Hello
I haven't posted for a while because I had a nasty virus on my computer and I have to take it to the computer shop to get rid of it. That cost a pretty penny. I definately need to learn more about computers. Just a FYI for all of you on dial up-the computer guy put the following antivirus on my computer that is supposed to not us as much memory/ram whatever as Norton and the like:ESET NOD32 Antivirus. They charge $50 for it.

Wow! How things change in such a short time. Just last year at this time we were talking about getting chickens and goats. Now we have a flock of chickens (26), 2 turkeys and 11 goats. It appears that one of the does we boght from firefly will be kidding sometime this fall-she is getting larger around the middle and it looks and feels like she is getting milk in her bag. I think this is her first and ours so pray for us and I am sure that I will need some info. If it stops raining today I will take a pic of her so maybe some of you can comment.

We have moved the young bucks we have to their new pen but they still really miss the others. I do believe the Nubian buck we have is getting interested in the does-so we may have some girls getting ready to bred. ( can you tell I am new at this ).

We just got the angoras sheared, by hand, we will be looking for some electric shears next year or some to do it for us. My back is still aching! I did enjoy the process and now they seem more attached to us humans, even our little Jasper (he is a wild child) is coming up for a rub on the nose.

The little buck that we got from Jen is growing and is so friendly and oblivious of the does at this point thankfully.

Does anyone use bedding in their chicken coop (it is a pen in our barn). What do you use and where do you get it? We have dirt floor and need to put something on it.

Take care everyone!!!

Hi Patty

Sorry to hear about your computer, we had the same thing happen a few months ago and we ended up having to buy a new computer. I don't know what is wrong with these people that write viruses etc, it sure would be a lot nicer to be online if there wasn't that problem. Thanks for the information about this other antivirus software.

I bet you are excited about the new goat babies you will have born on your farm. I am glad to hear the buckling is doing well and is still friendly. He had the best personality of any of them born this year I think. We just bought a buck to replace our red & white buck Chance and I sure wish he had that type of personality. He is as wild as can be and I hope we can get him tamed down before he gets any bigger. He is not quite 7 months old yet and it is about all we can do to handle him, so we are working on taming him down before he gets any bigger!

How many Angoras did you shear? That sounds like a big job by hand! I am not sure what would be the best bedding for your chickens, I would think straw would work ok, but maybe someone who actually has chickens can chime in and offer some advice?

Haven't got a chance to get anything much done outside today, it has been raining pretty much all day here.

Good morning! I decided last night before I can truly get my house organized the way I want it I need to get all my "goat stuff" organized. I started out with one of those plastic bin type plastic tier 4 drawer organizers from Wal-Mart, but somehow the goat stuff has spread, to just about every part of the house. I don't know where to put all of it anymore and it needs organized. How do you all organize your goat stuff?

Snow went to a new, great home the other day. She was bought by a very nice lady. I have two very nice daughters out of Snow that I can get percentage papers on so it was time for Snow to find a new home. (Because I just can't keep them all). I don't think it will seem like she is gone too much, one of her daughters who is named "Snow Angel" looks so much like her and acts just like her they were starting to get hard to tell apart for Jamey.

Got the last buckling castrated today. He was born in June and quite a bit later in the year than the others. We got a little bit of rain today, frankly I am tired of the rain and I wish things would get a chance to dry out a bit. I posted some pictures of my goats in the photo section today.

I complained TOO soon about the rain yesterday...it rained pretty much ALL DAY here today.

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Hi Leah, see you finally pulled out the canner What did you can?? I put up 9 pints of green beans that a friend gave my daughter, and then put up 14 pints of corn we bought at the Emporia Farmer's Market Yesterday.
I have done quite a bit of canning--from ham to dried beans, strawberry jam, apple butter, apple jelly, peach jam, plus more green beans and corn for myself. My daughter doesn't have a PC and I have two of them--one that is almost as old as the daughter is--over 30+ years. It is a big old heavy thing with the pressure gauge--mainly for canning quart jars of stuff. The other one I bought this Spring and is mainly for canning 1/2 pint or pint jars of stuff.

I'm glad to see the cooler weather as the Chiggers really got to me this year and then the grasshoppers have been a real problem lately. Been a tough year for my goats, but hope next year will be better. I also have a new Boer Buck that will infuse some new blood into some of my does this coming Spring.
Have a great weekend.

Seminole Wind

Hi SW! Sounds like you have been busy! When do we get to see pictures of your new buck?

As soon as I can get my digital camera to co-operate and let me download the pics of him. I got him from Debbie Whittle. He is one hunk of a buck--even at 5 months old. Will also try to get new pics of my Male GP LGD. He is a moose now. His name is JAKE.

Have a guy coming next weekend to see about building doors for the big old red barn to keep the snow from blowing in on my hay. We had underground electricity put in a couple of weeks ago to the barn as there was only one wire running from the well pump house to the barn for electricity. We had a breaker box with 8 breakers put in with 2 electrical plug in outlets on the west side of the barn where the hay and feed is, plus wired in three plug ins on the east side--two over in the shop and one where the pole light is plus an off/on switch for the pole light. No more drop cords strung all over the place and running a risk of another barn fire-which would take out most of my hay for the winter. Will still have to run a drop cord out for the stock tank heaters, but with the new breaker box and 20 amp breakers, won't have to worry about a short-circuit.

Will be working on a new goat barn over the winter. Hopefully it will be 16' x 30'--just a tad bigger than the one over at the mini-farm near Abilene. That one is 16' x 24'.
Anyway, Have a great weekend. At least with the rain and wet ground, I am stuck in the house an trying to clean it up. Need to build some shelves in one of the spare bedrooms so I can take all the stuff I have canned out of the boxes so I can see how much of what I have, and what I still need to get, cause I think things are going to get a tad bit touchy after the elections and into the first part of next year. Very uncertain times we are now a-living in and getting more so every day.

Seminole Wind near Rainy Emporia, KS

Sounds like you are getting your new place set up nice for goats! I just love the way that big red barn looks from the picture on your website.

Emma (one of our goats) is in heat, it is always easy to tell with her because she is always very vocal. She has been standing by the gate telling the whole world about it since about 7am this morning.

We need to start thinking about getting blood drawn on the new buck so we can have him tested. I may have to call in reinforcements and have Jamey's friend Shane come by and help hold him though. He is so strong and so wild (the buck not Shane) he is hard to handle. The milkstand won't work because they can move their head around too much in it for blood drawing and it just makes it more difficult. I am going to be working with this buck to get him more manageable before he gets any bigger for sure!

Hey Patty, Mary suggested hay as a good bedding for chickens.

With the rain yesterday I wasn't able to get much done outside. So far no rain today so I am hoping to get some outside chores done today. Hope everyone has a great Friday and a wonderful weekend ahead of them.

Is it October 8th already? Boy this year sure has seemed to fly by! We are in the process of fencing off more pasture for the goats. We only planned on fencing off an adittional 5-6 acres but yesterday when we figured up the path we had cleared for the fence it was a lot larger area than we thought and will be closer to 10-12 acres. That part of the pasture is so over-grown it was kind of hard to keep track. I am avoiding t.v right now, I am so tired of all the politics on every news channel and all the bad news about the economy. Dym the Nubian was in heat yesterday and the day before, I can always tell with her because even though she is a good 300 feet from the house I got to listen to her high pitched, ear grating...I need a boyfriend now, yells all day long. I was about ready to throw her in with the buck just to shut her up, but I want to wait a few more weeks to breed any of them to avoid kidding in too bad of weather next year. She is quiet today, thank goodness. What has everyone else been up too?

Jenn, I'm not sure why but I do not get a email when something is posted, I guess I need to check my settings. I would check in more if I got an alert there was a topic going on.
Anyway, Chicken bedding, we got a paper shredder and I used shredded news paper, works nice keeps things clean and it's free, then the old stuff goes to the compost pile for the garden.

Canning, I did pears, apples, peaches and a couple of tomatoes sauces. I ended up freezing the green beans. I really did not plant as much as I should of to put up beans and my tomatoe plants went funky on me with all the rain.

I finally got a milk goat and now am enjoying playing with making cheese. I am using the recipes Southard posted with vinager and the cream cheese one, they are delicious and very easy. I believe I'm ready to move up to a pressed cheese, so I'm looking for the easiest for beginnners cheese to try.
I've passed out the cheese recipe 3 times already just from letting someone taste it. I mix some garlic powder, salt and dried basil with it.

I've got a myspace place I'm blogging on, mostly to keep track of my favorite recipes for my children and my forgetful self. It's at starhaven26, if anyone would like to see it.

Who all will be at the KMGA sale? I plan on going I need a milking stand for my new "best girl!"
Leah

Hi Leah! Congrats on the new dairy goat! How did the sale go?

I will check out your myspace page, a friend of mine talked me into starting one awhile back but I never did much with it, I have been using blogger, the link is below my signature.

We did not plant a garden this year, but nobody else I have talked to had any luck with tomatos this year either due to the weather.

The sale went o.k I didn't buy anything, just was not in the buying mood. Which apparently changed not long after I got home and counted my does and realized I was down to 12 breeding does. I'm not breeding any of my yearling I'm holding them all back until late spring.
So I am seriously in the market for Spotted boers If anyone knows of anyone selling ones, I'm looking. I found one in Texas, but hate to drive that far for one goat.
Also this came across one of my groups today that I thought was amazing. I continually have people ask me when a horse is too old, or a goat or any animal for that matter. It all depends on gentics and how you manage them. This is an amazing example of a horse that obivously has a good gene pool behind it and an excellent owner who has managed him well.
Here's something to consider if you think your horse is too old to
compete.

"Half-Arabian Elmer Bandit trotted under the finish line to set a
new competitive trail mileage record of 20,720 miles, 201 days
after his 37th birthday. The North American Trail Conference event
took place Oct. 25-26 at Kanopolis State Park near Lindsborg, Kan. "

May be all be this healthy in our elder years!!!

That is amazing! My old horse Shiloh never looked or acted her age. We don't know how old for sure she was but the vet that looked at her teeth right after we bought her said "She would never see 20 again" and I had her 10 years before she died and that was not related to her age but a twisted intestine according to the vet.

Have you found any spotted Boers yet? I will let you know if I see any for sale.

Hey Jenn,
Yes I'm on the "spotted boer" hunt. I've got one in Texas I'm waiting on being weaned I'll be getting and the several bucks we are looking at. I need to find some straw if you hear of anyone that has some. How are things your way?
Leah