Spring's here (almost) with rain, some leftover snow showers, and sunny warm days mixed in. The bucks have finished their job servicing the does. The pregnant does are living a quiet life growing kids in their bellies. The 2016 Kidding Season will be April-August. We will contact those of you on the waiting list when kids become available.
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| draining chevre |
After milking through two lactations (she kidded April 2014), Kizzy is now down to once/day milking. She recently produced a fantastically rich 2.7 lbs of milk in the AM. Her milk's butterfat content is extremely high after milking so long. Milk late in the lactation cycle yields lots of cheese! Seems like Herd Queen Kizzy would be content milking until kingdom come.... but it's time to give her a well-deserved vacation and dry off until her next kidding. Well done Kizzy.
This winter the milking goats provided us with enough milk and cream to make goat's milk butter while our Holstein-Jersey cross milk cow "Jazzy" was nursing her new calf. Now we are back to making butter from cow's cream and once again have goat's milk for cheese- and yoghurt-making.
The littlest doelings provide humor and entertainment as the older does go about the serious undertakings of milk production, cud chewing, and growing babies in their bellies. Iris is growing into a long, lithe black and white mini-herd queen. She takes everything in stride but sometimes lets loose with sporadic bursts of energy. Sweet Tripoli is ever ready for some cuddletime on a lap. She has her dam Trillium's quiet gentle demeanor. Kadence or "Shadow Baby" is a jitterbug tremor of jittery energy who follows behind us like an elusive shadow. It's always fun watching the goats' distinctive personalities develop. They are still the babies in the herd, but only for a few more weeks. Soon a new batch of kids will be here!
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| Kizzy's morning milk |
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| Iris, Tripoli, Kadence, Coriander |