BORDER FARM
Our back pasture has all levels of maternity right now, and all levels of care. Twelve days and counting to a couple more months. Moaning, squeaking, lots of sleeping in sunshine, and super snuggly and wanting to be close to us.
It is that time of year!
Yes Sunny does now look like she swallowed a flying saucer, and yes she is the most photographed goat on our farm during this stage of her pregnancy as it is almost unbelievable how large she gets.
She is also our conundrum. She gives us the biggest, most vigorous, and scampy kids, lots of them (usually 3-4 per kidding), but at the expense of her own health.
You see she suffers from the ‘disease of multiples’. I know I know, why is it called a disease! Well, her breeding and her metabolism create the best kids ever, and at the expense of her own health. Every year we have to watch her like a hawk for – pregnancy toxemia, hypocalcemia, weak hooves, ruptured tendons, pulling out huge kids, and the list goes on.
If you saw her daily care, throughout the day, and didn’t have context for WHY, you would think she is the bougiest of all goats with an army of servants. But it is actually to keep her and her kids alive, to bring her some comfort, keep nutrition flowing all throughout the day by drenching, soaking two of her feet in epsom salts to give her tendons some relief as they start to swell right about now because of the weight of the kids. And to give her some company.
So many of Americas hybridized dairy goats come with issues like this (hybridized cows as well, think Holstein!). They have been designed to be in a barnyard and gift a farmer with more milk than you think a goat could give, and multiples at each kidding. In truth you can quadruple your herd each year!
But again, at the expense of the Doe. The reason we cross breed and have mixed breed goats is so we don’t do this again. Sunny being crossed with Alpine is our favorite goat – a perfect blend of everything we love but without the issues.
Athletic, friendly, direct, social, good milk goats, very little health issues, long lives.
She is our Fleshy & Fun Queen, our herd loves her, we love her, Daniel our Farm Assistant adores her, and we have four generations that come with her amazing temperament.
Owning goats isn’t just about owning goats – it is a reminder of the full circle of life and all that comes with that. It is about working relationships, care, and understanding. Goats keep life super real and super focused. And then when you top all of this off with a maternity ward, it is extra extra everything beautiful and everything fragile.
THE PROOF IS IN THE PUDDING!
Here are the before and after from our new DIY R.O. Filter system on our well.
CLASSES / TOURS
Our farm is animal focused, animal centered, which allows us to do so much with growing what we need, processing, creating, fermenting, and building.
We will be adding classes this week that we have had some requests for, we hope you can join us.
ALSO! Our busiest TOUR season is now upon us. If you, you and your friends and family, your school, etc would like to come for an education Tour, this is the time to start scheduling, we do book up through September.
PAWS & PEOPLE
TRAINING
Planning on hiking or river sports with your dog this summer? This is the time to really focus on SOLID FLUENT skills. Taking an untrained dog off leash and letting them do whatever is common and also causes lots of conflict. Taking a fully trained dogs leash off and KNOWING you are a Team is magic. I can help you with that!!!
APRIL Puppy/Adolescent Class – 11am
APRIL Adult Specialty Class – 11am
We are scheduling APRIL thru June right now. If you are interested in group classes, phone appointments, Coaching, or more – please consider registering in advance.
If you would like to work with us, we would like to work with you and your dog!
