High Mountain Living
This is Tinkerbelle, the miracle goatie of 2006 {
08:39
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2006-Mar-27
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Tinkerbelle checking out the ruler for accuracy. Day 4, 3.5 lbs {
08:09
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2006-Mar-27
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Tinkerbelle with friend to snuggle {
08:07
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2006-Mar-27
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Thanks and final baby count {
07:46
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2006-Mar-25
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Thank you for such great feedback everyone. It really makes me feel welcome here and is just what I needed. :-)The final tally is 17 babies!! Wowser. There are 7 bucklings and 10 does. I do have a *challenge* as a goat friend call it: My first freshener had two huge bucks and a teeny doe with some problems. I was going to just snuggle her in my coat in the corner of the stall to pass while finishing up with the other two but my kids came down and were just broken up about not at least trying something. So now I have the tiniest doeling in the house. Yesterday she weighed 3lb 3oz. I am bringing her to the barn every two hours to nurse on my doe with the smallest teats so she can manage. I tried a pritchard teat(sp), a regular baby nipple, glove finger, black goat nipple and she cant use any of them. Admitedly, I have never bottle fed anything in my life so my confidence is lacking too. I had to brace her front legs as they are crooked(better today) but braced, she can walk so if there is any chance of them straightening(they always do on healthy big kids) then she needs to be up on them. Her bottom jaw is short too. I figured she wouldnt even be able to nurse but she is doing it. Her name is Belle(for Tinkerbelle) and she is a teeny little sweet thing. I am hoping someone on my spinning/weaving list will adopt her in a few months as a pet. I would love to see how she grows. Everyone else is happy and doing well so when it dries out up on the mountain, we will have quite a pasture full of goats for a few months. Amelia Baby Goats! {
11:08
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2006-Mar-22
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I am not sure where yesterday's blog went. I know I posted that the babies were started. The funny thing is, now that it is almost 24 hours later we have lots more babies! Current gender count: Doelings 7, Bucks 4. I am pleased to say that my herd queen had three girls. I did have some trouble and wanted to share my experience in case anyone is kidding for the first time and they can file this away in their brain just in case. First with trouble presented at 3 am this morning. Her first was easy. The second was really tough-taking almost 1/2 an hour with lots of pulling by me during contractions. When she came out, she was tangled up with #3. I had a heck of a time sorting that whole mess out. The third baby came out back feet first and I wasnt hopeful. Luckily, this is an experienced mama and between the two of us, we rumpled up that baby until he had to breathe just to get out from under all that lovin'. The next goat is one of my rent-a-goats. She is a purebred LaMancha and frankly, didnt impress me at all. She buried the first baby with straw-ignoring it until I scuffled it up and it started squawking. The second one she wouldnt push so it was a long, drawn out task of pulling a teeny bit during contractions and then waiting while she licked the wall. I have to say, if ever I go on the fence about buying papers vs. proven stock..remind me of the joy I had this morning coaxing a fancy goat to act like a goat. For goodness sakes.. Ok, obviously cranky and waaaay too tired to be coherent, I am going to have a snooze. Only two more girls to go and one is an easy birther and the other is a first timer..so it should be lots of fun. Have a great day everyone! Pics will follow when I can get some rest first. Amelia Food Storage Without Going Nuts {
10:31
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2006-Mar-16
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I love to have food in the pantry. Even before I thought of a family and was alone with just a dog, I would plan and pack away food for a rainy day. Not being a mall girl, you could always find me at the local grocery store sale perusing the loss leaders and planning where I could stash another #10 can of sauce. Now that I have a family, my past experience with putting food by has helped in so many ways. We have experienced some pretty turmultuous times both in the public sense as well as private hardships. No matter what our financial situation is, we have always gone to bed with full tummies-at least the children have. I am (without spreading any hysteria) feeling the need to do a much larger storage of 6 months to a year supply of food. Since making that decision, I found the wonderful site: www.providentliving.org to be of the most help for me. I am sure most of you know this site or have heard of it but I urge everyone to at least take a peek and think of a plan. For now, I am working on my 3 month plan. It is a good thing that canning/drying/storage is not new to me as I have spent hours searching and reading on the internet trying to find a good weekly shopping list. It is overwhelming to me and I know what I am looking for! Have a great night all, send me your links to wonderful food storage sites if you have them! Amelia Goat Kids Stalling for Time {
08:10
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2006-Mar-15
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I havent deserted my brand new blog, folks!! I am just a crazy woman waiting for these goats to kid! I am not certain if it is a conspiracy to be sure I *really, REALLY* want them or not but I am tired, cranky and yet..I can NOT wait for the little babies! We are supposed to get snow again for the weekend. One day it is in the 50's and the next it is snowing. I think of all the seasons, spring in Montana is the wildest. This time last year, we had the county snowplow clearing our driveway so dh could just get to work. It is a good thing that driver is A. so kind and B. likes my coffee. We are lucky that he takes mercy on this lone place on a mountain and plows us when the snow gets over 10 inches. My chicks are due in another week from the feedstore. I will be buying canning lids and putting the 3 ruffians I have out there on a shelf for soup. They are just cranky and I cant afford my kids getting attacked by a mean ol' rooster while they do chores. This way, I can hand off the chicken chore to the little ones again. I ordered 25 Orpingtons since they are great dual purpose and really gentle. I will keep up to 10 hens and the rest go to canning jar camp. In other livestock news, I am mulling over getting a weaner pig from my friend to raise. My only concern is that I wont have enough extra milk to keep him well fed with it and don't want to resort to any medicated feed. If anyone reading has experience with a non-medicated hog feed, please let me know. I don't have to be go strictly organic (even if I could afford it) but I don't want a daily medicated ration either. Any help would be appreciated. The Llamas don't like the goats being stuck in the barn all the time. More often than not, I find them sitting in the loafing shed listening to the girls munching on hay. At night, I can hear sympathy moans from the Llamas to compliment the moans and groans of the goats. It is quite a cacophany of sounds from that little group. So if I skip a day here and there, I am not gone. Hopefully I will have baby goat news before long. Everyone is plenty due. Have a great day! Sounds on the way to the barn {
12:24
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2006-Mar-11
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Tonight when I was heading down to put the girls away for the night, the silence was so loud that I felt a rush of thankfulness that I am living in such a place. The moon is a crystal clear cresent, the air is crisp and finally the neverending wind had calmed for a moment. For some reason, the rooster felt he had to crow, which I thought was odd, considering he had to be up early.  The coyotes were yipping far off in the distance. They werent doing the usual howling and checking on one another, it was more like chatting amongst themselves. I guess they can't read my mind and don't know that I am looking for a good livestock guardian dog to keep them on their toes. As I drew closer to the barn, I could even hear all the goats eating from the hayracks; the metal fence wound into a circle and nailed to the wall was banging slightly as each girl found just the right mouthful. To hear so much from things that bring me joy, I don't even know to show my gratitude enough. My heart is just so full. First entries are hard! {
06:53
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2006-Mar-10
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Welcome to my new blog! I am Amelia and our family lives in Montana. We raise dairy goats/chickens and the other assorted animals that make a small homestead tick. We homeschool and my children have never attended a ps. Thankfully, they all love the country life because I can't imagine living anywhere else. Currently we are waiting for our small herd of 6 goats to kid! They started becoming *due* last weekend so we have been checking them every few hours and the baby monitor is turned way up high. It is great to hear all that goes on when humans are not present down in the barn. I have plans to list a lot of great information that I have gleaned from around the web. Right at the moment, I need to go check the girls. Thanks for reading so far!! Amelia |
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