And I get fooled...

So Pims is not ready to have her kids yet! She was showing every sign...pawing, loose ligaments between her hip bones and her pin bones, hollowed out sides, mucous discharge, the rounded rump that means the kids are pushing up into the birth canal...not to mention pacing, groaning, laying down and getting up. I felt sure about ten times that "this was it". Then she would get up, stretch, walk over to the hay feeder and go back to life as usual...as if nothing happened. I realised that she is just very uncomfortable. She's ready to go. She would love to have these kids but the message to go into labor is given by the kids brains, not the dams. I can actually relate! I have seven children of my own and I can totally relate to being ready to have my pregnancy be over. She will have them when they are ready. Not a minute sooner. Poor little Pims keeps going into false labor and is just plain uncomfortable. In the mean time, I will keep checking on her through the night because the one thing I did learn from my many births...they will come. Ready or not!

Waiting for kids

I've been watching my two does carefully. I've been surprised by the goat stork before and don't want to be caught unawares this time! I take the babies away at birth. I've tried it both ways and found that this is what works best for me for a number of reasons.

1)Mom get's very attached to her baby and when it comes time to milk she will generally pitch a fit while if you take the babies away they just think my milking is the way it's supposed to be and they get right into the schedule without any fuss or upset. I think this is actually kinder to the goats.
2)You see production right off and know what the babies are getting...this allows you to see if there is a problem quickly (is that baby tired or sick? If they aren't eating they are sick!)
3)You keep the udder nice and even this way. Babies will favor one side over another often times ruining the udder's symmetry hurting the value of the goat later.
4)You know if mom has mastitis and can help prevent mastitis from the beginning with a teat dip. The orifice opens to let the milk out and doesn't close right up after which can lead to bacteria in the udder.
5)Optimum milk production is created by demand. Babies don't demand milk on a optimum milking schedule and just sip whenever they want which doesn't empty the udder (telling the udder to produce more milk).

Anyhoo, I thought the goats were bred later even though I saw early breeding behavior. I thought it didn't take when I saw them doing it again later in November. By the looks of things Pims did take! Her tendons that run from her hips to her pin bones is loose, she had bloody mucous on her tail yesterday and her vulva is pink and puckered...all signs of imminent kidding! Now I will watch for the other signs: restlessness & loss of appetite. Look for kid pics soon!

Goat Milk?

I have been doing some research always having been fascinated by dairy statistics. Did you know, for instance, that a cow is bred at 18 months old for an 11 month gestation? Dairy goats are bred at around seven months old and have a five month gestation which is almost a year sooner to start producing milk. From there, the math continues to be surprisingly easy. A cow weighs 10 times more than a goat (135 for a goat, 1300 for a cow) and produces 10x as much milk (2000 lbs for a goat and 20,000 for a cow). Cow's are listed as costing the farmer less (per gallon of milk) than goats at $7 per day for a cow to $1 per goat. So milk, just the caring for the animals basic needs...not paying for electricity or equipment or any of the things farmers must have to do the work of a dairy...costs .96 cents to produce per gallon (and that's not paying the farmer a cent yet) and goats milk costs $1.46 per gallon to produce. Since I'm not running a milking machine or bulk tank that keeps my costs way down. It's a very efficient way to get the highest quality milk, cheese and yogurt money can buy!

Why Goats?

It's funny, but from the very beginning of my journey into dairy goat keeping that is the one question that comes up again and again.

It all started that fateful day when I pulled into my neighbor's yard in Iowa. I was from Houston, a city girl all my life, well known animal-lover from childhood. There in the yard, were the cutest creatures I had ever laid eyes on. I didn't even know what they were. With their floppy ears I thought "sheep"? but they totally lacked anything like wool. These were day old Nubian goats.

I asked my neighbor what they were and she smiled and said "goats". I was instantly in love with their clumsy antics and their little faces with those long ears which they tossed around like sassy pig-tailed girls. So I started to make a case with my husband for why we must have goats at our own house. We had five kids so we went through a lot of milk, I was sure we would save money there. I could make cheese. I could make soap...more savings. It was an idea I didn't really believe at the time but it was my story and I stuck with it.

We tried the milk and found it to be excellent. So, I bought my first doe, a pregnant first freshener named Twinkle. When I milked her for the first time I was brutally disappointed. She produced barely more than what her kid needed to survive. I was assured that this was normal for yearling first fresheners so I persevered. We didn't get much milk the first season so I bought Twinkles mother, Doree. Doree produced a gallon of milk per day, twinkle also produced a gallon per day her second season and soon we were not having to buy milk and even had enough to make yogurt and cheese.

I kept meticulous records to prove or disprove that the goats were economical for us to keep. What I found was pretty surprising. I couldn't sell any milk from the goats in Iowa (strictly against the law) so I calculated what I didn't have to buy according to what I was used to paying. I didn't have to buy any milk at $3.00 per gallon. That was the price for cow's milk at the grocery store. That was not the price for organic cow's milk even though I know my standards for handling and the freshness of my milk was much higher than the milk we had been buying. Even calculating at the lowest price, the milk my two little does produced paid for their feed and paid me back for their purchase prices (both $150) in one year. In fact the $1,095.00 savings in milk paid for every cost the goats incurred with a surplus of $200. Hay, minerals, shots, collars...the goats paid for all that with just their milk. Then, the next year I was selling babies for $100 for does and $50 for bucks. Five babies gave me an extra $300. So I bought a doe with papers.

Then my husband got a new job and we moved and all the goats had to be sold or given away suddenly. It was hard and sad to let them all go and I was determined to find a place in the country and get more goats as soon as we could. And the bottom line is the bottom line in this story. What other animals give you so much joy and fun and affection while also more than paying their way. Here in Vermont I can sell a certain amount of milk and goat cheese without a grade A certificate. I expect it will be even more profitable than it was in Iowa. Still my husband goes on about the price we paid for a ADGA registered Nubians and I just can't understand this attitude towards an animal that is so profitable and so productive and so unassuming and easy to keep.

Why goats? Let me count the why's :

*Fun
*Sweet
*Cute
*Profitable--meat, milk, cheese and kids
*Milk of a quality we could never afford to buy
*ditto the cheese
*don't forget yogurt
*soap that washes odors away
*Pride to have such beautiful animals
*It's good for kids to see how food is produced
*Meat from the bucks
*Lessons from the barn
*Being up at 3 am waiting for kids and seeing Hale-Bop in the sky
*The many priceless moments we've experienced goat-keeping