Our sheep have a lot of personality, but the goats take it to a whole new level 😊
Ansel is my buddy and wanted to wish you a happy Friday! How can you not smile when you look at that expression!
I’m trying this from my phone because I am without a computer at the moment. The hard drive took a detour and never came back 😞 Happy to have this option though!
The little guys are doing great and for the most part are never far from each other.
It has been fun watching their individual personalities emerge.
Ghost is the adventurer. He is always the first to try something, he has an act first, think later attitude. He makes us laugh!
He is our son’s goat and they adore each other.
Slick is the happy go lucky guy. Nothing bothers him, nothing deters him, and he has got the best jumping moves.
Ansel is the sweet guy. He engages with his eyes and usually stays with me on our walks.
Glacier is the thinker. He doesn’t just go along like the others. He has to decide if it is in his best interest or not 😉 He has been a lot of fun to work with!
And we have a new guy!!! We weren’t looking for another goat, but this older goat was looking for a packing home and we can pack with him next year!
His name is Red and he is an Oberhasli.
He is the observer of the group. He is very alert and has been a wonderful addition. He is even starting to play with the little guys 😊
Our little guys are still young enough that they are getting goats milk 3 times a day…
but before they get their last bottle for the day, we take them for a walk and they gobble up as many weeds as they can!
They LOVE Queen Anne’s Lace!
Among the favorites are the dandelions and they even eat the puffs!
We were laughing at what that texture must be like….mmmmm, fuzzy 😉
Of course the blackberry vines are delicious!
As are the dead leaves from this apple tree branch.
I believe this is a wild rose. The thorns really don’t seem to bother them!
We all enjoy our evening walks, but they are always eager to get back to the barn and their bottles.
at least that is what I have learned with our sheep. It appears to be working with the goats too 😉
When we brought them home, they had not had a lot of one on one handling, or ever had a collar on, but these boys have caught on so quickly! We started by putting their collars on before giving them their bottles, and consistently did that before each feeding. Now, they line up to have their collars put on!
What good little guys.
Once they were comfortable with the collars, we started tying them up before feeding.
This serves a couple of different purposes…one – they aren’t fighting each other for their bottles and second – they are learning to stand tied nicely.
When they were comfortable with their collars and standing nicely when tied, we started taking them for a small walk after they finished their bottles. This was only 2 days in. They are now very comfortable going on longer walks.
After bottle time, is time for scratches and snuggles 🙂
It has been awhile since I did any blogging, but I have been urged to blog about our new adventure….raising pack goats!
I love our sheep and have always been more of a ‘sheep’ person than a ‘goat’ person. My sister loves her goats and appreciates their ‘goatiness’. I will be the first to admit that I place goats in the category of being trouble makers…along with all of the stereotypes that go along with that. So, when we started talking about getting pack goats and using them for hiking, backpacking, and hunting, I was immediately skeptical. I did some research and have been following a few hiking with pack goat FB pages and have been pleasantly surprised with how they raise their goats and their expectations of their behavior. I saw a bright spot and thought ‘we can do this!’
Flash forward to this week and the actual arrival of our 4 goats.
Meet Glacier, Ghost, Ansel (hiding behind Ghost), and Slick. Aren’t they cute!
I think that is what gets them into trouble. People see the ‘cute’ and their cute little antics. Very cute at this stage…not so much when they are over 200 lbs.!
We have implemented a few rules and are slowing making our way through the steps on how to become a good little goat.
The first step was to keep all 4 on the floor. That means no jumping up on us. If they happened to jump up on us, we simply said ‘no’ and put their feet back on the ground. Four days into it and they already have this one down. This leads us to the other reason goats get themselves into trouble….they are SO SMART!
You can see the little wheels turning in their heads.
So far it has been a fun adventure! I hope you enjoy following along.
A HUGE shout out to my sister for all of her help and the goat milk from her does for these little guys. We have another month of bottle feeding and I know they are going to be that much healthier by getting goat milk instead of replacer. If you have dairy goats, or other dairy animals, and have’t heard of Simple Pulse please check them out. My sister and brother-in-law have created an excellent product!
That seems like a good title after being gone for awhile 😉 My poor blog has been neglected due to the ease of Facebook and Instagram. I thought the followers here might be interested in the trips we have taken this year and the calendars that have come together due to them. I am still very busy with the Felt Pups and sheep and life on the farm is good!
Today only, everything in my Etsy shop, calendars included, is 10% off. Use code CYBER2016
The Felt Pups give me an excuse to use my camera almost every day…here are the photos that I chose to go in the coming year’s calendar…
Nothing brings me joy, like getting outside and taking photos, and the South Steens area of Oregon did not disappoint! We saw a lot of wildlife, including Mr. Owl…
Some lovely antelope….
My favorite, the Bighorn Sheep….
…and some incredible Wild Horses! We hiked many miles to find them and being able to walk among them was something I will never forget! Here are the photos I chose to go in the Wild Horse calendar…
Our big summer trip was to Glacier National Park…Montana now has my heart and we will definitely be returning! Here are some of the pictures and calendar pages from that trip…
It has been busy since my last post! We are up to 12 lambs – 4 boys and 8 girls.
Delight and Folly both had twin ewe lambs.
We have been very lucky and the lambs have been able to enjoy a lot of sunshine.
Delight’s ewe lamb, Glitch.
Folly’s girls got an extra dose of cute 😉
and it looks like they are well on their to being friendly, just like their mom.
I love the facial markings on Spangle.
Serendipity’s facial markings are pretty cute too.
Lily-Grace is a first time mom and she has handled it like a pro!
Her lambs were really enjoying the sunshine today.
Ailsa is VERY proud of her ‘mini me’ ewe lamb.
Legacy and her lambs – Lickety-Split and Lollygag.
Smooch is still quite the character 🙂
He has his mama’s sweet eyes.
We have 6 more ewes left to lamb, unfortunately it doesn’t look like they will be doing it in the sunshine. It has been nice to see it in January 🙂
It was a beautiful day and the babies enjoyed their time outside!
Lots of jumping, bouncing, and happy feet!
Banjo and Bazinga stayed close to mom, but Smooch was a little more adventurous!
Susannah is very proud of her babies!
This is the third year in a row that we have bred her to Windy Acres MacCallum and I love the cross. This is her ewe lamb, Bazinga.
Here is her ram lamb, Banjo.
Smooch was into stirring things up and having a good time.
He thinks he is pretty special 😉
We are all wondering when the rest of the babies will make their appearance…
but the rest of the girls don’t look like they are in any hurry. From the looks of things, I think next week will be very busy!
We had 3 lovely little lambs born yesterday!
Infiniti was the first up with her very big ram lamb. This is how she likes to do things…lamb first and have big boys!
The naming theme this year is ‘Embrace your silliness’. We like to keep it light and fun here!
Infiniti’s ram lamb has the cutest marking on his nose and Smooch just fit.
It will be fun to match up the funny words on my list with the lambs as they are born.
Susannah wasn’t far behind Infiniti and had a lovely set of twins – a boy and a girl.
I love her little girl!!! Her name is Bazinga 🙂
She is so sweet and even agreed to pose with one of the felt pups that I recently finished.
This is her very handsome brother, Banjo.
Not sure who will be next, but it looks like we will have a day or two before any more lambs are born.
It has been awhile since I visited my blog, but the start of a new year seems like a great time to start blogging again. Plus we will have adorable lamb photos to share very soon!
We are anxiously waiting for this girl to start the lambing season. She is due on Friday and the next couple of days are going to feel like the longest days of the year.
Avalon and Delight are the biggest girls this year, but they aren’t due for awhile.
Poor Avalon always looks so uncomfortable. She is one of the few that I don’t have a due date for, but she is definitely bred 😉
Delight is already wide and low, but she isn’t due until the 31st of January.
A couple of the first timers are going to keep me guessing, this is Magnolia and Meara. I have breeding dates for them, but they sure don’t look very pregnant yet!
Lily-Grace is another first timer, but there isn’t any guessing as to whether she is pregnant 😉
A few of last year’s lambs are still hanging out with their moms. This is Legacy and her daughter, Felicity.
Still my favorite lamb from last year, Lulu, loves to hang out with her mom, Mollala. Such a cute pair.
Hopefully I will have a new blog post very soon with cute lamb photos!
Stories from the Farm 