Saturday, March 27, 2010

Got Milk?

I know, call us crazy, but yes, we got some more goats! This time, we've purchased a trio of purebred, registered Nubian dairy goats. This is Allie. She is a yearling that is possibly bred to kid in July.
Allie

This big Mama is "CJ". She is a two year old who has weaned off her kids and is still being milked. We will have to milk her twice a day for a couple more weeks to dry her off.
She is very friendly.


Kate, Allie and CJ
This little guy is our buckling, Jasper. (Claire's been watching Twilight!) He is only 2 months old and will be bottle fed another month. He is intact and will be our dairy buck. He is not related to Allie or CJ. Isn't he cute!


The girls milking CJ.

This goat stand makes it easy because we don't have to sit or bend to milk her.


Claire is going to try her hand at making Goat Milk Soap. Guess what everyone is getting for Christmas!!! Haha!!!
Turns out, C.J. was positive for CAE, a disease common in dairy goats that causes hard bags and poor milk production, among other symptoms. We sold her for $25, a loss of $175. It was a hard lesson for ClaireAnna to learn since she had grown very attached to C.J. Allie and Jasper were negative for the disease so we will keep them. From now on, we'll have all our dairy goats tested for CAE BEFORE we buy them!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

ClaireAnna's 9th Birthday!

ClaireAnna celebrated her birthday with a party at Russellville Dance and Gymnastics Center. She had 15 of her friends come and play in the gym, have cake and open gifts. It was a great party and ClaireAnna had a wonderful, fun time with her friends.

DAYNA

Daddy was in charge of pushing everyone around in the...um...I have no idea what this is called! But it was fun!


This is called "The Pond."

Cool cake, man!


Thank you, everyone!

From back to front, left to right...
Olivia, Erica, Nicolete, Kristin, Harmony, CadieBeth, Kara, Kate, ClaireAnna, Sophie, Emily, Becca, Alyssa, Paige, Alex, Dayna