We made cheese!

We did it... we made cheese! And it turned out really well! Here is a photo of the first batch we made. We seasoned portions with lemon pepper, herbes de provence, natural, and garlic & chives. We are so excited about this we can hardly stand it!

Mercedes kidded this week as well. One large, maybe extra large buck kid. Both she and the kid are doing well.

Photos, Photos, & More Photos

What is the quickest way to catch you up on what's been going on at the farm... how about a few photos?

Lynn has twins: 1 buck, 1 doe. This is the doe: Mystic.

Lynn's twins, just born.

Kids at play on the rock pile.

Big kids at play on their new ramp in their new play area.

Wisteria has twin buck kids.

Updates

We have been busy at the farm, and busy at work. So much that we lost track of doing updates on the blog! Sorry to leave everyone in the dark! Our kid total so far this year is 28 kids. We've had 21 bucks (boys) and 8 does (girls).

Our latest additions were a set of twin bucks from Wisteria, another set of twins (one buck, one doe) from Lynn and just yesterday a huge single buck kid from Mercedes. Our kidding seasons should be coming to a close. We do have 2 does that may be bred, but we will have to wait and see. We have the vet coming out in a few days to take a look at them and see if indeed they are pregnant. If they are, we may have "Snubians" on our hands. What is a Snubian? It's a Saanen crossed with a Nubian!

We'll try to post photos of all of the new kids very soon. It's hard to believe, but our spring/summer calendar is already filling up with meetings, shows and other events. We are hoping to plan in some travel time this summer and fall as well. We'll see how that goes!

Another addition to our busy weekend

We thought our busy weekend was over... not so fast! On Sunday evening Jetta decided to go into labor with triplets! Yep, one of our first freshening Nubians gave birth to 2 does and one buck kid. She even tried to push 2 of them out at once. These kids are sired by our Jr herdsire: Silverwood Prince Merlin.

Twin does arrive!

Jasmine freshened today with twin does. We are so excited to actually have does! But so tired at the same time. This means that we have had a total of 5 doe kids and 16 buck kids born so far in 2010.

Eventful Weekend

Another eventful weekend around here. As the weather gets nicer and new kids arrive, more and more people want to come out and visit. This makes for some very busy weekends. We are not complaining! We love seeing friends and family, and the goats love company too. It's just that we do't get as much time to catch up on our sleep. If there is such a thing.

We knew Saturday would be a busy day. We had to get feed, go to our tax appt and we had 3 groups of people coming over in the afternoon to visit the babies. That all got a bit more hectic when Raven, one of our Nubian does, decided she was going to start kidding at 10 AM. So, Laura stayed home and Chris went to get feed and to our tax appt on his own.

Raven decided to take this process very slowly. Laura noticed the water bag emerging at 10 AM. Raven's first kid wasn't born until noon (a buck kid). Then a second one finally followed at 12:45 (another buck kid). As neighbors were getting the new babies dried off and taken care of (navel's dipped, etc.) Laura milked Raven to get colostrum. Then Raven got some nice warm water, grain and alfalfa hay. We got the babies fed and tucked in under a heat lamp. That was about the time that group of visitors #1 showed up.

As Laura was explaining about the goats, she noticed Raven grunting. Then another grunt. Thinking it was just Raven expelling the placenta, Laura didn't give it much thought. Until another grunt... that is when Raven pushed out buck kid #3! Shortly after that group of people #2 arrived. As we were drying off this kid and making sure he was taken care of... group of people #3 shows up.

All in all it was a wonderful day of visiting, but a lot of work and waiting as well. We did chores Saturday morning at 6 AM and got in about 8 AM. Then Laura went back out at 10 AM and didn't get back in the house until 4 PM. Then, both of us were back out at 6 PM for chores. Luckily Chris volunteered for the midnight feeding. We will laugh about this some day.

A Busy & Exciting Day

Lexus's buck kid

FSF Merlin Illusion

Today turned out to be a busy day at the farm. After Wylie kidded at noon, her daughter Lexus decided to kid at 5 PM. And... drum roll please... WE GOT OUR FIRST NUBIAN DOE KID OF 2010!!! So Exciting! Lexus had 2 lovely twins, 1 buck and one doe. That means that we have had 15 kids born so far this year, and had 3 doe kids out of the whole lot.

Lexus did a fabulous job: she milks out like a dream and is eating and drinking like a champ. We are so thrilled with our new kids! We have named the little doe: "FSF Merlin Illusion".

We own river front property

Doesn't that sound like a song from George Strait? "Oceanfront Property in Arizona..." Well, the MN River has engulfed our lower pasture. This pasture is the size of a football field and is usually our most productive pasture during the summer. We will have to wait ans see if that is the case this year, after the river recedes. Right now the water is above the 4-foot fence posts in some places. Our shelters for the animals will have to be re-built as the plywood that is used for sides wall is soaking up water as well. Oh fun! This must mean that warmer temperatures are on the way!

Wylie kids - 1 big buckling

It is beginning to sound like a broken record around here this kidding season... yes, we had another doe freshen... yes, we got another buck kid! Wylie freshened around noon today. One of our neighbors checked the goats today while Laura was at work. At noon she called Laura to say that one kid was out. So, Laura raced home... thinking that another kid would be on the way. After all, this is an experienced 4 year old, who has always had twins. She is pushing 200 pounds, and getting more uncomfortable by the day. She had to have at least twins, if not triplets. NOPE! One big buck kid. He was so big, that we decided to weigh him... eight pounds! Eight pounds for one Nubian baby is pretty large!

We waited and waited for 2 hours hoping that another kid would arrive, but no luck there. Guess we need to be happy that we have a healthy kid and healthy mama. And, the sun is shining.

Surprise... It's a buck year!

Well, it must be a buck year here this year... Claira freshened 2 days early with a set of quadruplet buck kids. She was sneaky about it - we didn't expect her until Saturday. When Laura came home from work in the afternoon, she found the kids (although one had died). Claira is our Nubian matriarch. She is 10 years old now, and this is her 9th freshening. She typically has triplets of quads each year, and until 2009... most if not all of those had been girls! I guess she had some making up to do!

Claira is a champ - and doing fabulous. Back to eating, socializing and producing lots of milk. All three remaining kids are doing great as well. These are the first kids from out new Jr Herdsire: Silverwood Prince Merlin. Boy, are the cute!

Princess kids with twin bucks

Last Thursday, March 11, Princess (one of our Saanens) decided to kid and give birth to twin buck kids. We did have to assist in this delivery as the first kid was breach and the second kid had one front leg back. Needless to say it was an eventful evening. Especially since it made Laura late for a class she needed to be at for work!

Sundance has Twins! Congratulations Tempo!

We are so excited that one of our 2 year old Nubian's freshened this morning... even though she had twin buck kids. Sundance kidded at approximately 8 AM this morning and is off to a great start.

The reason these kids are so special is because they are sired by our Senior herd sire: CH Blissberry Wild Tempo. And - if you remember, Tempo made an emergency trip to the vet hospital last fall. Well, after getting a grim diagnosis, we brought him home to care for him the best we could. Not only has Tempo recovered tremendously, but shortly after being home he bred 2 does. And - this is one of them. These kids are miracle babies! We have never been so happy to see healthy buck kids before!

Welcome to the world little guys! This brings the kid count up to seven: 5 bucks, 2 does.

Prius gives birth to Twins!

Hi everyone!

What a great weekend we have had! Prius, one of our first freshening 2 year old Saanen does, freshened this afternoon with a set of healthy twins: 1 buck and 1 doe. We are really excited about these two - and they are extremely tall! The new kids were happy to drink from a bottle and Prius was thrilled with some alfalfa and warm water.

We did have a bit of an eventful evening. We give pre-kidding Bo-Se and CDT shots to our does to help with muscle tone, kidding and to pass immunity on to the kids. After giving a Bo-Se shot to one of or Nubian does tonight, she had a reaction. She had what seemed to be an allergic reaction. Although we were extremely scared, and she was most likely scared as well, we got her calmed down and her breathing returned to normal. We did call our vet in the process and she informed us that this can happen and the best defense is to have epinephrine in your medicine chest. Luckily this doe was able to come around after this spell. She went back to eating and socializing with the other does. I guess this just shows us that life is always unpredictable!

We are loving the chances we get to play with our new kids! Here is a shot of the group of them.

Kidding Season begins with Triplets!

We are so excited that kidding season has officially begun! This morning at about 9:30 AM, one of our Saanens, Sherry's C Tilly gave birth to a healthy set of triplets (2 bucks, 1 doe). Everyone is doing well - the kids all drank from a bottle right away and Tilly was thrilled to have a nice snack of alfalfa and warm water. Here's hoping that all of our kidding go as well as this one!

These kids are aslo the first kids from our first home grown buck: FSF Nitro Cosmopolitan. So far, we like what we see!

We will be keeping the doe kid, who we named Seattle. The 2 buck kids will be available for sale.

FSF is on Facebook!

Hi all! We have taken the plunge and developed a Facebook page for our farm. This will be the quickest way to see updates and photos of new babies comming very soon. If you would like to become a fan of Four Seasons Farm on Facebook just search for Four Seasons Farm (FSF) Dairy Goats. You can also just click the title of this post, and it will take you right there. We'll see you there!

Enjoying the calm before the storm

Hi everyone! We are still here, things have been quiet the last 6 weeks or so, which is a nice change of pace. Chores are getting done and the does are getting bigger. It's nice to be able to do morning chores in less than 30 minutes before work. Then in the evening everything takes about an hour. During evening chores we make sure all the hay feeders are full, water buckets are freshly filled and everyone gets a grain treat. Of course, we also have to allow time for a scratch on the head, a neck rub, or whatever attention each one craves at the time.

The first doe is due on March 4th and we can already see that she is starting to change her routine due to her ever-growing belly. All the girls in the barn are getting a little anxious (and a little bit crabby) as they get bigger. We are really excited to see our new arrivals soon!

Before the babies start to arrive, we have a lot to do in the next few weeks. We have already started giving does their CDT and Bo-Se boosters. This will help give the new babies immunity for the first few weeks of life. We will be loading in hay to make sure we have plenty of nice grass hay and wonderful alfalfa to get the does started right when they freshen and start their lactation. We will get the barn cleaned out and everything freshly limed and bedded so that everyone has the best environment to live in and be born in. We will also have to change our groups of animals around in the barn, to make room for the new babies. This will lead to a little bit of friction for a day or so. But, in the end, we will try to group goats together that get along well.

As we anticipate the new arrivals, we are also thinking of name options. Each year we use a theme. We are thinking that themes this year will be around "magic" or "stars". Names that we have come up with so far include: Chant, Charm, Potion, Spellbound. We need names for gilrs and boys... so start thinking! If you have ideas for names please leave us a comment on the blog and we'll take them all under advisement!