A Season of Babies

{This post is only 3+ months after the fact, but hey, who's counting right? Heck, I was amazed to see this blog still in existence! Love the concept of it, totally unlove that there is no time to document all the amazing things the Lord allows us to experience. But I'm not complaining! So grateful for these opportunities.}

As soon as the excitement of the fair season wrapped up, a new excitement was blooming. Birth supplies were ordered, stalls were freshly cleaned and bedded for the newest arrivals who were soon to come.


{Don't these girls all look super excited about becoming moms for the 1st time?}

This was a moment we had waited for with some anxiety but mostly with joy as we passed the time by enjoying the bumps and kicks we could feel in the mama's bellies.


{gracie was on the other side of the gate with treats}


Our first goat due just happened to be our youngest, and our own bottle fed baby, Matilda. We purchased her at three weeks of age and she has been the most mild mannered, sweet little girl. We weren't planning on breeding her so soon but... well, let's just say it doesn't take a whole lot to get a goat pregnant. It happened in a blink and then there she was. A sweet little mama to be. We were just thankful it was with one of her own kind. We are raising two different breeds of dairy goats so we have one buck of each breed. Nubian and Oberhasli.



{our two lovely Nubian ladies with their elegant long ears}


{Matilda, growing wider every day}



So on March 3oth, in the weeist of hours, our barn video moniter let me know it was time. I gathered the troops (and the supplies) and we all sat in the stall gathered around our girl cheering her on as she pushed out her baby boy. What an experience it was! For all of us! I had the honor, I guess you could say, of helping a fellow mother out. Her baby was stuck with one leg bent back so she needed some assistance to get this big boy out of her tiny body. When I was finally able to get him out we were oh so relieved and even though he was a boy, we celebrated with our girl.

{wowzers that hurt!}

I didn't wake Fletch or Maggie up for the birth but when he did finally wake up, we had a big surprise for him.

And boy was he excited!!

I don't know if I've ever seen him smile so big.

{such a good little mama our M is}

{love the tongue!}

In the end, we had 7 babies born on the farm this year. Many, many joys and celebrations, and one huge heartbreak. I'm quickly learning you have to have tough skin to raise goats. It's definitely not easy. Not on the body and not always on the heart. But the love and life lessons we're gaining are by far worth the price.

Meet Lola

{October 2010}
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See Lola grow!



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The final days with our Lola are coming to an end. This definitely is bitter sweet. We knew going into this that we (Colton) were raising a market hog for the fair. The reason? Lessons to be learn, hard earned college money to be made. It has been a LOT of hard work. For us average adults it probably wouldn't be a big deal. And for us who already live on a farm and have to go out and feed twice a day anyway, raising a pig truly doesn't create much more work.

The difference is we adults are not the ones raising her. A nine year old (sometimes lazy) boy has been. Getting him out there at least twice a day to feed, supply fresh water for and the stinkiest of all, clean out a icky muck filled stall has been no easy task. At times he moans and groans about it, especially on those few 30 degree early mornings that we've had. Overall he has learned many lessons in raising her and hopefully created some good memories. According to him, pigs can be very stubborn and a LOT of work! They can be pushy if you don't train them enough and they like to make a mess of their stall, or in other words, be pigs!

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We have been busy helping him prepare his record book, which to be honest has been our least favorite part of this whole thing. In this book he documents all the specifics of his project along with writing a story about it and including photos too (which is my very favorite :) Let's just say the details that the paperwork asks for are even over our heads. But I think we're figuring it all out. On top of this, Colton and Gracie are both showing three chickens each and that requires record books for them as well. Colton said today that he's never done so much writing in all of his life. And he's correct. It was our fault however for waiting until the very last minute to cram it all in. So typical of the Smiths.
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When Lola leaves she will be freeing up a much needed stall which is all in perfect timing. We will use the extra space to allow some very special expecting mamas on our farm to have a safe, cozy, quiet space of their own. We are thrilled beyond words to hopefully (don't count your goats before they hatch, or... you know what I mean) welcome some new goat babies. Looking like it could possibly be early April if my calculations are correct. Woo hoo! We can't wait! I have been doing a lot of research and getting prepared for the big events to come. That is when I'm not helping out with pig or chicken books. :)

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I truly was expecting the end of this project to be super hard for our sensitive little guy. And I'm sure it will be. However, one thing I didn't expect is for him to get so run down from all this work and begin counting down the days until it's over. Maybe just God's own way of making this whole goodbye thing a little easier on his tender heart.

I will absolutely have to think of a big way to reward his hard efforts and keep his mind focused on the prize.

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As for this boy and his pig, they are ready for the fair!

Big Boys are Movin' In!

We were excited to add a few new additions to the farm this week. Actually we purchased these three new goats back in early September but decided not to pick them up from St. Augustine until we returned home from Costa Rica. One thing led to another and life got in the way of us taking a family trip to go get our goats so finally last Friday Josh offered to take off of work and go pick up our new goat friends.
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The family we purchased them from live in the St. Augustine area and the daughter is big into showing her goats. At the show last weekend she took Jr. Grand Champion for her Nubian doe. Now that she is approaching college age they are selling off their prized herd. They mainly raise Nubians and Oberhasli's which I have long been drawn to Ober's. Not only are they elegant and beautiful but I was eager to get to experience their quiet nature and sweet temperament that many have spoken about. I don't know if I ever blogged about it (most likely not since I pretty much gave up blogging) but we were forced to sell our Nubian Gracie who was our family milker due to her loudness. She was obnoxiously loud and our neighbors were becoming our enemies because of her so she had to go. We also sold her younger sister Ruthie along with Gracie because not only was she nearly as loud but she was Gracie's sidekick and rarely left her sisters side. I couldn't bare to separate the two of them so they went to a Jewish family down south who are planning to start up a big goat dairy farm. It deeply saddened me to see them go but at that point in time I knew we didn't have another option. Josh jokingly said we'd have to put bark collars on them if they stayed so that meant it was time for them to go.
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So back to the Ober's, the two that we bought both both came from excellent show and heavy milking lines. The doe's name is Brioche and the bucks is Qwilleron and they both derived from Devonshire farm. Brioche's grandmother Hassida won national champion Ober and Grand Champion Udder and is also the dam (mom) of the highest selling Ober doeling ever sold which went for $4800. I know this is totally more than you care to know about but it is fun to brag about my goats instead of my kids for a change. Also I am learning so much recently about pedigrees and what it can do for your line and I'm just so excited to have a piece of such a great lineage.
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Our Ober Buck Qwill is not so bad himself. His grandmother Nikki is a highly valued Ober who also is a Grand Champion and earned her star milker status and his other grandmother Remote is a Reserve Grand Champion and Reserve Best Udder so this speaks a lot about Devonshire Farm. They produce top notch Obers for sure!

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This is a picture of the previous owner and Qwilleron. He is so big but very gentle.

We also were given the opportunity to buy their Nubian yearling who also came from a great line of show Nubians. His name is Heart Throb but the kids are trying to come up with a good strong nickname for him. Qwilleron is so bold that Heart Throb needs to match it so he can keep up with Qwill's manliness. Heart Throb's grandfather is the well known Extreme Style from My Buddy's Nubians and his sire (dad) Extremist was bred with a gorgeous doe to produce him. I think he'll make a great match for our two Nubian does who are ready to be bred along with any other Nubians that shall come live on our farm in the future.

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Here is Heart Throb's picture taken with his privious owner.

So far so good with the boys. I was slightly hesitant if not scared about having bucks of our own but we did our research and came to realize that if we plan on raising goats for years to come then having our own bucks is going to be the easiest route. By the time you travel to go breed your does along with the stud fee it adds up when you have multiple does. And we are already at six. But the boys have been very well behaved and quiet for the most part and although they would do anything to get into the does territory they keep to themselves in their pasture. We are waiting for signs that the does are in heat and then they can go on dates with their men. I am so excited for babies! If all six happen to breed successfully imagine the little ones that will be hopping around come spring time. As the babe of my own prepares to turn one, I think having some cute needy kids around will help cure me from baby fever.

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Here is a picture of my sweet Brioche. We started calling her Brie for short but Brioche is rubbing off on me and it's a fun name to say.

She has proven to be true to her breed and is definitely the quietest goat on our farm along with Qwill who I don't think I've heard make a peep yet. She is also as gentle and sweet as can be.

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A picture of the handsome Qwilleron. The kids love his long beard!

Bucks are very funny though. You have to really know what you're getting into before you get them. They are not pets, as they can't be trusted during their breeding season called rut. This season usually lasts from August through January. Even the kindest bucks have known to cause harm to their owners due to their strong desire to breed with something, as crazy at that sounds. They pee on their heads to emit a strong odor that the does find irresistible. Thankfully they are kept at the very back of our 5 acres so we don't smell them unless we get close. So far they've been as gentle as we could hope for and their previous owner said they never had issues with these two so hopefully that will stick. But still knowing what we know we don't allow the kids to go back in their area and we too take caution when doing so.

Brioche fits nicely in our herd of does. They took to her right away and she is so gentle and sweet that she doesn't stir up any issues. Our spotted Nubian Mary Rose is the queen of the herd. She keeps everyone in line and often pushes them around.

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The sire (father) of our three Alpine triplets was an Ober. Oberhasli used to be in the same category as Alpine until it became a recognized independent dairy breed in 1980. We are going to breed them with Qwill our Ober and although they are registered goats they will be a mixture of Alpine and Ober. I think they are about as gorgeous as any goat gets and they will make lovely family milkers. They all have such sweet and friendly personalities and out of all of our goats they are the most loving by far.

The Three B's

We have new B's on our farm. B's as in Blair, Bonnie and Bliss, our three new Alpine triplets. We were fortunate to meet an awesome lady near Alachua who has been raising Alpine's and Oberhasli goats for many many years. She was an incredibly neat lady! And her farm. AH! I could go on vacation there and be in heaven. It was GORGEOUS! She had a beautiful log cabin set high upon a hill on many, many acres filled with the most amazing shade trees I'd ever seen. I was nearly drooling. This lady was like a Mrs. Dr. Doolittle. I'm sure she understands what animals are saying when they talk. Her goats are so very loving and I could sense a state of peace among her farm the moment we stepped out of the truck.

The sad part of the story is that she has a bad back that's getting worse as she ages. And her sister is very sick with cancer so she is leaving her farm for some time to go take care of her. So for these reasons she can no longer care for her goats and this is where we step in. She gave us an amazing deal on the three youngest members of her farm family. Three triplet girls whose mom died of Ketosis after she delivered them. What is Ketosis? This gets sort of scientific but it is the result of the high energy demand of multiple fetuses in late pregnancy. Does carrying triplets have a 240% greater energy requirement and when this demand exceeds the supply, fat is metabolized into glucose. The kids health is secured at the expense of the dam and because of this her health fails. To complicate matters, multiple fetuses produce more waste products, which leads to the doe becoming toxic if she does not flush them from her system. So these three girls were bottled fed from the get go and think that us humans are their mama. They adapted to us very quickly and seem to feel right at home on our farm.


So let's meet the three B's shall we?

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First we have Blair. Meaning: Child of the fields. Pretty fitting I'd say.

Blair is strinkingly beautiful. I love the strong contrast of darks and lights on her.

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Next we have Bonnie which means "pretty"

A note about Bonnie. She is the calmest, quietest one but she is always the first to get in front of the camera.

Yes Bonnie, we think you're pretty

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And last but not least is Bliss which means joy. And that she is. She is such a joy and is so pretty as her white self prances around the pasture.

These girls certainly are loved.

I think we might have a goat whisperer of our own in the works.

Either way we make sure they know they're well loved.