Goats, turkey and a cat

Our kidding season is over and we ended up with just two little doelings.  Not sure what happened with Mary and Rosie but God knows what we can handle and for some reason this year was supposed to be lighter on the milking side.  Here are a few updated pictures -

Mama Martha

It takes forever for goats to be born!  Rebekah waited pretty patiently!

They're here!  Luke waited most of the day in the barn with Martha so he got the honor of naming them - Rachel and Leah.  Rachel has a black nose and dark tail and Leah has a pink nose and all white tail.  I'm glad for the distinction b/c I have trouble keeping everyone straight.

Their cozy bedroom within their pen.  They eventually got too big for it and were spending more time on top than in it!

Laura snuggling Rachel - note the black nose and dark spot on her tail.  Grandma Rosie (who ended up not being pregnant) is in the background.

This is little Leah - her nose is pink and tail all white.

Rachel is queen of the woodpile

Can she bake a cherry pie?  Yes - and don't mess with Abbie.  Speaking of Abbie -

Her dad took her out on Youth Mentor Day and for the second year in a row, she got a nice sized gobbler!

It was about as big as she is!

 

 

 

Does anyone want a cat?  Mr. Blizzard showed up uninvited and decided to stay.  He has one blue eye and one yellow eye and not much human interaction prior to visiting us.  He's happy to eat the other cats' food though.  Seriously, if anyone would like a cat, please let us know.

 

 

 

 

That's whats been happening in our neck of the woods.  Thanks for stopping by!

New Life on the Farm

We're are pleased to announce that at 9:30 PM last night, our first birthing of the year took place.

Martha gave birth to two adorable twin kids - both girls!



Here's Rachel - our first kid of the year!



And then Leah!

Congratulations Martha!

Another update

Vanilla, Sparkle, Starlight and Daisy have all found homes this morning. Check back next spring for more available kids!

It snowed last night and we woke up to about 3 inches of snow this morning. Some of it melted and some of it stayed.


Have a Merry Christmas!

Update on goats

Well breeding time has begun at TenByAcres and it's a little noisier and a little more "aromatic". Bucks must be the most vile smelling creatures on earth but they are a necessary part of the breeding process.

Benny, the 2 year old buck, has happily taken up residence with Daisy, Rosey, Sparkle, Starlight, and Moonlight. To date we are certain the Daisy and Rosey will be having kids mid/late next March.

Ace, the 1 year old buck, is enjoying his stay with Licorice, Buttercup, Mary & Martha. They are slowly warming up to him. Licorice & Buttercup will be going to their new home late next month. Mary & Martha are my personal favorites and I look forward to adding them to the milking herd next spring.

When we brought the bucks up from my dad's farmette, we took Vanilla & Chocolate down to stay with the wethers, Goliath & Buck (or D. as Abbie calls him). We decided not to breed Vanilla b/c I simply had to put a cap on how many I can milk next spring and still stay sane. We would love to find a home for Vanilla. She is a 6th generation, purebred. Chocolate still has her gimpy foot and isn't very big so we decided not to breed her for those reasons.

The hard reality of farm life means some animals will end up in the freezer so I won't talk about Breadstick. From now on all wethers will simply get a letter instead of a name to avoid us becoming in any way attached to them. Since the former mentioned goat came to us full grown, we never had the "aw he's sooo cute" attached to him. This will be our first experience eating chevon. Will keep you posted. It's amazing how many people we know have said "yuck don't give me any of the goat meat". So we shall see.

So if anyone is interested in purchasing any of the following please send us an email. You can see some pictures of them at the Goats for Sale page on this blogsite.

A. Vanilla (currently not bred, although we could breed her if someone requested),
one of the wethers - Goliath or Buck, both born last March

B. Chocolate - born last March; was the proverbial "runt and has a gimpy foot - she is very affectionate though due to be handled so much when she was little

C. Daisy (5 or 6 year old bred doe - due to kid mid/late next March)

D. Sparkle (2 or 3 year old bred doe - due to kid mid/late next March)

E. Starlight (1 year old doe - hopefully will be bred and kid next March)

Update on Available Goats

Licorice & Buttercup have found a new home! If anyone is still looking for a Mini Nubian milk goat, we still have Vanilla. Additionally we still have 2 mature does currently in milk and 3 wethers.

Has it been raining in your neck of the woods? It's been an interesting summer with an earthquake, hurricanes and torrential rains with flooding. However we still have much for which to be thankful. God is good.





And it won't be too long until the snow flies! Each year we try to predict when we'll have to start up the woodstove again. Some are hoping for late October but I think it will be sooner. Guess that's all for now.

Just an update and a few pictures

We still have some goats for sale. We'd love to keep them all but that isn't terribly realistic. So if you or someone you know are looking for some sweet Mini Nubians, please let us know.

Did you ever try to take pictures of goats while they are moving? It's not very easy but here are some updated pictures of some of the ones available. First two are Licorice.

Buttercup at left - she looks so serious









Finally is Vanilla - she was the most camera shy. I suppose goats are kind of like humans - some are hams for the camera and some, like Vanilla, are not.








Wow, where is the summer going? After having no green beans last year, we've canned about 75 qts this year. The corn & potatoes look promising. Cucumbers have been good eating. Hopefully we'll get some tomatoes too. The first round of meat chickens are in the freezer and second batch are fattening up in their pen.

The new layers began laying way earlier than I had anticipated so we have those cute little first eggs alongside the bigger established layer eggs.

Raspberries did well also but not quite as good as last year b/c of the dry spell. The elderberries are ripening and some of the family is hoping for more elderberry syrup. Last year I had attempted elderberry jelly that never set, thus becoming elderberry syrup. It was great to fall back on when the maple syrup ran out. We have used the last jar though, so are awaiting the ripening of this years.

School has begun once again but in fits and starts. I love the flexibility in homeschooling b/c school isn't just something you do between 8:30 and 2:45 but a way of life. Here is the latest find - Spotty the turtle. The girls kept him a few days then released him.


Well thought we'd update our avid readers :-) on a little of what has been happening in our neck of the woods. - update by Mom for Luke who is busy straining the milk. He did take the goat pictures though.

Welcome to TenByAcres

Welcome to TenByAcres. We've raised egg chickens for several years but last year we decided to add some dairy goats. After much deliberation and research we brought home 3 Mini-Nubians in milk and one doeling. Let us introduce them to you:

Here is our herd queen, Rosey. She is a 4th generation and a very good milker.




Rosey gave birth to triplets in the evening of March 16, 2011 -

Here's Mary,

Martha,

& Goliath.

Both little does look like promising dairy goats while Goliath has a future as a wether.


Next is Daisy. She is a 3rd generation and also a good milker.



Daisy gave birth to twins on March 18, 2011 - a little buckling we named Buckskin (wether)

and a doeling named Buttercup.

My current favorite - Sparkle.


She is a 5th generation. She's not quite as heavy with milk production but is so well behaved on the milk stand. She is always first in line, comes in and jumps up on the stand by herself. She's also just a little taller than the others and that makes putting the milking machine under her so easy. Sparkle gave birth to triplet doelings in the early afternoon of March 14, 2011. We named them

Licorice,

Vanilla,

& Chocolate.

Licorice and Vanilla have futures as milk goats. Chocolate, our smallest doeling, is our family favorite. She's such a sweetie and very affectionate. She had a hoof problem with one of her hooves at birth and in attempting to correct it we probably made it worse. The upside is that she is very used to being handled and probably getting somewhat spoiled!

And finally, our current first freshener, Starlight (6th gen.), Sparkle's daughter.

She is gradually getting used to the milking stand and being milked. We're trying to be patient as she learns the ropes. Starlight was our first to give birth on March 12, 2011. Her kids are Ace - who shows a promising future as our next stud buck

and Moonlight - a sweet little doeling.

One thing we learned (after the fact) that you should put the dry does through the milking paces to get them used to the stand and having their udders/teats handled. If we had done that with Starlight last year, she probably wouldn't be as resistant. Truthfully, I think she was just sore from having a full udder and a little scared by not knowing what was expected. We will definitely be getting next years new milkers used to the routine early.

And the last two goats of all, we have our current stud buck, Benny. He is a 5th generation.

And the noisy wether that keeps Benny company, Breadstick Slightly Toasted - our 9 year old daughter came up with the name.

Our son, Luke, will be in charge of maintaining our site. Didn't he do a great job with the layout?