Goat Blog from a country girl in training. 

8.9.2010 Photo Shoot

My nephew and his fiance had their engagement photos taken the other day.  On our place.  Yay!  Nikki has fallen in love with the Nuluv girls and they took some really cute picutres with the goaters!  Backstrap, Cavan's goat, seems to have fallen in love with John.  There is one picture with Backstrap standing in between John and Nikki,  and Backstrap is giving John a kiss on the cheek.  In another picture, John and Nikki are kissing and Backstrap is standing right behind John, glaring.  It's hilarious!  The photog took some really neat pictures of the place.  Here is a cool shot she took of a yellow and Moon River at the fence.

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8.8.2010 Beauty Day and more than you ever wanted to know about Billy goats

The girls got all dolled up this afternoon.  Pedicures for every one, new necklaces, cydectin cocktails (wormer med) and a CDT injection.  Then they were photographed and cast into a breeding pen with their arranged sire.  Oh, Juke-Box was excited.  I could smell him all the way in the house (not really, but I can hear him in the house).  He has gotten so rutty the past month.  You can smell him if you drive my him with your windows down.   Rutty, if you don't know, is the term used to describe the stinkiness of the male hormone billy goats produce.  I won't get too graphic, but if there is not a doe to service when a bily goes into his rut, he simply services anyway and it sprays all over him.  And it STINKS!    Poor Crimson didn't stand a chance.  She's been in heat for a day or two and he was all over her before we even shut the gate!  I expect her to be the first to kid in December.

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8.7.2010 Lotion

I have been working on my lotion and body butter concoctions (spelled phonetically) for the past few weeks.  I finally have the lotion ready.  I took my first batch to a craft show in Helotes today (www.helotes-tx.gov/marketplace).  I took 14 bottles and came home with 4.  I am very pleased with that!  Goat milk is just such good stuff!  For both your insides and your outsides.  The lotion is a very silky, non-greasy, and a light weight texture.  I made Green Tea & Cucumber for the first batch.  It's a very subtle and clean scent that is gender neutral.  I am ordering a massive block of shea butter today so I can get started on the body butter.  Look out Canus, here I come!**********************************************************************************************

7.13.2010  Fare thee well Lord Orian

We sold Orian today.  He is on his way to a large nubian dairy in Mexico.  A herd only needs so many billies.  A herd our size usually functions with 1 or 2.  Castor makes billy number 4 for Nuluv.  We dediced to sell Orian because he is the oldest, although he is only 3 and very much in his prime, but also because so much of our herd was sired by Orian and should not be bred back to him.  So he is gone.  Juke-Box seems pretty confused by it.  He has been standing by the gate, bleating to the house.   I feel bad for him.  Orian is going to billie goat heaven.  A whole new herd of does who need knew blood in them.  Poor JB got left behind without his best buddie.  He has never been a real affectionate goat.  He wouldn't even let us pet him when he first came here.  I called to him this morning and he came running, and happily let me scratch his ears and even ate out of my hand.  He is lonely.  We will move Tonto out of the breeding pen on Sunday and back into the billy pasture so JB will have a companion again.

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7.6.2010  One a days

We are slowing down on the milking duties.  This happened last year, too.  It simply gets old.  Every day, twice a day.  And we are getting to the point where we don't need as much milk because we have sold (almost) all of the kids and 2 freezers full of frozen milk is more than enough reserve.  Plus, I am losing my morning babysitters in a month.  Every morning, one of my parents is here at 7 o'clock.  They wait for my babies to wake up and feed them breakfast and get them cleaned up while I am out milking.  Well, they are moving back to China the first of August.  And I can not find anyone who wants to dedicate themselves to being at my house every single morning at 7 to feed a 9 month old and a 2 yr. old.  I have considered milking with the boys.  I envision Cavan entertaining his little brother, bringing him sticks and rocks to discover.  I could fill the sippy cup and bottle with fresh warm milk for the boys to drink while we are in the barn.  In reality, it would most likely be Cavan climbing over the fence and running half way across the pasture before I noticed, because I would be busy fishing pea gravel out of Pace's mouth and trying to coax the girls to milk with all the chaos in the milk parlor.  So, we are cutting back.  No more morning milkings.  They sure miss it!  This is our 3rd day.  I was out there with the kids (goat kids) this morning, filling lambars and giving Corid treatments, and the girls were rubbing all over me, begging to be milked.  Nibbling on my shirt and nuzzling my legs.  They are so sweet.  I just love them. 

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6.10.2010  Things I love about living in the country

There used to be many things I disliked about living in the country.  This is our fourth year here, and I am realizing that my like the country list has begun to outweigh the dislike list.  For quite some time, I felt lost here.  There seemed to be no reason for me to be out in the country, other than that is where my furniture seemed to be.  And my husband.  I still had a city job and was leaving the house way before dawn to get to work and getting home just in time for the sunsets (which, by the way, are on my like list.  Country sunsets are unbeatable.  Well, I take that back.  I really dig a ocean sunset, too).  Even when I became a stay at home mom, I found myself climbing into the truck, heading in to town at every available excuse.  So why is it that I now dread going in to town and try my best to cram it all into one trip per week?  I don't know when the change happenend.  I do know that the dairy goats are really what gave me a "purpose" here.  They are what gave me a connection to the country, made me feel like I belong here.   Made me feel a part of things.  There are so many great things about living in the country.  So here's my list, off the top of my head: 

goats, sunsets, wildflowers, watching the scissortails play on the fence, a nest of mudswallow babies on the porch, baby bunnies in the barn, letting my 2 year old run around naked in the front yard all day long, eating off the land, no neighbors, full rainbows, no house keys, gathering firewood, swimming in the river, fresh eggs, collecting rocks, watching the frogs in the water bowl, never hearing a sirene, skipping showers because the deer don't care, open windows, riding around on the ranger, tractors

5.30.2010  When the cat's away, the mice will play!

We left town this weekend.  First time in about 4 months.  And the first time in almost 2 years we were gone longer than one night.  You can't just leave on a whim when you have dairy animals.  Some body has to be around to milk.  Daily.  Twice daily.  So we arranged for goat sitters.  We had a highschool kid from the ag department milk half the time and a family friend did the other half.  And boy did they get to work.  About 4 hours before we left Friday, Lady Cactus kidded.  We saw all the signs and hoped she would wait until Sunday, but of course she didn't.  She had healthy triplets.  One doeling and two bucklings.  Normally, I let the mamas keep the kids 12 or 15 hours, and then I kidnap them.  I decided to let Cactus keep her babies until we got back.  So off we went to Llano.  I think the goats saw the RV leaving and knew what was going on.  Party time.  The billies proceeded to bust through a gate and reak havoc.  When our goat sitter arrived, he found the gate open and the billies gone.  They ate a bunch of plants, broke a table, broke a marble shelf, trampled over the bird bath . . . . that's what we have discovered so far.  They were found in the pastures with the does.  Great.  I'll be marking the calendar.   So that was Friday night.  Saturday night, when our friend got here, she found one of the new babies half dead.  Apparently, Cactus isn't the greatest mama.  Which is why I always kidnap my babies.  She ended up taking the baby home with her and bottle feeding it for about 20 hours.  When we got home we gave it some probiotics and he seems to be doing better.

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5.19.2010  Eviction Day

It has been the crazy busiest week ever.  We have been bottle feeding 10-15 kids, and milking 12 goats.  The oldest batch of kids moved off my front porch this morning and were relocated to the kid pen in the barn.  YAY!  Some of the older ones are already so much bigger than the brand new ones, feeding time was becoming hazardous.  Castor, in particular, like to stomp on the tiny babies and steal their bottles.   Billies will be billies, eh?  I finally tossed him over the fence this morning, so everyone else could eat in peace.  Yeah right, there is nothing peaceful about 11 starving -to-death - bottle babies and only 2 hands.  Or even 4 hands, as I had a helper (Uncle Gordan, Dad helped bottle feed today).  Time to start lambar training.  Hooray.  The lambar is a 5 gallon bucket with nipples sticking out of it.  Each nipple has a straw on it and the baby learns to suck up her milk.  We have 2 lambars, with 6 nipples each.  So that will be enough for everyone (some of the kids have already been picked up).  It'll take a few days for the kids to learn how, but it is so worth it once they learn!  Lambars are the best thing ever.

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5.12.2010  Moon Songs

We woke this morning to a brand spankin' new set of triplets.  Luna was in labor all evening yesterday.  I stayed in the barn with her until 11:15, but I knew I had to get inside in case one of my babies woke up.  She was a trooper about it.  It is so neat to watch a goat give birth, but also to watch a goat in labor.  She stood a good bit of the time, and pushed.  You could see the babies moving inside of her when she pushed.  Then she'd groan and stomp her foot.  Then she'd push again, grinding her teeth and chewing the cud at 50 mph.  Then she would cuddle up to me and rest her head on my neck.  This was her second freshening.  She had one enormous billy last year.  She wasn't as big this year, so I figured she'd only have a single again.  Wrong.  3 itty bitty darling precious goaters were in that belly!  Two beautiful bucklings and a doeling.  Really.  Why is it that the bucklings got all the flashy spots and stripes and the doeling is almost solid brown, with just 2 or 3 small white flecks.  Don't get me wrong, she is pretty.  And I know she'll be a great milker when she's older.  She has a couple of white splashes across her face.  I'll post pictures soon.  The boys are both very stunning!  I guess that's good for helping them not become cabrito?  Too cute to eat.  More on the way - Bling has been hanging out alone all day, so I'm guessing she's next.   

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5.11.2010  Eclipse's Utter

Eclipse has the cutest little bag.  That sounds raunchy, I know, but it's true.  She has freshened beautifully.  I don't know all of the technical terms for judging an utter, so I will use laymen terms.  Her bag is high and tight with centered teats that point straight down.  Her teats are a little on the small side for now, which makes milking a bit frustrating, but that is normal for a first freshener.  They will stretch out as they get tugged on.  She is already produing 1/2 gallon a day, which is great for the 3rd day of a first freshening.  Her mom, Phoebe, had a bag that would fill up to be about the size of a basketball.  She produced over a gallon a day.  Right now, Eclipse's utter is slightly smaller than a volleyball.  We haven't even had too much trouble training her on the milk stand.  Normally, with a first freshener, you have to spend a solid week dragging them to the stand, then shoving them from behing to get them up on the stand.  Not Eclipse, she caught on real fast!  She likes her grain.  So much so, that she chocked last night and Trey had to do a little goat hiemlich (SP?) manuver on her because she was inhaling without chewing.  She sort of even passed out.  So this morning, she just got little bits of grain at a time.  She'll learn.

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5.10.2010  Spring Kidding has begun!!

OK, I feel like I need to fill you in better on the first two births.  We had friends over for the weekend (we all camped along the river), so yesterday's blogging had to be brief.  Saturday afternoon, my dear friend Roxanne and her wonderful fiance, Kevin, came over for the festivities.  I was down at the river when they arrived, so I drove up to the house to meet them.  Kevin said "I see you have 2 brand new babies".  What?  I was so excited.  I just ran off.  Straight to the barn to see Eclipse's little ones.  I was so excited to hear she had twins.  I threw open the gate, and there was Angel.  cleaning up kid number 2.  Duh.  She had been in the barn by herself all morning.  Really, sometimes I think my brains have completly turned to poo.  Why didn't I realize she was in the barn, by herself, for a sliglhty obvious reason?  She was only enormous.  Well, she has two very healthy and very big boys.  As I told you yesterday.  So we made sure all was well and headed back down to the river.  We like to keep the kids with their dams for the first 12 hours or so, then we pull them and bring them into the house.  Which is almost as heart breaking as disbudding.  But I'm jumping ahead of myself.  So, that night, I came back up to the barn to check on things.  I just barely missed Eclipse giving birth.  Again, kid number 2 was in the process of being cleaned up.  Two precious little doelings, as I told you yesterday.  All 4 kids relocated to my living room Sunday afternoon (much to Cavan's delight) and are happily bonding with me and the bottles.  Then, Sunday evening, Axis FINALLY kidded.  We were totally off about her bred/due date!  I am pleased to announce the births of 2 more doelings.  YAY!!!  They are both a reddish brown and one has white and gray moon spots all over.  Names are still in the brew bucket.  They came in to the house this morning, and are doing well.  So it looks like we may have a doeling spring.  Wouldn't that be great!  3 does freshened, 7 to go.  Lana and Bling look like they could go any minute, but as of now, they are both out at pasture with the herd.  Well, not really "out".  They are all hanging out by the garden getting to know Mellow.  Mellow is a saanen doe we purchased last weekend.  We haven't put her in with the herd yet, because she has a bad leg and is pregnant.  Goats are kind of cruel.  They will be up on a new member of the herd, and they will beat up on a goat that is lame.  And I just don't want her to get beat up and lose her babies.  So she is by herself, on the other side of the fence.  Hopefully, this will allow everyone to get to know her better and maybe accept her easier when she is moved over.  She is a 7 year old, so she's got 4 years on all the others.  I am hoping that will also work to her advantage.  Time to run, I have 6 kids crying for bottles.  Oh joy!  Really, joy!  I'll get pictures posted on the birth announcements page soon.

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4.22.2010  I smell spring . . . or is that just goat?

I think it has finally arrived.  Spring.  I packed away the winter wear yesterday.  I am still anxiously waiting for Axis to kid.  She was in a stall all by herself this morning, but she's been out grazing with the herd all afternoon.  It's misty and icky here, so I'm sure it'll be soon.  Goats are notorious for kidding in the worst of weather.  Something about the barometric pressure.  * I have to share a bit about Em.  I am so proud of her.  She is one of the girls we got this winter when we found ourselves without enough does in milk and had to scramble to find more.  She came from a lady in Kerrville who has been raising nubians forever, but doesn't bother with any of the paper work.  She has a special license and provides milk to the hospital in this area, if I understand correctly.  She has to take her goats in and have them checked for diseases every week.  Anyway, we bought Em and Glowbug from her.  They came as a pair.  The yin to the yang, that's for sure.  Glow is real laid back and mellow.  A big scittish at first, but she's overcome that.  Em, on the other hand, is the most dominant goat I've ever met.  She'll blow right past you, or over you, just to do it.  She's ornery, she's stubborn, she's strong.  And she's really pretty.  Which is her only redeeming quality.  She's not even that good of a milker.  She loves to kick the bucket over just before you finish milking her out.  Such a jerk!  And every time we go to milk, we do this stupid dance where she runs out of the barn and waits for us to chase after her.  Then she runs back into the barn and over to the feed room door.  She stands there and waits for us to walk over, take her collar, and escort her into the milk parlour.  All the other girls just trot on over and hop onto the stand.  Well, we have been dealing with this since January.  Then one morning last week, I opened the door to the feed room, and Em did it.  She simply walked over to the door of the milk parlour, waited for me to open it for her, and calmly and cooly hopped onto the milk stand.  No bawling, no crying, no running.  Like a perfect milker.  And she's been doing it ever since.  I'm so proud.  I guess she overheard Trey talking about cabrito . . .

I can not believe it's been 11 days since I have managed to get a blog posted.  I write them all the time.  In my head.  All day long.  And then, at night time, I forget.  It's like my brain turns off at 7.  I wonder if my daily happy hour routine has anything to do with that  ;).  So here I am blogging, thinking of 1,000 things to catch y'all up on.  I'll start with the yogurtishness.  It can not be called yogurt.  I have no idea what went wrong, but it was monumental, whatever it was.  My dad, being the brave guinea pig he is, offered to try it out.  I pulled a jar out of the fridge and offered him a straw.  He looked at me quizzically, and then at the jar.  He said he'd drink it without the straw.  I don't know how he did it.  I tried it and it was grainy and lumpy and gross!  He drank all 7 jars.  Over the course of a week, not all at once.  I have yet to find the time to make a second batch.  This next batch will be plain.  No jam waisted.  Also on the goat milk front, I have managed to get my soap into 2 more stores this week.  Hooray!  And, even more excitingly to me, I finally found the perfect ribbon for my soap.  I have been experimenting with my packaging and wasn't happy with any of it.  The perfect ribbon arrived in a big brown truck yesterday evening.  I am in love again.  It is classy and clean and crisp and quirky and fresh all at the same time.  I just sat in my soap room (formerly the dining room) last night, looking at the new ribbon.  12 color ways.  Stripes and squares and beautiful soft colors along side bold ones.  I was so excited to wrap soap this morning, I started right after breakfast number one, and completely forgot about breakfast number two.  That never happens!  Let's see, I guess the biggest news about the goats is that Axis is still big.  She should pop any day now.  I keep expecting to find a baby out there, but every morning, it's just her and her big ol' pot belly.  And Em is doing great.  I'll stop there for now and fill you in on Em tomorrow. 

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4.10.2010  Angel

Still haven't tried the yogurt.  I'm working on that.  Maybe I'll make Dad try it first.  So anyway, I've decided to start sharing a little bit about each of the girls so you can get to know them better.  I'm starting with Angel.  She's our fancy goat.  She is from the Saada herd (www.saadagoats.com) , who is considered one of the best nubian herds in the nation.  Angel was born in Wyoming and flew into Bush Intercontinental Airport as a young doeling.  She and Orian flew in together.  They arrived in a very large dog carrier.  Angel came to live with us less than a year later.  She spent the first year of her life on Rambar Ranch.  She came down with staph mastitis during her first freshening.  They treated it well and were able to save her bag.  She still produces milk on both sides, which is great!  Last year was her second freshening.  We bought her just a few weeks after she kidded.  The bad side didn't make as much milk as the good side, but the milk it made was fine.  I am anxious to see how she does this year.  She should be freshening here in about one more month.  I think she is carrying triplets, because she is already huge!  She is such a sweet girl.  Angel loves being pet.  They all do, but she really craves the attention.  You can tell she was spoiled as a doeling.  For example, when we trim hooves, Angel will literally lay on her side, with her legs out for us to attend to her feet.  She throws her head up for her neck rub and just lays there, allowing us to give her a neck rub while she gets her pedicure.  It's hilarious.  Then we have to force her back up when it's over.  She'll just stand there looking at us, like "well, what's next?".  Oh I love that goat.  I hope she does have trips.  And I hope they are all girls just like her.

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4.8.2010  A Goat Dairy

I am thrilled to say I met a very interesting lady in Bandera yesterday.  I am even more thrilled to say she liked my soap and chappie and bought some to sell at her lodge, outside of Tarpley.  Looking at the website, it looks like a really neat place, www.stonyridgeranch.com   AND, she loves to cook and is interested in some goat cheese.   Which resurfaces our desire to open our own dairy.  Trey and I really want to find a way to live off the ranch and raise our family together.  And we want to do it with the goats.  It is starting to feel like the soap and skin care line is definantly something I can do from home in lieu of working outside the home and sending the boys to daycare.  But I don't think we could support our family that way.  So Trey works in town during the week.  But if we could open a grade A dairy, I think we could both work at home.  So many people have expressed an interest in it and encouraged it.  Everyone we talk to that has managed to get licensed, is very happy with it.  Is this the direction God wants us to go? 

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It looks like Axis will be kidding sometime within the next week.  Axis is our only non-nubian.  When we sold all of our meat goats last year, we just couldn't part with Axis.  She is beautiful pinto who was born last March.  She has great genetics and we just knew she'd have beautiful babies if we bred her with Tonto.  So the plan was to wait a year to breed her and we would slowly breed the spanish out and have a beautiful Nubian Grade line through her offspring.  That plan changed last fall when she managed to get into the buck pen.  Littly hussy.  I'm not sure when exactly that was.  I marked the calendar, but forgot about transfering that date when we put our 2010 calendar up.  Oops.  So we don't know who she is bred to, or when she is due.  But it looks like it is coming up.  She has started acting all strange and being extra ornery.  You can also tell that the baby has started dropping.  Her ligaments are starting to cave in, so it should be soon.  I am guessing the last cold front of the season will do it, which should be tomorrow?  Yikes.  Better get the kiddin' stuff out . . .  Yay!

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4.4.2010  Easter Sunday

I always said I wouldn't fill my blog up with pictures.  That's why I have the family fotos tab, so I can fill a designated space up with darling photos.  I can not help myself.  My dear friend, Roxanne, took this photo of the girls yesterday afternoon.  You can see more of her work at www.RoxanneJo.com  Those nubian ears just about melt my heart!

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4.2.2010  BillyGoats gRUFF!

JukeBox almost killed Tonto today.  Accidently, of course.  That's what I'm sayin' anyway.  They have been fighting a lot lately.  I assume it has to do with the arrival of spring.  I don't ever worry about them play fighting, as that as what goats do.  Especially billies.  It's a social thing.  Well, this morning was no exception.  They were messing with each other all morning.  But things got nasty.  JukeBox got his scurs (little left over horn thingys) caught underneath Tonto's collar and had him pinned down to the ground.  Tonto couldn't breath and JB couldn't get unstuck.  Everytime he tried he'd just choke Tonto harder.  Thank goodness Trey saw it and was able to run over there and help them in time.  I know it was an accident, but I don't think I would have ever forgiven JB if he had killed Tonto.  Tonto is my billie.  He's the only one of the three that I bottle raised myself.  They didn't do any sparing this afternoon. 

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3.30.2010  Soapin' Soapin' Soapin'

Well, I didn't sell out at the Hog Festival, as I had planned, but I did pretty darned good.  The chappie went over really well, thanks Sterling K, as several people who bought a chappie the first day came back and bought several more the second day.  Gotta love a repeat customer.  Especially that quickly.  Since then, I have been on a soap high, and feel like everyone should bathe with my soap.  I find myself in my soap room, just organizing and sniffing.  Shh, don't tell anyone I just admitted that.  Oh, I almost forgot the big news.  We got picked up by a new vendor.  We are now in 3 stores.  Center Point Farm & Ranch.  Olde Ingram Grocery.  And All-Tex Nursery, in Kerrville.  I'm hitting the pavement next week and cold calling stores in Banderea, Fredericksburg, and Comfort.  Gotta polish up those old outside sales skills.  Time for Spring Cleaning . . .

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3.26.2010  Ms. GlowBug

The Hog Festival in Sabinal this weekend is a 2 day event, so we are spending the night.  Which means the girls aren't going to get milked Sat night or Sun morning.  I always feel so guilty when we do this (which is NOT very often).  We come home to loud long bleats demanding to know where we've been and why did we leave?  The poor milkers are always so glad to see us return!  I was outside loading up my car this evening, when I looked over into the goat pens.  Glow Bug was on top of the playground.  I was shocked.   She is one of the three new goats we got last month.  She is a very timid goat, who I have never seen show an ounce assurance, much less of dominance.  And there she was, queen of the mountain.  It made me happy.   I'm glad she's finally getting comfortable with her new herd.  I walked around to see what goats she had beaten down to get to the top.  She was the only one there . . .

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3.25.2010  Labels, Tags, and Stickers

I just finished wrapping approx. 300 bars of soap.  I have a few naked bars left, but I am out of glue sticks.  My back is screaming for a good rub down with some full strength salve (available at fourmilefarm.com).  I am heading to Sabinal on Saturday for the World Champion Hog Wrestling Festival.   No, I won't be competing, but it does look fun.  I actually wanted to compete this year, until I met a wild hog up close and personal (thankfully, it was in the trap) a couple of months back.  Now I've decided my participation ends at the stands.  NO WAY would I throw myself on one of those suckers just for a shiny belt buckle.  ICK!  Anyway, Trey & I will be manning a craft vendor booth.  I have been wrapping goat milk soap and labeling goat milk chappies for three days now, and I am finally finished.  The soap line has done really well so far, being sold at the Center Point Feed Store and at Ole Ingram Grocery.  Actually, it has kept me pretty durn busy and I am so grateful it has taken off!  So, I am debuting our new product, Goat Milk Chappie, at the Hog Festival.  I am really excited about it.  It actually only has a teeny bit of goat milk, as it is an avocado oil based product.  And it is LOVELY!  Silky and smooth, glides right on.  It is not flavored (only scented), so it does not contain any sugar or artifical sweetners, and it does not get gloopy.  I am so proud of it.  We are offering 3 scents: Chai Tea, Gingersnap, and Pear Brandy.  Spicy, Sweet, and Fruity.  $3 each or 2 for $5.  Email me your requests . . .

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3.23.2010  More Milk, Please

Motherhood has made me a bit of a space cadet.  I'll admit it.  My youngest, Pace, is 6 months old.  I was able to nurse him exclusively for about 3 months, and then had to start supplementing.  He's been solely on formula for 2 months now.  He is the king of spit-up.  I have tried every formula out there, and he spits them all up.  And then it dawned on me, DUH!!!!  I have healthy milk goats.  My son Cavan has been on raw goat milk (GM) since he was 12 months.  Why not Pace?  I did a bit of research and decided to pasterize Pace's milk, just in case.  I started mixing it with the formula so he could get used to the different flavor slowly.  He loves it!  Gobbles it up.  AND, he hasn't spit up in 2 days!!  That's 48 hours of no spit up!!  He's only been on GM for 4 days.  He wore a black onsie all day yesterday, with no bib, and it was still clean at the end of the day.  YAY!!  And he seems happier, like his tummy must have been hurting him before and I didn't realize it.  And I don't have a pile of dirty burp raps, towels, washcloths, and bibs at the end of the day.  Why oh why didn't I think of this 2 months ago? 

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Oh what a glorious morning!  I just came in from milking the goaters and feeding the horses.  It was one of those beautiful mornings where I am so glad I live on a farm.  I headed out about 6:45, wearing my favorite fuzzy tourquoise sweater and my beloved brown down vest from Lands End.  I love wearing this combination.  It's in the 50's outside and the sunrise was majestic in pinks and oranges.  I watched it from the horse pen (horses smell so good in the mornings, especially my BlueHeart).  Glory to God!  I am so blessed to live here.  *  So I've been writting the blog in my head for the past 10 days and haven't had a chance to type it.  I'm going to give you a brief run down.  Cavan turned 2 on March 12, so we celebrated.  He has mastered the word NO since then.  In just 10 days our lives have changed with two letters: N & O.  Two of my sisters and five of their kids came to visit.  Michelle milked a goat for the first time, and enjoyed a glass of goat milk afterwards.  I think she enjoyed it anyway.  She drank it all.  Crimson, one of our current milkers, has been ill.  She got all quiet one evening, which is NOT like her.  Crimson is our loud mouth goat.  And she wasn't interested in eating.  Then, on the milk stand the next morning, she spit out her cud.  UGH!!!!  If you ever have the chance to smell goat cud spit up, Don't!!  It was all I could do to keep from losing it.  So, we started treating her with Penacillin.  Two days later she was back to normal.  We've been giving all of her milk to the critters, just to be safe for a bit.  Also, we sold 2 babies and a yearling.  Cavan was pretty upset about selling the babies.  He kept trying to talk to the guy who was putting them in the truck.  He (Cavan)  would throw out his hands in exasperation that the guy couldn't understand him.  He didn't like his goats being put in that cage.  But he got to say his goodbyes and shed only a few tears as they drove down the road and off the property, bleeting their furry sweet heads off.  They'll have a good home.  Oh, and I had an update from a customer who purchased a bred yearling from us about a month ago.  Champagne has adjusted wonderfully to her new home.  She sleeps by a fire place and plays wind chimes during her afternoons.  How cute is that?!  I love knowing my girls are going to good homes.  **********************************************************************************************

3.11.2010  Heirarchy

I am amazed at the dedication to the heirarchy I see in the herd.  Every morning, when I go to milk, Bambi (our queen) is waiting for me at the gate.  The other milkers are all there as well, but they are behind her.  I open the gate, she walks out, I close the gate.  Now, after her turn is over, the battle begins.  Every goat wants to be next.  I always milk in the same order, so I don't know why they fight about it every day.  But they always let Bambi go first.  I was just sitting on my sofa, feeding my little one, and watching the goats out my window.  The girls have been out at pasture since about 7 this morning.  I milk at 7:30, so we pin the milkers up in the feed room at night.  After milking, I leave the door open so they can continue eating and head out to pasture at will.  The girls were all at the far end of the pasture as I was watching.  Bambi and the other milkers slowly came out of the barn area and, so gracefully, began trottinging out to the others. I love watching their ears flap when they are hurrying somewhere.  Bambi stopped, the others stopped.  Bambi turned, the others followed.  Then the herd saw Bambi and ran all the way across the field (it's a big field.  I was using binocluars to watch).  They were hauling tail to get there.  And Bambi just stood there and waited.  It seemed so majestic to watch.  I love my goaters.

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3.10.2010  Second Children

My oldest child is about to turn two.  My baby is almost 6 months.  I have been very guilty of second child syndrom.  This is the fact that second children simply do not get spoiled nearly to the degree a first child does.  I have a fraction of baby pictures of Pace that I do of Cavan.  Pace has no baby book.  I am barely managing to mark milestones on the calendar.  I find myself doing the same things with the goat kids.  Last year, I washed out the lambar every day.  And I asked my husband to scrub out the hoses at least once a week.  Not so this year.  I don't know if it's because I am busier taking care of 2 little ones of my own, or if I have just realized the goat kids aren't that picky.  They don't care if their lambar gets cleaned every day.  Or every 3 or 4 days (alright, I admit it, sometimes a week.  But it's been cold outside up until this week, and they have been drinking all of the milk, so there is none left to curdle).  And now I find myself thinking it's time to start weaning them at only 10 weeks!  I normally don't wean them until they are at least 12 weeks, and then I just cut the milk in half for another month, and then start to really wean at 16 weeks.  But it seems like they are ready for it.  This morning, the kids weren't even waiting for their milk.  They were already out at pasture with the big girls when I arrived with their breakfast.  So I just put it back in the fridge.  I guess each kid is different, just like each child.

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3.8.2010  Hey, get out of the hay!

I came home from my MOPS get together this morning to find my goats out and about.  All of them.  They were in our parking area, which also houses the barn platform on which the hay sits.  There are only 3 ways to get in there.  Both of the big gates were locked tight.  Which means they came through the door of the feed room.  Which, evidently, I didn't secure properly after milking this morning (not surprising, I was pretty tired).  Or, one of the girls figured out how to unlatch it (unlikey, but possible).  Anywho, there they were, everywhere.  I did the only logical thing I could think of.  I started herding them with my car.  I opened the big gate to the pasture and hopped into my ride.  My little malibu hatchback, driving in circles, trying to herd my goats back over the cattle guard and into their pasture.  I swerved, I honked, I accelerated, I skidding, then I started getting a little nervous.  I was no longer on the caliche, but in the pasture, and it is muddy.  I felt my tires spin.  Uh-oh.  I decided to do the rest of the work on foot.  I did some chasing, some dodging, some grabbing, and a lot of pulling.  Stubborn goats.  Then I went inside the feed area of the barn.  The entire bale of pricey alfalfa I just bought on Saturday.  Gone.  Well, there was a mess left on the platform, but not much.  I stood there in shock.  They just ate a weeks worth of hay in one morning.  That is going to be one stinky barn tonight.  I walked over to the faulty door, which was open, and hollered for the rest of the girls.  And they trotted happily back into the barn.  Just like that. 

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3.6.2010  The Mis-Adventures of Abbey the NannyDog

I never claimed that Abbey was the brightest dog in the world.  But it is starting to seem that Trey may be right ~ she may be one of the goofiest dogs in the world.  It's the dalmation in her.  I love her dearly.  She has a heart of gold.  She loves the little goat kids and looks after them so well.  Abbey and I have been together 8 yrs. this spring.  She was 6 weeks old the day I brought her home.  We've lived on the ranch for 3 years now, and you would think she has learned a thing or two.  She hasn't.  We have a fenced in yard that she is not allowed to leave.  It's for her own safety.  She's gone out on adventures in the past, and they haven't worked out well for her.  My sister found her in a pecan orchard, on the other side of the river, along a highway one time.  She's come home with cactus stickers in her eye ~ had to go to the vet about that one, after hours of course  $$.  Last time, she came home sick and puked for days.  She found a coyote trap.  Well, she went out again yesterday.  We went to bed not knowing where she was.  She was home this morning.  With 33 porcupine quills sticking out of her nose and mouth.  Yep.  Apparently, she tried to eat it, because the quills were all in the roof of her mouth and her gums.  Talk about fun.  I held her down, and covered her eyes, while Trey pulled each one out with a pair of pliers and some tweezers.  Poor baby.  I tried to put some salve on her, but she just keeps eating it.  So I gave her some goat milk to drink.  She's been asleep most of the morning.  Here's the kicker ~ Sky has been out with her on every adventure.  But he always comes home in good shape.  He doesn't fall in cactus, investigate poison, or eat porcupines.  I guess border collies really are that much smarter than the average dog.  I hate to think of what Abbey will get into next.  If she'd just stay in her yard!

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3.4.2010  Adventuresome kids

The kids are getting into everything these days.  This is the third day in a row I have gone outside to investigate a crying kid.  All three times I have discovered Vino, hollering for help, someplace she shouldn't be.  First, she somehow got on the other side of the fence and was standing on the edge of the water trough (goats are not swimmers so that makes me nervous).  We keep rocks in the trough, stacked like steps, so if a baby does fall in, it could climb out.  Not that I think a baby goat would have the sense to stay calm, not panic, and use the stairs.  From what I've seen, they panic at just about everything different.  At least at first.  Then they get nosy.  So anyway, I put Vino back where she belonged.  Yesterday afternoon, I found her in the "milk parlour" (ours isn't much of a parlour, but it works and it is out of the elements).  Scared and lost, she was crying as if she had fallen into a black hole.  Just now, I found her in what used to be a hay barn.  These days it's just a pile of junk.  I hate going in there, cuz I'm sure there are mice, if not rats.  Ugh.  I hate rodents.  But I'm talking about baby goaters.  Vino was trapped in there (not really trapped, but she thought she was) along with the 3 other kids.  They've gotten so fat they could barely squeeze through the hole in the wall.  They've hit 9 weeks and are growing really well.  I'm ready for the next batch!

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3.2.2010  My sweet billies

I love my billy goats!  There it is.  I love my billies.  Tonto has got to be the sweetest must loving goat in the world.  He hangs out with Juke-Box and Orian in the billy goat pasture.  Tonto is the baby of the group.  He just turned a year.  Orian is our big stud and and Juke-Box is his back up.  Orian is sweet too.  He's been in the breeding trap for the past 4 weeks, so he hasn't spend any time with the guys.  Trey took him over there last night to spend the night chilling with the fellas.  We figured he was getting nagged a lot, being with 3 hormonal does all the time.  Tonto was so excited to have him home.  It was so cute.  I just got back from walking Orian back to the breeding trap, and now Tonto is outside crying.  I've been trying to comfort him.  I even took him some carrot tops.  Not surprisingly, he wasn't interested.  He just leaned into my legs and cried.  Poor baby.  I guess he's tired of Juke-Box's company, while Orain seems to prefer Juke-Box to Tonto.  The two big boys buddied up and took off last night, leaving Tonto in the dust.  I love watching animals interact with each other.  I wonder if they are really so much like us, or if we just tend to personify their actions to our own situations.  Does that make sense?  I'm not sure I worded it correctly, but you get my gist.

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2.28.2010  Eating My Words, and everything else

I am eating my words today because I met some goats who will eat anything.  And they weren't starving to begin with!  Hardly.  They were healthy butterball goaters.  We did goat farrier work today for a herd of 45.  One of them had 2 syringes, with wrappers, half way down it's throat before we caught her.  One swiped the chalk from my back pocket and tried to eat it.  One took off with the spray bottle of iodine.  Many nibbled on our jackets, hanging on the fence.  Then one swiped the magnetic sign off the back of the truck and chewed up the corner.  Oh, and another pulled out the trailer wires and did some chomping on those.  So maybe my girls are just picky eaters . . .

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I grew up hearing the story about billy goats who ate tin cans and tennis shoes.  I always thought goats would eat anything and everything.  Well, not my goats.  Or any goats that I've met.  I can not even get my girls to try fresh fruit.  Cantalope, nope can't.  Banana, na.  Apple core, absolutely not.  Strawberries, straw maybe.  I read somewhere that fresh fruit in the the dairy goats diet would make the milk even sweeter (if that is even possible ~ nubian milk is pretty darn sweet already).  So I"m thinking, mmmm, strawberry milk shake.  But they won't even try it.  They'll sniff it.  Then stand back and watch as the chickens eat it.  Goats are actually rather picky eaters.  Mine are rather particular about the size of the alfalfa or protein pellets they get.  Apparently, the 1/4" pellets go down quite differently than the 3/8".  And when I tried switching them to oat groats instead of steamed oats last year, I thought they were going to starve to death.  It really took over a week of nothing else to eat for them to even try it.  At least my girls aren't brand picky.  Scarlett, our visitor, is brand picky.  She will only eat alfalfa pellets from West feeds.  And she really does know it.  Her mom warned me, and of course, I had to run a taste test.  She would nibble on the others, but not really eat them.  I just love goaters.

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2.26.2010  Hello Sunshine

Part of living in Texas is being able to adapt to sudden weather changes.  Snow one day, 60 the next, and today we're looing at 70 and sunny.  Woo-Hoo.  The girls are loving this weather.  Today.  Everyone seems to be settling down and adjusting to the herd changes.  I have really been surprised that Phoebe's disapearance didn't stir things up more.  But I think they all knew it was coming.  Glow has even found her own place and started playing with some of the other girls.  I saw her play fighting with Luna yesterday.  And Em let her.  Normally, Em stands over Glow like a bear mama.  I guess she is relaxing.  Em is still rather standoffish with me, but she hangs out with the herd now.  I don't think I've ever met a goat as stubborn as Em.  She'll eat out of your hand and run from you all in the same breath.  Oh, and Orian has finally taken interest in the 3 does he is penned up with.  I think this sudden feeling of spring in the air jump started the doe's cycles.  Woo-Hoo.  More babies.  I have never bred does this time of the year.  I knew it would take a little longer, but I had no idea it would take this long!  But now the deed is done, so I can look forward to July kids.  Speaking of kids, they are getting so big!  They've been going out with the big girls every day now, and even slept with them the other night.  I am ready for more.   Hurry up May.  I really think kids have to be one of the cutest animal babies out there.  There a lot cuter than lambs, that's for sure!  I just love 'em!

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2.23.2010  Snow Day?  No thanks.

My girls do NOT like snow.  Even a little bit.  "They" (the weather gurus that are always wrong in the winter and right in the summer) predicted 1"-3" of snow today.  We got about 1/4", maybe.  It just doesn't ever snow in south Texas.  Other parts of TX get plenty of snow, other parts of the hill country get snow, but not here.  My girls have never seen it.  Until this morning.  And they were not happy.  Normally, the moment I open the door to head to the barn for the morning milking, the girls are at the gate, hollering to hurry up.  They weren't there this morning.  I found them all huddled inside the same stall, staring out at the white flurries falling.  What?  I literally had to drag each milker out of that stall and to the "milk parlor".  It's not like it's any warmer in that one stall or anything.  They were just dumbfounded.  And the bleeting, oh my!  It was so noisy this morning.  All the little ones were crying.  I hope we never have to move further north . . .

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2.22.2010  Counting Sheep

I went to work with Trey yesterday.  Trey works as a shepard.  He hates when I say that.  He works on a ranch here in the hill country.  Taking care of sheep.  That makes him a shepard, right?  Well, anyway, I went with him yesterday.  I have never been on a sheep ranch before.  It's a huge operation.  They are expecting around 1600 lambs this season (15 of which I got to watch be born yesterday).  Yeah, big place.  Lots of sheep.  It's a neat job.  He spends most of his days out doors, tending to the flocks.  He's a good shepard.  ;)  Well, I am so glad I am a goat girl.  Trey was raised on a goat ranch and has had goats his entire life.  He has also had sheep, but goats are just in his blood.  His dad raised goats, his grandfather had a huge goat ranch, and his great grandfather was the goat guy back in his day.  So I married into it.  Now, being a born and bred city gal, the difference between a goat and sheep were never very clear to me.  They are now.  1 - sheep smell awful!  uh, I came home and washed everything that I had with me.  I even wiped down my chapstick that had been in my pocket.  2 - sheep do not pass smart pills.  Whatever it is they pass is nasty.  3 - they all look alike.  I don't care how much you know about sheep, they all look alike.  4 - they have the personalities of trees.  They just stand there.  There is no running around, hopping here, skipping there, happy to see you business.  They hardly even interact with one another.  They just take up space.  5 - sheep are not nearly as smart as goats.  You can not call sheep in the way you can call in goats.  And they can not figure out to get out of things (which is nice for the rancher when it comes to fencing) but this also means they get stuck in places they should not be getting stuck.  I know I am biased and all, being that I have the best goaters in the world, but I was so glad to get home to my girls.  They ran up to greet me and bleated out a joyous chorus of hellos.  I then ran inside and into the shower.

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2.18.2010  Down

I asked Trey to put Phoebe down this evening.  The time has come.  I think she might have had a stroke last night.  Her body isn't working properly at all today and her face is stuck.  I don't know how else to describe it.  She keeps getting all stiff and can not move.  I gave her a hug this morning, and she leaned all of her weight onto my legs and let out this terrible cry, like a dieing cow.  I think she was telling me goodbye.  I haven't heard her make a sound since then.   I went out there a few minutes ago, planning on spending the afternoon with her, but I can not watch it.  It's like she is already gone.  Her eyes are blank and she smells like death.  I told her goodbye and came back in.  I left her with some alfalfa in the sun. 

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2.17.2010  An afternon with the Big Girls

I let the doeings out of the kid pen for the first time this afternoon.  Firefly and Dizzy are a little over 8 weeks, and Faline and Vino are at 6 weeks.  They were a bit nervous at first, but after much coaxing they gingerly came around the corner.  And then Dizzy saw the playground.  Vroom.  There she went.  Up on the very tippy top.  The mountain goat in her came out and she was Mistress of the Mountain.  None of the other kids seemed to care about the playground, they were too busy munching on the grass.  I have 2 late spring babies from last year, Jewel and Rose.  Rose is 9 months.  She was the only one to give the doelings a hard time.  I guess she was just thrilled not to be the lowest goat on the totem pole anymore.  Like a bossy big sister.  I was surprised to see the doelings follow the big girls out to pasture when they went.  I figured they'd just hang out in the goat yard and play.  But they were out there with the big girls for a couple of hours.  They were glad to come in, though, when it was milk time.  All 4 of them came charging in from the pasture, bleeting and hopping sideways.  I love watching their ears flop around when they hop.  I think they had fun.  I bet they sleep good tonight!

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2.16.2010  Orian's Valentine(s)

Most men think billies have it pretty good.  A whole harem of does they are responsible for breeding.  We had quite the Valentine's weekend planned for our Lord Orian.  He moved into the breeding trap (about 5 acres) with Spotty, our newest Nuluv member, the weekend before V-Day.  Then, the following Thursday we moved Almond in there, too.  And then, the next day, a lovely doe named Scarlett came over from another farm to get bred.  What a weekend for the stud!  Well, so we thought.  So far, no action.  Nothing.  Orian grazes nonchalantly by himself every day, while the 3 does lounge by the gate, waiting for a car to come so they can harass the driver.  I thought the new rooming conditions would speed up the girls' heat cycles, but it hasn't yet.  Come on, Orian, work some of your magic! 

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We intalled a new playground in the barn yard yesterday.  It consists of 3 giant tree stumps.  One standing straight up for king of the mountain games, and 2 on their sides for climbing exercises.  They really are huge.  We had to use the back hoe to move them.  Everybody was eager to try them out.  The girls were out in the pasture when we set them up, but came running right over to get it on the fun when they saw what we were doing.  I haven't let the kids on them yet.  I am eager to watch them play.  We also moved an old tac shed that was out there.  Our barn is very old.  The water trough is dated, 1918.  I have no doubt the barn was built at the same time.  So this old tac shed was quite an eye sore.  I've been worried about snakes making a nest under it.  The floor of it was all rotten, so I had it chained shut so the goats wouldn't get in it and hurt themselves.  Of course, they managed to get in it anyway.  Durn goats.  Angel got herself stuck in their one day several months ago.  I kept hearing her crying and bleating.  I looked all over the place before I realized it was coming from that old shed.  So anyway, we plowed that thing over yesterday with the back hoe.  Yay!  Out with the old . . .

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2.14.2010  Anniversary

We have a new member of the Nuluv herd.  Spotty came to live with us today.  One of my dearest friends ever brought her over.  She was her mom's goat and is so pretty.  And big.  Huge.  Strong.  Stubborn.  Sweet.  Scared to death.  Precious baby.  I just love goaters.  She is a black nubian, with brown trim, frosted ears, and white spots.  She will be the oldest member of the herd, and possibly the biggest.  She hasn't been bred in a couple of years, so we promptly prettied her up (mani/pedi, shots, new collar, ect) and turned her out with Lord Orian and one other doe, Almond.  Love is in the air (er, hormones, I mean).    Almond was so funny when we "let her out into the pen" with Spotty.  She went from a 60 acre pasture to a 3 acre trap, and was so excited about it.  I guess the grass really is greener on the other side.  She is a 2 yr. old.  She started running around and jumping sideways like a little kid.  She was running back and forth over the creek and zigzagging between the columns on the balustrade leading over the hill.  She has a bell on her collar that kept ringing because she was hopping everywhere and it was so darned cute!  Speaking of hills, Phoebe is still on the down side of hers.  When my friend was over today, we were out in the goat pen, checking on Spotty, and I couldn't find Phebes.  I finally thought to look in the kidding pen that was open (we have one girl due any day now, we think), and there was Phoebe, stuck in the corner, hitting her head on the wall.  She couldn't turn left because the opened door was in her way, and she can't seem to turn right anymore.  Poor baby.  I don't know how long she was "stuck" in there.  I led her out to water and she wasn't interested.  We made only lefts along the way. 

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1.30.2010  hohum

Well, everyone seemed to survive the disbudding yesterday.  Kiddos were all jumping and playing all afternoon during the first sunny day we've had in awhile.  Cavan and I spent some time working with Dizzy, one of the doelings who came with GlowBug.  I am guessing she and Firefly were about a month old when they came here, and had been on their dam.  First we had to teach them to drink from a bottle.  Dizzy caught right on to that one and Firefly took days.  We switched them over to a lambar (fabulous idea, that lambar.  It's a bucket with nipples sticking out of it, attached to straws that go down to the milk so the kiddos can drink whenever they want to).  Firefly took to it the very first time, while Dizzy has been starving because she won't latch on.  Seriously, won't do it to save her life.  It's been days since she's gotten any milk.  We forced her for awhile, and FINALLY she did it.  And she didn't let go of that nipple for a good 10 mintues.  She had a full belly.   

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1.29.2010  hot . . . Hot . . . HOt . . . HOT!!!

We disbudded 5 doelings this afternoon.  Disbudding, if you don't know, is when you burn the horns off the babies.  We use a disbudding iron, which looks like a power tool.  I guess it kind of is.  It has a cylinder shaped tip that is hollow and fits over the little horn budding through the top of the skull.  Oh, it is horrible!  The poor babies screaming and crying, desperatly trying to jump out of my arms.  The smell of burning hair.  The blood as the scurs fall off.  I hate it.  Last year was the first year we disbudded our own goats.  We learned quickly to lock Abbey up in the house because she did not like hearing the goaters cry.  Neither did Cavan.  I think he cried louder than they did.  This year, we kept Abbey in the kitchen, and disbudded during nap time.  It seems so cruel and unnatural to me.  I'm not really clear on why we do this, but everybody does.  I understand the does are less dangerous with out horns, even to themselves, not just us.  But I have also heard that does that have been disbudded produce more milk.  This does not make sense to me. 

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1.28.2010  Pheoebe

Is not doing good.  We originally agreed 2 weeks of meds and then we'd make a decision.  Two weeks is up at the end of this week.  There are times we go out there and she seems so much better, than 2 hours later she is all hunched up and walking in circles again.  Watching animals die has been one of the hardest things about moving to the country.  I never even dealt with a sick pet growing up.    I hate watching her go through this, but I don't want to give up on her either.

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1.27.2010  Home Sweet Home

Oh, it feels good to be home.  I am a home body.  And the ranch has finally started to feel like I belong here.  As I shut the gate, watching Trey drive through, I looked around me.  The sun was setting beautifully in the western sky.  My pooches were happily barking and jumping on each other to welcome us back.  And there were the girls, anxiously waiting in the pen, hoping to be the lucky one to recieve the hello ear rub.  Green Acres IS the place to be!

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1.25.2010  The Ultimate Ball and Chain

Dairy animals are the ultimate ball and chain.  Really.  You can not go anywhere.  You have to be at home to milk every morning and every night.  No weekends at the coast, no day trips to a state park then a late night adventure, no going anywhere for more than 12 hours.  You gotta milk.  If you don't, who will?  You don't want to leave your girls with full bags.  So, we stay.  We milk.  We camp out on the back 40 so we can come in to do chores in the morning then head back out the camp ground.  We haven't left in over a year, except for the trip to the hospital when Pace was born.  We are leaving tomorrow.  Leaving at noon and not coming back for 30 hours or so.  I'm so excited.  Trey's dad is coming over to goat sit for us.  There are few people we would leave our girls with, but he is one of them.  He will milk them for us, and probablly spoil them even more than we do.  I'm not worried, I know my girls are in good hands.

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1.24.2010  Today is the day.

Finally, I have been writing and rewriting this blog in my head for days now.  I decided I wanted to start doing this after enjoying a really neat blog written by the pioneer woman.  She inspired me (www.thepioneerwoman.com).  And so, I decided I want to share some of my life moments raising dairy goats.  They really are the sweetest girls.  Just now, I went outside to check on Phoebe, and I guess one of the girls out at pasture heard me.  I had my head down, as the wind is blowing a good 20 MPH out here today, and I was trying to block Pace (my 4 month old) from catching it in his face.  I looked up to see 20ish nubians, at a full run, headin' in to see me.  Talk about making you feel good.  Ears flappin' everywhere!  If you've ever seen a nubian run, you know what I'm talking about.  I love those ears!  I couldn't pet everyone fast enough.  And poor Pace, they just love to nibble on his toes.  Sidekick had his sock half off before I noticed.  Pace just laughs.    But I was going to tell you about Phoebe.  She is sick.  Really sick.  She has been off since September.  Well, I guess it has been a lot longer than that, but I just thought it was her odd personality.  She is always turning to the left.  Instead of making 1 right turn to get somewhere, she will make 3 left turns.  But she seemed healthy.  It didn't start coming off as an illness until September.  We finally took her to a vet this past Monday.  Turns out, she has an absece in her brain.  We don't know how it happened, I don't even know what it really is, but the outlook is not promising.  The vet warned us that it probably won't turn out the way we want it to.  We are treating it aggresively, though.  She gets 2 shots a day, plus probiotics, and a special home made fecal tea.    I have to go out there and pick up goat pellets (aka smart pills for any country folk who might be reading) and make a tea for her from them.  She gets some twice a day to help balance her rumen.  Really?  Yep.  Anyway, so I just went out to check her (and collect some fresh poop), and she was just walking in circles.  To the left.  Always to the left.  She was standing, though, and grazing.  Which is good.  She couldn't do any of that a week ago.  So maybe the meds are helping . . . I sure hope so.  The other girls know she is pretty bad off.  Phoebe was my herd queen.  The girls started fighting for the position last week.  Bambi won.  And she has a scab on her head to prove it!  It made me sad, but I had to acknowledge the new queen.  I put a bell on her collar yesterday.  Bambi is actually one of my favorite goats, but I just feel bad for Phoebes.  I wonder what will happen if Phoebe makes a full recovery?  Will she acknowledge Bambi as the herd queen or will she fight for her position back?  Hmmm . . . I hope I find out!