NoobieChickenLady's Journal - SS Score and Mah Kitteh is HOME!! Yay!

pioneergirl

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So I just got around to reading about the goats.....how cool! I'll be paying closer attention to this, even though my "kids" are a month-ish old, I'm going to use your experience to help me when my time comes.....I will be the goat boss!!

P.S.

Your girls are adorable!
 

noobiechickenlady

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Not to say don't read my info & glean something from it, but I'm such a big fat noobie at this! Maybe I should change my name to Noobiegoatlady :lol:
Thanks! I think they are too :D

So yeah, I got a lot of info from reading peeps on here: freemotion, ohiofarmgirl, plus Fias Co Farms & Waltz Ark

So by popular request, here are a few pictures of the milking stand.

It's about 4' long, 2' wide. I sit on the edge of it, while she scoots all the way over & leans against the house. The ladder that forms the steps was found in a trash heap, the only new lumber on it is the headstock. So what? $7? I traded a roll of poultry netting for that piece, the other lumber was all scrap or given to me. Not bad for a set of blueberries & a roll of wire :D
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Still need to get a latch for the headstock, although the tie-wire is working well so far.
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Lucky says it should work fine!
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My high-tech filtering unit :cool:
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This morning's milking - Quart & a half again :) I spilled a good bit of last night's milking, so only a little more than a pint last night. :( Spilled it trying to snatch it so she wouldn't spill it :rolleyes:
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noobiechickenlady

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That is my favorite post on your blog, except for the story of leaving your corporate job.
The only thing that gave me an edge was learning to milk a cow back in highschool. Those cows were old pros though, and were steady enough to forgive a first timer's tugging & mistakes. That's why they used them to teach us how to milk. Dixie is a owner admitted spoiled brat. Well, not this owner baby, I am THE boss goat :cool:
The first day, when I only got a pint from her and she gave me the evil eye... that's when I remembered your adventure :p
Have fun in town!!

I am the boss goat, I am the boss goat, I am the boss goat!!!

It really does help, PioneerGirl! She's stopped giving me the evil eye. Well, mostly :p
 

noobiechickenlady

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Quart & a half last night, a little more than that this morning. I've gotten her right teat emptied the last two milkings, but haven't cleared her left one so I'm going to really focus on it tonight. She's all lopsided :p I am the boss goat, I am the boss goat, I am the boss goat.
And my hands hurt, right at the base of my thumbs. *ouch*
I have a gallon and a quart of fresh milk in the fridge. I'm thinking Feta :drool

Talk about bartering! I traded 1 day & 2 nights of babysitting three kids for 7 days of yard/farm labor. Woohoo! Even trade if you ask me, 3 extra kids is no easy feat! :lol:

So let's see...
Mow front yard before it rains - Check!
Install new gate where temp fencing is blocking opening to back yard - He's working on it
Wash buckets & transplant maters into them - Check!
Install 15-20 t-posts & electric fence across back yard to divide pasture from yard & keep goats out of yard except for milking/hoof trimming/feeding
Install another 10-15 posts & wire down the middle of this area to divide in half
Dig & amend areas for 10 baby peach trees I was given
Install third line on clothesline (to hide my danties!)
Install deer netting to keep birds off the blackberry bushes (of which there are TONS this year! :celebrate ) I think they are actually dewberries. I don't care, they're tasty.
Finish clearing out mom's wood shed so we can move it to our place
Clean vines off central air unit, just in case
Clean up debris from around yard, roll of newspaper, stuff that's blown off compost pile, odd cat food can granny's dog carried off.
Turn & water compost piles
Weed my new found nettle patch of all the tall stuff BUT the nettles (mwahahaha)
Spread spent potting soil where I want to plant my amaranth, clover, hairy vetch & garlic mustard
Cut down or pull up baby trees on the fenceline
Spread rabbit poop on the raised beds

That ought to keep him busy for the first day at least ;)
 

noobiechickenlady

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Quart & 3/4 this morning, 3.5 lbs. I actually weighed it this morning :) She stood & ate while I completely milked her out, dipped her teats & gave her a brushing. I'm thinking about timing myself, I think I'm getting faster. My hands are for sure less sore.

I got in my new hook-on feeder, mineral feeder, minerals & herbal wormer from Hoegger. Got the mineral feeder installed in the goat shed, the goats ate some of the mineral, but they didn't wolf it down.

We're supposed to get a pretty large storm tonight & tomorrow. I am not looking forward to going out in rain & hail to milk, but you gotta do what you gotta do.

Justin, my yard hand, got sooo much done for us yesterday that I really couldn't complain that he mowed down a lot of my onion patch. I should have marked it instead of just reminding DH that it was there. Oh well, I still have onions, just not as many. Hopefully they will shoot back up, but I don't know.

He & DH installed the gate, mowed, weedeated, weeded the few small weeds that had come up in the raised beds, turned the compost piles & put some compost on the raised beds.
Then I got home, fed & watered the rabbits, chickens & cats, sterlized my stuff & milked Dixie. I spent the next hour outside just enjoying the sunshine & weeded my nettle patch, the onion patch, the blueberries & adding the rabbit & goat poop to my future fruit tree sites.
 
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