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.