O Happy Day

On Friday, March 17th Asa and I drove to Cranbury Brook Farm in New Jersey and picked up nearly one-month old Toggenburg doeling who we named Clover. The barn was ready for her arrival; John had just finished the fencing inside the barn to separate the goats from a doorway leading to the mazes of the mill and keeping them out of where we store the hay and feed. We had a pallet down to use as a bed and straw strewn on the floor. Love that straw smell! John made a "crate" for the back of the van to protect it from being chewed up and messed on during the 3-hour drive home. Once home, she settled in nicely and seemed really happy to be with us. She loves to run with the boys and be petted non-stop.

The next day I drove to Caprikorn Farms in Burkittsville, MD to pick up "#602", who we renamed Ginger. Ginger is 2.5 months old, much larger than Clover, and not as used to being around people as Clover is. She was nervous around us. She was just weened from the bottle a couple of days before I picked her up, so I chose to offer her a bottle again so she could connect with us and become more friendly and see me as her mom. She didn't really like being petted or brushed, and would scurry away when someone tried to get close to her.

After four days with us and on two bottle feedings each day, she has really warmed up to us and is much more comfortable with being petted, and now loves to be brushed, and stands absolutely still for it. Both goats follow us around wherever we go and love to run across the lawn, climb on any lawn furniture, spontaneously jump with joy, and eat the ivy off of our house.

We are really happy with our goating lives so far, and look forward to breed them this late fall and them having babies in the early spring, then finally being able to milk them.

We will be getting two more goats in a couple of weeks - these ones will be really little girls; they were due to be born yesterday. These ones are Nubians; the ones with the really long floppy ears.

Stay tuned for the upcoming stories from life on the Seven Valleys Dairy Goat farm!

I just spoke on the phone with a dairy goat farmer and artisan cheesemaker based in Westchester, PA. I am trying to purchase some of his Nubian doelings. If anyone has a good milking doe, it's him! He has his own cheesemaking business and taught himself how to make cheeses. He is now one of the most well-known artisan cheesemakers in the Philadelphia area, selling to many restaurants and markets. I am on his list to receive two of his dairy goats, which are due around the 21st of February. Excited!