We sent Fletcher out to check on the goats before going to bed. We didn’t think anyone was going, but during Kidding Season, we always check anyway. Well, five minutes later, the call of “Babies!” went ringing through the house. Everyone scrambled to make it out there, and we quickly discovered that there were two […]
It was February 3rd and my family was feeling a little lost. We were expecting babies starting the end of January, and it had been a week or two of waiting, and waiting, and waiting. Friday afternoon, I was getting ready to eat lunch when the long-awaited call finally came. “Babies in 20 minutes,” Mom […]
During kidding season, there’s a rush of adrenaline every time the phone rings. Even before you answer, you’re already finishing whatever you were working on and getting ready to bolt for your coveralls. This time was no exception. I was in my office, responding to an email, when Mom’s face popped up on my cell […]
We participated in the American Dairy Goat Association’s Linear Appraisal program this month. An independent appraiser came out and appraised all of our goats. She looked and measured individual attributes such as their height and rump width. They received values for individual parts of their bodies such as their shoulders or rear legs. Then they were […]
There are lots of different goat breeds out there. We’ve had many (but not all) of them over the first several years of owning goats. I knew I didn’t want to maintain separate breeds (mostly because of requiring different breeds of bucks). One of the reasons we decided to have a herd of Alpine Dairy […]
In 2014, Anne was the last baby born. Her mom had miscarried and then got bred again; so Anne was significantly later than the rest of the babies born in 2014. When we started breeding season this year, Anne was about 20 pounds too light to have her bred and not have possible health issues […]
Things are always busy and a tad bit crazy here at Goat Milk Stuff. Kidding season is no exception. Just like the holiday season for the soap, kidding season for the goats is all hands on deck. Well, all hands on deck is hard to accomplish if we get a last minute publicity event 12 […]
It’s starting to get hot here in Indiana. The goats have lots of woods to escape to that are much cooler, yet for some strange reason, they prefer to hang out at the barn where it is hottest. The black goats are the ones that feel it the most, so we’ve started giving them their […]
Remember when we brought some baby goats to the nursing home? We did it again! Emery, Fletcher, Greyden, Hewitt, Indigo, Jade, and Dad brought two or three of our youngest babies to visit. The residents loved it! The babies gave them kisses, and nibbled on their fingers, and even let some of the residents hold them. The […]
It was a pretty typical day the day Tapioca gave birth. Everyone was tired, kidding season was wearing down as were we, and the milk room was a mess from all the first fresheners running around during milking and not being used to the way we bring them in and out. Like I said, typical […]
We were never sure if Galaxy was even pregnant until the last week before she kidded. She stayed rather under the radar and was very active during her pregnancy. Notoriously, Galaxy is a strange goat. She is never hanging around a certain goat crowd, or sleeping next to her siblings, or really doing anything that […]
Tempest is one of our most beautiful goats. Her udder filled up beautifully throughout her pregnancy and there is not a weak part about her buildup. Even her attitude is great. Tempest had dropped so low that anyone who didn’t know goats would have thought she had 10 babies in her. We had been watching […]
Goats don’t seem to care what we’re doing when they give birth. Whether its the middle of the super bowl, or the start of milking, when they are ready, they are ready! Halfway through the milking Hera had her pre-birth goo. That meant time to stop milking and time to take care of Hera. Greyden […]
During kidding season, things are busy at Goat Milk Stuff. Very busy. Prioritizing is key. Taking care of the goats is busiest in late winter/early spring. The soap room work is busiest October through the holidays. Making sure people are where they need to be can be a daunting task. Being at every goat birth […]
Unlike Jericho (read about her birth story), Idina was clearly pregnant. She is a very active, very curious goat but throughout the last month of her pregnancy, she became more protective of herself and spent more time in the stalls than she usually does. She’s usually one to be out in the woods, leading the herd […]