Hey, remember me?

I can’t believe it has been so long since I blogged. But how many entries did I start out that way?

I have so much updating to do, where should I start? You’d better go grab a drink and a snack, cuz this will be a while.

Work, schmurk. I am sick of being away from home. I am really investigating the Tomboy Tools option to see if it will be a lucrative part-time venture while I try to build up my goat herd. B really wants me to quit, my therapist is screaming about how detrimental the job is to my mental health. And I agree. But what can you do? Nothing will happen quickly, just because I am wiser in my old age, and won’t just up and quit.

It’s coming up to my busy time, so we’ll see how that goes. Hopefully I can maintain some semblance of sanity.

So enough about work.

It’s State Fair time! We have gone only once this year, so far anyway. I expect that we’ll go tomorrow through the weekend. I was disappointed to learn that the draft horse show that we have loved for the past few years is no longer one long day (which seemed like minutes for us). They are breaking it up to a few different classes each day. So when we went a couple of days ago we saw them lining up to go into the pavilion and took some photos. If you have never been close to a draft horse, they are immense. Often the back of a horse is taller than 6’ so a typical man can’t even see over the back. Their feet are as large as dinner plates, and that is not an exaggeration. They make Major look like a toy horse. I took a photo of a man bathing his Percheron, so you can see how tall the horse is in relation to the man. The man was not a small man.





I did also have a chance to look through the photography salon at the fair. As you may know, none of my photos were selected. I did have a vindicating moment a week or so ago when a professional photographer looked at my photos and said that she thought they were outstanding. We had a lengthy discussion about the placement and what made them look good. These were hard copies that she looked at, so I felt good—they all look good on the internet! At the fair, they had just over 1000 photos on display, those that were selected to exhibit. They had 200 that actually won ribbons, everything from champion to honorable mention. There were nearly 4000 photos that were submitted. They selected about 30% for exhibition. One thing I noticed was that the colors were really intense. I don’t mess with the colors in my photos much, but it was obvious that they wanted bright, bold colors. There were photos that took my breath away, and there were photos that I thought were fine, and then there were those that I thought mine superceded. So at least I feel that I have a chance at being selected to exhibit next year. I’ll definitey try again. And each year they have one class that deviates from the usuals: still life, people, black and whites, etc.. This year the theme was one-room school houses. Next year it’s winter wonderland. Now THAT I can do!!

The family is great. It’s nearly back to school time, and we couldn’t be more ready. Fortunately, it’s still warm, so unlike when I was a kid growing up in WI (and starting school a few weeks later), we don’t need to go out and buy jeans and sweaters. We do have all the school supplies bought and packed up for next week. L starts football practice on Monday, and today we check out all of his equipment.

This past weekend B and I canned a bunch of produce from our garden. We did buy other produce and canned it, too. We made bread & butter pickles, stewed tomatoes, salsa, peach sauce and strawberry sauce. We didn't do much of each, but we did end up with quite a stash. We will have an abundance of tomatoes, so now that we have the hang of it, we will get busy canning! Here is a photo of some of the fruits of our labor:



Last weekend we went to my 20th high school reunion. It was quite the trip, let me tell you. I was part of the planning team, so it was nervewracking for me. I think I shocked most of them when I told them that I was a goat farmer. Of course, I prefaced it all with discussion about my “day job” but I did bring photos of the goats!

And speaking of the goats, they are mostly great. MK was so awesome to feed them while we were out of town last weekend, and they all (including MK) survived just fine. I missed them terribly, though!

However, this past Friday, Luna (the newest baby), developed scours (diarrhea). That can be problematic, or it can be something she ate—too much grass, too much grain, just a tummyache, etc. So I gave her some probiotics. That encourages the natural flora in the animal’s rumen, and can sometimes stave off an intestinal issue. By the next day she was not any better, so I immediately started treatement for coccidiosis. There are always coccidia present in the gut, but an abundance of them can be detrimental. It can be deadly for kids. So I started the treatement, and she responded immediately. Again, those antibiotics can upset the natural balance of bacteria in the rumen, so I continued with the probiotics. All was fine. Until yesterday, when she stopped eating! I gave her a shot of B complex yesterday (to encourage appetite), but no luck. She had been off feed for 24 hours today when I finally called the vet. I took a sick day from work, and I am now feeding her calf colostrum every 2 hours by bottle. Ugh, what us goatmoms don’t do for our babies. I hope she perks up.



I have found instructions on the internet on how to do my own fecal tests. Goats are extremely susceptible to worms, and those worms are very commonly immune to some of the more popular wormers. With horses, for example, you worm every few months for a particular kind of parasite, and it’s a preventive if the animal doesn’t have a parasite load. However, with goats, you want to find out if your goat is infected, and if so, exactly what type of worm it has, and then treat only for that type of parasite. You run a much lower risk of the worms becoming immune to the poison. And that word, poison, is also the reason that you don’t worm preventively in animals that you eat. We raise these animals so carefully, so that we don’t have hormones or too many antibiotics, etc. It only makes sense that we carefully choose which medicines they take, and avoid giving anything unnecessarily. So, I will be doing a fecal test on Luna today. I have a microscope and everything. We shall see!!


The other goats are great. Wolfie is great, growing his beard and turning into quite a young buck. He is making all of his girlfriend-attracting noises and doing the gross things that girl goats are attracted to. So all is well with him.



Cindi is doing fine, we are hoping that L will show her in a nearby county’s fair just before Labor Day. I am possibly going to show Aurora also. I am so nervous about that prospect!!



Aurora is doing well, gaining weight and looking great. I am really, really pleased with our purchase of her. She is sassy, healthy, vocal, and if she is a good mom, she will be the total package of near perfection. I can’t wait to see how she does.



Ernie is Ernie. Silly, fun, always talking, and just a great guy. Especially since he is now dehorned.



I had some amazing and exciting news the other day, which was confirmed last night. My “mentor” in this goat operation approached me about a “partnership.” I was hesitant at first, since we have put out mucho cash so far and are staying put with our herd for the time being. But they have too many goats, and what they proposed is that they will bring us does that are bred. We care for the does all winter, and when they kid in the spring, they will get the pick of the litter, typically a twin. If there are triplets, or an odd amount, then a price will be fixed for the offspring. We get the other kid. Basically, they come to the table with the bred doe, and we come to the table with the space to keep them and the feed all winter. It is totally a win/win situation. I trust these people so implicitly, they have such an interest in the market and the industry, and are just genuinely good people. They have an impeccable reputation in the state, and can not keep their sale goats around long. They always have customers. I am honored that they would ask me to partner with them, and can’t wait to get the does. That would be a way to increase our herd by two or more goats by spring. Let’s just hope for girls!!!

So all is well in the barn.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that our neighbor, our feed guy, has taken a job out of state. He has left, sadly, and has no place for his horses at the moment. During his move we have agreed to horse sit for them, so they are here keeping Major company. I think it will just be for a few weeks until he is settled, but we don’t mind the company. They stay outside all of the time anyway, though if they stay for any length of time during the winter, we will have to figure out a solution. They need some shelter, which they don’t have much of (just trees) outside.



So, that’s that! I hope to be around more from now on. Hope you enjoy the photos.


American Gothic for the New Millennium: