Not in the contract

Chasing animals is not in the contract. That's what Leo says every time as he's chasing our animals. Not only does he help us, he comes OUT of the house to help us. Here's a few examples, last year our ram lambs got out at 9:30 at night. Someone stopped and told Leo & Arlene. They called us and by the time we got to the farm, they were driving up and down the road looking for them them. Then there was the one sheep that we couldn't catch....and where was Leo? Running around trying to catch that sheep with us!

We had runaway Radar (donkey,) he bolted out of the barn as I was leading him. When he decides to take off, there's no holding him back.  He ran all around and both Leo & Arlene came out to help me. Leo reminded me, chasing animals was not in his contract.

Last week while K1 was getting out of her horse out of the pasture my mini horse Nancy slipped out of the gate. She ran all over the lawn, including Leo & Arlene's garden. Before I got a chance to tell them. Leo told me he broke something of ours and I replied..."that's good, cause Nancy ran through your garden, so now were even!" He just chuckled.

We have the Best Landlords!

Milking Goats

Last year I got 2 Nigerian dwarf goats. I chose this breed for a few reasons. First of all they are small. They only come up to my knees & weigh  about 50 pounds.  They come in a variety of colors & markings, and they are a dairy goat. I had googled soap making, and attended a workshop. I had it all planned out. I would milk goats & make soap to sell. 

I was so excited to make soap that I bought a gallon of milk from a local farmer & experimented with soap making. It's harder than it looks. Mark & I have been using  the soap I made, but it's not selling quality... yet! My bars are uneven and have air bubbles. Soap takes several ingredients, and actually very little goats milk Than it  has to cure at least 6 weeks. Maybe, this winter I will have time to perfect it, but for right now I just make enough for us.

 At first, I thought when my does freshened I was going to take away the kids immediately.  Than I would bottle feed them and  milk the does.  As the time got closer, I was running to the barn day & night on maternity duty (checking pregnant sheep & goats). I realized I really didn't want to bottle feed, especially because  the goats were the last ones to have their babies & I could actually get some sleep and not run to the barn in the middle of the night. So I researched & talked to others who kept the kids with the does. This is how it works:  kids stay with does for 2 weeks, than you separate them at night, milk does in the morning, put the kids back in and they nurse all day. At 8 weeks ,  I will wean the kids & milk does morning & night. Sounds easy, right?

It's only two little goats, I figured I can hand milk them. Nala freshened first & only had one kid. I decided I could take a little milk morning & night. I had a little plastic dish to squirt the milk in. Her teats are like an inch long & the width of my finger. Oh, and and she kicked! Both feet in the air. She was locked in the milking stand & I swear her feet went straight up over her head.  Here's the scenario: I am trying to get milk out of these miniature teats and squirt it into the bowl. Than once I got a few ounces of milk she would kick & spill it all (reminded me of my pumping experience when I was breast feeding). Work so hard to get the milk then spill it all ....you know the saying don't cry over spilled milk. OMG...I'm going to have to milk two of them....What was I thinking? Any milk that I did manage to save was full of dirt & hair. This obviously wasn't working, so than I ordered a hand pump milker. When that finally came, we were milking both goats. S'more has slightly larger teats & doesn't kick...ever! At least she was easier, but the hand milker was a disaster. It took two people. One to pump the hand pump  to keep the right pressure,& one to hold the milkers (plastic syringes) on. Finally, we decided to customize our cow milker (which is complete with motor & vacuum). This works like a charm, and best of all it only takes one person. Nala doesn't mind it, maybe because it is fast, so she rarely kicks. The only downfall is it's a lot to clean. Several feet of hose and a 5 gallon milk pail for one quart of milk. A little overkill but  it's worth it.

As for the milk, we actually aren't getting enough. In a few weeks we will wean the kids and hopefully production increases, because we will be milking them at night also. We started by using the milk  in our coffee and to cook with. Then, Mark started drinking it. Than me, and then the girls used it in their cereal. Sometimes I buy cow's milk, but sometimes I don't.  And...there's CAJETA! A seriously delicious caramel made from goats milk. My recipe calls for a gallon, so if I make Cajeta  I have to buy milk & save the goats milk for 4 days. Mark is totally addicted to it, and I do have it for sale at our store. 

I should have been a vet!

Here at Triple K, we have 3 different vets. First, we have our small animal vet, that takes care of our dogs & cats. Then we have our large animal vet, that cares for all the farm animals except  horses. Which means I have a horse vet.  

A few months ago I had J.D fixed and completed all his puppy shots. While he was there they noticed he had an ear infection. That met that 2 x a day I had to put drops in his ears.  J.D. was not a fan of this. I got to wrestle with the 65 lb puppy (who knew that the cute little 4 lb pup that I rescued last fall was going to be such a big boy) twice a day. Then it was time for Carter & Miley to have their spring shots and  Ryder our cat also need shots. An office visit is $35 per animal, even if you bring them together. Plus shots, plus flea/tick meds, and  then of course the dogs need heartworm meds.  J.D still had ear problems so he had to go back in. This time I had to clean his ears once a day, wait an hour after cleaning,  than apply different ear drops 2 x a day. Now, we get to wrestle 3 times a day for ten days! Let's just say I have spent a small fortune on these pets this spring. Good thing I love them.

Now, let's talk about my large animal vet. They have a call charge of $40 plus they charge by the minute. For example I will get charged 20 minutes of professional time, plus a call charge, plus supplies. S'more my goat has a skin condition that my vet has looked at several times. Our best guess is it's a vitamin deficiency that was brought on by pregnancy, because she is getting better now that she had the kids. If he is here for any reason he checks  on S'more. I've  had a lamb with a sore leg. She has an abscess that I was cleaning twice a day. It's been a month, it's all healed, and we don't know what else to do or why she is limping.  Kent (vet) joked that he never knows what he's going to find to challenge him at Triple K (he researched skin conditions in goats trying to come up with a diagnose). I told him, he should be paying me for the education. These guys are great. I can call & they will give me advice over the phone with no charge. I've had them swing in to drop off something, quickly look at my animal on their way home, or on a Saturday. As I said, they don't do horses. Glen (vet) was here a few weeks ago (dehorning goat kids) & I begged him to check my pony (more on that next paragraph). I promised she wouldn't kick or bite, and he did. They really are nice guys!

Keely is my horse vet. I've had her as long as I've had horses. She treated our old horse Dee when she had Potomac horse fever. Dee should have went to the animal hospital but I couldn't afford it, so Keely helped me treat her at home, and she survived.  I love Keely. Now, here's my pony story. The ponies  had been out to pasture for 3 days. I saw them every day, everyone looked good. When I brought them in I noticed Nancy had something on her leg (6 pm on a Friday! Think emergency call charge). When I bent down to look, I noticed she had a huge nasty cut. It was on her belly right where her leg connects (think armpit). It looked awful, infected, and a few days old, but she wasn't even limping. I called Keely and she told me to send her a picture (gotta love technology). Then she called me back & told me how to clean/care for it and to put her on penicillin for a few days. Then we made an appointment for her to come a week later & do spring shots. All the horses needed spring shots, but we definitely wanted to give Nancy  an updated tetanus. Her cut was 6 inches long with a huge chunk of hanging skin, and at least an inch deep. I have pics, but will spare you! Happy to report Nancy is all healed & doing great.

Let's just re-cap what my days looked like, because yes, this was all at once! Go to barn and catch lamb to flush her leg with an iodine solution. They catch Nancy who is 33 inches tall. Get on all fours & crawl under her to flush her wound,  spray with a antibacterial spray, and lastly a special fly spray for wounds. Go home to clean J.D.'s ears...wait an hour than put in his drops. Repeat again at night.

Once again, we are Livin' the Dream here @ Triple K ...and several hundred dollars poorer! 

It's a Dirty Job

This is just too cute not to share. I had a first grade class come to the petting barn on a field trip. One little boy came up to me and we started talking about my goats. I told him that I milked them. He got excited and told me that I could make soap from goats milk , but "it's a dirty job." I told him that I DO make soap with my goat milk. He went on to explain that you need lots of other ingredients to mix with the goat milk...but "it's a dirty job." I told yes, I do put in different oils & scents to make soap, and I asked him why was it a dirty job?  He replied "do you know Mike Rowe from Dirty Jobs?  I watched a show about making goat milk soap....it's a dirty job!" I just busted out laughing.  Now I know why making soap is a Dirty Job!

Life is good.

Life is good, here at Triple K. Mark & I have been putting animals out to pasture, buying a few new ones, and opening the petting barn. The warmer, longer days are busy and seem to go by fast....

We got all the cows & heifers fly tagged and put out to pasture. They are enjoying the green grass & big area to explore. We are excited for our Herford, Bailey to calve in July. We raised her from a calf & she is one of our favorites.

 Our mama sheep & their lambs have all gone outside, in the pasture  across the road. We put up a shelter, so they can have shade & a place out of  the rain. It's fun to see the lambs running around. There's a lot of noise outside. The mama's are constantly calling to their babies, checking up on them.

K1 brought her horse, Ranger here. We set up a round pen for her to ride in. Ranger has been sharing a small paddock with his new friends, the ponies.

Our second batch of meat bird are now two weeks old. We moved them out of the barn & into the mobile coop. The last few nights have been really windy & last night it rained hard. I wake up in the middle of the night, worrying about them, but so far they are all doing great.

Today, Mark is working on getting the piglets outside. Remodeling a shed we have to make it mobile and then checking the fence. It's a constant shuffle of moving animals, building fencing, and making sure everyone has shelter.

We made a day trip to Bradford, VT to pick up our new buck- N'ver E'nuf Cash. Here he is, enjoying the new area we set up behind the barn for the goats. He's sunning himself after eating his fill of grass.

  We went to Hinesburg to pick up a boar piglet, and Starksboro to pick up our female piglets. With any luck, next year we will have our own piglets to sell.

Petting barn is open on the weekends until June, than we will be open Wednesday - Sunday. We spent quite a few days cleaning & doing a little paint touch up to get the barn ready. We had our Spring Fling, which was a great success. We had 125 people, plus our family & friends that helped us. 

Where have I been.....

I know I haven't blogged in weeks, but Spring is a busy time. It started with sugaring, which was an odd season this year. It lasted a few weeks longer than we typically have, but it wasn't as intense. We would have several days in between runs. We never had a BIG run even though we had about 40 more taps. In all we made about 55 gallons which is a lot less than last years 85 gallons. Then when it finally ended we had to clean up. Wash all the buckets, wash the arch, wash the tanks, and rinse the line. All time consuming & not much fun.

What is fun about Spring is lambing & kidding season. The babies are absolutely adorable & so much fun to watch. It's fun but tons of work. I am very attentive during this season. I check them every 4 hours during the day. My amazing landlord Arlene checks them before she goes to bed, and I go once during the night. Then at 6 am Mark & I grab our coffee to go & check again. It is exhausting!

Here's our stats:
11 sheep lambed & a total of 13 babies
2 sets of twins & one set of triplets (but sadly one didn't make it)
5- ram lambs
8 - ewes  ( April, Breeze, Daisy, Hope, Ridley, Eclipse, Sterling, Diva)
8 black & 5 white
Phew! we are done lambing for the year

Last Friday, I was in the barn watching Payton who was having difficulties lambing (her baby also died) when I heard one of the goats screaming, and I thought either someone was in labor or terribly hurt. I ran to the pen just in time to see our Nala have a little white buckling that we named Rafiki. He is the most precious little thing Ever! Our other goat S'more is due today, then we are done having babies.

I leave you with visions of cuteness that I am lucky enough to see everyday :)

Spring Pictures

JD had a great day, playing in the mud!

Poor Myra is so big she "sits" on her way up & down.
 Last year she had quads, so we'll see how many this year.
She's due in 2 weeks!

Tiny A  had the first lamb. It was a ram, and we
don't keep them, so we won't name him.

Heart had a ewe on April first, so her name is
April!

Bliss had our first set of twins. The white one is a
ram. The little black ewe I named Breeze. 

Way too much cuteness!

Peony lambed today. We are voting on Calla Lily and calling
her Calla, or Shasta Daisy.

Here April & Heart moved from the lambing pen
back into the flock. I hate moving them, they
look so tiny & I worry they will get hurt. But, they don't!

April found a safe spot in the hay feeder!

Meat birds are growing.  I can't wait to move them outside.

JD wants to help with chicken chores.

Finally boiling! Last year we were done on March 29
and made 85 gallons. Today we are up to only 35 gallons.

The dogs love to go gather & play in the woods.

I am so happy it's finally Spring!