Life is tough

 I’d love to say that our farm is thriving but right now we are on a hiatus from breeding. I (Deanna) have gone back to school and work and Susie is working and planning to move out and is. It going to be in a place to continue being involved. 

I am left wondering if I am prepared to continue on. For many reasons, including health challenges I cannot figure out. What to do? There is a part of me that would love to continue with one or two goats to milk and continue to make soaps. The other part of me can see just using powdered goat milk to continue soap making. No chores, no throwing bales onto and off a truck. No early morning feeding and milking before work or school.

I miss my goats terribly ( only a retired Chatty and her buddy are left). And I love love love making soaps. I guess I’m just in a holding pattern while I decide next steps.

It's been a really long time since I've posted here.  NOT that our farm hasn't been doing anything, it has but I just have been so busy I've not had time to post.  PLUS, I cannot figure out how to use all the new technology (smart phone) that I use for pics to post on here (on the positive side, I did figure out how to use it on facebook so you are ALWAYS welcome to check out what our farm is doing on our Facebook page
CBF Nigerian Dwarf Goats.)
So here is our update in a nutshell.
*This year we were down to 4 does (all Nigerian) and all were bred.  We had 11 babies, mostly does! Thank God!

* We are in our 3rd year of milk testing and almost all of our does have now earned their milk stars in both registries.  Except those who are 1 yo and younger of course!

*Susanna was given her own starter herd by a very good friend so we welcomed Alethia Farm Posey's Flower Girl, Alethia Farm Over the Moon (Moonie), and Seldom Herd Jammy Dodger.  Also I now own Proctor Hill Farm Kingspear.

* We kept 1 doeling this year out of a doe we got on a trade - her dam was an excellent milker but lacked udder attachments, we hope this kid has improvements in that area, and milks as well as her dam did.

* Last Straw Chattahoochee is now SGCH/MCH Last Straw Chattahoochee *M *D VEEV 88. So very proud of our girl!

*We traded a doe kid to a herd that we sold goats to a few years back for a doe kid out of some of our original stock and some new blood. She should come sometime in late fall.  No name yet of course but we'll let you know when she is born!

* We think we've sold all of our kids and are starting to think about the upcoming breeding season.
Here is our tentative breeding schedule:
Posey will be bred to Moonie in Nov for April kids
Lily will be bred back to Kingspear in Nov for April kids
Night will be bred to Kingspear for May kids
Jammy will possibly be bred to Moonie for May kids
Chatty will be bred Kingspear for Sept/Oct kids
Dickory will be bred to Moonie for Sept/Oct kids.
(Hershey X Chaco doeling) to ?? for Sept/Oct kids

God is so good and we are more excited than ever for the changes we are making and the new blood we've brought in - cannot wait to see what happens next year.

Right now, all the babies are born that are going to be born are here and now sold.

So life has slowed a bit and turned to MILK.  

In case you haven't figured it out yet, CBF is all about the milking! 

We are Currently on 305 day milk test and things are going smashingly well. 

The Lord has blessed us with 4 great milkers (Ask and you Shall Receive!)

I have a 5th girl in milk, Aaron's Kinder but we are currently letting her dam 

raise her beasties.  They are getting huge.

She doesn't like being away from them at all and I couldn't handle all the crying plus, I 

don't really need the milk (as you can see above - that's 1 milking worth of milk for us) 

In case you are wondering where the girls are at:

Marina (FF) - 215#/9lb protein/12 lb BF at 84 days fresh

Chatty (2nd) 111#/5lb protein/8# BF at 37 days fresh

Dickory (3rd)   313#/14lbs Protein/ 18# BF at 80 days fresh

Lily(FF)  - 146#/5lb Protein/7# BF at 63 days fresh.

This coming week will be our verification test.

I am really looking forward to some stars here this year. 

I think we will have a few (Chatty already has hers from her first year so the pressure is off of her but we

are working toward getting her a JuJu award in ANDDA this year. She almost made it. 

Again, a lot has happened since the last time I posted.  The last post I did was just prior to our Favorite doe, Chattygiving birth.  She was supposed to have nearly 1 month left before kidding. SURPRISE! 

She kidded on April 8,2013 with triplets ......19 days early.  

Now, I've always heard they wouldn't be viable born that early but I am very happy to say that 

out of the triplets, 2 are alive and doing great!  

The two kids were so small and weak they could barely even stand for about the first 5 days. We 

brought them in and bottle fed them.  

They are now nearly 2 months old!  

I cannot believe it - they are still my miracle babies.  I will be a little sad this week as

CBF ST Lady Godiva AKA Diva (seen above) will be heading to Arizona to her new home 

with Earl, Biscuit (from Deb Wood) and some other 2 month old kids from Sunset Plains.

CBF ST Buckeye has gone to Valley Flowers as a future herdsire!  

I am also happy to say that while Chatty is not milking what she did last year as a FF because 

of the rough start, she's still milking very well (better than our 2 FF does) 

Very pleased. Her and Dickory are our top 2 producers right now. 

Thank you LORD for these little blessings! 

This year we decided to add to our little herd.  My husband has been wanting for a long time, some meat goats. I wasn't really all that enthused, especially not if it meant Boers, because I'm not fond of Boers.

I did not want Fainters (I know, I'm sounding hard to please aren't I???) 

and I wanted to make sure they came from tested herds.  

For the past 3 years I've been trimming hooves for Serena Kinders in Tome 

and decided, If I'm adding a meat goat - a Kinder it will be

So we bought a lovely doe named Cleopatra (Cleo for short) bred to Top Gun (aka Gunner) 

to begin our own little meat herd.  

Cleo and Gunner gave us 3 lovely kids - 2 bucks, and 1 doe.  

So we have (in picture order) Whopper, Junior, and last but not least, 

Bella who hubby is keeping.  

For those of you not familiar with Kinders, they are a cross between Nubians and Pygmy's (yes, really!!) 

for a nice, easy to keep, dual purpose goat.  They have rich creamy high butterfat milk.

It's pretty exciting to see what God will do with this new adventure.  I think we got in at an opportune 

time as apparently the interest in Kinders are growing and we have it on good authority we 

bought from one of the BEST herds in America!!!

I forgot about this cute little guy - This is Camellia and Gizmos brother, Buckingham. 

He's going to go up to Farmington area of NM.  He will be going with another 

local wether, Pan.  So exciting to know they are all going to such good homes!

What a blessing!!!!

More baby updates!  This little cutie pie went to a elderly daycare center with another tiny doe 

They are now treasured pets and he has a new name - Gizmo!!!!  SO CUTE!  

I"m glad this little guy got to have such a neat home where he will be loved on 

all day long!!!!

Zane and Zach, Dickory's two remaining boys will be leaving the 18th for their new 

home in Clovis NM.  Their new family is very excited to get them and I'm thrilled 

that the boys are going to such a great home as well!!!  

This is my new little buck - Lazy R Ranch Kosuke!  I love this little boy more and more every day. 

He's so long and wide.  I cannot wait to shave him and see what's under there but I love him fuzzy so not sure that will happen any time soon.  We are waiting for him to start acting bucky - but for now he's keeping all the other babies company!  At least when everyone leaves, he will still have the Kinder kids to keep him company.