She Was A Good One!!

Two weekends ago, we weaned our kid goats and took the cull kids to the stockyard.  Along with the cull kids, we also had to cull some of our does.  I had to go way back to 2009 to find a picture of this one particular doe that I wanted to write about. 

T26 2009 photo

We purchased this doe back in 2008.  We weren't interested in pedigrees at the time.  We wanted to make sure that we had good parasite resistant does.  When we purchased T26, her prior FAMACHA checks (that were available to us ) were good.  She had scored 1's and 2's and hadn't been dewormed.  We knew that our farm, in hot-humid south Mississippi, would be the perfect breeding ground for the dreaded barber pole worm.  We purchased this particular doe along with about 25 other FAMACHA tested does (there's a whole other story about that ) in hopes that they would be a good foundation from which we would build our kiko goat herd.  

This particular doe wasn't the biggest framed goat, she wasn't flashy in color.....but let me tell you.  She weaned some of the heaviest kids each kidding season and her FAMACHA scores were always 1-2.  

T26 in 2013 with her bucklings; their 90 day weaning weights were *58 lbs and *61 lbs
Her weight that was taken in the fall before breeding was 111 lbs.  Wow!

Up until recently, did she start showing signs of anemia.  We knew her time with us was coming close to an end.  She was 9.5 years old.  This is what her teeth looked like on the last work day.  She only had two teeth left.  We knew that she wouldn't be able to forage and maintain her body condition much longer.  It had been evident to us these last few months. 

She made the trip to the sale barn, and I'm going to tell you I hated seeing her go! We have one daughter out of her....only 1! Out of all of the years, we had her here, she always had bucklings each kidding.  Lucky for us, we kept one for ourselves from the 2013 crop and he has turned out to be one of our herd sires for the upcoming 2015 breeding season.  We hope he passes on his mother's traits.  She was truly a remarkable kiko goat! 

I pulled out her registration paper from our current herd file to put in the culled goats file.  I was blown away at how many registered kiko goats we have culled through the past 8 years.  It is never easy for us to do, but this is an absolute MUST in order to improve your herd!  I just wish more people could/would practice culling rather than selling just because they have a "papered" goat.  For us it's still performance over their pedigree any day! Anyway, that's a whole other post for another day :) 

papers from goats no longer in our herd

It has been quite nice getting back into the blogging endeavor!  I have missed capturing/documenting what's been going on around our farm.  After Shane was injured last year, I kind of just quit.  Plain and simple.  However, the farm is still going in full swing.  Be on the lookout for more updates from me.  I thoroughly enjoyed getting this post typed up and looking through old data/pictures for it.   Hope you all are having a great weekend!

My Bottle Babies

Hi, my name is Dillon and I am 12 years old.  I wanted to update you on our farm life in the South. 

Here's a pic that I took of my bottle babies searching me for food. These are our very first bottle babies.  We have had them for about two months now and they are growing so fast! You can't go anywhere without them trying to go through the fence to get to you.

My sister Mallory and I have four altogether. I have two and she has two.We have saved up enough money to buy milk replacer to feed the babies.  We have made a really big investment in these kids, but it was worth it! We love having "pet goats" that you can walk up to and pet on.

Remember Those Who Served This Day

Thank you to those who have served and those that are still serving our country! We hope you have a safe and happy Memorial Day!

Goat Field Day in Amite, LA May 2014

Last week, I posted a flyer about a field day that was being held in Amite, LA. We were able to attend and I must say, we had a great time! It's always so nice to catch up with fellow goat friends and of course, make new ones. The first part of the day was held at the LSU AgCenter.

There were several topics presented the first part of the day.  Our first speaker was Roberta Mckowen, DVM.  Her session was focused around the priority pyramid that's in the background of this photo.

I took another pic a little closer, because I really agreed with the pyramid........especially the bottom/first priority being knowledge.  Shane and I had read/gathered as much information as we could before we purchased our first goats.  We even visited other farms and talked with several goat ranchers before we dove off into the adventure of raising goats.  Even though we've been raising goats for several years now, we are still learning.   

There were also presentations from a Sweetlix representative regarding mineral nutrition for goats.  It was very informative!   It's amazing the decrease in issues with your herd's performance when proper mineral supplementation is practiced.  Minerals play a very important part in their overall health, which is true with any other livestock.

While we were in sessions, Mr. Mike Kimball was busy preparing goat jambalaya for us to enjoy.  He had a specific method to his system.  I was very impressed with his set up.  You can tell he's done this more than a time or two.

Mike's world famous goat jambalya in the making

Dillon getting to help Mr. Mike out

I will say, I've tried goat meat prepared many different ways.  This was THE BEST I've ever eaten.  The flavor was perfect! I'm telling you, if you don't think you would like goat meat, you should definitely try his jambalaya. It was out of this world good! I don't know if his recipe is top secret, or if he has any special ingredients.  Maybe I can get him to give me the recipe to share on the blog :)

Everyone enjoying the good food

After lunch, we all loaded up and headed out to Nic Girgenti's farm. 

They put a few goats in the working pen and if anyone was interested they were able to see how FAMACHA checks are done with the goats. Earlier in the day, Dr. Jim Miller, DVM did an excellent presentation on parasite management. FAMACHA checks is one of the best methods to use when it comes to parasite management!

If you'll notice, they had some very nice equipment to use to handle the goats.  The equipment can be such a lifesaver! I do remember a time when we caught up goats using our two running feet and only a lasso and leg crook.....long story there, but I will tell you herding them up with the dog and having a head gate is AH-MAZING compared to the previous method :)

Getting the goat in the head gate

In the photo below, Nic is showing how to hold the goats eyelids in order to see the mucous membranes to check for anemia (which is most often caused by the Barber pole worm; Haemonchus contortus )

Nic demonstrating how to check for anemia using FAMACHA method

Mr. Mike opening the side gate to let the doe back to the pasture

Branding Day #2

About 2 months ago we gathered up the yearling heifers that we'd retained for our herd. It was time for them to be branded with their identifying number. Shane and Dillon got all of the tools that were necessary for the days work and fueled up the generator that would be used to power the "branders".  They are electric, instead of the other method of heating up the brands with fire. I wrote a blog post back in 2012 when we first tried out the this method of branding.

We rented a squeeze chute for the day from a co-op.  It was different than the one we're used to using, but it did help us get the job done.  You can see it in the background.  I had to share this picture, because of the two dogs sitting in the back of the mule.  Of course, without our family pitching in the help us, we couldn't be where we are.....but I will say without these two dogs, I'd probably be bald! They are such a lifesaver when it comes to rounding up the cows or goats.  Just send them out in the pasture and with a few voice commands, they will bring the animals to you.  Way better than what it used to be when we first started ;)

Alex and Davie; border collies

Shane getting ready to brand

  This is a picture that I snapped yesterday while out checking on the goats.  You can see how well their brands have turned out.  It's much better than trying to read their ear tags. 

One Proud Boy

The day that our oldest has awaited for what seems so long, finally arrived a while back. You see, Dillon worked all last summer earning money and made payments towards his very first kiko goat. He's been after his daddy to let him buy one for some time. Shane finally made a deal with him and all we've heard about is how he is going to have a herd better than ours. Dillon is just a tad bit competitive.  He sees how much goes into selecting good breeding stock to work towards improving your goat herd, and he's up for the challenge!  

He chose to breed his doe to Pistol Pete.  Of course, the first thing he said was that "The kids will be colored if Pistol Pete is the daddy."  We've tried to stress the importance of not getting caught up in breeding just for color.  He understands, but what can I say......the more colorful goats are eye catching.  However, I don't care to have a pasture full of beautifully colored goats that can't manage to take care of themselves. 

Anyways, the day finally came that his doe kidded.  She had twin girls.  He was so ecstatic! He did all of the routine checks with his goat and kids.  He weighed and tagged the kids and has begun the adventure of being a goat rancher.  It's so fulfilling to see your children learn such valuable life lessons!  

Getting the weight

Putting in the ear tag

Weighing the other

Can you tell he is one proud boy?  And I couldn't be a more proud mama of that boy!

Mother's Day 2014

While I'm working on other blog posts, I thought I'd share a few photos from this past weekend.  We celebrated Mother's Day here at our house.  We had several mamas in attendance to celebrate the day. The pics were snapped with my phone, so they aren't the best quality, but they are treasured nonetheless!  Everyone was about to leave and my sister mentioned that we should try to get a few pictures.  The children had all changed from their church clothes to play clothes which they had definitely been playing very hard in :)

Me, my mom, my grandmother "Scooter", my little sis, and of course my girl Mal

Shane and his mom

The reason I am called mama

My sis, mom, brother and I

A very special thank you to my husband who planned the whole day.  He grilled and cooked lunch for all of us mamas.  His idea was to get us all together at one place and for us to just relax and enjoy the afternoon.  I have to say he did an awesome job! He grilled, whipped up the side dishes, and even made homemade vanilla ice cream! 

My honey and I

I had an absolutely wonderful Mother's Day! I consider myself blessed beyond measure............so glad that God chose me to be a mama!

Goat Field Day May 17

A good friend of ours, Mr. Nic Girgenti, will be hosting a Goat Field Day at his farm this coming Saturday, May 17.  He sent an email with this flyer attached with all of the information.  It was in PDF format, and for the life of me, I couldn't figure out how to get it in JPEG to upload on the blog.  Soooo, I took a snapshot of it with my phone and uploaded it to the blog.  I apologize if it's not real clear.  If you click on the photo, it should make it larger and easier to see.  

We are looking forward to being able to attend.  Topics for the day will be improving pastures, controlling parasites, and managing the integration of small ruminants on a farm.  They will also be offering FAMACHA certification for $10.  I have to say getting certified to do  FAMACHA with our goats was the best thing we ever did!

 

Also, I've been told that Nic's brother in-law Mike will be cooking some goat jambalaya for this event....yummy!  I believe you won't want to miss it! So if you live within a reasonable distance and are interested in learning a little more about goats, I'd recommend attending.  Hope to see you there! All contact information is located on flyer.  However, if you have any questions, I will be glad to direct them to Nic.  Just leave a comment on this post in the comment section. 

Our Field Trip to the Dairy Farm

About a month ago, we were able to take a little field trip to a local dairy farm with some of our other homeschool friends.  This dairy farm produces the milk that I wrote about on our blog a while back here.  

Although we do live on a farm and raise cattle, our cattle are beef cows.  The cattle at this farm are dairy cows.  Their purpose is to provide consumers, like our family, with milk.  We were able to get a tour of their facilities and see their day to day operation, as well as a wagon ride out to the pastures.  The kids were even allowed to help bottle feed the calves.  I do believe this was their favorite part.  You can't help but love baby calves!

Dillon feeding a calf

Mallory....she really didn't want me to take her picture, but I managed to snap it quickly

Even after our tour, the kids went back to visit the calves on last time. 

We very much enjoyed getting to visit Country Girl's Creamery!  If you ever get a chance to try out some of their milk, I'd say go for it.  I'm not a big milk drinker myself, but I will pick this milk over the homogenized stuff from the "big stores" any day.  I really like the idea of buying local products.  Even more so, I like being able to visit the farm and see how the products is "produced" and exactly where it comes from. 

We were getting ready to ride out and tour their farm

Another Workday

This past Saturday we had another workday.  We are getting close to babies of all sorts being born around the farm, so we want to make sure everyone is healthy and moved to new pasture.  First the first timer heifers were moved.  We started keeping our heifer calves as replacements several years back. They are bred and have their first calf here on the farm at the age of 2 yr olds. If they breed on time, deliver a calf, and show good mother-ability traits, they will be added to the main herd. Being that they will have their first calf ever, they get separated from our main herd when it's close to time for them to have their calf. They are moved to the pasture close to our house, so we can keep a check on them. Hopefully they will not have any difficulties, but you can never be too sure. 

enjoying the clover and rye grass in this pasture

This young bull is also out here with the young ladies because he will be getting branded soon, along with the heifers.  We purchased him from a friend of ours from Louisiana.  Dillon is quite fond of him because he can pet on him.  He asked me to take his picture while he pet the bull.  I think he also would like it if I share it on the blog, so here it is :)  

Dillon petting "Little Nic"

We also moved the does and did FAMACHA eye scoring on them today.  They are due to start kidding in the next couple of weeks.  They were also moved into the same pasture closest to our house.  We are excited to see all of the new kids make their arrivals.  Spring is such a fun time here on the farm!