And *THAT* was November...

I cannot believe how quickly time feels to be passing. It is almost as if I can watch it lay spent; little minutes and hours, used, mingled with torn out days from a calendar all in a jumbled pile on the floor. Perhaps it is only because we had (and still have) so much to do this past month preparing for winter and shows. Perhaps it is only that it is already 9 pm and tomorrow's morning comes much too early for me. To be completely frank, part of my lack of posting lately is that I am so busy living our life, working the farm, and growing our business, I have no energy to spend the time necessary writing about it. For the first time in many years, I stopped journaling; stopped the nightly ritual of writing that orders my mind for rest. Whatever the cause, I have been sorely remiss in posting for us. This is a deficiency I hope to amend.

At the end of October, we hosted our first Open Farm Day. Some 52 guests visited with us for the day. We prepared for 100 people not knowing how our advertising had been received. We were pleased to have as many guests as we did. Sean demonstrated how to milk a dairy goat for interested ones; some bravely tried their hand at it. I showed a small group how to make our goat's milk soap from scratch and then assisted anyone who wanted to make soap samples to bring home for themselves. My sister, Kelli, spun fiber into yarn on a hand spindle and spinning wheel for interested spectators. My favorite part of the day was answering questions and sharing how we keep our flocks and herds here on the homestead. Sean thoroughly enjoyed helping people to make apple cider with the borrowed, antique, hand-cranked apple press, aching arm muscles and all.

   

Before our "Farm Day", Sean and I gleaned as many apple trees as we could find from willing neighbors and abandoned fields (with permisson, of course). We picked Macintosh, Granny Smiths, Wolf River, Red Delicious, and tart yellow apples. When mixed, these made the most delicious apple cider- 10 gallons for me to freeze and preserve for our family's winter use and 10 additional gallons to age in carboys until they became hard cider perfection.

With winter fast approaching, there has also been wood to prepare for ourselves and friends. One Sunday afternoon was spent assisting with the cutting and stacking of several cords of wood with friends. Bringing in wood is no easy task, but it is better accomplished with friends.

Our own wood situation is a bit of a concern. We mitigate our need for heating as much as humanly possible. The heat does not come on until November 1st and goes off again in March. We keep the house in the 60's when it is just ourselves at home and dress in sweaters and warm socks. With careful husbandry, we get along with using just a few cords of wood each season. But, with all the other demands on our time; running the farm and preparing for and attending craft fairs and art markets, we are really behind in getting ourselves ready for this year's cold. The meager two week supply of wood living in the barn makes procuring wood, splitting, and stacking it a real priority.

At the beginning of the month, we met a reporter from our local Bangor Daily News newspaper named Brian Swartz. Brian visited us early one morning and interviewed Sean and I for a story about our Mosaic Eggshell Jewelry line. There is a saying that says, "There's no such thing as bad publicity." Good publicity is even better. Brian's positive article was published a few days ago (Read it Here) and immediately resulted in us getting several new orders from our Etsy shop and FB page. How exciting!

We've attended craft fairs or art markets every Saturday for the past 2 months and have been mostly well received. The craft fair at the Airport Mall is a two-day event; Friday from 9 am to 8 pm and Saturday from 9 am to 4 pm. We enjoy meeting new friends and displaying our products, but it makes for very long days for us. If you are local and are interested in seeing our wares in person, we've signed up to be at the Airport Mall again December 13-14 and December 20-21. These will be our final craft events of the year. In addition to participating in these other venues, I arranged and hosted an Art Market to help support my mother's fight with breast cancer. A talented group of 19 local artisans and I were able to raise more than $800 to help her with on-going medical bills.

With all the events we've attended, we have been creating jewelry as fast as our little hands can!

In between all these demands on our time, Sean and I stole a day to drive North to Littleton, Maine to visit our friend, Carla at her growing dairy farm. Our mission to pick up the last addition to our goat farm for the year, a lovely Lamancha doeling named Classy was successful. She is a sweet tempered lass to be sure. There was a bit of transitioning for her to be accepted into the herd, but after about a week or sorting who was who, Ellie, Delilah and Classy have all become fast friends. She and Asher will make such beautiful kids in the years to come.

The final touch on our barn project for this year was building and installing three doors; one between the buck's stall and their field, another between the doe's stall and their field and the last between the horse's stall and her field. The weather dropped into the teens with wind chills reaching the negative digits, just in time for it to be as miserably cold as possible for us to complete this last project. We could not wait or put it off, not with the cold expected to last and the wind whipping directly into the opened stalls. My legs stopped feeling the cold after about an hour's time into our work. It was miserable work made more so by frozen fingers, clumsy and numb, but it had to be done. It took us nearly 5 hours in the frigid cold to complete, but once finished, the barn was snug and cozy and its occupants are as safe as we can make them for the winter ahead.

Even dressed in layers and warming up inside by the wood stove periodically, I still managed to get a mild case of frostbite. When we finished and went inside for the night, I changed into warm, comfy pj pants. My legs and feet were bright red- like the color of a cooked lobster and ice cold to the touch. My youngest, Meg, helpfully drew a warm foot soak, but I could only stand to have my feet in it for a few seconds- it felt like sharp little icy needles were stabbing me all over. It took a couple hours to thaw out, but I eventually did with no lasting harm. I have a pretty good pain tolerance, but I have never felt like that before and hopefully never will again!

Sean took some time this weekend to put in more green metal posts to secure the buck field from Asher's repeated escape attempts and freed him from his "time out" lock down in the milk room. It also allowed us space to build a temporary pen for Ebony in the barn. It is much handier to have all the critters housed in the barn once the snow flies instead of having to dig paths into the back yard to get food and water to them morning and night. Having these things finished feels good and with the exception of our wood, puts us in good standing for winter to come.

So far, Ebony seems to be pleased with her new digs. What they lack in size is made up for in warmth. Charles and Simon (our barn roosters) and their small flock of hens visit her when there is food to be stolen and have taken to roosting along Ebony's 2x6 pen boards at night. Our Miss Piggy has not been used to waking early in the morning to a chorus of crowing 2 feet from her head nor to the clanging of milk pails and the bleating of goats being milked, but seems good-natured about the change. She issues a disgruntled grunt or two from under her mound of hay and then resumes her snoring. The addition to Ebony in the milk room gives the does pause each morning when they take their stands. They stop short and eye her snoring mound of hay suspiciously but grain in their buckets coaxes them to take their places and milking resumes uninterrupted.

So, that is where we are and what we've been doing. Things are moving along as they do. We are getting prepared for winter, slower than we'd like, but steadily improving matters. For the first time ever, I am looking forward to snow- if only for the quieter pace of less to do in gardens, in the barn, and selling our wares. A rest of sorts before Spring returns and with it a flurry of new activity.

I hope this post finds you all healthy, wealthy, and wise. ♥ Thanks for visiting with us today.
Sean and Sonja ♥

Open Farm Day 2013

You are Invited. 

Our first year of homesteading is coming to a close as the end of the year approaches. Before blankets of snow tuck everyone and everything in for the winter, we want to celebrate our first year with neighbors, family, and friends. What better way to do that than by sharing our homestead with you?

9 AM Goat Milking Demonstration: We'll hold off on our morning dairy goat milking until 9 am. Ruby and Jane will take the milk stands first. Followed by Leah and Rachel. Get a first hand view of how to milk a goat doe from start to finish. We'll share how everything from washing our does udders to straining the milk. Try your hand at milking if you want to.

12 NOON Goat's Milk Soap Demonstration: Join Sonja in the kitchen for a live demonstration of making a basic goat's milk soap recipe. Our Lally Broch Farm Goat's Milk Soap needs to cure for 4-6 weeks to complete the saponification process. But, don't worry! Sonja prepared for your visit by making some unscented goat's milk soap in advance. From noon to 4 pm, visitors can melt the pre-made soap, add their favorite essential oil combination, and bring home a 1.5 oz soap sample of their very own creation.

11 AM & 2 PM Fiber Demonstration: Join local "Treadle and Threads" fiber artist, Kelli Bucklin in a live fiber spinning demonstration. She'll show you how to clean, card and spin fleece. If time allows, Kelli will set up her spinning wheel and weaving loom and demonstrate how they work.

11 AM- 4:30 PM Cider Pressing: Bring your apples and your own containers to our homestead and use our hand-cranked cider press to make up to 2 gallons of apple cider for free. Or, if you prefer, you can purchase apples from local orchards from us to eat or press into cider for a small fee.

Kids' Activities All Day: 

Petting Area and Farm Animal Viewing: Kids may be able to pet young chicks, ducklings, and goat kids in our petting area. They can visit the pastures to see our retired Quarter Horse, Jasmine and friendly goat does browsing. This is rutting season, so though our bucks are friendly, touching them would not be a good experience! But, you can certainly watch them in their pasture, climbing on logs, head-butting, and maybe you'll even catch them trying to convince a doe that they are irresistible! Watch the turkeys in their yard. Throw some bread or scratch to the chickens, ducks, and geese. Check out the new Guinea fowl. Visit Ebony, our Vietnamese Pot-belly Piggy. And, be sure to stop by to see our the bunnies in the barn.

Face Painting: Free

Games: Try to catch an apple suspended on a string. Play a game of bean bag toss.

Farm Stand and Gift Shop Open 9 am - 5 pm.

We strongly recommend rubber boots or comfortable shoes and warm clothes for your visit. This is a homestead with farm animals. As cute as farm animals can be, animals poop... a lot... unexpectedly. Please, keep this in mind. Also, though we anticipate your visit will be full of great memories for you, farming and homesteads carry inherent risk. Animals, even "friendly" ones can injure people and carry germs. By visiting our farm/homestead, you are assuming those risks 100% for yourself and those you bring with you. 

Directions to Lally Broch Farm

We are very excited about sharing our homestead with you. This is our first year and there is so much to do before this homestead becomes the farm Sean and I are dreaming of, but this is a celebration of where we are and what has been accomplished this year.

Thanks for visiting, Friends. We hope to see you soon. ♥
Sonja

Goaties, Keets, & Ducks... Oh My!

I never thought I would feel this way, but I kind of miss the winter. Not the mounds of snow that have to be removed, certainly, but the "down" time. The quiet. Days snuggled in with a warm fire in the woodstove and the snippets of the sounds of my family around me in various rooms going about their days. I am certain that when winter comes to Maine, I will have forgotten wanting its quiet. But, right now, when we are so busy preparing for it and finishing all the last details of farming this year, it doesn't sound so bad.

When you are busy time seems to fly by.  At the same time, there never seems to be enough of it. Summer has ended. The Twomblys of North Carolina have returned home. We enjoyed a final showing at the Belfast Art Market. The barn is mostly complete save the doors, filling the hay loft, building larger pens for the bunnies to spend their winter, and building the kidding stalls. Oh, and there is the repair work that now needs to be done thanks to our randy buck, Asher.

This is what happens when an 18 month old goes into his first true "rut" and is desperate to get to some does- any does. That used to be a solid wall sheathed in 1/2 inch OSB.

In addition to these necessary Autumn chores, we also need to get our wood split and stacked and spend some time preparing for our first ever "Open Farm Day". We are tentatively planning to host it on October 26, 2013 from 9am-5pm. I will finalize the date and post a schedule of activities early next week, so be sure to check back.

In the meantime, I polled our farm's Facebook friends about what they would like to see posted. Unfortunately, somehow, I lost the footage of the hen laying an egg. So, for those of you that voted for that option, you'll have to wait a little longer to see that up close and personal. For you others that wanted guinea fowl, ducks, and goats, here you go.

First, a visit with our wayward goat does:


And, then video and footage of the growing Guineas:



We purchased our Guinea Fowl locally in Montville, Maine from Shelagh Delphyne . She has great, healthy stock and I can't recommend her highly enough. Shelagh breeds several varieties of Guinea Fowl. She is very knowledgeable and is quick to share her experience with new Guinea Fowl keepers.  Shelagh, after seeing some pictures we posted on our Facebook page, was also kind enough to point out that wood shavings as bedding can be a problem for Guinea keets. Since I use pine shavings for almost all our littles, I wanted to look into that. Sure enough, I found several sites, such as this- Maguire Farm- warning against using wood shavings since the keets might get confused and attempt to eat them. The information I found at Guinea Fowl International suggested not using wood shavings on keets less than a week old.

Here at Lally Broch Farm, we used shelf liner paper for the keets for the first week or so. Then, we switched over to the pine shavings. We had no issues with our keets using the pine shavings, but I think it is important that new keepers (such as us) are informed of potential hazards. I have seen our keets scratch and peck around in the shavings, but thankfully, ours did not seem inclined to eat any of it.

So, that is what has been happening around here. We are very excited to host an official "Open Farm" Day and hope that we will entertain many friends and new friends that day. If you are interested in coming out for a visit, be sure to check back for a detailed schedule and information.

Thanks for visiting today, Friends. ♥
Sonja ♥

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Barn Building 2013: Video

Here it is, the video of all the barn building work that happened at the homestead over the summer.



You know our philosophy of only building as we can afford to, of not putting ourselves into debt. Well, I confess we adapted- just a bitsy. We did end up needing a small loan to finish our work for the year. And, there are Pros and Cons to this. On the Pro side: we are living like it is 2016, the barn is soooo ahead of schedule. This frees our time and minds to work on smaller projects, no less important; like expanding the turkey yard and getting the gardens put to bed for the winter, ready for the new Spring. I love driving into the yard and seeing that "Big 'Ole Barn" waiting for me, knowing all the goats have good shelter for the winter to come. I imagine the loft filled with sweet smelling hay. In the Con column: we have an outstanding loan and owe nearly $2,000 for barn materials. Over the last 2 years, we built a solid 20x30, two-story, metal roofed barn, all told, for about $5,000. Could we have done it for less? Of course. But, doing so would have taken a couple more years for us to find all the dirt cheap or donated supplies we needed. Consider the time involved finding and obtaining those supplies and the work involved making them ready for use. Consider the yard space needed to store the supplies until we had enough on hand to continue the work. In the meantime, the barn would have been usable, but it would have leaked some, not be nearly as nice to gaze upon and it probably would not have been so solidly put together. I think we made the right choice. We reused everything we could, accepted donations of windows (Thank you, Ryan & Kimmy and Brad & Debbie!) and Typar (Thanks, Dad!) and purchased new where we needed.

We still need to finish building the doors between the stalls and pasture and upstairs in the hay loft. We need to finish wrapping in Typar to protect the OSB from the weather. And, those things will be done this year.

Next year, when the weather breaks, we'll begin the work of siding the barn permanently and painting it. Barn Red, of course.

I have to say how appreciative we are for our family's support and help and that of our friends. Daddy Dale was here most days working on the barn, with Sean or I, or alone. Momma Twombly made some fantastic meals for us, took on shipping out the jewelry ordered from out-of-state this summer, and helped me at the Belfast Art Market each Friday. Justin and Caitlin pitched in to lend a hand on projects or around the homestead. Kristen and Meaghan helped with keeping the house tidy. Sonja's Dad, John donated the Typar to finish wrapping the barn. Ryan and Kimmy donated the new windows for the kidding stall area. Brad and Debbie donated the new upstairs windows. Keith and Nancy loaned us their ladders. Uncle Alan loaned us his nail gun. The list is pretty extensive and I apologize if I have overlooked anyone. We appreciate all of your kindness and support. ♥

Thanks for visiting today, friends. See you soon!
Sonja ♥

Naomi Joins the Herd

One of the services Sean and I provide is that of a "goat school" for some of our neighbors, newer to keeping goats and full of the same questions Sean and I had when we began. For a flat fee (based on the number of goats in the herd) Sean and I call on our students at their homesteads at the beginning of each month. During our visit, we show our students how to check over their goats for potential issues. We look at the goat's weight, posture, postern, hooves, eyelid color, coat, etc. We discuss things like; how much and what kind of feed to provide, how often to worm, and how and when to trim hooves. We help our students to get used to keeping good records about the health of their herd. Depending on what topic is of interest during the visit, we print out reference sheets from reputable internet sources for our students to add to their "farm binder".

Our goal is for our students to feel more comfortable in providing routine care for their herd, which can mean a healthier herd. Of course, since neither Sean nor I are veterinary doctors and do not pretend to know everything there is to know about goats, we always refer our students to a licensed, reputable Vet if a medical need arises. But, the reality is many homesteaders and hobby farmers treat routine issues without calling on the services of their Vet: things like, worming, trimming hooves, treating mild cases of scouring, kidding, and the like. We learned from trial and error, asking advice from other goat keepers, and lots and lots of research when things cropped up over the years. I remember vividly the panic I felt the first time Leah began scouring and I didn't know what to do. Scouring is still a serious concern to be addressed, but how much more comfortable I am in my knowledge of how to treat it now!

It was on such a visit earlier this month that we met the little Nigerian Dwarf doe that would come home with us for Zacchaeus (when he gets bigger). Originally, our only plan for Zacchaeus was to employ him as our farm's embassador, as cute, good-natured and small as he is. But, after looking over our student's newly acquired (and soon to be sold) herd of 6 Nigerian Dwarf goats, I had an epiphany: the lovely red doe was 2 years old and was supposed to be about 2 1/2 months pregnant. Neither she nor any potential doelings would be related to Zacchaeus. Best case scenario, little red would have at least one doe kid which would give us two Nigerian Dwarf does available for breeding in coming years. Worst case scenario, little red was not pregnant, but she could be bred to Zacchaeus next year and we'd have additional milk and kids to sell. With these thoughts in mind, we made an offer for her.

Now, you may be wondering why someone would acquire goats and then immediately sell them. Basically, our student had it in mind to keep Nigerian Dwarfs. The breed is popular for many reasons, among them: they remain small, eat less than full sized breeds, have delicious milk, and are often good tempered. This group of Nigerians were lovely, small, and probably would have delicious milk, but they were not friendly with other goats. In fact, though nearly half the size of their full-sized compatriots, these Nigerian Dwarfs had no problem violently ramming the others often and without provocation. After a week of this and in fear of damage to their other goats, our student found them a new home without any other goats to bother. 

And now, you may be wondering, why on Earth would you want one of these goats in our herd of docile and loveable goats. Well, here was my thinking on that. Adding a single goat to a herd is not usually recommended. Herds have a dominance order, like most animals and they establish this order with verbal cues and by feigning head butting and if that doesn't get the message across, actual ramming. It is usually better to add new goats in pairs because many people (us included) believe that the newer goats get accepted better into the herd that way. No one goat is being picked on overmuch when there are two new ones added and the new goats have each other to hang with and snuggle at night. Adding a single goat who thinks she is dominant into a herd of goats who have a differing opinion can go one of two ways. Either the dominant thinking goat is right and she shows all the other goats that immediately and they usually settle in. Or, the dominant thinking goat is wrong and she finds out that the rest of the herd won't stand for the bad behavior. In either of these cases, the new doe is accepted into the herd within a little time. Now, sometimes, the dominant goat never learns and actual fighting breaks out within the herd. In cases like this, we feel it is best to remove the aggressive doe for everyone's safety. Since our student was not selling the other Nigerians until the end of the week, we took the red home on a trial basis, hopeful that she would settle in.

 

And, that is what happened. We named little red, "Naomi."



Naomi (2 years old and full grown) with Keren (born March 2013)
They are very nearly the same size.

The first night, we decided to introduce Naomi to the doe kids because they were currently the same size and in our experience kids seem to be more accepting of new additions and changes to their routine. A little sniffing of each other, a feigned head butting from Naomi and everyone went back to their resting places to chew their cud and/or sleep. It was quite uneventful, really.

In the morning, after we milked the does and fed everyone, we let the kids and Miss Naomi into the main pasture. The older does nosed about the new addition. Some of them went on alert with their tails straight up, but within a few minutes, it was business as usual in the yard. Sean left for work and I kept watch on the does for a while, but other than their normal romping, eating, and playing, there was nothing to be concerned about.



Naomi sunning herself in the front pasture. The fencing to the wooded back
pasture is open, but the goats generally remain in the front in the morning and
then, in the heat of the afternoon, retire to browse the shrubs and trees.

And, so Naomi has joined us at the farm. It is difficult for us to tell if she is pregnant or not, but we'll start looking for the signs of kidding in November. I prefer to kid in the spring, but I am not entirely displeased at the thought of a new 2 pound baby to love. ♥

Thanks for visiting today, Friends. I am sure glad you came.
Sonja ♥

Barn Building: Part 6 The 2nd Story and Roof!

Wow. Someone is building a Big Ole' Barn. And, it is just that. Big. Wonderfully large and roomy with stalls for the critters, a milking room for me, and wood storage for Sean. I preparation for this post, I took a little time to review the progress we are making and all I can say is, "Wow."

Part One April 2012
Part Two April 2012
Part Three October 2012
Part Four October 2012
Part Five November 2012

Leveling the barn in the fall of 2012. Can you spot Ellie? 

Jedi checking the work.

Before we could continue building the 2nd story of the barn, our foundation had settled over the winter and needed leveling again, badly. Gravel was delivered and Sean and Daddy Dale began the delicate balancing act of raising the front wall about 8 inches. Jacking the barn into position was time consuming, especially when you add a nosey buck into the mix. Jedi kept a close eye on what was happening- ready to step in should the need arise.

Once the first floor was properly level, new 2x6 floor supports were installed and CDX laid. Then, it was time to frame the 4 foot kick wall.

 

After Daddy Dale installed the kick wall, Sean and he began assembling the gambrel roof trusses. Our plans called for securing the trusses together at the proper angle with gussets. That was the easy part. Attaching them to the ridge board became a 5 person job. Caitlin, Justin and I all pitched in to help steady and hold beams in place as Daddy Dale directed things while he and Sean nailed it all together.

 

 Since the roof is 16 feet above the second story floor, the step ladder did not cut it. Undeterred, Daddy Dale came up with a creative solution. He screwed two 8 foot pallets together top and bottom into a make-shift ladder, dubbed "The Widow Maker."

The first section of the ridge beam and trusses in place.

A quick break for a cool drink and it is back to work. Justin and Sean hold the beam in place at both ends while Daddy Dale uses the nail gun to secure each 2x6.

 When we framed, sheathed, and temporarily roofed the barn for winter last year, we used screws to fasten everything. It was much faster than the alternative of hammering nails. What a blessing it is to have borrowed Uncle Alan's nail gun for this phase of the building. I confess, I was a little worried about someone getting a nail shot where it shouldn't. That fear aside, using the nail gun saved us sooooo much time.

Thank you, Uncle Alan!

It took a little longer than the men hoped it would to complete the roof truss installation, but by the end of the week, they were all in place and ready for the 2x4 strapping that would support the brand new metal roof. And, that is the next step.

Daddy Dale and I ordered the metal roofing material from Crescent Lumber yesterday. Not only did they have the best price, but they are a local, family-owned lumber company. They create the metal roofing themselves in 16 colors and deliver for free! Can't go wrong with that.

I cannot express how happy I am to have the roofing scheduled to be completed this weekend. I know the goats and Jasmine will appreciate it, too. With the  protective tarp removed while we frame, the stalls are getting more wet than is comfortable for any of us any time it rains.

I have been trying to catch up on this summer's happenings, but it has been slow going on the writing end. I have some upcoming posts about more ducklings hatching, getting our guinea fowl, updates on our turkeys, and more goat happenings. Thank you for your patience as I sort through all of the video and pictures. :) I appreciate it.

I am glad you stopped in for a visit with us. We love your company and comments.
Sonja ♥

Our Anniversary Gift ♥

For our 5th wedding anniversary at the beginning of August, Sean and I discussed how we wanted to celebrate. We tossed about going to the Highland Games in NH for the weekend. (I am Scots <clan Murray> and in previous years (17 of them) the games had been almost a pilgrimage of sorts, so this idea had much appeal). Reason prevailed though. With our barn in mid-construction mode and Sean's Daddy only here a few more weeks, an overnight trip was out of the question. The games would be a miss this year. So, that left us the usual options of (1) dinner and a movie or (2) a nice day trip somewhere. . . The day trip won out when we found an ad in the Uncle Henry's for ADGA Lamancha doelings living in Littleton, Maine (about 3 hours north of us).

Honey (in front)  and Delilah (in back)

Jackpot, their sire sports a
magnificent beard.

At their small and growing family farm, Udderly Blessed Goat Dairy & Homestead, we met Carla Hamilton and her family, and fell in love with her sweet herd of well cared for, friendly Lamancha goats. We met and played with all the doe kids birthed on the farm and then, met the does that birthed them and Jackpot, Carla's Lamancha buck. Many factors were involved in our decision, but meeting the sire and dams of the kids sealed it for us. Delilah and Honey were to be ours. I am very excited about adding these particular does to our herd. Friendliness counts for a lot, but so does production and breeding. If these doelings produce anywhere near the 5-7 pounds of milk their Mommas do, we will be swimming in fresh milk before too long. Side note: Sean nor I had never seen does with udders the size of these! These ladies made Ellie look small and she is a solid lass. I cannot wait to see how their kids do when their time comes for breeding and milking. ♥

The trip home was uneventful. We settled the doelings into a clean and empty stall and spent some time watching them investigate their new home.

Delilah has fuzzy pants! How cute is that?

We always recommend quarantine for new animals added to a farm and we follow that rule ourselves, usually. Despite that, we decided to introduce the doelings to our kids the next morning. To be candid, it was easier to have all the littles in one place. But, more importantly to our convenience, we were satisfied that these doelings came from a clean, closed herd recently tested negative of Johne's Disease, Caprine arthritic Encephelitis (CAE), and Caseous Lymphadenitis (CL). We introduced Honey and Delilah to our herd in the woods. After dropping a bunch of tall branches full of green leaves, we coaxed the doelings to follow us into the woods to meet the rest of the herd. Everyone was too busy munching on leaves to pay the newcomers much heed.

"Hey! Who is THAT?"

Honey ♥

Honey and Delilah are quite people friendly, but this "meeting new goats thing" was a whole new situation, so they mainly stayed with Sean and I, keeping an interested eye on the others. And, that was that. The kids born on the farm accepted the new does with a sniff and some playful romping. That night, they all piled together and slept in the kidding stall without complaint. The older does, protective of their young, will occasionally dole out a token push, but the doelings move out of their way, good naturedly. Delilah follows me around and either stands between my feet or with her head leaned on the back of my thigh. Honey is Sean's girl. She is a little skittish of the petting and loves, but she wants to be right with you- wherever you are and under your feet, if that can be managed.

We are so happy with this addition to our growing farm and have big plans for the future. This fall/winter breeding season is all about the Lamanchas. We plan on finding the perfect fella to breed Ellie for her final year. After this, Ellie will be retired and live out the rest of her days on our farm. We'll keep one of Ellie's doe kids (if she has a doe) to take her place in the milk room. Ellie's daughter, Abigail, now 18 months old, will be bred this year for the first time and we are hopeful for some fantastic kids from her. Joining Ellie and Abigail in breeding this year are Leah and Jane. Leah is scheduled for breeding again this year because we need to get her on the right breeding cycle.

Next year, it will be all about the Oberhausli line. Ruby, Salome, Hadassah, Keren, and Rachel will all be bred. Our goal is to have 6 goat does in milk each year; one year Lamanchas, the next Oberhauslis. We are on our way!

Thanks for visiting today, Friends. I am glad you stopped by.
Sonja ♥

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