Where's the Milk?

When the conversation comes up that I have goats, the first question that everyone has is “Oh do you milk your goats?” or “cool, free goat milk!” Yes, I totally agree that goat milk is wonderful and the thought of being able have my own supply free is great. But, my first response is usually something along the lines of “No, they have to be pregnant to get milk and I don’t want babies”. What do I mean by this? Get ready for some Goat 101…

Most don’t know that Goat Milk is a seasonable harvest. Unlike cow’s, goats only produce milk for a short time after a baby has been born. Babies are usually only born right after the breeding season: October-January. Now, there are a few exceptions to this, but it’s not easy. The only way goat milk producers can get milk all year around is by manipulating the goat’s hormones chemically to be in heat year around so they can produce babies year round, thus, year round milk. Even this method is difficult and hence the high price of goat milk.

Now, let me tell you, having a goat in heat can be a painful or a pleasant experience. In my herd, I have 3 girls and one “de-daddied” goat (as my kids like to call it). If I were to have babies, I would need to get an outside male to do the deed.

So, how can you tell they are in heat? The normal signs of a doe (girl goat) in heat are:
 "Flagging" (wagging) her tail.
 Mounting other does.
 Letting other does mount her.
 Fighting
 Letting herself get beat up without defending herself.
 Having a "crush" on another doe.
 No interest in feed.
 Swollen and/or pink rear end.
 Mucous discharge from her vagina
 Her side tail hair is wet and/or clumped together.
 Yelling for no reason.

Of our does have a mix of symptoms. Mama B, the queen of the herd, is the mildest mannered doe. She does the flagging, the lack of eating and a swollen and pink rear end. Other than that, Mama B is quiet as a mouse. Snowflake, the runt, is my middle ground doe. She is the same as Mama B, but she has the yelling aspect down as well but is not loud. She sounds the same as any other noise they make. It’s not really yelling like humans do, but more of a mild talking for no apparent reason. Now, Belle, she is the pain of my existence when she is in heat. The heat cycle comes around about every 21 days and for 48-72 hours they are in fact, in heat. Belle’s heat cycle is loud, I mean a LOUD non-stop noise making, window banging (she jumps up on the windows to get my attention), attention getting torture for 72 hours. It has crossed my mind more than a few times to ask if there is such a thing as Goat Midol. It’s that bad! At least I can see the end of the tunnel as I have notice the last two heat cycles for Belle, as well as Mama and Snowflake, as coming to a close as they have been short cycles; only lasting about 12-24 hours. While overall, yes, the heat cycle can suck a bit, the only option to have them not go into heat is to get them pregnant.

So it leaves me to two options really:

1)Get goat milk and have lots of babies to care for, feed and then eventually find homes

Or

2)Go through a few months of sporadic annoyance in the fall/winter time and less mouths to feed but no goat milk.

I choose option #2! I love having a small herd of 4. They are easy to take care of, but big enough of a herd to keep each other company. Four is the perfect amount to herd around the property to “naturally landscape” and move from area to area. Four is an easy enough amount to feed cheaply without damaging the household budget. The other plus side of not milking goats is that if they are in need of milking, you need to milk them two to three times a day (depending on the individual goats needs). To milk a goat, it takes on average 20 minutes. So that would mean 40-60 minutes per goat per day, unless you want to spend a small fortune on the milk producing equipment to take the time to milk down. So, again, I love my small herd of 4 non-pregnant, non-milk producing goats!

Where did January go?

Wow, where did January go? A friend of mine just restarted her blog and it opened my eyes to the fact that I, myself, have not blogged in almost a month. Bad blogger BAD! LOL
January has been quite a month this year. We have had crazy weather! Freezing temperatures that led to some snow and ice. Then, a warm streak that caused major flooding. The cold, damp, gray and gloomy days. I think I can speak for all of us here on the farm when I say “Where’s Spring?”. Between the wet and the soggy, the thought of spring is an amazing dream to say the least!


With the continuing chills in the air, we have switched out Mama Goats coat for a better, non-ducktape model that fits like a glove. I went with a Dover brand 2XL dog coat that fits Mama much better than the old foal coat. The foal coat was too long in the front (hence the ducktape) and with goats having similar body sizes and structure to a dogs, the Dover coat worked wonderfully! The way Dover makes their dog coats is similar to the wonderful quality of a horse blanket so it’s a prefect option! Heavy duty, water/mud proof and super warm.


January also included the first, which will not be the last, chicken harvest. Yes, I know most of you are thinking “Oh my” or “Ewwww” or even a “How could you?”. I have heard it all. But, yes – to answer all of your questions, I harvested my own chickens. Why you ask? There are many reasons. Due to a nasty tempered rooster and another handful of mean roosters and well, it was their time. My sister, her friend, my uncle and I went ahead and did the deed. We harvested 4 that day. Two are in my freezer and two in my sisters’ freezer. Yes, yes I know… again “How could you?”. Well, this was my response to most:

“In order to give an animal a wonderful life, we must have their lives full of happiness. That means good food, free of stress and a wonderful home. But then, when their time is up, to let them not live without meaning, but live a life that can be shared with others. By the chickens giving up their lives, we take respect to them by continuing their gift of life by fueling our lives; thus, the circle of life. Their passing’s were humane and without pain.”

It’s truly that simple. Really, it is! I also give this tidbit to think on... By me raising and harvesting my own chickens, I know EXACTLY where my food is coming from. I know what they eat and I know what they don’t eat which means I know that my meat and eggs (when they come) are free of chemicals, pesticides and just gross and nasty stuff the most of the factory food has today. I also get a great since of peace raising my own animals. I receive a great since of pride when I can take great care of an animal and have something to show for it – a great meal for my family.
So, I am currently down on the number of animals here on the farm: 9 chickens (2 roosters and 7 hens), 4 goats, a dog and a horse. We do have plans to extend our family though. Later this winter/spring we will be getting more hens and also a handful of turkeys. I know, I know – TURKEYS?!?!?!?! Yes, turkeys. Turkeys are so easy to raise, just like chickens, and make a WONDERFULL holiday meal. Turkey is also great any time of year and since we have a large freezer in the garage – why not I say!
So that is January in a nutshell. Lots of weather, lots of animals and lots of homeschooling. Till next time blog world!

Waste & Hormones

Yes, I know - WASTE AND HORMONES?!?!?! But here me out... This is what my day has been filled with. The goats having been wasting so much of their food that I went and bought a 'actual' feeder. They previously had a 20 gallon metal bin that worked great until Miss Snowflake decided to claim it as her bed! Pee. Poop. Yeah, I don't blame them for not wanting to eat the food in there! So, I went down to the local feed store and bought them a cattle feeder. A 2x4, some plywood, a handful of screws and here is what I created...



Not to bad on a budget. The trick was putting it up all by myself without having anyone help me hold it up. Took me a bit while, but it happened!

As for hormones you ask? OMG - Belle, the oldest 'baby' goat (she'll be one years old two days after Christmas), is heat AND DRIVING ME NUTS! NUTS I TELL YOU!! She has been bleeting (the noise they make) pretty much all day long without stopping! I called the vet to confirm and she did. We get to enjoy the annoyance for 3-4 days - OH JOY! For those of you who are wondering how you can tell if a goats in heat...

*If happens in fall, it can happen about every 21 days until they are out of the season. (BUT, the vet warned me it can happen ALL YEAR ROUND. Please, let us all pray that it does not happen to me or I might be short a goat!)
*She wags or flutters her tail continuously. My girls say it looks like "she's wag her tail like a poodle"
*Her girly parts get swollen and red.
*She stops eating.
*She bleets NON-STOP. Nothing makes her happy. Although, Belle seems to quite up when I am outside with her, petting her, holding her head. But even then, it doesn't work all the time.

All I can say is, if ,we, the human female counterparts are anything like the female goats: MEN - I AM SO SORRY! But, at the same time, you do not understand how much it SUCKS for us too!

PS - The baby chickens are officially FREE RANGED chickens! I put them outside today. They were stinking up my garage in their indoor coop. Here's to having 12 babies tomorrow morning! ;-)