A short video, Winnie

Here's Winnie jumping into my arms.  At least I hope this video came through!   Every few years I get one of the babies that likes to do this.  This is the first time one of the girls has done it, usually it's one of the boys.  Now Olive is thinking about doing it,and so is Ruthie.  I might end up with three this year!  They quit as they get bigger and it's uncomfortable for them to be held, which is a good thing!  A full grown goat jumping into my arms would be a bit too much. ☺

I've sold all raw cashmere that I wanted to, now I'm sorting through and bagging up the fleece I'll send off to a mill to be dehaired.  Now I almost wish I hadn't got rid of the machine!  I liked doing my own fleeces, and being able to do them separately.  But, it is such a slow process that that was all I did all summer and fall was dehair cashmere.  This year I will have time for other things, which around this place, there is never a shortage of projects to do!

It's time for my drastic downsizing of the herd again.  Every few years I do that, although this time I'm really downsizing.  Going from 70 some to under 30.  So if anyone wants any quality cashmere goats, get in touch with me.   There are pet quality to breeding stock, including two proven bucks, and one of the prettiest does I have.  I'm developing a smaller line of goats, so all the bigger ones are going.  There are some smaller ones going, too.  A lot of wethers, most of whom are friendly and will be nice pets as well as cashmere producers.  This is going to be hard for me to say good bye to all of them, they are my babies, but our land needs a rest, and so do I.  There are a couple of does with this years' babies on them that are for sale, too.

Rocky and Cloud, my two Turkish Akbash LGDs are wonderful!  Third time's the charm.  They have bonded with the goats, they are guarding well, they are gentle with the babies, and they don't bark unless something is actually on the property and near the goats.  Unlike Nellie, who barks at anything and everything she hears whether it's on our place or not.  I will never get another Great Pyrenees again.  I am sticking with the Akbash from here on out.  It's hard to believe, but Nellie is going to be 10 in July!  Time sure goes by fast.  I still remember the day I got her as a little white fluff ball.
  Dani is going to be 17 on may 17th.  She is really old, but still going strong.  I give her and Nellie both bone broth on their food, and that is really keeping them going.  That stuff is good for pets as well as humans.

Well, I hope this video works, it didn't in the preview, but I hope it does now.  If not, I'll try again.  With Mercury and 4 other planets in retrograde, who knows what will happen. ☺

Kid pics!

 Top photo, cashmere kids, second photo, Bud, one of Lily's kids (dairy).

 Not sure which kids this is, but I love the ear sticking straight up. :-)

 Not sure who this is, either, but there was something really good in that hole.

 Ruthie getting her bottle, 3 times a day now.  She comes running across the yard yelling as soon as she hears me calling her.

There will be more pics soon...

A bit of a break

The kidding is over except for 4 does that are spread out over the next two months!  There are 17 kids.  I've lost two, they just died for some reason.  I don't see anything at all wrong with them..The first one died at 2 days old.  He actually did look like something internal was going on. He didn't move quite right, and he looked a bit different.  The second one was 14 days old and seemingly in perfect health.  He was playing around and doing fine that morning when I fed.  Then I went to town, came home, went out to feed and here he was dead.  Not a hair out of place on him.  Thankfully both were boys and not the girls.  There were 12 boys and only 6 girls born this year, so far. The rest of them seem to be doing quite well.

 Arianna had triplets this year!  I'm having to give the little girl a bottle in the morning, she just isn't quite getting enough milk on her own, her two brothers push her away.  Arianna is not the best mom in the world, either. She's making plenty of milk, she just is mostly rejecting little Ruthie.  She won't let her drink by herself, and she only lets the boys drink for a few seconds.

I've gone and done it.  I joined Facebook again, after a few years of not being on there.  Now I'm trying to figure it all out, like how to join groups, etc.  I've clicked two of the "join group" buttons, but I'm still in the pending mode on them.  I have a business page, Pine Needle Farm Cashmeres and Mountainside Needle Felting, but I don't know if that page shows up on my personal page?  That's why I joined, to promote my business. If you'd like to friend me, that would be great.

We woke up to three inches of snow, but it melted fast once the sun shone this afternoon.  The kids weren't too happy this morning.   They are not big fans of snow, it's cold and wet. ☺ There were lots of baby yells out in the goat pens this morning.

Happy Spring....

A baby day!

This morning at 5:30 I was awoken by a bellowing doe.  Ming was having her kids!  She had twin boys, both are really nice looking, beautiful coloring and cute ears.  Just after that was done, Speckles, the dairy doe was having her twins.  So I ran across the yard to the dairy side of things and watched Speckles have her two.  Actually I got there just after she had the second one.  A boy and a girl. Both are huge and strong, healthy babies.  No wonder she looked so big with those two in there!

Luna had her boy around 2 pm, then Heather had a boy around 3 pm.  Just before feeding time, at 5 pm, Oksana had a boy.  Lots of boys this year!  So far there have been 15 kids born, but I lost one.  Little Oscar died sometime in the night two days after he was born.  I went out to feed in the morning and here he was laying in the spool house dead, with Olive standing beside him.  Bummer!  I don't know what he died from.  He hadn't seemed quite right from the beginning, but I couldn't see anything wrong, he just seemed "off" for some reason.  He must have had something internal going on.  At least Olive is alive and well.  She's a playful kid, more than the other ones, so far.  Out of the 14 live kids, there are 9 boys and 5 girls.  Shades of brown are the dominant color.  As soon as I get pictures of everyone, I'll post them on here.  Now there are 5 more does to go, and it will be all over for this year.  Two more are due this week, then one in late April, mid May and mid June.

Today was a long day!  I should sleep good tonight.  No one is due to kid till Wednesday, so I hope I get a good night's sleep tonight anyway.  I'll have pictures up soon....