Happiness is a Boinging Kid

I just want to take the time to thank the wonderful people who came to the workshop today. It was a beautiful day, weatherwise, and in good company. Congratulations to Lisa for bringing Quintet into your herd. She’s a beautiful little girl. It was also great to meet so many people who are interested in ND’s as milkers. That’s what we value most, and it seems to be gaining popularity.

We still have some kids available, and a couple of does available for sale, breeding is possible before leaving here. We are preparing for next year’s kids, and unfortunately have to part with some of our “goat girlfriends,” that I hadn’t wanted to lose. But if they go to homes like the people we met today, they’ll be very well loved.

Well, kidding is done for 2008. It’s been a really blessed year - 41 babies born, 38 survived, and all mommas are healthy.  It’s hard to believe that our little farm has grown this much, and now we’re faced with difficult decisions of how much to grow, how to cut back, how to expand, etc.

Our last babies of the year were does, just as our first three were. These girls are blasts from the past building tomorrow, so in honor of our “Star Trek” fascination, our “next generation” are named Deanna and Tasha. For those not familiar with ST:the Next Generation, these are two of the female characters that were a part of the crew. Deanna had black hair, so our black and white girl is named after her. The chamoisee is named after Tasha Yar, who was the first major crew member to die in a ST franchise, I think. They are our “next generation,” because they are the colors of our first two does, Onyx and Surprize, and are the culmination of their lines.
Oddly enough, our buck/doe ratio was an even 50/50!

So now, we make a lot of soap, cheese, yogurt, ice cream,…. and get ready for next year’s kidding season. It also looks like we’re expanding our farm enterprise to include pastured poultry, using heritage breeds. Heritage animals are what got me into Nigerian dwarf goats in the first place, and we want to continue that work of strengthening the livestock genepool for the future. We’ve got a lot to learn between now and then, but that’s part of what I love about farming.

Remember that we’re offering a goat keeping workshop on September 20, and are considering offering soapmaking and kidding workshops in the fall and winter. There are more things in the works, but that’s enough for now.

Thanks for stopping in, and check back to see new baby pictures and doe updates.

As the news tells us all how bleak the economy is, many people are looking at ways to take control of their own food supplies. Gardens are on the rise, and so are purchases of small sized livestock, including the Nigerian dwarf. In order to support those newcomers, we’re offering two opportunities.

On September 20, 2008 we’ll be offering a Beginning Goatkeeping workshop, aimed specifically at ND’s, but “big goat” folks can learn a lot too. I’ve also just updated the book, Personal Milkers,  with Lulu.com so that it reflects NAIS and some additional medical information.

Meanwhile, we’re waiting on our last two does, Miracle and Cinnabar, to freshen. We’ve added our chicks to the place, some meat birds and more Buff Orpingtons, while we deal with our new neighbor. Last year I saw a wolf cross behind the horse pen, but we didn’t see it again until about a month ago. Then, during chores, there was a wolf cross, safe and sound, standing about 25 feet from Magi and Zeus. He leisurely took off, but within days our youngest Buff hen disappeared, and later that week, another one went missing.
A week later our son saw “the canine,” behind the house, within 20′ of our back door!

We are blessed to live next to a wildlife corridor, and usually are more than welcome to share our land with our wild neighbors. But this is a little different. There’s lots of room for all of us out here, but “the canine” needs to find a new place to hunt. So, we wait and hope that taking away some of his hiding places, downing trees for winter heat, will keep him far far away.  He’s beautiful, especially from a distance.

Well, just after writing the post about watching kids go home, more arrived. Jewelyet kidded with her quads, 1 girl, 3 boys and then last Friday, Chamisoul presented us with quints! 3 girls, 2 boys.  All are doing wonderfully well. Chami has lots of milk to share it seems. I would like to see at least one of the Jewel boys go as a buck, and one of Chami’s. Jewel’s kids are sired by LJ, so it’s a line breeding on Scotch and Thor. Jewel’s dam was Copper Kiss, a littermate of LJ’s, but Jewel’s sire is Timnah who was produced some of our best milkers. I’ve wished for a long time that I combine the LJ and Timnah lines in some way, and finally we did it through this breeding.

Chami’s kids are sired by Lucky, a Timnah grandson. Chami’s offspring has been very steady in producing wonderful milking udders with great attachments. Her daughter, Dolce, here is showing that udder. Chami’s son from her first breeding, Black Arrow, has several daughters freshened out, all with a beautifully wide rear attachment, ample production and milkable teats. His daughter here, Gordia, is showing that same basic udder as well.

Lucky’s  dam is my best milker, Mithral. His sire is Rosasharn’s UR Somethin’ known as Rusty around here. I bred these two last year to bring a stronger rear attachment to an ample, productive udder. While it’s too early to know for sure, Rusty’s daughters are showing “glued on” udders, but need the production that Mithral has shown, and her sister Jewel.  This breeding with Chami should produce some wonderful mammary genetics both in conformation and production.

Well, the saddest and happiest time of year is here - the days when new “goat families” are born, and kids start going home to their new families. Siblings get lonely, mommas get worried and I get sad, at the same time I’m delighted that we meet so many people interested in Nigerian dwarf goats.

We’re not done kidding yet. Chami is due this week, then Mudslide, Dolce, Cinnabar, and Miracle are still yet to show us what they’re hiding. Show season starts up soon, and hard decisions for who stays and who goes are already facing me. We don’t keep based solely on show, as production and genetics are a big focus here. We have customers waiting for their milkers, and others still thinking about it, but deciding who we’re going to part with is hard for me.

I’m not complaining though. By and large, our goats head to “forever homes,” where they are valued as pets, and productive members of the farm. Most of our does to go to milking homes, and some of our wethers ease their new families in “goat addiction,” and their owners come back the following year looking for a doeling. We meet some wonderful people, and are seeing a trend toward more self-sufficiency in our customers. It’s very exciting to see small farms growing with “small farm goats,” like ours here at Hames & Axle Farm.

Sorry it’s been so long since I posted, but we’ve been a bit busy here. Jewel kidded this morning, surprising us with a set of quads! We thought she only had three, went into the house, and when we checked the web cam, found 4 little tails wagging! Three boys and one beautiful little doeling. This is a breeding I’ve been dreaming of for a long time. It’s a rare thing for us, line breeding, but this was a breeding on littermates, Little John and Copper Kiss.I’ve long wanted to bring LJ and Timnah’s lines together, remembering what Harvey Considine said once at an HES event. “These are the kind of bucks we should breeding for, beautifully dairy.” Though biology kept us from combining those two animals directly, we decided to bring them together through LJ’s sister, Copper.
Jewelyet has long been a cornerstone of our herd, even when she wasn’t here. She was born at a friend’s house, but that person couldn’t keep her newly established herd, so they returned to us. When we went out to do the disbudding I commented “Why can’t animals like that be born here?” Little did I know what God would do for us. Jewel has a beautiful udder, production that is among our best, and a wonderful conformation. On top of that, she’s very sweet. We look forward to watching her daughter grow up here (yes she’s staying!) and hope that others will see the value in one of the bucks as a herdsire, as they are all long and dairy.

One of the things I’ve found most rewarding is looking at our herd is helping other herds take shape. Black Arrow, a son of Chamisoul’s from two years ago, is siring beautiful daughters up at Tri-Well Farm, with consistent udders and friendly personalities. We used him once here before he went to Tri-Well and have seen his daughter Gordia freshen with an udder like her half-sisters in NH. Now I can’t wait to see if his half sister Dolce has that udder, or his half-brother Merging Lanes, carries it. We’re so glad that Ellen chose to bring our buck into her other Hames & Axle based lines to grow her herd.

Over at Sunset Creek, Chami’s brother Razor is siring handsome babies, and will see those daughters freshen next year. Chami and Razor had a sister, Nimue, who also lives at Sunset Creek, and her daughter continued the family trait of easy kidding, delivering two bucklings without a big to-do. Congratulations Donna and Garry on your growing herd!
Other than that we’ve been working on the magazine, getting soap done, taking care of the other 23 kids born here this year, and the seven does left to kid. Then there’s Magi and Zeus and oh, yeah, our son Travis who prepares for his Senior year next year. As always, nothing’s ever Routine around here. Check out the baby pictures and watch for the next kids to come.

Well, I think I’ve given up on the podcasts. At least for now. It’s harder than I thought to speak to the air and sound coherent. But, I haven’t given up giving the “Farmer’s Voice,” to current food and environmental issues. The new version of the website has an “Ed Blog,” which will give quick explanations or addresses to topics that people might be thinking about.

Meanwhile, we wait for Majyk to kid. Fern and WindChime gave us each beautiful sets of twins, a boy and a girl for each one. Fern’s daughter is headed to Louisiana and her son will stay here as a herdsire. Windchime’s son is available as a wether and her daughter, Rhapsody, will probably stay here, for awhile at least. She’s a Sam daughter and we want to see how his genetics affect Windchime’s genetics, based upon Rosasharn’s Uni.

Last week our second round of kiddings began with Jobi Fern giving us a set of twins. The boy, Yankee Rebel will be staying here while his sister Yankee Belle is headed to Louisiana. The names are in honor of the connection between the southern Jobi herd and the northern Hames & Axle one. We’ve waited a long time to see this plan come together, and it’s only possible because of the Carkin’s of Sunset Creek Farm.  Thank you again Garry and Donna.

Ruminations Issue #60 went out last week, though it seems to be crawling across the country. Those in the Midwest and western states have received theirs, but we’re still waiting for our own copy up in MA. I’ve seen it, so I know it got printed, but the USPS has it’s own set of priorities and its own timeline. We wanted it to get out before the IRS tax rush began, so that goal has been met I’m sure.

We’re very happy with the reception that these two issues have gotten. We’ve made some mistakes and have a lot to learn, but more and more people are sending in  photos and story ideas, so the magazine will be all the richer for their contributions.

So now we wait, for Ruminations, and for WindChime as she’s due today and the next few weeks with Majyk, Ruby, Tart, etc….  The kids this year have been beautiful and most of them are already spoken for. More are on their way and we can’t wait to see how they turn out.  I’ll post the pictures as soon as we can get some good ones to share. Off to milk,

Well, Round One Freshening 2008 has completed. Hames & Axle Sanctus Echo gave us twin boys, Click and Clack, yesterday morning. These buckskin boys will be available as wethers when they are weaned, in about 8 weeks.

This morning, Hames & Axle Celtric Truffle delivered twin girls as easy as pie. These buckskin girls are sired by Rosasharn’s UR Somethin’ and combine our beautiful LJ’s genetics with those of Sugar Creek Farm and the Rosasharn lines that have done so well. One of these girls will probably stay here, but the other one will be available, if all continues well.

After some difficult years, it’s wonderful to see Mother Nature getting things in order this year. All three births, so far, have been unassisted and quick. This hasn’t always been true, but we are so thankful when it works out that way.

Our next set of kiddings is in a few weeks, with Jobi Fern and Hames & Axle’s Windchime next in line. Windchime had a rough time last year, so say a prayer that this year there is no “knit one/purl two” inside of her and these kids come out one at a time, without any problems. Gordian Knot is growing well from last year, and I’ve heard that Origami is doing great too, but we’d sure like to avoid those problems this year. That’s not in our hands though, except for our normal preparations, so it never hurts to pray.

I’m also updating the book “Personal Milkers: A Primer to Nigerian Dwarf Goats,” with CafePress. This issue has an updated section on recent Top milkers and also addresses kidding issues a bit more. If you’re considering getting some Nigerian dwarf goats, this book has been very well received, even if the printing has always been up to par. We’re still working on a better printing solution, but no luck so far. You can see more about the book at www.hamesaxle.com/BookPromo.htm

Thanks,

Hames & Axle’s TouchoFrost is pleased to introduce her three new daughters, TouchoClass, TouchoSilver and TouchoShade.  These girls were the start of our kidding season, joining this world between 7 & 8 a.m. today.  Classy is a black and white sundgau. Silver is a silver chamoisee with blue eyes and Shade is a tri-color sundgau. Their sire is Wooly Dog Down Telaggio.
Now we await the next two sets of birthing from Echo and Truffle, two of LJ’s daughters.
Congratulations Frost, you did wonderfully!

The next issue of Ruminations is headed to the printer this week and Surfing Goat Soaps will be at the Ashburnham COmmunity Church’s Indoor Flea Market on March 1, 2008, so we’re off to a busy start for 2008. We’ll keep you posted on what’s coming, so check in periodically.