgCrrtLcXCy4MolIzc5fqUu6QbX5gSb7hW24oVxb_AnEkBnUZWhqMWd9inTs58nhPBaQKa2Ljb81csNizlcq5QgwiipWrXv1gYWTddqA3-UBZ8Y/s320/IMG_20130921_191336.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And the most important work of the day...</td></tr>
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generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-12518973746187877922013-10-06T19:09:00.000-07:002013-10-06T19:09:01.118-07:00A couple of helpful links...I've had some folks ask questions about this or that with the goats lately, so while I think I have posted several of these before, I'm going to do it again. When we have any sort of strangeness with the goats (and when do we not), I try to decide if this is something that I need to call the vet about (Kitty's compound fracture being a case in point), or is this some management thing I need to figure out. Considering our local vet is pretty expensive, even for a consult, I usually try to figure it out myself first or ask around to some of the vets who own and work goats out there in the larger Kiko community. They may not be close by, but they "get" goats and have hands on experience with them. I find that is key for any sort of vet work. Vet school is darn hard to get in, but not all vets have an innate "feel" for animals. That goes for doctors, too - especially pediatricians. When you find a good one, you stick with him or her. We are fortunate in the Kiko community to have some very good goat vets among our number. I appreciate all the long distance advice they have given me over the years.<br />
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Since I am sometimes on my own on a weekend or in the middle of the night with an issue, I have found some websites that offer what I consider to be helpful information. I am not officially endorsing them as the be all end all, and I know some vets that cast a dim view of them, but I will let you decide for yourself and offer the suggestion that I use - if it doesn't agree with my own animal experience and own sense of what make sense - I don't try it on my goats. That being said, I have been able to glean helpful information from the following non-vet sites:<br />
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<a href="http://www.fiascofarm.com/">www.fiascofarm.com</a><br />
<a href="http://www.jackmauldin.com/">www.jackmauldin.com</a><br />
<a href="http://www.tennesseemeatgoats.com/">www.tennesseemeatgoats.com</a><br />
<a href="http://www.dairygoatjournal.com/">www.dairygoatjournal.com</a><br />
<a href="http://www.acsrpc.org/">http://www.acsrpc.org</a> (this one has scientific backing)<br />
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I also search and read the goat chat boards. Sometimes you read crazy sounding stuff, but there are some mighty experienced goat people out there, and much can be learned from reading the exchanges between producers. I of course still love to read<em> The Goat Rancher</em> and always learn from it<em>,</em> although I have less time to really enjoy it now that I am always re-reading classroom texts. <br />
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I hope these links are helpful to anyone having a problem and unable to get veterinary help. Again, I am not a vet and don't claim to be. For better or worse, I have had many animals over my years, and had horses when I was a broke college and graduate student. I learned how to take care of a lot on my own in those ramen-noodle filled years.<br />
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We have recently used my experience gained while keeping a horse at a stable with gravel on a hill to the pature, and a farm worker who thought it was cool to turn my horse out last so she would run like a bat out of you know where to get to the rest of the herd. I had lots and lots of stone bruises that turned to abcesses to work through that year - and even had one work its way up and out my horse's coronary band. Ace and Tonto had a fight a while back, and Ace's hoof must have been bruised, because now, he has had an abscess just like my mare used to have. This is pretty inconvenient as it is breeding season, so I suggested to Chuck to use an epsom salt poultice to draw out any infection. I think a lot of epsom salts for drawing out infection. I think much less of Tonto causing trouble. He does not love being the mature buck who has no does. Not even a little bit. Luckily he is easy to catch, but he doesn't lead terribly well and he is much stronger than I am, so the Gator helps me tote him back where he needs to be. He moves along with the Gator pretty well, although we can tell from his expression that he is just fuming about the indignity of it all.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYuE3arYznwGM1NcdP_UGFORaNNfR7XSgFmpaxZKHrjNn_g3d0BbYrpp7azdYomlrAiM8HaNIaMMsWYRo6NDYKDzxMybeGjrMrXisQgrOWTN1N0zwX9Rky2mvgf3Lu7OiSYwcyF2TwLIk/s1600/IMG02625-20131006-1408.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYuE3arYznwGM1NcdP_UGFORaNNfR7XSgFmpaxZKHrjNn_g3d0BbYrpp7azdYomlrAiM8HaNIaMMsWYRo6NDYKDzxMybeGjrMrXisQgrOWTN1N0zwX9Rky2mvgf3Lu7OiSYwcyF2TwLIk/s320/IMG02625-20131006-1408.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I move Tonto however I can when he decides to be where he ought not be. He really needs some does of his own.</td></tr>
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Chuck described Ace as less than appreciative of the attention, but he did seem to enjoy the warm soak. After a day or two, we thought we would use another home remedy that draws infection well - bentonite clay. Chuck spoke with a particularly helpful vet who knows goats, and he suggested supplemental antibiotics. Chuck had already given one shot to him, so he continued on. Hopefully it will heal completely with time. I remember losing a lot of training time with my mare to those blasted abscesses.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPsgXQCR5uW2TxoeQiEY1MpXORjLjbqaG93kxVrAFkUqSFUwdu4J1COYOjKhTuOZNH1JyNyJHqJ_Qs1sC1ilGWoKDAxHs2cBP4K15uNCmtVikiKc4phZjleJPeK2hX5P8W8doZeXpi1Lw/s1600/IMG02563-20130907-1459.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPsgXQCR5uW2TxoeQiEY1MpXORjLjbqaG93kxVrAFkUqSFUwdu4J1COYOjKhTuOZNH1JyNyJHqJ_Qs1sC1ilGWoKDAxHs2cBP4K15uNCmtVikiKc4phZjleJPeK2hX5P8W8doZeXpi1Lw/s320/IMG02563-20130907-1459.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ace, being pitiful with his sore foot</td></tr>
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Today, I am hobbling around because I tried to take a flying leap to catch one of our new does that is in quarantine. She has been sticking her head through the fence, and I had the bright idea to tape a stick to her horns. She zigged and I zagged, and my old foot twisted a direction it apparently could not go. Great. I just love goats. I will be reminded of just how much when I have to go up all the flights of stairs to get to my classroom in the morning. <br />
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I wanted to leave with a picture of one of the toxic plants we have on the farm. Seems we have more than our share, and this one has normally been relegated to the shady pasture edges, but the soggy summer has it growing even out in full sun this year. This is Perilla Mint, and it really does have a minty aroma when cut. It causes symptoms that mimic pneumonia. I have seen our goats take a bite or two of it, and although I freaked out, it appears to not always be immediately deadly. I read somewhere that the toxicity could vary. Keep an eye out for it, as it was introduced as a landscape plant and went invasive. This picture was earlier in the summer, but this time of year, it is tall and has a skinny seed spike.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg87iGSDUnIXCCLsDs7uYJKJ-nuA0Dp2jYVtpynlYxpz9E5v-J7a7FNc7-A2kS83Pt3ruk495y2v_cpoodrMGIlVkRFdEQ5FYB0KYcLTjnfDrtBzRpSqGUbteMXIRhsHW0OTdS5-soxgjQ/s1600/IMG02263-20130620-1537.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg87iGSDUnIXCCLsDs7uYJKJ-nuA0Dp2jYVtpynlYxpz9E5v-J7a7FNc7-A2kS83Pt3ruk495y2v_cpoodrMGIlVkRFdEQ5FYB0KYcLTjnfDrtBzRpSqGUbteMXIRhsHW0OTdS5-soxgjQ/s320/IMG02263-20130620-1537.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Perilla Mint - just another toxic plant here in the Southeast</td></tr>
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generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-57122137245070380722013-08-17T09:18:00.004-07:002013-08-17T12:41:57.879-07:00Bananarama and Rice Paddies<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzcwCAubDIE1TeEUhFG4DlatRNhbJQIQhQe_W8X8i3XSTRzwhthURvizV5EZBnMzXoISLIkycAgl0WSNPuRILxQoYb4zfcljRwAteC5vw93SKXuNnvOc_Brmov7dGSiJf60sLSZC-YPXQ/s1600/IMG02485-20130814-1440.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzcwCAubDIE1TeEUhFG4DlatRNhbJQIQhQe_W8X8i3XSTRzwhthURvizV5EZBnMzXoISLIkycAgl0WSNPuRILxQoYb4zfcljRwAteC5vw93SKXuNnvOc_Brmov7dGSiJf60sLSZC-YPXQ/s320/IMG02485-20130814-1440.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At least the cool summer has been good for the July kids</td></tr>
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Wasn't it the Eighties group Bananarama that had that song, "Cruel Summer?" It really has been a cruel one here, although the weather itself has been almost unbelievably mild. This morning, on August 17 in the upper South, it is 62 degrees and drizzling. That's right folks - 62. The normal high for August, per Intellicast.com, is 87 degrees. The other unusual thing around here has been the rain. We have not had the July and August dry spell that we usually have. Our winter temperatures are not cold enough for long enough to kill off any parasites to speak of. In a "normal" summer, the dry spell causes the pastures to quit growing and the goats (or cows, or horses) eat them down short, so the hot sun can bake the fields and reduce the parasite load somewhat. That isn't going to happen this summer, so I will be deworming does after they kid during our cold snap to reduce the load next spring, and we really need to get some more areas fenced so we can properly rest a field.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGmFpld-RlG0FUsLwlohHV2Zl3BPY4vGxTdls_aDmpRc_o9ujdhp1VudnAQti_iZTRUYVUoRE_745DmIIV7-8g7AEHOYLYB2PvA3yvPx3m30yevWJSN7RkMOH-WFXqU-wBrYVx5-HOa5o/s1600/IMG02402-20130731-1659.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGmFpld-RlG0FUsLwlohHV2Zl3BPY4vGxTdls_aDmpRc_o9ujdhp1VudnAQti_iZTRUYVUoRE_745DmIIV7-8g7AEHOYLYB2PvA3yvPx3m30yevWJSN7RkMOH-WFXqU-wBrYVx5-HOa5o/s320/IMG02402-20130731-1659.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the unexpected - green grass and kids in July</td></tr>
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If you've read my blog at all, you know I don't typically deworm the goats much, but we were going through a rough patch with them and they looked, for lack of a better word, like crap. I tried to use Ivermectin. I didn't see much improvement, so I used COWP (copper wire particles) as usual because I know they are proven to be effective against Barber Pole worm, although only against Barber Pole. I noticed some improvement in the goats, but just some, although a BIG improvement in the richness of coat color on the black and red goats I have. I had forgotten just how much copper the goats on our farm seem to need just to maintain. The iron in our soil is so high, it must be keeping the goats from absorbing enough copper from our mineral mix.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmeeTB2BABftHD2C4EdhwQfFEhon6bqC4J3kMt-vd4RLGimOC5aO7ADQyxfMYpvt7JRnL8HyxBQ7dOCZxGwhSAkN-NSkw71d3oQ3MFENW5tYGZ-lc3UXFOnQHWuwTy72PTVrVmpsMXI04/s1600/IMG02386-20130729-1511.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmeeTB2BABftHD2C4EdhwQfFEhon6bqC4J3kMt-vd4RLGimOC5aO7ADQyxfMYpvt7JRnL8HyxBQ7dOCZxGwhSAkN-NSkw71d3oQ3MFENW5tYGZ-lc3UXFOnQHWuwTy72PTVrVmpsMXI04/s320/IMG02386-20130729-1511.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Red goat - she was rawhide colored before the copper, and is even redder now.</td></tr>
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Several of the goats still appeared unthrifty - even the ones with Famacha scores of 1. I started reading all I could find about the specific symptoms I was seeing, and I came across a mention of goats not shedding well and goats with guard hairs standing up. Now, that was one thing I noticed about several of the does - they constantly looked like they had stuck a finger in a light socket. Their hairs were always standing on end. The cause of this for the person writing about it? Liver flukes. Ahhhh. Now that made sense in our situation this year. Our pastures never dried out. I didn't see snails, but Chip caught enough slugs in the fields that I know the conditions were right for them. I got some Ivomec Plus injectible, and lo and behold, the goats that were looking poorly are now shedding and getting shiny and sleek. Live and learn. Knowing we've had the liver fluke problem, my dewormer of choice for the newly kidded does this winter is going to be Ivomec Plus. Apparently the liver fluke egg resembles the Barber Pole egg in a fecal, as well, so if you have goats who seem to decline gradually in condition and have a "fuzzball" appearance out of season, you might consider the possibility of liver flukes - especially if you've had enough water on your fields that you could've turned them into rice paddies.<br />
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Speaking of rice paddies - the other issue caused by the unseasonably cool, wet summer has been that I am starting back to teach and the tomatoes are all still green in the field. Some have rotted on the vine. I don't know if they will ever ripen or the crop will be a total loss, but even if they do ripen, I won't be available to pick them. I spent so much of my summer in that 'mater field, it is pretty disappointing. It was the first year, though, and we learned a lot, and I learned that, barring a few of the steps, this produce thing is something I can do. I have put myself on the five year plan. Each summer, I am going to work on perfecting a crop or learning a new one, so that at the end of five years, if I am burned out on teaching, I can step away and replace the money with the farm. Now, in North Carolina, the teacher pay is almost the lowest in the entire US, so this should be an attainable goal. My children will be old enough I should be able to have all of them at the farm with me and not have to pay for day care, and it would free me to focus on their schoolwork, which will be a pretty heavy load I feel sure. Annalee will be in 7th grade by then, and for her to get into Duke, she will have to be ready to be topping the charts grade-wise when she hits 9th grade. The only way I see us affording Duke will be by her getting a scholarship, so she will also be doing every bit of community service we can do by then, and she will have to do some sort of sport. Chip will be in 5th grade, and Virginia will probably be in 2nd, so all three of them will have homework. Plans aren't realities, of course, but I'll be working it, and we'll see how it goes.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCQ_I_FUf5nAzvOcfd_Na2FLfWkW8co4o6YzteP9cvEjdrL74qiAdvf8H065E6y_A0xRtcfOJxnxeE3GSyiFnuGBZzg_027yBQxlHKZYKOwiEQ1-TJvXaQTrufraEExIwfYqgC5nh5pMY/s1600/IMG02297-20130704-1828.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCQ_I_FUf5nAzvOcfd_Na2FLfWkW8co4o6YzteP9cvEjdrL74qiAdvf8H065E6y_A0xRtcfOJxnxeE3GSyiFnuGBZzg_027yBQxlHKZYKOwiEQ1-TJvXaQTrufraEExIwfYqgC5nh5pMY/s320/IMG02297-20130704-1828.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fifty, before her demise, surrounded by doelings</td></tr>
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The weather was not the only evil of this particularly cruel summer. I mentioned we lost a really reliable doe to a hay bale collapse. I was at the farm one day, and as I looked around the field, I noticed I couldn't find Fifty. She just wasn't there. I looked in the sheds and then, with growing unease, looked over at the hay pile in the middle of the field. It was about three feet high, and several does were resting on top of it quietly chewing their cud. I told Chuck my concerns and he started digging his arm in under the pile, and confirmed my fears - she was in there. He got the tractor and moved the pile, and she was dead in the absolute center of it, both figuratively and literally. She was a strong doe, so all we can figure is they ate a hole in the center and she had her head in it when it collapsed or the other does jumped on it, and her horns likely locked in the hay fibers and suffocated her, and then the rest of the bale collapsed around her, because she was completely engulfed. That was a real drag. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKmqlsy4obGON9xAdst9aRDeTTYKzhg-yX90nEg81nP7JM9GJqf-ytLNiCQM-KwTCPb5FtHlvCPGtrl2EdfHBEV2MZpVGE4rMW2zeH51L4acbu-lo5N1tf7Bm28yJFx1INaYPd3nikGCM/s1600/IMG02426-20130803-1445.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKmqlsy4obGON9xAdst9aRDeTTYKzhg-yX90nEg81nP7JM9GJqf-ytLNiCQM-KwTCPb5FtHlvCPGtrl2EdfHBEV2MZpVGE4rMW2zeH51L4acbu-lo5N1tf7Bm28yJFx1INaYPd3nikGCM/s320/IMG02426-20130803-1445.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The blackberries in the weanling area.</td></tr>
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The doelings Fifty raised were still in the field, and when I bush hogged the next field down later that day, I noticed one of them standing with her front feet on a rock, looking around and calling for Fifty. No matter how practical I try to be, I can't watch things like that without them weighing heavy on my heart. Fifty gave them a good start, so we moved them on down to the blackberries in the electronet with the weanlings we had pulled off their moms earlier (Fifty had kept her weight so we just left hers with her), and they transitioned pretty well. She was one of the does with a possible kid swap, so we will need to DNA her does, but she raised them beautifullyand I will miss that reliability.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgad-wmRrroA7vJY2dyH836F3exbIOIZZ6_ac1GPwVooCJC105IrjqcIyEE2NLya1ZLwBS9Bz4loJ2JmWG_-PD0u5PLbsoi2loDyahTssSo_KPnADnsSIPNgbq3IK1gp8D7KGk_f7vj-Qs/s1600/IMG02396-20130731-1629.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgad-wmRrroA7vJY2dyH836F3exbIOIZZ6_ac1GPwVooCJC105IrjqcIyEE2NLya1ZLwBS9Bz4loJ2JmWG_-PD0u5PLbsoi2loDyahTssSo_KPnADnsSIPNgbq3IK1gp8D7KGk_f7vj-Qs/s320/IMG02396-20130731-1629.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fifty's doelings.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSuKA8SUrCy0eZgF6REUL8jJsqpFTw0oL_qGNnFSqdYqN0LWDdijiSAqV9yNdG7rLR7omEL_mXHT_N4KQp0tE3198Wjq8c4Sg5cjwhdClL5VsT0dk4ufmxSYSmUyGH0LXiZb39vXsKC4c/s1600/IMG02497-20130816-1826.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSuKA8SUrCy0eZgF6REUL8jJsqpFTw0oL_qGNnFSqdYqN0LWDdijiSAqV9yNdG7rLR7omEL_mXHT_N4KQp0tE3198Wjq8c4Sg5cjwhdClL5VsT0dk4ufmxSYSmUyGH0LXiZb39vXsKC4c/s320/IMG02497-20130816-1826.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shaw/Iron Temptress buckling</td></tr>
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We are taking some of the Shaw doelings that are decent size and exposing them to a young Shaw buckling. I normally don't breed that close, but I am trying to "concentrate" the line since we lost Shaw. I am going to DNA the buckling because he has curly hair much like Ace, but it would be highly unlikely he is anyone but Shaw's. Ace stamps his kids absolutely with the "Ace Face," and this buckling doesn't have it. What he does have is a muscle pattern and frame different from any other bucklings this spring. He is very long bodied, long hipped, and round muscled. I assume it came from Tempy's side of the family (she is by Iron Horse and out of a Tasman Temptress daughter - Tasman Temptress was Sports Kat's mother), but I have several of her half sisters and I have only seen this muscle type once before in a buckling we have raised, and we had sold him. We'll see. It will be an interesting experiment.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjChz0dlIo_xB0TMvUfkNFLPGPkKMz3-TfvRLLp5b__yGEWlyG7sRDaYB_XKdOz85yJgpuej-7-4GxWX1HIysvc3ouuVOWzv_ieoFiM_ZRGNoEYDzI_4hy_YeFTxtO_zo1f6xCqXT_OOiM/s1600/IMG02499-20130816-1837.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjChz0dlIo_xB0TMvUfkNFLPGPkKMz3-TfvRLLp5b__yGEWlyG7sRDaYB_XKdOz85yJgpuej-7-4GxWX1HIysvc3ouuVOWzv_ieoFiM_ZRGNoEYDzI_4hy_YeFTxtO_zo1f6xCqXT_OOiM/s320/IMG02499-20130816-1837.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Piper (in the background) and her doelings.</td></tr>
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My favorite doelings of the season are still Piper's (Piper is Ace's full sister) by Shaw. We have had a "cough" go through the herd this summer, and I have been giving Bovi Sera (direct antibodies to pasteurella, among other things) to anyone that has had it (that I can catch), so I am hoping it doesn't take a turn for the worse. Piper's girls have had the cough, and if I lose them, I will just sit down and bawl like a baby. I did not get anyone vaccinated for pneumonia this summer, and Chuck says he has had many people come in to his work with herds that have been hit by pneumonia this year. What a summer it has been. <br />
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I will be going back to teaching within the next two weeks, and I am frustrated that I must since I am just getting the farm and the house back in order, but I am also excited to start a new year and see if I can improve my teaching. I learned so much last year. When it was all said and done, I was lucky to have the opportunity to learn alongside my students, and I hope this year I can help them enjoy reading more than last year. They look at me and say, "but Ms. Shaffer, we just don't read," and I get that - they live in an electronic world... but I think about the fact that if I wasn't driven to read and search for answers to my own real-life problems, I would never have come across that little blurb about guard hairs and liver flukes. And what if the person who wrote that wasn't a reader or a writer! Even in an electronic world, reading is fundamental. It is what allows us to share knowledge, athough it<em> still</em> seems like I am going to have to make every single mistake myself. *Sigh*generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-35177589730235334382013-07-05T19:09:00.002-07:002013-07-06T08:44:32.341-07:00Tragedy and little victories.This spring and summer has been relatively cool (not many days over 90) and unusually wet. The guy who is teaching us how to do tomatoes says he's never seen a year like this one - his tomatoes are weeks behind where they should be because the plants don't grow without the sun and heat. It has been a mixed blessing for us - the forage is holding up, but the warm, moist days are always high parasite days, and we don't have the fencing done that we had planned. Seems like that's always the way. <br />
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We don't love to lose goats, but we expect to lose a few each year, and normally this helps us retain the strongest individuals as breeding stock. Losing six goats overnight, though, during a severe storm, well... that was not exactly in the plans. The thing that hurt the most about it was that one of the two bucks that died in the front field was our new herdsire - Southwest Shaw. There were trees down all over the area, and we had many limbs down in that field. We are reasonably sure they ate some of the wilting cherry leaves and died of poisoning. The body of the second buck we have yet to even find, but he disappeared that night, so we assume we'll find it sooner or later in the woods. We will continue cutting down cherry trees, but the woods are just full of them.<br />
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The batch of doelings that died in the same storm are more of a mystery. All but one was right next to the metal shelter. That corner of the field has some cherry trees outside the fence and it is plausible some limbs could have blown in, but our neighbors thought it was lightning. Apparently, there were many strikes in the area. I just don't know. It took out some doelings we planned to sell and also some we planned to keep, so now, we've had to readjust. This is going to be the year we just don't sell much of anything. We are keeping anything that is by Shaw, and anything that was exposed to him this Spring (we decided to test breed for some Fall kids). I have also decided to keep any doelings out of my best producing does. I need to build up a string of "Plan B" goats. Otherwise, if we have another event like this storm (Heaven forbid) - we could lose some of our best genetics forever.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_K1Wk9YAElKtsnciiUUqB3jdGCmZwtTsvFbNxQ0MYepM1NZKSc8_u4PK8a6FMHUPoqFpSYCQ1fZJrIJUlo1dAqVDQgxGgvEH9mkLYkko1INSZ0MH6_AXAExXQPsVWCq_L4TDdNyYpPSE/s1600/IMG02287-20130702-0959.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_K1Wk9YAElKtsnciiUUqB3jdGCmZwtTsvFbNxQ0MYepM1NZKSc8_u4PK8a6FMHUPoqFpSYCQ1fZJrIJUlo1dAqVDQgxGgvEH9mkLYkko1INSZ0MH6_AXAExXQPsVWCq_L4TDdNyYpPSE/s320/IMG02287-20130702-0959.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Virginia, telling me "It raining, Momma"</td></tr>
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This continues to be an incredibly wet year. The parasite load has to be through the roof, and Chuck isn't able to do moving pens like we used to do because his farm time is so limited. The worst part of his work schedule is that it changes from day to day. We can't plan for anything. I only had weekends off during the school year, and if he had to work the weekend, that left only me - and to be honest, even on the rare days we both had the same day off - we can't do much of anything at the farm with Virginia running wild. We get about an hour to get stuff done as she naps in the car. She just turned two on July 2nd, and she is truly a little Firecracker. She's a one-baby wrecking machine, and is absolute proof tthat humans are closely related to apes (put her at the bottom of anything and she'll have climbed to the top in seconds), but is still just a joy. She runs me ragged, but is so full of personality she practically sparkles with it. I cherish every snuggle with her, especially as she sleeps, because I know all too well that her babyhood is coming to an end.<br />
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The exccessive rain brings me to the second reason we are behind on the goat work. Our hay man suggested to Chuck that he grow tomatoes. I understand that the hay man's son has done quite well with his produce, but I think Chuck has clearly lost his mind this time. Of course, I know I lost mine long ago (as is evidenced by the fact I am looking forward to my next year with my, ummm, let's just say <em>exuberant</em> ninth and tenth graders!) because I agreed to help him. The rain has made the field a muddy mess, and I often wonder as my wellie boots stick fast and I rock back and forth, struggling to pull a leg free, if this isn't how woolly mammoths felt when stuck in the LaBrea tar pits.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUG2dGAvU2O6fgAJGpX0M7BbpUBMpU3LLhjKERRImOPI2L_uHdzSmdYsm9CvEZ-psIrftOg5bGkGWBiBQNjO4PS5q0gjfarpaak7YgU7aLkXymGRD1LmsJSasxSoO8HeSifp7nDx-UBy4/s1600/IMG02291-20130702-1421.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUG2dGAvU2O6fgAJGpX0M7BbpUBMpU3LLhjKERRImOPI2L_uHdzSmdYsm9CvEZ-psIrftOg5bGkGWBiBQNjO4PS5q0gjfarpaak7YgU7aLkXymGRD1LmsJSasxSoO8HeSifp7nDx-UBy4/s400/IMG02291-20130702-1421.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More rain. Better than none, I guess.</td></tr>
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Planting four thousand or so tomato plants ain't quick work. Neither is pounding stakes or stringing the dang things. I'm chief stringer, and I am way behind on my duty. I have to get the German Johnsons up quick and I'm not even done with the Mountain Prides. We discovered that the old well does indeed have water in it, but not enough to grow tomatoes. We have to figure out why it went from the thousand gallons a day the tobacco guys say it used to produce to the 250 or so it produces today. The hay man said if it was completely dry, we could throw in some crayfish and they'd dig their way to water and reopen the vein. I guess that's plausible, if more than a little odd sounding. I've learned to never say never.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMrvSPzPyyvvtQnKyspqj3tkC1208dY0-98BHqGWRrISHZqACQat64991GCvG8DeGPaPAPgE9B68v9RyL8gXfS0SR8PLmphyU4kzMLKHCRJqq7MGdDR3B8-a2-IFr9gd6jhK0mN5URBGU/s1600/IMG02278-20130626-1455.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMrvSPzPyyvvtQnKyspqj3tkC1208dY0-98BHqGWRrISHZqACQat64991GCvG8DeGPaPAPgE9B68v9RyL8gXfS0SR8PLmphyU4kzMLKHCRJqq7MGdDR3B8-a2-IFr9gd6jhK0mN5URBGU/s320/IMG02278-20130626-1455.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rows of tomatoes, with my "helpers" in the background.</td></tr>
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Speaking of never say never, you may remember our three-legged doe, Kitty. She had a horrendous compound fracture we could never set, and was too close to the hock to pin. Our local vet said she'd be dead in a month even if we tried to save her. Kitty had other plans. Her bone would not stay together or inside the skin, but the skin healed over the bone. Her leg flopped around as she escaped at a dead three-legged run from Chuck one day to meet Ace, the product of which rendezvous was a set of twins that she raised unassisted. We gave her the breeding season off last year and let her hang out with her doe kid, and she exerted her freedom of choice earlier this spring when she decided not to allow us to catch her when we weaned bucklings, and then promptly came in heat and chose the one that tickled her fancy to initiate into buckhood. All other hopeful suitors were met with swinging horns, or, when that was not enough, a bite in the face. We don't know yet if she caught, but if so, her "baby daddy" will hopefully prove to have as much potential as a good sire as Kitty thinks he has.<br />
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Chuck and I finally had a day to work goats together and noticed as we administered the first dose of COWP that Kitty was bearing some weight on her injured leg. Chuck caught her and found that sure enough, that leg is only bending at the hock now. He obviously didn't get too carried away testing it, but we saw that she is indeed bearing some weight on it and walking almost normally. Somehow, that bone has mended itself. It isn't as good as new of course, but it is so much better than we could have hoped for. I sure hope we can get another couple of doelings out of her and then allow her to retire and live a life of leisure. Knowing Kitty, she'll make those decisions for us.<br />
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In past years, we've been selling all the doe kids from some of our best does. That will change in order the implement the "Plan B" I mentioned going forward. Having plain old "typical" does makes one really appreciate the "amazing" does. I'll be keeping anything Kitty gives us, as well as any future doelings from the resident grand dame, Marshmallow. I have more does from which I'll be retaining doelings, but, as explanation, Marshmallow is a ten year old. She had triplets last year (we kept one doe) and twin bucklings this year. She is one heck of good mothering old doe but I know her production days may be coming to an end. Kitty, well, her toughness is the kind of thing Kiko ads could be made on, and she is a parasite resistant good mothering little doe as well.<br />
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We've been through some tough events this spring, but seeing Kitty bear weight on that leg yesterday - well, that was priceless. It is tough for a "glass all the way empty with a hole in it" kinda girl like me to not get caught up with worry over all the loss, but moments like this give even old cynics like me a smile.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimvqclCErso7lCVp4G8D6ViKu5CN9Y4xZkTJvg4j4n-JxbM6cO_XMZvQGw7psQrlsQDNyQtC2nA8C_-yUY-Eaw6iLx6GkGQnpwgyZdqUKe3yhCC7u9h8zO9pHQQjdT9YzZx2ur6LtLuBY/s1600/IMG02306-20130705-1308.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimvqclCErso7lCVp4G8D6ViKu5CN9Y4xZkTJvg4j4n-JxbM6cO_XMZvQGw7psQrlsQDNyQtC2nA8C_-yUY-Eaw6iLx6GkGQnpwgyZdqUKe3yhCC7u9h8zO9pHQQjdT9YzZx2ur6LtLuBY/s640/IMG02306-20130705-1308.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kitty, on the left, with her doe kid from last year. Nature is amazing.</td></tr>
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<br />generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-6034943165939009362013-05-31T18:28:00.002-07:002013-05-31T18:36:35.621-07:00Have I mentioned we have amazing timing?It just happens to be in the wrong direction. Chuck is trying something new this summer with the help of our hay man and his son. Chuck is trying his hand at growing 'maters on the farm. Now, I have my trepidation about this whole venture - mainly because I don't know vegetative matter like I know critters. I have some idea what to do when a four legged varmint has an issue, but when a plant looks sickly... well, that's another matter entirely. I'm out of my element. I've even gotten used to Chuck's crazy turkeys. He found one of his Royal Palm hens holed up setting twelve eggs the other day. They're better moms than most of the chicken hens.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh52T47YXcFQgLRB5jOu0nCDfJMb6vkOLC2MvHeu9AHhEzMeB3Lf2itzqhMTg_NQi3akbTgMJaBNMlx9K0qTb0Qr9pDY3Ug8KAiq0YRFPgQqf6VbVJsOq1P1BnWTtlLI5BCMeD6NSQSNSs/s1600/IMG02230-20130518-1358.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh52T47YXcFQgLRB5jOu0nCDfJMb6vkOLC2MvHeu9AHhEzMeB3Lf2itzqhMTg_NQi3akbTgMJaBNMlx9K0qTb0Qr9pDY3Ug8KAiq0YRFPgQqf6VbVJsOq1P1BnWTtlLI5BCMeD6NSQSNSs/s320/IMG02230-20130518-1358.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of Chuck's momma turkeys with some mixed breed poults.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUtlILzPCRD1nleiEn-AgNNbCnCdwZNkdA2-pMwkiHlaZf3obihb98vdVCsKMhxVdAgF_UdBgQiy9bEV2DhccPTvbhXqSahNF6W_QavYELwsVDWjLtc2jrGFg60ShcZ4iys93UcjoGVtU/s1600/IMG_20130518_162931.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUtlILzPCRD1nleiEn-AgNNbCnCdwZNkdA2-pMwkiHlaZf3obihb98vdVCsKMhxVdAgF_UdBgQiy9bEV2DhccPTvbhXqSahNF6W_QavYELwsVDWjLtc2jrGFg60ShcZ4iys93UcjoGVtU/s320/IMG_20130518_162931.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Virginia enjoyed trying to poke holes in the plastic.</td></tr>
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This enterprise has come about as an attempt to augment our income and learn to better utilize the land on the farm. The goats are doing fine this spring - better than fine, actually - but I've had no time to fool with the blog or the website, and we've missed all the weights we like to take at the 30, 60, and 90 day marks. We've just not been able to arrange to get both our bodies to the farm at the same time without three small helpers with us. Annalee and Chip have gotten to the point that they actually are helpful catching goats, but Virginia is just too little. She requires constant attention at the farm. She is part either mountain goat or sherpa. We turn our backs, and she's standing on the top of the car or has climbed to the top of the hay feeder. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheHdPqIUkfdN6ncwAy4HLoutTf988ThwHwMHgDzTLXbl65wiDbQoQj3Vv9wDQa48XZAbvyQsf1A8tRN-Y9uSDpVIbl-xiZpQg-Z_qF7XN_kbDAUOqZrGAqiFK5WXDIgUHMxB392jw5ZaQ/s1600/IMG_20130518_163018.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheHdPqIUkfdN6ncwAy4HLoutTf988ThwHwMHgDzTLXbl65wiDbQoQj3Vv9wDQa48XZAbvyQsf1A8tRN-Y9uSDpVIbl-xiZpQg-Z_qF7XN_kbDAUOqZrGAqiFK5WXDIgUHMxB392jw5ZaQ/s320/IMG_20130518_163018.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Annalee was less impressed.</td></tr>
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With rain in the forecast, we spent a day poking holes in the black plastic to prepare for planting, but found the ground under the plastic very dry even though the mud between the rows clung to my shoes and made them resemble giant snowshoes. Not cool. Chuck had to wait to plant, and of course, got plants in right as the rain quit cold turkey and the heat came on. It has been nearly 90 degrees most days this week, and those baby tomato plants are not loving it. He is trying to get used to the irrigation, and that offers some challenges since we have no power. I do hate being on the bottom of any learning curve, but it is part of life. If we quit learning, I fear we lose the ability to learn. We ought to be in pretty good shape, with all the things we've had to learn in the past few years!<br />
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This new venture means we won't be able to make it to the SEKGA sale, and I hate that. We had really been looking forward to it. We had a blast there last year. The kids enjoyed Go Fish Georgia, and it was just a really fun sale with a lot of nice people. I wish it were a few weeks later into the summer, but it is what it is, and we have work and tomatoes to handle. There are a couple of does for sale that would blend rather nicely with our bucks, but such is not to be. I also hate that we are missing the opportunity for fresh ripe Georgia peaches. There's a stand in Walnut Cove that says it has S.C. and Georgia peaches, but I stopped and took a look at the pathetic imposters. They felt akin to little baseballs - not a good sign for a tasty peach. I passed on the disappointing little orbs, and left quite unsatisfied.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3e8HIjwHB6BbMxNpmKzwV3LNhqdOJykdHbDcw55zZO0e-ZMBUcUhkHMsVtqlZZMs44nj4L0OzKprbMGyjFUp7Cnl0sGtKzoSsZPtQ880ZUujoW9gGTu-oE3hERKlyScKyhFIBENcVhvI/s1600/IMG01099-20120601-1408.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3e8HIjwHB6BbMxNpmKzwV3LNhqdOJykdHbDcw55zZO0e-ZMBUcUhkHMsVtqlZZMs44nj4L0OzKprbMGyjFUp7Cnl0sGtKzoSsZPtQ880ZUujoW9gGTu-oE3hERKlyScKyhFIBENcVhvI/s320/IMG01099-20120601-1408.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The beautiful peaches we bought last year.</td></tr>
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If anyone feels rather generous, pick me up a couple of does at the sale and with any luck, we'll have a mess of tomatoes we can trade later this summer. At least, I hope so. I guess I'll just be satisfied if we have ANY tomatoes to peddle this summer at the Farmer's Market. I'm not even going to worry about how I'm going to manage three kids at the Farmer's Market yet. I have a little more than a week of school left with students, so I won't have time to take a breath until that's done. I can't believe the school year is almost over. When I first started the year I'd not have believed I would say this, but I'm going to miss those characters. They are irreverently funny, unconventionally smart, and worldly-wise, yet so innocent, and so very, very resilient. Hopefully, I'll get to work with them again in the fall. generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-17511768609947242172013-05-09T17:23:00.003-07:002013-05-09T17:23:45.112-07:00Where's Chip-doIt has been a strange spring. We found an unexpected consequence of kidding extra early: if spring comes late, nobody much grows because there's nothing to eat! Finally, the kids are growing because they finally have some forage. I can't remember many Mays where it has been so chilly, to be honest. It has at least been wet, though, and the continued showers are not only bringing flowers, but taller and taller grass. Chuck opened the gate to allow the goats to mow some of the bottom field although we wanted to wait and use it for weaning. We couldn't find the time between family and work obligations, and we didn't want the forage quality to tank completely. Chuck took this picture before he let goats in the bottom field. It is our version of "Where's Waldo," except we're looking for Chip. Annalee went to school the next day covered in stinging little grass cuts and whining, but she was reading <em>Little House on the Prairie</em>, so her teacher thought it was quite appropriate and even hummed the TV series theme song for her. Annalee remained unconvinced... <br />
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You can find him if you look reaalllly close. He was walking, if that tells you about the height of the grass. The goats are loving it. Chuck assumes they are okay, but there are some he can't find, so we'll know more when they mow it down a bit. <br />
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We are coming up on EOC tests at school, so the pressure is on. I vow to update the "for sale" part of the website as soon as school is over, but right now, I have a long evening ahead of me. I am still grading last week's tests and I have to create new ones, too. I must relate that we are reading and watching <em>To Kill A Mockingbird</em> right now, and the magic created by that book never ceases to amaze me. The most die-hard "I don't care" kid fights right alongside Atticus, and is heartbroken when Tom Robinson is convicted. They all can't wait to finally see Boo Radley, and the message of the movie - don't judge anyone until you've seen the world from their eyes - sticks with them at least a little bit. I am pretty lucky to be in a spot where I can reread such a gift of novel every few months!generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-51888145858198949742013-04-22T17:45:00.002-07:002013-04-22T17:45:56.465-07:00A few pictures to show that Spring has sprung. Finally.What a difference just a little warm weather can make! We had a really warm week with a little rain, followed by a bit of a chill, but overall, spring is here. I just had to post a picture of the difference in the bottom field. We'll be weaning and moving goats likely this weekend. There is a blend of grasses and legumes, and what I think is my chicory or the rape coming up. I'm not sure which. I need to get better at plant identification. We also need to lime the front areas to get some better stuff growing. My aunt has always told me that broomstraw is a natural pH monitor - when the broomstraw grows, you know you need some lime.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bottom field, April 4, 2013</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The bottom field April 21, 2013. It's about time. Note the blond heads.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDsc86KZ8OKqc3eyIiDEhQGykZdscDmD7x3VmLDGUaJi5vHJXtrWmZ4EmRxni3Ax8qIn_0xC8g-SvJEqWKkLBI4-ZswR9ptt7EC0FBDP0gpox1HI2vzCoG6SGVIEywafc2bjlNAPwMbnk/s1600/IMG02200-20130421-1729.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDsc86KZ8OKqc3eyIiDEhQGykZdscDmD7x3VmLDGUaJi5vHJXtrWmZ4EmRxni3Ax8qIn_0xC8g-SvJEqWKkLBI4-ZswR9ptt7EC0FBDP0gpox1HI2vzCoG6SGVIEywafc2bjlNAPwMbnk/s320/IMG02200-20130421-1729.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some grass, clover, and alfalfa.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiybX2kU3v2HQEVdJBqmE-HoNeDM92b37EXRJiDroXY4UybyDZzVnM0SFEcaqw0Q8onOZIC24OOuJDLj3TUTVYGH7uEcq3y_D9K3Njr1xuoq2dqExe__3PPDD2njQgzr3WZSDf2ASA1WdM/s1600/IMG02202-20130421-1745.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiybX2kU3v2HQEVdJBqmE-HoNeDM92b37EXRJiDroXY4UybyDZzVnM0SFEcaqw0Q8onOZIC24OOuJDLj3TUTVYGH7uEcq3y_D9K3Njr1xuoq2dqExe__3PPDD2njQgzr3WZSDf2ASA1WdM/s320/IMG02202-20130421-1745.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Even the top field is starting to catch up with the goats.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht0xNFOlZwNGUtWBw-6HzmuxIyWereeMZTo4bfjgIdTNIE2qmtbkDVvzWBrxUOr27W9UPEbBoH29pc5lBtnq5jK9d3gVYQ6vSZU8mar5_20LuBhaCqGWkRguxTP9SOOSVX5Fk3tiDFOAs/s1600/IMG02196-20130421-1705.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht0xNFOlZwNGUtWBw-6HzmuxIyWereeMZTo4bfjgIdTNIE2qmtbkDVvzWBrxUOr27W9UPEbBoH29pc5lBtnq5jK9d3gVYQ6vSZU8mar5_20LuBhaCqGWkRguxTP9SOOSVX5Fk3tiDFOAs/s320/IMG02196-20130421-1705.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My favorite Boomer buckling this season - out of a Tay Onyx granddaughter.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUyDrIL9BopF-yxufIlbAbqq9-VaHX9h70mHJuI61PXCMoI0wIhufBaD_pV3DvBHxSt1n2z03ND9p8D3Y9SiGMqph23P5Im25pJ1kPhxVGi8niveRr812YhBC2kQSH5XljrN-n5unGE20/s1600/IMG02190-20130421-1657.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUyDrIL9BopF-yxufIlbAbqq9-VaHX9h70mHJuI61PXCMoI0wIhufBaD_pV3DvBHxSt1n2z03ND9p8D3Y9SiGMqph23P5Im25pJ1kPhxVGi8niveRr812YhBC2kQSH5XljrN-n5unGE20/s320/IMG02190-20130421-1657.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of my favorite Shaw bucklings this season - out of an Iron Horse daughter (and Tasman Temptress granddaughter)</td></tr>
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generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-48996178727698341162013-04-04T10:25:00.000-07:002013-04-04T13:32:30.771-07:00I knew better...<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMSOMJ-YQrM5xCMVx5L_9rdBaLn3YODoqW-lB502AksQ8C3WicqwV83WIwcvaPQC6erm5MTGrQLNTRBWPVHcZpvO2At-Gtgpdda4_B_70cuaz6EzCwhNbQaTN2WW4o-c5NRBuheLKvHEY/s1600/IMG02137-20130403-1736.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMSOMJ-YQrM5xCMVx5L_9rdBaLn3YODoqW-lB502AksQ8C3WicqwV83WIwcvaPQC6erm5MTGrQLNTRBWPVHcZpvO2At-Gtgpdda4_B_70cuaz6EzCwhNbQaTN2WW4o-c5NRBuheLKvHEY/s320/IMG02137-20130403-1736.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bo stopped as I stopped to take the picture, and looked at me as if to say, "You ARE coming, aren't you?"</td></tr>
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But I didn't get it ordered sooner. The temperatures have been all over the place - balmy one day and frigid and icy the next. I should have known it was the kind of season that would cause problems. In fact, I'm beginning to wonder if there is <em>any</em> season that doesn't have some inherent problems? Chuck mentioned (or at least he tells me he mentioned - I have my mind so full of <em>Siddhartha </em>and <em>Night</em> and <em>The Odyssey</em> as of late there isn't much room for anything else) we had run out of Bovi Sera. Bovi Sera is one of those things I like to have on hand, although we don't use it a lot this time of year. I tend to use it more when we ship goats, as it provides direct antibodies for a few of the things that can get goats down when they are under stress - the stress of being hauled down the highway in a shipping crate for twelve hours, for example. It has antibodies to E.Coli, Salmonella, and two types of Pasteurella organisms that can cause pneumonia. In theory, these antibodies can go right to work and combat the pathogens quickly, and hopefully buy the animal time as it tries to mount its own immune response.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibjDPjRuQY8Y2v1cg8d_tBVqbAc-ohAh4NVrfO33GQ4HiHM6ffZuLrPdTrEu2WkZApUCURXnhlIWLjsIlHOYPFaFY4WNUrmvsnkyQnkGPUA9ynW44a1lKq5rE8S8oka99yq4KgZeaaenc/s1600/IMG02135-20130403-1519.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibjDPjRuQY8Y2v1cg8d_tBVqbAc-ohAh4NVrfO33GQ4HiHM6ffZuLrPdTrEu2WkZApUCURXnhlIWLjsIlHOYPFaFY4WNUrmvsnkyQnkGPUA9ynW44a1lKq5rE8S8oka99yq4KgZeaaenc/s320/IMG02135-20130403-1519.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enjoying the warmth of the sun, blocked by Momma from the chilly winds.</td></tr>
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Although I am still under the weather myself (thankfully, although the whole rest of the family has been sick, I waited until Spring Break to get mine - no missed work!) I loaded Annalee and Chip in the car and dropped Virginia off at day care. Loaded with packs of snack crackers, a box of Capri-Sun, and a bag of half price Scooby Doo Easter candy, we set out for the farm. The weather really has been crazy lately. I think it was Monday it was seventy degrees again, and the goats, who are still sporting long winter coats, were all flaked out in the sun. Tuesday brought an abrupt decrease in temperature, and a cold wind whipped across the flats of the farm. Yesterday started with a sharp, frosty morning, but gently mellowed into the upper fifties. Since I felt poorly, after I fed the goats I told the kids to play as I took it easy in the warm car for a little while. I sat and rested, and watched the goats. Having the time to watch them gave me an opportunity to notice a couple of the kids breathing heavier than they should. One sounded a little raspy, too. Crap. Sounds like pneumonia brewing. <br />
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Normally, my first line of defense for pneumonia is a dose of Bovi Sera. I use it even before I pull out an antibiotic. Unfortunately, I am unprepared this time, and Bovi Sera is not something we can get at the local feed store. I placed an order online, and it should arrive later today. The kids were still upright as of a quick trip up to check this morning, so when the package gets here, I will try to run up and catch these two kids and give them a quick dose of it. This is one of those days I hope soccer practice is cancelled. It sleeted on us as we returned home from the farm earlier today, and I just don't think I am up to sitting out on the soccer field for an hour trying to corral Virginia. Annalee has plenty to wear to keep her warm, but I'm just not feeling that tough today. My pastures are even feeling the effects off this prolonged winter. I looked at pictures from last year, and the pastures were much taller and greener in April last year than they are today. Maybe next week's projected warm temperatures will kick them into high growth gear. I sure hope so.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD9jAMOcqEQ3VcTCAUrt4hyphenhyphent-oAGDucWsY0HMjOZQ4ZPfYbFQj5_twXPVLEV8jzbg1FHXdSDRQSYqoKu2Pj0eGgnjlmEBYnsWwbQhLGhjRNAVPzZiqnvQxRK91clVxYu_emxC3LbjqhvE/s1600/IMG02141-20130404-1047.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiD9jAMOcqEQ3VcTCAUrt4hyphenhyphent-oAGDucWsY0HMjOZQ4ZPfYbFQj5_twXPVLEV8jzbg1FHXdSDRQSYqoKu2Pj0eGgnjlmEBYnsWwbQhLGhjRNAVPzZiqnvQxRK91clVxYu_emxC3LbjqhvE/s320/IMG02141-20130404-1047.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Still bald spots, but at least most are becoming covered with organic matter.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJe0PazKrlkSy7pdO6AW1P7pOw01MLNyudAlHQvJNLy2ZlezDpVrUz951vj3zQznZrf3M3g-CavBKgid-BNVpwSuEkGjkse0exzG_WSMjcKqUaKnR8bFDjPZgh1AuQUcOG7Fg0eAevW5A/s1600/IMG02142-20130404-1048.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJe0PazKrlkSy7pdO6AW1P7pOw01MLNyudAlHQvJNLy2ZlezDpVrUz951vj3zQznZrf3M3g-CavBKgid-BNVpwSuEkGjkse0exzG_WSMjcKqUaKnR8bFDjPZgh1AuQUcOG7Fg0eAevW5A/s320/IMG02142-20130404-1048.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This time last year, the field was almost a foot high.</td></tr>
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Since we had no Bovi Sera, I texted Chuck to pick up a fresh bottle of LA-200 at the store to bring to the farm. We had some, but it was expired. When he and Virginia got to the farm with it, he caught the two kids and we gave them each a dose of it, hoping whatever organism they have is susceptible. We don't use antibiotics on the farm very often, but we do bring in animals from other places, and the germs they bring - well, there's just no telling. It's like the dewormer thing. We've had a few does go bottle-jawed lately, and I imagine if we had preventively dewormed them right after they kidded, we wouldn't have had an issue. Two of the does are first timers, one raising a single and the other raising a nice set of twin does. The third is a mature doe, and her two kids are mega-chunks (her buck is as big as one of the junk bucks leftover from last year and looking for a soup pot) and have really pulled the weight off of her. I can forgive having to deworm those does. Now, we might gamble and lose one (I hope not), but I'd rather be sparing with the dewormer so that when I need to use it, it works, and we know who is tougher than whom. We don't know much about the Shaw kids yet, but we're finding Ace's kids to be even more parasite tolerant than Boomer's. This knowledge helps me decide which does go with which bucks. If a doe has good growth and parasite tolerance traits but a poor udder, isn't a fabulous mom, or is a hard keeper, I'll likely breed her to Boomer for first generation does. If a doe is a great mom with a good udder and just isn't the most parasite tolerant doe, I'll breed her to Ace to bring his strengths to the mix. There are the other odd traits they throw - Ace's kids look like small yaks in the winter due to three inch long (and often wavy) hair - but I hope in the long run, breeding this way helps me have the best does I can in the herd. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihcb1TTlLPnyDXaPwTU4w15ZTVR7Jr3Beprg1RhChEo9rjTGSEyBry1lmBE-rMDr4U1lnZyLnqyLw_iNhWi8gDqXBK97-ESSjDsnrkqr4R2qGRiosMC66tVzqRg5E9Crc0do0O82zRruc/s1600/IMG02131-20130402-1345.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihcb1TTlLPnyDXaPwTU4w15ZTVR7Jr3Beprg1RhChEo9rjTGSEyBry1lmBE-rMDr4U1lnZyLnqyLw_iNhWi8gDqXBK97-ESSjDsnrkqr4R2qGRiosMC66tVzqRg5E9Crc0do0O82zRruc/s320/IMG02131-20130402-1345.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Goats in the middle field - sooner than we wanted, but the top field is bare.</td></tr>
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I am still not sure yet how I feel about the "size" issue. I know people like big goats, and big kids do sell, but I still like a small doe who gets her kids to close to her size in six months. Unless she is a hard keeper, it just makes more sense to me. I have a couple of squatty little does who look like they are bred year round, and raise fast growing kids that look just like them. I am an avid <em>Goat Rancher</em> fan (it is a wonderful aperitif to enjoy before diving into some Shakespeare), and have been reading with great interest Craig Adams' articles on Kiko bloodlines and the traits for which they are known. He has so much experience with the breed, and I eagerly looked forward to seeing if my observations from our few individuals mirrored what his many years have proven to be true in general. One thing he said has gotten me thinking - he suggests we need to aim towards a heavier framed goat. I'm not sure how I feel about that. I have both types in my herd. The Shaw kids are lighter framed - the doelings have a more deerlike, feminine look to them, while the Ace doelings look like little boys, to be honest. Boomer's kids are somewhere in the middle, but don't have much mature height. I can understand that with heavier muscle, a heavier frame may be necessary. I wonder if there is any sort of genetic link between the two traits? Hmm. Food for thought, but unfortunately, thoughts that will likely need to wait until after school is out for summer. Poetry, <em>To Kill A Mockingbird,</em> and more World Lit await!<br />
<br />
Addendum: I took a short nap after my post and awoke to the delightful tap tap of sleet pouring down (example of sarcarm, here, folks). The roof is white, and it is accumulating on parts of the yard. Yay (more sarcasm). It increases my concern for those kids that are already ill. I hope they made it somewhere dry and warm. I also hope that truck with the Bovi Sera makes it here before long. I also doubt I will put the human kids out on the road to go to the farm if I don't absolutely have to do it. It is a long drive, and there is an awful lot of frozen junk coming out of the sky. Sigh.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWjhK3kDcEYsRuHGVrQ_UbEMrJ16E9zpaLqw2hiMenhguZXTxKess2RTREsX4AvJBsnSXTeO91d-wV26o7FITJXqlTY1O3kmqYg82R_vudgDBltViryFMVIsec1tc9CbcjMDbWp3UOIPU/s1600/IMG02122-20130402-1240.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWjhK3kDcEYsRuHGVrQ_UbEMrJ16E9zpaLqw2hiMenhguZXTxKess2RTREsX4AvJBsnSXTeO91d-wV26o7FITJXqlTY1O3kmqYg82R_vudgDBltViryFMVIsec1tc9CbcjMDbWp3UOIPU/s320/IMG02122-20130402-1240.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ace twin doelings (out of a half sister to Ace) in the foregound - a Shaw doeling walks behind them<br />
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generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-39310939172482486502013-03-17T17:14:00.001-07:002013-03-17T17:14:22.544-07:00A visit to the farm.It's been a while since I made it to the farm. The kids aren't "allowed" to go see Grandma right now because they've had a bug, so we went to the farm with Chuck. We thought we might get goats caught up and weighed, but miscalculating just how cold it was put the quabbash on that. It was gorgeous in NC yesterday - nearly 70 degrees, which worked out okay as the kids had soccer games. It made the chill in the air more disappointing today, however. I underdressed myself and the kids. The weatherman said it would be in the fifties, but the thermometer on the car was reading 43 degrees this afternoon. As Chuck rode around moving round bales with the tractor, he was breathing steam. I did not plan for that bite in the air.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit9yyArvTsdJ5pj7LP1ismqhWRO9AgBawfBZoAr5PH7tvTu51BXLk5SqOyBs-Bzcj-BEdWih-V-XZsLCMjsmfaRHGAxDxIadenzFoE6MPM9AnWJrp1TSQ07gX5Zdyt6SXIKkkDSGFeh-Q/s1600/IMG02058-20130317-1440.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEit9yyArvTsdJ5pj7LP1ismqhWRO9AgBawfBZoAr5PH7tvTu51BXLk5SqOyBs-Bzcj-BEdWih-V-XZsLCMjsmfaRHGAxDxIadenzFoE6MPM9AnWJrp1TSQ07gX5Zdyt6SXIKkkDSGFeh-Q/s320/IMG02058-20130317-1440.jpg" width="320" /></a> </td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Piper's doelings playing "who is the fastest." (GNX Piper x Shaw)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I did not get as much done as I planned at the farm, but I did manage a few things. I managed to find the kids I could not locate when I first arrived - they had squeezed into the middle field. We're fertilizing and liming the middle and bottom fields and have the goats off of them at the moment. These few kids apparently didn't get the memo. After we got these little rogues back where they were supposed to be, I went to nail a board to the post to try to keep this from happening again. By this time I was chilly anyway, and I discovered that the hammer(s) are all missing. I don't know how that happens. I bet I've bought forty hammers over the years. Someday an archaeologist is going to have a dig at the farm and they will no doubt wonder about the amazing collection of tools buried all over the farm. Chuck produced a hatchet with a blunt back side, and off I went. I managed to squash my thumb and turn it blue on the first nail, but hopefully the gate is now modified so it is goat kid resistant.<br />
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I did at least get some pictures today of the kids. For the most part, they are growing well. The Ace kids are in general a month older than the Shaw kids, with the the Boomer kids just behind. The big exception would be the straggler does. All three straggler does had single doelings, and we lost one, unfortunately, to some type of predator that prefers hindquarters only (or at least that was the point it was interrupted in its meal). I get so mad about things like that, but it happens. I just hate when anything brand new doesn't even get a chance. It offends me on some kind of cosmic level.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijDh66lnmI62IEKnyXkkrDn2CAE-Ib5ezD1vYYsDMnU_pkc-4l5GvL8BQhkPrXJdYVNOlh63DJ4-AJArXO-N8atwKjyj0VbUct2lpO3FIfwruFut3GhYbo_WY0lc8qM_Y_JBQRglsSgaM/s1600/IMG02044-20130317-1342.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijDh66lnmI62IEKnyXkkrDn2CAE-Ib5ezD1vYYsDMnU_pkc-4l5GvL8BQhkPrXJdYVNOlh63DJ4-AJArXO-N8atwKjyj0VbUct2lpO3FIfwruFut3GhYbo_WY0lc8qM_Y_JBQRglsSgaM/s320/IMG02044-20130317-1342.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On the left with the star, GNX Ginger. Her Shaw kids are in the foreground.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_FP8KEKV08Q4m1J9aBaWsIY7Qw5-0OGHaSa3AfzogakIUcTXUM0h9kpHzE_9JBEKsdx2i4gxGDZrDgCFaobV03g3TE4TXPlFXJPWyjLhEEofx9jAmcQj9Ll8n0nPR1Q1Ojnug_IXn1_4/s1600/IMG02051-20130317-1403.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_FP8KEKV08Q4m1J9aBaWsIY7Qw5-0OGHaSa3AfzogakIUcTXUM0h9kpHzE_9JBEKsdx2i4gxGDZrDgCFaobV03g3TE4TXPlFXJPWyjLhEEofx9jAmcQj9Ll8n0nPR1Q1Ojnug_IXn1_4/s320/IMG02051-20130317-1403.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Louisianna's doeling (by GNX Ace)</td></tr>
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We've got a good group of bucklings coming along, I think. The doelings are okay, too, but this year I hope to keep a few more than I normally do, and I've already had some interest in a few of them. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx8YgXXBDeIEd0_CJ6wCHNhluJBBnm-hRbUCJPyufJDAY9_qOmbXCVpIbw3b_DnF98gWT8VXAeR9fi6Wn5QsT-VzE1a2i7qrGahkT8xu45p_7awCCunvKsoFpbREOP_VWWfsn2UPcJ64U/s1600/IMG02061-20130317-1526.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx8YgXXBDeIEd0_CJ6wCHNhluJBBnm-hRbUCJPyufJDAY9_qOmbXCVpIbw3b_DnF98gWT8VXAeR9fi6Wn5QsT-VzE1a2i7qrGahkT8xu45p_7awCCunvKsoFpbREOP_VWWfsn2UPcJ64U/s320/IMG02061-20130317-1526.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two monster PB bucklings by Ace, out of BWP 117 (UPS)</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi5nbhwM9-oYraT7H8d2iMPnCS5GoPhJ6e5cYPlHm-wOoQGe6wCRVocMjszX4aZRB0aJbuDcf4L5SoBGa9ATcG-xfI18RxGPea3CDxBBp9xQPDW1MUqDGnDafhmowKjIpxF0HJLrVIfbU/s1600/IMG02056-20130317-1438.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi5nbhwM9-oYraT7H8d2iMPnCS5GoPhJ6e5cYPlHm-wOoQGe6wCRVocMjszX4aZRB0aJbuDcf4L5SoBGa9ATcG-xfI18RxGPea3CDxBBp9xQPDW1MUqDGnDafhmowKjIpxF0HJLrVIfbU/s320/IMG02056-20130317-1438.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The dark buckling is Louisianna's. On the right is one of the red Shaw bucklings (hard to say which).</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj17TKawd-df4-TI4hb6DvhNazIaplxmPK4WX7CJDs3L4T6ABgyHdx9kt0Zw78sZZx-IpzUgXHEgvuJz8qAy0WpNWVJrtvkZY-f_cXGRx6Np0t2vnr6r6pbQU_L1iI0ybE1fgBRiIzVEM0/s1600/IMG02041-20130317-1339.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj17TKawd-df4-TI4hb6DvhNazIaplxmPK4WX7CJDs3L4T6ABgyHdx9kt0Zw78sZZx-IpzUgXHEgvuJz8qAy0WpNWVJrtvkZY-f_cXGRx6Np0t2vnr6r6pbQU_L1iI0ybE1fgBRiIzVEM0/s320/IMG02041-20130317-1339.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The black doeling belongs is one of Angus' (by Ace). Her larger twin is the milkshake colored kid hidden behind the brown doeling in the foreground (one of Piper's by Shaw).</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj08VA_jQQyzhBIKplHjpyduSG4hwqfuUOEs5b0dPiQmtJW1k3NoWZAcJko_X6UO-gD0pfZ8vRTdc9ZcM2pCebide1VwsYjVuo7gN44ZaU5Ln1p7D8o9lheXwRDPsnYkFTktKmTxpAhfo0/s1600/IMG02049-20130317-1403.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj08VA_jQQyzhBIKplHjpyduSG4hwqfuUOEs5b0dPiQmtJW1k3NoWZAcJko_X6UO-gD0pfZ8vRTdc9ZcM2pCebide1VwsYjVuo7gN44ZaU5Ln1p7D8o9lheXwRDPsnYkFTktKmTxpAhfo0/s320/IMG02049-20130317-1403.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The whole herd. We have four distinct kidding groups, and four sizes of kids.</td></tr>
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generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-8833011639506203522013-01-17T18:54:00.000-08:002013-01-17T18:54:00.157-08:00We had hoped the kids would get here before the worst weather...<br />
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</span>Last weekend we had one of those glorious days in January that make us all impatient
for spring. The thermometer on the car's control panel read a full 70 degrees. The
kids ran around the farm without jackets and complained of being hot, and the
goat kids basked hedonistically in the sunshine. Of the does who have not yet
kidded, only a few appear imminent, and they were not as enamored with the
heat. They are not only heavy bred but also heavy coated, and that is a
combination for misery on a warm winter's day.<br />
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The Shaw kids have started hitting the ground, so now, we have most of the
Ace and Shaw does kidded save a few who were still nursing kids when the bucks
were introduced. The youngest of the does we bred to Boomer, and have just started
kidding this week. It would be lovely if the young first time does
especially could have kidded when it was 70 degrees, but the rain rolled in and brought with it much more seasonably cool weather. As much as I love
the warm weather, I know if it would have continued, all the trees would have budded out and the
inevitable freeze would have taken them all out. It is better to wait for the warmth
to be more certain.<o:p></o:p><br />
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Both groups of kids seem robust and vibrant. I can't remember the
male/female ratio thus far, but it seems pretty even. We had one more instance
where the dog seems to have helped with the kids a bit much, but he's much
better this year than last during the births, and a devoted babysitter once the
kids are a day old or more. We had our first "who's your momma" incident this year. Chuck found two does had kidded and then found two kids in one
spot both wet, and the other set in one spot both dry. He put them with the
does according to location and dampness status, and now, looking at them, we're not so sure the pairs are
actually the correct pairs. <br />
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We'll be DNAing those four kids to determine who momma really is. Right now we can't tell much about the kids more than what color they are and that so far, they are pretty "survivable" little creatures. The next few months ought to tell us much more.</div>
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The focus now is to keep kids warm and dry. We've had many inches of rain over the past few days and there is standing water everywhere. Now, there is snow moving in on top of all the water and the flakes have started to fall at the house. It will be a fun-filled few days, I'm sure, but all but the newest kids are at least a week old. Now we just have to worry about those couple of first time kidding does that look imminent. They are funny on a good day, but so far the first kidders this year have done a good job. I hope the rest do as well.</div>
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generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-61797378590244987122012-12-31T20:43:00.001-08:002013-01-01T08:29:19.064-08:00Happy New Year!Every time the New Year rolls around, I find that song by The Counting Crows rattling around in my mind. There's a line that suggets it has been a "long December, and there's reason to believe maybe this year will be better than the last." There have been years where my situation has been such that I have desperately hoped that indeed, the upcoming year would be an improvement over the one departing, but this year we've almost been too busy to even think about it.<br />
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I should have been furiously grading papers and writing lesson plans in preparation for getting back to work tomorrow, but I haven't done as much as I had planned. My kids were so worried that Christmas wouldn't happen this year I stopped and made sure we got our tree up, and we got outdoor lights up (Chip wanted these so badly), and I am so glad we did. In previous years, my family has gathered at mom's, and we've spent the day with her at her old house as she cooked an old fashioned Christmas dinner. The kids knew that this year was going to be different, and it had shaken them more than I expected. This year, we took covered dishes to her new apartment, and we had a smaller and less traditional gathering. It worked out, though, although we were all tired from a late night at the Christmas Eve lovefeast at the Moravian Church the night before. I had meant to get them to the 6 o'clock service, but the day got away from me so we hit the 8 o'clock. Annalee and Chip enjoyed this tradition, and really loved being able to hold the lighted candles high for the last stanza of the last song of the night. Chip even managed not to set his own hair on fire this year! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihX96wiWeXEiw60BwqetBbuRnEFRxFD4Rj9I73grPCPTgfIM1S7ngXOYgqqQZ32bal8ZAlcIShoteqQ2Mjzf48uqFCGkffHx9w-J7iJz0FbPfDN_I4fYn3YhK923XHbzcsIiQk4zYAb1Y/s1600/IMG01916-20121224-2102.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihX96wiWeXEiw60BwqetBbuRnEFRxFD4Rj9I73grPCPTgfIM1S7ngXOYgqqQZ32bal8ZAlcIShoteqQ2Mjzf48uqFCGkffHx9w-J7iJz0FbPfDN_I4fYn3YhK923XHbzcsIiQk4zYAb1Y/s320/IMG01916-20121224-2102.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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We made it home, and Santa Claus came, although, as Annalee admits, the kids weren't always on their best behavior this year. As I was driving home from the lovefeast, I was thinking what traditions I'd like our family to create for the years going forward. I had visions of eventually having a nice warm little barn up at the farm where we could gather for a bit on Christmas Eve, and reflect on the wonderful peacefulness that can only be found in a night-time stable. Anyone who has ever spent a cold, quiet evening in a snug horse barn knows what I'm talking about. The background sounds of animals comfortably munching hay, shuffling gently in their stalls; the green aroma of hay combining with the fresh, woody, scent of pine shavings, and the warm animals... well, I can think of no more lovely setting to think about a newborn baby in a manger.<br />
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Our own Christmas found the first group of does kidding beginning with three does beginning on the 23rd, and then a doe kidding almost each day for the next few days. The first kiddings were all reasonably uneventful, but the last one still has us scratching our heads. Since Chuck has been working and I was off this week, I have been on farm duty. I have hauled the kids up there with me (much to their dismay, although they usually have fun once they are there) and I had been watching one doe closely, expecting her to kid while I was there for a couple of days. I left one afternoon to get the kids home, and Chuck had planned to come back up after dinner. As often happens, fatigue trumps intention and it was about 3am before he made it back up to the farm. It was well below freezing, and he found that 260 had kidded and was wandering around kidless and hollering. She had some suspicious marks on one ear, but we don't know the sequence of events and the dogs have so far been improved over last year. Chuck unfortunately found one buckling dead in the field (not easy to find a black buckling in the dark), and searched for another since 260 had been wider than a single would suggest, but found no other. We were disgusted, but resigned to having lost a season with this doe. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Aggie and the first kids of the season. We almost lost this doe last year.</td></tr>
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The following morning, I rushed the human kids to get ready because I was still troubled by that unaccounted for second kid. I mean, she could have singled, in theory, or the kid could have been stillborn and the dogs ate it. There were just so many possibilities. When I arrived at the farm in the daylight, it was still cold and windy, but bright, so I took the opportunity to walk the pasture looking for any sign of dead kid. I looked in every shed, under the hay feeder, down against the bottom fence where 260 had kidded the previous year, and found exactly nothing. Oh well. I had already cussed 260 out for wasting the year and promised her a quick trip to the terminal barn, but I did offer her my sympathies, and watching her look off across the pasture, still hollering vainly for her phantom kids, yanked pretty fiercely at my heartstrings. I did what I needed to do and headed back to town with the intention of both Chuck and I driving back up after he got off work. <br />
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I visited my mom, and then headed back up before Chuck got home from picking up some hay (which proved to be moldy, much to our dismay). I got to the farm while the sun was still up, and looking down over the field, I saw a kid standing alone near the bottom fence. It looked like Aggie's doe, and I wondered how she managed to get herself caught in the fence, and why Aggie wasn't down there with her (Aggie likes her kids pretty close). As I got closer to the small tan and black form, I realized that the kid was not stuck in the fence but just standing alone, and not in great shape. It stood hunched, and looked like it had a little bloody stuff on it. Thoughts of murdering the dogs for attacking a kid started to form in my mind, but when I picked the kid up, I realized the red thing was part of its umbilical cord flipped up over its back and dried up glued in its hair. It was also a little buckling, and seemed small, but maybe it was just dehydrated from the ordeal. I ran around to be sure all the does had their kids, and they did. Hmmm. So this little guy was an extra. Could this be 260's second kid? <br />
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I made sure none of the other does had kidded, so by process of elimination, surmised that yes, this had to be her kid. I tried to get her to come to him, but she walked right by him, all the while still hollering for a kid. I called Chuck to step on it and bring down a bucket of feed so I could catch her. I sent Chip to the barn in the interim to get a little feed, and when he took too long coming back, I loaded the kid up in the car with me and drove up to the barn to locate Chip. I found that he had mistakenly thought he was supposed to bring down an entire 33lb goat block. I doubt he weighs much more than that himself, but he had dragged it a good thirty feet away from the barn. <br />
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We got a more appropriate measure of feed and drove back down and Chuck pulled up in the truck shortly after. The plugs were still in 260's teats, so the kid could not have nursed from her. Chuck worked the plugs loose as I held her head, and we tried to get the kid to nurse. He bumped at her bag, but that was about it. We milked some colostrum into a syringe, and Chuck had the kid suck on his pinky and slowly squirted the colostrum in the side of its mouth as it sucked. He has found this technique works pretty well if a kid has any suckle reflex at all. His pinky is approximately goat teat shaped, and it gets the dribbled in milk from the syringe going down the right pipe. I don't know if colostrum does much good immunity wise after the kid is 12 hours old or so, but it couldn't hurt. The gut can't close all at once, so if he gets any immunity from it maybe it will give him a better chance to survive. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A cold day, but the does are out with their kids. Old Marshmallow (10 yrs in 2013) proudly walks her twin bucklings in the distance.</td></tr>
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I just can't figure how the kid survived the extreme cold for that long. I also can't figure out where the heck he was all that time. It is easy enough to miss a kid in the dark, but he was visible enough when I did find him that I spotted him all the way across the field. I had actually been looking in the morning, and had not seen him anywhere. The only thing Chuck could figure is that maybe he survived the night behind Marshmallow in her shed. He had noticed Marshmallow and her kids in her small shed, and the dead kid had been down below the front of her shed. Had the little guy somehow gotten in behind Marshmallow, or had 260 started kidding in the shed and Marshmallow put herself to bed somewhere in the middle of the process? This still doesn't explain where he was in the morning when I searched, for I had looked in each shed. I guess we'll never know. <br />
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We sequestered 260 in a shed with the kid, and while she looked at him as if he were just some random kid and not her own, she has decided to treat him charitably. He's still weak, but he is alive and he is nursing some and passing poop. He may not live, but each day he makes it gives him a better chance. Bringing one back from the dead is a considerably more challenging task.<br />
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All of this brings me back to our New Year's resolutions. What are they for the year? Well, I learned the hard way that during the teaching year, I can't get anything done farm-wise, so we will have to do our farm business during the summer months only until the situation changes. I've also realized just how much I enjoy the work on the farm, so I am going to try to make sure I get up there more often than every few months. A cold, wet, muddy, miserable day raking up old hay or feeding the goats is better than a climate controlled day almost anywhere else. We resolve to get more fencing done (does this sound familiar?). We resolve to work on the farm road some more as we sell some goats, and got our first load of gravel delivered yesterday towards that end. As expensive as it is, it was absolutely necessary, although it didn't fill in many ruts. It at least made one stretch safe for the car, that was beginning to be an impossible situation.<br />
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We resolve to take a load of "lesser" bucklings to the terminal barn as soon as Chuck can get a day off when there is a sale going. We resolve to get the water situation handled by getting a solar pump, or using a generator to a holding tank, or SOMETHING. Carrying water daily is a herculean task, and the fact that is requires the big truck means it burns a lot of diesel, and deisel is high high high. We resolve to take the leap and learn to grow either cucumbers or tomatoes. We've been offered some help getting started, and right now, even with both of us working full time, it seems the cost of living plus child care is more than we make (this always makes me think about the people who condemn those less fortunate than themselves, saying that if someone is but willing to work, of course they can make a living and pull themselves up by their bootstraps. I also hear folks saying that if people can't afford kids, they shoudn't have them. Well, when we started having our kids, we could easily afford them. If a six figure income is required to qualify to have kids, then most folks would be childless. I don't plan on being at the bottom of the salary scale forever, but when you're starting over, you have to start somewhere). <br />
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Most of all, I think, is that we resolve to be more available for our human kids. Both Annalee and Chip have been suffering from our new jobs and how much physical and mental energy they have required. Virginia hasn't suffered as much, because she is at an age that if we try to ignore her, she'll be on the kitchen counter pulling plates out of the cabinets and starting to fling them like frisbees. And then, of course, there was the time she got in to the glitter. We weren't actually sure whether or not she had eaten any until we picked her up from day care the next day. As I walked in the door, they asked, "did Virginia get into any glitter? She had the sparkliest blowout we've ever seen today."<br />
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I also resolve to retain my sense of humor. I've had to do that with the teaching gig, as even when I think I am finally getting it with the kids and maybe helping them understand and connect with the literature, I get my tail handed to me on a platter by administration for one foible or another. Life is short, and I'm beginning to realize that maybe we aren't supposed to be miserable all the time just so we can say we work hard. There must be balance, and we must live productively and responsibly, but also choose paths where we can find joy<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz1e81P8uUgPU9iCVq0hfNe1EBOMOx-S4R6PQhC_V3A67m2V_JQb8vwxzfjtRBZVkHltZ1ZmdXlRMmFGKdL3Ef0kju8ht-_VfQzKYF3_Sr5uZw4stlKtcSyTkTP2hc0GsBKrR3QbiKcpM/s1600/IMG01917-20121226-1208.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz1e81P8uUgPU9iCVq0hfNe1EBOMOx-S4R6PQhC_V3A67m2V_JQb8vwxzfjtRBZVkHltZ1ZmdXlRMmFGKdL3Ef0kju8ht-_VfQzKYF3_Sr5uZw4stlKtcSyTkTP2hc0GsBKrR3QbiKcpM/s320/IMG01917-20121226-1208.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Louisianna and her twins, surrounded by cold puddles. This is the time to think of renewal and possibilities.<br />
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<br />generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-79864917349998587002012-11-22T16:55:00.000-08:002012-11-22T16:55:01.633-08:00Happy Thanksgiving!<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7h7TIjoH0eSqRnPdJSvUE7moHVhtyPfCkUdGknD1nPtsZBbCVYiVQN-emKnIPKtzf5Z2IUHXzNkBSXwpu0wu5ZVpHo-LmuUi0AIYHyUWxXdFweYeZPGUll6lHpg1YaNSiWFgmEqw8dUE/s1600/IMG_20121112_160443.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7h7TIjoH0eSqRnPdJSvUE7moHVhtyPfCkUdGknD1nPtsZBbCVYiVQN-emKnIPKtzf5Z2IUHXzNkBSXwpu0wu5ZVpHo-LmuUi0AIYHyUWxXdFweYeZPGUll6lHpg1YaNSiWFgmEqw8dUE/s320/IMG_20121112_160443.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Happy turkeys at Thanksgiving!</td></tr>
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We knew this year we'd have a break from our old traditions at Thanksgiving simply because my mother is no longer able to cook. She is in a lovely assisted living facility, which has been a blessing in so many ways, not the least of which is that we know she is always safe and well fed. We had planned to have a family lunch at the clubhouse in her community, but she developed pneumonia and had to be hospitalized earlier this week. So what do you do when the family matriarch is in the hospital at Thanksgiving? You have Thanksgiving lunch at the hospital cafeteria! <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6sI78Ut_YwvPHk_bszcUfv69049wpG6ZI7sI7KR13tEHMByt1bONsCIltfS-0-MaXQGjuvgWOLc1k2L86Sbso-MaXFYaxg0ppJj05rQ52aPRAix4Ts15RR8VRugPfoV2JWr4mNkBrkl0/s1600/IMG01863-20121122-1234.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6sI78Ut_YwvPHk_bszcUfv69049wpG6ZI7sI7KR13tEHMByt1bONsCIltfS-0-MaXQGjuvgWOLc1k2L86Sbso-MaXFYaxg0ppJj05rQ52aPRAix4Ts15RR8VRugPfoV2JWr4mNkBrkl0/s320/IMG01863-20121122-1234.jpg" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This picture of my mom in 2004 is on the wall at the hosiptal. She volunteered there for 30 years and had the 2nd most hours of any volunteer at the time of her "retirement." We passed it as we went to the cafeteria.</td></tr>
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Luckily our kids are used to lots of change and having to be flexible, so they were up for the adventure. We took mom downstairs and had turkey, carrots, sweet potatoes, and dessert among all the staff who had drawn the short straw and had to work. The food was good, and it was a low stress meal. Before we left, Annalee got a frozen yogurt and since Chip is not a fan of anything too cold, he chose a Sierra Mist soda as his dessert. On the way out of the hospital, Annalee exclaimed, "this is the best Thanksgiving ever!" Chip was singing the praises (literally, and loudly) of turkey and Sierra Mist for all the other folks walking into the parking deck. It reminded me what is important about Thanksgiving. <br />
The kids I teach had made some lists of things for which they are thankful earlier this week, and had mentioned such things as family, food to eat, a place to live, and being able to get a good education for free. A couple of students were even thankful for their "haters," elaborating that their haters spurred them on to be even better and reach goals they never thought they could. That's pretty insightful, and a pretty positive way to look at a challenge. I have been so overwhelmed by the challenges we've faced this fall, it was good for me to have a moment to reflect on what these children, my flesh and blood kids and my students, have already taught me.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF9aGZHuV9mBcmDeWCNxuBzqsZG5xaA78kZ39fyGiq9q3GONIPm47xeJDCeZDdvLnhFbYKeFpeQbgpNWrlbpyO0z9sj__TJ56nNUebajMNZMhh0OuXgZuZ7arWZxA168A_262YQV447rE/s1600/IMG_20121028_163607.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF9aGZHuV9mBcmDeWCNxuBzqsZG5xaA78kZ39fyGiq9q3GONIPm47xeJDCeZDdvLnhFbYKeFpeQbgpNWrlbpyO0z9sj__TJ56nNUebajMNZMhh0OuXgZuZ7arWZxA168A_262YQV447rE/s320/IMG_20121028_163607.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chuck snapped a picture for me a few weeks ago. They had expanded quite a bit when I saw them today.</td></tr>
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I saw the goats with my own eyes today for the first time in months. The does are huge, and thinking about possibilities for kidding season is a good way to give myself a mental break from the challenges of building courses. I hope my entry finds everyone well, and that everyone has had the opportunity to spend time with friends and family on this special holiday. My children's joy at spending Thanksgiving in the hospital cafeteria reminded me that it isn't about what you eat or where you are, but rather about who you're with and how you look at it.generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-91516279485236321602012-11-02T18:24:00.003-07:002012-11-02T18:24:33.672-07:00So many apologies...<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVgkwcISxy65_vH_p-8fsvs3vLYobaShKNobnIX6C8hkG-Wbtr5VRsRj6YVuCrhSUX9jRsV041R9NnYaWJALrX9tRyuwzxcAkFqZM6p4jg4W2_p8VnnzYrCkXvLcgop80SB8UeJBeOyN8/s1600/IMG_20121028_163619.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVgkwcISxy65_vH_p-8fsvs3vLYobaShKNobnIX6C8hkG-Wbtr5VRsRj6YVuCrhSUX9jRsV041R9NnYaWJALrX9tRyuwzxcAkFqZM6p4jg4W2_p8VnnzYrCkXvLcgop80SB8UeJBeOyN8/s320/IMG_20121028_163619.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of the does bred to Shaw for early winter kidding.</td></tr>
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...To all of you. I haven't answered emails, phone calls, or anything else recently, and I am so deeply sorry for that. I have not been to our farm in months, and I doubt I will make it up there before Thanksgiving break. The only reason I am taking this evening to write is that we have our very first "days off" of the semester Monday and Tuesday, and I quite frankly need the mental break. I miss doing the goat stuff. I still have to go to work and to seminars Monday and Tuesday, but it is the first chance I have to really sit, and breathe, and reflect... and gather myself for the next months. Something had to give, and it cannot be work, because the kids I am working with are a challenge as a whole, but are such amazing and interesting and wonderful individuals. Even when I wish it were an option to wave a magic wand and have their mouths fuse shut like in that scene in The Matrix, I admire their ferocity and their courage. My own children have been put on the back burner more than is ever fair, just due to my level of exhaustion, and I resolve to spend more time with them actually being with them mentally. This, for better or worse, has dropped the farm to last place until I get this first year (or at least the first semester) behind me. Chuck takes pictures when he has more than a moment up there, but we both are missing our family time at the farm.<br />
I keep telling myself that this is as hard as things will ever be, and it will get easier. I keep telling myself that over and over again, and although I know it is true, I still have several months to go before I reach the point where I start over and begin to try to prefect this art of teaching. Building the basic curriculum is huge. I am trying to go through our texts and make sure I am current on them and all the research around them, and it just takes time. I will not complain that Chuck now has a full time job, but I will say that the timing has been particularly unfortunate, because he so often has to close the store and that leaves me taking care of the young'uns on my own until their bedtime, and there isn't much time after that to create lessons, grade papers, look for fun ways to address the literature (I am determined to improve at this), and do laundry so everyone has clean clothes for the next day. Now, I have to say that even on the bad days, I still prefer what I am doing now to what I have done in the past. I made about three times as much before, but I was always waiting for an opportunity to get out. Now, I find that I am just eager to have ten years of experience under my belt and be the teacher I want to be. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiYNkO91C_ayrTRWwev7j21G7ghst-gbF0u-t9oNsh3XaTGOdZN3rSecVoNoX5-D6j1itM5_FAMseUyPG3Oq4lXgH7grGKNCZn50nzFj_QuEgIOOEzmk4NX1JvoH3vIb0oW4sG4H5ENCU/s1600/IMG_20121028_163601.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiYNkO91C_ayrTRWwev7j21G7ghst-gbF0u-t9oNsh3XaTGOdZN3rSecVoNoX5-D6j1itM5_FAMseUyPG3Oq4lXgH7grGKNCZn50nzFj_QuEgIOOEzmk4NX1JvoH3vIb0oW4sG4H5ENCU/s320/IMG_20121028_163601.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A few does, mature and young, in the mixed field. </td></tr>
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Chuck tells me that the does, or at least the early bred sets, are starting to look bred. I had planned to sell some bred does to get a little cash, because Chuck totalled the family truckster (my Subaru) at a particularly bad intersection, but we haven't even had time to focus on which ones. We actually don't even see each other all that often these days! There are wrecks at this intersection in question all the time, and I am just thankful that everyone was fine. The kids were not even sore, so the investment in a safe car and good carseats paid off completely. I miss old Blue Car, though. I was able to fit everyone in it, and put several flakes of hay on the roof, and it drove around the farm even better than the big truck because of its All Wheel Drive (which is a beautiful thing). The kids miss it, too, and even saved a piece of paint off it. When you travel 150,000 miles or more with a car, you just get so they are part of the family, too. RIP ol' Blue Car. To everyone I have neglected over the past few months, I again apologize. I will try to be a better correspondent, and get back to everyone is a timely fashion. We at least have some breaks coming at school now. These first few months without a single break or teacher work day have been one loooooong haul.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgAgHTeo-6hg8uJICgpF_AkxKtmRMdkxIlBZU7Ny033lcxN-4iFVHM175vf5H1O0MsPdrjPcjlFEbaFkkyi-RfmSGRXRtmTZJpddodN-BK0l1rnxhGqCTD2J_Pma6vVoKH8ZXeD5OVIXw/s1600/IMG_20121016_165854.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgAgHTeo-6hg8uJICgpF_AkxKtmRMdkxIlBZU7Ny033lcxN-4iFVHM175vf5H1O0MsPdrjPcjlFEbaFkkyi-RfmSGRXRtmTZJpddodN-BK0l1rnxhGqCTD2J_Pma6vVoKH8ZXeD5OVIXw/s320/IMG_20121016_165854.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A few of the young bucks. The cold snap has brought on the hair.</td></tr>
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generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-23722396468039794782012-09-08T14:19:00.001-07:002012-09-08T14:19:49.312-07:00What a blur! Has anyone noticed it has been a while since last I blogged? I apologize for having no pictures, and will try to add some when Chuck gets home and I can get some off of his phone. Let me preface my entry today by saying I think I might have made it to the farm once in the past two weeks, and I just got up from a nap forced by absolute exhaustion. The kids are having a nap, too, simply because I insisted they take one and allow me to grab one. Two weeks ago I went back to high school, except this time I'm on the teaching end of the equation. I've been studying for this for years, and had planned to make the switch right after Chip was born but layoffs and whatnot slowed me down. Going in to this, I knew that the initial semester would be the most labor intensive as I am building my courses from scratch... but now that I am in the thick of it I am really thinking how nice it will be when I have all this initial work behind me and I can work on refining rather than building from the ground up. I'm already ready for Christmas vacation!<br />
Annalee has gone back to school, too, as a First Grader and Chip has started JrK. The inequity inherent in our educational system has been driven home to me again after First Grade parents' night, as I sat in Annalee's chair at her little desk and marvelled at the technology built into the classroom, and the richness of resources that pack it wall to wall. I, on the other hand, stand daily in front of a chalkboard. I do have a projector I rely heavily upon for PowerPoints and am using to learn the SmartBoard, but it is one that requires the image be projected on it and I need to master the art of writing on it while not casting a shadow across it so it can't be seen. I've already decided that WHEN I win the lottery (power of positive thinking) I will go back to being a stay at farm mom because I really miss taking the kids to school as I was able to do last year, and the look on Virginia's face as I have to hand her into someone else's arms at day care causes my heart to break daily. I'll move to the farm so I can lay eyes on the goats without having to drive an hour round trip, too! I also will donate the money to my school that they have tried unsuccessfully to raise so they can have a football team. I hear in the voices of many of the kids some resentment tinged with a wistfulness when they talk about what they don't have that other schools in the system do have. Envy is called a sin, but it is tough to look out of the eyes of kid wanting to play football for his school and not having the opportunity, and not succumb to it.<br />
On Friday, one of the kids smiled at me and shook her head and told me I had come to the wrong school (I should mention Friday was a particularly rowdy day with some high emotion and high drama swirling about). She and her friends asked me if I was there just because I like kids. I didn't quite know how to phrase my answer. I don't love kids just because they are kids, really. I am enjoying getting to know and understand them a little bit as individuals, but what I like is when I see them "rise above." There have been plenty of moments when I wonder what the h e double toothpicks I was thinking going into this (okay so maybe more than moments), but then, these little moments when I see someone choose the better path have breathed a bit of life back into me. I love the written word, for sure. I've waxed poetic on several occasions that reading some texts makes me wonder how something so perfect and so beautiful could possibly have been captured and put on the page. I don't expect eveyone to love reading and writing like I do and that's okay. I just hope I can become a teacher who helps students find the confidence to not feel defeated before they start; to not look at a quiz and decide they're going to fail before they even take a deep breath, and pause, and allow the question to wander around in their brain a bit. <br />
On a goat note, we are still building a paddock up next to the road which was supposed to be for Boomer and his does. When Chuck went up to the farm today (did I mention he finally got the job he was hoping to get, which happens to have a variable schedule so we don't know if we're coming or going?) he found that Boomer had busted out of his temporary area, and taken his does to the barn, where they had proceded to break the snap on the fence and let Shaw and his does out, too. Well, well. At this point, the does are almost surely already bred, and Chuck had to get back home to make it to work on time, so he just collected them all up and put them in the larger top field. Boomer and Shaw had come to an understanding when they were in the buck field together, so I am hoping we don't find any broken legs, necks, or horns when we go back up to check them.<br />
We are still getting rain at the farm. We actually never stopped getting rain since my posts about how soggy this summer has been. We have ruts in the road that have stayed full of water all summer long. They have developed ecosystems andt he frog eggs that were laid in them months ago have now become frogs. As we drive past the puddles we see scores of pairs of beady little eyes ducking down under the green algae that skin coats the water. With the West Nile issues around, I am not loving the puddles and the mosquitoes that surely breed in them as well. I hope those little frogs are all really hungry. I also hope (I can't believe I am saying this out loud) we get an extended period of hard freeze this winter. We never had any dry weather to relieve us of even a smidge of parasite load. This summer has been an intestinal worm's paradise up our way. We've had to deworm some, and we've lost a few, but again, we are seeing which individuals are just the toughest of the tough and that knowledge will help us move forward.<br />
I still am thankful I'm not in the position of all the folks who saw their crops wither away to nothing in the drought. My heart goes out to all of them. In English class, we are reading texts that show how man has tried to make sense of the world around him, and in many cases given human attributes to such things as the night, the seasons, and the weather. When we humanize these things, we somehow hope we can speak to them and reason with them, and maybe ask them to be gentle with us and our animals. Mother nature may be unpredictable, but as a Mother, we hope her love for all her creatures tempers her often devastating touch with at least some tiny bit of tenderness.generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-85555417235227763522012-07-27T19:26:00.003-07:002012-07-28T20:09:26.625-07:00ResilienceSorry it has been a while since my last post, but Chuck started work at an off the farm job and now I am on farm duty with the kids, as well as the normal daily stuff and trying to find my own self a teaching job. So far, no luck for me, but I am still hopeful. I'm trying to get the processes at the farm to the point that I can handle it with all three children with me, and that presents some unique challenges but we are figuring it out. I can't physically move the goat panel moving pens we like to use, but I can move an electronet just fine, so I am trying to figure out a way to clear some edges so I can finish using up that blackberry patch.<br />
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For a while we were trying to beat the heat and hoping for rain, and now we're getting the rain and the heat is still here, albeit not quite so close to the 100 degree mark. At least this rain has made the pastures a little less crispy. The cool season grasses like the orchard grass likely won't come back fast enough to do much this time of year, but the lespedeza in the front pen where the bucks are is coming on. With the rain we're getting (still, I am NOT complaining, as I know just how lucky we are to have had some) we have also had some super high humidity. We have areas where the grass was growing white stuff on the edges, so I looked it up and it is apparently a slime mold, and occurs during extended periods of rain and high humidity. High humidity is an understatement. I work around the heat and do my farm stuff as early in the morning as I can convince the kids to get going. The afternoons are miserable for all, human and caprine. On the days I run my mother around for her errands, it almost makes more sense just to water everyone and wait until dusk to feed, but that makes for a lot of trips back and forth on that long curvy road between home and farm.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwgmKQrS_zVSa8RXX-FjG2c-MlbpNfmFzJY_CHR4_W7Sa_aX0du0EtoXBbmFXck_yZBFb-Ar1P_x0TI-pgOqf2dKZOmgR5jtFJ03YMwV4MiNyRzhBtdJnbaOWFM4p0S6WwhQ503iOd7Uo/s1600/IMG01765-20120727-1707.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwgmKQrS_zVSa8RXX-FjG2c-MlbpNfmFzJY_CHR4_W7Sa_aX0du0EtoXBbmFXck_yZBFb-Ar1P_x0TI-pgOqf2dKZOmgR5jtFJ03YMwV4MiNyRzhBtdJnbaOWFM4p0S6WwhQ503iOd7Uo/s320/IMG01765-20120727-1707.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">slime mold growing from rain and humidity</td></tr>
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We have managed to get most of the does we intend to expose, duly exposed to their respective bucks for the season. Shaw is in the top field with his does, and we moved the doelings in the bottom field to a temporary pen outside of the field where their mommas are, so Ace is now in with the mature does down there. I'm not so sure the does are thrilled to have Ace with them. I think he might do better in a herd of about 200. He's like the real jerky guy at the bar hitting on everyone, whether or not they are even slightly interested. He's not exactly subtle or charming. Boomer will have a lighter year this year as he will be getting two young does for sure, and possibly another two when we get the area ready. He also will likely be the "cleanup" buck that catches any unbred does at the end of the season, although we hope not to have any. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgebWf-fn8jaMCzRHmjdZUZg8xOA0DyhzUDsc5XM0PslG68UUcXXthi4DZc8NmBBG9PopeKTBY-u28-uFqCUiTdFES2mc5b0YdiEpUZ0uagPx8rnrl_5QfRng8cZfyHGbB_0t2mQPiYNVI/s1600/IMG01754-20120721-2029.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgebWf-fn8jaMCzRHmjdZUZg8xOA0DyhzUDsc5XM0PslG68UUcXXthi4DZc8NmBBG9PopeKTBY-u28-uFqCUiTdFES2mc5b0YdiEpUZ0uagPx8rnrl_5QfRng8cZfyHGbB_0t2mQPiYNVI/s320/IMG01754-20120721-2029.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ace. My phone's camera stinks and so does he.</td></tr>
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I recently posted about water, and how the quality of the drinking water can determine how far afield cattle (and I assume goats) will go to forage. These past few weeks I have been hearing a lot on the radio about climate change, and interestingly, the folks being interviewed said we are not alone in extremes of weather. The panel said the warming isn't as devastating to farmers as the fact that we have entered a period of extremes. There is drought, and then there is flood. Both can be devastating. I personally can envision a "worst of both worlds," if you will. I remember pictures of the Dust Bowl in history books and documentaries, and how the drought stricken and barren land looked like a desert. In a presentation at one of the sustainable Ag conferences we attended, the presenter also showed a picture of what happened to the same bare dirt when the torrential rains came. The good soil washed away. All of it. There was no matrix of plant roots left to hold it in place. That presenter was demonstrating why having the bare fields of conventional agriculture is a bad thing, but it is relevant in thinking about this extreme weather, too. What used to be rare events (drought, flood) are now increasing in frequency and intensity. I won't even attempt to speak to the causes, but instead, offer the idea that no matter the cause, we still have to deal with it. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNXGZlKmQmPQ8Ew-jJMeTzR7oVWq5P8hoyALFTAJgLcpE-q6qGYbLv6-iTLM4ZOXaurok3BmoaWRJUo5_4Lf9YZtaSY1UbeKe0AztF5nh0am_GAqRhrkscKcEuHcA4aLWTCh-dsvaDqY0/s1600/IMG01751-20120719-1050.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNXGZlKmQmPQ8Ew-jJMeTzR7oVWq5P8hoyALFTAJgLcpE-q6qGYbLv6-iTLM4ZOXaurok3BmoaWRJUo5_4Lf9YZtaSY1UbeKe0AztF5nh0am_GAqRhrkscKcEuHcA4aLWTCh-dsvaDqY0/s320/IMG01751-20120719-1050.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hot days make for early mornings and time in the shade</td></tr>
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In my neck of the woods, we've been lucky. The spring was moist and gentle and got the pastures off to a good start before the extreme heat and dry stretch came. Just as we thought we may start losing much of the grass in the pasture, the rains came and saved at least some of it. I am wondering what we would have done if the rain never came. I remember my Grandmother used to say, during a dry spell, that "it'll rain sometime, unless it's like 1930 something." Of course she had the exact year, and I can't remember it, but the point is that in that year, the rain<em> never</em> came. Seems like that is happening with ever increasing frequency in much of our country. Before we got rain on our farm, even the blackberry bushes were starting to wither when it was over 100 degrees and parched. So if this was like that year she remembered, how would we cope? <br />
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I am thinking again about how to make our pastures resilient. We definitely have species that are drought tolerant (alfalfa and some lespedeza, and to some extent chicory) in the fields. None of these work as well as they could without the grasses to balance them as a forage, though. I'll mull this over a while, and try to do a little research, and see what we might consider adding. We also need to think again about management practices for both the animals and the pastures, and of course, for the water. Without water, all the other stuff becomes moot. There is an old shallow irrigation pond out in the woods, and I don't even know if it stays full year round these days. Maybe we should clear a path to it and monitor it, to see if it something we could use in the future. I assume once we fence those woods the goats may be able to use it as a water source, but if the water is of poor quality it could do more harm than good. And if it goes away competely in hot weather, then we have to know it won't be something we can count on anyway. I just want to know I have some options. It's that whole "resilience" concept.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzF5D1ezmwsIBoqSpuydWmwxGaau4gxGZYvbnTj1Yq-hSpaXnNVZHWg3MZytAeBLOGqUXlyIRFDSpcv99NGYsFtUSxG1GmFexZrwOBRCQY0YkbqdJY65zgloRabkOO0Lzb5PdH623sPbE/s1600/IMG01750-20120719-1050.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzF5D1ezmwsIBoqSpuydWmwxGaau4gxGZYvbnTj1Yq-hSpaXnNVZHWg3MZytAeBLOGqUXlyIRFDSpcv99NGYsFtUSxG1GmFexZrwOBRCQY0YkbqdJY65zgloRabkOO0Lzb5PdH623sPbE/s320/IMG01750-20120719-1050.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Pastures just coming back from the point of "crispy"</td></tr>
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Resilience is something we are working towards both on the farm and in our own personal mindset. As we know from personal experience, this is no longer a world where a person can get a job right out of school and expect to retire from it some years later with a steady pension. I know that's what my parents had taught me to expect, and I may be in the last generation that expected it to be that way when we were deciding where to apply to college. Being a part of "Gen X" (hence, our herd prefix being GNX) we are having a total paradigm shift in mid-life and mid-career. Farming is part of our effort to be resilient as a family. Annalee's school puts a huge effort into creating resilient students who will be able to handle whatever life throws at them because they unashamedly admit that we just don't know what jobs are going to look like ten or twenty years from now. We hope more food will be grown locally on small farms because it makes for a more resilient food supply country-wide. We put a premium on resilience in our herd, and work towards resilient fields, and hope we can weather whatever storms come at us, both figurative and literal.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbrcpqwhFefUZ6_IBLrsk2y0SKBg1MnpsZwEcINynGsSuykXRweTFhGvW9Uqouwa-EkMrJ81GrioU2WdVptydHSyu4Oyk3vQbMLya-no1AzUaEMUptEFCS4M35DdDnFAPYszw-0CCsaTg/s1600/IMG01766-20120727-1715.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbrcpqwhFefUZ6_IBLrsk2y0SKBg1MnpsZwEcINynGsSuykXRweTFhGvW9Uqouwa-EkMrJ81GrioU2WdVptydHSyu4Oyk3vQbMLya-no1AzUaEMUptEFCS4M35DdDnFAPYszw-0CCsaTg/s320/IMG01766-20120727-1715.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another downpour. I ain't complainin'.</td></tr>
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</div>generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-14696367635232313742012-07-04T15:08:00.003-07:002012-07-04T17:59:23.749-07:00Of toxins and tannins...Last weekend, we called down to Overcash Hay Farm and, as we had hoped, our other "hay man" had gotten his AU Grazer baled and up in the barn. Last year was the first summer we had used the small bales of AU Grazer rather than the giant bales of plain old sericea lespedeza. I have read that the regular sericea has higher tannins, but that the AU Grazer has higher TDN and of course it is less stemmy. One of the parasite specialists also pointed out to me that the AU Grazer is what they are using when they test, so the tannins should be high enough to help make any eggs deposited in the pasture be less infective. That, as Martha Stewart would say, is A Very Good Thing.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinF1vv-TTXz-8Ho1u_zMCYczJyTa3Sfpfn8hGDgvxCZ_txG_uGZjk3EH6uPu9mdORert88-QUkf4CxTID6suuEedcZBxAe-Df05SBoUBhyQC7AzH4jNURjXPQJ4GfnJwzLB35bMLIJ0lk/s1600/IMG01415-20120616-1144.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinF1vv-TTXz-8Ho1u_zMCYczJyTa3Sfpfn8hGDgvxCZ_txG_uGZjk3EH6uPu9mdORert88-QUkf4CxTID6suuEedcZBxAe-Df05SBoUBhyQC7AzH4jNURjXPQJ4GfnJwzLB35bMLIJ0lk/s320/IMG01415-20120616-1144.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Overcash Hay Farm, Salisbury NC</td></tr>
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When Chuck got to the farm to pick up the trailer, he noticed a bunch of limbs down in the buck field. We have had several storms blow through in the evenings along with the intense heat, and the one the night before had been a particularly windy one, to the tune of wind speeds being clocked at 70 mph. A few sheds had blown over, but luckily no large trees were downed on this farm (there are a few across the road to the old farm). Chuck started picking up cherry limbs, and soon realized there were more little pieces of limb down than he could pick up in time to either make it down to get hay on time, or before one of the bucks might decide to sample one. We have both heard many stories of horses, cattle, and goats lost to the cyanide formed in wilting cherry leaves, and our woods are like most woods in this part of North Carolina - just loaded with cherry trees. So, he fell back and punted. He moved two kids out of their pen and put the bucks in there. It is attached to the buck field and close enough to the gate to put a goat panel between the two and he just led them in with a feed bucket. I have googled and googled to see if there is anything definitive that says how long it takes for the cherry leaves to become nontoxic, but I haven't found any information that gives me a warm fuzzy that they are safe before they are completely brown and crispy, so the bucks have not been moved back over yet. As Chuck said that morning, dead goats don't eat much hay.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTU6T9M_WIQ57VX1RzJ2ggESIJt0zKpQXBSXxdHg6Zdqa7ILig0m8zsAKIjNtMRBjyWsG3s5lUVA4ZYO87l0FOkvqRDtp0dr1dKq12DtoXAkAi6AugDA8R5G5DZVzondiqa_JBHSbsKvM/s1600/IMG01546-20120630-1223.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTU6T9M_WIQ57VX1RzJ2ggESIJt0zKpQXBSXxdHg6Zdqa7ILig0m8zsAKIjNtMRBjyWsG3s5lUVA4ZYO87l0FOkvqRDtp0dr1dKq12DtoXAkAi6AugDA8R5G5DZVzondiqa_JBHSbsKvM/s320/IMG01546-20120630-1223.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An interesting machine approached with hay</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFT_QNWtx_81jdsUelUZp0ozoiC5NADC2mTe5xqtXDl3FS8QvSJ-JC_Rysgk6hSCdMkjrvnruWF-U7UfElc-BZ79ky53pPl2rB5bN1h6Xj79MQyFrKWSzHNn2uS9DRbRC2pf0EfYX4ZJk/s1600/IMG01549-20120630-1224.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFT_QNWtx_81jdsUelUZp0ozoiC5NADC2mTe5xqtXDl3FS8QvSJ-JC_Rysgk6hSCdMkjrvnruWF-U7UfElc-BZ79ky53pPl2rB5bN1h6Xj79MQyFrKWSzHNn2uS9DRbRC2pf0EfYX4ZJk/s320/IMG01549-20120630-1224.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I wondered why they just dropped the first few bales</td></tr>
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Once he got the bucks moved and trailer attached, he stopped back by the house where I had the kids at the ready to spring into the truck, and off we went. We had called down and asked if we could be a few minutes late, and although he thought his help would be gone, Mr Overcash graciously offered to wait for us. We figured we (Chuck) would have to help load, but when we arrived, Mr. Overcash approached the trailer with tape measure in hand, and said he thought he had an idea what might work. A little bit later, one of his helpers came around the corner with a bobcat with a red frame on the front of it. The frame proved to be a grappler, and he was carrying several bales of hay. He dropped them, and Chuck loaded the first layer on the trailer. After that, things got much more interesting. The grappler would bring bales still in neat rows, and the guy lifted them up and placed them gently one row on top of the other until we had a full load. That was particularly cool. Even Virginia seemed to enjoy watching the show out the back window. She still has to face backwards in the car seat, and more often than not, her view seems to be pretty boring. She eventually tired of watching the hay and picked up one of her sibling's books, but I was still having a good time watching them load. Having the right equipment for the job sure does make a difference.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH5BBB8ICnULxY0vNUQCxB2bBkf-l6jO0YWwaFgnhc3Rrhox-Hp3yAOU0AybJRxO9c_SjYObGl0KHbQbNH7cblPe7UFYkWra0zE8205SFAnQ_-65IeGzlY6UY7HBnmSKPzvq7kzVUQZiw/s1600/IMG01550-20120630-1224.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH5BBB8ICnULxY0vNUQCxB2bBkf-l6jO0YWwaFgnhc3Rrhox-Hp3yAOU0AybJRxO9c_SjYObGl0KHbQbNH7cblPe7UFYkWra0zE8205SFAnQ_-65IeGzlY6UY7HBnmSKPzvq7kzVUQZiw/s320/IMG01550-20120630-1224.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">AU Grazer - open bales remind me of alfalfa</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj72yTIUmsO1DvHbpLGJDvBL4tYVus_Gx6V8Uvv7qGqqgE4gCaYG-sZRYPqwDmDBPv1WhJK6nJV8jMc02j-V1QACdh9E9dWfuCpl-flIfM-IO0WdXSV7PLNnCuwVk3WqACLLcPq6BRVIfM/s1600/IMG01551-20120630-1224.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj72yTIUmsO1DvHbpLGJDvBL4tYVus_Gx6V8Uvv7qGqqgE4gCaYG-sZRYPqwDmDBPv1WhJK6nJV8jMc02j-V1QACdh9E9dWfuCpl-flIfM-IO0WdXSV7PLNnCuwVk3WqACLLcPq6BRVIfM/s320/IMG01551-20120630-1224.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chuck arranges the first bales</td></tr>
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Now that we have the hay home, we are starting to feed it. The goats eat it up, of course. With the goats we have, and the measures we take, we have less of a barber pole problem than others might with as many animals on the same acreage. I do wish the higher tannins were as helpful with other worm species and with coccidia, lice, and flies, but of course those are things we still have to think about and deal with in a more traditional way. We still don't deworm often, and maybe not enough since most don't get it at all, but usually the goats can handle it. We've never even done the recommended chemical deworming after our goats kid out. I personally would rather deal with a problem a little later, and not have had to use the chemical on most of them. One of our guiding beliefs is to not contribute to dewormer resistance in the parasites. If I need to use a chemical dewormer, I want it to work. This year, all the goats that kidded early and their kids did great with my hands off regimen. I do love an early kidding, at least once the kids are a few days old and not likely to freeze!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYvVV53uTcLNn1SKEbzCu8llb3pPIsK8Cuc2PVF_pc5ybkBZss-TF4l9AAAuF8dps0zqFCj_liycQvZE_DXI_QZHQgHTlIHnWjgA8wg5oyahAUnp6qlZC9dbBZABSZJk4C0PfhD5ulmgA/s1600/IMG01554-20120630-1238.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYvVV53uTcLNn1SKEbzCu8llb3pPIsK8Cuc2PVF_pc5ybkBZss-TF4l9AAAuF8dps0zqFCj_liycQvZE_DXI_QZHQgHTlIHnWjgA8wg5oyahAUnp6qlZC9dbBZABSZJk4C0PfhD5ulmgA/s320/IMG01554-20120630-1238.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The magic machine on the job</td></tr>
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. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPwrxEio5Lvc17aWDkPHybXJvEuUB-RGds26glsdVbUyH6ULjzk-6p_lkgPum2BsqdZCQ3Qutb9cB9ZfV1xsq8rcR5y5sb7P0uJUqUPTpsIYyrojEwrbCDZt0XfoeKzqh9JrvBIRI6ygw/s1600/IMG01555-20120630-1239.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPwrxEio5Lvc17aWDkPHybXJvEuUB-RGds26glsdVbUyH6ULjzk-6p_lkgPum2BsqdZCQ3Qutb9cB9ZfV1xsq8rcR5y5sb7P0uJUqUPTpsIYyrojEwrbCDZt0XfoeKzqh9JrvBIRI6ygw/s320/IMG01555-20120630-1239.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This has to take practice.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-zW4WMhHCNmMiREzdDtKHXTLrQMpV0SktUijt-6bsF8iMz80RGn0TY4K0lwoWfCxKqbnjaimdr_VvREwvxNmvxhUVz5cCjXNWyxhLtgNd8ibtaOgEklAlHTzgx54wu2jyvdxTMqm1ojE/s1600/IMG01557-20120630-1239.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-zW4WMhHCNmMiREzdDtKHXTLrQMpV0SktUijt-6bsF8iMz80RGn0TY4K0lwoWfCxKqbnjaimdr_VvREwvxNmvxhUVz5cCjXNWyxhLtgNd8ibtaOgEklAlHTzgx54wu2jyvdxTMqm1ojE/s320/IMG01557-20120630-1239.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The hay man checking it out</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlzf_51idMyTFgPFjZcjGSsfSSMrpCr-kXxAy5LqmvUPdQaSHDOBh1VV4nmnuKiui1befM3cTNrRmO-EdRgBPYTU5tpDJS4YbD555DOp_EV8oq-CJ0BLJ3dr0dwpjkFu9kkzQuc0sQGx4/s1600/IMG01560-20120630-1240.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlzf_51idMyTFgPFjZcjGSsfSSMrpCr-kXxAy5LqmvUPdQaSHDOBh1VV4nmnuKiui1befM3cTNrRmO-EdRgBPYTU5tpDJS4YbD555DOp_EV8oq-CJ0BLJ3dr0dwpjkFu9kkzQuc0sQGx4/s320/IMG01560-20120630-1240.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Virginia checking it out, too</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK09nbGc9PwQJhozqAopLE5koYZOO4KqFdBex1Grb1tiUKZnFNNI1dW0lrFJa1LBc-iFW2n7mcb9ALKbT9WD0-wALikLetiwiDc9fD7D8rHGYm7H_3ANS3dBjb864g2fSUiY8VHOrti9c/s1600/IMG01570-20120630-1248.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjK09nbGc9PwQJhozqAopLE5koYZOO4KqFdBex1Grb1tiUKZnFNNI1dW0lrFJa1LBc-iFW2n7mcb9ALKbT9WD0-wALikLetiwiDc9fD7D8rHGYm7H_3ANS3dBjb864g2fSUiY8VHOrti9c/s320/IMG01570-20120630-1248.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I wonder what she thought as this approached</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf-UYqYNffnPU1XYQ3ceqdaCCgx0W-CxE03x0AYNFY5mvnR-S700slruMexEw8YascyrRdeMoJwOisk3w_Z52npoOccR49hb8pefiw8EFBWeD_Idv2lQPMCxSN8CLxJTQH-wMhxvMS1H4/s1600/IMG01572-20120630-1249.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf-UYqYNffnPU1XYQ3ceqdaCCgx0W-CxE03x0AYNFY5mvnR-S700slruMexEw8YascyrRdeMoJwOisk3w_Z52npoOccR49hb8pefiw8EFBWeD_Idv2lQPMCxSN8CLxJTQH-wMhxvMS1H4/s320/IMG01572-20120630-1249.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Apparently, not too much.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEJZPI2PGZGLNyTPI4s-iN8lhmBIgLrUXwrz57VSvGIDBNZqVnlQpQKTU6B9qZKeU9uZBxhr584vfw1ggPJSmpa2dtCskkx15ZAkVf7Cf_1oLpB9Ld76FAm2OsCohOQjmRN4ESe8PZjuE/s1600/IMG01575-20120630-1251.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEJZPI2PGZGLNyTPI4s-iN8lhmBIgLrUXwrz57VSvGIDBNZqVnlQpQKTU6B9qZKeU9uZBxhr584vfw1ggPJSmpa2dtCskkx15ZAkVf7Cf_1oLpB9Ld76FAm2OsCohOQjmRN4ESe8PZjuE/s320/IMG01575-20120630-1251.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Loaded and adding straps</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXC6A35b9R74IBColhcnW9DL0OFifCLzsGxlAQpjjLbMlY3xdEu0xWpLVXMOF-La-zdgMixxm2uGY6juHxTHhB9vc5R1vMPWaNFdLXfah8ysVD1eH8Cz8xu3KxtwaTNR1Qm6kSKIsBM4Y/s1600/IMG01580-20120630-1258.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXC6A35b9R74IBColhcnW9DL0OFifCLzsGxlAQpjjLbMlY3xdEu0xWpLVXMOF-La-zdgMixxm2uGY6juHxTHhB9vc5R1vMPWaNFdLXfah8ysVD1eH8Cz8xu3KxtwaTNR1Qm6kSKIsBM4Y/s320/IMG01580-20120630-1258.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All that's left is to finish strapping and pay</td></tr>
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Having mentioned how the late kids have more problems here than the early ones, we noticed one of those late kids with loose poop yesterday, and so we went to catch him up to check it out. We don't have handy dandy goat working equipment, and this field has no catch pen. This buck is not people fiendly, so the whole family got in the pasture and got involved, while Virginia sat in the stroller outside the fence and no doubt wondered if the rest of us had all lost our minds. Now, one of the things that is nice about goats, in my opinion at least, is that they normally poop pellets. Pellets aren't nearly as messy as cow patties or even horse poop and there's something to be said for that. We are teaching the human kids how to walk a goat in a certain direction, towards a corner, without getting so close the goats panic and make a break for it or hanging so far back the goats wander the wrong way. After a few unsuccessful attempts to get this little buck where we wanted him, we finally had him fairly surrounded. As I stood there with arms spread to keep the buckling in place for Chuck to catch, our four year old, Chip, took a flying leap from behind me towards the goat.<br />
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As I had mentioned before, this goat had really soft poop, which means he was still sporting a reasonable mess on his back end. They say when you have an accident, time slows down, and I have experienced this phenomenon a few times in my life (most involve being thrown from horses, and having time on the way down to craft a logical plan for landing and getting hurt the least). Here again, it was as if everything had gone into slow motion. I heard myself saying "oooohhhhh nooooooo" as I watched in horror as Chip's little body sailed through the air, his face aiming directly at the buckling's befouled hind end. I winced as he landed, his head appearing to be squarely up against where the poop had been. Chip had caught the goat and had his hands in a death grip on both back legs and was holding fast as Chuck swept in and took over. The buckling is pretty young, so I believe he was too surprised to even attempt to kick or move. It was all I could do not to look away as Chip picked himself up and began to turn towards me, although we were already at that point all caught up in the giggles in spite of ourselves and expecting a really traumatized little boy and a particularly malodorous trip home. To my astonishment, he looked brightly up at me, miraculously free of poop, and beaming from ear to ear, declared, "I caught the goat! I caught the goat." And he had. I still have no idea how Chip launched himself face first towards the business end of a scouring goat, landed squarely up against it, and came out unscathed and smelling like a rose. I guess he just got lucky this time.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijOa5aEE04xXeDmRJVRy14pdbNGSq6is5NHuCvg4AT5ERvHzY8O9xp0MVr1NuLBL2F4C_hbQcyO6dvTG427fxIgHUJp2RjBehp2XREZ6nJJILMC3rRMnQrWE3CF96-7kY7RRnuMEWsYF0/s1600/IMG00989-20120519-1148.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijOa5aEE04xXeDmRJVRy14pdbNGSq6is5NHuCvg4AT5ERvHzY8O9xp0MVr1NuLBL2F4C_hbQcyO6dvTG427fxIgHUJp2RjBehp2XREZ6nJJILMC3rRMnQrWE3CF96-7kY7RRnuMEWsYF0/s320/IMG00989-20120519-1148.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chip</td></tr>
</tbody></table>generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-63791145930005049552012-06-24T20:42:00.000-07:002012-06-24T20:51:48.739-07:00I never get tired of this...But I'm sure Chuck does. I am quite convinced this is the perfect way to keep goats, save for the labor involved. We have the Perry sale group of does in quarantine down at the bottom end of the farm in a 16' by 16' pen made of goat panels. We tend to quarantine a pretty long time - we've been known to keep new does that we buy bred in quarantine until their kids are weaned. This group consists of 3 weanlings and 2 yearlings. So far they are adjusting to their new digs pretty well, and they are some brush eating so and sos. I wish I had a public brush control project where I could take this group because they would do the breed proud. <br />
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Today when Chuck was moving the pen, I was in the truck with the kids, and I snapped pictures of the process. It really is amazing. You can see in the foreground how the ground is pretty bare, but there are sticks poking up. In the background, you can see some pretty thick blackberry bushes, small trees, and whatnot. The area in the foreground shows what the goats are doing in one to two days, on areas like what is in the background. They are that fast, and that thorough. They are eating what they are designed to eat, high off the ground, and are making it easier for us to fence in the future. Works for us!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEzNpMsUHK2PjAghzFKcSqg2eao1TGwReFkKjH0j53DtSCtTZf3yCTqlPnxCYuPzeM9RgjCbuyGlDCaT9FWO2mX1RU479tWq0Hmf5j8JXm7YPwkfybi_2ZizuohmCV3RGbOGaDQDJ_eAU/s1600/movegoats1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEzNpMsUHK2PjAghzFKcSqg2eao1TGwReFkKjH0j53DtSCtTZf3yCTqlPnxCYuPzeM9RgjCbuyGlDCaT9FWO2mX1RU479tWq0Hmf5j8JXm7YPwkfybi_2ZizuohmCV3RGbOGaDQDJ_eAU/s400/movegoats1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chuck begins to slide the pen backwards into the brush from the spent area </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaYFk7TKoIWQswH-N8F7tkiLXsEgidpkjf7abwkY6TmXR-Q0St7cMfF2Ic1ZTx0A5HCtxPdyTICe2io3u9PKW_A5CYH9H7jOXhyphenhyphengFD5sDVldeNaPI2YdNX3UZdXHEjIXTbY_J3oMegZyw/s1600/movegoats2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaYFk7TKoIWQswH-N8F7tkiLXsEgidpkjf7abwkY6TmXR-Q0St7cMfF2Ic1ZTx0A5HCtxPdyTICe2io3u9PKW_A5CYH9H7jOXhyphenhyphengFD5sDVldeNaPI2YdNX3UZdXHEjIXTbY_J3oMegZyw/s320/movegoats2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He has learned to turn the shelter upside down</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBmXkM_ye4M2g5jPwUbXZovrLvVgicozk9Um4Hpln3lcLX_oqavvh2cCJXqFMhqD-UE7SWCzE_hWi1XaH6c3pp1J2kyDs2TQGXPlFZKT31EymNrNi0l2hdTkLDSHBh0fXSB0tW00peZUo/s1600/movegoats3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBmXkM_ye4M2g5jPwUbXZovrLvVgicozk9Um4Hpln3lcLX_oqavvh2cCJXqFMhqD-UE7SWCzE_hWi1XaH6c3pp1J2kyDs2TQGXPlFZKT31EymNrNi0l2hdTkLDSHBh0fXSB0tW00peZUo/s320/movegoats3.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The goats are opportunists, and will use the shed to jump the fence</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBNBIoSddlaS6QDndZSNVPllvy5zBDoMV4seSyeuGzeUZhK4t0GNDDMIds2TBya4cEbYkQhLA4sBlKh9q5fy5SK1mJa_-Jmzr_iBST1qS8jPznwau4ExRD7z-XmBIcuJYz8JCfM-NrzNc/s1600/movegoats4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBNBIoSddlaS6QDndZSNVPllvy5zBDoMV4seSyeuGzeUZhK4t0GNDDMIds2TBya4cEbYkQhLA4sBlKh9q5fy5SK1mJa_-Jmzr_iBST1qS8jPznwau4ExRD7z-XmBIcuJYz8JCfM-NrzNc/s320/movegoats4.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He continues, as the does watch</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQLMJPubb5-9-ubdkb9F9MCCexrGIRsfe8aG6zcppuLRwWtsA3wJDelBXhJT7ZXCJ7Xpp_I7WF0TGkSDjRNO2VTGimVMK-KLrXffKDeqeCKKXFF1_CM5gfRRwJlTUVLdgDvSwcKjbT5Lk/s1600/movegoats5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQLMJPubb5-9-ubdkb9F9MCCexrGIRsfe8aG6zcppuLRwWtsA3wJDelBXhJT7ZXCJ7Xpp_I7WF0TGkSDjRNO2VTGimVMK-KLrXffKDeqeCKKXFF1_CM5gfRRwJlTUVLdgDvSwcKjbT5Lk/s320/movegoats5.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">more lifting and sliding back into the brush</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO6EFyMxTexecU3v4JQ5qesV7RWqC7Tgx0_cnjOZahz1SYbCLJ9Iqb_G-qZzowOVxF2eKa0-xE-a6rqclFD0hFCUmt1tbfX17UZxv13paGZ9NU7JWeWLcLRuawrFk0oWLEnLUxBoATiVg/s1600/movegoats6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO6EFyMxTexecU3v4JQ5qesV7RWqC7Tgx0_cnjOZahz1SYbCLJ9Iqb_G-qZzowOVxF2eKa0-xE-a6rqclFD0hFCUmt1tbfX17UZxv13paGZ9NU7JWeWLcLRuawrFk0oWLEnLUxBoATiVg/s320/movegoats6.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the goats have already attacked the new forage</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwPfTC436NBdQRuclZoMqVoGWLxjOk7PI8U7YT-DA48lzqMBRDdP6E66flhTuWMNaGzyOsqVXFgCPU_-9cvoZ1hs5lEwDHz8MmiNxOXF0YJDQB2Q2JpZ8HCIRQpQ3CwTzgf7bYXv4iljc/s1600/movegoats7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwPfTC436NBdQRuclZoMqVoGWLxjOk7PI8U7YT-DA48lzqMBRDdP6E66flhTuWMNaGzyOsqVXFgCPU_-9cvoZ1hs5lEwDHz8MmiNxOXF0YJDQB2Q2JpZ8HCIRQpQ3CwTzgf7bYXv4iljc/s320/movegoats7.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">almost in place</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkI3rXzEKJVGy_lHeLtlKqww39nuEmwgIFTwSV1jgPSD0wSQUhxGgFdd9x5yh6NJNz5sGHUxahxvz49AJEq7hVsVEeUh-ynZqmgp7wgvcDv6ckzVI7Ba-mTWk5D41d8S939dSd5KiD-I0/s1600/movegoats8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkI3rXzEKJVGy_lHeLtlKqww39nuEmwgIFTwSV1jgPSD0wSQUhxGgFdd9x5yh6NJNz5sGHUxahxvz49AJEq7hVsVEeUh-ynZqmgp7wgvcDv6ckzVI7Ba-mTWk5D41d8S939dSd5KiD-I0/s320/movegoats8.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">not sure what he sees, but he checks for cherry trees</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizy8TW534iIXm5W9i5es0bOezk12_kgmhZDQIlVo3spKNZB8DpTflHDRRvIQazuanPo8VhAuLSnvsgtB5QPB3I67a-IlbZPMKW8jssAEIAj0qZGv4Xz7P8roQWgUkxJnbk8wgcntZUMAE/s1600/movegoats9.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizy8TW534iIXm5W9i5es0bOezk12_kgmhZDQIlVo3spKNZB8DpTflHDRRvIQazuanPo8VhAuLSnvsgtB5QPB3I67a-IlbZPMKW8jssAEIAj0qZGv4Xz7P8roQWgUkxJnbk8wgcntZUMAE/s320/movegoats9.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">flipping the shed upside right</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGa9qRJcGIWm6MHYcB3_DTqgV-3O-3h0erJvtK5walFwb-60j30MlLJLH69w4_Ti6FCQV9U8hMtStLHPf3fT_UzCgjw9vkkDQo-Cmf7dIQSqUIDJeEgQBCF_Z0wzb5dQURUyz8C3dVM44/s1600/movegoats10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGa9qRJcGIWm6MHYcB3_DTqgV-3O-3h0erJvtK5walFwb-60j30MlLJLH69w4_Ti6FCQV9U8hMtStLHPf3fT_UzCgjw9vkkDQo-Cmf7dIQSqUIDJeEgQBCF_Z0wzb5dQURUyz8C3dVM44/s320/movegoats10.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">on the way out, goats on fresh ground</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz8NiRHuZ-u2FGh9j1UolvG3TEsYuWXaEjZJyOteAK0MEmzWud108dWJI693jnZadtVHM7sIKvbJC5DYofhCWflfW6aHBIv3zUgrWp4CfIMWwKULVaXSv0Lcn7Vt61oHD-zlSZJH2snnM/s1600/movegoats11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiz8NiRHuZ-u2FGh9j1UolvG3TEsYuWXaEjZJyOteAK0MEmzWud108dWJI693jnZadtVHM7sIKvbJC5DYofhCWflfW6aHBIv3zUgrWp4CfIMWwKULVaXSv0Lcn7Vt61oHD-zlSZJH2snnM/s320/movegoats11.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">stalling out for a moment</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinoHqSGkXz_1LipI6DgfZBi-JqDswjwphLw5H9cnNOoMsPr2caEHD3anay6ImHhdFPNg5v4siiv5g3eILpD2Og5FglQGz3D3hRV3sR-_nu_2XINoKHOVcLdjeGoa4B0HdRtXBym9uD6ZI/s1600/movegoats13.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinoHqSGkXz_1LipI6DgfZBi-JqDswjwphLw5H9cnNOoMsPr2caEHD3anay6ImHhdFPNg5v4siiv5g3eILpD2Og5FglQGz3D3hRV3sR-_nu_2XINoKHOVcLdjeGoa4B0HdRtXBym9uD6ZI/s320/movegoats13.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">a closeup of the thick growth</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5UGNWv0HFkkxM4McjNQr81PGsxzCN9uw3MFqDaB81dO1tj33l-whL9rMGy1vnn8SXeELUl93EjRPZQdEu2h8zx-7CCwSzP9gqc4thQo8Ce61y22G34um2zkBf1qOC1Jowc4t7D46irVs/s1600/movegoats14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5UGNWv0HFkkxM4McjNQr81PGsxzCN9uw3MFqDaB81dO1tj33l-whL9rMGy1vnn8SXeELUl93EjRPZQdEu2h8zx-7CCwSzP9gqc4thQo8Ce61y22G34um2zkBf1qOC1Jowc4t7D46irVs/s320/movegoats14.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">enjoying a snack of fresh blackberries </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi9BLL0hTCVnH2nS_1d7Yu84CNXYKPEhginTK3cU4bV-3UeGkiyc-5tZv5q8OeFpdzRb8mFMxABVuo_9Dfqs4Mfk4-FCC1TyUjXJ9zQHvQpVHVlDJdbo3Vp7IluG563DfBH3uQYiHK6Wo/s1600/movegoats15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgi9BLL0hTCVnH2nS_1d7Yu84CNXYKPEhginTK3cU4bV-3UeGkiyc-5tZv5q8OeFpdzRb8mFMxABVuo_9Dfqs4Mfk4-FCC1TyUjXJ9zQHvQpVHVlDJdbo3Vp7IluG563DfBH3uQYiHK6Wo/s320/movegoats15.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">back to the truck so we can roll to the next thing</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHChO07oYf1EMuB4V-uCaxxPXE_JHsUDT_eo6HCV0Z0d50YHDIfBWalgzbOFolGMFE2M-y5qD0sh5IVaLctT0dcGxmXjfsVxNz_ZNxrnLGaCQAgjrbtxOd7M5d8T2jwpDmPdlZutLjjfw/s1600/movegoats18.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHChO07oYf1EMuB4V-uCaxxPXE_JHsUDT_eo6HCV0Z0d50YHDIfBWalgzbOFolGMFE2M-y5qD0sh5IVaLctT0dcGxmXjfsVxNz_ZNxrnLGaCQAgjrbtxOd7M5d8T2jwpDmPdlZutLjjfw/s400/movegoats18.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> fed for free for the next day</td></tr>
</tbody></table>generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-24055728409225606922012-06-21T20:16:00.001-07:002012-06-21T20:16:14.421-07:00The heat is on!And we knew it was coming, just not <em>when</em> it was coming. We had been lucky that the spring had been for the most part mild, as everyone, both man and beast, handles temperatures in the eighties a sight better than when the mercury creeps up between ninety and the century mark. Today, we spent some time at the farm doing some "emergency" measures to try to help the goats beat the heat. The forage is holding up, so far, and it looks like we have at least half a week more of serious heat before there might be relief in the form of cooler temperatures. We've put an awful lot of effort into the forage mix, and so far it is holding up but we've not had the drought months yet.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHLR2XHfdG6DYHi4Yypg0PlSqgCQ6XbOzOIbQlgaOc6ywJWlJ2QNTaFjJBGoqhk5XZb-BdQaFNrKZw7zgMJ9wH0TQoSN1vCrhZjpZ99f11toQtIWWr3RtcdNQ6pBZHCs9rY26h_9TqMnY/s1600/IMG_20120621_144700.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHLR2XHfdG6DYHi4Yypg0PlSqgCQ6XbOzOIbQlgaOc6ywJWlJ2QNTaFjJBGoqhk5XZb-BdQaFNrKZw7zgMJ9wH0TQoSN1vCrhZjpZ99f11toQtIWWr3RtcdNQ6pBZHCs9rY26h_9TqMnY/s400/IMG_20120621_144700.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">pasture mix in the bottom field</td></tr>
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I mentioned we had put a metal roofed "car shed thing" in the top field last year because it gets exactly zero shade, no matter the time of day. We had lost a nice young doe in the summer before that, and we assume it was to heat as she was the only black doe in the group and the temperatures that day had been over 100 degrees with miserable humidity. One of the complicating factors in this part of the country, of course, is the humidity, and I don't know any way to combat that, but we did spend a day last week when it was a little cooler giving booster vaccines for pneumonia to almost all the mature does. That's about as much as I know how to do to prepare them for the heavy humidity that defines summers in the South.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtqObIxXExLdpsAPzCwQ-uy_u_JcvEZQiPlG30lLRn6WiQTHGSmog6JhZJZKiXNS6SEDrAhB9NIUXjyWLlF9wuACBXHZ7w9tVhs3ujLCaxP-pj0w9q4W2fLBa_c3yf2lUK9uTb6S6o4oI/s1600/IMG_20120621_144724.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="189" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtqObIxXExLdpsAPzCwQ-uy_u_JcvEZQiPlG30lLRn6WiQTHGSmog6JhZJZKiXNS6SEDrAhB9NIUXjyWLlF9wuACBXHZ7w9tVhs3ujLCaxP-pj0w9q4W2fLBa_c3yf2lUK9uTb6S6o4oI/s320/IMG_20120621_144724.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the bozos better use these shade structures</td></tr>
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We have set aside a little goat money to add one of these car sheds to the bottom field this summer. It gets a bit of shade morning and evening, but none in the middle of the day when they need it the most. Since the shed has not arrived yet, we took an idea from Dr Sparks column in the Goat Rancher and made some temporary shade structures from t-posts and old tarps to tide us over until the shed is here. I tested one, and with the light breeze today, it was appreciably cooler under one of these than not. Hopefully the goats will use them. When we were leaving, not one of the dopes was under them, but then, the sun had reached an angle in the sky that the trees outside the fence were beginning to provide the usual afternoon shade and that is where the goats were congregating. I guess we'll know tomorrow if they have figured out the new shade structures or not. <br />
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I often mention how overstocked we are, and the problems this can create. I know we sound like idiots to be doing something we know is dicey, but this farm had no infrastructure save an old tobacco barn on it when we started this little venture. Now, we do have our "used" main metal barn and four fenced main pasture/paddock areas. And one of those has the car shed thing in it. The goats are paying their way and building their farm. We have to have a certain number to sell so we can cull some, keep one or two, and sell the rest and make enough to put back into the farm to grow it some more. The goats are buying themselves barns, fences, and feed towards an eventual level where we are no longer overstocked for the amount of animals we plan to run. Or at least that is the plan. Not sure when we'll get there. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO6DCOYNztIFPZhE_MrBxSxa_4ILIGazcTpKwqbCgdrN1-RrwWhVSDS5e1dDs0CfhNEUrbGEMDU5t9NWRu9bHNx8Wkl-cUJb05EQVuAn3M3yxwdb3SgiX6EadottxkoYdA0AFghKL2bBg/s1600/IMG01448-20120621-1222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO6DCOYNztIFPZhE_MrBxSxa_4ILIGazcTpKwqbCgdrN1-RrwWhVSDS5e1dDs0CfhNEUrbGEMDU5t9NWRu9bHNx8Wkl-cUJb05EQVuAn3M3yxwdb3SgiX6EadottxkoYdA0AFghKL2bBg/s320/IMG01448-20120621-1222.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">picking up the straw bales</td></tr>
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As we were working in the pasture today, we saw the tobacco guys' crew back to pick up the straw they had baled from the wheat that they just combined recently. They got truckloads of wheat off the farm, and truckloads of straw bales. I still look at those front fields, now full of naught but stubble, and envision beautiful pastures of orchard grass, and alfalfa, and chicory, or hey - if we win the lotto - maybe some AU Grazer! Someday...<br />
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As an aside, I got a call from the man at the feed store who had told me he wouldn't be able to get the minerals I wanted. After announcing who he was and from whence he was calling, he said, quite dryly, "a miracle has occurred." As it turns out, the miracle was in the form of the arrival of said minerals. I stopped by a few days later to pick them up, and they loaded up my two bags. Of course, when I stopped in to get them, the feed man said, again, just as dryly, "they're expensive." Fine time to tell me, buddy. Well, I figure if they really do provide something the goats aren't currently getting, then they'll be worth it. I've been reading my Pinkerton book again, and am always struck by the notion that a goat's total performance is limited by the one element that is deficient (or, I assume, provided at toxic levels or to the exclusion of something else). So even if everything else is right, they will never perform to their best if one thing is lacking severely enough. I know I can't fix everything, and wouldn't even know where to begin, but that idea really bugs me. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKB26BBuZu47rhjnl3bIZgEE5QqWX9Ik8JKKb3ngCajKtFdogmDgF5QFyB9EqIWUcAo-QEcYv7rtKIDrFDsAsWIRHheZ3EukNDl0J4uW2-5XnMfuCYPKCnYCndiH_E2P9YyDCkusHaBFo/s1600/IMG01450-20120621-2225.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKB26BBuZu47rhjnl3bIZgEE5QqWX9Ik8JKKb3ngCajKtFdogmDgF5QFyB9EqIWUcAo-QEcYv7rtKIDrFDsAsWIRHheZ3EukNDl0J4uW2-5XnMfuCYPKCnYCndiH_E2P9YyDCkusHaBFo/s320/IMG01450-20120621-2225.jpg" width="289" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">mineral tag, with chelated minerals for supposedly better absorption</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Big bale of sericea lespedeza</td></tr>
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This brings me to another interesting (or oddball, depending on how you look at it) thing I read recently. I picked up a grazing magazine at Tractor Supply last weekend for some reading material for the ride down to get an old big bale of sericea lespedeza hay. The article was talking about water, which is always the most important nutrient. I remember from Horse Bowl that horses' bodies are 70% water, and this article said cattle are the same, so I am taking the leap that goats are pretty close. The author was discussing the quality of the animals' drinking water, and how lower quality water sources can actually negatively impact foraging habits. If the animals are only drinking the water as a last resort, they tend to stay thirsty. If they stay thirsty, they stick around the water source and don't utilize the whole forage area. It was interesting, considering our unique water challenges. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIrb0FILE7y9bVWJwc75GNIKpVDxgfhiTiQ1UFnBk6Rb_dJoH68ccrMwWK49E1-DI6DY3dE0zp0yCfOO02k809ePxa7HaAF8duzqt3US1cKFBbiXPkCRuFKN-4x5p7LtohQvg4b8sibIg/s1600/IMG_20120621_145201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIrb0FILE7y9bVWJwc75GNIKpVDxgfhiTiQ1UFnBk6Rb_dJoH68ccrMwWK49E1-DI6DY3dE0zp0yCfOO02k809ePxa7HaAF8duzqt3US1cKFBbiXPkCRuFKN-4x5p7LtohQvg4b8sibIg/s320/IMG_20120621_145201.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">water on wheels, which equates to life made easier</td></tr>
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One thing the author mentioned was that if the cows "play" with the water or the float valve in an automatic waterer, they are trying to freshen the water because it isn't to their liking. I remember horses doing this when I was a kid, flipping the water and stirring it about with their lips, and I just thought they were playing. Maybe there was more to it than that. Something to think about, for sure. We've spent years making "good" water for our koi, meaning highly oxygenated, low dissolved organic content water with a high ORP (how oxidative the water is) and stable pH. Maybe we should think a bit more about the water quality for the animals who drink it, although I'm not quite sure how we could fix it barring access to the fast flowing stream at the back of the property. Of course, a farm pond with a windmill for aeration would be nice, too. <br />
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Virginia napped for a lot of the time we were working, which was just as well, considering the heat. She stayed in the car with the air conditioner running for part of the time, as environmentally unfriendly as that is. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. We were able to put her in the stroller under some shade trees for her second nap, and the breeze made it quite bearable. I've noticed that Bo sticks pretty close to the children, wherever they are on the farm. He seemed to appreciate a bit of shade, as well.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Virginia at lunch. She has a good time pretty much anywhere she goes.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv6sL0SbZT-CbRHVpOk7i8CjiJSeK_AL-MIOqBbuHobk9Ix6EAeyDa4S6u2DxUNqMqbFxc1XCwI6hjCcjqODVQ4Vrpd2wKs03qRG2zPnvydcXRk5wfAVnSsETbt5wZDuMro6dZtg-xNO0/s1600/IMG_20120621_145232.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="276" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv6sL0SbZT-CbRHVpOk7i8CjiJSeK_AL-MIOqBbuHobk9Ix6EAeyDa4S6u2DxUNqMqbFxc1XCwI6hjCcjqODVQ4Vrpd2wKs03qRG2zPnvydcXRk5wfAVnSsETbt5wZDuMro6dZtg-xNO0/s320/IMG_20120621_145232.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bo agrees it is mighty hot.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-54598758715408767202012-06-14T20:03:00.001-07:002012-06-14T20:11:46.192-07:00Planning for fall and some helpful products.Okay, I'm freaking out. I know anyone in a drought stricken area will have little sympathy, but we had five inches of rain in less than 48 hours earlier this week, and it worries me no end. We didn't have too many hard freezes this winter, which has made many say this is going to be a very bad summer for parasites. What worries me more, though, is that we have had such a moist spring. We haven't had much brutal heat yet, and we've gotten plenty of rain. What worries me about that? Normally, the droughty times and heat of the summer dries up some of the parasites around here, or at least causes them to go dormant. This nice juicy spring has kept the pastures looking good, but when I look out at the load we have on them, I can just imagine the infective larvae teeming on every blade of grass. It makes we wish I could put every goat in one of our "moving pens" and slide them around the farm to minimize parasite exposure and of course to maximize the use of forage on the land. We do have the new does quaratining in one, and you can see how they convert blackberry bushes to growth and pasture.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the Perry group, working the blackberries</td></tr>
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It is very labor intensive, but it also best utilizes the existing forage on the farm and saves money. Last year I made a picture of what was left after an area was "worked" by the goats. I took a picture of this same area, a year later. It is still lush grass with not much regrowth of what most would call noxious plants (like blackberry, which surrounds the area).</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1CS_5rTxnGud-1GMEqmFJT3ykgREA5aEiRb727OZOXHKdj3Mstq2gBUcjthLhG-S4pndXsoLyn57BITWG9TmLmnysrp7vW2RaUNWgqi5AU2d8q7YRxAYC_ZzArZtLSL_dX5BzCKkw7iE/s1600/IMG01230-20120605-1143.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1CS_5rTxnGud-1GMEqmFJT3ykgREA5aEiRb727OZOXHKdj3Mstq2gBUcjthLhG-S4pndXsoLyn57BITWG9TmLmnysrp7vW2RaUNWgqi5AU2d8q7YRxAYC_ZzArZtLSL_dX5BzCKkw7iE/s200/IMG01230-20120605-1143.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">last year, post moving pen</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9xQg5aTfANzFBM8UK0Q65UHF758K-2xpDXocDgTFprCwSK5mn4hYjdXLjQIUfIl40UGqj8guMJVaej4Byo5r73B4KU3fWGGkA-9hbYDw9nr9buDL0jgeqwLSLzOGzjwb80WQXTNFoHTo/s1600/IMG01229-20120605-1143.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9xQg5aTfANzFBM8UK0Q65UHF758K-2xpDXocDgTFprCwSK5mn4hYjdXLjQIUfIl40UGqj8guMJVaej4Byo5r73B4KU3fWGGkA-9hbYDw9nr9buDL0jgeqwLSLzOGzjwb80WQXTNFoHTo/s200/IMG01229-20120605-1143.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">this year, ready made pasture</td></tr>
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We're starting to think about what we need to get done to put bucks with does for early kids. Once again the earliest kids (starting in early February) did a lot better than the late spring kids (late March or later). Several other factors play in, of course, and are kinda no-brainers. The first group was small, and on the same size paddock as the much larger second group. That adds an additional stressor. Now, I periodically gaze wistfully at the front of the farm, now planted in wheat, and sigh. I've had several people ask "when are you going to kick those tobacco guys off of there?" and the answer, at this point, is "when they decide they are done with it." They've used the farm for many years, buying the poundage back in the day when there was a tobacco quota. After the quota was phased out, they continued using the farm at a set fee per acre of tobacco produced. I know that, in theory, our return per acre could be a lot higher with either goats on it or doing vegetables on part of it (something Chuck hopes to do someday) but there is no way I'm going to mess with someone else's livelihood. I don't know how much those guys depend on that farm as they use so many others in the area, but they've got the wheat on it and are still mowing around the perimeter, so I assume they still really need it. I can envision that acreage, though, all neatly fenced and cross fenced, with a strip across the top for moving goats easily from one paddock to the next or to be used as a working area, and sometimes I even dream of automatic waterers in each paddock. Ay me. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinHJa1kGkvhnk_1WWhmyU3N_CE4iBnYEkYogfx6y37oAYhawoOZczgGvvQJv0xDwAulU0bOynOYh4Vrk_fBK_QqbyG5g0eY8zyvJry5Bo-EAyGRdaqN37rJ1zM4tvhSAofqNUxI992lJc/s1600/IMG01400-20120614-1807.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinHJa1kGkvhnk_1WWhmyU3N_CE4iBnYEkYogfx6y37oAYhawoOZczgGvvQJv0xDwAulU0bOynOYh4Vrk_fBK_QqbyG5g0eY8zyvJry5Bo-EAyGRdaqN37rJ1zM4tvhSAofqNUxI992lJc/s320/IMG01400-20120614-1807.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Amber waves of grain! The kids were excited when they learned this is where Shredded Wheat comes from.</td></tr>
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The good thing about having a farm with a lot of acres that are not yet fenced is that there is room to expand, and paddock expansion can only make life easier. The bad thing is that currently the goats are crammed on small acreage, and that makes our venture much more labor intensive for us and tougher on the goats, but it also means the goats that do well in this situation are likely to make it on other small farms. There are a lot more 20 acre farms around here than there are 200 acre farms these days. If you have enough acres and few enough goats, then you probably will never have to deworm them, or feed them anything but maybe some hay in the winter and put loose minerals out. Heavy bred and lactating does may need some supplementation, too. Most people are somewhere in the middle, it seems, and I personally think 2 acres per goat would be about perfect in this climate. <br />
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I look forward to the days of having more acres fenced than we have goats, but that's not what we have at the moment, so we deal with it. My goal for this winter is to have approximately 25 to 30 bred does, give or take. We've added some does from some specific lines, and with specific body traits towards that end. I have a few doelings I don't think will be big enough to breed this fall (I may breed that small group late and keep them separate from the mature doe herd), and I have a couple of does that are going "down the road." That gentle euphemism really does mean going down the road in our case, as Chuck is still running a few commercial type goats at the other farm to keep the kudzu under control on the cutover timber. If they don't make it there, they'll be sold without papers as brush goats, pets, or dinner. That farm is much more hands off so parasite resistance and/or tolerance is a must, but the goats do have the benefit of low numbers and lots of forage so in some ways they have it easier than the goats on the main farm. My long term goal is to have fifty top notch does in production, and to get to that goal is going to require several years of breeding effort in addition to a whole lot more fence.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE2IC1HLOLWT2KhWJpQWpl4yI29FRyAe4Boj9gZrly_zRRchQUl1gr-v9wZgn38qFJ6UwJj2jtTh9k0C3bASdewqX05N30IO4xW1lLxZIXiH661pX4_33XOIKp6rAwOcK0YOnub5PHnkc/s1600/IMG01004-20120521-1439.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE2IC1HLOLWT2KhWJpQWpl4yI29FRyAe4Boj9gZrly_zRRchQUl1gr-v9wZgn38qFJ6UwJj2jtTh9k0C3bASdewqX05N30IO4xW1lLxZIXiH661pX4_33XOIKp6rAwOcK0YOnub5PHnkc/s320/IMG01004-20120521-1439.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the Ozark sale does, settling in </td></tr>
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In the interim, we are still trying to find ways to make farming long distance less labor intensive. The water tank on the trailer thing worked out pretty well. I can see someone using this setup if they do brush control with goats, or have to move them to a remote pasture without a natural water source. It would work even better if there was some natural shade because it would give a constant supply of cool, fresh water - the most important nutrient. The big tank is just connected by a hose to the float valve we bought I believe at Tractor Supply, and it affixes to the top edge of one of those black stock tanks. I wish we'd thought of that sooner. It is a bad feeling to get to the farm and find the goats out of water on a hot day, and this ought to fix that until we can work out a solar pump system to the well (and test the well). <br />
<br />
I am just two weeks into my new type of minerals, so I can't tell if there is any change yet. Boomer looks about as good as he has ever looked, which is a good thing going in to breeding season. Shaw is a little thin, so we are keeping an eye on him since he didn't have the smoothest adjustment period. He should be settling in and bouncing back, we hope. Ace is carrying decent weight, and is still growing. I will probably be using all three of them, and I am trying to figure out who is going in with whom, and where I am going to put them. And then, of course, I have to figure out what to do with the does once they are bred. Part of me wants the entire group together, as they are now save for the new does still in quarantine, and part of me wants to break them into contemporary age groups early on in their pregnancy. If they are together, I can rotate the whole group to maximize forage. If I break them up, I can feed each group more to its particular needs - especially the youngest does who are still growing at the same time they are carrying kids. I'm not sure which makes the most sense yet. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7c-yTd7bo397fl7XldxDGfc7aJFHEskt7aXWEHJjwIqCABbH9_4pYyVifFmYHoA1EPbkyuue3D6K1aj8d9pyS3rviRJV5mngg9Qy1sgrru5bUf8R1IEnK5KqYNHQCR6pxQ-EiVv5sO-U/s1600/IMG01069-20120528-1918.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7c-yTd7bo397fl7XldxDGfc7aJFHEskt7aXWEHJjwIqCABbH9_4pYyVifFmYHoA1EPbkyuue3D6K1aj8d9pyS3rviRJV5mngg9Qy1sgrru5bUf8R1IEnK5KqYNHQCR6pxQ-EiVv5sO-U/s320/IMG01069-20120528-1918.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">mixed age group pasture</td></tr>
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Times like this I wish I had about fifteen two acre paddocks so I could run each set of does separately. I'd keep the first timers by themselves and feed them more so they continue to grow as they also grow babies. I'd give the mature does some space to raise their kids to the best of their potential with little to no intervention because they are time tested and at the top of their milk production. I'd also have a field for the oldies, because if I have a doe that doesn't start to slow down until well after the "norm" in commercial production, it makes more sense to me to give her a little support and get a few more kids from her that may also be long time producers than cull her and spend the money on a young doe, but that's because it works out for me in my situation. Replacing that doe in the current market will easily cost me $500 to $1000. I can support the oldie goldies for a lot less than that. Now, if she starts slowing down as a five or six year old she's just "normal." I'm talking about the 8 to 10 year olds or beyond that just need more calories than a doe at her prime but are still turning out multiple kids, especially if they have other added value traits. <br />
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On a totally unrelated note, I wanted to mention a few non-goat products I have come across that make day to day life a little easier on the farm. One is a suncreen. Anyone who has seen me knows I am about as white as they get. I burn, and never tan. My children thankfully do not have skin that burns like mine, but I want to protect their skin for the long haul as they run around the farm. Right after I had Annalee, I fancied I could sell skin care products. That didn't go so well as I am not the outgoing salesperson type, but the products are so good I am still using them six years later. Sometimes I think I will try something a little cheaper, and the cheap stuff ends up sitting unused on the counter. One of the best in the line is the Baby Sunscreen. I think it is only SPF 30 but I have never had a sunburn while using it, even when I stay out in the sun all day, and it does not sweat off. It is gentle enough it doesn't break any of us out - even when Annalee got carried away and put so much on Chip's face he looked like a mime. If you are in the market for an excellent sunscreen, it is from Arbonne (see the Arbonne Baby Care). <br />
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The next thing I want to mention has to do with a problem I have mentioned many times - ticks! We still have a huge tick problem on the farm. I have found a couple of neem based sprays that really reduce the number of ticks the kids come home carrying, and they are gentle on the skin. One is a JustNeem product - Adios Outdoor Body Spray. JustNeem is based in Cary, NC, where I lived for several years, so that is an added bonus for me as I like to support local companies. They make a neem soap as well, although I plan to try my hand at soap making when that elusive free time thing comes around and will be trying to put together my own perfect neem type soap.<br />
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Anyone who was down at the sale in Perry, Georgia got to experience some of the most irritating gnats I have seen in a long time. I pulled out the old neem spray, only to find it really didn't work on gnats. Some folks were having luck with dryer sheets, but Chuck found another spray bottle we had in his truck before we heard about the dryer sheet trick. I believe it is Sentry Natural Defense, but it is a dog and cat herbal spray. I used to use horse fly spray on myself back in the day, but I am much more careful what I put on my children. I spray this on my own skin, but I try to only spray their clothing, legs, and hair because I am paranoid. This spray has several essential oils, smells great in an earthy, spicy sort of way, and really stopped the gnats. I was able to walk around relatively unbothered as everyone else swished and swatted. <br />
<br />
Now if I could just find the magic thing to eliminate internal parasites and coccidia on the farm... of course, if I did, the goats wouldn't last long in other situations. I do wish the things that are being researched were more widely available. I wish pelleted sericea was as common as alfalfa pellets. I wish that stuff that kills the larvae in the field was available here - I think it is a fungus. If there were no side effects, that would be darn handy to make pastures "clean" again. Until that comes, I will just have to worry.generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1089835023882757562.post-67119382869577657572012-06-04T09:30:00.000-07:002012-06-04T09:31:09.389-07:00SEKGA sale in Perry Georgia<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqAyLkxCo-h4wKGo_wVHuYT7nRmsfuKWqyrtn2Dzy22bU1zuuLJYbEGxqUzc05MQ9pVYpikNQ11JYLvx7XSQDL9vuwAn_asoKnmoM_H6eGNE1PcovfSmuOesKY0_SXTsFl0RvL_RKpLj8/s1600/IMG01117-20120601-1729.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqAyLkxCo-h4wKGo_wVHuYT7nRmsfuKWqyrtn2Dzy22bU1zuuLJYbEGxqUzc05MQ9pVYpikNQ11JYLvx7XSQDL9vuwAn_asoKnmoM_H6eGNE1PcovfSmuOesKY0_SXTsFl0RvL_RKpLj8/s400/IMG01117-20120601-1729.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">two Nanook Onyx Bear daughters - the front might have been the high seller.</td></tr>
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Well, this year we had to decide whether we would attend the AKGA convention sale, or the SEKGA sale. Since the kids are now out of school, we decided to make it a family trip and made the seven hour trek to Perry, Georgia for the SEKGA festivities. Seven hours in a truck with three small children and a dog may seem like a long trip, but it seemed much more manageable than the 11 to 12 hours it would have taken to make it to the AKGA event.<br />
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As is typically the case, we left home about tweleve hours later than we had planned. We had intended to leave Thursday night, which would allow the kids to sleep as we drove, and also allow us to attend the Friday seminars. Even when I listen to a seminar on a topic I thought I understood, I almost always learn something new. My nephew had kindly agreed to watch the goats for us when we were gone, so Chuck tried to prepare for him as best as possible to make it easy. We had two big worries - one, that the goats would run out of water since there is no power and we haul water to the farm every day, and two, that one of the idiots would stick her head through the fence and expire before we could return. We were ready to swap pastures between the doe herd (who mow down a field) and the weanling bucks (who can't keep up with it and let it grow eye high) anyway, so I ran around the field putting more isolators on and we ran a hot wire about 16" or 18" high around the inside of the field to discourage them trying to eat outside the fence. To address the water issue, we had been wanting to try to use a float valve on a stock tank with the water source being a big six or seven hundred gallon water tank. Chuck put it on a trailer so we could fill it at home and then drive it to the farm and just hook it up to a hose to the stock tank. Luckily, the water pressure was sufficient to operate the check valve, so we at least had made those two problems less of an issue for the trip. It just made us run a little behind schedule. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxm4NJIKYKxvhhz2tGe6pmS8eJySlz0CQYHUlLwrZ4uo8N-LQVwhyphenhyphenDOzkwRCegxq9zRIJRFWuRJsaIKUAjMbtOheWLcuSMxNDQOiT9teAE8Fd5gTI7kZmJ9C74w3DkSsYgJMPc5ON-2YU/s1600/IMG01098-20120601-1045.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxm4NJIKYKxvhhz2tGe6pmS8eJySlz0CQYHUlLwrZ4uo8N-LQVwhyphenhyphenDOzkwRCegxq9zRIJRFWuRJsaIKUAjMbtOheWLcuSMxNDQOiT9teAE8Fd5gTI7kZmJ9C74w3DkSsYgJMPc5ON-2YU/s320/IMG01098-20120601-1045.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The giant peach in South Carolina.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVWF_EmoV07zqA17o9yKgxXx69GOfWfrc9Za_4uUsCeOELAg3oMru_Knj857t7QICGH9r98Cq7ECy5j80D9K8SCJfDAwTPU59EZaVQaZv7L7lATTEgTZdVaSf3OYw0S5iHQDjxWnqnB70/s1600/IMG01099-20120601-1408.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVWF_EmoV07zqA17o9yKgxXx69GOfWfrc9Za_4uUsCeOELAg3oMru_Knj857t7QICGH9r98Cq7ECy5j80D9K8SCJfDAwTPU59EZaVQaZv7L7lATTEgTZdVaSf3OYw0S5iHQDjxWnqnB70/s320/IMG01099-20120601-1408.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Now these are some peaches!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5LOQWPZMIOSJFq6rXXwlotV4Xdlvgw2PekrAKy-guzT9xXNJi6IhMAIVcoSrQFrrZAcyy__1yBzM8nayMm7yJ4ciKtVcs4LYOF84X7idVN4UlSw6ZAuJvYRXQjB0ruGEtfSan-WBbjl4/s1600/IMG01101-20120601-1410.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5LOQWPZMIOSJFq6rXXwlotV4Xdlvgw2PekrAKy-guzT9xXNJi6IhMAIVcoSrQFrrZAcyy__1yBzM8nayMm7yJ4ciKtVcs4LYOF84X7idVN4UlSw6ZAuJvYRXQjB0ruGEtfSan-WBbjl4/s320/IMG01101-20120601-1410.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Roadside peach stand somewhere in Georgia.</td></tr>
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We ended up leaving the house Friday morning, and it actually worked out pretty well. The kids had been itching to leave, and were looking forward to the trip to Georgia. They had been asking what states we would go through (always a topic of interest) and were hoping to be able to go swimming in the hotel swimming pool. The kids had fun watching the jets flying low on takeoff and landing around the Charlotte airport, and then were excited to see the South Carolina border. The giant peach was a hit, of course, and prompted an unplanned stop at a peach stand once we made it into Georgia. Still remembering some particularly succulent South Carolina peaches Chuck had brought me years ago from one of his work trips, I had been on the lookout for a roadside stand in case the peaches were in season anywhere. Luckily, peach season had begun in Georgia. As I carried my paper sack of peaches back to the car I could smell their sweet fragrance wafting up from the bag. It filled the truck with the smell of Southern summertime. Chip won't eat anything much beyond cheese, but Annalee loves fruit and I told her just how different roadside peaches ripened on the tree would taste from the ones we buy at the supermarket. When she finally ate one later in the day, she understood what I meant. The supermarket peaches are firm and a bit bland, because of course they have to be hard to travel. A real peach is mushy and juicy and messy, dripping with honeyed sweetness with just a bit of tartness rounding it out. A real peach doesn't travel well a-tall. I was reminded of that fact after leaving the peaches in the hot truck a few hours after we arrived at our destination. Next time we will pick up peaches on our trip home, if it happens to be before dark. They still are delicious, and I feel so sorry for anyone who has never experienced the flavor of a real live tree ripened peach.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqzyo-BlVa0GEtPGn16PjwvZRXXT9B-yB5TUuVuUoLTaOP3JKIom1CLSvzSQc3okZEWX7mpM3fMzCWTpPpnTN6rXJd6k7-e5pdWdUOu8n5hLULikB4axsl-O7mwip7yOtWi9mDeNQRx0I/s1600/IMG01107-20120601-1616.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqzyo-BlVa0GEtPGn16PjwvZRXXT9B-yB5TUuVuUoLTaOP3JKIom1CLSvzSQc3okZEWX7mpM3fMzCWTpPpnTN6rXJd6k7-e5pdWdUOu8n5hLULikB4axsl-O7mwip7yOtWi9mDeNQRx0I/s320/IMG01107-20120601-1616.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Finally we arrived at the Fairgrounds.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_-95LXeiZPYVDvEVFy3mDnXiT3ucLh9iAgHywg440-kC2peitJdkNZbZAkYg69W3Kb9Rf4yhvqv2_f24iW4BjAXzS2fe8CpDA-vBrGg-usissneOhxNu-AVMU2TNRj8xICE3DYDBkYgw/s1600/IMG01111-20120601-1719.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_-95LXeiZPYVDvEVFy3mDnXiT3ucLh9iAgHywg440-kC2peitJdkNZbZAkYg69W3Kb9Rf4yhvqv2_f24iW4BjAXzS2fe8CpDA-vBrGg-usissneOhxNu-AVMU2TNRj8xICE3DYDBkYgw/s320/IMG01111-20120601-1719.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">registration table for the SEKGA</td></tr>
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We all had had just about enough of driving about twenty minutes before we made it to Perry. When we arrived at the fairgrounds, we practically spilled out of the truck and ran in to see what was going on and of course to see how the goats for sale were looking. We made it in time to look around at the goats, and the kids took the dog for a stroll around the fairgrounds. It wasn't long before Chip was crying - he discovered that Georgia ants are a bit testier than northern North Carolina ants. His love of anything insectoid had him messing in an anthill, and the ants subsequently showed him who was boss. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz4BDgipB_fr-not0U36jt0GDdkK08qatO7Ic5Af7AzZrEMkL47PU17TmCSzUAwQJjCA6Yo3ATAMXHxYBV7JBzPaYRrddEWocttQXhapdKE9ICFfij_tLc2EF46QDrL91r-lkzkJzlmtM/s1600/IMG01139-20120601-2004.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz4BDgipB_fr-not0U36jt0GDdkK08qatO7Ic5Af7AzZrEMkL47PU17TmCSzUAwQJjCA6Yo3ATAMXHxYBV7JBzPaYRrddEWocttQXhapdKE9ICFfij_tLc2EF46QDrL91r-lkzkJzlmtM/s320/IMG01139-20120601-2004.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chip's anthill. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd7p2HVs6ltDfDWhsBSl29e2C30PIUMzN17UkAY1MFf9MvhM31fasXCY8jpFyoIUpI_J_-VTWY5RDXR_Yx4VEt_YUGr3LzJaUQ-leSLdXdbksUe4c6VsgeiZsr3xsU5TC1OuIQDUsDL8k/s1600/IMG01110-20120601-1719.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd7p2HVs6ltDfDWhsBSl29e2C30PIUMzN17UkAY1MFf9MvhM31fasXCY8jpFyoIUpI_J_-VTWY5RDXR_Yx4VEt_YUGr3LzJaUQ-leSLdXdbksUe4c6VsgeiZsr3xsU5TC1OuIQDUsDL8k/s320/IMG01110-20120601-1719.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A rare moment of stillness at the SEKGA conference.</td></tr>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1W8P4_Vx1-LcCHg8q_adiUe6q1NDPJ-q5mGQzxqeAmGTssV7OfJT9HS191rmQFtjK3FHIBbDtSrbBZps3xuYSw1XPwywUEb6iuxX2-SeJniAMYMOZIOSi_d9W7ybVgXo6Oy825DFjvow/s1600/IMG01115-20120601-1723.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1W8P4_Vx1-LcCHg8q_adiUe6q1NDPJ-q5mGQzxqeAmGTssV7OfJT9HS191rmQFtjK3FHIBbDtSrbBZps3xuYSw1XPwywUEb6iuxX2-SeJniAMYMOZIOSi_d9W7ybVgXo6Oy825DFjvow/s320/IMG01115-20120601-1723.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">breeder tables, some with some handy "how to" info</td></tr>
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We partook of the goat meat dinner, which is always one of our favorite parts of any goat conference or sale. I have to say my favorite part of the meal wasn't the actual goat, though. There was this slaw... this wonderful slaw... and I had two helpings. It was vinegar based, but it had some unexpected elements. I am not exactly sure, but I believe it included not only almonds and sunflower seeds, but also, if I am correct in my guess - ramen noodles. Whatever it had in it, it was some really tasty stuff. After dinner and more checking out the goats, we found a motel and hit Walmart to get Annalee a new bathing suit and both kids some floaties. The hotel had an indoor pool, and even Virginia was able to get in a little swimming. She floated in a little baby floaty and splashed and kicked her little legs for all they were worth. After swimming the kids went to sleep pretty well, and I sat down with my printed out catalog (they had run out of official sale catalogs for the evening) and began reviewing my notes.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4IhrTV0_FWvz3-fPLHe0SeCcaqCdEs3FF61eWoI8UwDsOxlyiBEPPQ2OETVsmYG4QN_A1yrnZLXwcsszP9zwMrSSHWf39xHtL9M7VH76ZCmAcr6jO7AHMI-FiMZdU55qUy1NXznHsHi0/s1600/IMG01108-20120601-1717.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4IhrTV0_FWvz3-fPLHe0SeCcaqCdEs3FF61eWoI8UwDsOxlyiBEPPQ2OETVsmYG4QN_A1yrnZLXwcsszP9zwMrSSHWf39xHtL9M7VH76ZCmAcr6jO7AHMI-FiMZdU55qUy1NXznHsHi0/s320/IMG01108-20120601-1717.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nice door prize.</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvOaCrL-tUv4ZxZzXxvsDwDy_kPoghguZpdnFpIKeipC1ztsQdD6V8ZiBIRs7ndsFMU_k_eVS-EpKroBWipCsSLmr0Un8MoPSPLYPGm6Mv3mEYqqHhGJsM9elnDC73l34xwXvNm9Nb6pI/s1600/IMG01112-20120601-1720.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvOaCrL-tUv4ZxZzXxvsDwDy_kPoghguZpdnFpIKeipC1ztsQdD6V8ZiBIRs7ndsFMU_k_eVS-EpKroBWipCsSLmr0Un8MoPSPLYPGm6Mv3mEYqqHhGJsM9elnDC73l34xwXvNm9Nb6pI/s320/IMG01112-20120601-1720.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">more Generator granddaughters, these with Sports Kat on the bottom</td></tr>
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I know it would probably be frowned upon, but I swear I am going to start bringing either a dental mirror or mechanic's mirror with me to these sales. I may even have to bring something with a light when very young black goats are involved. Trying to check their udders requires all sorts of contortions I am just too old to pull off with any sort of decorum. Sometimes I can't tell if there even is an udder down there. Having learned a few lessons about questionable udders, we try to make sure we check every one and make notes. It is obvious which goats are carrying good weight and muscle and which are not. When we get to see twins for sale, it is interesting to see if one appears to be much nicer than the other. I would love to see in a year if this remains the same or if they change. There were some very nice twins at the sale, as well as several doelings from one farm by a few of their sires. We could see how similar the doelings were in body type for two of the sires in particular.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJA88P3rg4ija8SVwDZxVzM29GV-QtUfOYNMJGCULyXS3n8J9wz49DKiKo9ahcYpm4djTjAvcC-Mq2CdgY1LKJGGpenVIVVj7ckoCIqDPe2lDt5YJnDsazYroJ0R1tT6Ob7uA4uZDcPM4/s1600/IMG01113-20120601-1722.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJA88P3rg4ija8SVwDZxVzM29GV-QtUfOYNMJGCULyXS3n8J9wz49DKiKo9ahcYpm4djTjAvcC-Mq2CdgY1LKJGGpenVIVVj7ckoCIqDPe2lDt5YJnDsazYroJ0R1tT6Ob7uA4uZDcPM4/s320/IMG01113-20120601-1722.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">nice little percentage doelings</td></tr>
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We heard some buyers say they were there for some NZs, and some for some percentages (I was there for both) and we heard one lament that there weren't as many does of an age to be bred this fall. There were some, but there were also a lot of weanlings that probably won't be ready to breed this fall without some considerable groceries to speed growth.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXt2ysdNdbtDUfTOXXqwnZuw2Jju_JwZXUlqsJ6DvHb9A9jEDb9cG-8LI7FwTqvYo8v8_XsVnFUKXfAQXsdVRJOJKOLmjSmDzLbMepeqf5stlPvhA63pB6z-E97A4f_9Yxlidjq8L0_NI/s1600/IMG01122-20120601-1732.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXt2ysdNdbtDUfTOXXqwnZuw2Jju_JwZXUlqsJ6DvHb9A9jEDb9cG-8LI7FwTqvYo8v8_XsVnFUKXfAQXsdVRJOJKOLmjSmDzLbMepeqf5stlPvhA63pB6z-E97A4f_9Yxlidjq8L0_NI/s320/IMG01122-20120601-1732.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">more percentage does by one buck, with very similar body types </td></tr>
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Annalee had taken a notion she wanted to be in the youth Skill A Thon. I used to do 4-H, and was familiar with the old Hippology contests and Horse Bowl and Horse Judging, so I googled it and quizzed her on the questions I could find. She really did a great job memorizing answers to things like gestation time, fat vs water soluble vitamins, normal body temperature, etc. Saturday morning, she was torn between wanting to go to the Skill A Thon or to go to a local attraction that advertised having an indoor aquarium and allowing kids to fish in a catch and release pond. When we saw that the Skill A Thon was more hands on and included more about cuts of meat than about goat health facts, a trip to Go Fish Georgia won out. Chuck took Virginia over to be ready for the sale to start, and I took the other two over to check out the fishing place. <br />
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We arrived at Go Fish Georgia, got a map at the desk, and went straight back to the fishing pond out back. Each kid picked out a rod and we got a bag of bait (cut up hot dogs) out of the cooler and found ourselves a quiet place on the bank. The quiet place happened to be where the wind was aiming at us, so after having to figure out the little reels (okay, it has been a while since I fished as a kid) I cast for the kids and they sat down to fish. I noticed nobody else around the pond actually was catching any fish, but before we ran out of bait, Chip did have two hard hits where his bobber jerked under about a foot and he actually witnessed it happen, which made all the difference. I also reminded them a few times that there is a reason the activity is called "fishing" rather than "catching." That sneaky little fish stole his bait each time, but he was excited to have gotten the nibble. After Annalee got over trying to swing the rod like a baseball bat, she got so she could cast about thirty feet out more often than not. They got tired about the time the bait ran out, so we went off in search of the alligator exhibit. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhCZQMRSsrusyYTfuFLqixgQoN6_CF2dOhggeJWUXmcMUfN4EVSLWWTzahTnMKVUAqvWg4GFBx9-SJShtF8ujn1yrtDY4FaUymLqRmbINI03Zi61fnSE4GFtDpFTN8cgU3yfeNpvFQ2w/s1600/IMG01146-20120602-1203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihhCZQMRSsrusyYTfuFLqixgQoN6_CF2dOhggeJWUXmcMUfN4EVSLWWTzahTnMKVUAqvWg4GFBx9-SJShtF8ujn1yrtDY4FaUymLqRmbINI03Zi61fnSE4GFtDpFTN8cgU3yfeNpvFQ2w/s200/IMG01146-20120602-1203.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A study in concentration.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwNUVjijoAO9zvNq0l2J52SM6qceEVxSAn203cUjPkDYb96f6vvQi-iSKzTfBPwRGUEZ-qRr2e-Wwpx3ITRmsl4msxFNynAxYyNgOeUENWY_86EyoUZIvuN2MKksz8dlYI-nmHNigLe0g/s1600/IMG01153-20120602-1300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwNUVjijoAO9zvNq0l2J52SM6qceEVxSAn203cUjPkDYb96f6vvQi-iSKzTfBPwRGUEZ-qRr2e-Wwpx3ITRmsl4msxFNynAxYyNgOeUENWY_86EyoUZIvuN2MKksz8dlYI-nmHNigLe0g/s200/IMG01153-20120602-1300.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the pond windows at Go Fish Georgia.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSWgMnGFxyfetGetwPAzLdkqfxLEwcfsz1SslJNjPl8VBkgQThfIN1M3TWqKb7Oa20Iyrg7ODI07ypR-a1hH1C2VQ0QWW9n8bkriXG1m0yynNQYgk4zFiUpq-sKJ7ayDVokbt0t2hX8OI/s1600/IMG01152-20120602-1259.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSWgMnGFxyfetGetwPAzLdkqfxLEwcfsz1SslJNjPl8VBkgQThfIN1M3TWqKb7Oa20Iyrg7ODI07ypR-a1hH1C2VQ0QWW9n8bkriXG1m0yynNQYgk4zFiUpq-sKJ7ayDVokbt0t2hX8OI/s200/IMG01152-20120602-1259.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking for Mr Limpet.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIVsp-ZcmZOKPF-xbtUeoSR98jBjjKxtYfqC1Z2TBCaNXVocvmxndzf4enq3UszU3zuMz2WgXjBTBA4MDFHCFCwMlqiVFn1chNr862uJytHXnkyZ7eHS1WiaU3jx_vDRu0hAuro05ge-8/s1600/IMG01147-20120602-1204.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIVsp-ZcmZOKPF-xbtUeoSR98jBjjKxtYfqC1Z2TBCaNXVocvmxndzf4enq3UszU3zuMz2WgXjBTBA4MDFHCFCwMlqiVFn1chNr862uJytHXnkyZ7eHS1WiaU3jx_vDRu0hAuro05ge-8/s200/IMG01147-20120602-1204.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look out Bill Dance!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrtiP8radjozowjogD26vfdW0ODe8AizeKB5kPkSQcRRCK3jvLLC0XwzIrVnVt9htVDSxhY9DZfRBgy6LvixhiNIqXSsFNmXE_gLNm5ciNXnmvf_Iru52RP3IYD_M1ppNHONt6aeB0PHU/s1600/IMG01158-20120602-1304.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrtiP8radjozowjogD26vfdW0ODe8AizeKB5kPkSQcRRCK3jvLLC0XwzIrVnVt9htVDSxhY9DZfRBgy6LvixhiNIqXSsFNmXE_gLNm5ciNXnmvf_Iru52RP3IYD_M1ppNHONt6aeB0PHU/s320/IMG01158-20120602-1304.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nasty looking character (on the right).</td></tr>
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On the way to the alligators, we checked out the indoor hatchery and saw the tiny baby fish. We saw the big breeder fish, and the hapless goldfish that was destined to become the breeder fish's dinner. The kids wanted to save it but I mentioned the circle of life, and Annalee excitedly recounted a lesson at her school about how energy is transferred, so they didn't start a rally to save the goldfish. The exhibits were really wonderful - it truly was like looking into a cross section of a pond. I wish we had had more time to linger, but Chuck was getting tired of texting back and forth about the sale goats as the bidding was going on. We saw catfish as large as Chip, and brightly colored bream, and we saw the allgator and the snapping turtles! I had told the kids about snapping turtles, but this was their first good look at one. We don't have alligators up where we live, but we do have snapping turtles. I've always said I'll never move any further South because I will not live where there are alligators. The snapping turtles and copperheads we have are quite enough. We hit the gift shop on the way out and heading back over to the Fairgrounds, stuffed snakes in hand.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0RlcGwiDrChkj20JnsmkCbm17n5x_3izP0wordVf0Vr4nR1Qctx-BlI3SXEoqLlFk48kkFFbgtAnR6CPl14Jleszwg7ws29XI0XE2I2XTLh6NpgsT1TKL4KHZQQWobdmAY72ac6cYZvg/s1600/IMG01161-20120602-1340.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0RlcGwiDrChkj20JnsmkCbm17n5x_3izP0wordVf0Vr4nR1Qctx-BlI3SXEoqLlFk48kkFFbgtAnR6CPl14Jleszwg7ws29XI0XE2I2XTLh6NpgsT1TKL4KHZQQWobdmAY72ac6cYZvg/s400/IMG01161-20120602-1340.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">nice buckling in the ring</td></tr>
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<br />
I arrived back at the sale barn as they were auctioning a nice young buckling. The sale itself was, in our opinion, a pretty good one. There were some quality goats there in all denominations - percentage, Purebred, and New Zealand. We spoke after the sale to some folks and we all seem to agree that buyers have an idea what they are after, and are pretty picky about it. Evidence of this at this sale was the fact that a nice Purebred would generally bring more than a fair New Zealand, and nice percentages were often bringing more than average Purebreds, as well. By nice, I mean good bodied, decent legged goats with reasonable udders. I also saw again that if we ever bring goats to sell at one of these sales, we will invest in a little extra feed for them. A goat that is a little thin doesn't bring the bids that a sleeker animal does. Dr Sparks was explaining the value of thin but thrifty does that have just weaned kids a few times, but it didn't seem to open up a lot of pursestrings. There were a few does I wish I had the money to buy that I feel did not bring as much as they were worth (one nice little doe was her farm's high indexing goat and I'd have been happy to have had her, but was just tapped), but we only had a certain amount to spend and, for better or worse, Annalee had fallen in love with a goat and we wanted to try to bid on it for her if any of the budget was left. If it had been a poor looking goat it would have been easy to say no and show her why, but we just told her we would see what happened and set our mental limit. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-IKqH7zQDcF9PeGInCx9xq-DhaUrmqdZrS-HpkHjRkjBkDU6LAvlLabvrhpFskOHwOPP8pbFbNTYfFt6tJSooqIQVykg6CsNTwj3zig80ooUV1Y7NdDixzKFBD5n8PdEvDJzqeMlwvuI/s1600/IMG01118-20120601-1730.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-IKqH7zQDcF9PeGInCx9xq-DhaUrmqdZrS-HpkHjRkjBkDU6LAvlLabvrhpFskOHwOPP8pbFbNTYfFt6tJSooqIQVykg6CsNTwj3zig80ooUV1Y7NdDixzKFBD5n8PdEvDJzqeMlwvuI/s320/IMG01118-20120601-1730.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">two Generator granddaughters, one of which came home with us</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
We had figured the black SDR Nanook Onyx Bear does would go high due to clumps of people hanging around their pen, and also a young doe that was a Sports Kat cross on the top and a Rusty cross on the bottom (because she was the one I wanted). She was one of the ones that looked good on paper but even better in person. There were a lot of fall born does in the sale, and it made me wish again I could get my does to breed in May. There were lots of nice percentage doelings, too - chunky little does that were higher percentage in actuality than their registration indicated. We had some concerns that Annalee's 50%er would sell high because I saw countless kids stop at her pen and just stare dreamily at her. I even saw some teenage boys over there watching her like she was a movie starlet. What is it they say - cute trumps good any day of the week? <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivB1k3ysDwRA5u9_CwfrprsD5htA4P5-NXuyfd5-R_u0vGidvBaDa9xHlN3_emSee2XGvSzS4ra-8uaArDhjnBC38m_CBTCBJ8i0rICo9tMZULC1aiIWM3M4cGsvavi8gknRxCULD6xeQ/s1600/IMG01137-20120601-1941.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivB1k3ysDwRA5u9_CwfrprsD5htA4P5-NXuyfd5-R_u0vGidvBaDa9xHlN3_emSee2XGvSzS4ra-8uaArDhjnBC38m_CBTCBJ8i0rICo9tMZULC1aiIWM3M4cGsvavi8gknRxCULD6xeQ/s320/IMG01137-20120601-1941.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">nice doeling - Sports Kat cross on top, Rusty cross on bottom, and now at our farm</td></tr>
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By the end of the sale, we had come away with two NZ doelings, and three 50% does, one of which was an actual fullblood and the other two that were actually 75%. We get a lot of calls about percentage does and we have nothing to offer, and I figured I wanted to start off ahead with high percentage Kikos as a base for our percentage group. We also got Annalee's very loudly colored goat, although I had leaned over and told her we had hit the limit and I was afraid someone else would be taking her home. It seems it was the other bidders' limit, too, so Annalee got her goat. She was not so thrilled to learn that cleaning her room without grief was how she was going to pay for her goat, but she had named the doe Georgia before we had even left the fairgrounds.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">the stands during the sale</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">our purchases coming to get loaded</td></tr>
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Before we left, we visited with some producers that have become friends, and we met several more for the first time and put names to faces. I bought a couple of bags of high copper minerals because the ones I had ordered never showed up and it turns out the feed store found they are a special order, and in his words, he doubted he'd ever be able to get them in for me. I'm going to try these minerals, and I am also having a forage test done to see just what really is in our forage, and if the high iron in the soil truly makes for high iron (or something else) in the pastures.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Virginia had quite a view for the ride home (other than her brother passed out next to her).</td></tr>
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It was a pretty uneventful ride home, and most of it was during the night. We found one of the precentage does was already getting her head stuck outside the cage in the truck, so we wonder if she is just born to be a pipehead (what Chuck calls the goats who wear pipes across their horns to avoid hanging themselves in the fence). Georgia has a lot of lovely little towns with tangible character and quiet beauty. We went through one small town that was not only the home of the creator of the Uncle Remus tales, but also of Alice Walker. I was incredulous that Chuck had never heard of Uncle Remus, but I had to remind myself he isn't from the South, and he had at least heard of Br'er Rabbit and the Tar Baby. I was as excited to find myself in the birthplace of Alice Walker as a teenage girl is to see Justin Bieber. I love <em>The Color Purple</em>, and Chuck was familiar enough with the movie to understand my giddiness.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Annalee's new goat, "Georgia"</td></tr>
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I was happy to see sale prices all over the place at this sale. There were solid, if young, percentage doelings going for as low as $275, and the top selling goats were over $1200 if I remember correctly. There were lots of bidders, and lots of buyers, as we tried to jot down the winning bidders' numbers for each goat. I like seeing good goats going home with a lot of different people. I think it is good for the breed. I am already planning our trip down to this sale next year, including another trip to the Go Fish Georgia center. We had such a great time, and really enjoyed the very friendly atmosphere, free from drama, with goat friends old and new.generationfarmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11310414333591767207noreply@blogger.com1