Gordon Longfoot

I run the other red brand. Bauer from Harbor Freight. I've heard a rumor that it's 8 year old designs from Milwaukee but haven't been able to confirm. None of the work I do is professional and sometimes tools end up getting left outside, that's my reasoning. Lost a 1/4" impact around November last year. It got left in the rain a few times and kept working but eventually too much rain got inside. The replacement was $40 instead of $140.

I'm running:

1/2" Drill
1/4" Impact
1/2" Impact
Chainsaw
6 1/2" circular saw
Reciprocating saw
5A, 3A, and 1.5A batteries

Have built two hog houses, a chicken coop, goat house, rabbit hutch, and some gates.

Leigh Tate wrote:Gordon, milking machines for short or small teated goats is a good thing to mention. I looked at the Henry milker several years ago but never bought one.

Also, I think the desired amount of milk production is highly personal. Even with goats, I never needed several gallons per day for just the two of us. I'm happy to milk once a day and adjust our dairy products to what we get. It depends on the family's need.

I was looking at the situation this morning while I had my fancy machine hooked up. You could probably get a 2 quart saucepan under there. With some care to keep everything clean it could be done. Even with my closed system I filter the milk through a cheese cloth when I'm dumping it into the Mason jar.

A couple days ago I tried milking by hand but couldn't get a single drop out.

I like the Nigerians but these are the only goats I've had so there's nothing to compare them to. I've heard some of the other milk tastes more goaty but again, I haven't tried it so I don't really know for sure.

Leigh Tate wrote:

Sam Shade wrote:I like my Nigerian Dwarfs quite a bit. . . Haven't really tried milking them but some friends told me it's kind of a pain.

That's been my experience as well. Short teats and too low to the ground to get a milking bucket under them. They don't produce a lot of milk either. But they do have the sweetest personalities which makes them very lovable.

We get 2 cups a day with 1 milking in the morning. It'd be difficult to get a bucket under her, I use teatcups with hoses going down to the ground where my suction machine and bucket sit. We're completely off grid but I still harness modern technology. You might be able to milk her directly into a 1 quart stainless cup. I wouldn't use glass, she'd probably smash it with her hoof. And milk forward (of udder) not backwards, because she'd probably lay some dropping into the cup.

Our white 5 year old ND is a little taller but she's still pregnant.

My brother and I used to brew beer and I'd take the grains home for my chickens. If I remember right, we were extracting sugar from the grains then the yeast goes in once the mash is removed. So no fermentation in brewer's grains unless they collect natural yeast after sitting for a few days.

Pigs out here get 60% corn and 20% oats all soaked in water for atleast 24 hours. But not the alfalfa, that doesn't need soaking. From what I understand the soaking helps them absorb nutrients with less pass through. But pigs eat their food twice, sounds kinda gross but it is what it is.

Since it's winter right now the feed bath has ice on it until day 3, then it's warm to the touch. I figure I'll stick some buckets in my green house once that's built, to keep plants warm but also to help the fermentation process.

The smaller doe had triplets this afternoon. Everything went smooth, we have three healthy kids. Everyone is eating or drinking and the placenta came out about 40 minutes after the last baby.

The white doe doesn't look as pregnant as today's mom. But we'll see what happens, she does look pregnant.

One of them for sure got mated in August.

Thea Carmella wrote:

Martin Mikulcik wrote:Rabbits probably won't breed till spring if you're in a temperate egion

Interesting! I've heard of a lot of people breeding their rabbits through the winter though? Perhaps that's it though, it is pretty cold lately.

My son's rabbits mated on the last week of December. We're still keeping them separated until we figure out how to colonize them, but as soon as we let them out of their cages the buck was on the doe.

We're planning a meal worm habitat. Our roosters are eating too much of the layer feed and getting a high dosage of calcium. This can damage their kidneys. So I want to put together a feed with different things I can grow on the farm, and leave out the oyster shells.

Meal worms seem like a good option. I already found a #50 bag of oats to feed them. These will need to be ground up a little.

That's a great looking rooster.

My kids came home with 6 Bielefelders but three of them ended up being Cream Legbars. All hens.

Mylow Bear wrote:Yep, they look bred to me! I have lamanchas mostly, but have a couple ND crosses. The ND does look like lil blimps like that. You've got kids coming in the next monthish for sure. Have you had goats kid before? If not, watch for them to sudden udder growth, drooping tails, pawing at the ground then laying down. Sometimes experienced does get milk a lot sooner, but I've had first timers fill out less than 24 hours before (that was quite a thing to wake up to in the middle of the night!).

These will be our first goat kids, we had a sow give birth in September but we're still new to this.

The white goat had kids last year with a different owner. The other girl (Daisy) is her first time, she's just under 2 years old. We'll be cleaning out their stall on Friday and adding a clean layer of straw. Then we get to start watching for signs. I think the earliest breeding date is around August 20th, so I'm thinking we have till the second week on January, but we didn't mark a calendar when it happened so we're not really sure.