Growing Pains

This past weekend my Good Friend and I travelled to Missouri to Indian Springs Farm. They were Celebrating something called "Wool Days" and have been doing this for over 20 years now. The drive up there was great but we became VERY VERY lost and the Road kept getting more narrow and then turned to dirt. I have no idea where we ended up before we turned back and called for help with Directions...it was a blast! I went with the intention of possibly getting some Angora Goat Does and I wanted to get there early so I could have more to choose from. We left at 3am and travelled through some nasty rain with lots of Lightening and potential flooding on the roads. When we got there the place was just AMAZING! it was 500 Acres of Trees, Pastures, a Stream and lots of flowers. A beautiful Peacock greeted us as well as the VERY friendly couple (Jim & Avalene) that run the Farm. Jim was VERY patient with me and many other people who asked him about the Goats and all of the different things found on the Farm. I greatly appreciated the time that Jim gave me and came home with a few beautiful Does...Also I appreciated Jamie who helped me load the Does and answered many of my questions too. Avalene was amazing as well, She is just so friendly and personable. I did not have as much time with her as my friend did but every moment with this couple was fascinating.

Here are the Does that I was fortunate to come home with... The first one is the Mom to the little Black Doeling










Here is the single Doeling I bought as well



I am very excited to see what will happen in the years to come.

Our trip was great and I enjoyed the company. It was hard to drive 6 hours there and back but we made it.

The worst part of our trip was on the way home. We saw first hand the Aftermath of the Storm that recently went through Missouri. I had never been at Ground Zero so close after something like that, Trees were ripped out of the ground and thrown distances on top of Vehicles, Houses and Roads. We saw the Power Company out in full force cleaning everything that they could to get Life going again. Many buildings were missing Roofs and a lot were caved in as well, Metal buildings were wrapped around Trees and other things. It was so sad to see and more sad because...what could I do? At one point I saw a Man coming out of the side of his yard to the Garage pushing a Wheelbarrow. He had a Cigarette hanging from his mouth and it looked like he didn't have a care in the world...just another day but he had more to do. In a sense it amazed me because that about summed it up. I wish all the people affected by that Storm well and I think of you and hope for the best. I know you will all be fine.

More Lambs!

Here we have it! These two are from Baby Ruth, they are soooo sweet! We have named one of Girls Felicia (Flea...or Worm for short) after a good Friend's Daughter from Alabama. We are not sure of the other names yet. I have some searching to do.









The last Lamb here is from Edelweiss. She has a Chocolate brown head but black in the body...I am not sure what her official coloring/pattern is but it will be fun to figure it out.


We are still uncertain about our Babydoll Fiona but we will see.

Momma Joy!

Almond Joy had her Twins on the 16Th. I know I know, it has been kinda crazy around here. One is a Girl and the Other a Boy, he is our first Ram Lamb on the Farm here. Even though he can not be registered it is pretty darn awesome!


















As I am typing this Baby Ruth just had Twins as well, I hope to get pictures up much sooner than I did this time. We are down to two more Ewes that are Pregnant...Almost there!

Next!

Here we go again... On Monday our Ewe Avery had two Girls. They are doing well and mouthy as ever!

















There is only one Set-back... Avery has rejected both of her little lambs. Vance and I are doing what we can to make sure that everyone is comfortable and staying healthy. We are VERY fortunate to have a wonderful neighbour down the road who has a lot of experience with Goats and she came over right away. The lambs did get a few feedings and had a lot of the all important Colostrum! Also it is nice to have friends that raise Shetlands and can talk a girl down (Thank you Corrine)! For being so new at this I tell you we are having one heck of a learning curve here, but I would do it all over again. There has been talk about selling Avery and letting her move on but I am still wanting to hang onto her for another season since we would be more prepared for this...it is up in the air right now and a hard decision to make...for me. We still have four more Ewes to lamb so keep checking on us here.

First lambs of 09!!

Here we go!! Leise has had her first lambs. They hit the ground last night around 8:30pm just before the weather turned really bad. How exciting and about 10% relieved we are (I figure 5% per lamb...and there is a good possibility two will have triplets...the rest go to the Ewes). If you don't like my math you can make an appointment with our Ass in the back! He can count REALLY well...Counts on us for food, Counts on us for attention...




We have not thought of any names yet but are playing around with a few. I have mostly watched from a distance because when I come into the pasture EVERYONE comes to greet me, I love it but it makes it hard to approach a protective new mother. I went into the pen to take the pictures and our two Guard Dogs and Patience tried to worm in there with me and the rest were at the gate waiting their turn.

Vance is smitten with the lambs. I love watching him interact with them and the Ewes. He makes a great second Mom...Baa. In fact, he is in there right now! We think that Baby Ruth will be the next one to deliver.




By the way, they are both Girls! Another update...We lost the Black Lamb on the 11th it is too bad.

Until next time Maddie...

Today Blue Goose Farms mourns the loss of one of our Babydoll Sheep named Maddie. She went down fast and the Vet was called. Maddie had a Pregnancy Disease, we did not see any of the signs of this until she was in the late stages of it. Maddie was a rescue from a place in the County above us. They have an Exotic Animal License which means that Fish & Wildlife or the County can not do anything about it because of the laws in Mississippi. We took four of the Babydolls late last year to get them out of there. I wish I knew more, I wish I could have done more... which I know would be the wish of any person out there. She will be greatly missed even though her stay with us was much too short.

Who's Driving??

We have been all over the Map around here just trying to not get pulled in all directions it seems. Vance has been building and fixing some things around here, We even had Inspector#5 come out and give her poop of approval! The sides are wired closed now and we keep their Hay in there.
















Also we have had a HUGE expansion on our Fowl population. We received an order of Baby Chicks from Cackle Hatchery a few weeks back. About 13 (out of 100) didn't make it, but Cackle credited us the amount. We also received a dozen Ducks as well. Anyone need eggs?















Ideally we would love to have all been sheared around here by now but the Weather did not give us a break until recently. We tried first with Baby Ruth but it did not go as well as we had hoped. There were not enough blades and we had to get the hand shears out. What we thought would take us an hour for our First ever Shearing took three!! I felt very bad for my Husband and Baby Ruth that the next day I started calling around to see if we could find a Shearer. I knew they would be hard to find but I eventually lucked out and a wonderful Woman from the Spinning Guild I am a member of gave us a contact name. I am waiting to here from her if the Man can do it...here's hoping! Ya'll keep your fingers crossed for us.


These are the Electric Shears...




These are the Hand Shears...











And this was our Victim...She is the furthest one away (for her protection).



Next month is the First Coldwater Alpaca Ranch Fiber Festival so I have been Spinning up a storm. I am not 100% sure if I will have anything for the Festival but I was told that I better have something...no pressure eh? I think I will be more prepared for next year than right now. This will be our first real Fiber Yield from our Animals since we started here. My major Goal is to have Fiber ready for a Festival in Murfreesboro, TN this October. That should start the ball Rolling into 2010 to Baton Rouge, LA and then back to where we are this time of the year...all in time.