It’s a somewhat sad day around here because the goat kids are going to their new home. The family who is taking all three are also taking all the turkey poults that we’re not keeping. Lots, lots of babies going away, flying the nest…it’s freeing but still slightly heartbreaking, especially regarding the kids.
I/we fed Chip, the bottle baby, four bottles a day then three bottles a day then two bottles a day then one bottle a day until just this morning. Mama goat has mostly weaned the other two but sometimes they ambush her at night. Considering they’re all the size of your average Dalmatian, it’s hard for her to constantly fight them off. They’re all old enough and big enough to be completely weaned, so this move will only be a physical shift for them to make.
Of course for me this means my chore list has shortened and all that creamy white milk is mineminemine. And I have been a cheesemaking fool, going a bit nutty with my (no kidding) 6 gallons of milk a week. What’s another gallon or two now that I don’t have to feed Chip, or that T-bell’s not feeding the other kids? I’ll tell you what: two more gallons means 1.5 more pounds of cheese, added to the other 4 or so pounds. Yum cheese yum.
I will miss my bottle baby though. He was ONE creature in the extended farm family who was always glad to eat what I brought him.
Glad you came to visit!
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fast grow the weeds 
mmmm! Goat cheese! Sounds delicious.
the kid? standing on the narrow ledge? SO GOATY!
Ladders were invented by goats. Tire heaps, too.
I miss your babies already, but I know why they’re flying the kid koop.
I know you’re going to miss them. This is the sad part of dairying. But the cheese? Oh boy oh boy oh boy. My daughter would camp out at your house if she could, just for the cheese.
This is why I can never, ever have babies around here; I would never, ever let them leave. That would make me the sad person on the news hoarding creatures.
It would be totally sustainable for you to fedex me a whole bunch of cheese, right?
Lisa, it is mighty tasty.
Chook indeed if it were a high wire I am convinced they’d try to walk it. Especially the rambunctious youngsters.
Don’t forget mountains, CC. They were created by goats too. Their entire foot is one big shock absorber, it’s kind of wild. And yeah we are far from mountains so the log pile will have to suffice.
Tell your daughter it has been a fun thing to learn, Stefani. The cheese world is a varied one; one can only try to make at least a few different kinds, right?
Pamela if it’s any consolation my husband is the animal-hoarder and I am the one who has to enforce the law. He wanted to keep Chip. Considering how much his mother bullies him, I told him this was not in Chip’s best interest for living a decent life, so off he went to be a cart-puller.
Peter, that is not as unusual a request as you would think. I know some of my cheese has made it successfully through two airports recently. And we have plenty of those insulated coolers and ice packs (I hoard them to make yogurt with the school kids) thanks (?) to the illness of a relative and her need for heat-sensitive medicine. But yeah, you’d probably find it more readily in your own verdant valley, no?
I made some yesterday! Found a source for raw goat milk. Just ordered rennet and a bunch of cultures, since I figured out that the wine fridge is an ideal aging environment. And goat whey makes insane lamb stews, gravies, and creamy ricotta.