Tag: raising goats

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Latest From High Reaches

Planning Ahead

So much is said about living in the now, appreciating what you see, feel, smell around you in the moment. That’s great up to a point. However, if you raise livestock or crops, planning ahead is essential.

goat coats keeping kids warm
If I want March kids, the does get to visit with Augustus in October. Part of planning ahead is to have the kids born when the weather is better. It doesn’t always work well as the goat coats on these kids of my Nubian doe High Reaches Drucilla say this March was a bit cold. Part of planning ahead is having the goat coats clean and ready just in case.

Livestock Planning

For a few years I ran a commercial rabbitry. There were around 120 does in my barn. These were roughly divided into eight sections. Why?

Gestation for a rabbit is four weeks. Weaning of baby rabbits is four weeks. The only income for a commercial rabbitry is from the sale of those baby rabbits, you guessed it, four weeks later.

Every week I bred some does, put nest boxes in for as many others, weaned babies for that many. If I didn’t keep a schedule, my rabbits went hungry.

It’s the same for other livestock. My goats have a gestation of five months. If I don’t breed in October, I have no kids to sell in the spring for money to put hay in the barn.

Planning ahead for Chinese cabbage
Napa cabbage is surprisingly cold hardy. However, cabbage worms love it. I was a bit late, but mine is wrapped with voile. The garden tubs work well for greens like this one, bok choi, peppers, eggplant and green onions among others. These seeds went in during August, so the cabbage will be ready to eat in November.

Raising Crops

Although I am only a homesteader, the same rules apply for farmers. The summer may be winding down and the summer crops with it, but spring will come again. The garden must be ready to plant then.

As a homesteader, I plant spring, summer and fall crops. January is the month to start cabbage and leeks. The end of February is time for peppers and tomatoes. August is time to plant turnips, spinach and greens along with broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage.

Without planning ahead for these deadlines, my garden won’t put food on my table and in my freezer. The full freezer is sure comforting in the fall.

a section of my Ozark creek
One of the joys of living out on this property is going walking up on the hills, into the ravines or along the creek. The same walks are never boring as the places change as the weather and seasons change.

Enjoying the Now?

Standing in the barn door as my goats eat their grain, I look out over the pasture to the far hill. A breeze ruffles my hair. Birds flit by or stop on a branch to scold the cat.

Even though I spend a lot of time planning ahead, enjoying the now is important. It’s what makes homesteading special.

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GKP Writing News

Wonderful Words

English is a hard language to learn. At its most basic it is a Germanic language using a Latin rule set. What saves the language is all the wonderful words it embraces.

Those words come from so many places. A large number are based on Latin. Anglo Saxon words take over for many basic names.

Then words come from all over the world, moving into the vocabulary. People make up words that become popular. Words like laser, sonar, snafu form from initials.

Inspiration for wonderful words
Goats can be a nuisance at times. They mean work many times. Their personalities and looks make those things inconsequential.

Writers Mine English Vocabulary

I suppose not all writers go looking for that perfect word, the one that describes a situation more perfectly than the common word. For me that is a waste of the treasure trove of wonderful words at my disposal.

Start with a color word like red. If you read the word red, what do you picture? Every reader can picture a different red which may not matter. If it does, red is not the right word. Perhaps auburn, crimson, brick, fire engine, rusty, blood or others would be better choices, make the reader see what the author sees.

Words Have Sounds

It’s snowing. It better not in August, but perhaps the book is set in December. I know snow comes in many forms and each has its own sound. Icy snow falling at low temperatures has a swishing, sharp sound. Warmer temperatures bring a soft, sibilant sounding snow. Close to freezing temperatures brings a snow that plops.

Alliteration is fun too both for writing, reading and speaking. Goats gallop gaily. Saanens step softly. The eight wait.

cover of "For Love of Goats" by Karen GoatKeeper
Increase your vocabulary and improve your pronunciation with this book. You might even have a few laughs. Get a free eBook copy from Smashwords with coupon code P93KK.

For Love of Goats

I love the sounds of all those wonderful words. I grew up saying tongue twisters. That is the basis of this book about some of the lighter sides of goats.

Each letter of the alphabet has a page of alliteration, tongue twisters or homonyms. Each will enlarge your vocabulary and improve your pronunciation.

The free eBook copy of this book is available through August 31, 2024, from Smashwords with coupon code P93KK. If you enjoy the book, please let others know by leaving a review on the book page or on Amazon or Goodreads.

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GKP Writing News

Nubian Goats Are Loud

It’s breeding season for my goats and I’m having a hard time remembering why I wrote “For Love of Goats”. Nubian goats are loud and breeding season is an excuse to be extra loud.

Just typing Nubian goats are loud doesn’t begin to say how loud they can be. I found out early.

Nubian buck watching for his does
Nubian buck High Reaches Augustus neglects eating during breeding season. He spends most of his time outside standing on top of the goat gym watching the pastures to see where the does are. This is when a buck smells giving people the impression goats smell bad. Only the bucks during breeding season smell bad.

Jennifer

My parents had moved to northwest Arkansas. I’d stayed behind in California until, coming home from work one night, I had an accident. Suddenly I needed to come home to recover and get back on my feet again.

Being stranded over twelve miles from town with nothing to do was frustrating. My parents had a few goats and goats are cute.

Sandy had a little doe kid. We made friends. Goat kids are demanding. When I walked the quarter mile down to the mailbox, I could hear Jennifer calling me.

Milking Time Lately

If I have this correct, the other morning Pamela, Lydia, Drucilla and Opal were all in season. They announced this loudly, continuously. Augustus put on his best display blathering and stomping.

After milking, when the goats finally went out the gate, Opal proved again that Nubians are loud. She bellowed off and on all day from pastures near and far. Augustus answered every bellow.

Maybe it’s a good thing our nearest neighbors are over a mile away.

Two Nubian goats are loud
Out in the pasture Nubian does Rose and Drucilla are looking over toward where Augustus stands. They should be eating some of the food surrounding them. But, it’s breeding season and they are in season.

Breeding Season

In colder places Nubians are like the Swiss breeds with their breeding season being the same as for deer. In the Ozarks Nubians will breed all year, although the bellowing is reserved for the fall season.

The does cycle for a couple of days about every three weeks. Since I prefer to breed the few I still breed in October, all of my does will continue to prove Nubian goats are loud for several more rounds.

Perhaps I will sit down and read some of the fun sayings and stories in “For Love of Goats” to remind myself why I put up with breeding season every year.

Get a free eBook copy of “For Love of Goats” at Smashwords with coupon code P93KK.

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GKP Writing News

Plotting Goat Shows

People seem to love showing off things and animals. Goats are no exception which means there are goat shows.

These events occur in Dora’s Story. Emily’s mother wants the recognition of winning them. The girls want to take part as members of their 4-H club. There are two big shows close to them and they attend both.

using goat shows for plotting goat shows
This is an old picture from the first Arkansas state goat show in 1981. The class is for Nubian doelings. Note the whites then the official wear for those showing goats.

Why Have Goat Shows?

I only took my goats to the local county shows. I led a couple of 4-H goat Projects and the shows were part of this.

We held the shows for several reasons. One was for the members to show off their goats. More importantly the judges could help them recognize the strong and weak points of their goats.

The public was the other big reason for holding these little shows. Many people know little about goats and many times what they know is wrong.

This isn’t their fault. Goats are fun to make fun of. Brush goats do tend to have long goatees and big horns. Goats do butt each other and other things. Horns are a great way to tear delicious bark off of trees.

Buck goats (male goats in the dairy goat world) do reek during mating season. Does (female goats in the dairy goat world) do not.

If produced properly, goat milk tastes good. It is also better balanced for human consumption than cow’s milk.

Phelps County Fair goat show
Phelps County Fair has a goat show. Back around 2006 most of the goats shown were dairy goats. This is an Oberhasli sometimes called a Swiss Alpine. Note the show clip and how the goat is set up with front feet across from each other, back feet set directly under the tail and the collar used to keep the goat’s head up, but not straining.

Dora’s Story Goat Shows

The shows in this novel are much bigger shows. I have attended several of these bigger shows as a spectator.

These shows have several goat breeds and several classes for each breed. There are showmanship classes for young goat owners.

In plotting these shows for the novel, I had to list all of the classes, all of the goats in each of the classes and the names and ages of the owners of these goats. This took at least a page of notes.

To complicate this, the same shows occur annually. They show up more than once in the novel. That meant aging the owners and their goats, adding some new owners and goats.

Much of this material was not used in the novel. Emily and her sister showed Nubians and grades only. But they did talk to many of the other owners.

Novel background notes are like that. The notes make writing the novel easier and the result better. But that doesn’t mean all of the notes appear in the novel.

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Latest From High Reaches

Making Feta Goat Cheese

Making feta goat cheese hasn’t been on my list of things to do for years. It wasn’t supposed to be on the list now.

There has been a special request. I went hunting for my recipe and dredging my memory for how to make this cheese.

Special Supplies

I’ve made several changes in the regular feta recipes I’ve read. The set curds do need to have the whey pressed out. This can be with a cheese press. I use my hands and a colander.

There is a special feta cheese starter. I’ve never used it. Instead I will use buttermilk from the market. It works well for making feta goat cheese, although it changes the flavor a little.

The other supplies are the same as for other cheeses I make: a whisk, a long spatula, a stirring spoon, a stainless steel pot, stainless steel colander, vegetable rennet. Canning salt is used too, but as a brine. I dump a couple of cups of salt into a gallon jug and fill it with water. This is enough for two or three batches of cheese.

My Recipe

My pot holds about a gallon and a half of milk, so that is how much I use. This can be fresh or from the day before. Either way, the milk is warmed to 86 degrees. The heat is turned off.

Then a quarter cup of buttermilk is whisked into the milk. The lid is put on and the mixture is allowed to sit for an hour.

Rennet is whisked in. The curd is allowed to set up and should take about half an hour.

The curd is cut as for mozzarella: across both ways and diagonal both ways, and allowed to set for five minutes. Now the curd is gently stirred for fifteen minutes. After the first five, time really drags.

This stirring is important as it separates the curds and whey. You will see the curds shrink in size.

Now the colander comes into play to drain the whey from the curds. The curds should be firm enough to roll the colander to drain the whey as much as possible. Press the curds into a cake.

making feta goat cheese takes time
It takes some time to cut the feta into cubes, but the cubes soak up the brine better than a big piece. However, the cubes like being in one lump and will stick together while sitting in the brine. They are broken apart again while running cold water over them to wash off the brine. They will continue to ooze whey and brine even after being washed and drained. Just dump the liquid out of the container you put the cheese into.

Salting the Cheese

Turn the curd mass out onto a plate. The mass is cut into roughly half inch cubes. These are put into a bowl. More whey will come out. Keep dumping it to avoid a flooded counter.

Pour brine over the pile of cubes. Set the plate on top of the bowl. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for several hours.

Supposedly the time spent in the brine doesn’t matter. I prefer to get the cubes out after three to four hours.

Dump the cubes into the colander. Rinse them with cold water. Drain the water and refrigerate the cubes of feta, ready to use.

Making feta goat cheese isn’t hard. It is time consuming. I find it too salty for my taste which is why I don’t usually make it.

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GKP Writing News

Dora’s Story Characters

It was September and I wanted a story line to write in November when the idea came. The plot would revolve around a dairy goat moving between several different owners. Then I began creating the Dora’s Story characters.

cover for "Dora's Story" by Karen GoatKeeper
After writing a number of straight plotline novels, this was very different. There was the novel plotline. Yet each of the six parts had a plotline for itself and as part of the novel one. It involved several goat shows and each of these changed as the participants got older. It took over a year to get all of it right.

Who Are They?

From the time my first goat, Jennifer, was born, I’ve met many people with goats. Others I’ve heard of. These were the beginnings of my Dora’s Story characters.

The goat would come from a small time breeder. Her first owner would be Emily. Why would this young girl get a goat? Why would she give up her goat?

This brought in her mother and sister. For the girls, the goats were 4-H projects and pets. The mother wanted the prestige of purebred goats and Dora was a grade goat.

Once sold, Dora went through several owners. Each was a composite of people. One was a bad owner. Another was ill. Finally Dora ends up with a young boy.

Going In Circles

Emily was devastated when Dora was sold. Her dream was to find Dora again. In the original draft, she does.

As years pass, people change. Emily grew up. So did Dora.

Emily wanted to get Dora back as though this would make everything like it was. Long ago I learned you can’t go back except in memories. Such an ending would not be at all realistic.

Yet, Emily did need to find Dora again. But she needed to find her beloved goat in a new time, under the new conditions.

Dora’s Story Characters

Each step of the way, Dora is a possible way to the future for each owner. Some take advantage of this. Some don’t.

We are often blind to or afraid of opportunities that come our way. They pass us by. When it is too late, we realize we went past them, now regretting it.

Carpe Diem.

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Time For Cheese Again

Three kids are sold and gone. The two wethers and two bucks are left and still gorging on milk. But there is enough leftover now and it’s time for cheese again.

As with so many things, I no longer do a lot of cheese or kinds of cheese. Every Monday I do a small batch of a mozzarella type. Occasionally I do the vinegar set ricotta

Milk Is the Beginning

Most cheese directions begin in the kitchen. I prefer to start in the milk room as cheese actually begins with milk.

Ozark summers bring warm mornings. These in turn sour milk. This does not make good cheese or table milk for that matter.

Some years back I tried to come up with a way for cool my milk before it even made it into the kitchen. This matters as warm milk takes a long time to cool down in the refrigerator and makes it work harder, not a good thing with older refrigerators in a hot kitchen.

My solution was to freeze a juice bottle of water. This is placed in the milk tote when I go out. The warm milk cools a lot as the ice melts inside the bottle.

When you try this, remember water expands about ten percent when it freezes, so leave room in the bottle. Use a thicker plastic juice bottle, 20 ounce. Tighten the lid securely.

goats are milking, time for cheese again
It’s easy to think cheese recipes only matter in the kitchen. Cheese actually begins in the barn. My hard working (Ha!) Nubian does come in at milking time to gobble up their grain and other treats. Pieces of apple, corn husks, lettuce leaves and other things are appreciated. Pumpkin and squash pieces are big favorites. In return I get milk from which I can make cheese.

Pasteurizing

I made this mistake once. My cheese never set. If you do pasteurize, you will need starters for the milk to replace what the heat killed.

My cheese is made from raw milk. Yes, raw milk can carry diseases. However, I know my goats and don’t use milk from goats feeling ill.

Another check is how long the milk stays good in the refrigerator. Mine stays good for over a week. I keep my equipment clean, my glass bottles clean and put the milk up as soon as I get in from the milk room.

Now It’s Time for Cheese Again

Next week I’ll post about making fresh milk ricotta. I don’t make big batches any more so I’ll start with three quarts of fresh milk, just in from the milk room.

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GKP Writing News

Writing Goat Puzzles

Pencil puzzles are probably not the best use of my time, true. However, these are fun to do now and then. Except none of the regular pencil puzzles are about goats. That started me writing goat puzzles.

My new computer sat on the desk begging to be used. These goat puzzles were a great way to find out new ways of using my computer.

Now What?

There were sixty-four goat puzzles on my computer. It took a lot of time to create all of these. What was I to do with all of these goat puzzles?

Checking around I found I was the only one writing goat puzzles. Evidently people thought horse, dog and cat puzzles were much more interesting. There were books of these kinds of puzzles.

cover for "Goat Games" by Karen GoatKeeper
Learn about goats through interviews with goat owners, pencil puzzles, trivia and more.

Creating a Book

These other puzzle books had more in them than just puzzles. If I was going to have a book, I needed to have other things in the book besides the puzzles.

My goats are all Nubian dairy goats. There are lots of kinds of goats, hundreds of kinds around the world. These are not just dairy goats, but meat goats and fiber goats too. And there were people around my area with some of these goats.

Fifteen kinds of goats have pages in my book. Recipes for meat, milk and cheese were added. And the goat associations got a page.

So There Is a Book

I asked a publisher about my book. It seems goats aren’t as popular as other animals, so my book was rejected. The editor liked the book, but didn’t think enough people would buy one to pay for printing it.

The publisher was right. I self published “Goat Games” and found few people wanted to buy a copy.

But that’s all right. I had a good time writing goat puzzles, met a lot of other goat owners and learned a lot of new things about my goats.

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Latest From High Reaches

Nubian Buck Bonanza

It’s supposed to be fifty fifty, the ratio of boys to girls. My Nubian does didn’t get the memo and gave me a Nubian buck bonanza this year.

When High Reaches Pamela had twin bucks, that was all right. Then High Reaches Valerie delivered two buck and a doe. Finally High Reaches Lydia and High Reaches Rose added a buck each. That made six bucks and a doe.

Nubian doe kid
Smallest of Nubian doe High Reaches Valerie’s triplets and the only doe out of seven kids, this bottle baby doe kid keeps up. Even so, a nap is nice until everyone moves on. then it’s time to stretch and run to catch up.

Six Bucks!

In the livestock world, girls rule. Hens lay eggs, not roosters. Cows have calves and a herd only needs one bull. Likewise for goats.

Extra stallions can be gelded and make good saddle mounts. Extra bull calves get fixed and become steers that end up as hamburger and steak. What about extra buck goats?

polled buck part of Nubian buck bonanza
Nubian doe High Reaches Rose is very proud and very attached to this little polled buck kid. She will even let the herd leave her behind to stay with him. He takes full advantage of this as he stops to explore any and every thing that looks interesting and totally ignores her calls to hurry up and join her.

Looking Back

When I started raising goats, there was no market for extra buck goats. Many goat owners destroyed their extra buck kids.

This seemed strange to me as the U.S. imported goat meat for Jewish and Muslim communities. Gradually domestic goat raisers invaded this market. The big barrier was the type of goat.

In the U.S. then most people raised dairy goats. Like with dairy cattle, these are not as good as meat animals. Once meat goats became popular, goat meat had a market.

What About My Nubian Buck Bonanza?

I have a small herd. My goats never go to shows. They don’t have any famous pedigrees. Although I have kept a wether (a fixed buck) and raised him for meat in the past, I no longer do.

Most of my extra bucks will be sold in the meat market. That makes me a bit sad, but I have few other choices.

Spotted Nubian buck kid part of Nubian buck bonanza
Nubian doe High Reaches Lydia is a casual mother assuming her spotted buck kid is busy amusing himself playing with the other kids. He finds this great until he gets hungry. Then Lydia better be around.

Other Choices

High Reaches Rose’s buck is polled, born without horns. This makes him special. Perhaps someone wants a lovely polled American Nubian polled buck.

High Reaches Lydia’s buck is now disbudded so his horns shouldn’t grow. He is black with lots of spots. Perhaps someone wants a showy spotted American Nuban buck.

And I was asked about a wether as a companion for a buck. My bottle baby buck will do nicely, although I am normally hesitant about being in the pet market as so many people know nothing about goats. Goats are not like dogs.

Perhaps some members of my Nubian buck bonanza will live long lives. I hope so.

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Square Hay Bales

Almost everyone puts up round bales now. That makes finding square hay bales difficult.

Round bales have advantages. Since they are moved by tractor, no hay crew is needed. They shed rain and can be left outside.

These big bales have one major flaw for me. They are too big to move without equipment I don’t have. Square hay bales are manageable for me. And, with a small herd of wasteful goats, they waste less as less is put out at a time.

My Hay

For years I bought my hay. Now I have people come and custom bale my fields. For a bit more they even put it in my barn for me.

Watching someone else put hay in my barn is hard. I picked up, unloaded, and stacked my own hay for decades. Age catches up with everyone and moving hay is one of my casualties.

Even harder is trying to explain how I want the hay bales stacked. My ancient barn is difficult to stack in. The stacks fit best in one way. And that way makes getting them back out easier too.

square hay bales being made
The tractor growls its way across the field as the claws rake in dry windrow grasses. The baler clunks and chugs pressing the grasses into bales, wraps them in twine and drops them onto the field. This is a urprisingly fast operation as dry grass becomes square hay bales.

Will My Goats Eat the Hay?

I can’t answer this question. The herd goes out and eats the grass plus weed assortment out in the fields. That doesn’t mean they will eat the same stuff dried.

Every fall this turns into a debate. I put hay out in the troughs. The goats check it out. They go out and scrounge in the fields.

Winter sets in. The fields are unavailable due to rain or ice or snow. Suddenly the hay tastes good to the goats.

Winter is coming. The first taste of fall with warm days and cool nights has set in giving warning. The goats may not be impressed with stacks of square hay bales in the barn while the fields are still green and lush.

I am.