We continue to have lovely weekend weather thru late November here in central VT.  It’s been fantastic, giving lots of time for those pesky getting ready for winter chores, like splitting and stacking firewood, putting the gardens to bed, fixing the roof etc.   The goats have loved being able to be outside, and the grass is still nice and green for them.   My mom came up to visit and meet the new kids this weekend.  We had a great time and she was quite bowled over by how adorable and personable they are.

Mom meets the kids

She was relieved to see that they are indeed getting a nice new coat before the real cold sets in. 

Enjoying the sunshine and green grass

Gratuitous cuteness

I decided to take extra advantage this weekend and clean out the goats winter stall, freshening it up for them.   Then I gave them their second round of dewormer and started on the hoof trimming.  They were happy for the fresh bedding, and all promptly curled up and went to sleep.  Nothing is better to quiet the mind than a barn full of contented goats.

How goofy can I look?

Pretty darn goofy! 

Excited much?

Here’s a long awaited photo, taken by my dear friend Adrianne Shtop (of www.wakingthebones.com) of me carrying my littlest kid out to the truck on the day I picked up the goats.   I was a wee bit excited.  Keep an eye on her blog folks, there promises to be more on the scene action from that fateful day in the not too distant future.

One month mark…

Well, the goats have been home for a full month now.  I’m pleased with the progress that we’ve made.  I’ve managed to keep the goats alive, healthy and happy so far.   There’s still alot to learn, but I’m feeling more and more confident every day. 

We have been spoiled this year with our weather in November, rather than grey and cold and dreary, we’ve had lovely sunny, warm days and cool nights.  This has been great for the goats while they are growing their hair back.   But, this morning there was a layer of ice on the water buckets, so I think our mild weather will soon be ending.  I’m investigating heated water buckets this weekend   Also trying to work out the shed building schedule, hopefully we can get that done before the snow flies.

Last weekend I lent a hand to my neighbor in shearing his 7 Icelandic sheep.  Basically, I just caught them, and picked up the fleeces while he sheared.  Shearing is so fascinating.  Turns out he shears for quite a lot of people, sheep, llamas, and goats.  He has kindly offered to teach me in the spring.   We don’t have a local shearer, and it gets expensive to have someone travel for just a few sheep or goats, so it makes sense for me to learn to do it myself.  I’m very lucky to have John just up the road, an experienced shepherd who enjoys sharing his knowledge is just  invaluable.

Here’s a nice shot of his 2 Icelandic rams, a little sheepy ying yan for you.

John's Icelandic Rams

 

Freshly shorn ewe

Of course, I couldn’t resist taking a fleece home

 

Update on the shed…

Sand Creek Post and Beam has generously supplied a custom built run in shed for the wee goatlings.  It arrived about a week and a half ago.  

 

Shed in waiting

But, the arrival was not quite as smooth as I had hoped.  They called to tell me that it would be arriving on a Friday afternoon, which was perfect since Brad is home on Fridays.  When they tried to get to the house, the truck was too big for the windy dirt road.  So, they called me at work to see what they should do.  It was decided that they would transfer the shed to a smaller truck and redeliver on Monday afternoon, when we would unload the 2 ton package by hand.  When I spoke to my boss to explain that I would need to leave work early to go and help unload this shed he looked a little shocked.  “Unload a 2 ton parcel by hand?  Are you crazy?” was what he actually said.  “Why don’t you just have them deliver here to the shop, where we can unload it with a backhoe, then we can transfer it to our hydraulic flatbed (which we use to pickup and deliver tractors) and bring it up to your house that way.  We can unload it whereever you like, and no one has to break their back”.  This made complete and total sense (and I may have hugged him for thinking it) so I called the freight company back and they were happy to bring it up to the shop instead.  So, here it sits, while I organize the building of the skids which will be it’s base, so that we can move it around the pastures that have no access to the barn.  My very helpful neighbor has provided me with 12′ 6×6 hemlock beams for the base of the skids.  I’m organizing my carpenter friends and attempting to find a weekend to put it up before the snow flies.  If that doesn’t get arranged before the snow flies, than I will store the shed at work until spring, where it can be under cover and safe from the elements.

I’m hopeful that we can get it constructed before Thanksgiving, fingers and toes crossed.  I know it doesnt’ look like much right now…

Big pile of lumber or shed?

I may have spoken too soon…

We had a gorgeous weekend here in VT, bright, sunny, warm, not a cloud in the sky kind of weekend. I guess I spoke too soon about the greyness setting in. Go figure.

It was a great weekend for the farm too. We slaughtered the pigs, got the rest of the hay loaded in the hayloft, and filled the woodshed. I also took the goats for a walkabout, too bad there was no one around to take any photos of that. It was really fun though, and a few of the neighbors passing by got a huge kick out of watching us.

November greyness setting in.

Sweet Seymour

The weather lately has been pretty sketchy, cold, grey, threatening clouds, some rain, forecasts of snow…the November greyness is setting in.  November and February are the months when it really gets to me, the cold, the dark drive to and from work, and the grey days in between. 

This kind of weather hasn’t been good for getting the kids out during the day, especially when I’m at work and can’t run them inside if the day turns stormy, which it definitely does.  So, they’ve been staying in a lot this week.  I’m in search of ideas for good barn toys for them as they seem a little bored, so if you know of something, please leave me a comment.

I’ve been taking advantage of this time to do another round of delousing and deworming, followed by extra probiotics.  I’ve changed up their grain as well, on the vet’s recommendation, since their fecal sample showed that they had coccidiasis, so now they are getting medicated grain.  You’d never know that they were suffering from parasites from their behavior though, they seem to be quite pleased with themselves.  They are growing a nice crop of new fiber too, amazing how fast it grows, you can practically watch it grow if you spend a little time with them.

Pedey in his grain bucket

Can you see how curly his coat is now, no longer the nekkid baby

I’m starting to feel like a real goat herd, shooting the meds down their throats like an old hand now, (a huge improvement over the first round, now that I’ve figured out the right way to do it, I’m amazed I got any into them at all), and parading them around the property.   And yes, you can sometimes catch me yodeling to them…life is good!

 

Week 2 completed…

The goats have officially been here for 2 weeks now.  Funny, but it almost seems longer, I feel like we’ve experienced so much already.   Between the shearing, traveling, meeting the dogs, meeting the neighbors, having a visit with the vet, deworming, delousing, learning how to get from barn to pasture etc.  we are all so much more comfortable and happy.  

They now not only eat out of my hand, but will come when called and follow me out to and back in from pasture.  They have learned to respect the fence (once I fixed the short in it, d’oh!) and today they are out unattended for the first time.  (Don’t worry, I do have a couple of neighbors going by to check on them periodically, I’m no fool).  It was such a beautiful morning, with that extra hour the sun was out, frost sparkling on everything, and the forecast was for a lovely sunny 50 degree day, and I just didn’t have the heart to make them stay inside all day.  So far, so good, all reports are of happily munching goats.  And by now they’ve learned that their stall in the barn is a safe, warm place full of yummy hay, so even if they do venture out of the fence, I think they’d just go back up to the barn, I left the doors and gates open just in case. 

 

 

They are starting to get some new hair growth, and are looking a little scruffy, but oh so soft…just in time, since the weather is starting to get colder.  You can practically watch their hair grow, I notice a difference between morning and evening, truly amazing.

Who’s who at Gilead Goats

It has come to my attention that people would like a little identification of the goats.  So, I attempted to get some pics of them separately so that I can identify them, by number, my name and their former names (sorry Aunties, I just had to rename them, but only cuz I love ‘em so)

So, we’ll start with the does, and of course, Tallulah is the boss of all goats and the escape artist of the group.  She was number 52, Susie couldn’t remember her name, born 2008.

Tallulah - #52

Then there’s Nola, #56, formerly known as Juniper, born 2008.  She’s got a little crush on my dog, Youkilis…and she has the cutest freckles on her nose.

Nola - #56

 On to the boys, who are now wethers, we start out with Varitek, or Tek, he’s number 79, formerly known as Leviathan.  He’s the most outgoing and curious guy, and almost twice as big as the other 2 boys.

Varitek - #79

Then there’s Seymour, who is the sweetest goat ever, he likes to have his chin rubbed.  He was #83, formerly known as Jester.

Seymour - #83

And last but not least, is Pedey (after Dustin Pedroia, the littlest Red Sox player), who is #91, formerly known as Kaufman.  He has really learned to hold his own with the big girls at feeding time, he’s a good little goat.

Pedey = #91

We had a good visit from the vet yesterday.  He thought they were looking good and healthy, though he thought that Pedey and Seymour were a little thin.  I’ve been feeding them separately from the rest with the hopes that they’ll bulk up a little before the weather turns really cold.   He also gave them some vaccinations, and took a stool sample to test for worms and parasites, just to be on the safe side.  And he thought I had great hay, so we’re in good shape going in to winter.

The boys were very good for their date with destiny, I think it was harder on me then on them.  This morning they were all bright eyed and energetic, though they were a little demure last night.   I wish it would stop raining so they could get outside on some browse for a while, they could use it.  It’s still warm, but rainy, and they haven’t got a lot of new growth in their coats yet, so they only go out when it’s nice and sunny and dry.   Hoping to have some nice days this weekend.

We’re Front Page News!

I just got a facebook message from my friend Emily, who was excited to let me know that the Gilead Goats are on the front page of the Randolph Herald today!  I knew that they were going to put something in this week, but I never expected that.  I’ll post a link to the article for those of you who aren’t in the Upper Valley as soon as they update their page for this week.  

In other goat news, Dr. Barry is coming this afternoon to change my little bucks to whethers…I’m a little nervous about it, but I’m sure they’ll be fine. 

One more cool pic that my friend Kathleen took when we were loading up the goats last Monday, that’s little Pedey in the foreground and Jeff the shearer in the background.

More later.

eta…The Herald won’t change their site until next week, I suppose to get people to buy the paper this week.  So, I’ll let you know when that happens.  If you can’t wait, go out and buy a copy, or call them and request one by mail.

A Sunny Fall Day

We finally had some warmth and sun yesterday after torrential rains all day on Saturday.  So, I set up some electric net fencing and brought the herd outside for the afternoon.  For starters, I kept them up in the side yard of the house, where there’s good browseing for them, and I could keep an eye on them.  They really perked up getting out in the sunshine, tails wagging, munching happily at all the good green stuff out there. 

 

 

They were so striking out there that they drew lots of visitors in.  All the neighbors came by to say hello and meet the new kids on the block.  Kim Goodling from VT Grandview Farm came all the way out from Washington to meet the gang, check out my setup, and even helped out with bringing them back in.  I feel better having had a real shepherd on site to reassure me that I’m doing things right.  Thanks Kim, and Anna!

 

Of course, the day was not without it’s excitement.  Tallulah has really established herself as the escape artist of the group, she was not out for more than 10 minutes before she somehow managed to escape the fencing.  I had run inside for a minute to grab my camera, and came back out to her standing out in the middle of the yard.  Fortunately, with some grain in a bucket, and my handy crook, I had her back in the fencing in a matter of minutes.  She didn’t stray again.  She didn’t want to be led back to the barn at the end of the day though, choosing instead to follow me and Nola.  Worked for me, she was happy and in charge, and went contentedly back to their home stall in the barn with not much encouragement from me.   Had Kim and Anna not been on hand to reassure me that she would follow and not take off  I would not have been so calm about that, let me tell you.

All in all, it was fantastic to get the goats outside, enjoying the sunshine and browse.  They were happy, I was happy, and we all learned a couple things about living together.