Anyone but me would just say, “I’ve got a dairy goat & I’m milking her”.  But of course, not me… I’ve got to make a novel out of this episode of my life… so here’s my story!

A few weeks ago our friend & priest Fr. William visited with some of his cousins from Africa.  They were amazed that I have goats as pets.  The fact that I don’t eat them or milk them was a concept they could not comprehend.  Pet goats?  What da heck for?

Gabriel explained to us that when he lived at home in Kenya, every morning before walking 5 or 6 miles to school, he had to hand milk the entire herd of about 20 goats.  Sometimes other members of the family (or families), would pitch in but it was just another chore.  Gabriel seemed nostalgic as he related that experience…

So here we are standing around watching the goats & Gabriel asked if he could milk Molly.  Her kids had left a few weeks ago & she was still bagged up pretty solid.  We put Molly in the stanchion and within a few seconds, we had a full glass of warm, frothy milk!  It all happened quite quickly.  No hand washing, no udder cleaning… just squeeze, squeeze & there it was… a full glass of creamy, fresh milk! Gabriel & Fr William thoroughly enjoyed their little treat.  I didn’t taste the milk that Molly gave us… I’m not a clean freak but that was a little too “raw” for me.  I’m sure I just imagined it but I thought there were little hairs in the milk & and maybe some dirt specs.

So that got me thinking that maybe we should “harvest” this milk so I started doing a little bit of research.   I’d found several milking systems but all I had was one little goat – I needed something simple!  That’s when I came across the Henry Milker.   This is a nice little hand made device that uses a little pump, some clear tubing, a large syringe & a Mason jar.  It’s really not worth $125 but then again, it does what it advertises & the fellow told me if I wasn’t happy with it, I could send it back for a full refund.

Poor Molly, she didn’t have a good udder to start with. She had had twins April 4th and they grew big & strong very quickly. They put quite a strain on her bag. When Easter & Lilly left for their new home when they were 8 weeks old, little Peppy realized that he could nurse from her (his mom had been sold a week after Molly’s girls had left). He’d grab a teat and hold on while she tried to “stiffly” run away (Molly is a Myotonic Fainting goat).

I first started milking her & was really enjoying the experience. Although Molly had plenty of milk, it just didn’t seem right to continue to milk her with her teats so distended. I was afraid they’d eventually “detach”. So I started shopping for a dairy goat. Research was unanimous. Saanen‘s are the best milk producers of the dairy goats.

Luckily, less than 10 minutes from here is a small dairy farm that raises Saanens. The next day after chatting with Miss Parker, I was picking up Frosty. Miss Parker & I quickly became friends and within a few days, my husband Scott & I were there learning the process of making goat milk cheese. We felt that everyone should know about this & so Scott put together a website for Miss Parker… GoatsGotMilk Although it is up and running, at this time there’s very little content. We’ll have a “For Sale” page with pictures of each doe & her registration documents. More to come on that!

For reasons only Frosty knows, her production is only about half of what she should deliver. Right now I’m getting about 1/4 gallon, twice a day. Even if this is much less that what it should be, its plenty for Scott & I. We’ve never drank so much milk before! Going from 2% cow’s milk to raw goat milk is quite the radical change but we love it!

Milking is something that must be done twice daily at a regular time. It’s a chore but one that I’ve come to look forward to. I’ve lived in the “big” city most of my life (Montreal) & I’ve had my little farm for about 3 years; still it is amazing to me to obtain this life-giving produce from one of my animals. This is so much better than raising animals for meat consumption!

Here are a couple of videos of me milking Frosty. Please note that all my jars have been thoroughly cleaned; my towels are washed & rinsed in a mixture of Dawn dish washing detergent with Clorox. The components of the milker are also washed with the same solution and so are Frosty’s teats before & after milking. She makes her own way to the stanchion and often times remains there munching even when I release her.

I empty my jar between teats – reason being is that this procedure works well by creating a vacuum.  When the jar is half full, there is less of a vacuum & it affects the speed at which the milk flows.  Note that sometimes I pronounce “teats”, “tits”… not sure how to say it – seems like everyone around here pronounces it differently.  I made the mistake of calling them “nipples” & I was kindly corrected.  But then again, Miss Parker says “Teats” & my neighbor says “Tits”.. whatever!!!

The entire milking is over within 3 minutes.  It takes me longer to prep everything, clean & put everything away than it does to actually “pull” the milk!  Naturally this video is very “matter of fact” but when it’s just Frosty & I, it’s a very therapeutic time.  For both of us!  Frosty gets her favorite food, gets her ears & chest scratched and receives some tasty “Nicker Bocker” horse treats when we’re done!

The secret to good, fresh tasting goat milk is keeping everything clean & chilling the milk as quickly as possible. I don’t have a fridge in the barn but I bring an icepack cooler with me and immediately put the jars in the cooler so they stay cool until they get to the fridge about 20 minutes later. It also helps if you don’t have a stinky buck in close vicinity! Odor in the air will quickly be absorbed by the milk.

So there you have it! I hope you’ve found this post interesting.. please let me know if you have!

Here we are, last week of May.  All the goats that I had up for sale have sold.  I have 2 little ones that are reserved & will be picked up June 12th.  It’s so quiet at the barn now.  When I wake up in the morning, the sense of urgency to feed the “starving” goats is no longer there.  All you can hear now are the roosters trying to out do each other!

Lets see, Sweety & her doeling Gracie, Annabelle & her doeling Pebbles, Molly the fainting goat, the wethers Bongo & Herman & our stud, Billy… that’s all that’s left as goats!  To think that I had 16 or so kids in the month of April!  Well, I sure am glad the “selling” experience is over!  What a hassle that always is.  I hope I remember this when I think about breeding the girls in November!

The last 6 weeks or so has caused me to think about how things can get expensive when animals start needing veterinary care.  First it was Angel the pound hound that was diagnosed with Diabetes (I can write an entire post on that alone!) $500., then Major the Llama went down (he’s fine now… $295 later), then Gracie the goat & her C-Section $250 & lastly Mandy, the MinPin mix we adopted when my mother-in-law passed, $250….  those bills added real quickly!

One fine day after spending over an hour cleaning up the Pot Bellys Dogloos I got to thinking about how much money was being spent on these 3 animals that I rarely saw!  They’re were always sleeping somewhere & only came out to eat!  Lulu was still totally wild although I’d had her almost 3 years!  Grumpy was okay & so was Ms Piggy but they just kind of hung together & stayed away from people.  Then I quickly started to count feeding costs & realized I had spent at least $1200 on these 3 for the last 2 to 3 years!  WOW.. rude awakening!

So I found all three a good home together and since I had the perfect pig area, I went out and bought 2 “freezer” pigs.  This brother (neutered) & sister pair are a Hampshire mixed breed that apparently are the best for this purpose.   Scott named them Bacon & Pork Chops so that we never forget why we got them!  I found that contrary to the Pot Bellys, these two are excellent swimmers and come out of their pasture via the pond.

I’m still trying to reduce the number of animals but only if I can find excellent homes for them.  For instance, I’d love to find a home for the 3 Llamas but only if they can go together to the same place for the last transition of their life.  Otherwise, they’ll stay here and we’ll continue to care for them & enjoy them as the lawn ornaments they are.

Same thing for Madigan & Daisy June, the miniature donkeys that we got in September ’07 (see picture).  Because miniature donkeys here are almost a dime a dozen, its not easy to determine that a future home will be the last home.  It would kill me to know these girls were separated!  They’ve been together since birth and are almost 3 years old now!  They’re at the perfect age to breed but once again I don’t want to get into babies anymore.   I guess they’ll be here for a long time… I’m just not ready to take a chance that someone wouldn’t be as caring as I am.

I almost sold the donkeys a year ago… then all of a sudden I started to wonder if they’d be alright, if the new owner would only keep one and sell the other.. it just broke my heart thinking of it!

We had 2 duck hens hatch several eggs.. Sadly, from the first group, 6 ducklings got eaten by snapping turtles.. (which prompted hubby to acquire a 22 caliber rifle). Only one left in that little family.  As for the other family, this mom is a little smarter & stays closer to home.  She still has 9 beautiful little ducklings following her everywhere!

Our Banty Cochin hens have also been very busy!  We have several families scratching around at the barn.  They’re of different age groups and stay very close to mama hen.  One of the clutches has a mama & a nanny!  These 2 girls couldn’t decide who was going to hatch the clutch so they did it together.  They too are a pleasure to watch!

As for the miniature horses, they continue to be totally adorable.  My guys are all very loving and good horses.  Ol’Blue must be almost 25, Buddy the cremello gelding is about 4 or 5 & then Toffee the baby will be 2 in a few weeks.  They get along great, they’re pretty good with the farrier & they’re beautiful to look at and enjoy.  Scott & I get a lot of pleasure looking into the pasture and seeing Buddy chasing Toffee playfully and nipping at Blue on the way!  The Llamas always look at the horses with an air of superiority!  It’s a beautiful view from our porch!

On a final note I have to add that people are funny… I just recently decided to post a “donate” button on my website because I was spending so much time answering emails & comments from my website.  All proceeds will go to our local animal shelter.. not to me.  In any case, since the appearance of the “donate” button, I’ve had not one single query & I had always had a few every day before that!  Don’t you think people are funny?

Have a good summer everyone & remember to always be kind to animals.. they too are God’s creatures & we’ve been entrusted by Him to always treat them with care & respect.

These last 3 weeks have been pretty busy here at the farm.   It seems like every other day one of my does was popping kids!  Late this afternoon Sweety ended the kidding spree.  Let’s see where we are at…

04/26/10 Sweety (3)

1) Buckling mostly black 1) Buckling mostly white 1) Buckling mostly grey

04/25/10 Cocoa (1)

1) Buckling, gray black & white

04/24/10 PeeWee (1)

1) Buckling black & white

04/23/10 Gracie (1, almost!)

1) Buckling, C-Section.. deceased

04/22/10 Brownie (1)

1) Doeling brown with black trim

04/18/10 Oreo (2)

1) Buckling Black & White (Jethro) 1) Doe all black with tiny white spot on forehead (Twiggy)

04/14/10 Annabelle (Nubian Boer Cross) (1)

1) Doeling almost all white (Pebbles)

04/13/10 Chausette (3)

1) Buckling mostly brown 1) Doe mostly brown 1) Doe mostly white with brown spots

04/11/10 Noel (2)

1) Buckling white with brown spots 1) Buckling brown with black trim

04/04/10 Molly (Myotonic Fainting goat) (2)

1) Doeling tri color (Easter) 1) Doeling, brown & white (Lilly)

Final count… bucklings (live) 9, Doelings 7… not too bad, could have been worse!

I have one doe left, Pepper (Cocoa’s daughter from January ’09) that may be pregnant but wouldn’t be due until September.  Now I have to name all these little stinkers!  Suggestions welcomed.. I’m all out of ideas!  Later this week I’ll get my hubby to help me and we’ll take individual identifying pictures.

Since I’m on the subject of counting, how many goats do I have?  Well, besides these 11 does, I have 1 breeding Pygmy/Nigerian breeding buck Billy, 1 Nubian/Boer cross wether, Bongo & Herman, one teeny, tiny wether Nigerian Dwarf.  Total 14 adult goats & 16 kids!  Geez! No wonder Danny at the feed store loves to see me pull up!

Did I mention that earlier this week & bought a little feeder pig?  I purchased a 6 week old Hamshire/Yorkshire cross sow (Pickles), that we’ll feed & love for about 16 weeks.. then we’ll eat her.  There’s no other way to put it… if it’s anything like eating locally raised beef, these pork chops should be awesome!

Spring is just a day away & the sun has finally decided to show it’s face! Well, not for long as rain is predicted for the next few days.

In the last few weeks I’ve been quite busy answering all kinds of questions left for me in my various comments section. Not only have I helped goat owners (I think?), but I’ve also made several new online friends! Isn’t the internet an awesome media for learning stuff & networking? Just remember folks, whatever I respond is just based on my experience & research. If you have any doubts whatsoever, please contact your vet or nearest veterinary teaching university – there is usually someone there able to answer any of your farm animal related questions.

That being said, I think I’m ready for summer…While we were working in Daytona, Tim “mucked” out the barn & the outside sheds. I cleaned out the tack/feed room and my medical/first aid cabinet. I took out all of the heated buckets and replaced them with my automatic watering buckets. Just that makes everything so much simpler! All I have to do is tip them over for a quick rinse and then just let them fill by themselves!

Winter wasn’t harsh here but it did seem to last way longer than usual. Of all the animals to care for during sub zero weather the rabbits were the most time consuming. Their water bottles were not heated and so twice a day I had to replace frozen bottles. That meant I had to lug hot water from the house to melt the water nozzles! It got to be a little crazy so I found a good home for all of them… except Lattée.

Lattée has been freely roaming the barn area for more than a year. I’m amazed that she hasn’t been caught by something. This little bunny is crippled… one of her rear legs was bent when she was just a fluff puff and she just holds it crosswise under herself. But she can still run fast! Nothing can catch her! Every morning when I open the door to the barn, she’s just laying there in the middle of the barn looking like she owns the place! I hate to admit it but I have a resident barn rat that’s nearly as big as Lattée!

Speaking of rat, this thing is so brazen that it walks across the barn.. doesn’t run! So I set up a live trap to catch it to relocate it (what, me kill it? No way). Well, the next morning, there was this rat in the trap. Big one too.. Had to be at least 8 inches long, not counting the tail! I was about to put it in the truck & bring it to an abandoned barn down the road when I looked at it’s belly… wouldn’t you know it.. she had 2 rows of little buttons (nipples).. which only meant that she had babies somewhere! I couldn’t take her from her babies – so I let her go! The only damage she’s done is to dig tunnels under my feed bins. She doesn’t get into the feed but I leave bowls out for Lattée, so now I just leave out a little more. What can I say? God created barn rats too.

I sold several goats & both Glory & Coquette (who’s due to foal by the end of March). Over the last few years I had accumulated way too many animals & it seemed that my hobby had become a job. I spent so much time “working” at it that much of the pleasure of having a petting farm had disappeared.

I’m still working at thinning the herd – most of my does are pregnant and are due to kid during the month of April. There is no more enjoyable time at the farm than to sit and watch the antics of a bunch of little goats! They can be so entertaining!

I think “Uncle Stormy” the llama, senses that there are babies on the way. He seems to prefer to stick around the barnyard than to roam the 8 or so acres of pasture that we have for the 3 llamas, 3 miniature horses & 2 miniature donkeys.

Still quite a bit of work to do over the next week. All the goats need to be wormed and vaccinated. As do the mini horses & donkeys. My friend, neighbor and farrier will need to come and help me trim 20 hooves. We’ll take a few days to do that… it’s really back breaking doing those little guys!

The llamas will be loaded in the trailer & brought to L & J Farm supply – I need to use his cattle scale to get an accurate weight to worm them. They’ll also need to be vaccinated. Waiting to hear from an expert as to what to vaccinate with. CD & T or horse 8-Way??? In a few weeks, Bobby the shearer will have to come by and give them their summer “make-over”. Fiber sheared & hooves trimmed. These guys need to be handled in a llama chute for this kind of work. Major’s fiber (which is high quality), will be sent to a lady that spins it and makes stuff with it.

The 3 pot belly pigs probably need to be wormed… Another use for Safeguard for horses.. just double the dosage & insert in a Twinkie! How easy is that?

Grumpy & Lulu have survived winter in their “dogloos”. As long as they had plenty of blankets to wrap around, they were fine no matter how cold it got. I got an entire new appreciation for “pig in a blanket”.. these guys really know how to wrap themselves to stay warm. You have to see this to believe it. They were totally “rolled” into their numerous blankets inside their dogloos. These animals are very smart!

My little black Cochin Bantam hen is again sitting on about a dozen eggs. The other 4 hens were laying eggs on top of her.. when I moved her into a safe hen house, she was trying to incubate about 30 eggs! Poor thing! Once she was settled in her new nest box, she sorted out the “bad eggs” and kept about a dozen. Another nest has been started in the hay feeder but none of the hens are sitting on them. If I don’t see some motherly action soon, the pigs are going to get a nice big omelet!

The ducks are ignoring the laying box I set out for them.. every day or so I pick up a large duck egg from the strangest location.. in Miss Piggy’s bowl, under the goat feeder, under the manure buggy… not the smartest animals at the farm.

Before I tackle any of the above chores, I’m going to beautify the barn. Time to remove the Fall Harvest theme (yep, never got to taking those down), and put up plastic flowers, colorful bird & butterfly decorations.. and just spruce it up!

Sound like a lot of work? Well it is but I enjoy every minute of it! If you’re in the area, drop by and lend a hand… the pay sucks but the benefits are great!

Well, enough rambling.. time to move on! Please join me on Facebook, where friends gather and share our crazy love for our critters!

I’m sure you’ve read about my Bichon Frisé, Mouse. I got her because Murphy had been gone for a few months and I was ready (and needing), a sweet little house dog that had eyes for me only.

I chose to get a Bichon because they are small but sturdy (about 12 lbs max), non-shedding and totally devoted to their owner.

Well, although Mouse comes from good stock – I think she may have been a Labrador in a previous life! She loves the water, loves to romp, get dirty, play with our 120 lbs + Mastiffs, doesn’t like to cuddle, always ready to chase/fetch…. well, maybe she’ll outgrow these habits. Not that there’s anything wrong with what she does.. it’s just that it’s not what I was expecting!

I love the little hard-headed snot and she brings me & my husband great joy. Speaking of husband, did I mention that “MY” lap dog prefers Scott’s company to mine!!! Well, maybe she’ll out grow that too and learn to love the mommy more!

Saturday I brought her to the barn to see her old friend Ms Piggy! Unfortunately I didn’t have my mini cam with me but did have my handy cell phone.

The videos below are of poor quality but you’ll get the gist of what a tramp my little Mouse is!

Enjoy but please don’t write to me to talk about the quality of the videos!

It’s been over 3 weeks since my last post.  Of course there’s always something interesting going on here.  Let’s see…

I had decided that Ziggy (the Zebu), needed more attention than I was giving him.  He was “shacking” up with my 3 young Billy goats & being much bigger than they are, he was definitely the “odd man out”.  I felt sad for him – every morning when I brought in their feed, he’d rub all over me and run around like an excited puppy!

I put a few ads out for him and wow!!!!  The phone never stopped ringing and the emails poured in!  I could have sold 10 Zebus!  I didn’t want to over price him but I wanted him to find his “forever” home soon.

He was purchased by Ms Pryse in Lenoir City, TN.  I believe he’ll be happy at her farm with her family & their horses.  Ms Pryse also purchased Buttons, my 6 month old filly.  Buttons was by herself in her pasture & I either had to find a buddy for her of her age or sell her to someone who’d work with her and give her the attention she too needed.

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Our county (Rhea County), has annual fair and I was invited to bring my petting farm or to offer pony rides with my new set up.  Tuesday, September 9th I spent the afternoon offering rides on Coquette, Ol’Blue, Buddy & Toffee with my beautiful blue & yellow carousel.  Toffee being less than 2 years old can’t bear the acceptable 60 lbs child but could carry babies 25lbs & less.

My mini horses performed like pros!  Everything went very well although it took a few turns for them to fully understand what was expected of them.  Towards the end of the event, we got really busy & Toffee had no “clients” but there were several children in line.  That’s when I realized that I needed another full size miniature horse.

I found “Glory” in Corryton, TN on Wednesday but she needed to integrate the herd & of course get some carousel training.  She’s a beautiful 8 year old mare but is a little shy and spooks a little bit also.  I’m not really concerned about it, she’ll adapt and will do very well.

The herd is not being all that kind to her but that’s how it is in the horse world.  Toffee is sharing her hay flake & so is Ol’Blue & Buddy is very aloof but of course, Ms Coquette is a complete witch with her!  Coquette is the “boss” and makes sure everyone knows it.  As a matter of fact, I happened to be between her & Buddy at an inopportune time & have 3 huge bruises on my legs.   I don’t really know how I got 3 bruises as there were only 2 kicks but  I have proof!

When we returned Saturday, we didn’t bring Toffee but brought Madigan, one of our miniature donkeys.  Well, horses just go round and round and look at the ground and don’t question what you ask of them but donkeys are another beast!  Madigan wanted to check everything out, verify where all the sounds came from, lifted her head trying to look over everything…  not good for doing rides.  Not to mention that Madigan didn’t want to stop and go… she just wanted to go, go, go!

Well, that didn’t last long so we just put Madigan in the trailer (it was only for a couple of hours, max).  She wasn’t very happy about that and certainly let us all know she was in there!  We all heard her pathetic braying!

Now I have to practice a little more with Glory, the new mare and make sure everyone knows their places.

I’m very proud of my herd.  We hadn’t been practicing very long and Tuesday was the first time they’d been exposed to a large group in entirely new surroundings.  I feel very blessed to have each and everyone of my animals!  I’ve learned that if you’re patient and kind, you can get your little animals to do pretty much anything that you ask of them.  As long as you’re reasonable in your demands & expectations.

I’ve been pouring over several books on horse training and unfortunately there really is not much out there that addresses miniature horses but ground training is basically the same.  One particular phrase sticks with me, “Train with your brain, not a two by four!”

So much has happened at the farm since the beginning of the summer!  I always have every intention of posting all that goes on but then life happens and you just have to follow the current & do what needs to be done at that time.  So of course, the farm being a hobby, my business & my “wifely” obligations come first (not necessarily in that order!).   You know what I mean!  There are things at the office that only I can handle & because Boogey Lights pays for my hobby, then of course I must fulfill those obligations first (if I want my critters to eat).  Then there’s my life at home with my husband.  Cleaning, cooking (not my favorite thing), laundry ( my favorite thing – no kidding).  So here’s an update…

We had bunches of kids this year – here they are in the order of their arrival!

Oreo begat  Tino (buck)  & Tina (doe) 2/14 My first set of twins!

Bambi begat Ace (buck) 4/23 Tim got to the birthing minutes after Ace arrived

Cocoa begat Pepper (doe) 4/30  Got to the farm & there was Pepper!

Chausette begat Gizmo (doe) 5/25 Another surprise birth.

Brownie begat Deuce (buck) 6/11 One minute Brownies pregnant, the next, she’s not!

Boo begat Herman (buck) & Peewee (doe) 6/14 Helped Boo a little with PeeWee

Blacky begat Sammi (buck) & Sadie (doe) 6/22 Second set of twins for her!

Noel begat Puck (buck), Tessa & Terra (does) 6/24 First set of triplets, no help needed!

Molly begat Muffin (buck) 7/3 Uneventful birth!

Total count 7 bucks & 7 does!  50/50 NOT BAD!!

Most are sold – I’m keeping Herman & Deuce as future herd sires.  Muffin is unique as his mom is a full blooded registered Tennessee Fainting goat with a 6 on the fainting scale.  However Muffin doesn’t faint.. at all.  So he’s just going to be a big pygmy mix.  Oh well.  As for the does, I’ve only kept Pepper & PeeWee.

Next breeding isn’t until the end of September & by then I’ll have 14 does ready to breed that should all kid during the month of February.  At that time, Pepper & PeeWee will be ready to breed & that will bring more kids for the end of July.  Herman & Deuce have their work cut out for them!

Ziggy the Zebu is doing well… he’s turned out to be just an expensive lawn ornament.  He’s a good guy, very loving and friendly (to me only), except if I have a rope in my hand.  He will not come anywhere near me if he thinks I’m going to try to catch him.  Otherwise he’s one big puppy dog!  He loves to lick me (must be the salty sweat)… picture a 6 inch long cat tongue… that’s what his tongue is like and when he licks, trust me, it doesn’t feel good!  But he’s fat & happy and that’s all that matters.  He’s my only critter that doesn’t have a buddy.

The 3 amigo Llamas are doing fine.  Stormy is the boss, followed by Major.  Big Al is definitely the follower even if he’s much bigger than the 2 others.  All 3 are very patient with the kids and let them jump all over them.  Now if I can only get Major to use the common dung pile and stop pooping in the barn area!

Dr. Seuss the Silkie rooster has 2 buddies -  2 white Silkies.  We’ve yet to determine if they’re hens or roosters but all three hang together & god forbid they’d mingle with the “commoners”!  As for the rest of the chickens (Bantam Cochins), I have 3 hens & one rooster left from the original 25 that I bought but we have about 15 chicks running around the farm.

One of our ducks sat on a clutch of eggs for about 40 days.  Finally 6 little ducklings emerged!  One egg had been rolled aside but I gently peeled the shell and released the little duckling.  I kept it under a heat lamp for a day and then brought it back to mom who gladly accepted it.  Sadly, we had a snapping turtle in the pond that killed 5 of the ducklings within 5 days.  We’ve since captured the evil critter and it was humanely disposed.  Only 2 ducklings survived, one being the little one that I rescued.  The other 4 ducks are like aunts & uncles to the little ones.. they always travel in a group and they are so cute to watch!  I pity anyone or anything that tries to get near the little ones.. mom is ferocious!

Lulu & Grumpy the Pot Belly Pigs are getting old together.  Although he’s friendly, he’s always grumbling and bears many scars from trying to befriend old Lulu.  They each have their own Dogloo and old blanket and they get along long enough to eat from the same big pan but that’s as close as they’re going to get to each other.  They didn’t have the Dogloos this past winter and so they did snuggle together in the shed – but that was to conserve their heat…  no love there – maybe from Grumpy but certainly not from Lulu.

Latté the crippled bunny manages to get around just fine!  Also found out that her buddy the Lionhead is a little buck – not a doe like I originally thought.  She’s got a nesting box but I don’t know if Lionhead’s been able to breed her… she’s at least twice as big as he is.  Flopsy & Fluffy have another litter of week only bunnies… only 3 this time and I hope to have more does to keep than I did from the last litter in March.

My peacocks flew away from the farm earlier this summer.  Mr. P left first and Mrs. P disappeared a few days later.  My neighbor about half a mile away through the woods had Mr. P in her chicken coop one day but he didn’t stick around long enough for me to go catch him.  I hope they have a nice life together in the woods and that they didn’t get eaten by something.

Madigan & Daisy June the miniature donkeys are always a joy to be around.  Of course Maddy’s the boss & DJ just tags along.  We discovered that Maddy loves to be saddled & ridden but DJ will have nothing of it.  To this day it’s very hard to separate them.  DJ will heehaw non-stop if I take Maddy away from her.  I’m in the process of training all my minis to operate a pony carousel for rides… Maddy does really well & I think is very content to be away from her constant shadow!  Our next project is to get a little Jack here for a month to breed these two.  They’re quite ready but am I?  We’ll see!

A month or so ago we opened up a new field/pasture for the miniature horses.  They’re now on the back part of our property and have about 7 acres of fenced pasture to run around it.  They absolutely love it!

Toffee (my first mini), turned a year old in June and is a stunning little filly.  Old Blue is still fat & gentle and may be pregnant.  I drove her several times early in the summer and she does well but doesn’t care to run too much.  She breathes very heavily all the time and although I know she’s healthy, it bothers me to hear her breathe like that.  I’ll have the vet come by in the near future to perform an ultra-sound to confirm if she’s pregnant or not.  Buddy has also filled in and is a beautiful gelding.  He enjoys being ridden but doesn’t do too well pulling a cart.  He has only one speed & that’s slow… very slow!  My lovely Coquette is still a bit cautious and very protective of her adorable little Buttons.  She only tolerates Toffee around her and will turn and kick any of the others that come too close.  it’s time to wean so I moved Buttons to the goat area for a while and that should help Coquette with her protection issues.  Buttons is not alone, she’s with her good friend Toffee.  I’ve driven Coquette only once & I think we were doing good but I got a flat on my cart & wasn’t able to ride at all!  She too should be pregnant… we’ll have her checked out also.

Our dogs, Sheba the German Shepard is getting older & shedding like crazy… Taz the Chihuahua is enjoying life and staying out of Sheba’s way… Angel the pound hound is fat and still always looking for food and Mandy the mixed Min Pin, well Mandy is still a weird ugly little dog.  As for Sola the Siamese cat, she’s still the queen & Minou the Siamese wannabee hunts all night and sleeps in a box somewhere in the shop all day.

Our Fila Brazilieros, Diesel & Beulah continue to enjoy being the house guard dogs.  They’re always on patrol and now have something else to watch out for… Mouse, our fearless 5 lbs Bichon Frisé puppy!  Mouse just loves to hang out with the big dogs and has absolutely no fear of them.  She respects them but they have no clue what to do with her.  I’m not sure they even realize she’s one of them!  Either one of them could easily & quickly make an appetizer out of her but they’ve accepted her quite well.   As long as she stays out of Diesel’s dog house, they’re okay!

I think I’m now up to date with what’s been going on here these last few months.  My current project (if the weather can cool down some), is training Madigan, Old Blue, Buddy & Coquette to work together on the carousel.  There are a few events coming that I’d love to offer pony rides.  But we’ll have to see how this goes – I can’t risk hurting anyone with an animal that’s not ready.  I also want to work with Coquette and my little cart.  I think she’ll do well.. we just need to work on it!

So there you go my friends!  Stay in touch!

After perusing my posts, I realized that I didn’t post anything about our second Llama, Little “D”.

We purchased this beautiful white gelded Llama from my friend Carol Wolf.  Little D was raised with Stormy… they came from the same farm.  We thought that Stormy needed a companion of his sort, and he did because he & Little D hit it off right from the get-go!

This story has a sad ending… Little D needed to be sheared – he had over a year’s worth of beautiful white fiber.  However, my shearer and I couldn’t coordinate our schedules to make this happen before the weather got warmer.

On Saturday, June 27th, Little D came to me while I was washing buckets.  I knew he wanted to be hosed and I did so.  However, I should have only hosed his legs and belly but I didn’t know that.  Thinking I was doing him a favor, I hosed him until he had had enough and when he walk away, he was dripping wet.

He laid in his favorite place in the sun and just chewed his cud and looked as happy as could be! That day the temperature rose to the mid ninetys.

Around 5:00 pm I went back to the barn for evening snacks and sadly I found Little D in exactly the same spot where he was when I left him at 10:00 am that morning.  He was dead and had been for a while.. rigor mortis had set in.  There was nothing apparently wrong with him.  Stormy was standing over him, guarding him or just keeping watch, I don’t know but it sure was a sad sight.

We let Stormy mourn – he spent the evening & night by D’s side, not in the barn with his goats as he normally did.  Early Sunday morning he left D and I tied Stormy inside the barn so he wouldn’t see us carrying Little D away.  We buried him on our property…

Apparently the reason he died was because I had totally soaked him and his fiber held in all the water.  The sun shining on him overheated him and he died of heat stroke.  He just couldn’t get out of the sun fast enough.

Stormy really appeared sad.  This is something that should not have happened – it was a horrible accident & I still feel guilty about it.  Chalk it up to experience, let this be a lesson to all new Llama owners.  Don’t make the same mistake I did… shear your Llamas as soon as summer starts.  If you need to keep their fiber growing, keep your Llamas inside with plenty of fans moving the air and keeping them cool.

We finally completed the fencing of the extra property we had!

Our original property is an 11 acre lot where our office building & guest house is located. There’s probably about 8 acres that are fields but we couldn’t use because of inadequate or non existent fencing.

The second piece of property where our house & barn sits is a 4 acres lot which is completely fenced in. Both the perimeter of the house and the pastures for the animals. There are probably only 2 acres that the animals can actually graze on.

Between the miniature donkeys, miniature horses, Ziggy, the Llamas & the goats, that wasn’t quite enough. With the addition of Coquette (formerly Snowball), and her foal, it was obvious that there wasn’t enough pasture & I was looking at big hay bills! Not to mention that Coquette is pregnant & Ol’Blue may be too. At the end of July the donkeys will be bred so we’re looking at about 11 horses/donkeys by the end of next year.

We made arrangements to have the 11 acres on the original lot fenced along with a fenced path go get between the pastures. Well, that all got completed today & I was very excited to introduce the donks & horses to their new “digs”.

Although the donkeys followed me to the new path, it took a bucket with a bit of feed to lure the horses in. But once they were in and discovered all of this open space, they ran like a little stampede & explored their boundaries.

Within their new pasture, they can come and visit us at the office and now they can walk around the guest house.

The dogs will have to get used to their presence but they’ll get over the newness.  I look forward to going to the office in the morning and being greeted by my little friends.  All it takes is for me to show up with treats and they’ll know to wait for me by the fence.

We’re planning on painting the fence white but we have to wait until the wood cures.  I’m sure it will be even more attractive once painted!  More pictures soon!

It sure is lovely here at the Dreams Come True Minis farm!