Herding in hot weather…

In Bible times shepherds were kind of outcasts, they stayed in the fields and probably smelled bad and were not as cute as our shepherds.  Erin and Chelsy were outside while the goats were grazing and helped with herding the goats towards their pen with their handy dandy water guns!

Did I mention that goats do not like water and therefore squirt guns are effective means of getting them away from trees and shrubs or back in the pen.  Even the first drop of rain sends them to the shelter.

Even the dog got in on the fun, but if you know labradors…they love water!

Visitors from another planet…I mean state!

Thinking Calvin and Hobbs here.  oh wait that’s weirdo’s from another planet.  Cathie and Mitch visit from PA are in KS for some art conventions in KS City.  Well when city folk come to the farm you have to teach them about milking!!!

Mitch watched with some interest and Cathie gave it a try and got some milk sooner than I did.  Being photographers we had to document the occasion!  The cheese was a hit.

This first goat is Barbie, she has so much milk and such large “teets” that you have to squeeze really hard!  Baarbie is on lone as we needed some extra milk before we got Alice.

Alice is much easier to milk.  She is a Nubian/ Alpine goat with rich white creamy milk and I’m not sure how but it is just easier to get it out of her.  She gives us almost a gallon a day. 

Here are our visitors from another state they left us taking some Anderson’s farms eggs and goat cheese.  Thanks for the visit!  Love ya!

Summer babies on the way…we hope

Our does are starting to look pregnant and that is exciting!  We do not get sonograms for them so it is always a surprise. 

We did not get Darla (to the right) off grain soon enough in the winter so she is a bit fat!  They are due in August.

It's a funny little farm yard

I just never know what I will see, where I will find the chickens, where an egg might be or who will be visiting the goat stantion when Hans or I come to milk.  One morning he saw a Great Horned Owl right on the roof of the shed.  (no camera of course).  This morning I am visited by a cardinal, the chickens and our Stumpy Cat. 

The boys with the girls

Erin and her friend Christina had fun checking out our little kid who is a boy as the big boy that we are borrowing for stud services watched on. 

Our new “kids” on the block…

This is Barbie.  She is a registered Nubian milk goat from our “goat lady” on loan to us until she has another milk goat we can buy.  When we got Shasta it became apparent that to both drink milk and have extra for cheese, ice cream and  yogurt, we would need another goat.  That will allow us to have two milk goats at a time.  Ideally.  So Barbie comes to us after her first “freshening”.  She has been good and stays calm even when the cats are begging for milk.  Shasta, the goat we bought last month gets very agitated and starts stomping and kicking when cats and dogs come to see if there is any milk up for grabs.  Sometimes I think they do it just to make her kick because if she catches me off guard the milk ends up on the ground.  Hans was so frustrated with me as we lost two containers of milk in one day.   One she kicked and one I just dropped for no good reason.

I sometimes wonder why I am loving this so much because it can be a bit of a pain and it hurts my hands as milking two goats takes about 30 minutes start to finish.  I noticed the other day after a stressful, rushing around day that to milk I have to stop, slow down and do something so basic and even primal that it takes me back to my  nursing days.  Except of course for the farm noises!  

Milking on Anderson farms.wmv