The day started out early. At 6:45 Christine started up with her “It’s time to wake up. Get up. We need to get going” speech which I never care for since I’m not too much of a morning person (but certainly more so than night, haha! Can’t I be a middle of the day person?).
Looking outside I realized that the fence guy was already here working hard on getting the last side of the fencing done. Christine soon joined him, working on the enclosure, and I worked on walking and feeding of all the animals (35 of them, believe it or not, though the lizard only eats in the evening so I guess he doesn’t count). In between animal walking and feeding I get the little kiddo dressed and feed her breakfast. She likes to help with animal chores but I admit I’m not the most patient of mothers. I don’t know how people slow down to kid speed…there’s just too much to do.
We had told the goat breeder that we would arrive around noon, but as the morning wore on I realized that would be an impossibility. There was somehow still SO much to do! I chipped in to help when I could. The fence and gate got finished. The enclosure got it’s final door put up, more cedar planks put on, and one more panel of wire. The milk stand was carried from the office to the milk room just inside of the barn.
Finally we headed out, just two and a half hours behind schedule. I say that with both a smile and a tear because I always prided myself on being timely before having kids, but alas, now I can’t even blame the kids, it’s just that farm work is slow going. We ended up leaving the fence guy to finish up as we drove away.
The goats were easy to load. They went into the back of our XL SUV in dog crates, the doe in milk in her own crate and the twins sharing a smaller crate.
There was a LOT of noise when we pulled away from the breeder’s house but they quickly quieted down and enjoyed the 2 1/2 hour ride home. There was a lot of pooping and peeing, but thank goodness for tarps and washable pee pads too. Our vehicle stayed perfectly clean.
We pulled up at the barn and I was so ready to toss everyone into their enclosure, but I quickly discovered that things were NOT ready. We had to leave the goats in the car an additional 15 minutes or so while we walked through their enclosure making sure no trash had been left by the fence guy, picking up the extra fence rolls lying around. In they went, one at a time. Baaaaaah. Baaaaaaah. Baaaaaaaaaaaah. They walked around very slowly. They tried out the shade. They tried out the sun. They walked the whole perimeter. They ate some weeds. They licked the salt block I nailed to a tree. They sniffed at their alfalfa hay in the rack. They gave us their bleats of approval.
I went inside to get dinner and bedtimes taken care of while Christine stayed outside and worked more on the enclosure. I got the little kiddo to bed and then got all of the milk supplies ready (poor kiddo SO wanted to help with the milking but it was past her bedtime and I knew that wouldn’t go well with a goat that would need extra calm hands). I discovered something tragic…our new milk machine is for regular sized goats, NOT minis! So the teat suction cups are wayyyyy too big and won’t work! UGH. Hand milking it is…
I walked down to the barn, put the feed in the bucket on the milk stand, the same feed the breeder uses, by the way. I had a leash ready to tie to her foot, something she is used to for a reminder that she’s on the stand and shouldn’t wiggle around. Christine had been saying all along that she was calm (I was in an anxious panic, ha!) so we decided she would do the milking since the breeder reminded us that if we didn’t keep calm the goat would pick up on that and get really nervous. We were also warned we just may not be able to milk her tonight because of all the sudden changes for her, and if that happened to just try again in the early morning.
Christine put a lead rope on her and called her as she walked from the enclosure to the milk room. She would only come with cashews and sunflower seeds. Once in the milk room she of course had to poo. Everywhere. Pellets flying in all directions. And then she saw the stand and was like, “OH, this!” though our stand is actually much taller than the stand that the breeder used so Christine ended up lifting the poor goat onto the stand. Poor Christine too because this goat has to weigh like 120 lbs. She was a bit suspicious of the food after she stuck her head in but started eating it soon. Whoops, then I realized that the head piece that hooks them into place on the stand was also WAY too big for a mini and her head can get in and out without it being unhooked. Great. So she can get out of it and jump away at any time. She started hoovering her food which meant we had to hurry with the body brushing, massaging of bag, washing of teats, etc. By the time we were ready to start milking she had already finished her food. So I gave her another scoop. Christine started milking her. She kicked a little. Christine started milking her again. She decided she didn’t like her food anymore. I added sunflower seeds. She resumed hoovering. Christine milked. Ever played a game where the timer is going and you just know at any second it’s going to go off and you’re going to lose? That’s what this process felt like. It was like racing through something BADLY because you just know at any second it’s all over. At some point the goat was just DONE. She didn’t want more grain. She didn’t want more sunflower seeds. She didn’t want to be touched. She was FINISHED. Christine remembered we needed to dip her teats in the essential oil dip I made with lavender, tea tree, and castile soap. I gave the goat pets on the head in hopes we could keep her on the stand a few more seconds. Then we sprayed her with fly spray (I’m hoping it also helps with mosquitoes which are bad here right at the moment). She was annoyed and squatted on the stand and peed everywhere. Wonderful. Christine leashed her and next thing you know, Goat (actually her name is Kissy, like Hershey Kiss with an added “y”) jumped down and then decided to poo again on the way out.
The milk room has officially been christened.
In she went into her enclosure to the excitement of the babies who had decided their leader must be a goner at that point.
I cleaned up the milk area as quick as I could, raced the milk into the house, put it in a jar, and stuck it into the freezer (we use, thanks to the breeder’s recommendation, a handy milking contraption that has a grease trap on it…works great as a filter…and then there’s no need to filter later on).
I set the timer for 30 minutes and ran back outside to help with the enclosure and goats. The goats are SO social. They wait by the fence, begging you to come pet them. They are so loving and sweet, especially the red and white one we call Peaches (her full name is Sassy Peaches N Cream…a tribute to her hometown of Fredricksburg, Texas, where they are known for their peaches).
Christine and I got the door sealed up (actually she did that herself) and we got plywood put up on top right now since there’s no time for more of the wire pieces to be built…then she added plywood to the inside bottom so there is no way an animal can slip in from underneath and get our girls. I went to the far corner of the pasture to get their water bucket and bring it into their enclosure for the night and I looked down and BAM…huge freaking snake underfoot. It slithered by and went right up a tree…ugh…gross…no. Thank God it was just a rat snake, but no amount of screaming was working to get Christine’s attention. Our snake conversations always go like this:
Me: Christine…AHHHHH!!!!!! Christine???? Christine????????? AHHHHHHH!
Her: What?
Me: A SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE.
Her: What kind is it?
Me: A SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE.
Seriously because they all look the same to me, it’s HUGE and it slithers…it’s a scary snake.
The goats were all like, “Hey, what’s this cool thing?” Definitely no fear…so again, thank GOD it was not a poisonous snake.
I felt badly that I didn’t get a chance to hang up the 15 goat minerals we purchased, but I did end up giving them Redmond Salt, Icelandic Kelp, and Baking Soda just in case. Those are pretty much the biggest essentials that they may need immediately, especially the salt and baking soda. They have their hay, their water, their 3 minerals, and pine shavings to lay on. They looked happy when we tucked them in.
By the way, the horses were very curious about the goats as were the goats about the horses. They don’t share a fence but they are a stone’s throw away from each other and I don’t think either species had ever laid eyes on the other.
The neighbor’s sheep bleated a welcome and the goats returned the kindness.
Chai (farm puppy) has not been over to the goats yet. She was raised with lambs, and while the property did have goats I’m not sure if she spent much time with them. She’s in such a playful yet dangerous phase (she’s almost 40 lbs!) at the moment that we will introduce them all slowly and we will use a vibrating collar on Chai. The collar has a shock feature but so far the vibration has been enough to get her attention and reset her brain to a different activity. It’s a good backup since she does not respond well to “NO” or “Leave it.” We will not EVER be letting the puppy alone with the goats as puppies, even livestock guardian dogs, do hurt and kill livestock quite often while “learning” and going through all their puppy phases. They are not reliable and should not be left alone unattended until they are 2 years old, though I know many people don’t go by the rule and choose to leave them alone earlier. I’m sure it depends on the animal, but the one we’ve got? Not happening for a long while.
We are exhausted and hot (it was 97 degrees today) and so glad to be about finished with this project. I’m excited to bond with the goats. I’m also really hoping that milking goes better tomorrow. What a disappointment.
Ah well, I’m sure things will get easier as time goes on. Goats are creatures of habit. They like routines. I totally get it. We’ll get them on a schedule and things will be good.