Kid Crop 2015

Ready or not here they come!  I took the winter off from milking because I knew I would be very busy with our foster children.  They are all very young and were needing intense mommy time.  We have however missed having the fresh milk daily.

Last fall I looked over my goat herd and chose which ones I needed to breed for 2015 milk.  I choose Calfy as I had never freshened her yet and I needed to see what kind of milker she was going to be.  I choose Jubilee as I had never freshened her as well.  Yes, I will be milking two first fresheners this year.  Might as well get it over with... the struggle thru the first few weeks as the teats stretch out and training them to the milk stand is sometimes difficult.  I really needed to breed them to see if I want to keep them or cull them.  Also, last year I gave Plenty a break and did not breed her.  So I bred her for 2015.  I gave the other three does in our herd the year off as they gave us milk all through 2014.  All three goats I bred, came into heat with in  24 hours of each other.  I put each goat in with the buck of my choice for a day, to make sure the bucks had the opportunity to catch them in standing heat.  All three settled on the first breeding this year.   So that means they would all deliver with in a day or two of each other.

The first one to deliver was Plenty.  She had them quietly in the wee morning hours on the 25th.  She had them all cleaned off and one had nursed by the time we got to them.  I usually like to take the babies immediately, milk the moms out and bottle feed from the start but this was fine.  She had a little brown buckling and a black and white doeling. 

Buckling

Doeling

I had bred Plenty to Major Coco this year.  They are both pure bred Nigerian Dwarf goats.  The buckling is nursing well but I am having to tube feed the doeling as she will not take the bottle at all yet.  She was born with no suck reflex and stays back away from the other goats.  If the doe makes it I might keep her and freshen her to see what kind of udder she will have.  Her mom is a great milker.

Later on in the day Jubilee delivered.  She did a great job for her first time and also delivered a buckling and doeling.  They are both brown.  Jubilee has blue eyes and the little doeling has blue eyes for sure!

I could not get a clear picture of the doeling as she was so bouncy and moving so much.  She is very adorable and dainty. 

Very cute buckling! I can't tell if he has blue eyes or not.  They are very light grey/tan.

Jubilee did a great job standing on the milk stand and letting me milk her.  Her teats are a little short but will lenghten over time a bit.  I bred Jubilee to Sargent Pepper Box.  They are both full blooded Nigerian Dwarf goats.  This is Sargent's first babies born on our farm.  I would love to keep the doeling and freshen her to see what kind of udder she will have.  But will wait and decide over the next week.

Calfy is a mixed goat.  She is half La Mancha and half Nigerian Dwarf.  She was the last one that needed to deliver.  I thought she would deliver in the night last night as she was so uncomfortable but when we got up this morning she had not.  She was pawing the ground all morning so I knew she was close.  At around 11:30 she delivered two large bucklings.  She did an awesome job!  It was her first freshening and it went very well for her.  I milked her out and she freshened with the same wonderful udder as her mother and grandmother.  She stood very well and was easy to milk.  A keeper for sure.  I bred her to Joseph (pure Nigerian Dwarf buck) who is known around here for throwing very flashy kids.  Calfy is pretty flashy herself so the bucklings are just beautiful.  I will probably always breed Joseph to her as there genetics meshed so well and made some stunning kids.  Not only in looks but conformation.

The above buck was born first.  He looks like Calfy and has the LaMancha ears.  He is super strong and cute!

The buckling above was born second.  He looks a lot like his dad and got the Nigerian Dwarf ears!  He is just stunning!

There great-grand mother and grandmother were wonderful milkers and their mom looks like she is going to be as well.  They will make someone nice little breeder bucks, for their back-yard herd of mid-sized goats.

Even though we had more bucks than does born, I am very pleased with all the kiddings and deliveries.  I was not planning on keeping anything out of Calfy and am still not sure I am keeping the two doelings born this year.  We might be getting an infant thru foster care and I know I will be very busy again for a while.  I might just see how things go this year with milking and make a decision next time around about who to keep what out of.

The baby pen!

Many blessings upon your life,

Happy Farming!
susan

Unusual Winter

We have had some very unusual weather this winter.  It has not only been unusually rainy but quite a bit colder as well.  We also have had three substantial snowfalls.  In a normal winter we might see a few snow flakes a few times or get a dusting of snow. 

The end of January we got this.

Since it had been several years since we have had snow like this, I gave the children off from home schooling and let them just play in it.  Here where we live in Georgia a snow like this will usually be gone by the next day or two.  It was a dryish snow and not packy enough for a snowman but the kids had fun out in it throwing it at each other and playing around.

Then Tuesday of this past week we got this snow fall of about four or five inches.

It was a wetter snow and the kids made this little guy.

Even though there was not a huge amount the children had a good time and had fun.

Some of it melted on Wednesday but that night we got sleet and then five or six inches of snow more, so woke up Thursday to this! 

It was breathtakingly beautiful for the Deep South to see and believe it or not was nearly all gone by the end of the day!  I never remember us having this much snow at one time since we have lived here on the farm for the last 15 years.  The ice that we got before the snow came this time made the snow stick to the trees, fences and electric wires.  Many people lost power from this storm.  We had it go out for only two hours in the morning. 

As far as farm life right now???  I gave away my two full sized milkers to a friend.  So I am actually not milking at all right now.  I don't ever remember having such a break in milking.  The children miss the fresh goats milk terribly but I have enjoyed the break from milking.  I have not had to go out twice a day in this weather to milk but must admit I am missing making cheese and foods from the cheese for my family.  Our first goats possible due date is the end of this month.

When Milky Whey came into heat last fall, I put her in with Sergent Pepper box.  If she settled her due date is around Feb 24th.  But she came back into a light heat a few weeks later.  I knew I would be needing milk and she would be my first of the year to freshen, so I put her in with an experienced buck, Joseph.  So if she did not settle the first time she will be the first to kid in March.  I also bred Amelia...this will be her first freshening and her sister Mini Bell, this will be her first freshening as well.  They are my experiment goats, the offspring of my full sized La manchas and a Nigerian Dwarf buck.  Hoping to have a happy medium in amount of feed they consume and amount of milk they give.  I am very excited.

I am getting the urge to have chicks in the barn and start my gardens.  So I guess spring is around the corner!

Blessings and Happy Farming!
susan

To Milk or Not To Milk

To milk or not to milk them?  That is the question. 

I have my four Nigerian Dwarfs ready to kid any time.  When I bred them I had planned on hand milking them from the start. I have always felt it is really best to do that with any dairy goat. Milk them from the start to train them and then keep their lactation going as long as possible their first year.  If they had shortish teats they will lengthen out really well thru that first milking year and be even better by the next lactation.

But I had also wanted to see what I would get when crossing my two big wonderful milkers with our Nigerian Dwarf buck Major Coco.  So I bred them as well. Yes, I know, what was I thinking????!!

Well, as of right now I am covered up with milk.  I thought I would have the energy to keep it all up but can see with us starting back into foster care I don’t want to be stressed or have too much on me at any one time.  Nothing to put to much pressure on me.

I realized my error and I saw this coming.  I have worked diligently to get Twinkie down to once a day milking.  She is still giving ¾ of a gallon once a day.  But I think that will slowly drop to ½ a gallon over time.  Bluebell is just 7 weeks into milking so her production is to high to try to get her comfortably down to once a day milking right now and she is giving over a gallon a day.  Everything that can possibly drink milk on the property is right now!!! Ha ha!

Anyways, back to the Nigerians.  I really don’t need the milk.  I really am not looking forward to hand milking such small first fresheners.  Especially four of them plus my two large milkers daily.  Whew.

I have milked pretty much all sizes of teats over the years but have been spoiled over the last many years with all of my goats having something like this.  After all that is what part of my goal always was.  Long easy to hand milk teats.  I can milk this gal out really quickly.

So I am thinking.....if I leave the babies they have on all the Nigerian Dwarf does, the babies will naturally lengthen out the teats for me for next year.  Also, if I choose to milk any of them during this lactation cycle.  When their babies are two weeks old I can pull them off at night and just milk once a day from the build up of milk thru the night and put the babies on during the day.  Right now I am leaning toward doing that. I normally don't, but this time it would make my life so much easier. 

Here is an udder shot as of today of one of the Nigerian Dwarfs.  First freshener, not uddered up or kidded yet and never milked.  So not to shabby in length so far.  But still not looking forward to it. :)

I also have a back up plan for milking if I am struggling on those smallish teats.  I did buy and receive a Henry Milker.   I have not tried it yet.  But after researching out and reading reviews I thought this one the best. 

Now, I did take my time and do my research before buying these Nigerian Dwarf does and bucks I now have.  They are all from moms that were easy to hand milk.  As that is my goal.  So we shall see how they freshen and  how it all goes. 

I am excited and can't wait to see how this all turns out.  God is so very good always.  If I end up using the Henry milkier at all.  I will do a review and post it on here for anyone interested. 

Blessings and happy farming,

susan

Farmhouse Cheese Corn Bread

This is a recipe I made up to use up our milk supply/farmhouse cheese supply.  It is not like your traditional salty or sweet corn bread. But is a great homemade "rustic" type bread that is versatile, different and taste great year round.  A slice, fresh out of the oven, with veggies or a salad in summer, a slice with homemade soup or chili in winter . It is good reheated, cut into large chucks, with milk poured over it for breakfast!  Be creative I say!

First, you will need to make farmhouse cheese,  mix in 1 tsp salt for every gallon of milk and let it drain in the cheese cloth hanging for a few hours to make a dry plain salted cheese ball. (like we did there but with out the herbs just the salt)  We do this all the time and use this type of cheese crumbled up to put on salads, put into bruschetta,  mixed in with spicy rice and baked into pepper halves  or sprinkled in soups.  Once you have your cheese proceed……

1 ¼ cup corn meal

1 ¼ cup flour (we use fresh ground wheat flour)

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese

2 eggs

½ cup olive oil

1 cup milk (we use goat milk :)  )

1 table spoon chives (fresh chopped or dried)

2 pinches shredded cheddar cheese

1 cup - chopped to pea size, farm house cheese made like stated above.  (large curd cottage cheese works well for a substitute that is drained really well)

Half a stick of butter

And any other spices you might like to add. -  you can dice up hot peppers or use a few red pepper flakes, a few shakes of chili powder tastes great too.  Depending on how spicy you like things. 

Mix all the dry ingredients together – Corn meal, Flour, baking powder, salt, Parmesan cheese.

Then in a separate bowl mix together the eggs, olive oil, milk, chives, cheddar cheese and farm house cheese.

Blend the two mixes together.  It will be pretty thick.

Take a 10 inch cast iron skillet and put the half stick of butter into it.  Place it in the oven and set the oven at 400 to preheat.   

Once the oven is preheated take out the skillet and turn it around a little to coat the inside of the skillet with the melted butter, then pour or spread in your thick batter.   

Spread it around evenly.  

Put it back into the hot oven for 30 minutes.  You might want to keep an eye on it as my oven is a convection oven and bakes a little quick.  It is ready as soon as a knife come out of the center clean.  Try not to over bake it. 

We eat this more in the summer months than the winter months as we always have more milk to use up in the summer.  

My son William does "stop animation" for his hobby. The above movie was created by him as he ate his slice of Farmhouse Corn Bread.  Enjoy!

May God richly bless you today and everyday you walk with Him.
susan

Country Casserole

This is a very simple very versatile casserole that will use up a lot of milk and garden vegetables in the summer months.  It makes more than one casserole so if you have a small family cut it down.  In the pictures I am making a double batch because, you guessed it, I have so much milk.  I have cut the recipe in half for you here.  I love making a bunch of casseroles at the beginning of each week so I have quick meals all week long if I need them.  Also with teens in the house and so many boys, they are always needing a "snack meal" and can scoop some into a bowl, heat it and eat it.

Farmhouse cheese  - made from 1 gallon of milk (store bought ricotta can be substituted here)

Cooked elbow macaroni – One pound

Ground deer or beef - One pound.   I am using deer here.

Spaghetti sauce – home made or your favorite store bought – about 1 ½  24 ounce jars

Ground ginger

Ground cumin

Parmesan cheese

Salt and Pepper - if desired

Any garden veggies you need to use up that sounds good in it!

I will start from the point where you have made your farmhouse cheese and have it draining in your colander, on cheese cloth, for 10 minutes or so.

Plop your drained cheese into a large mixing bowl and work in 1 and a half jars of sauce with the back side of a large fork breaking up all the curds till mixture is smooth.  

Add your just cooked elbow macaroni (I’ll assume you know how to make this  :)  ) Mix well.

Brown your ground meat.  Once browned salt and pepper to taste. (store bought sauce has so much salt in them that if you use store bought you might not want to add the salt and pepper)  Also mix into the browned meat 1/8 tsp cumin and  1/8 tsp of ginger mix well.    

Then add to the pasta mixture.  Mix it up really good.

Now comes the fun part in the summer.  If you like peppers and onions, sauté them and add them.  If you have extra squash and zucchini, cut them up julienne style and add them.  We have added over the years with great success, mushrooms, black olives, sautéed onions and peppers, squash and zucchini, peas and corn. Okra that we salted and toasted in the oven first for a short while (to get rid of the slimy :) )  I am sure I am forgetting something else.  But I think you have the idea.  Let your creative juices flow.  Or just throw in what  you have overflowing your counter tops this summer.   If you really want to boost the flavor of the veggies you add and cut the cooking time down for the casserole, simply oven roast the veggies first in a pan with a little olive oil and a dash of salt. My husband also loves it if I add a little chilli powder once in a while or a good many dashes of chipolte pepper for a spicier casserole once in a while.

So add in the veggies of your choice.  Today, I didn't add anything extra as it is spring and we have nothing coming out of the garden right now and our freezer is about empty of veggies.  Trust me it tastes great this way too.   Once you add in your veggies that is where you might add the rest of the ½ can of sauce you held back, if you think everything is not coated well, add it.  If you don’t need the sauce in the casserole, toast some garlic bread and heat the sauce and use it for dipping the bread with the meal.  Add a huge salad and you are good to go!

Put your casserole in your casserole dishes and then the last step is to sprinkle Parmesan cheese on the tops. 

Preheat oven and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes.  But keep an eye on it.  My oven is a convection oven and so it only takes about 20.  If you have some tougher veggies (like fresh green beans)  in it you might need a little longer for them to be softer. 

Psalms 34:8 O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

Abundant blessings,

susan

Herb Cheese

This herb cheese is made with the Farmhouse Cheese recipe I posted a short while ago.  This recipe is very versatile and is an excelled way to use up milk. It is not a kind of cheese that will melt on things.  But that doesn't take away from its wonderful qualities. 

You will need:

To make the farm house cheese from the recipe a few posts ago.

Cheese cloth  (plastic or cotton)(not the kind from Home Depo or the grocery store used to refinish furniture)

Large mixing bowl.

Non-iodized salt or cheese salt.  (The iodine in the salt will turn your cheese a green color if you use iodized salt) The amount most people use when salting this type of cheese is one teaspoon per cheese made from one gallon of milk. But adjust it for your taste.
Herbs - to flavor the cheese with.  I like to use Braggs most of the time.

I will start this recipe as soon as you have poured your just made cheese into your cheese cloth lined colander to drain. 

Only let it drain for the amount of time it takes you to wash up your pot, you made your cheese in, as you want it very wet to work with so you can blend in the salt and herbs easily and thourally.

I am using the farmhouse cheese made from two gallons of milk as I had so much to use up today.  ;)  That’s why my batch is so large.  Don’t worry, with my huge family it disappears very, very quickly!

Plop your wetish cheese into a very large mixing bowl.  Spread the cheese cloth back in the colander in the sink nicely for a moment.

Sprinkle one teaspoon of non-iodized salt over the cheese and using a large fork, work it in well.  Since I am doing a double batch I am going to use 2 teaspoons.  Now, once you put the salt in you can't take it back out.  So if you want to, sprinkle a little and work it in and taste it till you get it just right. William is my kitchen taster as I am allergic to so many foods (I have an auto-immune disease)  and believe it or not salt and dairy.  So he tastes everything I make to make sure it will be right for everyone else.  You know he just hates that.  :)

Once it is the right saltiness get the herbs you wish to use.  I like to use the organic herb mix from Braggs.  But you can finely chop onions or chives.  Fresh finely chopped rosemary from the garden.  Just what ever you put in chop it fine and mix it in well.  Tasting as you go along to make sure it is what you want it to taste like. (you know I have gotten lazy, and I make this so often, that using the Braggs organic herbs is quick, easy and tastes great!)

 Today since I am flavoring cheese made from two gallons of milk I will be using  about 2 tablespoons of the herbs.  If working with cheese from a gallon of milk use 1 tablespoon.  Again, sprinkle in just a little at a time.

Blend very well and taste till you get it the way you want it.  

As soon as William tasted it he went and grabbed a pack of crackers and the bowl of cheese and took off in slow motion wanting me to take a picture of him!  Silly young man that he is.  But he was serious and would have chowed down now if I would have said it was ok.  :)  And sometimes thats as far as it gets!

Scrape all the herbed cheese back into the cheese cloth lined colander and bind it up twisting gently to squeeze out a lot of the whey. 

Now we need to hang it and let it drain a bit.  You can use a clean, new cotton shoe lace for this and keep rewashing it with your cheese cloth.  I use very large rubber bands I can toss.  (See lazy)

So tie it off and hang it from a knob on your kitchen cabinet.  If you don’t have the knob kind get an “s” hook from Home depo to use for this.  Put a bowl under the dripping cheese to catch the whey.

You can let it drain now as long as you want, to get it as dry as you wish . Today I let mine drip for about 3 hours.

Ta Da!  Herbed Farmhouse Cheese!  This cheese is also incredibly versatile.  Keep in mind this cheese does not melt.  My kids like it on crackers.  They like it crumbled up on their salads.  You can cook pasta with steamed mixed veggies lightly buttered/salted or oiled and crumble this all over the top!  Or..Take a slice of italian bread, lighty butter it and lay a slice of tomato on it sprinkle a few pinches of shredded mozzarella and this cheese on it and toast it.  YUM!  See...get creative and have fun with your cheese!

2 Corinthians 9:8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:

May God bless you today and always!  

susan