Itty Bitty Hooves

Keeping the NAIS at Bay

I have to admit to being very confused over the whole issue of the NAIS livestock registry that the government is trying to pass.

What I’m not confused about is that it will be devastating to small farmers like myself. I’m also fairly sure that’s exactly what the government and big corporate farms want, and exactly why the whole issue started.

Nevermind all the propaganda they put out claiming it will control food-spread illnesses and deaths–quite the contrary, the system only helps AFTER someone has become ill or dies from eating a contaminated product and really doesn’t do much at all even then.

It’s just another way for the government to dip into our pockets, and for the corporate farms that the public is now beginning to see as the least favorable way to obtain food for their table to re-gain their control over the food production industry.

The whole issue of NAIS started to become a real threat when the public began to relish the idea of organic foodstuffs, and buying ‘fresh off the farm’. Slowly but surely the big wheels of government protecting it’s biggest investors–corporations–started to spin. Laws sprung up prohibiting many types of sales off farm, and regulating others to death, until now, in their ultimate bid for re-control they are trying to squash the small farmers right off the consumer map.

Vote against NAIS… and let your congressmen know you mean it too.

Any Experience with Mozzerella?

Okay–the cheese came out better today, but it’s still not quite right. I don’t remember ever having problems like this in the past. The main problem, and even though it worked today, it is still a ‘remenant’ of the problem, is that the whey remains really milky looking, not clearish grey. There’s too much solid left in the milk after the curd seperates. I just don’t know what I’m doing wrong. I think I’ll try again next time with double the rennet in the mix, but that shouldn’t be necessary. If you have ever had this happen to you, and figured out what the problem was, please make a comment and let me know what the solution was.

Back Again

Wow I really wretched my back this morning. Just doing normal chores. I went to lift a bale of hay and I swear it must have weighed a hundred pounds. I felt the pull and just knew it was going to give me trouble. Luckily, since I still had lots to do it didn’t throw my back out completely, but I feel it.

On the plus side. I am making yet another attempt at mozzerella and it looks like it’s working. I’ll know in about an hour for sure.

This Is The Life

You know, it’s days like this that someone who lives on a farm can really appreciate the fantastically relaxing aspect of this type of life. There are days that are crazy, and hectic with all these animals, and so much work involved in caring for them that you begin to wonder if it really is such a ’simple life’, but there there’s days like this.

It’s sunny, and warm, but a beautiful warm breeze that makes it pleasant to sit outside in which I just came back in from doing. The chores were normal today with one little exception.

Oreo is my little exception. I swear if there’s a way to make me crazy, that little three day old kid will find it. She is determined to find a spot in the fence where she can lay up against it and roll into the horse pasture. Everytime she finds one, I go and ‘rescue’ her and put her back with mom, and fix the spot she found… then she finds another. I really thought that fence was secure enough for a newborn kid… like they say, if a fence will hold water it will hold a goat. Sometimes it really is that hard. It’s the really small babies that are the most trouble in that respect though. They can slip through the teeniest of openings.

Other than the day’s rescue though, it was peaceful and relaxing here. I rotated the younger dry doelings through the backyard to cut down some of the weeds on the back 1/4 acre of it. We have a one acre fenced in back yard that we don’t have animals roaming or pastured in, but it cuts down on yard work to have them in there at times to do the lawn mowing. There is a 1/4 acre front yard as well that’s the same. No pastured animals in it, but we let them graze it down occassionally. The rest of the front 5 acres is pretty much dedicated to animal pens and pastures. Our back 5 is still unused except for our occassional fun times in it. That will change eventually, but it’s a lot of fencing to put up and that’s about the most expensive part of animal housing. Actual sheds and barns may cost more initially, but they last a lot longer. Fencing has to be repaired often. If we never had to replace, or repair fence we’d probably have all of the property finished by now.

Anyway, it’s so serene sitting out there with the animals as they graze. Pretty much all of our goats will come when called so if they stray too far the back of the yard is fenced but it’s original fence from when we first moved in and there are a few holes that need repairing so I don’t want them back there, they come running.

That right there is another of the joys. Animals that bound across a field to be with you when you call because they love you. It’s such a joy to live this life.

Well… I did it.

Yes I bought another goat.

After the really hard delivery by Polly my Alpine last Sunday and talking to some people, I’d decided I really wanted to breed her to a dairy buck once more and see how it went delivery wise before taking a chance on breeding her to my big Boer. I know from his previous owner, and having seen one of the little does who had delivered a couple of his kids that it probably would be okay to breed him to her, but why take a chance? Maybe she is just gonig to give me those types of problems. I also have two really small dairy kids that I’d like to breed one time before breeding them to Mickey. So I talked to Bob and he agreed. I was going to just look for a little dairy buckling that I could breed this fall to the girls and then put in the freezer… Bob said why do that? I get such a kick out of him. He said why not find one you like and we’ll keep him. We have enough does to give him a couple each year. Maybe let him do all the first fresheners just in case.

So without any trouble at all, a beautiful little Nubian buckling just popped up. He’s in Ohio so I have to travel a bit to get him but he’s gorgeous. I can’t wait. They call him ‘Inky’ but I think I’ll call him Apollo.

Here are a couple of pics of him that the breeder sent me.

Changes, changes… always changes.

Well, I’m down to milking one doe a day right now. Well one and a half if you count that I’m milking a little of the colustrum off of my newly freshened Alpine because just the one kid isn’t drinking all she’s making, but I’m not putting her on the stand just yet. Just taking the pressure off. I dried off my LaMancha though and put her in with our Boer buck. I think I’m going to keep her on the meat production side. She gave good tasting milk, just not enough of it to justify keeping her in the dairy herd. She’s a real sweetheart though. She seems to be adjusting well to the change over to the new pen and her new pen mates. She’s a real bossy girl and I didn’t expect her to have much problem. I think my other dairy girls are kind of relieved to have the old bossy biddy in a different area. haha.

Sunday, Sunday… so good to me.

It took me a while to post this one because Sunday was such a long and draining day, but with good results thankfully. First we put up a new stall wall blocking the office so the goats can go in and out of the barn without causing trouble in the office where all the wires are and all my desk stuff. Then Polly decided it was finally time to have her babyalthough there was only one, it is definately a fantastic one.

Here are some pics of the new baby at about 3 hours old we named her Oreo… I know not too original, but it just fit her.


the birth was HORRIBLE. I knew the doe was in labor so I stayed with her and once she started to push I kept telling myself to be patient, but nothing was happening after about 4 serious pushes so I went in and checked. The front hoofs were there but hung up on the top of the cervix. Okay, so I popped them down. Then she pushed again and still nothing so I went in and grabbed the hoofs and with her next contraction pulled gently. The legs started to come but then things got hung up again. So little of the feet were out that it was difficult but I grabbed each tiny hoof one in each hand and kind of tried to seasaw them in case the baby’s shoulders were hung on the pelvis. The legs started to come, but the head (I had felt the muzzle, it was there) didn’t. I slid a finger up and found the head hung up on the cervix like the forehead didn’t want to come. I hooked a finger round the back of the baby’s head and tried to pull with the next contraction and got a bit of the nose outside. The kid’s tongue was hanging out and it just looked dead. I was heartbroken and crying but I knew I had to get the baby out or mom would die too so I kept pulling and seasawing the legs. I have helped all kinds of animals give birth from horses (both large and mini) to sheep, and goats in the past and have had to reposition, or pull a little to help, but NEVER have had to pull like this. I was sure I was breaking every bone in the kid’s legs, but I really didn’t think it was alive anyway.

The doe was screaming with each push (and my pull) I was crying… the baby finally came out (once the head was clear everything came out fine)…. SHE WAS ALIVE. Oh, and it’s a she. haha. The most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen, and Polly is a GREAT mother when it comes to taking care of the little darling.

So that was my Sunday…. I rested on Monday and had a nice Memorial Day with hubby just watching Tv and doing normal chores, although we did trim Sparky’s feet since they were long overdo. Over all, Monday was a day of rest around here.

Here are the pictures of the new filly we had on Friday finally. It was Mark’s last baby of the year but he sure saved a hum-dinger for the last one.

I still haven’t come up with a name I really like for her. If you have any suggestions let me know. One thought is calling her PC for Country Haven’s Party Colors.

Cheese Problems again

Okay, I am seriously wondering what is going on with my cheese this last week. The batch of Mozzerella didn’t work yesterday either. I know I did all the steps right this time, so I’m wondering if it’s the liquid rennet I’m using, perhaps it’s too old. It shouldn’t be though, or the milk itself. Something is definately up with that though. If anyone reading this has had similar problems–the milk tastes fine, when I try to make the cheese it seperates whey from solid BUT the solid doesn’t firm up at all. It’s like a milkshake consistancy inside the whey.

Farmers are Never Happy

Rain, rain, go away, come again some other day…

I remember that little ditty eveytime it rains, but none so much as when it’s like it is now. Raining but not. Raining just enough to annoy. The only difference is, I’d not add the ‘come again some other day’ to the end if I had my druthers.

Rain–so necessary. When we don’t have it we complain. Farmers that is. We need it for growth of crops. That of course affects everybody, but rarely do folks think about the need for rain as they sit down and enjoy their salads, or steaks. For me, I need it so that hay will grow well and plentiful so I can afford to buy the feed necessary for 90% of the animals on my ranch.

Rain–such a pain in the butt. When we have it, we complain. Farmers that is. It keeps us out of the fields, or in my case, out of the pastures. It makes me lock everybody up in the barn which they don’t like (the animals that is). It creates havoc if it rains on a day when said hay crop is cut and drying in the fields because if it rains too heavily it will destroy the cutting. Loosing a cutting in this time of great droughts all across the country is devastating. It drives the prices of hay through the roof IF you can even get any at all. Those who have it aren’t willing to sell it because they need it. Those that don’t grow their own (like us) can barely afford to buy it. Many times when you can find some for sale even at stupid prices it isn’t the best quality.

It may seem that farmers are never happy. When it comes to weather you’d find out quickly that’s often the case. Perhaps you can gain a better understanding of why though–unlike any other profession on earth, weather drives our every thought, and controls our every move, and is many times responsible for the making, or breaking, of success, or even break even points.