 New life Brandie took this shot late in the evening, using her headlight for illumination. The babies (one boy, one girl) are a few hours old at this point.
 Codie, Avalon, and babies Brandie's daughter Codie the next day, holding the twins, as mother Avalon looks on.
The Toggs were bred to one of Brandie's cashmere bucks. He's a solid black, so I suppose that's where their body color comes from. The light-colored stripes down the face and pale feet, though, are pure Toggenburg.
 All I gotta say is, that black sheep is one prolific muthafucker. That, right there, is three goats' worth of fiber. All told, it fills a little under 2/3 of a pillowcase.
Was just in communication with Brandie from Idlewild Ranch, where my milk does have been bred and wintered. Avalon just gave birth to twins!
Aieeee! I have goat babies! :D
The snow has now reached the point where the wether can jump out of the pen, via the top of the trash can used to hold sweet feed.
This does not spell Good Things. Particularly since Ben sleeps in the hay shed, and the open dutch-door bottom means that while he can get in and out, so can the goats.
*sigh* I really don't want to be dealing with this right now.
I have decided that this should be our business motto.
Unfortunately, the goats seem to agree.
I still have three goats awaiting their final home in the freezer, along with two turkeys and seven or so rabbits. Nary a word has been heard from Uncle Mark. *sigh*
The goats are all in the lower pen, as the heads, feet, entrails, and various other kibbles 'n' bits have been covered by the snow in the upper pen. Over the last several weeks, the gate has gotten further . . . and further . . . and further away from the linking post.
Yesterday afternoon, it seems that that distance finally reached critical mass. I came home to find the goats climbing up the hill behind my parked car. There was much yelling. There was much clambering around whilst wearing my work uniform from the fancy-schmancy spa. (*sigh*) There was, unsurprisingly, a fair amount of swearing.
Yet! I managed to get them all corralled back in the pen, closed it and blocked off the opening with an elaborate spider's web of chain, rubber bungee cord, and baling twine (don't laugh! MacGuyver would wet himself to get this shit when he needed it!).
. . . a spider's web that failed within 30 seconds of being confronted by an inquisitive, cabin-fevered goat.*
*facepalm*
So, yeah. This morning involved a garden shovel, some yelling, and a small amount of swearing.
 Mr. Ben Letting the goats run around would be less of an issue if it weren't for Ben. Ben, although he is an Outdoor Dog, needs a little shelter, especially on those -20 nights. There were Plans to build him a dog house, but no time or money for supplies.
A week or so ago, I realized that if I opened the bottom part of the Dutch door to the hay shed, Ben could make his way in there and sleep! Rather than a small hole dug in the side of the ground, he could have a shed to himself, partially insulated with hay bales and with loose hay for him to make a bed upon.
Yay! A winning solution for all, right?
Well . . . the goats know where their food comes from. Free-roaming goats means, in very short order, a hay shed eviscerated and torn to shit.
*sigh* Cue lots more work with the shovel this morning. At least the gate shuts now, and that they waited until I had enough Cope to deal with them.
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* Want to know what a cabin-feverish goat looks like? In this case, literally bouncing off the walls. Plus, the goat in question would put his front feet up on the wall, stand on his hind legs, and do a sort of backbend until he was looking at you upside down. He'd eyeball you with one eye, then the other, then both. And let's just say that rectangular goat pupils are creepy enough without the goat attempting mind control.
Apparently, today is the day where the animals eat all of my food.
Went to the grocery store today. Greg's back at his winter job, which means he has regular hours on top of his other gigs, but I knew he'd be home in time for dinner tonight. As a surprise, I'd picked up a bargain-bin steak for him and some blue cheese sliders for me.
Once home, I dumped ice and water out of the animals' buckets and used them to bring the groceries inside. I left the steak and sliders for the second round, not wanting to put raw meat in with the vegetables I'd bought. I left the back of my car open and went to put everything away.
Half the groceries away, water buckets emptied, rinsed, and refilled, email checked, and lunch eaten, I went back outside to finish up. I absently loaded the rest of the groceries into a reusable bag and took them over to the base of the steps. While I was dickering around with ice in the rabbits' bowls, I suddenly realized that . . . I . . . hadn't . . . seen . . . either the steak or sliders in the back of my car. I walked over, checked, wondered if I'd left them at the store, remembered my decision to leave them in the back of the car . . .
. . . and, looking at the giant dog asleep in the parking pad, suddenly understood all too well what had happened to them. *facepalm*
To add insult to injury, I went back to finish with the rabbits. While I was doing so, one of the goats wandered up to me to sniff at their grain pellets. I hollered and swatted at the goat. She wandered off while I tended to the bunnies.
Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed one of the cabbages laying on the ground. I whipped around to discover the goat merrily munching away on the outermost leaves of the other cabbage, her head halfway inside the grocery bag. Cue more hollering, swatting, and cabbage retrieval.
. . . Some days, I think the mosquitoes might have been worth putting up with after all.
I really don't know where the summer went. o.O
I hear the Farmer's Almanac was calling for a short summer and a heavy winter, and it sounds like they're right: we got our first minor frost a couple of weeks ago. We're able to leave the garden uncovered most nights, but there's been a night or two where it's gotten down to the 30s. The days have been pretty hot last week, and the grasshoppers have been going mad. I've decided that the early-flowering broccoli will be my sacrificial plant this year. Not that I had much of a choice in the matter. The tomatillos are going apeshit, but the quinoa never came up this year.
Turkey coop still not built yet, although we've hired a guy to work on it. I did end up converting the wood trailer into a coop, which has been amusing--I keep referring to our "white trash turkeys." They're getting big, and we have at least 2-3 toms. One has a crooked toe on his foot.
The goats have started roaming, so we've pretty much had to keep them penned and resort to hay. They've also scrunched down the back fence in the lower pasture to the point where they can climb over and get out, so no more keeping them down there. *sigh* I think I just need to rip out the wire and the weak post, put in a stronger one with cement, and build a wooden fence. It'll definitely prevent the goats from getting their heads stuck--Brandie sent me a couple of lulus this year. Two or three of them are dumb as rocks and keep getting their heads stuck. Usually as I'm heading off to work and short on time. *sigh*
Ben is still friendly, but has gotten a little weird about his neck again. We need some serious grooming sessions after we pick up a rake for his undercoat. Greg says he has a massive tick on his side, too. Eww. >.< He's been wandering pretty seriously, too, and we've had our first barking complaint from the neighbors. To Ben's credit, it was a full moon and the coyotes have been singing like mad, but time to put the electric collar on him. *sigh*
Rabbits are doing well, although we're having a little trouble with the large hutch. The large door has come undone a few times, resulting in "chase the rabbit" excursions. One got away and made it under the stairs a few days ago, so we're pretty sure it's gone for good. *sigh* Sucks, because we've found a couple of restaurants in town interested in carrying rabbit as a special. Definitely time to switch breeds, although Hatasu has proved to be a very good mother. We keep having to pull Nefertari's babies off of her and put them with Hatasu. Nefertari is definitely not going to make it through winter.
Seriously, the end of August already? GAH.
 Hatasu and babies, day 14 Yesterday, checking on the baby rabbits, we noticed that their eyes were juuuust beginning to open. Ridiculously adorable. :) We think Nefertari is continuing to pluck herself bald, which is rather distressing. She looks pretty moth-eaten. Good thing it's summer.
All the adults are loving the fresh grass. Yay, happy bunnies!
We got the four Toggenburgs from Casey today. Two proven milkers, a yearling doe, and a yearling wether. We'll butcher the wether come fall, but looks like we'll be heading into the milk goat biz next year. *facepalm* What are we (I) getting our(my)selves into?
 Erica & Ben Ben came over today, too. He's a big Akbash/Turkish Anatolian Shepherd/Great Pyrenees mix. It's been a while since I've seen him, and he's HUGE, even though he's a bit over a year old (I think). Although he's bred as a flock guardian, he's also kind of a big doofus. He likes to lean against people and enjoys having his hips rubbed. He's currently in dire need of a bath and a good brushing.
Unfortunately, he's also barking like hell a lot tonight. Every time Greg or I went to go see him, he'd be fine, nothing there. Ben's gone off several times this evening and I keep going outside to shush him, but it's late and I'm tired. Hopefully, he'll calm down soon.
Getting a lot of fox action lately. Saw a pale blonde one trotting across the snow this morning. I love having these guys nearby.
Spent a goodly portion of last night fantasizing about building the new turkey shed. May have some feelers out for people who have more experience and who can help. Wandered around the Milner Mall yesterday a bit and salivated over a set of windows from the Yacht Club. They're already put together and would be great for a greenhouse. Just gotta get all the scratch together to get this going. *sigh*
Gotta get the turkeys lined up too. At this point, looks like the mixed run is sold out 'til June. Just gotta get everybody on board and go from there, I guess. Money, too. Argh.
Thinking lots more about goat possibilities. Kevin and Casey are getting rid of all of theirs, and Greg and I talked last night about the possibility of doing goat milk next summer. He was supportive of the idea and I know there's a high demand, especially for value-added products like cheese. Just gotta hang onto the commercial kitchen. Looking to do boarding swap with Brandie as a possibility.
SPRINGSPRINGSPRINGSPRINGSPRING!! *boing!*
Been talkin' turkeys with a couple gals here in the valley. We're looking at all going in on an order together.
I've been perusing Craigslist for rabbits and goats, too. I know there's a local gal who raises Boers, but worth shopping around a little for, no? We need to switch out rabbit breeds, too. I'd love to do a heritage breed and am Just. So. Unenthused about Californians and New Zealands.
On the ARBA page, they also have guinea pigs. I don't think I've ever seen anything that looks as much like Cousin It as this Peruvian:
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