Goats, relaxing.

Autumn 2019 Breeding

Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats

Autumn 2019 Breeding for Spring 2020 Kids

Bucks and does were placed together on 10/3/19 and separated on 10/30/19.
Potential kidding dates 2/25/20 thru end of March.  Pregnancy confirmed by ultrasound on 12/15/19.

Rocket (brown eyes, horned)

• BJ (brown eyes, horned) - expecting 3+ estimated due 3/9/20
• Spice (brown eyes, horned) - expecting 1+ estimated due 2/25/20
• Tres (brown eyes, horned) - expecting 2 + estimated due 2/25/20

Galaxy (polled)

• Poppy (blue eyes, moonspots) - expecting 2+ estimated due 3/12/20
• Gardenia (did not take... heat noted 11/5) - open

Lou (blue eyes, moonspots)

• Polly - open 
• Getty - (blue eyes) - expecting 3 estimated due 3/8/20
• Di - (polled) - expecting 3 estimated due 3/7/20

Silver (blue eyes, moonspots)

• Minnie - watching due to inability to confirm pregnancy via ultrasound.
• Annie - (polled, blue eyes) - expecting 3 estimated due 3/9/20

Our kidding season for Winter/Spring 2020 will begins sometime around Feb 25th, 2020 and run for about a month.  We have 7 does confirmed pregnant.  There is a possibility of some homogeneous blue eyed kids from the Getty/Lou pairing.   

Dividing Focus

Just in case you've missed it, I have divided the "farm" activities from the the "soap" stuff.  All the soap related stuff is now found at Mossy's Milk Soapery while the farm activities remain here.  And, as always, the ways and means to do both the farm and soap is dependent upon Water-Tech Ent., Inc.

The farm's focus is now Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats, Karakachan Livestock Guardian Dogs and an occasional attempt at gardening.

Nigerian Dairy Goats

Karakachan LGD with goats

Unpasteurized Milk

The dairy industry in the United States has attempted to go to great lengths to "make sure" the milk you drink is safe.  In the process of doing this, they - the dairy industry - in cooperation with federal agencies - USDA, FDA, EPA, etc - have restricted your freedom to choose.  You have the "freedom" to choose only the product they offer.  Choosing another product may be life threatening.  They fail to mention that choosing their product may be life threatening as well.

As a person on this planet, you have responsibility for yourself.  If you make a choice, it is yours.  It is yours if you make an uninformed choice, a hasty choice, or a carefully researched choice.  Unfortunately, there seems to be a large number of people who wish to pass the responsibility of their choice to others.  

I use the unpasteurized milk and milk products obtained from my goats.  I drink it.  I make yogurt with it.  I make cheese with it.  I make ice cream with it.  I do this of my own choice and I realize the responsibility and risks associated with it.  My husband also uses the milk and milk products obtained from my goats.  He does this of his own choice and he accepts the responsibility and risks of  it.   

So, here's what I need to say.  I will make my milk available to you only if you are willing to assume the responsibility and risk yourself.  What that means is that IF you purchase my milk and you get sick for any reason associated with using it, you will NOT sue me.  Now, I could get a lawyer and have a document created for you to sign stating that you accept your own responsibility in using raw milk or we could just shake hands and be individuals of our word.  

Cuddly little goats...

Establishing a sales policy...

I've known for some time that I would need to establish a sales policy.  I've been working on it for over a year.  Certain social media sites don't allow you to sell animals via their platform.  This amazes me but I won't get on that soapbox.

So, I updated the policy and have published it via a link on our menu.

http://www.faithsfarmok.com/p/goat-sales-policy.html

I'm sure that something else will come up and it will be modified again but that's okay.  Change is not bad.  :)

Kids and Calves 2017 - so far...

Well, I missed the dates for the cows.  Rona went first on March 5th and delivered a small little man.  Followed four days later by Greer who delivered a big little man.  Both of these babies are Benny's offspring.

The goats started delivering kids on the 13th.  Red went first with three beautiful doelings sired by Lou.  Dottie followed 2 days later with a single buckling also sired by Lou.  Getty delivered two doelings and a buckling today.  These are the first of Iron's babies on the ground.  We are awaiting the immenent arrival of Polly and Dancer's kids.  I have just about given up on trying to determine when these girls will deliver.  Gah.

What a joy it is to be on the homestead during the "baby" season!

Commercial Dairy and Meat

I love being able to grow or produce a portion of my own food.  For instance there are four jars of milk currently residing in my fridge.  They represent the last 4 days of milk from my Nigerian Dairy goats.  I use this for drinking and cooking as well as making yogurt, cheese, ice cream, and butter at times. 

I also am thankful that I can go to the grocery store and pick up a pizza or more butter if we want it.  I recognize the need for a grocery store that provides many with food items that they use on a daily basis.  Not everyone has the place or even inclination to raise their own animals.  Commercial dairy and meat producers provide a much demanded service.  Dairy animals raised on a small farm take a different management that those raised on a large scale.  Both are in demand.  Both are good in many ways.  Both have some very negative drawbacks.  Both are still in demand.  

I cannot attack the practices of a large commercial dairy or meat producer.  Urban citizenry would experience extreme hunger if the commercial producers were not in business.  The "masses" demand that milk and meat be available in their grocery store and at their restaurants.  The general public has grown up with readily available food and drink.  Many individuals today do not want to know where or how their food is produced.  Knowing he can get it at the store is enough.  She prefers to eat out.

So, where I am about to go is not about attacking large scale operations.  Nor is it about raw versus pasteurized.  It is about freedom lost.

Oklahoma currently allows the incidental (less than 100 gallons per month) sales of raw milk (cow or goat) directly on the farm.  That means that if you want to buy some of my goat milk, you have to come to my farm to get it.  I'm okay with that.  If you go out of your way to visit my farm to get my milk, I know it's important to you.  However, I cannot deliver milk to you without a transport license.  Please don't ask me to because that's a risk that I don't want to take.  It's also an option that you don't have.  It is a freedom that you and I no longer have.  We cannot agree to this private transaction because milk is a highly regulated product.

Most of the general population doesn't care if the option exists.  Are you one of them?  Or, would you prefer the option of being able to make an agreement with me to purchase my milk and have me deliver it to you?  Do you want the freedom to trust me to handle the milk with care?  Do you want the freedom to accept the risk that accompanies a private transaction?  Then YOU AND I will have to become active in making the changes within our state.

Goat Math - It. Is. Real.

You may have heard of Common Core Math and how today's parents can't help their children learn it due to its convoluted methodology.  Well, I know of something that is more amazing and incredible than Common Core Math.

Goat Math.

Goat math is what happens when you just want a few goats (3 or 4) for homesteading and less than 12 months later you have a shed-turned-goat barn, 3 field shelters, a re-purposed dog house, six pastures, and 22 goats of varying ages.

In the beginning, we only needed a doe in milk and a companion for her.  These are herd animals and don't do well as individuals.  So, we found a great goat mentor who had an adorable little baby goat for us.  We converted a portion of the shed to be the goat house and put in 2 pastures.  Mid-May and we were ready for our girls to come home.  :)

Opal (our first doeling) and Rosy (her companion - the first goat I fell in love with) enjoyed their week of being on the farm as the only goats.  Then, we went to our first goat show where Peso won First in Class and Reserve Champion.  We brought her home after the show.  A couple of weeks later, Icey joined us at the farm.  Sigh.  In less than a month we had our four goats - one in milk, one preggers, one youngster, and Rosy.

At this time we planned to "rent" a buck for future breedings.  A month passed of our blissful ignorance and then I saw the sweetest little buckling available.  "Honey, can we?"  And we did.  While we were awaiting our handsome fellow, Icey kidded with two bucklings of her own. 

Next thing we knew we'd purchased a buck because our little guys weren't quite big enough to breed effectively.   So, six months after bringing home our first two goats we'd already increased our herd to 8.  Twice as many as we originally planned.

I then purchased an entire herd -- three bucks, one doe in milk with two babies at her side, and four bred does ready to pop anytime.  And there you have it.  Just a few goats for our own milk use.  Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha...

Buck, Buck, Buck

It's been a bucky type of year for us so far.  Most of the babies born on the farm have been boys.  While we love these guys, they don't produce milk very well.  So, that means we have several available for sale.

This year's main squeeze, Dancer, is available.  He's triple registered and quite a showman. 

Also available are several of his sons...  Tanker, Rocket, Boots, Pyrite, Brownie, and Rocky.  Pyrite is a wether.

In addition, Popeye and Mocha are available. 

Interested buyers should contact us via email.  Our sales policy will be posted soon.

The goats are coming... the goats are coming...

Finally, after some serious planning, the goats are coming.  We've nearly finished converting the old shed into a spiffy goat barn.  I'll be able to milk the goaties inside out of the weather.  :)  It's been great fun getting to know my goat mentor.  It seems like everything I decide to do ends up being on a long learning curve.  Figures, huh?  I'm working on putting together my goat medicine box.  The feed is here.  The milk stand is ready.  There's straw in the stalls.  Now all we need is the goats...

They'll be here soon!  I'll keep you posted.