All Blog Posts (190)

So Glenda asked how it was going... It's been slow going... but at about 3 weeks in Things suddenly got better. She still takes her time walking to the stand, but there is no dragging or fighting. She hops on the stand and eats while being milked... for several weeks she'd eat just a mouthful or two and then stand stiff and angry, eating when the milking was done and hoping off the stand as soon as you opened her stand.

She loves attention, but likes it on her terms. She…

So It's Wednesday... and my first milk goat came on Saturday... In ways the week has gotten both harder and easier. Some disappointments and some triumps...

I have been wanting dairy goats for some time, much to my husband's dismay! "You need another animal because???" Well, because I want it... and I want to make cheese and have milk and know what I am consuming... I haven't ever been a fan of store bought milk not since having my first fresh milk at my grandparents dairy…

Sweet Ellie gave birth to twins today at   Gillis Hill Farm!   It was so exciting, especially to one little girl named Caroline!  …

Misty's daughter Hannah delivered this beautiful doeling at noon. She had her outside next to the fence in the wind and the cold. I brought her in and waited to see if there were any more. Apparently not. I named her Serafina.…

I dam raise our babies and love it.  But I came across this site and noticed what these people had to say about bottle raising.  The last part is what really opened my eyes.  Does anyone see any truth in this, I  love to hear what others think about this.

 When dams are allowed to raise their kids, the       kids must be weaned at some point. This is very stressful to both mom and       baby. Our goats are…

Well she did it again!  Delivered on her own and did a great job. She had 3 girls and a boy.  I am one happy goat mama!

Misty is fat and uncomfortable. She had triplets last year and is a  wonderful, easy milker. She and one of her daughters are due to kid in the next 12 days. I am , once again, very excited. …

I was wondering if anyone else has had this problem. I have a goat that has both knee's all banged up. The fur is gone and he's constantly reopening the scabs. Is their something I can use to wrap his knee with or some other type of remedy ? I keep washing it with warm water and then he's fine for a little while, then he hit's it on something and does it all over again.. Help

I have 2 pregnant does, first timers, Pygmy and Nigerian Dwarf crosses. They were having grain each day until I read on this site that you should not feed them grain, only hay. I weaned them off it, and use it only as a treat now. Seems to be fine. They are due in April. I have been feeding them a lot of tiny deer apples, chopped in half, seeds and all, maybe 4 each a day. They eat some carrots too, but mainly eat hay and grass. (not much snow in MIchigan this winter). It did snow the other…

After almost 5 years of planning and dreaming we finally got our goat cheese business up and running in 2011. The idea was planted in our heads after our honeymoon in France in October 2006 where we ate large amounts of cheese, much of it goat cheese, and realized that there was no local cheese production in our home province of Saskatchewan, Canada. It was a niche that we thought we could fill. We were still living in the city at the time so we started keeping an eye out for acreages or…

Our herd reduction sale has been a success so far. We have mostly sold the ones we needed to sell. We will be concentrating on Nigerians now, but I have a couple of work goats that are somewhat in dispute. I don't use them too much, but the baby loves to get pulled in the wagon with them. I always wanted to try a team, so I might see how that works out, first. The thing is, it is hard to decide. Maybe I should use my larger harnesses and train the 2 equines that are only somewhat trained.…

Someone recently noted that I haven't been on this site as much as I used too, and haven't posted my famous barn stories. Well, I've been meaning to post this newest one recently --- here goes. :)

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 "Occupy Barn" - The Anti-Barn Progress Movement

I am sure many of you have heard of the Occupy Wall Street protests that have been in the news quite a lot these past few months. Well, we…

Nothing overly good or bad to report this week, and I am happy. Everyone, for the moment appears to be out of imminent danger and looks healthy. Indiana is getting VERY pregnant, and Brandi even more so. Brandi's udder has started, and yesterday she was breathing like Darth Vader while I was doing chores. No other changes yet, but I have started her grain and bringing her up to the porch at night before David leaves for work. She's due on the 13th (day 150) but I think we may see kids by…

Ok.......Here we are at that time of year for us again. We like to breed the end of Dec. to insure May babies as that is when the temperatures here are more tolerable. The bucks are definately ready ha ha! The matches for the breedings are determined and we are getting ready for lift off ha ha! This definately gives us goat breeders something to look forward to through the rough winters. The anticipation grows and the excitement takes over the worst part of winter to where you dont notice…

David was about to call the nut house this morning I was so excited I was dancing and hollering and I am still high from this an hour later!

First a recap of the changes...Dry lot cleaned  really well 3 times a week, No browse. basic necessities only: Hay, minerals, baking soda, salt. Homemade herbal dewormer infusions in bottled water for the girls plain bottled water for the boys.

Yesterday was the girls herbal holiday where they got plain bottled water…

Interesting development in my search for answers last week, but first some recap and back story.  This summer the pumps on our community well were changed ( and their may have been other issues), so we received a boil advisory "until further notice" which turned out to be about a month.  Call me lazy all you want, but you try boiling water for 16 animals and 2 people in HOT summer and only 4 burners 2 pots and 2 saucepans I promise you will pay for bottled water!…

So here we are after 5 days of herbal wormer with the goats. After the first day when they ate the entire half batch that I made , they didn't eat much of it any other day.

I did a fecal on Ty who has had diarrhea for a few days that I thought was related to coccidosis. I did see what i thought were HC, but they weren't elevated the way  I have seen in the others.  But the meds weren't working,  and he was still eating and playing well. So I decided to take him to the vet. Turns out…