SustainableAg's Just Gettin' Started Journal

[Baymule]

How exciting! I’m SO happy that you have found a very supportive breeder that will mentor you along the way. I’m sure the journey into goats will be made much better by these mini Nubians. Just awesome!

 

[Baymule]

This is great! Congratulations on the start of a long journey filled with hard work, lots of love and lots of surprises. This will be fabulous for you!

 

[SustainableAg]

Thank you @Baymule I am very excited.

 

[SustainableAg]

Well, I bought another goat. 😂
The same breeder that I am buying my does from has several bucklings available. All of the goats are related, so I am buying a buckling - soon to be wethered. He is the twin brother of the light brown doeling.

I also have a deposit on a well bred buckling. He is coming home with us in May. The young wether will be the companion for that buckling. The buckling will be our herd sire in a year and a half/two years when the doelings are old enough to be bred. In the meantime, the boys will have an awesome bachelor pad, and the does will be able to make funny faces at them from across the pasture.

 

[Baymule]

Lovely goats with lovely names!

 

[SustainableAg]

Thank you @Baymule we are having so much fun watching it all come together. But I will be relieved once everyone is settled in and all the big projects are done.

 

[Baymule]

It’s real nice when you can finally enter that “maintenance mode”. LOL

 

[SustainableAg]

It seems like whenever there are a bunch of things going on, something pops up that requires your undivided attention. On Sunday, our dishwasher in our walk out basement caused our basement to flood. We have a septic pump in the basement that pumps up and out to the tank. There was a blockage in the pump, which caused the water to overflow into our basement. It also caused the water to back up into the basement bathroom, and overflow the sink and toilet. According to the shop vac that DH used to clean up the water, we had at least 30 gallons of water on the floor. I was lucky to catch the backup when I did, and turn the dishwasher and washing machine off in mid-cycle. It could have been so much worse. We spent several days this week cleaning up, and making a pile of things that are damaged and need to be thrown away in a dumpster. We bought two large dehumidifiers that have been running all week, and have so far needed to be emptied every other day. Just keeping us on our toes! 😆

Fortunately for us, my FIL is a general contractor, so he helped DH diagnose the problem over the phone. Once all of that was settled, we had our septic tank pumped just as a precaution. The septic tank and the rest of the house is fine, but the basement pump is dead. We will be replacing that, and all should be well.

Everything is ready for the goats to arrive. I spent two days this week moving corral panels to make a temporary play yard for the goats until the barn arrives. Then I have electric netting that I will be using to rotate the does in the pasture, and goat corral panels for the buck and his friend. I picked up hay on Friday, and got it all stacked just before the rain moved in.

4 of the goats are being delivered on Monday the 18th, the buckling is being delivered some day next week, and another we are picking up the first week of May.

Did you notice my goat math? Initially there were 3 goats coming....now there are 6! 😂 My friend and her teenage daughter are coming next week to meet the goats. They also volunteered to help me put down all of the stall mats in the barn once it arrives. Yay!

 

[SustainableAg]

I spent most of the day yesterday baking for Easter. We are just having a small get together with DH's Mom and Stepdad. Baking is a great stress reliever for me, and I went a little overboard with the baking. I planned to bring cookies to my friends at the barn where I used to board my horse, and it quickly spiraled into two different types of cookies, mini lemon pound cakes, and a big lemon pound cake. I don't know who I thought I was feeding! I am so used to having a bunch of people over for the holidays, I guess it was just muscle memory! 😂

I drove to the barn yesterday at 6pm when everyone was there bringing horses inside for the night, and gave everyone their plate of cookies and a mini lemon pound cake. It was great to see everyone again.

And since there is never a dull moment on a farm, two of the horses had come in with a shoe missing. And one of them had also blown a toe. I helped my friend's teenage daughter hose the mud off of their legs and pack/bandage their hooves until the farrier can get there and replace the shoes.

 

[frustratedearthmother]