Goats

It's been a long time since I've posted, so I'll try to catch you up on the goings on here in Texas.

I'll start with goats.

Thomas decided to follow Lauren's lead and try raising Angoras. He purchased a buck (Nico) and two does (Lorraine and Sally). Lorraine is black/silver. The other two are white. However, the male is a red-carrier, so the babies are usually red. Sally was already pregnant and her baby arrived last Saturday while we were in town. It was a girl, red with a silver face. Thomas named her Betty Silver Goat. She's so much fun to watch! She bounces around the field so playfully and is so friendly! She only nurses her mama on one side so far, so we have to milk Sally on the other side once a day. It's good practice for when we get dairy goats; it's not as easy as it looks! 

We suspect that Lorraine is pregnant too. She usually has red twins, so we're eager with anticipation.

Pierce purchased a Nubian/Boer buck named Brandon. He's a cutie! His markings make him look like he's wearing rollerblades and pads. He's also very noisy and stubborn--much stronger and more active than the Angoras. Hopefully we'll be getting a couple of Nubian does this weekend so we can milk in the Spring. Brandon is eager to do his part in this and is driving us all crazy. We have to build another pen this weekend to separate the bucks and does so we don't get a Nubian/Angora mix!

We finally built a shelter. The wooden version turned out to be way too expensive, so we came up with a design made like a greenhouse out of cattle panels and covered with a tarp. It doesn't look that beautiful, but it works well. (Somehow the girls always end up taking care of babies and cooking while the men get to build stuff!) We plan to use the same design for a chicken coop and a small greenhouse.