Alba's birth and a mantra for milking a goat

We made it through another successful kidding season. The does are reaching peak production and the kitchen is full with the sounds of sudsy water sloshing and the gentle rattle of glass bottles boiling for most of the morning.

This year our Sannen does were bred to a mini LaMancha. For most of the herd white coat and gopher ears were dominant.

Our girl, Alba, had a surprise for us. She was the last to kid and had two mostly black bucklings. She is the only doe with wattles, so I’m curious if this had something to do with the genetic roll of the dice.

Here she is in early labor with gentle contractions.

These get more forceful over the next fifteen minutes.

The does like to have us close while they're in labor. They occasionally reach over to lick us on the cheek between contractions.

This year my older daughter was able to help more. She now has a basic understanding of the birthing process. This knowledge applies to most mammals, so she's ready to help in a variety of situations.

If you would like to see a more detailed account of kidding look here.

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After we clear the airways and help dry the kids, we observe as they struggle to get on their feet. In my experience, this usually happens within 20 minutes. The doe coaxes them toward the teat and we watch to make sure they get to the colostrum. This is important and we’ll have to step in and help if it doesn’t happen quickly enough.

The new babies spend the day bonding with their mom in this smaller kidding pen. The next day they join the herd. Within 24 hours they are frisking around with the rest of the kids.

During these busy days, I writepaintsculpt in my head. I’ve gotten pretty good at making detailed “notes” as I milk and feed....trim hooves... I call on them later in the afternoon when I have some time in my workspace. Following the natural rhythms around me has been a lesson in how I create. I am able to honor parts of the process that are valuable, but often get overlooked. I’m more patient (a little more) and I settle down through daily tasks. My mantra is: there is an abundance of time for the things that are important. If I bring a nervous energy to the milking stand, I’ll get a kicked bucket in my lap. It has happened.

The Zen of milking a goat.

welcome 2013

Happy New Year!

2012 was packed with new experiences. The sculptures had their first solo show, Tangelo Studio work beat me to countries on my bucket list (especially that Little White Horse - he gets around) and the farm began supplying families with food. The children were able to experience the full cycle of breeding, birthing, and milking the goats. Their experience went from farm animals as pets, to experiencing the full spectrum of farm life. We lost a couple prized animals, nursed wounds, carried water, walked a mile in the snow with feed bags, and chopped wood. In every difficult situation there was the knowledge that these domesticated animals depend on us. They have no choice but to do their job, and not following through on our commitment was never an option.

We were constantly searching out information, planning, and reconsidering between a dawn and evening milking. There were quite a few times when big A and I looked at each other a couple days after completing a project and realized we should have done it differently. Like I said, a year of learning.

Having dairy goats is a life altering experience. They will push you, even if you're tired. One of my biggest accomplishments of 2012 was milking those goats. For a girl who enjoys her sleep it was an exercise in surrender. I often thought as I sat down beside a doe and gently washed her udder, that every dairy goat deserves to be milked by someone who's had engorged breasts. I try to imagine what it must be like for dairy animals on one of the industrial-sized farms...so little time for care and observation.

The morning chores are complete, I'm waiting on a doe to kid, and there are still a couple human kids sleeping after their first year staying up to watch the ball drop. I've yet to grab my coffee because getting back to the blog is a resolution of mine, so I better grab this moment. For totally selfish reasons (that I hope you might enjoy if you check in) I need the daily writing. I like the way it gets my brain working and I enjoy the dialogue with people who share my interests. It's an interesting opportunity we have to be on a little mountain homestead and still connect with people around the world. It's yesterdays news, but it still blows my mind. It really changes who is able to do what...and what doesn't need a little shaking up?

Resolutions? I have a few.

Gratitude, it fills the holes with light.

Here's a little peek at 2012:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May the New Year bring you and your loved ones peace, health, happiness, and prosperity!

kidding time

It has taken a while to get these up, but here's a look at our first kidding season. For us it was a little later than usual because our does were due in June. 

We watched for signs every day. As the doe gets close to kidding time, her body will start to adjust. Her pelvic bones begin to spread out. You can see the area around the back bone of the goat, where it connects to the tail area, begin to indent. You may, or may not, see a small amount of jell/mucus leaking from the vulva, this is called "loosing the plug". Later, an extension of this will be a steadier leak of fluid.

In our experience "strutting" happened 24hrs before kidding. When the bag is strutted, the skin is as tight as it can get. It will look shiny...it also looks very uncomfortable. I was tempted to relieve some pressure, but didn't want to milk-out colostrum. Read all about "Liquid Gold" here.

We put the pregnant does in a smaller pen at night so they would be easy to locate. There were many late night check-ins by flashlight. 

One night, around 11:45...

 

Gidget was the first to kid. She's the herd queen. Above you can see her tail raised as the ligaments loosen. Below, you can see the kid's head emerge. What you see is the ideal presentation - a diving position. At this point we wipe the nose clean and continue to encourage the doe with soothing words and steady hands.

Around 2:00 am we had our first kid.

As soon as we clear the airway, and towel-off, doe and kid bond. She starts trying to get him on his feet immediately.

We dip the cord and the hooves in iodine and place clean used feed bags under the kid.

In the morning we all get to know each other.

Two sets of twins soon follow.

Our approach to milking in a later post.

farm update - chicken sperm and goat teats

It's been very busy around here. I'm working on two sculptures that I hope to have finished in time to present to the curator of my upcoming show. We also added three pregnant goats to our herd in steps toward getting our creamery up and going. I'm still making cheese with purchased milk, but soon we should have plenty of our own. The local extension office has been helpful with legal information and in my free less busy moments (while filling a trough, or taking a pee) I'm reading in preparation for being a goat midwife next month. To catch you up on what's happening on the farm I took some pictures this evening...

The new girls are Saanens. Saanens are known for their large size, vitality, herd compatibility and their “eager to please” temperament, but the largest part of their popularity is their milking ability. They are known as the Queens of the Dairy Goats.

These girls are all pregnant and their udders are starting to grow

We are teaching the herd to goat pack. Evening walks are good training

leaks

lettuce

baby apples

figs

plenty of eggs

new additions to the egg laying team

a Show Girl for the fun of it

a beautiful new Cochin rooster for breeding. They have so many feathers that they can't breed naturally. The kids and I learned how to artificially inseminate on a 4-H field trip

My two older ones recently competed in the Virgina Poultry Federation's Poultry Judging Contest. Their teams did well in the state wide competition.

Hopefully my next post will include the finished sculptures!

removing the tag

A few of you asked how I was going to remove the tag from Vera's ear. I wasn't sure because I'd never bought a tagged animal from an auction. Like so many other questions this first year on the homestead, I thought I could probably find the answer at Tractor Supply Company or Southern States.


Me: "My goat has a tag I need to remove; do you have something I can use to do it myself?"

(doing it ourselves is what keeps this whole thing going)

Tractor Supply Guy: "Yes m'am, right over here"

I know, I got m'amed, but in the context of buying a livestock ear tag remover at Tractor Supply it felt quite right. $4.99 later I was headed home to free her from her big plastic earring.


In case you were wondering, this is how it works:

The tag reads, unlawful to remove, so the first step is to ignore that.

Take the knife and slide it between the tag and the ear. You will be cutting the post that goes through the ear. Get a firm grip and gently pull on the hook while moving in a twisting motion.  Do not tug too hard or you could do more damage to the ear - especially long ones like this Nubian cross has.

Next apply antiseptic to the hole in the ear to clean it and prevent infection.

It does leave quite a hole

This is what Vera thinks of ear tags