Goat Bloat - Treating One of Our Milking Does
Each day we learn many new things. Some out of necessity, some from mistakes. Today we had our first run-in with bloat. Mayday's Got the Bloat This morning Sweetbreads noticed that Mayday looked a little misshapen. I thought she looked a little more rotund than usual, but typically that’s just...
Portable Goat Shelter and Shade Shack: Attempt #1
It looks so nice when it's standing upright and providing shade and shelter Now that we have the goats out in electrically fenced paddocks each day we want to provide them a little area to get out of the hot sun, or cold rain. Goats are susceptible to pneumonia and...
Livestock Guardian Team Assembled
Izzy and Sophie, getting muddy and getting their "mark" on Last Saturday I picked up a couple adult livestock guardian dogs (LGDs). They are 3 and 4 yrs old and are full sisters from different litters. Izzy and Sheba are their names. They are 1/8th Anatolian Sheperd and 7/8ths Great...
All About The Goats
Our Herd - (from left to right) The Buckling, Bridget, Springbok, Mayday, and SabineThings are moving along at the pace of a spring river and it has become a bit trickier to keep everyone up to date. Every time I talk to my parents, even though it’s only been a...
Little Seed's Microclimate: Cedar Glades and Wildflowers
We don't have unexpected visitors very often in our neck of the woods, so when a neighbor pulled up the other evening I was sure I'd accidentally done something un-neighborly (Sophie has taken to patroling/barking at 4am every night recently) and was about to get a talking to. Instead, I...
Prepping Our Square Foot Garden Site
This past weekend we took our first steps toward getting the garden ready. The first goal was to designate a location and determine which style of gardening we would opt for (we chose Square Foot gardening for the first attempt). This afternoon I posted a bit about the preparation process...
The Beginnings of a Tennessee Goat Herd, From Tennessee
When we came to the farm a month ago it was the perfect time to be looking for some milking does and their baby goat kids. Most goats are bred to have kids in the Feb/March/April time frame, so we started contacting people in December and January about availability for...