The slow time of year

Hello.
This is the time of year that I don't like. The goats are almost all dry, the weather is up and down and nothing grows but my waistline.

I think most of the girls are pregnant now. There are 35 due in February, 31 in March and 18 for April. Can you say kid overload. I still have about 31 doe kids from this year that I want to sell. Not having any luck yet. I don't think I have enough room in the barn to keep all of them through the winter so I will end up taking a group at a time to the local auction and hope they find a good home. There are a few that I may keep because their mothers milked much better than I expected them to. I may breed them next month for May kidding. By then I will know better who of the others need to go because of low production and how much milk is needed to sell.

Next year I will have to be more strict with myself about whose doe kids I will keep for adding to the herd. I am also going to implement raising the doe kids on a CAE preventive program.  CAE is caprine arthritis encephalitis. I also plan on going on DHIA, dairy herd improvement association, this will keep official milk records on the does. It will also tell me the butterfat, protein and somatic cell count of each goat. These are all helpful in deciding who stays, who goes and whose kids I keep.

There is always something new to add or change in dairy farming whether it be cows, goats or sheep. You need to constantly try to improve the quality of life for the animal so that it will improve the quality of life for the farmer. It's a never ending process.

Thanks for reading. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been awhile

since my last blog. It's hard trying to think of things to write about.
In my last blog I wrote about Happy and that she wasn't feeling well. I was hesitant about writing about her again because she didn't make it. I had moved her to a pen by herself and put her back on antibiotics. I called the vet to ask if there was anything else I could do for her.  I made the quick trip to the vets for a different bottle of medicine and came back to give her a shot. I went about the rest of the morning doing the weekend cleaning. When I stopped to check on her she seemed very distressed. I got her a bucket of warm water. I let her drink and then I sat with her stroking her head and chin. She seemed in more pain so I layed down next to her to comfort her and I began to cry. As I lay there she seemed to relax and breathe more easily and then she stopped. I was glad she was no longer in pain but sad she was gone. Happy has been layed to rest on the hill next to the grove of maples.

Happy leaves behind two beautiful daughters, Harmony and Heather and a few great milk records for a 4 year old.

This is one of the saddest things about farming losing one of your better animals long before they should go. It's part of the life that I have been given and I am Happy for it.