"Just A Goat" Author unknown

"Just A Goat"
From time to time, people tell me, "lighten up, it's just a goat" or "that's a lot of money for "just a goat." They don't understand the distance traveled, the time spent, or the costs involved for "just a goat." Some of my proudest moments have come about with "just a goat." Many hours have passed and my only company was "just a goat" but I did not once feel slighted. Some of my ......saddest moments have been brought about by "just a goat," and in those days of darkness, the gentle touch of "just a goat" gave me comfort and reason to overcome the day. If you, too, think it's "just a goat," then you will probably understand phrases like "just a friend," "just a sunrise," or "just a promise."

"Just a goat" brings into my life the very essence of friendship, trust, and pure unbridled joy. "Just a goat" brings out the compassion and patience that makes me a better person. Because of "just a goat" I will rise early, take long walks, and look longingly to the future. So for me and folks like me, it's not "just a goat" but an embodiment of all the hopes and dreams of the future, the fond memories of the past, and the pure joy of the moment. "Just a goat" brings out what's good in me and diverts my thoughts away. I hope that someday they can understand that it's not "just a goat" but the thing that gives me humanity and keeps me from being "just a woman." So the next time you hear the phrase "just a goat" just smile, because they "just" don't understand.

-Anonymous

and Lily, too

one of each....I see a pattern here....

Lizzy had twins, too....

also one of each

Annie's twins

One of each. The white one is the doe, born first. Then the black one. I kept thinking dominoes, then I thought yin & yang, and then it hit me....Lokai & Bele!!!!

Daisy's Doe

Rheba's twin bucks

The dark one was born first. 6lbs 13oz. The silver one was second. 6lbs 8 oz

Heidi wins the race...

Doe with frosted ears, then buck & buck.

TRIPLETS!!! two buck & a doe. If i have the dates correct she kidded at day 141, which is WAY early. But they all seem fine. The bpys were 4 lbs 8 oz each. the doe was 4 lbs 5 oz.

Not Kidding yet....

But getting close.

Rheba at day 147

Daisy (front) @ day 144. Lily at day 139

Olive Egg (or as we like to call them, camo eggs) Layers

I have been crossing & back crossing Black Copper marans and Blue wheaton ameraucanas for about 8 generations now. This is the rooster I kept from last summer's chicks for breeding this spring. He is papa to all the chicks I now have running around, one of whom will be his replacement :) So he needs to move on to a new home. He is a big handsome guy. Very gentle & takes good care of his hens. (I do not keep any nasty temperament roosters because I do not want them breeding). He looks very much like a Blue Copper Marans but he is not. He does not have a pea comb, but I am betting that he still carries the blue gene needed for olive colored eggs. 


He has some slight frost damage to his comb. My coop is not insulated and we had one very cold night here about a month ago. It will probably "repair" itself over time. Right now, since I am trying to keep him in with his hens, he is in one of my Chicken tractors that fits over my raised beds. Most of the year they are more or less free range.

Only one of the hens has some very light feathering on one toe 

Lovely copper coloring with no straw color 

This is the best picture I could get, but the color does not really come thru. 

Winter???? really???

The girls were out for a browse walk last weekend. Warm & sunny & beautiful. Rheba will be the first to kid this year. She is due sometime between March 1st and March 11, so i expect it will start snowing around March 6th :)

Only 1 Buck (front & center) really is the only buck we have right now :) To his right is Ashley, then Coco,& Alyssum, behind them Clarice, then left to right is Lizzy, Lily, Phantom, Daisy, Heidi, Rheba, Annie, Violet and Diamond.

Clarice, Phantom, Heidi, Rheba & Daisy

Getting big....

Coco

Lizzy

Winter Solstice

From The Winter Evening by William Cowper

Oh winter, ruler of th' inverted year,

Thy scatter'd hair with sleet like ashes fill'd,

Thy breath congeal'd upon thy lips, thy cheeks

Fring'd with a beard made white with other snows

Than those of age, thy forehead wrapp'd in clouds,

A leafless branch thy sceptre, and thy throne

A sliding car, indebted to no wheels,

But urg'd by storms along its slipp'ry way,

I love thee, all unlovely as thou seem'st,

And dreaded as thou art! Thou hold'st the sun

A pris'ner in the yet undawning east,

Short'ning his journey between morn and noon,

And hurrying him, impatient of his stay,

Down to the rosy west; but kindly still

Compensating his loss with added hours

Of social converse and instructive ease,

And gath'ring, at short notice, in one group

The family dispers'd, and fixing thought,

Not less dispers'd by day-light and its cares.

I crown thee king of intimate delights,

Fire-side enjoyments, home-born happiness,

And all the comforts that the lowly roof

Of undisturb'd retirement, and the hours

Of long uninterrupted ev'ning, know.

What have I done!!!

Three more does came in to heat Sunday, so three more were bred. Then I realized that means SEVEN does kidding in an 8 day period in March. Gonna be a fun week :)

Lizzy & Louie

Goatie Courtship

These are going to be good looking F2 kids with  good milking genes behind them.
Both Louie & Lizzy have horns, so no polled kids from these two.

Schapi & Lily

Hey Dude! pay attention to me!!

Yes, play fighting is often part of the ritual.

Later in the day, Heidi decided she was in heat, too.....

Heidi certainly has her own ideas about things. Much like last year, she decided she was going to pick her own buck. I was planning to breed her to Only One Buck. She decided she was not going to wait & hopped the fence to get in with Lily & Schapi. I decided that a blue eyed kid out of Heidi would be cool, so I let her stay in there. Heidi is a GREAT milker but she is on the small side. Schapi has good milk lines behind him, but his breeder was not milking, so I am not sure about his mothers milking ability. But he is a 50:50 F1, so he should add a little size to Heidi's kids.......we shall see....

She also decided she was in LOOOOVVVE with Mr. Blue eyes.

Schapi is a little smaller than Lily & Heidi right now, but that is because he is not yet full grown.

The Happy threesome

and so it begins.....

The breeding season that is....three girls bred, and one maybe bred, so nine or ten more to go. I can't believe I have 13 does to breed.  How did THAT happen. I guess I will need to sell some more does after kidding season next year.

Rheba was bred to Only One Buck, and if she settled will be due 3.6.12

Daisy was bred to Only One Buck and if she settled will be due 3.9.12

Sweet Violet is the one who is a maybe. She was bred to Schapi, a first generation Mini Nubian buck.  He is still a rather young boy and quite a bit smaller than Violet. If she took, she will be due 3.7.12. But I will be watching to see if she comes into heat again on or around 10.29.11.

Annie was bred to Penny's brother, an as yet unnamed second generation Mini Nubian buck. I was not planning to keep him. He is a good example of when a disbudding goes WRONG......and why I really love my polled goats. He has big twisted horns & gets his head stuck in anything he can all the time.  But I am glad he is still here because Pork Chop is just not ready to be a papa yet & I already sold Chief.  If she settled she will be due 3.13.12.

the strangest thing.....

I have been stuck inside most of the day. I have a nasty head cold so I have been working on the computer. I finally made it out to the garden to enjoy the last rays of the lovely sun we had today and to assess how many more gallons of tomato sauce I can make (ok, that is a slight exaggeration, I have only made 2 gallons so far & maybe have enough ripe to make another 2. Plus several more quarts of sundried or oven roasted. yum). So I am standing there in the garden assessing the tomato situation, and I hear over head the sound of wings.

Not beating wings, gliding wings, but close enough that I can hear them. I look up expecting to see a flock of Canada geese. That is not what I see. I see three of the biggest "circles" of turkey vultures I have ever seen at one time. I am not kidding, there were at least 30 birds dancing around each other in each of three groups, the groups then circling each other.....I stood there watching them over head expecting them to move on. One group did, flew off to the south down the riparian corridor. The others hung out long enough for me to think, gee, I should take a picture..... so I went inside & grabbed my camera, but they were gone. Or so I thought.

Then I realized they were in the trees all around me. Unbelievable. I counted at least 60 birds. And no, there was nothing dead around. I can usually smell a dead deer before they find it. Nothing. It will be interesting to see if they are still around in the morning. They really like the grey pines & the ponderosa pines. Seriously, I have never seen anything like it before. Have you?

Apparently they do not like cedar trees