Goats

[Trev62]

Separated the kids from their Mum's tonight for the first time so we can get into the routine of milking in the morning and as the kids have not been feeding from their Mum's during the night we should get more milk.

Needless to say there is a lot of noise and unhappy goats outside at present!

Headphones on

[Mo]

Will you be bottle feeding?

[Trev62]

Will you be bottle feeding?

No need to, they are already eating hay/lucerne/barley straw etc. along with grain and pellets, also they get their fill browsing when we walk them twice a day.

We do not milk the Mum's dry so they still feed their kids during the day.

It is still a learning curve for us and we are trying to work out what is best for the goats and us. One happily stands on the milking bench but the other goes down on her knees making it hard to milk her. We rigged up a small hoist today to keep her on her feet to make milking easier, not perfect and the idea needs developing if she continues doing this. Still early days yet with them all.

[Trev62]

Gave all the goats their last injections today, the new additions are now out of quarantine and adjusting to their new surroundings and the other goats. Constant supervision at present to ensure there are no major issues when all together, especially with the young kids.

Started trimming all the new additions hooves today as well as they do not seem to have been done for a while. Also completed the first and highest level of the goat beds it just needs a quick sand down and some drainage holes drilling in it but that can be done after levels 2 and 3 have been completed.

Getting better at milking them now, I can get the milk in the bucket and not in my eye

[manda]

Exciting...goats milk cheese ...YUM!!

Getting better at milking them now, I can get the milk in the bucket and not in my eye

Excellent lol!

[Trev62]

Made our first "hard" goat cheese today, nice texture but very mild. We will play about and place half of it in brine tomorrow. We have also made a "soft" cheese tonight which has to sit until the morning before we finish of the making process. Our aim to make another cheese which will "age" once we have found out more about the aging process.

Lots of playing around and no doubt a few failures will follow until we get it right and how we want it.

Also today we made a rest bench for the goats and placed it into their overnight pen which meant none of them wanted to go into the pen tonight with this new wooden monster resulting in a game of "catch me if you can". Took a while, but we won in the end and they are now all wrapped up safely and soundly for the night.

[Trev62]

It is now three weeks since we have brought any milk or cheese as both products are now supplied by our goats. The cream that settles on top of the milk is lovely. We have just ordered a cream separator which will hopefully extract even more so we can collect enough to start making butter.

Two of our original goats are looking like barrels so fingers crossed they will have some healthy kids soon then we will be able to compare the milk quality between the different breeds and it will hopefully give us an indication of how many goats we will need to keep the milk supply going all year and which ones can be sold or put in the freezer.

[Trev62]

First baby goat arrived today. Mum refused to go far on her morning walk then returned, took herself off to one of the pens and five minutes later she gave birth. We had to cut the umbilical cord as it did not tear and help the little one to feed as she was unsuccessful latching on to Mum during the 30 minute limit but (fingers crossed) all looks good.

Second goat we think is due in @ 2 weeks though doing the ligament test it could be sooner which would make things a lot easier for us concerning milking and separating.

[lancashire lass]

poor mum expected to go for a walk in the middle of labour ... good to learn all worked out well in the end

Is baby goat a boy or a girl?

[Trev62]

Is baby goat a boy or a girl?

Female and she is doing well, first introduction to our small herd tomorrow, fingers crossed all goes well.

[Trev62]

Second kid from our other Doe was born very early this morning. No help was needed and the kid is up and already slowly wandering about with our other new arrival. Fingers crossed they both progress well.

[lancashire lass]

that's lovely news

[Trev62]

Our Two Hollande female goats came into standing heat these past few weeks, so they were separated and then (individually) placed into one of our dog kennels and run with Buster our oldest male. All seemed to go well so hopefully February next year they will produce some kids for us.

The Saanen we rescued is also (judging by her behavior) coming in to season, so we are watching her closely as we really want her to become pregnant this time after last years fiasco especially for the volume of milk she should produce

Downside is I have to start dispatching the older kids in the coming weeks. Part and parcel of our lifestyle. Shame we have had a lot of enjoyment raising them and watching them play. Still the freezer will be full.

[lancashire lass]

I know you have chosen this lifestyle so no argument from me, but it's the latter part I would have real difficulty especially after raising them (I'm too soft)

[manda]

I love goats and I love goat meat.
LL - I must admit when we started living on a lifestyle block (as small holdings are called in NZ) I did find the filling the freezer part of our life challenging. Over time it gave me a greater appreciation of the life we took to feed us and making the most of every part of the animal.
It's not unusual for our food to have had a name...I know some might find that weird but I feel that they are loved while they are with us and they never leave our place and end up in an abbatoir as over here we have homekill butchers who come to the block. We despatch and butcher everything except cows(they are just too big for us to deal with without a walk in chiller...maybe in the future but for now no) - although in the winter hubby will do some pretty big deer because it's cold enough they can be hung up outside in a meat safe...and they're still not as big as a cow. Over the years it's a part of life I've come to accept as a meat eater.
Some of the best sausages I ever made have been with goat.