'Tis the Season...

We should be able to tell when our does are in season... but... we... can't. At least, not definitively. I mean, there are signs to look for like:

1. Vocalization: Increased vocalization is among the most common behaviors exhibited by a doe in heat. “Calling” and “bleating” is common and may occur for no apparent reason.
2. Tail Flagging: Goats do not usually wag their tail, like a dog. But, frequent tail wagging or “flagging” is common in a doe in heat. Does may also start wagging in response to petting her neck and back.
3. Aggression: A submissive and easy-going doe can be transformed by hormones, leading to fights with other goats. The opposite can also occur during heat; a normally assertive doe may allow other does to act in an aggressive manner toward her, without defending herself.
4. Physical Changes: Vaginal discharge and some redness or swelling in the hind quarters may often be seen in a doe in heat. The discharge can also lead to damp or clumped fur on the tail. If a goat is producing milk, production tapers off significantly during the heat cycle.
5. Mounting: Does may be seen mounting other does when they’re in heat. And, it’s also not uncommon for a doe in heat to allow others to mount her.
6. Unusual Feeding Patterns: It is common for a doe in heat to change her eating habits, exhibiting a distinct lack of interest in food.

And, in time, perhaps we will be experts at this and learn how to track their cycles with any kind of certainty.  For now, we are simply putting our does in with Jedi for 4-6 weeks and hoping that he does his job.

We want Jedi to breed Pepper, Leah, and Rachel this year. Eventually, Asher will be paired with Leah and Rachel, but he is still quite young and though he seems willing to give it a try, Jedi is having nothing of THAT. As far as HE is concerned, "all the does are belong to him". We bought Ruby and Sapphira to breed with Jedi in future years.

Tonight, after checking their weight and overall appearance, the feel of their coats, and the color of their lower eyelids, we decided that Leah and Rachel were ready to attempt to mate. We made the decision that Pepper would wait another few weeks, at least. Though Pepper looked very good on most of the criteria we considered, her eyelids had gotten slightly less red than we want to see them. To be on the safe side, we will give her a 2 ML injection of Ivomec tomorrow and wait a few weeks before attempting to mate her with Jedi. We have read that Ivomec is safe to use on pregnant does on several sites, but since we are at the beginning of the breeding season, we can afford to be overly cautious. It won't hurt anything to wait, so we will.

All this is supposing that she isn't already pregnant between her escapes into Jedi's pasture and his routine visits to the does' stalls. I guess, time will tell! ♥

If the does get pregnant this month (November), we can expect new kids to appear in April. If all 3 does are successfully bred and come full term, we should have between 3 and 8 goat kids for sale this Spring. We can't wait to meet them!

Thanks for visiting tonight,
Sonja ♥

Thank You to YOU!

We have been writing and journaling this blog since May. We have enjoyed chronicling our spring and summer with you; sharing our successes and challenges. Our intent was to invite you into our lives, to meet our family and the animals we care for, who may also provide eggs, cheese, or soap for you.

How could we guage the success of that? One measure was based on the number of visitors to our site. Our goal has been to breach the 2,000 visitor mark in one month. It is with much joy that we have reached that goal this month (October) thanks to the 2,366 virtual visitors to our farm-representing more than 15 countries from Russia to Greece, the Philippines to Malaysia and, of course, dear friends, family, and customers here at home. Thank you all for your interest, your encouraging comments, and your helpful suggestions. Now that we have reached that goal, it is time to set another. Our new hope is to entertain 3,000 visitors in a single month. It is a lofty dream, and one that will take some time to achieve, but worth it.

Another marker is the number of "members" who read this site regularly. We have grown to 32 members- (You are welcome to join this site for free HERE.) What a wonderful beginning! We hope to increase our readership to at least 50 members. If you haven't joined our "regular readers" yet, but you visit us often, what are you waiting for??? We would love to have your company on our journey.

Again, we thank each of you who take the time to check in with us from time to time. Your visits encourage us when the rains come, the llamas rebel, or we lose a chick. Sharing the wonderful births of new fluffy chicks and ducklings and sweet baby kids, exchanging recipes for soap, salsa, and canning goods and sharing a bounty of eggs and produce with you brings us unequaled joy.

Photo Taken By: Beth Rhodes 2009

Thanks for visiting tonight. We hope you'll stop back in soon. ♥

The Twombly Family of Lally Broch Farm

Also shared at: Glued to My Crafts, Social Stack Up Blog Hop.

A Look Through My Eyes

Before the rains and storm arrived, Sean and I spent some time with our herd. Hand feeding treats always ensures us a warm and enthusiastic reception. Thursday, we offered raw broccoli, fresh kale and pine boughs Sean clipped. The broccoli and kale were well received. The pine tree branches... not so much. Maybe in time?

Ellie is making slow, but steady progress back to health. We hope that she returns to her full glory. She is a good goat. They all are- in their own ways- even horrible Jedi. I would not want to imagine a life without them. I still love our dogs. And, I am fond of our chickens and geese. But, our goats hold a special place in my heart.

I was finally able to edit the footage from our Thursday afternoon visit. It is not always easy to clip and splice 10 minutes of video to fit 4 minutes of song. As I was sorting through it all, I could not help, but think about how much I love this life. Warm and tender feelings spread through my chest, squeezing my heart tight in their wake. How can I express how thankful I feel- to have found a husband who shares my love of our God, the calling interred in my bones to work hard caring for animals and building together the life we want to live, and finds joy in the journey. Our children may not always appreciate the work it takes to create the life we want for them, (especially when it comes to mucking stalls!) but I think that in time, they will. And, the skills and lessons they are learning, whether they choose to incorporate our dream into their future or start a new dream of their own, will serve them well.

 I hope you enjoy this "Look Through My Eyes."

 

Thanks for visiting with us tonight.

Sean and Sonja ♥

Also shared with Tilly's Nest Blog Hop #9, Farm Chick Chit Chat, & Farm Girl Friday Blog Fest & Farm House Style Blog Hop. Check them out! I guarantee you'll find lots of interesting articles, recipes, crafts, and stories. ♥

Barn Building Part 4: Hurricane Sandy Preparation

Hurricane Sandy is due to make her appearance in Maine later this afternoon. By the time she comes this way, we are anticipating winds and rain, but nothing like what the folks in the lower coast are facing. I hope that everyone took precautions to evacuate and stay safe. My prayers have certainly been filled with thoughts for their safety.



Around here, there has been a flurry of activity preparing, just in case. Sean and I spent the day on Saturday building a retaining wall from an 8 inch square wooden beam (gifted to us) a little over 2 feet past where the front wall of the tack room sits. We back-filled a 10 foot square area, 8 inches deep with dirt, rocks, and gravel.

  

Previous build. Notice 8 inch drop
on front left side of building. Not good.

Fixed corner.

Once this was level, we reinstalled the 2 walls that were previously crooked, nice and level (READ POST HERE) and started putting on the rafter supports for the second story.  Originally we thought we could get away with using 2x4's for this job, but with the combined weight of the hay we'll be storing up there next year and the roof, we are going to need to frame this out with 2x6's instead... and, next Spring, we will. As we have written about in the past, this is a "build-as-we-go" project. For this year, we are proud to complete: framing the entire downstairs of the 20x30 building, sheathing the first floor interior and exterior walls, installing 4 windows, building floating wood floors, and securing a flat plywood roof covered with tarp.

Come Spring, we'll focus on removing the temporary 2x4's and replacing them with 2x6's, rescrewing the plywood flooring, framing the second story and roofing and sheathing this. The goal is to have the barn exterior complete by next winter. We spent $110 on a dump truck of dirt/gravel and nearly another $100 on 2x4's. These expenses bring the current total cost for the project (out of pocket) to $799 for materials, well over our original hope of keeping it within $750. READ POST HERE -Silly Us!

By Saturday evening, we had the walls back in place and secure. Much better!

 

 Sunday, we all spent time, digging out the horse stall and refilling it with a new bed of 8 inches of soft dirt. Caitlin and I shoveled dirt into buckets, Sean and Justin dumped the buckets into the stall, and Kristen and Meaghan sifted out any large rocks that had the potential to get caught in Jasmine's hooves. I love all working together and fixing a problem in less than an hour that took all Summer to create. What happened was Jasmine's 10x10 stall already had a slight dip to the ground. Over the Summer as it rained, water would pool in the depression, causing a horrible mess. The more we mucked the stall, the more dirt was removed because it was muddy and nasty, which then made the problem worse with each new rain storm. No good! It rained last night and the new floor held up beautifully; no puddle, no mess. The real test will be what the floor looks like after Hurricane Sandy passes.

By Monday morning, the roofing supports had been secured and a blue tarp screwed into place to help keep the stalls dry. Sean and I are planning a "Stay-cation" the week of November 12th. Rain or shine, this building will be as ready as it is going to be before winter comes. Still lots left to do, but we are really pleased with the dent we have made in finishing it.

And, what were the goats up to while all this was going on? See for yourselves:

Eating, of course!

Thanks for visiting today.
Sean & Sonja ♥

Buster Brown

Buster is not stupid. What is a dog to do when the weather turns from 70 degrees to 50 degrees? Grab a blanket off the couch, find a warm patch of sun, and settle in. He looks rather satisfied with his clever arrangement of things, doesn't he?

Sonja ♥

P.S. We have been workng on the barn over the weekend and got quite a lot done on it. So much that while I took pictures and video, posting about it was beyond the strength left in me. We also spent some time playing with the goats in the back yard. I will try to write and post about these later tonight. Stay tuned. :)

Today In Pictures

Sean and I snapped some photographs of the chickens and goats this afternoon at snack time. We generally feed and water the animals all in the morning. Around noon, Sean or I bring the goats more hay and check the water containers. In the early evening, we bring fruits, veggies, or other treats and refill any water containers that need it. My favorite time of the day is spending that time with each other and checking everyone over. Because we rarely come empty handed (and like our daughters after school, they ALWAYS think they are starving), we are always greeted like a favored member of the family missing for years. This afternoon's treats included 2 small 8 inch pumpkins and 5 pounds of broccoli flowerettes and stems.

The latest chicks joined the flock today.

Sebastian and his pumpkin.





Sitting was not going to work!

Ruby, Sapphira, and Pepper prefer their hay to pumpkin.



Ellie was too happy to have the pumpkin left all to herself.



Everyone was interested in trying their broccoli,
but Ellie remembered what this was and ate hers with
a voracious appetite.

 

Thanks for visiting today!

Sean and Sonja ♥

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Finally, Sunny Day...

On Saturday evening, the weather finally broke from the torrential rain storms we'd been having and rewarded our patience with the first of several 60-65 degree days. (I had been seriously considering remodeling the barn we've been building into an ark.) No one was as relieved as we were when the rain stopped save, perhaps, the farm animals who don't particularly enjoy swimming night and day. The only ones happy in the non-stop rain were the ducks and geese, who seemed confused by everyone else's distaste and increasingly bitter moods.

The break in weather, coupled with Ellie's steady improvements, meant it was time for Miss Ellie to return to her home and herd. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one side, I do not appreciate the overall aux-de-goat fragrance wafting from my basement. On the other side, having Ellie close made checking on her frequently and monitoring her health convenient. Sean and I had agreed, though, that it was time for Ellie to rejoin her herd.

Before moving her back, Sean and I gave both goat stalls in the barn a thorough cleaning. A week of heavy rains had done nothing to help the cleanliness of the stalls- these were smeared with soggy shavings and bedding- and amplified the muddy state of their fields- yuck! We took time to inspect the rest of the herd for any signs of illness. We piled an extra bale of hay into the does' feeders. And, we gave both Abigail and Asher 1 ML injections of Ivomec, since they were due for one.

While Sean and I were contending with the cleaning of the stall, Miss Meaghan very helpfully played with the does in the front yard for a couple of hours. The girls enjoyed eating the Mums planted on the front deck, browsing for stray unpicked peppers, and dandelions with their bitter greens in the grass. They seemed to make a game of wandering off farther than Meaghan liked, causing her to run after them. I couldn't help capture a clip to share with you.




Ellie passed Monday without incident. And, she looked steady today when Caitlin and I spent some time visiting the goats.  In fact, the only goat causing real trouble at the moment is Master Jedi who insists on escaping his stall and spending time with the girls- against our wishes. Sean returned him to his own stall again at lunch today! He is just too good at being bad! It looks like it is going to be a looooong breeding season!

Thanks for visiting with us today!
Sonja ♥