286,942 miles and counting

We have just made it home from a whirlwind of a trip to Poteau, Oklahoma! We left Thursday night around 7pm and drove all night to drop off our bucks to participate in the buck test held at the Kerr Center in OK. Shane wanted to try driving them at night to reduce the stress of such a long haul. He had just bought the goat tote earlier Thursday morning (kinda last minute). Usually we use our cattle trailer, but have decided to invest in a goat tote instead of hauling that big trailer around for a few goats. He covered it with a billboard tarp that we had to keep the wind out, rather than buying a cover for $120. We had to stop to get some bedding to soak up the "mess" they would create in that tote. We stopped to get gas to realize too much wind was coming in and blowing the bedding around, so we went to Home Depot to get yet another tarp. That did the trick. Here are the bucklings below, before we put that last tarp on.

We decided to send 4 bucks this year from 4 different does than we sent last year. The smallest goat had a time with our LGD pup chasing him around until we finally weaned him off. His dam has had the best FEC that we have checked on our farm. Next year, we plan on sending some of Rooster's bucks with the same does to see how his offspring perform.

We arrived at the Kerr Center a little after 8am. Mary, Andy, and Courtney were waiting for us to arrive to check our bucks in. There are a total of 60 bucks in this test with ours included. Our 4 missed out on 1 week worth of the "warm up" period, but we hope they will do fine.

After they checked everybody in, we took a tour of the facility. There are some nice bucks that have been entered into the test this year.

We also looked at their Pineywoods Cattle herd. Mary and Andy drove down to Mississippi to get some of the genetics in their herd. Their bull came from down south and has been given the name Mississippi Mud.

We finally left there somewhere around 10am. Meanwhile, Shane still hadn't had any sleep after driving all night. He finally pulled over right before leaving OK, and I drove to the other side of Memphis while he took a power nap. He said he wanted to drive again, so I took the passenger's seat and started with my camera. I look back now at all of the crazy photos I took, and I do believe I was a little deliriously silly with my sleep deprivation. I decided not to share all of my crazy photos, but here are a few.

This is us about 20 hours into the trip.

Thank goodness for that nasty coffee at the gas stations. I guess I shouldn't knock the coffee, after all that is what keeps you awake!

Shane's truck, Besse or Betsy (he said she'll answer to both), rolled over to 287,000 miles before we arrived home. She has been a good 'ole girl for us. We decided it would be nice to document the mileage for our trip. Notice the dust had to be wiped to see the mileage. I think she deserves a little clean up after taking us to Oklahoma and back safely. :)

Jael and her pups

We had been watching Jael a couple of weeks ago expecting her to have her pups at anytime, then she went missing on June 16. I drove our Kawasaki mule all over the place looking for her, calling for her and I couldn't find her. I even walked down the fire lane on the other side of our pasture that borders the National Forrest looking for her, with no luck. A few days before we left for the AKGA convention, Shane found her......with puppies. She had crossed the fire lane and went down into a "gulley" and dug a hole to have her pups. She had 6. Then the rain came, and of course her location was a terrible place due to water running down in there. Shane went out there and she had 5 of her pups carried to safety and 1 didn't make it. She was moved into the pasture under some shading before we left for the convention, but while we were gone, she decided she knew better and took them back to the woods again.


This is the first place Shane had found her with her 6 pups. I was standing on top of a hill looking down to take this picture. She picked SOME place to have those pups.

THE Como Steakhouse

We went to probably the BEST steakhouse in Mississippi on Saturday night after the AKGA showcase sale. Ms. Belinda Hankins highly recommended this place, and now I know why. The steak was FANTASTIC!!!!

It was located in a historic town of Como, Mississippi. It only took us about 15 minutes from the Batesville Civic Center, and I am glad we went there. The people that worked there were so kind and it felt like we were home.

They cooked their steaks over charcoal right there in the open in the restaraunt. This photo was taken right behind our table. We were able to watch the "grill mastery" going on. It was a brick pit with charcoal and just some simple grating on top. Those guys never stopped throwing the steaks on there. It was a full house when we went, but the owner said that on this particular night that it was a little slower than usual.

We explained to our waitress where we were from and that we had come to Batesville for the goat convention. She said that around Labor Day they have a goat cooking there at this restaraunt. It was part of a big Blue's/Jazz event. We thought it might be a good idea to have the convention in this location nearer to this event so folks could try out the goat meat. If they grill or smoke goat anywhere near the way they did the beef, it would be a hit!

My husband Shane and I.....

Jesse and Jane Beech of Gulf South Kikos, Long Beach Mississippi.

2010 AKGA National Convention Batesville, MS

We survived our trip to Batesville, MS for the AKGA National Convention! I have lots of pictures, so get ready for a looong post.

This year we took our kids to the convention, so I wasn't able to be as attentive to the convention as usual. I have heard that I missed out on some great seminars. Shane was able to attend several of them, and enjoyed them. I did get to meet some new faces which is always one of the better parts of the convention. Yes, getting to see some familiar faces was equally enjoyable!

Thursday evening there was a goat cheese and sausage social. I must say that the goat sausage was delicious!!! I am hoping that we can experiment and try to make our own goat sausage this year. My uncle Jamie made some deer sausage that was out of this world this past winter, who knows what recipe we'll come up with for the goat sausage. I will have to let you know when we try it...

There were some nice goats offered at the sale, but we are not planning on buying anymore goats right now. We are planning to breed Rooster to some all of Pistol Pete's daughters from last year this fall. We are focusing on our herd right now......We have been collecting data for two years now on the does we purchased from Dr. Sarks and have ended up culling 8 does from that group. I am very excited to see what we will end up with in a few years from now from the things we've got planned to do....

Here are then pens that held the animals for sale. I thought they had a pretty good set up. It was really nice for the goats to be able to be in an air conditioned facility compared to he place last year. Despite the Mississippi heat, we were very comfortable in the Batesville Civic Center. I think Terry and his convention committee did a fantastic job!

There were also many farm displays! I have to admit, ours wasn't decorated or flashy at all. We only put out our business cards and brochures this year. It was kind of a last minute decision. There were some very nice ones though! Not only were there farm displays, but also a few vendors. One woman had a table set up with lotion and soap made from goat milk. The soap smelled absolutely WONDERFUL!! Here is a link to her website: http://www.covenantcreekgoatmilksoap.com/index.shtml I plan on buying some of this stuff for Christmas presents. It seems like now days everyone has everything. I don't think soap made from goat's milk is something they have though.

Mallory wanted to go look at the goats a lot. She wanted to be able to pet them, and of all the goats there, she had to pet this guy...

He had his "cologne" on very strong, and she said "Mom, look he will let me pet him." Of course, I tried to discourage, but what can you do? We just washed the hands.....

Dillon enjoyed telling tall tales to Mr. Darryl and Ms. Gail Byrd. He has a way of creating stories that are quite fascinating. He loves to get someone to listen, and the more they get interested in his story, the taller the tales.

More to come....we ate at a FANTASTIC steak house, I have photos and more on this later. I have chores to do......

Doelings

We had 2 new doelings born last night that we've been waiting for....Their dam had triplets during that awful winter night in December, with freezing rain and they didn't make it. They had gotten under the electric fence in the woods on the other side and died. It was terrible to find them that way. When the doe came in heat again, we put her with Rooster. She gave us a fine doeling last year and we were hoping to see what kind of daughters she and Rooster would have. She had twin doelings!!

Watching and waiting

Everyday this week I've been checking in on Jael to see if she's had her pups yet. I feel so bad for her in this heat. Today was 96 with a heat index of 105. She has a spot behind our pond dam that she likes to lay in. She has actually dug a hole. I'm afraid if a rain comes, it will drown her puppies if that is where she chooses for them to come into the world. So until she decides to have them, I will still be watching and waiting!

DSK Y26 KIDS

One of our young bucks that we had leased now has kids hitting the ground. Here are some of Y26 kids. They are 75% kiko and out of first timers. Their age ranges from 2 weeks to 4 weeks.

Click here to get back to the buck page on our website.

New face at DSK

Summertime pests!

We found this nest of wasps nestled in a big pile of briars. Shane called it to my attention one day saying the goats weren't eating those briars. I sprayed the whole nest with poison, so hopefully the goats will move on over there and continue feasting on that pile of brush!

This is something else I stumbled on today outside our barn!!!! A cottonmouth!! I really didn't know what kind of snake it was, but I killed it thinking it was poisonous. Glad I did....I'll have the story later about it on my other blog.

2009 Bucks for Sale!

Check out our website on the sale page to view our bucks we have listed for sale... These are the 4 of the 5 that made the cut through 1 year worth of our management while collecting data on them. 1 of the 5 bucks is out on lease and I will be getting an updated photo on him when he returns.