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....

Kidding season has started!

 Here's Frosty, he was born on March 13th to Mandy.  Then Wilma had Winnie on the 15th.  Both of them are doing really well.  They are so cute.

 Then Oreo had her twins, Oscar and Olive, on Easter Sunday.  They are doing well, considering that

it is snowy and cold out again.  They get chilled every time they come out of their little spool house to eat and move around.  Oreo is a good mom though, and is taking pretty good care of them.  I've had to give all three does some parsley to slow down the milk flow a bit.  Everyone is doing fine now.  Now the real fun begins.  there are 8 does all due in the same 3 days!  Hope they don't all go at the same time, I don't think I could handle that. :-)

I've started the annual spring clean up around here.  It's scary sometimes what shows up as the snow melts away.  It's all gone now except out in the woods in spots.  Well, we will probably wake up to a little bit of white in the morning.

I'm almost done with the combing already.  It's rather strange not having the dehairing machine now.  I'm going to have to send it off to be dehaired.  Not sure where yet.  Anyone have any suggestions?  Mills seem to come and go pretty often, so I don't even know for sure right now who is in business still.  I haven't been paying attention to that since I had the machine and was doing my own.  Guess I'll have to do some research on it now.

Well, that's it for now.  Happy Spring!  There will be more kid pictures as they come along.

Revised all that's left

I took the big multi-ounce skeins and re-skeined them into smaller more affordable ones.  Each one will make at least a nice pair of wrist warmers, or scarf, cowl, etc.   The purple skeins are still not showing their true color, which is a deep, vibrant, royal purple color.  I tried all different kinds of settings on my camera, and it still isn't showing the true color.   It's so pretty and the yarn is so soft!

I'm still waiting for Wilma to have her kid.  She's showing the signs of eminent kidding, tail is loose, ligaments are soft, udder is full, but nothing.  Tomorrow is John's birthday and I'll bet she will have it then.  He could care less about that, while I've been wanting a kid born on my birthday for 14 years.  The irony of it all.  It won't happen this year, either, none of the does are due anywhere near my birthday. Oh well, such is life....
 
Yesterday I strung out the hose to the water buckets and troughs for the first time.  No more bucket brigades!!  My arms and shoulders can get a rest now. ☺

The first week in April is going to be a busy one.  Most of the does are due to kid that week.  The dairy girls are, too.  Fresh milk again!!  Although since I leave the kids on their mom for 3 months, I won't be getting a lot, but any amount is good.  I usually get quite a bit the first couple of weeks (after the first week when it's still colostrum and her hormones are adjusting and the milk tastes awful) then once the kids start growing well, it drops down a lot.  Since I will have three that I'm milking this year, I'll have plenty of it anyway.  I have found a really good way to freeze the milk, too.  I use a vacuum sealer and those heavy bags for it, to seal the milk in.  I have to put the sealer up on an upside down jelly roll pan to get it higher than the bag, then put a half gallon of milk in the bag, (the amount I use to make kefir with) lay it on it's side, holding the opening up so it all doesn't spill out.  I put it in the sealer, gently push the air out, and seal it.  Then into the freezer.  The milk doesn't separate when thawed like it does when I freeze it in plastic jugs like distilled water jugs.  Plus the bags don't take up nearly as much room as the jugs do.  It's a good thing all the way around.

This coming Saturday is the Log Cabin Spin in over in Couer de' Alene (sp?) Idaho that I really, really want to go to.  But, with three does due this week sometime, two of them are due on the 18th, I doubt I'll get to go again this year.  Maybe next?  I've wanted to go for quite a few years now, and it seems there are always kids being born then.  Next year I am going to make triple sure there aren't any does bred for that time, and everything will be in order so I can finally go!   I'm not totally ruling it out for this year just yet, but it's a small chance that I'll get to go.

I hope everyone that has the daylight savings time set their clocks ahead last night.   I think I'll go take a short power nap to catch up on that lost hour ☺..........  

These are all that's left.

These are the last remaining skeins of PNF Cashmeres hand spun yarn for this last harvest.  Each skein will make anything from a pair of wrist cuffs, to a scarf or cowl.  The two little skeins will each easily make a pair of wrist cuffs.  I'll list the prices and who's fleece they are:
The dark colored skein is from Mandy, it is so soft,  there are 2.3 oz and 214 yards. $96  A nice luxurious scarf or cowl can be made from it.  Mandy is the sweetest goat towards people, but she is quite ornery to other goats!
The off-white skein on top is from Wilma, it has 1.7 oz 160 yards and is $71.  A scarf can be made out of this skein.  Wilma is my little misfit goat.  She is small, and doesn't seem to be friends with anyone in the herd. She is going to have a baby any day, so at least she will have company now.
Below Wilma's is Misty, it's 2.4 oz and 190 yards for $100.  Misty is just one of the crowd it seems.  She doesn't stand out and tries to get along with everyone, although she can be pushy when she wants to.
The skein at an angle to the side of the little skeins is Fiddle at 2 oz 216 yards for $84.  This is Fiddle's kid fleece.  He's a buck, so the only fleece I'll ever get to use off him is this one, he's a mature boy now and stinks to high heaven.  I'll never be able to use another fleece off him.  Hopefully he will throw nice kids with his kind of fleece.  It's soft!  The kids being born this year are his first.  
The little skein on top is Sara at 1.1 oz and 89 yards for $46.  Sara is a dainty goat, and Misty's mom.  She is one of the few true white goats that I have.  Wrist cuffs can easily be made from this skein.  Oh so soft and comfortable!
Cherry and Chocolate are twins, this is their kid fleece, it's really soft!  .7oz and 79 yards for $29,  These two are the biggest pains at feeding time.  They have to be right there in the wheelbarrow as I'm trying to throw the hay out to everyone.  They are cute!
Heather has the biggest skein coming in at 3.4 oz and 274 yards for $142.  She is close to the top of the pecking order in the herd, and if you happened to see Santa's in the Barn on TV this  past holiday season, the goats used were mine.  Heather was the one who looked at the camera when the one Santa said they were ornery. :-)  She can be very pushy at times.  She's nice to people though. Just think of the generous, luxurious scarf you could make out of this, and it's so soft, you'll never want to take it off!
  The prices might seem high, but if you stop to consider the cost of feeding them for a year, the time it takes to care for them every day, plus combing the cashmere off, washing, dehairing and spinning it, this is a bargain!  I do love my goats and I feel so blessed to have the job that I do!