Another Long Weekend

Hello all! We're wrapping up another very loooooooong weekend which circulated around goats. 

But first, it's time to recap all that's happened since I last posted.

- We lost ANOTHER goat during labor. Ebony succumbed to ketosis after being in sorta labor for 6 hours. Hind sight is 20/20 right? We could have given her calcium to help. No guarantees that it would have worked, but you never know. 

- With all the goat loss this spring, we're at wit's end. We took one of the still living, still pregnant goats to the vet to get their opinion on things and get some tests done. They've been great to work with all along, but they're also stumped as to what might be going on. We're still waiting on results.

- In the meantime, the goat gal at the farm store was talking with us, and she said that this kidding seasons has been really hard for many goat owners. It's nice to know that we're not the only ones. 

- See if we EVER let the bucks escape again. As if the other times were intentional... :P The back-to-back-to-back kiddings is whooping us.

Speaking of kidding... Mazy had her babies on Friday morning. Mom and I stayed up with her all Thursday night, but the first baby was stucker than stuck. Poor Mazy was tired and hurting, but there is only so much you can do without doing anything overly drastic (read: pulling the babies out or c-section). We gave Miss Mazy calcium, warm molasses water (which she guzzled), nutridrench, etc, etc, etc. We threw just about everything we had at the poor girl. I don't think we had it in us to dig another 6-foot deep hole at the back of the property. That thought was proven the next morning when Dad made the executive decision that we needed to get that goat to the vet to let them take care of things. So we did, thinking that at least we could save the mother and have her to milk another day. 

The call from the vet surprised us:

We had triplets. 

...

I can honestly tell you that we weren't expecting that. 

But there was a catch to the sudden excitement - it had been a harried c-section. The vet techs even commented on how much it was a close call. You see, when they made the incision, Mazy's uterus ruptured, and she lost a lot of blood. The vet practically threw the babies to the techs so that he could quickly suture her up. They gave her IV fluids and iron, stitched her up as best they could (both inside and outside), and hoped for the best.

The two baby boys were the picture of health. Their sister on the other hand... well, we weren't supposed to hold our breath and hope that she made it. She was a text-book case of a selenium-deficiency: her front legs wouldn't stay straight, lack of muscle strength, and the difficult delivery are all symptoms of a selenium deficiency. 

I think that she was the first baby that 'clogged up the works' so to speak since her brothers were perfectly fine. I know that we'd be in a very different place if we hadn't had the c-section. We went through with the decision hoping that we'd have an intact milk goat at the end of things even if the babies didn't make it. What we got instead was a dairy goat that should never get pregnant again and three babies.

For Friday through Saturday, we had to bottle-feed the babies about every one to two hours since poor Mazy was not feeling good at all and wouldn't let the babies nurse. You can imagine the sigh of relief when we saw those little boys nursing. That just left the little miss.

Since she was in the condition she was in, we kept her in the house. Keeping her warm, stretching out her front legs, and the 'round the clock feedings that her brothers were getting. Sadly, though, Mazy has rejected her. We tried to bring the baby back to Mazy, but she wouldn't have her baby and pushed her over. 

So now we have a house goat. 

She cruises around the house, follows us, naps in corners, dances in the living room, and curls up and watches TV with us in the evenings. I've been joking that we need to tie a helium balloon to her so that we know where she is. I just might have to do that. ;) The funny thing in all of this is how much it's like having a baby in the house again. It's been :counts fingers: over nine years since we had a baby in the house.

Eli has dubbed the triplets Susie Derkins, Calvin, and Hobbes. I rather like it.

Until next time!

SG

No Small Announcement

I promise I haven't gone AWOL on you. ;) I've just been super busy... 

...at my job. 

Yep. I've joined the work force.

Ahh! That sounds so weird to say! Lol! My youngest brother giggles every time he asks if I have to go to work. 

:Ahem: Needless to say, I've been enjoying it a lot. It's a destination farm store featuring sustainably grown berries, apples, vegetables and flowers. There's also an espresso and milkshake bar inside the boutique store. 

It's super close (just down the hill and all country roads). I think that the commute is going to get to me. :P And, we've known the family that owns and runs the farm for many years.

I found out about the job opening through the store's facebook page. I mulled over applying for the job, and a few days later, I went in to get an application. Went home, filled it out, and took the application form back in that afternoon. The gal who runs the show was there to take the paperwork. She practically ripped the envelope open, scanned the application, and asked if I was available for an interview right then. Uh, sure! She offered me a job as soon as I sat down in the chair in her office. Not exactly good practice for a job interview. ;) 

The job includes labeling, pricing, and organizing plants in the nursery, taking inventory of new products that come into the store, getting those entered into the store's catalog of items, and pricing them, running the cash register, making coffee and milkshakes (once I get my food handler's license), keeping things neat and clean, and once berry season starts, there will also be the berry stand to run, etc, etc, etc. So far, it has just been a lot of training and getting my feet under me after I got swept into their routine.

So that's where I've been. :) 

Until next time!

SG

It's a Sun-shiny Day

Lizzy and her babies made their debut to the herd. I took the opportunity to get better pictures of them. ;) 

Samwise. He looks like he has leg warmers. Mom calls him 'Seventies Sam'

Cutie bug

Rosie

So curious. 

Lizzy is such a good mama

Those little lips! 

Outside play time!

Stella has gotten exceedingly jealous of all the attention that the babies are getting and she's not getting as much loving on as she used to. :P 

Heeeeere's Rita!

I caught you, little stinker. No more nibbling on my pants while I'm trying to get pictures. 

The Weekend The Never Ended

I guess you could say that our weekend started on Thursday when we cleaned and organized the front area of the barn (the feed storage, milking area, etc) and tried to figure out how to set things up to mix our own chicken feed. Friday afternoon became 'goat health day', so, once again, we found ourselves working in the barn. That's when we noticed one of our goats, Dreamer, in a corner breathing rapidly. Our first thought was, 'Here comes more baby goats!' It wasn't long before we realized that things weren't right. By Friday evening, we decided to take her to the vet since things were not progressing as they should have been. They gave Dreamer some shots to get things moving along and sent us home. We set her up in the barn for the night fully expecting to have a dead goat by morning.

Saturday morning, Dad headed out to check on things, and Dreamer was standing up. We let her be for the moment to load up the old layer hens to cart them off to the butcher. Dad and Oma headed off to the butcher, we finished morning chores, and Mom and I gloved up for the grim task at hand - we needed to get those breach babies out to try to save the mom. At this point, Dreamer's water had been long broken, and the babies had died in-utero. All morning long, Mom and I kept trying to work the babies out. I'll spare you the details to keep this rated PG, but it was gruesome to say the least. Mom kept saying that my hands were perfect for pulling those babies out since my 'hands are strong'. I look at the rope burns on my hands, and I wonder how much worse they would be if I hadn't been wearing the vinyl doctor gloves. After much blood, sweat, and tears, we got two babies out. We declared a tearful victory. 

While all this was going on in one corner of the goat stall, in another corner, Emma, one of our other goats, was going into labor in the opposite corner. Things didn't seem to be moving forward for her either, but since it was her first time, we gave her some space to just let things happen. 

Saturday afternoon, it was pouring rain. We went back out to check on Dreamer, and she was still having contractions. It shouldn't take that long to pass the placenta, so we gloved up to go in again. There was a third. Triplets? Really, Dreamer? We braced ourselves to have a repeat of the morning, but we could not get that baby out. No amount of anything would get that baby to budge. It was stucker than stuck. Dreamer was showing signs of being done. She was wanting this whole thing to just be over. After much deliberating, we made the hard call - it was time to put her down. We had tried everything to save her, but it wasn't enough. You hope for the best, and prepare for the worst. The worst had come. 

Emma, the other goat in labor, had stopped. No more contractions, no nothing. She had progressed to a certain point, and the birthing process ceased. We set her up in the kidding stall, hoping to have babies in the morning, and then, emotionally, physically, and mentally exhausted, we all collapsed in bed. 

Sunday morning. No babies, just a really bad smell. It wasn't a smell of life either. Well, life in the bacteria/infection sort of way, certainly not the smell of life you want. Mom sent us all off to church while she began work on the goat. The report when we got back? The goat hadn't dilated at all and was starting to exhibit signs of being sick, the baby would slip back in, and Mom couldn't get her hand in to try to pull that baby out. We gave the goat shots and medicines that she would need to try to make it, but then we took her temperature. We should have started with that. She had sepsis. We were too late. You hope for the best, and prepare for the worst. The worst had come again. 

Since we were thinking that Emma had an infection, we had to clean and bleach her stall to try to prevent the other goats from getting whatever she might have had. Since Dreamer had been in the main stall, we cleaned that out too.

Sunday evening, you could tell that the herd was upset too. They are such social creatures and they notice everything that goes on. They're more perceptive than you realize. Rita, Dreamer's only baby to ever survive, was standing at the back door, bleating the direction that she last saw her mom go. Lizzy, was baa-ing incessantly and insisted that she stick right by our side. Our goats which are normally very happy goats, went into mourning.We were looking forward to Monday. Just being done with everything and moving on. You get to this point of just being emotionally numb. We had reached that point. 

Monday morning, and we groaned when we saw that Lizzy was in labor. Not again. At least the sun was shining. Made things a little easier. I guess all that baa-ing and clingy-ness the night before was an early sign that it was time to have her babies. Once again, Mom spent the day in the barn. Everyone else had homework due the next day, so I was put on maintaining the home front. Lizzy didn't seem to be progressing at all. Deja vu, anyone? Believe me when I say that we were on the phone with the vet all weekend. By Monday afternoon, we were at the point of just taking her to the vet to let them work their magic since we seemed have such an amazing track record going. The vet said to not move her; the stress could be too much for her. Keep an eye on her all the time, they said, so Mom pulled things together to set up camp out there. I had left to take my sisters to one of their classes, and Eli wandered out to find Lizzy. He found a baby. He bolted back to the house to let Mom know. They started cleaning the little one up, as another baby was on its way. It was a little boy and a little girl. Both healthy. The mama was such a rock star, especially since it was her first time. Although, she turned around and started freaking out, 'Did I just do that?! Where did that come from?' And she had a bit of difficulty figuring out the whole nursing thing, but that is all normal for a first time mom. We helped her and the babies along, and now all is fine and dandy. We're thinking of naming them Samwise and Rosie. 

We're very thankful for our Monday blessings after a weekend of trials. Thank you all for praying for us through it. 

Until next time!

SG

Spring has Sprung!

'Tis a stereotypical spring day in the Pacific Northwest. The rain showers come and go with their usual drama (which includes hail and rainbows). 

The daffodils are in full bloom.

My crazy Weeping Santa Rosa plum tree is open. Maybe I'll get some fruit from it this year.  

The grape hyacinth are reaching into the sky as high as they can (but they're still dwarfed by the daffodils) 

The other flowering trees are about to explode in blooms. 

The cat gives you a weird look... 

And there are new baby goats in the barn. ^_^

Yesterday, I posted about not knowing when our goats were going to kid since we didn't know when they were bred (all thanks to escapee bucks).  

Well, we've been keeping a close eye on the mamas that we figured were due soon. Mom peeked in the barn while on her way to do some other work, and there was no sign of impending excitement from anyone. They all just stood around chewing their cud and staring at the two legged food-giver. 

Hardly an hour later, there were babies. Two of them, to be precise. Twin boys. They were pretty much dry by the time we found them and had been nursing. 

We're still debating what to name them. We've been keeping a list of things we would name the kids if we had twin boys. Now that we have them, we don't know which names to pick! Lol! Should it be Thor and Loki? Sherlock and Mycroft? Merry and Pippin? Kirk and Spock? Calvin and Hobbes? We're not sure which ones to pick!  

All that was running through our minds was, 'This is how kidding is supposed to go.' Whenever you talk to other dairymen (or women), you hear all the birthing horror stories. Then you start to freak out. Oh please, Lord, don't let that happen! Thankfully, we didn't have to worry about anything with these two. :) 

I turned around after taking pictures of the babies, and there's Rita standing on a log wanting attention.

She almost looked like she was asking for her picture to be taken. 

I'm still just as cute as those two whiny things that you're holding in there! 

See? I can pose; they can't. I look like a statue. 

The babies were born on Sunday afternoon. On Monday morning (today), the first batch of meat chicks came in. When it rains, it pours. Everything happens at the same time. ;) 

Here we go!

Until next time!

SG

Catching Up

Has it really been over a month since I last posted? Bad me. :slaps wrist: Hmm... What to write...

- We got the strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries temporarily planted in the compost pile just until we get the row work finished in their final landing spot.

- Daffodils are blooming! Time to get everything fertilized.

- I've been sewing up a storm. Want to see some of the projects? You can browse through them on my sewing blog.

- Mom has been wracking her brain to figure out the perfect chicken feed mix. It's amazing how much there is out there about chicken feed. And we need to get the chicken feed made pronto since the first batch of meat chicks arrives on Monday (tomorrow?!). I guess we need to get the chicken brooder area cleared out and ready for the newcomers.

- Some sadder news... We lost our blue-eyed buckling a few weeks back. :( He somehow managed to get himself strangled in the cross wires of the fence. We have no idea how he was able to get in there since it took two people to get him out. By the time that we found him there, rigor mortis had already begun to set in; he had been there for a while. All of our other goats wouldn't even go outside as long as the poor little guy was there. Even after we pulled him out and taken him to the back of the property, the does were all very somber for a couple of days.

- To help offset that depressing news, we're supposed to have baby goats soon! Although, we don't know which date the mamas are due since the bucks had gotten out a couple of times. :P We're just playing a waiting game now.

Open Gates

I think I just discovered a new Olympic sport - goat wrangling. Yeah, you read that right. The arena would consist of slick 'mud,' slopes, a love-crazed buck, and a herd of does that could care less for his presence. The point of it all is to catch the buck before he gets to the girls, and you get bonus points for not falling on your face in the slippery muck.

You see, we kept the buck from the last kidding as a buck for various reasons; he has lovingly been dubbed 'Stinky Pete.' He thinks that he's king of the world. Now that he's 2 months, we need to separate him from the girls. He's running around, chasing the girls (they hate his guts), and saying, 'What, what?' all the live-long day.

My task today was to get him in with our other two bucks when I moved them out to pasture. I got the llama and the bucks out, no problem. I caught the midget with minimal hassle, and put the little guy with the big boys. He got bowled over and tackled; he's still too small to play with the big kids. With Jack close at his heels, I let Stinky Pete through a small opening in the gate, but Jack pushed right through too. Noo!!! I thought that it was all okay though since the other gate to the girls' pasture was closed - nope. Darn it! Jack gallivanted around and kicked up his heels because he got to be with the ladies. NOOOO!!!!!!!!! Oliver, our other buck, is jumping around on the other side of the fence because he's jealous of his comrade, and the llama is humming with concern, 'Get back to your pasture!' I tried to catch Jack before he got to that gate, but with all the rain we've been having, the ground was as slick as bacon grease and getting traction was out of the question. I've got two legs; he has four. I think he has the advantage.

As I'm trying to get a footing while sliding uphill, Jack is having a heyday, and the does are scared to death of the freaky, furry, stinky, testosterone fueled mass rampaging towards them. I finally caught up with the bloke, tried to grab onto his collar. Wait, where's his collar? He doesn't have a collar?! And he got away from me again. As I ran to grab a means of lassoing him, he tried wooing the ladies. They wouldn't tolerate him for a minute except for the one doe that went into heat this morning. She's been singing her love songs and wiggling her tail at those boys all day. Phooey... we weren't wanting to breed that doe until this fall. Quick review lesson in farm math: 1+1= a lot more. I have reason to believe that there will be baby goats this July.

I guess you could say that this is all just one big face palm.

I think we need to figure out a better pasture system for the bucks... And always close the gate behind you.

February Freeze

We got a gorgeous blanket of the white stuff and more is on the way! Driving home yesterday when the storm came in was fun. [/sarcasm] But the roads were bizarre. With the wind whipping the snow around, the roads looked like swirling water. Now, we're just hunkered down for the rest of the weekend and making sure that the animals don't have frozen water. Yes, we've been hauling hot water from the bathtub downstairs to the barn and coop. Water likes to solidify when it's 16 degrees outside. ;) Once the wind died down, the cold doesn't bite so much, and you can get out there and enjoy the powdery snow!

Rolled Fencing

Don't worry, we drained all the water from the pipes. 

Morgan isn't so sure about all this white stuff.

The one time every year that the geese are actually camouflaged 

Whee!

Man overboard!

Getting all worn out

Our lovely neighbor

"I'm going to get the other sled now"

Mt. St. Helens

Here we go!

Dramatic minimalist pinecone

Walkin' in a winter wonderland

It's a cold little birdie

I get to wear the Bofur hat! 

This cat has the right idea - stay inside where it's warm. 

Where Have I Been?

Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't been around on this blog lately. Things are relatively quiet on the farm this time of year, and there just isn't a whole bunch to post about. Unless you want to talk about all the seed and chicken catalogs that arrive by the truckload or making sure that the row covers in the garden stay on the frames or mucking out the chicken coop or the horrifically dry winter we've had so far. Then we could talk all day! Besides all that action, I've been able to really work through my herbalist program (getting close to completion!) and get some sewing done (okay, a lot of sewing). While we're on the topic of sewing, that's where my writing attention has been focused. I've been working to get a sewing blog up and running! You can go check it out here: http://pintucksandpinafores.blogspot.com/

Until next time!
SG

It's a Kombucha Mushroom.

A long, long while ago, we watched this cute Kid Snippets about health food. Maybe we thought it was funny because there were so many points that rung true. :shrugs: One of the lines that we constantly quote is, "It's dreen. Why is it dreen?" The other blip that gets tossed around frequently is the kombucha blip, and for good reason. We have the mushrooms sitting on the counter. I'd like to introduce you to Phil and Baby Phil.

Bonus points to whoever can catch the reference(s) in the names of our SCOBYs

And what does SCOBY stand for? Symbiotic Colony of Bacteria and Yeast

Mmmm! Want some?

We originally had several mason jars of the SCOBYs, and they were all numbered (in our heads anyway). The only issue with that rotational system of kombucha consumption and fermentation is that, for a really odd reason, we couldn't keep the numbers straight, so the SCOBY colonies each got a name. And they all tasted weird. Except for Phil. Phil is our favorite. ;) Then Phil had a baby! Phil is a girl? :shrugs: Okay. Once Phil's baby had grown independent enough to live on its own, that SCOBY also got it's own jar. Eventually, we got to the point where we only drank kombucha from these two colonies. All the others stayed on their place up on the refrigerator, culturing away. 

The other day, Mom found GIANT jars for Phil and his family. It's now time to start this cranking through this kombucha making process. The ultimate goal is to not need to buy anymore from the store; you can buy an entire box of tea (kombucha fodder is essentially sweet tea) for the price of a small-ish bottle of the fermented tea.