The Dairy Goats At Orchard Creek Farm

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​We have been so busy this summer on the farm, that I haven't had a chance to write about whats going on. Well it is breeding season for one, and there is love in the air for our 4 legged goat family! Ha! I prefer to let them have their dates in the Month of October, so that we have babies in Spring, BUT sometimes this planning does not always work out. One of our Does decided that she really wanted to be the first to have her kids, so I decided to allow the date in a controlled environment. This makes a huge difference if you are wanting to know within a few days of when your Doe is expected to kid. I have always done planned breeding's so that I can keep track of when a Doe will kid and have a birthing area and emergency kit handy in case the Doe and/or kid/s, needs assistance. Keeping good records is an important part of a sustainable farm and not just limited to the stock, but also any other things produced on the farm.  Good records are also imperative to the registering of your animals with livestock registries, and if you don't decide to register them, good record keeping will prevent inbreeding when selling unregistered stock to other farms. It takes effort, but it is well worth it in my opinion. The good news is that it does slow down a bit in the late fall and winter. As a person whom has lived and worked on a farm my entire life, I must say that my goal has always been to grow food and raise livestock with the seasons. It makes perfect sense to me that bucks go into the rut in the fall and kids are born in the spring. There are less insects in the cool spring weather, the parasite population is at its lowest in cool weather and the animals have the most stored fat and thicker coats in the winter months to protect themselves. I love goats, both dairy breeds and meat breeds. Goats are a pleasure to be around, they are curious, smart and friendly. They are the perfect homestead animal to have on a small or large farm. We are super excited to have babies again. We hope to be making cheese for our family next summer and making our wonderful goats milk soaps!. We still have lots of handmade soaps that I made from my herd of Nubian goats in AZ for ourselves that I brought with us when we moved, but our inventory is dwindling. We should have just enough bars to last until I can whip up some more! Nothing better than making and using your own products on a sustainable farm.