Saturday, December 12, 2015

Goats goats everywhere

Just in time for the first serious winter storms, here comes a flood of baby goats. And I mean a flood! My apologies for not posting sooner, and not having dozens of cute baby goat pics... we have been overrun with caring for these little ones in this weather. Plus.. a good number of these are brand new first time moms... so milking has become... interesting.

All together, there have been about 10 to 12 births over the last 2 weeks. That's just about a birth a day... in the cold rain. Fortunately most have been strong and healthy! But still, first time moms are rarely experienced at caring for little ones, so it requires extra precautions. For instance, we dedicated one barn stall for the nursery, and all new births go there for several days. This ensures relative safety of the babies from the bigger goats, and helps ensure bonding of mom and offspring. Without this we have had babies get lost in the herd, and the new moms can actually forget that they had a little one.

Things are finally calming down... except for milking! Wow... what was a peaceful 90 minute daily retreat is now a bit of a rodeo! Teaching a half dozen brand new first time moms what a milking stand is.... that is an experience! Milking can take as long as 4 hours, and not necessarily peaceful.

The good news is ... milk production is climbing again. We hope to be back making cheese soon.

posted from Bloggeroid

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