Remedial Milking

Sounds pretty straight forward. Buy the does, raise the does, buy the buck, expose the does, wait for kids, have kids, milk goat, yum. Well, here we are at day 2 and at least there is goat milk in my fridge, and I do feel like several hurdles have been overcome. Major hurdle number one was the milking stand- as in we didn't have one when the niblet decided to arrive. No problem since we were going to give the kids all the does milk for the first 2 weeks. Well, new plan since she only had one kid. That means lots of extra udder stretching, lopsided teat making milk. Hence, yesterday became build-the-milking-stand-in-the-pouring-rain day.

And, ta-da!

Finally, all that extra stuff laying around is paying off! The stand is made from an old cabinet top , nice and sturdy, ready to clorox for easy clean-up. Add a stanchion made from scrap lumber, set on cement blocks and we're ready to milk! Right?

Enter Scarlet, lopsided udder, one kid having, new to this, too, doe. She kicks at the pail, steps in the pail, manages to remove her head from the stanchion and in general has a totally different idea of how this should go. Milking number 1 includes me and Chuck, pushing, pulling, coaxing, and yelping through- getting very little for our efforts other than an irritated goat. Holy goats, what have we gotten into?

Chuck is off to the corporate job today, and I get to go it alone. Dramatic music, please. Milking time comes around, prepare the area, add grain, go get the goat. Scarlet still does not want to go to the milking shed, no problem, lure with grain. Scarlet doesn't want to get on the stand, no problem lure half way up with grain, and when she stubborns up again, pick her up and put her on the stand. Luckily, she weighs less than a Dane (a little less). Praise goat and secure her head (fingers crossed on this point) in the stanchion. Wash udders. Whew, easy. Set up pail, hold breath, grasp engorged teat with cold fingers. Mah!

Whew! Scarlet's fine, she's eating her grain and props favorite kicking foot helpfully out of the way on the shelf. Here we go. First squirt goes up my sleeve, next one on the shelf, then (Hooray!) one in the pail. A few more wayward squirts and I get a rhythm. Alright! I'm milking! The rhythm doesn't last long, and I still get more up my sleeve and on the stand, but that's OK. I did get about a cup out, the udder looked less engorged, then I turned my attention to the small teat.

One of our concerns was that it was blocked and was drying up. After this morning, I'm going to conclude that Junior is a lefty and keeps that side emptied out. I decide this after getting a good grip on the teat, watching very closely for proper function... and squirting milk straight in my face.

Woo-hoo! It's working as it should. He's getting milk, Scarlet's fine, and I milked a goat.

Here are the fruits of my labor. This goes in to the fridge for the bottle feeding of Little Bit. It's a good way to make sure he's getting enough and will make him a little less wild. Right now, he's still got wobbly legs and sleeps a lot but that will change very quickly.

And, of course, here are pictures of the little guy...

A few more classes of Remedial Milking and I'll be ready to advance. Maybe in 2 weeks when we're ready to milk for our use I'll be able to pull it off.

Baby Goat!!!!!

Sometime last night Scarlet had a little baby boy! They're both doing fine. Chuck heard him this morning at 7:30 on his way to karate. We got his cord cleaned and tied. He has a cozy box with towels to hunker down in. Scarlet got a treat of wheat cereal and extra grain while we milked her a bit to make sure her teats were flowing so he could get his colostrum. She has passed her afterbirth and is taking good care of him.

Roscoe and MerryWeather were being very sweet with him, but we put them in the paddock to give mom and baby some bonding time. Now there is a lot of MAH! as they holler to each other across the fence.

Now we just sort out what to do with everybody and get into a routine! More pictures coming soon...

New Additions

3 day old Cayuga Ducklings

It's been a busy couple weeks on the farm. We've been planting more of the raised beds, managing all the poultry as best we can and getting ready for the new arrivals. On the gardening front, everything planted in the last month has sprouted (yay!) and we've put carrots, telephone peas and chard in as of last weekend. There will be about a month long break before any more needs to be put in.

In livestock, the baby chickens are growing faster and faster. They will be 8 weeks old Sunday, but I'm not sure they'll be big enough by 10 weeks to process. Since they're not commercial breeds, it make sense they're slower growing. I'm still having a hard time telling the hens from the roos but a couple more weeks should help that.

The older chickens have been making a mess out of the blueberry hills and some decorative plants. They seem to enjoy exposing the roots of the plants so they can take a dust bath in the mulch. Silly birds! So, last weekend we ran some temporary fencing and bird netting to keep them in safer territory. Today they found an area they could squeeze under so I'll need to address that tomorrow.

The Royal Palm turkeys we had staged an evacuation and have been living at my neighbors house for a few weeks. Then one of the males got his foot caught in her field fencing and had to move back home. He's fine, a little scraped up, but doing well. It's really good to have the turkey noises back- I didn't realize how much I missed it! Peck the Rooster, Rascal the Duck, a Tom Turkey, assorted hens and 3 goats make up a very nice farm soundtrack.

We've placed an order for the late summer processing of chickens, only 10 this time and they will be the Barred Rock variety. Still sifting through the different breeds to find a favorite. Along with the chickens, we've ordered 5 Blue Slate Turkeys, and 5 Ancona ducks. This group is scheduled to arrive in mid-May. The same day I placed the order for these I happened to be at the feed store the day their baby ducklings arrived. I couldn't resist bringing home two Cayuga ducklings. These little guys were in the running for the hatchery order but their dark feathers make them harder to dress out nicely. I'm hoping at least one is a girl so we can get some Cayuga eggs; they start off a charcoal color then fade to blues and greens as the season wears on. If we have one of each, there's a possibility we'll let them breed. They have been named Cheese and Quackers, even though we can't tell who's who.

And lastly in farm news, we're expecting baby goats soon. I noticed this evening when I fed the goats that Scarlet's udders have begun to fill and drop. Hopefully all goes well with that.

Busy times and about to get even busier!

Dare I Say the "S" Word?

I'm beginning to have hope that winter is finally loosening it's death grip on us here at LazyDanes. I also hope that typing "spring" won't hex the whole event. We've had several gorgeous days this past week and have thoroughly enjoyed them. It's been great being outside with the animals and seeing all that we've been able to accomplish in just 1 year!

In farm progress news, the front of the milking shed is painted. I still have some green touch up and the trim to go on the sides but we're getting there. We now have some counters in- thanks to Doug and Kat! They're old kitchen cabinets that have been re-homed very nicely. Now there's just the sink and the milking stand to go!




We've added to the plantings, also. The strawberries, onions, garlic and leaf lettuce are all in the ground. I'm watching the beds very carefully to see if anything sprouts. So far- nothing. This warm weather should speed things along, though.

All the animals are doing very well. The goats are enjoying their new area, not to mention all the honeysuckle that is starting to reappear with the change in weather. The does are looking more pregnant every day. Scarlet seems to be about a month further along than Merry. This fall we are going to plan the whole thing a little better, but at least we'll have milk this year.



The baby chicks are 5 weeks old. They are still in the brooder since it has still been below freezing at night. I'm hoping to be able to tell the girls from the boys soon and separate them. It'll be another 5 weeks until time to process them and another 10-15 before the girls start to lay, but they're filling out nicely. There is one little runt that I'm concerned about. It's legs are thinner and weaker than the other chicks and it lays down a lot. We'll see. All the chicks have been able to come out into their "play pen" and peck around the yard. Madison and Willow go in with them to hold them or hand feed them cereal. The older chickens poke around the outside watching them very carefully.



Rascal the duck is still doing very well. She gets to come out and hang with us whenever we're around. She stays very close, only going a little ways in to the woods to root around in the leaves, but she checks in frequently. If I'm moving around the farm a lot she waddles along close behind. Today I turned over a board and found her some delicious slugs. They're her favorite, right up there with Cheerios. She has also been laying us an egg a day, about twice the size of our chicken eggs and they taste the same to me.

Coming up in the next couple of weeks we'll be planting more, and hopefully having goat kids around the end of the month.

Think sprouting thoughts!

Finally- A Nice Weekend!

Hooray for 60 degree days and sunshine! We had 2 glorious weekend days which means lots of progress on the farm. On the shed project, the floor has been painted, and shelves and peg board have been installed. There is still a bit left to do such as the sink and trim painting but it's coming along. The little chickies have been moved in. As nice as it is to hear their little chirps, they are a huge mess when they start getting their big bird feathers.

The second goat padddock is DONE!!! Scarlet, MerryWeather and Roscoe got to munch their way through previously unexplored territory. The new fence line takes them by the back yard so the boys were barking their fool heads off. The goats were unfazed, all that mattered was the yummy.

We have planted our first vegetables! Fingers crossed and all since growing things has never been my forte, plus this crazy weather has not been good for farming. The soil is still saturated in the field, but the raised beds seem to be draining well. This weekend we sowed beets, head lettuce, spinach and snow peas. Maybe the weather will be more cooperative as we get closer to spring.

In other farm news, Harry the Rooster made his last run at Willow. She ended up with 2 gashes that needed Dermabond and a scratch below her eye that has evolved into quite the shiner. She's fine and seems to enjoy telling war stories to anyone that happens to ask "What happened?" Harry on the other hand is no longer with us.

Rascal the Duck is doing quite well on the farm. She has been coming up on the porch to swim in a big tub. Then Saturday we decided to see how she did free range. Turns out she follows me around constantly- to the barn, to the goat pen, to the porch, a quick dip in the fish pond while I plant seeds. In all, I am very much enjoying the new duck.

Just Ducky

It's a happy day at Lazy Danes as we welcome Rascal the duck. Rascal is a white pekin duck that is about 2. She was raised inside and loves people and cereal. The kids are very excited to add something they don't have to worry about as being food later and Rascal is happy to find a home where she will not be food. For now she's on the front porch, she had her welcome home bath in the girls tub. This evening and for several days she will spend time in turkey pen (they have moved out) until she figures out this is home. I'll pick her up a little dog house tonight and we may give her a separate pen depending on how she does with the other birds.

Bath time! Video coming soon....

The little peeps are growing into chickens. It's still amazing how fast they change. They are quite content in their indoor brooder and since we continue to get snow and below freezing temperatures they get to stay in the house. At least I can feed and water them in a climate controlled environment even if it means vacuuming a lot of wispy chick feathers.

Feathers in on the wings and tail feathers coming in. this is at 1 week old.

Next up in poultry- more turkeys!

A Few Setbacks...

"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men

Gang aft a-gley," ~Robert Burns

After such noticeable progress here at Lazy Danes, the last week has been quite unproductive! Weather and injury (hammer to finger-OWWWW!) are the contributing factors and while the injury is mending nicely the weather is still being very uncooperative. So here is a status update of our various projects...

Chick brooder- mostly done. I need to add the wire and cut the hole for the lamp in the top still. The chicks have arrived, but they're not missing their brooder. Instead of being in the big brooder in the shed they are nestled in a rubbermaid tote in the dining room. We have the weather to thank for that since I really don't think I could keep them warm enough out there right now.

Goat fence- posts in, wire run to gate. Now we just need more clips and weather conducive to running wire.

Shed- mostly painted. Trim and detail work still needs to be done. How about some dry days?

Raised beds- still need to be painted since they were untreated wood. They are also still under a couple inched of snow. Again, how about some dry days?

Unfortunately, there is more rain/freezing rain called for this weekend so there still won't be any outside work getting done. On the upside, we had some great sledding, built a snowman and let the Danes play in the 7 inches we got a week ago. Crazy weather this year.

And now, on to the chicks! After last years very messy experience of brooding the chicks inside, and since I didn't want to get as emotionally involed with birds I'm planning to eat we were going to brood this batch in the shed. I had planned a nice, large, wooden brooder to keep them warmer than the little cardboard job from last year. All very well thought out if we were having a "normal" NC winter of barely below freezing at night and 40-50's during the day. Well, Chuck got to drive though snow and ice to get the little biddies Monday morning and into the house they came. I do like hearing their little peep-peep-peep but I'm dreading the feathers flying. We only lost 4 to shipping stress and with the weather like it is, that's not too bad. We're left with 28, in some combination of Delaware, Americana and a mystery chick. They're harder to tell apart in this batch so we'll just have to see when they grow up a bit.