Christmas Eve Snow!

Hi all! Well, we got 6 inches of new snow over night just in time for Christmas eve... makes Four Seasons Farm a winter wonderland! People often ask us how the goats do when we have cold weather or snow. We thought this would be the perfect opportunity to get out the camera and show you! The goats are snug as ever in the barn. They have no idea that it even snowed outside!

In other news, Tempo continues to improve! Yeah! We got some great news a little while ago. We had our vet come out to ultrasound all the does to confirm if they were indeed pregnant. All 11 does that we checked we confirmed! Wahoo! And even better - 2 of those does are bred to Tempo! Not bad for a great guy we thought we might lose there for a while. We are so excited that he is doing better ad that we can look forward to new babies in March and April. There are 3 more does possible bred, but we will have to wait a little while before we can confirm them. The goats usually need to be 40-45 days pregnant in order for the vet to see them clearly.

Enjoy the photos and have a very Merry Christmas!

We need to apologize for being MIA from blog land for a while. This fall and summer has gotten so incredibly bust that there has not been one minute to write. We had a wonderful time at the MN State Fair - meeting new friends and catching up with old friends. We were happy with the consistency of placings for our Saanens. Tilly was the first place 3 yr old. Prius was the first place dry yearling and Gazette was the first place aged doe. Our Nubians placed in the middle of the pack. Our biggest highlight from State Fair was placing 2nd in herdsmanship in the entire goat barn. Every year we have gone to the state fair we have moved up one placing in herdsmanship. Let's see if we can get that first place spot next year!

The fall has brought its trials an tribulations. Our senior Nubian buck, Tempo, got sick this fall and we ended up having to take him to the U of MN vet hospital. I never thought that we would be that type of people - but when it's an animal that you care for deeply, and an animal that has done as much for your herd as Tempo has - you do everything you can. After spending 2 days at the University, receiveing a blood transfusion and getting some IV antibiotics - Tempo came back home to us. We have been treating him at home, and he continues to improve. Let's hope that trend continues!

In October I headed out to NY for hte ADGA National Convention. I tried to make the most of the trip by combining a few things. I went for the conference, visited my family and picked up a buck and brought him home - all in one trip. It was a great trip, and our new buckling, Merlin, is a wonderful addition to our herd. We can't wait to see what our kids look like in the spring.

We have been breeding goats as they come in heat. From October 1 until now, we think that all 14 eligible does have been bred. This means that next March and April we could expect to see approximately 28 babies! That's a lot of babies!

Just this past weekend we attended and helped to coordinate the MN Dairy Gota Associations's 32nd Annual conference. It turned out to be a great event! Lots of people attended and heard great topics from wonderful speakers. We also donated a Nubian doe kid for the auction. Congratulations to the Dunham's from Pelican Rapids, MN! They purchased FSF Wild Malibu Breeze for $285.

Off We Go to The Fair

We are headed to the MN State Fair in St. Paul, MN over Labor Day weekend. We includes Laura, Chris and 22 goats. It is quite an experience taking a full livestock trailer on Hwy 494 - but that's all part of the fun, right? If you're in the area, and decide to take part in the great MN get together - be sure to stop in at the Goat/Sheep barn and say hello. Laura will have her cell phone with her if you want to check out where abouts before hand. Although we will be showing most of the day on Saturday, we will be there from Friday through Monday. We look forward to seeing old friends, making new friends and enjoying the chaos and energy that is the State Fair!

New Calves

We are happy to have 4 new residents at Four Seasons Farm. We have 4 new calves! These guys will help drink all of our extra milk. It is a really good feeling to know that nothing gets wasted around here. We sold our previous 3 calves about a week before - and actually ended up dumping a fair amount of milk. So, welcome our newest MCU's - milk consumption units! We haven't named tham yet, as we are still getting to know them.

Goats for Sale

People often ask us if we have goats for sale. Sometimes we do - but not often, unless they are buck kids going as pets or breeding stock. There are many reasons for this - mainly that Laura feels the need to hang on to all the animals and finds it hard to part with them. But, all that is about to change. Chris has requested that we cut back our numbers a little bit. This will make things more managable over the winter, and make room for all of the yearlings that will be freshening in the spring of 2010.

So, we are listing a number of animals for sale. We are not getting out of goats - trust me - there are many more! We thought we would list those for sale here, and try to post photos soon. If you are interested in one or a couple of these wonderful, show quality, CAE free animals please contact us soon.

Saanens:

Petri - 4 year old breeding buck - American

LuvBug - 5 year old milking doe - Purebred

Shelby - milking yearling - American

Everclear - 2009 doe kid - American

Nubians:

Lynn - 6 year old doe - currenty dry - American

Wisteria - 3 year old milking doe - Purebred

Sienna - milking yearling - Purebred

Dakota - dry yearling - Purebred

2009 Show Season

It's been a while since I have posted anything to our blog. That's because things have gotten really busy - and show season has started! Our second (& third) shows of the season were at the Mid Minnesota Classic in Mora, MN during the last weekend in June. This is a 2-day, 2-ring show. We did fairly well with the dry animals, and so-so with the milking animals. There was some excellent competition up there this year!

Our fourth show was the Rice County Fair in Faribault, MN. We were very excited with the performance of our animals. Many of our kids and yearlings were first or second in their class. We also took home Nubian Reserve Senior Champion honors with Jasmine and Saanen Reserve Senior Champion honots with Tilly. What a fantastic and fun day! THe photo below is Tilly. I still have to get a nice shot of Jasmine.

Our fifth show so far was the Scott County Fair in Jordan, MN. We we thrilled that Jasmine was name Nubian Senior Champion and Best of Breed! In addition Wylie was named Nubian Reserve Senior Champion. The photo below is Wylie.

We will be at the Carver County Fair in Waconia, MN from Wednesday, August 5th through Sunday, August 9th. Stop by and see us if you come out. We will also be at the Dakota County Fair in Farmington, MN on Monday, August 10th. Then we'll cap it all off at the MN State Fair over Labor Day weekend.

Last Set of 2009 Kids Born

On Wednesday, June 3rd - the last set of kids were born for this year at Four Seasons Farm. With all the excitement about the Buck Show this weekend, it has taken me a little while to get these posted. Sienna, our only Nubian yearling milker for 2009 had 2 very nice buck kids. All are doing well, and the new boys will be looking for homes soon. We have named them Black Velvet and Jack Daniels. These are also the only 2 buck kids we have left that are sired by Tempo in 2009.

Tempo Wins at Little Falls Goat Show!

After our babies were born last week, we made a last minute decision to go to the Little Falls Goat Show on Saturday. We took 4 yearlings, 6 kids, and our Nubian buck - Tempo. Tempo had been shown before. As a yearling (2006) he earned Reserve Champion, as 2 Year Old (2007) he earned Grand Champion twice. So, all he needed was 1 more Grand Champion win to be named a permanent champion.

We did okay with our kids and yearlings in the Junior doe show. One first place, a few second places and a few bottom of the line placings. Then came the buck show. We had high hopes for Tempo, but weren't really sure how it would all turn out. Well, it went well! He was named Grand Champion Nubian Buck in both rings! This makes him officially a permanent champion! We are so proud! And then, to top it off - he won Best in Show in 1 ring! This has never happened to us before! I think we are both still flying in the clouds!

We have 2 buck kids left this year, sired by Tempo, and we are hopeful to find them wonderful homes.

June Baby Arrival

We had a new baby born last night (Tuesday).  Jasmine, one of our 2 year old Nubians gave birth to a lovely doe kid.  We've named her "Wild Tequila Sunruse".  As with all of our kids - there is a story.  We were both at work yesterday.  We have had a 4-Her comming to our place a few times a week after school to work with the goats and help with chores.  She usually gets to our house before we get home, so she sets up for milking, does some feeding and works with her animals.  Well, the phone rang a Laura's work - and it was her saying that she had been out to the barn and she found the new baby.  This was all a great surprise because the babies weren't due until Thursday!

What is not a surprise is that this baby is already spoiled!  She's a keeper for sure!

Video Clip From Fall 2008

If you haven't seen this short video clip - it was done last fall (2008). I thought I would try to embed it to the blog.

All Terrain Babies

I mentioned that we recently let the babies out into their outdoor playpen which includes a giant rock wall.  We finally had time this morning to take a few pictures of them playing.  This wall has been one of the best ideas that Chris ever came up with.  The babies really enjoy it and everyone loves to watch them play.  Our niece and nephew even enjoy playing on the rock wall with the babies.  Happy Easter!

Calves Arrive

Our first batch of calves for 2009 arrived yesterday.  We went down to Nicolet, MN to visit with our friends, Hilda & Kevin, and picked up the calves.  The 3 amigos we have right now are Oscar, Monte & Lonestar.  They are quite a bunch!  We think that the white spot on Lonestar's face looks like the outline of Texas.  Oscar is all chocolate brown with no white spots, and Monte has the all-white face.  These 3 fellas should really help take care of all of our extra milk.

Babies in April

Gazette was giving us little signals during morning chores that she might have her kids yesterday.  She would look at us in a far off sort of way, she was  lot more talkative or vocal and she was extremely uncomfortable.  The poor thing couldn't find a position that was comfortable.  She kept getting up, and laying down.  Only to get back up again.  All of this was enough for me to say "Okay sweetie - I'll stay home with you this morning in case those babies come."  And, she was not pulling our leg.

By about 9 AM we had another set of babies born yesterday (April 6).  Gazette, our best Saanen doe, kidded with a set of twin bucks.  I guess this just proves the point that we are having a buck year this year!  So far out of 22 kids born, we have had 7 doe kids.  I swear it is written somewhere in the universe that we are only going to have a maximum of 3 Saanen doe kids on our farm in any given year.  Gazette was our last Saanen doe to freshen this year.  I guess I should just be grateful for the 3 Saanen doe kids that we do have.

We are expecting 2 more does to kid (both first time freshening Nubians) - but not until June, so things should calm down around here for a while.  That will give us time to catch up on other chores like hoof trimming, fire wood, and a few very old recorded tv shows!  (that's a joke...)

I'll try to get photos up soon of the new kids.  We also opened up the outdoor kid play pen area which contains the rock wall we made a few years ago.  The kids were pretty amazed at how large their world had become!  We'll be sure to include a few photos of that as well.

Feeding Babies

Many people have asked how we feed all of the babies.  They do get fed with bottles for the first few days.  But after that we use a lambar bucket.  This a a bucket that has 10 niples in it, with hoses that run into the bottom of the bucket.  We put a pre-measured amount of milk in the bucket, then let the babies drink.  This video should give you a better idea.  Enjoy!

Playing Catch Up

It's been a while since I posted an update. I had the best of intentions - things just got a little hectic around here over the past week. We are up to 19 new babies at the farm. We had a new Saanen doe kid born on Thursday, March 19. We've had some ups and downs over the last week, but I am happy to say that we are finally getting back to some sort of schedule. By we I mean Chris and I - not the goats. We adjusted the babies to 2X feedings yesterday. That will be a huge help. Now we don't have to run home in the afternoon to feed or arrange for someone else to fill in for us. Also, we are starting to get to sleep at a reasonable hour - for the whole night! Now, we can actually do chores at 6 AM and 6 PM. This means that Chris gets to work on time in the morning, and we both get to bed before 10 PM. I know all of this sounds fairly boring - but, right now this is our life. Just trying to fit everything in to one day and trying to get enough sleep for the next day. It all seems very busy right now, but it will all be worth it.

We had lots of visitors this weekend. Family came over to see the babies and celebrate birthdays. Friends stopped by to see the babies and pick up milk. We love seeing everyone.

More Babies... More Bucks

It must be the year for buck kids.  We had another  doe freshen on St. Patrick's Day around 9:30 PM.  Raven, a beautiful black Nubian doe that we purchased as a kid finally freshened with no trouble at all.  She even has a perfect udder for a first-timer.  The only problem was that she had 2 buck kids.  I had been hoping for doe kids - so badly.  She is such a beautiful girl, and I wanted to start a line in our herd with her at the beginning.  At the very least, her boys, who we have named "Guinness" and "Bailey's" in honor of the holiday are extremely handsome.  My hope is that someone will see them and want to include their great features in another herd.  

You may notice that the photos of these boys do not have the barn as a background.  That's because these 2 lucky guys got to spend the night in the laundry room so that we didn't have to trek out to the barn at midnight.  How lucky are they?!

We now have a total of 19 babies.  There are 6 does, and 13 bucks.  There is still 1, possible 2 does due from now until the beginning of April.  Then, there will be 2 more due in June.  

We have started getting a number of visitors at the farm.  We love having people out.  This is the time of year we get to see neighbors, friends and relatives that we may not see very often.  Many people want to know when the best time to visit is.  We generally ask people to come during chore time (5-7 PM) since that is the time we are milking does and feeding kids.  Also, we are already in the barn, so having people there is not an inconvenience.  We do ask that you call us first, to make sure we don't have something planned.  Sometimes we do schedule larger groups (scouts, 4-H, etc.) and would like to put a limit on the number of people at that time.  Also, we do still have to get the work done here- so sometimes we may ask you to have a second choice of visiting time in mind.  Thanks for understanding - and we look forward to seeing you!

We're Back on Schedule... Maybe Not

We have a schedule for feeding the babies when they arrive.  They get fed every 6 hours (4X daily) for the first two days, then every 8 hours (3X daily) from day 3-7.  We decided to adjust all the babies to 3X feeding yesterday.  That way we feed them at 6 AM, 2 PM and 10 PM and we get to sleep like normal people!  In addition we are training them to use a lambar bucket instead of bottles.  A lambar bucket is basically a pail with about 10 nipples all the way around it.  Inside the pail, each nipple has a hose that reaches the bottom of the bucket.  This way they still suck on a nipple to drink, but it is a lot faster and easier to clean.  When they get really good at it, we can feed 10 babies at the same time in under 1 minute.  We'll post a photo of the babies using the lambar bucket soon.  All of this means we can get in the house by 10PM, have time to catch up on a few things, and crawl in bed before midnight.

That's how is should work.  Not this time.  As I was going to bed about 10:30 I checked the camera monitor in the barn.  Claira, our Nubian herd matriarch, was clearly in the process of pushing a baby out into the world.  We got our there as fast as we could and in the course of 15 minutes we welcomed 3 new babies.  Claira had 2 buck kids and 1 doe kid.  They were a little slow to drink, but after we dried them off with towels and the blow dryer and re-warmed colostrum (the first milk from the doe that contains all the good antibodies) they took right off!  All are doing well today.  By the time we got back in the house it was 12:15.  I guess we could have fed at midnight after all.  So, for now, we are in between schedules again.

Whoa Baby!

To say that Thursday, March 12th was an eventful day would be an understatement.  We started the day at 4 AM thinking that one of the goats was showing early signs of labor.  Chris went to work around 5 AM, and I (Laura) continued to watch the monitor for another hour.  Then I went out and did morning chores at 6 AM and everyone was fine.  No new babies over night.

At about 9:30 I saw Wisteria, one of our Nubians, starting to show strong contractions.  I went out to the barn, prepared for the delivery and the first kid ( a pretty black doe) was on the ground by 10.  No problem, I've got another 20 minutes before the next one comes, right?  Nope.  Try 5 minutes.  With the addition of a handsome brown and white trim buck kid, now I have 2 soaking wet babies in a barn that is 20 degrees.  So what do I do?  Call in reinforcements!  My neighbor Mary came over and helped dry off/blow dry the babies and get them fed.  All of this was in time for me to go to work by noon.

Chris came home about noon for the afternoon baby shift.  I had to be gone for the rest of the afternoon because I teach a class on Thursday nights from 6:30-9:30 PM, and had another appt at 2:30.  We asked Chris's Mom and sister if they would come over and be available to help "in case" a goat should freshen.

Well, my appt wrapped up around 4:45.  When I returned to my desk I had a message from Chris at about 3 PM that LuvBug, one of our Saanens had just given birth to twin bucks.  Everyone was doing well.  When I returned his call, he informed me that Wylie, one of our Nubians, had started showing signs of labor.  By 5 PM she had given birth to TRIPLETS!  1 doe and 2 bucks.  By this point I think he was happy to have extra help at the barn.  I was feeling a bit left out of al the action!  When I left the barn this morning, I had 7 babies, now there was 12!

By about 7:40 PM I called Chris to see how things were going.  At the start of the day we had agreed that he would bring a few babies to my class for everyone to "oooh and aaah over".  We had agreed that he would be there between 7 and 7:30.  So, I call... and he answers to tell me that he will be on his way in a couple of minutes - after he milks Tilly.  Wait... did he say Tilly??  When did she come into the mix?  Tilly is one of our Saanen does.  He then tells me that she freshened nearly effortlessly at 7 PM.  Oh my gosh!  

Chris, his mom and sister were absolute champs.  They did all of this work, and then they did bring down Tilly's twins and Wylie's triplets for the class to see.  Everyone loved them of course.  They just couldn't fathom that they had just been born a few hours before.  I am very grateful to have such an understanding, hard working spouse.  And my adopted family (in-laws) are just gems.  Who else would put up with and dive into all of this?

We now have 14 babies on the ground - and I missed the last 7!  What kind of mama am I?  As soon as I get a chance to snuggle all the new little ones and take their pictures, I will post some for you to see.  I'm sure Chris's account of all of this is different than mine.  I'm going to see if he'll jot down his thoughts sometime tomorrow so that we can compare notes.

Baby, It's Cold Outside!

When we woke up this morning for chores, we had quite an adjustment to make.  Overnight temps had dropped significantly and the wind was fierce!  The thermometer read -2.  Ug, we really thought we were done with all that crazy cold weather.

After a long wait, Princess decided that twins was all she was going to have.  So, we got some cute pictures of them this morning.  Now, we just have to wait patiently for the other 5 goats who are over due.

In Her Own Time...

Chris and I made a deal last night: I would stay up to do the midnight feeding, and I do morning chores since I was planning on going into work a bit later.  In return, he would get up early (4 AM) and come home by noon to feed babies and be on "Baby Watch".  Sounds good.  It was except that I couldn't sleep for various reasons - so today has been a long day!

Princess started showing the very early staged of labor at about 5 PM this evening.  We waited, and waited, and waited.  Finally at 7 PM we decided to go in the house and watch her on the camera.  Wouldn't you know - no sooner do I get in the house, get all my barn clothes off, and set the tv to record - and she decides to start pushing!  So, everything went in reverse and I ran back out to the barn.  At 7:30 she gave birth to a very big buck kid.  And as all wonderful Saanens should be - he is white as snow!  Wahoo!  

Then we waited, and waited some more and at 8:30 I decide that I should check her to make sure everything is going okay.  Well, she apparently was reading my mind, because just as I stepped in the pen to check her, she gave birth to a smaller doe kid.  This one is just cute as a button (and also white - as she should be!)

We stayed in the barn until 9:00 wondering if she was finished, or if she might have a third.  She has done this in the past...  We'll see what is waiting for us when we go out for the midnight shift.  We will post photos a little later.  The cold spell that we just got today seems to have zapped our camera batteries faster than expected.

Kidding Season Has Begun!

Well, it's official - kidding season has begun at Four Seasons Farm.  We were expecting one of our Saanens to kid yesterday, but that has not happened yet.  We actually had a surprise today.  We were in the house, both doing our own thing around 5 PM when we heard a grunt on the "baby cam".  This is quite alarming because we did not have anyone in the kidding pens to watch!  Both Chris and I rushed out to the barn expecting the Saanen that was due on Saturday to be in labor.  To our surprise - Lynn, one of our Nubians - had given birth to 1 baby and was cleaning him off!  This was a complete surprise because Lynn was not due until Tuesday!  Just to keep us on our toes, she decided to give birth to 3 babies - that's right, TRIPLETS!  She had 2 beautiful bucks and 1 very cute doe.  Everyone is doing well, and we are excited that kidding season has begun!  Now, Chris is taking a nap until the midnight feeding, and I am staying up to get some work done that I have a deadline for tomorrow.  Anytime you want to volunteer for the midnight shift, just let us know!  See you soon!

2009 Theme

Well, it official - we will be using "drinks" as a theme for naming this year's babies.  We are getting excited for the new arrivals - March is coming very quickly!  We had 10 does confirmed pregnant by ultrasound in January.  Those are all due in March.  Then we had 2 more confirmed pregnant via a blood test, and those are due in June.  

We hope that you are enjoying the blog.  Drop us a line to let us know what you think!

Preparing for babies

Well, as we started thinking about all the bouncing babies that are due to arrive in March - we realized that we needed to reorganize the animals a little bit to fit everyone in the barn.  Okay - no problem.  Wait - we didn't have enough room for all of them to eat!  Minor oversight!  So, we decided that we needed to make a new feeder.

This is a "keyhole" feeder, very similar to those that we built a few years ago.  The difference is - the feeders we built previously let 5 goats eat at one time, only on one side.  This feeder is slightly wider and allows for 5 goats to eat on each side.  

The project went rather smoothly, and after about 3 hours on Saturday and 2 hours on Sunday - it's finished!  We are going to wait until we clean the barn to install it.  But, we think it turned out quite nice and should definately do the job.  Chris even tested it out!

Vote!

As we venture into blogger world - we are learning as we go along. Be sure to vote and let us know which naming scheme you think we should use for 2009. One caveat - if you choose "other" please leave a comment on the blog as to what theme you think we should use! We thought it would show up in the poll, but that seems to not be the case. So, use this as a reason to practice! Thanks!