New Goat Jungle Gym - cause goats need exercise too!

Lily & Tink's babies demonstrate proper use of our new goat jungle gym!

I've been concerned that my goats are a bit on the lazy side and not getting enough mental and physical exercise.  This may seem a bit silly to some, but goats are much like dogs - and dogs NEED exercise.  As many of you dog owners know, dogs can get a number of health problems from being overweight, not to mention destructive & annoying behaviors when their exercise needs are ignored.

I've considered walking my goats, I know several goat owners who do so, and I might still try this once the kids are sold... however, I've been worried that my neighborhood might have one too many stray dogs running around that might try to attack my goats while out on a stroll... I've encountered several while out walking my dogs, but I can easily pick up my dogs if I need to save them from a mad pitbull. Harder to do with 3-4 goats in tow.

So, I started looking at various apparatuses that farmers have erected for their goats to climb.  Everything from beautiful spiral towers to very simple recycled wire spools have been employed... here's a photo of one of the fancier goat towers in existence:

Anyhow, I constructed our simple tower over the slow early winter months out of scrap lumber, and placed a very tall pole on one corner for our dove cote to raise the pigeons a little higher off the ground for safety from predators and encourage them to roost there instead of the much taller neighbors roof.  The current dove cote is too heavy for me to lift all the way to the tall pole, but I got it pretty high up and the doves are much happier.  The plan now is to construct a new, lighter, but more ornate dove cote that will be more suitable to place on the high pole.

New babies, then a new fella comes over...

Well, here's the newest additions!  These 4 little buggers all came tumbling out of Tink on the evening on 3/12/2013.  I could tell it was the day when I came out in the morning to do chores and noticed that Tink wasn't as interested in breakfast as usual and she was breathing differently.  As they day progressed, she became more restless, so around lunchtime, I isolated her in the kidding stall in our tiny barn, got bundled up, brought out a huge stack of towels, my kidding supply kit, a couple of good books and proceeded to sit in the barn all day with the super-pregnant goat Tink.  It took until about 6:30PM for anything to happen, but when things get going with goat labor, they happen fast.  I was glad to be there when the first kid appeared in his amniotic sac bubble - cute little muzzle and hooves - normal position for birth, then surprise - THREE more quickly followed!  Tink had tripletts last year, so that's what I thought would happen again, but goats are often full of surprises!  I had to call Charlie to come help with the drying off since they were all arriving so quickly.  They seemed so small, but with 4 of them, Tink was carrying quite a load.  Surprisingly, they were all very equal in size, with a variance of only 4 ounces between the smallest (2#12oz) and the largest (3#).  Tink's a great momma, and got right down to business cleaning them up and feeding them.  They've since about tripled in size and I'm enjoying watching them grow every day!  However, with 4 mouths to feed, Tink won't have extra milk to share with me and Charlie until the kids are closer to being weaned - but I'm happy to have her feed her kids - and we're still getting milk from Maggie.

Speaking of, Maggie's turned out not to be pregnant after what seemed like 2 very successful driveway breedings to the lovely buck, Jester.  I'm guessing she may have reabsorbed the fetus, but I'm not sure why.  So, after wrestling with the idea of driving her an hour each way back to Jester again, I decided to go ahead and buy my own buck to breed to Maggie & Lily.  A bit crazy, since I just had 4 kids arrive, but I felt pressure to get the two open does bred soon so we were not expecting kids too far into the cold of next fall.  Thankfully, while trolling craigslist, the perfect buck appeared for a good price!  Meet Rocky!

There's a ton of goat literature out there, and they mostly say, don't keep your own buck if you've only got a few does... but these books were either written before contagious diseases such as CAE and CL became a real problem, or the authors are just plain neglectful of this important detail.  Basically, the quandary that doe-owners have is that most goat breeders now keep a closed herd - meaning they don't let any of their animals mix and mingle with strangers for fear of introducing one of these diseases to their herd.  Even with blood testing available to ensure animals are negative for these diseases, most breeders just don't want to deal with the hassle.  So that leaves many doe-only owners high and dry when it comes to breeding their female goat... and that goat needs to be bred to produce milk... a real catch-22.  There's also a lot of stories of mean bucks that are super stinky and out of control, running rampant over their farmers and female counterparts... thus the "never keep a buck" mentality.

I always love a challenge to dispel any rural mythology that rears it's ugly head, and this whole buck quandary was starting to sound very much like a greek folk tale.  I also hate neglecting the "other half" of goat keeping, bucks contribute 50% to a herd.  So, I do what I always do, and start researching.  I hit up the goat message boards and start searching the internet for stories from people who have successfully kept bucks, especially people who keep bucks with their does, as I don't have the space to keep a buck and a companion (2nd buck or wether) separate from my girls.  Low and behold!, a whole bunch of folks keep buck with their does, no problem - does it negatively effect the flavor the the milk - NO, do bucks injure their kids or chase their does constantly - NO.  There are, of course, still some challenges, but I think with creative problem solving, I can fit a buck into the farm here.  Right now is the off season, but come late summer/fall, Rocky will go into what is referred to as rut... his glands will become more powerful, he will start to urinate on himself all the time and get really stinky and gross.  I'm bracing myself for this, and I've come up with some plans to deal with that come time... first haircuts and baths, second a buck-apron device that he will wear... sort of like a mudflap positioned in front of his penis to block him from urinating on himself and also prevent him from breeding any doe that I want to keep open for a while.  Argh, urban dairy goat keeping is complicated, but a constantly fun rubix cube puzzle that I'm completely inspired to try & solve.

Slaven to the ducks...

I'm a Slaven to the ducks...

I've spent the last 3 days working in the cold and rain to get my ducks in proper housing... and I think both they and I are thrilled with the results:

Well, not the best photo, but the new raised duck pen has a bazillion advantages when it comes to keeping the ducks clean and healthy.  My main motivation to get their new raised pen done was the state of their old, somewhat temporary housing.  Ducks + Water = Muddy, smelly mess

You can see my futile efforts to control some of the muddy mess with the addition of wood shavings, which the ducks most happily transfered into their water pool.  They did amazing excavations throughout their enclosure, making duck coffee in every available divit created.

The new raised pen now allows their watery mess to fall through the wire floor to the woody mulch waiting below, which will (un-suffocated with mud) be able to compost quickly and make a great garden amendment.  Also their new pen features a pool with a built in drain, so their sullied bath water can be easily drained and transfered to feed & water thirsty plants nearby.  Here's the new pool & drain, complete with a little ramp to help the stubby-legged ducks get out of their pool:

Also, the duck pen features a separate nesting house, with a solid, well-bedded floor should they seek relief from standing on the wire all day.  The nesting compartment has a drop down duck door.  Should I need to catch any of the ducks, it will be easy to herd them into the nesting area, and shut the trap door behind them.  Also, the nesting area has a clear roof to allow in lots of sunlight to encourage the girls to lay, and will be a nice secure area for brooding.

And finally, their pool area will be the main nutrient source for my future duckoponics/aquaponics project.  I am placing some flood & drain trays above the pool area.  I will soon invest in a solids- handling pump to push the duck water through the trays, which will be filled with gravel and planted with watercress and lettuces that will feed us and the ducks (and other critters too)!  Other tanks will also be incorporated into the system, possibly a fish-raising tank, and a duck-weed raising tray.

Then the ducks will be slaven for me!

New Ducks!

As many of you know, I'm a musician as well as an urban farmer.  I was just in Portland this last weekend, and couldn't resist to plan a side trip to acquire a couple more female Australian Spotted ducks from a lady raising them near Oregon City, outside of Portland.

So, after a couple of days of intense late-night partying, teaching dance & calling square dances, and exhausted me dragged myself out of bed Sunday morning to drive out for my new ducks.  Husband woke up too and did the actual driving, and I'm so glad we made the little side trip because my new girls are BEAUTIFUL.  The lighting has been terrible to take pictures the last few days, but I'll get some up soon... but here's a good example of the two girls I brought home.  The new girls are a silverhead and a bluehead, which will add some nice diversity to my greenhead drake & duck that I got in the mail from the renowned Holderread's Waterfowl Farm.

To the left is a pic of a silverhead and the pic of the trio on the right shows a bluehead duck in the front left, and then a greenhead drake and duck in the back and right.

I'm looking forward to nesting season in a couple of months.  So far, the new girls are proving to be quite bossy to the demure pair from Holderread's, but I'm hoping that the drake will assert himself as the springtime rolls around.

Royal Caprines, the Family Lineage of Dairy Goats

So Maggie had her hot date yesterday with this fine fellow:

Meet Chenango-Hills Jester *B, *S

This handsome buck has it all, good looks, that stick-to-your-cloths buck smell, urine on the face, and a pedigree dating back several generations.  Oh, and that *S & *B shows that he's recognized by both the American Dairy Goat Association and American Goat Society to come from a dam (mother) who's proven through a controlled test of her milking ability that she exceeds the average milking ability for her breed.

In Jester's case, his mom, Chenengo-Hills Goddess scored 2nd in milking production and 1st in butterfat & protein.  That's quite an accomplishment for a little goat!  And, Jester's sire (father) is no slouch either - he's the son of GCH Rosasharn Haiku 4*D, who is the ADGA 2010 National Champion Senior Doe with the National Best Udder!  First of her breed to win this feat!  After setting up Jester's lineage of ancestors in my pedigree software, I couldn't believe that some of his lineage has been tracked back to goats born in 1980... and Nigerians are a young breed.  Toggenbergs are the oldest pedigree-tracked breed of goat, with ancient Switzerland herdbooks going back in to the 1600's.

I'm uber excited to have Maggie bred to this buck, as their kids should be of great dairy character, any does from this breeding should be great milkers, and it's just fun to be part of this great heritage of noble dairy goats, and contribute to the several generations of work by farmers who've spent decades improving this breed to bring more milk to the table.

Caprine Conjugal Visits.

When you get into dairy goats, you think about all the wonderful milk & other delicious products, cute baby goat kids, and all sorts of wholesome delights.  But, to get the ball rolling... it all starts with a lot of sordid goat sex.  For months, I've been tracking heat cycles, looking at pictures of buck goats and their balls on the internet, staring at goat vaginas determining heat cycles, sending in pregnancy tests, and basically getting very intimate with my hoofed companions.

One of my does, Tink, has already had her successful conjugal visit with this lovely fellow:

I timed the visit just right, and Tink was in a state known as "standing heat", meaning she was very receptive to her male companion.  After a fine display of tongue flashing, raspberry sounds, urinating, and other very bizarre and hilarious rituals, the actual mating was very quick.

I've got two more does to get pregnant... so wish me luck.  Maggie is going into heat today, and I'm calling the buck owner frantically now trying to arrange for her "hot date".

Updated Farm Website!

Hi Friends!  I've been thinking alot about this blog over the winter, ideas I want to share, information I've learned, etc.  2011 & 2012 proved to be busy years for me, and we made huge progress here at Lucky Charm Farm.  Check out our new website with an updated roster of urban ag projects that we have going!  www.luckycharmfarm.net and keep an eye out for more posts in 2013.

Happy new year!!