Sandy's Kidding Schedule

Sandy is our nubian doe who is pregnant but no one really knows when she is due. Her previous owner left the bucks in with the does so there really is no telling unless you gave her a pregnancy test daily. However her previous owner gave us a projected kidding date of the last week in July (putting us 88 days out). Now is when it gets tricky because lets face it goats don't like to follow rules. Most first time fresheners (first pregnancy) tend to "make their udders" around a month before kidding and if this is the case we should be expecting babies around May 20th, or Sandy is just a prankster and is a month ahead of schedule. Personally for her comfort we are hoping that the babies will make their appearance in May so she doesn't get to hot giving birth in the July heat. Considering her udder doubled in size just yesterday I would assume she is getting close but all we can do is pray. While we are on the topic of her pregnancy I also wanted to let you all know that we have already found a home for one baby and the new owner can't wait to see her little spotted bundle (hopefully spotted). Hope you all have a wonderful and blessed day!

This is the most recent pic on my computer but will add an updated one ASAP

Sandy finally had her kids Thursday June 25, 2015 one girl and one boy. They are happy, healthy and beautiful! To go along with the theme of nick cartoon names we have named Sandy's babies Pearl and Plankton. Pearl looks just like her mom with their very cute and unique spots. 

Plankton on the other hand looks a lot more like his dad with one spot on his right side. Even though they look so different they do share a birth mark, a faded white dot right behind their right ear.

Meet the Chickens

Tuesday me my mom and sister in law went and picked up 15 adorable baby chicks. As of right now we believe they are all hens but we won't know until they start laying eggs. We decided to purchase vaccine free chicks which are being fed unmedicated hormone free feed. We made this choice because we our selves do not get vaccinated and want to be independent from the outside world when it comes to our animals. It has been interesting getting used to them and learning how to handle them but they are all great. So far we can only distinctively identify 2 of the 15 their names are Diamond (white/black) and Carol (black/yellow) I will add pictures of these two tomorrow. They already know how to catch bugs to today as we were filling their feeders one caught a mosquito hawk and shared it with the others. I can't wait to see them all grown up.

Photo cred: Natasha Robison (Natasha Robison Photography)

Shelter Re-model

Today me (Erin), my brother (Ronny) and my dad (Ron) all started to work on the goat shelter remodel, and I thought you guys would be interested in seeing how the goats live. Currently I do not like the shelter situation but it has been nice out but it's starting to get cold again (weird). The current shelter was chewed on by the last property owners horses and it is pretty old as well. But all the wood holding it together will not go to waste either we are in the process of setting up a goat enrichment playground.

The new shelter will be made out of half of an old hay barn that we aren't using anymore. (the white building there is an awning you can't see that we are using)

Our new shelter plans are pretty cool we have plans for a milking area and a kidding stall. Which will both come in handy this summer and fall. There isn't much to look at right now but I will try to add pictures for you guys tomorrow.

The goats already testing it out

Shangri-la judging us

We will be finishing the sides and stalls thursday. 

Meet Shangri-la

I am sorry everyone this for some reason reverted to a draft and got deleted. 

Shangri-la is a 3 year old nigerian dwarf who joined us 2 weeks ago and is best friends with Sandy. She is such a sweet girl and loves to follow me around the property. Overall she is very energetic and curious as we were working on the shelter she would try to climb on the ladders. This will be her second breeding and kidding season. Her first kidding season gave her previous owners 3 beautiful bucks, so we are hoping for does this year.

My whole family agrees that she looks like a donkey with her frosted ears and nose but she is a still pretty cute. And judges seem to agree last year at kern county fair she won 2nd place.

Meet Sandy

Sandy is the very first goat to step foot on to our ranch and we must say she is beautiful! At just 1 year old Sandy is carrying her first baby and will be due to kid in July. And with kids comes milk so once all the kids are weaned we will be able to start serving you goat milk products. It took a while to decide on a name moon, crater, mars but in the end she will always be Sandy. Why you may ask because it is a derivative of Alexandra and the Alexandars were the previous owners of our land plus living in the desert there is sand everywhere so it was fitting.  

 

Overall she is very well mannered and loving but still is shy around new people. She always wants to eat whats on the other side of the fence rather than whats in her pasture so I guess you could say she is a "the grass is always greener on the other side" type of goat.

Meet the Dogs

We would like to introduce to all of you out there our faithful dogs. Each one of them is a very special piece of our family and I don't know what we would do without them.

 First up is our puggle Pistol-annie she is our alarm system and keeps the other dogs in check when needed. She definitely lives up to her name and is full of energy 24/7. 

 Next is our rescue dog Emmie we aren't really sure what she is but we believe she is a walker hound lab mix. She has taken on the role of guard dog and occasionally the escape artist. She is a very faithful dog and takes her job pretty seriously. 

 Hunter is not a permanent resident on the ranch but comes to live with us occasionally. He has been having really bad allergies where he lives now so he will be coming to live with us until his family moves to a better environment. While he is here his job is to keep track of everyone whether it's people, goats or dogs. He is also a very faithful protector.

And last but not least our oldest dog Snickers she is a 15 year old beagle and doesn't really do much but she is the best dog we could ask for.

Sorry again for the delay it did not publish when we originally finished the post.

Fixing to Work

   Sorry I missed you guys last friday didn't have anything to talk about we were all pretty lazy. This week was very busy though we started working on the shelter for the goats and went and got quotes on our supplies and hay. On wednesday we got to go meet a couple of our future prospects Sandy (6month doe) and Nickel (Newborn buck). They were absolutely beautiful unfortunately I was not able to get any picks but will hopefully have some this next week.

   We have still yet to go get our loan because there are just so many questions when it comes to the meat market at the fair and it is hard to get help. Everything will be worked out by monday if all goes as planned.  Since we are getting a loan to buy our first four goats and we don't want to get into debt we decided starting on Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University a little early. Documentation will be a big deal for me so we can see what needs to change to help our family's business thrive while giving you guys the best products we can.

   While our business is getting started our family life is going a little crazy! We will be having LOTS of visitors including my niece who we will all be meeting for the first time. Some of us will also be traveling to see some family that we haven;t seen in almost 5 years. Along with visiting and traveling we will also be taking on the responsibility of the oldest sisters dog because of some of the dogs health issues need to be evaluated in a new environment. I will be keeping you guys updated on how we are addressing Hunter's (the dog) allergies and hopefully erasing them. He is always uncomfortable and scratching his skin raw so we would appreciate prayers that we can help him get over this so he can be the happy healthy pup he is.

Thank you,

                  Erin