I got mine all new collars and matching ones for their babies to come. Each girl got a different color so I can spot their kids easier if they are color coded. All the oberhasli babies come out the same :)

-- shari (smillers@snowcrest.net), December 19, 2001

Answers

My girls are getting a BOYFRIEND, a nice young stud to have fun with next year! :) I won't know much more about him until he is born, and have a 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice out there, very different sires, dams are mom and her two daughters! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), December 20, 2001.

Straw for bedding and new drainage ditchs and pipes around the barn. We had soooooooo much rain last week. Honey dug ditches and redirected water but drains and gravel are in order.

-- sherry (chickadee259@yahoo.com), December 20, 2001.

I got mine a new dairy scale a new disbudder and a new tattoer with letters and numbers. Dennis said thats my present but I still say its for the goats. They got Dennis a new 18 in blade chain saw

Joe

-- Joe (sunriseknls@dog.com), December 22, 2001.

Wow, what neat presents, I especially like yours Vicki, what a gft! I got mine lots of goatie goodies, can't give them all stockings any more like i used to. I gave Jackie her own stocking every yr for Christmas filled with her favorite treats,m cookies, bananas, oranges, etc. 45 stockings are a little too much to make. But they will all get treats. I got them all a nice parlor to milk in, lets see..... new maternity pens and will be adding some new goatie proof fencing as well.

Its so good to see you here Joe and Dennis. Joe and dennis are really sweet and great friends. They will be moving near us soon to also begin a madcapped goat dairy adventure:):)

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), December 22, 2001.

O.K. since they are friends of yours!! What on earth is Dennis going to do with the chain saw! He does know it gets oil on the meat :0

Bernice and Joe what about telling us about your operations, you selling fluid milk? Raw on farm sales? Contract? Have you been milking yet on your new grain mix to know if it is going to work for you? You going to be able to afford and get the kind of alfalfa you are used to? I am still at the "tweaking and not to happy about the feed" I just can't justify going back to my custom mix, to far and to much$$ so what you feeding? I have been asked to dump my milk at the cheese plant after my kids are weaned............ will probably comply, though he is by far not my favorite person :) Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), December 23, 2001.

HMMMMMM...... welllllll my guess is Dennis is going to probably use that chain saw to build their new farm, house, etc. But.... :):):):)

We just got our contract in the mail a few days ago from Jackson Mitchell. The good news was we were given a raise per ctw, we will receive 1.75 per ctw raise and SCC/BF and meeting quota is another 1.75. Joe and Dennis will be shipping milk as well. I did have a thought about tapping into the organic market here and selling the legal limit of 100 gallons per month off the farm. But it wa sonly a thought since there are so many legal issues involved and I don't want to go there.

Goaties not due until Feb so will not know if new speciality mix (our old one) is going to work. We are hoping it does, we have seen some significant changes already, the nice slick coats, no more baldy tails, etc. We never could find after the first 2 months here any more of that nice alfalfa we got so we are now feeding a bermuda grass mix and then adding alfalfa into the feed mix. I know what you mean about the too far to get the mix, thats why we stopped using the speciality mix when we were in VA. It was a 3 hr trip one way. But what w edid wa sfind a feed store nearby and they make the mix for us using the ingredients we ship from Tri-Quest.

Cheese plant, eh? so you might be selling some excess milk to him then? Hope that works out for you Vicki. I know its not easy finding a market for milk in a lot of places.

I hope Joe and Dennis will get a chance to reply and share their wisdom and experience with us. They were working on a cost effective feed program.

-- Bernice (geminigoats@yahoo.com), December 23, 2001.

Got my goats{all two of them} a new barn!I'm sure they like it better than the plastic covered cyclone fence pen they were in for a few months.It is just big enough for three goats,some kids,feed, hay, and a milking stand.The bottom four feet is concrete block and the rest is wood with a tin roof.Much nicer to milk in than the pen, especially during a lightening storm.THAT was not fun!Since I don't plan on selling milk{there is a huge predjudice against goat milk here}three goats will be plenty.

-- VickiP. (countrymous@webtv.net), December 24, 2001.

Hello

Really enjoy this forum thanks for letting us post. Dennis said any oil he gets on the meat will just get a quick scrub in Dawn:') Don't let Bernice fool ya she is really the great person and the great friend. This is our grain mix 350 lbs Cracked Corn 400 lbs Whole Oats 100 lbs Beet Pulp 100 lbs Alfalfa Pellets 50 lbs Whole Cotten Seed 50 lbs black oil sunflower seed 1/2 lb Vitamins A, D, E 1/2 lb Selenium If we are needing a little more protien base we top dress with Ground corn.

As for hay Alfalfa is hard to come by but we feed a Alfalfa grass mix available at all times and 3 times a week add a bale of high tested alfalfa in the evenings. They also have browse and free choice minerels and baking soda and loose salt. Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday and hope to be in Arkansas real soon.

-- Joe (sunriseknls@dog.com), December 24, 2001.