28 Mar
The kidding season is upon us. One of our does, Jessie, has given birth and Ruby, Samy, Gracie, and Macie are waiting to follow.
Jessie gave birth, unassisted, to quadruplets. Unfortunately, #3 – a traditionally-colored doeling – was stillborn and could not be revived. However, the other three – a traditional buckling and two full-red doelings – are doing very well.
Kids will be available for sale, ready to be picked up in the May-June timeframe when they are weaned.
24 Mar
The baby goats are now 5 days old and growing quickly, already skipping around the barn (they’re saving their pasture skipping for when the snow melts). We’ve posted more pics on our facebook page, but here are a couple of them:
19 Mar
When we’re not tending the farm or homeschooling the kids, we’ve got “real world” jobs. My (Martha’s) passion is being a childbirth educator and a doula – Greek for “servant” – a woman who comes alongside families before, during, and after childbirth. You can read more about what I do on my webpage for my business, “A Joyful Birth.”
So today, I was a different kind of doula. I was much more involved with the wet, cuddly newborn side of birth than I usually am as we welcomed baby goats on our farm. We are relatively new to farming, but I was struck by how many similarities there are in birth among mammals.
These mamas craved safety and peace as all mothers in labor do. One of the mamas appreciated my quiet presence, reaching out to nuzzle me — and then after the babies were born, she gently butted me and told me to get out. Each mama “counted fingers and toes” on her baby, licking them dry from head to toe. They also encouraged their babies to nurse when they were ready, patiently giving them time to transition from womb to world. And, like I often see with human babies, they were ready to nurse at about the one hour mark after birth. Goats have a special vocalization that they only make to their new babies. Amazing how wondrous birth is!
I am blessed to have seen birth in its completely natural state (well, except five quiet family members watching) and will ponder the lessons from today to see how I can bring that to my human doula work too.
19 Mar
This is just a quick post (you can check out our Facebook page for more photos) to announce that in the middle of this huge snowstorm, we took a break from other subjects for a biology lesson. We now have four brand new baby Boer Goats – 3 bucklings and a doeling.
We’re busy making sure they are all settled for a cold night, and will post more later!
Blessings to all,
The Flying T
24 Feb
The snow doesn’t slow down the kids or the horses too much. This is in the middle of our snowstorm today – probably 6-8″ at the time of the walk, and now we’re approaching one foot. Now it’s time to go sledding!
24 Feb
Pictures of our mystery chicks at 8 weeks. Any new guesses? If so, see the original contest page!
Chick A – View 1
Chick A – View 2
Chick B – View 1
Chick B – View 2
Chick C – View 1
Chick C – View 2
13 Feb
The kids made snowmen after Nemo last weekend… and decided it would be appropriate to add a snow goat.
21 Jan
We took advantage of the long, though very cold, weekend to get a passel of projects done. The biggest job was digging out the goat’s stable – like many goat folks, we let it build up relatively thick during the winter, allowing the hay to compost and produce warmth. The disadvantage is that when the cleanup happens, it’s a lot of work. If we could redesign the barn, we’d make it so we could push the tractor’s bucket right into the stalls!
I actually got a reprieve from that big job, and instead was busy with some construction projects and maintenance around the farm. Yesterday I did some light jobs – fixing the chicken coop doors, rearranging the feed room to make room for the brooders, modifying the new duck house. Today, I did a couple more projects while the rest of the family worked their butts off on the goat stall. To keep the goats busy, we gave them the rest of our Christmas Tree – we’ve been handing them sprigs every day, but they made pretty short work of the tree today.
Oh, Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree! How tasty are your branches…
The first project today was to build the kidding stalls, as our two older goats, Gracie and Jessie, are due in March. Our plan is to open up the wall between their stall and the adjacent one (formerly the duck stall) and let the momma’s use the extra space. That wall is easy to remove – it’s dimensional lumber that slides in/out of brackets.
Instead of buying plywood and 2x4s (have you seen lumber prices recently?) to make a wall sturdy enough for goats, I salvaged some heavy-duty plastic pallets and put them to work. The resulting stalls are about 5′ x 5′, taking up about half of the 10’x10′ stall and giving us room to make 3rd or even 4th kidding stalls in the future.
Voila! Kidding stalls! I cut a couple rectangular holes in the pallets to let the girls see each other.
I wanted to make walls that would be sturdy, but still could be removed relatively easily, and came up with the idea of hinged walls that folded against the side of the stable.
Jasper watches the walls unfold.
Wall stowed
All that’s left is to make the doors themselves, for which I plan to use some scrap lumber, or maybe wooden pallets. We’ll also make some lamb warming huts with some surplus 55-gallon poly drums I’ve salvaged.
The next project was simple – a tray to catch the hay from the feeder. Goats are notorious hay wasters – once hay hits the floor, they’re not interested anymore, and it becomes bedding. My hope is that this tray will reduce that a little bit.
Stand by for the next Flying T contest – guess the birthdate, #, and genders of each doe’s offspring!
The girls don’t care, as long as the hay tastes the same
17 Jan
All the chicks are starting to get their wing and tail feathers, and we’re getting a bit more convinced of what breeds our 3 mystery birds might be. Here are some new photos. If you think you’ve got an answer (or your answer has changed), post a comment on the contest page.
Chick A – I can’t help but think of the Looney Tunes “Chickenhawk” character when I look at her.
Chick B (in the middle of the photo surrounded by Barred Rocks)
Chick C. Color is really coming in on her.
Any new guesses?
4 Jan
David’s original hens are approaching 2 years old and starting to slow down in production, and a skunk took out the eggs our broody hen was sitting on that were planned to be replacement layers.
So David used some of his profits to buy more chicks. This morning, just after 6, the nice woman who runs the local post office called to tell us they had arrived. So we hopped into the car and drove down the hill.
The early boy gets the birds
You may think the post office is only open from 9-5, but the work starts a lot earlier.
Lots of peeping going on in that box!
Time to go home!
David ordered 25 barred rock hens, plus 2 roosters. We also added an additional free chick the hatchery calls a “meal-maker” – in return, David promises to give the eggs she produces to needy people. Then, as a surprise for David, we added 3 “hatchery choice” mystery hens (the brown ones in the photo). The kids are trying to figure out what kind they are. The hatchery also added a couple extras just in case there were losses.
All of them made it safely!
Transfering the chicks to the brooder… please excuse the messy garage – I just finished making the brooder, and I tend to make a mess when I work.
Chicks in the their new home. The brooder is 4×4, but I put in a smaller divider for the first few weeks to keep them warmer.
The family spent a few minutes monitoring the chicks to make sure they were happy and not indicating any distress.
They should be laying by May!
A Joyful Birth
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