The long wait is over!!!

We went out this morning to milk the goats, and look what sight greeted us!  Butterbelle had her calf all on her own, without any help.  Mom was doing well and baby was nursing well.  We're going to leave them for a few days before trying to milk.

So beautiful!!

Milk Stanchion Complete

Never-ending projects! Our "to do" list is a mile long!

DH and our oldest son started the concrete work in the milk stanchion. We ran out of concrete and had to stop for the night.

In the meantime, I realized I was off on Butterbelle's due date.  I re-calculated and realized she is due anytime between June 6th and `12th.  She looks uncomfortable and spends a good deal of time just laying down.

Her udder is swollen with milk.  We'll eventually have a calf!

Monday Morning on the Farm

Butterbelle has to be tied up while we milk or she tries to eat the goat feed!

Piggies enjoying breakfast

Awww.. say hello to the piglets!

So cute and perfect!

After-milking mayhem!  Poppet is balanced atop the milk stand!

Pretty flowers :)  My clematis that was supposed to grow on that support died :(

Bounce sharing his basket with a kitten

Dairy Cow Milk Stanchion & Random Photos

That's what we've been busy with this weekend.  Relatively easy, it's not finished yet, we want to concrete the floor.

Ping decided to model it for us:

She's quite photogenic don't you think?  (Seriously, who thought I'd love goats so much!?)

Poor Poppet.  She has to be locked up for the night and doesn't enjoy it.  Working on a pen for her so she can be separated from mom 24/7.

The ducks are getting big.. and beautiful!

We have a nice variety. Three Pekins, two Rouens, three Ancona and two Welsh Harlequins.

Goodnight!

Goat milk!

We have spoken about getting a goat for quite a while now.  At first after we got Butterbelle I thought I didn't want goats anymore.  Then my oldest DD turned out to be lactose intolerant.  A friend has goats and offered us one of her goats on a loan until December so we've taken her up on the offer.  Lilly is an Alpine, and she is an incredibly patient and good natured goat.  So we Dan set to work building a goat stanchion.  Have I mentioned how amazing my hubby is?

The beginning of the stanchion.

Almost done

I went to go have a chat with Lilly to tell her how the stanchion building was going

The head gate parts

It will eventually have a clasp to hold them together, for now a bungee will work

Complete!

Feed bucket installed, just the right size for a goat :)

Well... we had to test it out, right?  LOL!

The first milking, which actually went pretty easily!  Did I mention how patient Lilly is?

I love this photo!

Dan gave it a try as well.. he's probably going to need a bit more practice, LOL!

Now all we need is a milking stool :)

I'm quite pleased with how the stand worked, and how relatively easy the milking was.  Of course Lilly is a pro at it by now, and very patiently stood there and put up with our bumbling around.  We will be milking her mornings and evenings, and our friend says we could expect about a gallon a day from her.  We're going to be building another stand for our friend, she doesn't have one yet.

Butterbelle does not seem to like the goat very much... or maybe it's just food envy since we fed Lilly from the bucket we normally bring Butterbelle's grains in.. so for now Butterbelle is residing in pasture 2 with the pigs, while Lilly is in pasture 1 on her own.  They can all have a meet and greet through the gate and get to know each other.  Goats are so incredibly social and Lilly comes running each time someone is in view.  We love her!

We are still searching for our own dairy goat, still deliberating on what breed we want.  We're definitely leaning more toward Alpines, but we're considering Nubians too because they're a dual purpose breed and their milk apparently has the highest fat content of any goats.

Terrific Tuesday

Photos around the farm taken by my DD16 :)