Two Steps Forward and One Step Back…It's Still Progress

We decided it was time to take the goats into town to their new home. As providence would have it, my new medicine arrived the night before and I needed to see the nurse in town about administering the shot to myself, as I do real good with injector pens, but this only comes in a needle and syringe, and being quite needle-shy, I have a nasty little habit of passing out when something pierces my skin. Yeah, go figure. I could break colts and bust a leg or ribs or whatever, but a little thing like a shot or piercing my ears knocks me flat. Just one of my idiosyncracies, I guess. At any rate, this was a very good thing, as town is nearly 4 hours away and we don't like to go there often. The timing was impeccable and knowing what I do about Him, it was no accident.

We figured that if we left at 6 am, we would have time to stop for breakfast, before heading to the hospital. All we had to do was grab Annie and lead her to the long horse trailer we pull around with us. Patch and Shugar always follow her so there were no worries there….

Morning came (too early) and after throwing on some clothes, grabbing a few things we would need for the trip (which always takes about 20 hours or so, to get there and back) such as the Ipod with the booktapes on it, a grocery and errands list, a couple of big coolers and the house dogs, TheMan fed MissEmmaLouMoo who how has 3 calves on her as I have been unable to milk lately and she needs to have all the milk she is producing used up, to prevent mastitis.

We headed for the goats.

 With Annie and Patch in hand, we marched confidently across the sheep pasture, through the Maremmas and toward the front gate. My confidence didn't waiver until I looked back and saw Shugar (the only one who is pretty wild yet, due to holding a grudge about her early horn disbudding) was firmly planted at the other end of the pasture hiding behind the crazy ram. After much cajoling and pleading we made no headway so chose instead to push all the sheep and goats into the little area where the dogs eat, in order to capture Shugar. With a little sweat on our part, we had success and dragged everyone to the horse trailer…one hour late. Mr Cider got out and that slowed things down as well because in his advancing age, he can't jump back in. I know how he feels.

I decided to comfort myself with the thought of over indulging in Maple Bars which they usually have fresh at a little gas station store in Jordan Valley, a couple of hours away. It's the only town between us and civilization and it's pretty much a one blink experience. After an interminably long drive through the chapparal of South Eastern Oregon, enjoying the varied scenery of sagebrush and mesquite, mesas and hills, gullys and small streams we made it to Jordon Valley. Mouth watering, I ran in to find they only had 3 Maple Bars, so I opted to eat one and split one with TheMan. They are tasty, but not very filling.

I suppose because you drive for hours in SE Oregon without passing a town, that a building by the side of the road merits the sign above. After all, there might be another truck on the road somewhere.

Also, SE Oregon is famous for having pretend towns. This is the booming town of Rome, Oregon. The whole thing. One little gas station/cafe kinda thing.

We made it to the hospital and the decision was made that TheMan would have to learn to give me the injections as the passing out thing just isn't feasible these days. I don't get up as easy as I used to, and I could just visualize the damage I could do falling forward with a needle in my gut. He did an admirable job, despite my squeaking and complaining and we took off for the goats' new home.

The people were super nice, had goats, sheep, llamas and some calves, but mostly, they had 6 kids and that is what the goats need is someone to play with them. Annie and Patch are people lovers and Shugar just needs to learn that not everyone wants to hurt her. We left with a dozen of THE BEST cupcakes we have ever tasted. We'll be back for both more cupcakes and goats milk in the future.

Back home only 16 hours later we hit the sack. Next morning, we woke up to this.

Good thing we brought the tomato starts back in the house. Looking forward to some warmer weather coming and a visit from a brother in law who has never yet been here.

Mother's Day was wonderful. Cold, but I had recieved a beautiful email from one son and the next day, a phone call from the other. Even though I don't hear well, and usually discourage phone calls, it was great to hear his voice. I'm so grateful for the time I had with them, and for the beautiful wives and mothers they both married. Our girls are doing well too, one moves her family into a new house this week and the other is having another baby.

This week I'll be making more Whipped Tallow for the store. It sells on Etsy, if you click the link, or at my webstore at Ranch Rustics. A few new fragrances of wax tarts and candles might be in order too, along with making some more super rich, amazing ice cream.

Just because it's so amazing, I am going to share the recipe.

First off, I separate the yolks from 16 ranch eggs. I break them into a bowl, so if there is a spot on one, or if a yolk breaks into the white, it doesn't ruin the whites, which can be used later for either a pavlova or angel food cake. Even a speck of yolk in it would inhibit the whites from whipping properly. So yolks in one little container, whites into another, then the yolk is plopped into the measure cup with the rest.

Combine your 16 yolks with 2 cups of castor or Bakers sugar. It is a much finer sugar that will more easily blend. I run it in the Bosch mixer until it thickens. Meantime, a quart of milk heats on the stove until it is scalded. Luckily I got several gallons of milk from Emma before I had to quit milking her.

Next is the tricky part. You have to 'temper' the eggs. Pour a small stream of hot milk into the egg mixture while the mixer is running. Just a bit at a time. You want to slowly bring the temperature of the eggs up, otherwise you will wind up with scrambled egg instead of ice cream. Once you have blended enough of the hot milk into the egg mix, pour the egg mixture into the pan and put it back on the burner. Heat until the mixture thickens up and coats the back of a spoon. DON'T let it come to a boil or it will curdle your eggs. Once it is thickened, pour it all into your ice cream container and chill it over night.

The next day, add a quart of heavy cream (EmmaLou's heavy cream is divine, btw) and 8 tsp of vanilla. (In our case it is homemade with vodka and vanilla beans infusing for months) Add the ice and salt to the ice cream freezer according to directions and churn it.

This ice cream was so rich, with all the homegrown and homemade ingredients it was actually YELLOW.

It was also really good. We've had it every night so far. Sometimes in a bowl, sometimes on a cone, sometimes with homemade Dulce de Leche caramel poured over the top…Oh My Heavens! It's some radically good stuff.

THE Vanilla Custard Ice Cream

Ingredients:

16 egg yolks

2 cups castor sugar

4 cups milk

4 cups heavy cream

8 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Beat yolks and sugar until thickened.

Pour quart of milk in sauce pan and scald. 

Pour some of hot milk into egg mixture while beating, to temper eggs.

Pour egg mix back into pan and heat until mixture thickens enough to coat back of a spoon.

DO NOT BRING TO BOIL OR MIXTURE WILL CURDLE

Pour into container and chill over night

Right before churning, add 

4 cups heavy cream

8 tsp vanilla.

Churn according to freezer directions.

for soaps, candles or whipped tallow butter, here is a link to the Etsy store:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/RanchRusticSoaps?ref=ss_profile

Going Forward

Annie the goat was being mean, mean, mean to the Captain, so she and her cohorts were removed to a different pen. The next day, I found her in the chicken pen, stealing their food. I hobbled out as quickly as I was able and grabbed her up. She had effectively climbed up her cattle panel shelter and used it as a springboard to launch herself into the next corral, where she was free to go where she pleased. Randyman and I moved the fence to prevent any further escape. Two days later, I found her and her friends this time, BACK in the chicken pen once again. I grabbed her up and noticed the gate to their pen was wide open. I shoved them in and made sure it was latched properly. The following morning..they were out once again. Annie had figured out how to open the latch by herself. The gate is now CHAINED securely. If that doesn’t work, my only other option is an armed security guard.

She managed to completely redesign the shelter. 

This is why we cannot have nice things...

It’s been an interminably long month. Storm fronts have brought longer lasting pain and agony and so far there is no relief in sight. I had begged Miss EmmaLouMoo to wait until after we went to town for my infusions to have her calf. She did. She waited until about 20 min after we left. Not only did she not get my drift, she apparently also did not get the memo that I wanted a heifer.

So...meet Ed-a-bull. He’s wild as a March hair but has Emma’s sweet face, big eyes and long thick lashes, whereas, his sister has a rather ugly mug. Who said life was fair?

Prior to this my sweet niece and her son came visiting. Bruno pretty much threw me under the bus and was making over Ky every chance he got, and The Captain did the same. We had fun rendering tallow, eating, playing board games, playing with sheeple, shooting, and watching Ky practice with his crossbow. It was a great weekend.

Em went into ketosis shortly after calving. That is a metabolic disorder in which the output of the cow is greater than the intake and puts them in starvation mode. It is what her mother died from and I have been desperately trying to save her. I loaded her up and ran her into town to the vet where she got a bottle of dextrose IV and brought her home with a gallon of propylene glycol, to administer should she relapse. She did magnificently well for a week, scarfing down her grain and eating her hay like a champ, then relapsed. Nothing seemed to work. I was drenching her with the PG, getting myself slung around the milk room doing it, but managed to get it down her. The vet told me to only give it twice a day for two days and no more. She’s been battling us for a week, but we may be on the winning side now. She’s been out in deep pasture with Ed, and coming in at night to eat hay and grain. 

I went out to check on her tonite for the first time in a few days (TheMan has had to take care of everyone for me lately as I have been unable to do so myself). Her bag was fairly tight so I went ahead and milked out the 2 rear quarters. That was 3 gallons. She seemed happy and went back out to nibble on dinner then go eat grass.

I've been having to use a cane everywhere I go, so I can get back to the house again as pain and weakness have been a constant companion since our last trip to town. It's been determined that the infusion has not been working. (duh). Mister was kind enough to pick up my cane that I dropped and hand it back to me. It's Cider's job to do that, but he ran off to shop for cow pies. It's nice to know someone else has my back.

By day I have rendered 100 lb of tallow for making Whipped Body Butter to sell in the online store , as it is my biggest selling item. I am finding this the best time of year for me to use it as my hands get dry and chapped from pulling weeds and gardening. There are an impressive lineup of handmade soaps to sell now, and anyone wishing to buy several bars of mix and match for discount need to e-mail me with your choices as the website hasn't given me an option for that.

I am still working on getting in fencing for the chickens and radio fencing to contain the dogs by day so they can protect the sheep. All in all, it's a pretty big order just trying to get a few things done.

There have been some major challenges this year, with much sadness. More death in the family, which seems to be becoming a regular occurrence, with almost no time to allow my heart to heal. I've also lost some animal friends. As I lean more heavily on my faith and carry on I am  making some  decisions about the future. Some of these include downsizing and making it easier to get through my days, and easier for TheMan to get through his when I am too incapacitated to do my part, which has been more often than not, lately. These changes include selling the goats, this year's lamb crop and Miss EmmaLouMoo. I am hoping and praying that SushiMoo will be the cow I really need, as she will be my last. Mister is now out with the ranch cavvy and I am praying he does all right, as he fares poorly in a herd situation and at his advanced age it could have serious consequences.

The grass is greening up, a few flowers are making their appearance. Lilacs, tulips, pansies are doing their best to cheer me and remind me of the promise of Easter. As our Lord defeated death and the empty tomb gives promise of new life, so does spring come to lift my spirits. Death and loss and sickness and grief are parts of life on earth and none of us can avoid them, but so is new birth, life, beauty and awe. To paraphrase the apostle Paul, I must remind myself to "Think on these things…"

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The Most Wonderful Awful Goat in the World

Any of you who have followed my blog know who Prissy is. She is the goat who gave me triplets then immediately rejected them, leaving me no resort but to milk her twice a day and bottle feed them. Not such a bad thing, except milking her meant bloody knuckles, sky rocketing blood-pressure and the need to go before the throne of the King of Kings apologizing for the things I called one of His creatures. She can buck, kick and lift a metal milking stand up off the ground with her head locked up and both hind legs hobbled and chained to the floor. If she had been my first dairy animal, I would drink tea.

The only thing in her favor is the fact that she was giving a gallon and a half a day. After raising the triplets, I took her down to milking only ONCE a day and was still getting 3 quarts of milk at a time. Then we got the bummer lambs. I got to enjoy this little routine again, twice daily and she went back up to giving me 5 quarts a day. Not bad. Then I weaned the bummer lambs and she had to nurse Moose, the monster calf. Him she didn’t kick and fuss about, which I found highly offensive. Once Moose was doing better, I kicked him out to the pasture and actually milked her for a couple of weeks for my OWN use, then my cows freshened and I kicked her out in the pasture and tried hard to forget the trauma she had caused me.

It has been a month now, and she hasn’t been milked or nursed, but her bag is still abnormally large looking. The other doe, Scarlett, has been nursing her twins a little on and off.

A new couple has been hired on at the ranch, and they have a 10 week old baby who has some sensitivities. His mother told me she was advised to try raising him on goat’s milk as the formula she has to buy is very expensive. I told her we would see if we can get enough milk from the goats and if so, I will teach her how to milk and process the milk for him.

We brought Scarlett in and barely squeezed 4 ounces of milk from her. No matter, its noon and she may have more tonite, as the twins might have already tapped her.

Later, Prissy showed up bellowing and bellyaching because she was out in the pasture alone…with 22 other animals…but no Scarlett, as we separated her. I decided to drag Priss to the milkroom just to see what that big bag was all about.

I got the old battle axe up on the stand and after it stopped going airborne on me…I had a half gallon of milk in my bucket. Looks like the little feller is gonna get his goats milk after all!

Good Clean Fun

 

Living on a ranch, there is just no excuse to ever, ever, EVER be bored. There are always plenty of things that need to be done. Convincing Moose that he is still a COW and cannot continue to drink goats milk forever is one of them. There is also feeding calves, orphan lambs and goats, or milking goats and cows, playing with the dogs, watching the chickens putter around, riding my horse and helping move cattle, brand, clean cabins, work in the garden, mow the pasture or do housework,  or on days when I am not feeling quite up to snuff, there are always other options…like maybe, reading, stained glass work, crochet, cooking, or, today’s choice, making soap.

I really should have made more earlier this year, but between the goats who were born in January, the bottle lambs in March and chicks in the house and now the bottle calves, I have been off my routine. Today I set out to correct that. It has been pouring rain and I’ve been hurting, so weed-eating and mowing have to wait and the garden is put on hold. I got the cheat-grass in the pasture mowed already, so no big deal…I mean after all, doesn’t everybody mow the Back Forty, before they do their yard??

Today is soap making day and I thought you all might like to follow along on this little procedure. Lots of folks, including me, like to cook and bake when it’s cold and gloomy outside. But I have discovered that soap brings many of the same benefits without making me FAT!

I ordered some new soap fragrances for spring and summer, so I have lots to choose from. I also got some new micas for color so of course, we have to play with those. I never got swirling down the way I want it with my deep molds, so this would be a good time to experiment with it.

We are going to make Cold Process, or CP soap…although, since I plan to put it in the oven to gel, its CPOP or Cold Process Oven Process, but lets not split hairs.

It’s important to clean the kitchen up and eliminate the clutter first. So, out with the calf bottles and nipples, gastric tubes, syringes, vaccines, chicken feed container, milk pails, cheese pots and livestock thermometer.

Next, I get all the ingredients and necessary implements and tools out. That would be my oils, lye, fragrance oils, stainless steel pots (mine are dedicated just to soaping) stick blender, measuring cups, gloves, goggles, postal scale (precise measurements are critical), molds, freezer paper for lining the molds, colorants and my formula. The recipe is one I have formulated previously and made a lot of and of course, checked my specs out on ‘soapcalc’, one of the online lye calculators which is a ‘must-do’ for safe soapmaking.

I measure out my solid oils, in this case coconut oil and Crisco, but with our milk soaps we will use lard or tallow, which is awesome in soap. These go in my big pot to melt on the stove.

With goggles and gloves on, I measure my lye into a plastic container, then in a separate stainless steel pot measure the liquid into which I will mix the lye. You always pour your lye into the liquid, never, ever, ever the other way around. I use lye beads, which can bounce around due to static electricity and can get in your eyes, so I also use a dryer sheet to wipe down the containers I pour into and out of.

My liquid of choice might be water, or goat/cow milk, tea, coffee, beer or something else depending on what kind of soap I am going for. I even have one I will be making with tea made from stinging nettles that is supposed to help with skin ailments. That is high on my list lately. Liquids may be frozen to keep the lye from overheating it, like with 100% milk, honey, or cloves and often just room temperature if I am adding at trace, depending on what I am soaping. All the ingredients, from the oils to the liquids bring different qualities to the soap.

I don my goggles and gloves, open the back door and a window, and with the pot in the sink, as a precaution, I slowly and carefully pour my lye into the water. It begins to heat up immediately and caustic vapors begin to rise and I have to keep my face turned so as not to breath in the fumes. It’s at this moment I am glad not to have a phone, or a whole lot of friends and neighbors who stop by. A few minutes later, the lye mix settles down.

Once my hard oils have melted, I combine my liquid oils with them and when my oils and lye mix cool to the temperatures I want, I pour the lye mix into the oils, careful not to splash. I use a stick blender in bursts to help bring the mixture to what is known as ‘trace’.  Today I am going to only bring it to a very thin trace as I want my ‘swirls’ to penetrate better when I pour my soap in the molds. I dip about a cup of the mix into a glass measure cup and add colorant until I reach the color I like. I color the rest of the oils in the big pot, and add my fragrance oils, stirring thoroughly.

I pour it all in my molds, which are already lined with freezer paper, add the lids and set it aside to saponify, usually overnight. I am going to help speed the cure a bit by ‘oven processing’ the soap. I check the flashpoints of the fragrance oils and set the oven to 150 for 2 hours with the soap inside. Then I turn off the oven and leave it all in there for the night.

This means dinner has to be cooked on the stove tonite. I can probably cut the soap log into bars in the morning, and set then out to cure for about 4-6 weeks.

Meanwhile, back to feeding calves, goats, sheep, pups, and clean out a freezer. It konked out a couple weeks ago. Nothing like having a freezer failure when its full up and you are 4 hours from town where you can replace it, IF you had the money. We rescued what we could and true to form, I forgot we left a few bags of tomatoes in there and a couple other items I was going to quickly pressure can…so today, I have to clean out the ‘science project’ and re-purpose the freezer.

Last winter my little house was a wreck from all the soaping supplies and the curing of hundreds of bars of soap. There just isn’t any place to put it, as our little cracker box is so small there isn’t even a broom closet! But I am thinking the big upright freezer might be an answer to part of my problem. If I can put a de-humidifier inside of it, and alter the racks, I can fit a LOT of soap in there to cure and store! It will keep out the light so colors don’t fade and with the de-humidifier, they should cure at a much faster rate. I just have to figure out where to put the freezer...

In the morning I unmold the soap, cut it and stamp it, just for fun. The green swirl didn’t come out quite like  I had hoped, but its still nice soap and it smells great!

Now, wasn’t all that better than cruising the malls?

A Moose in the Milk Room

Those of you who have been following the blog, know who Prissy is. She is a contrary Nubian doe, who had triplets in Jan., her first pregnancy. She promptly rejected them, ramming them if they came anywhere near her. I had to resort to milking her twice a day to bottle feed the triplets, while she kicked, twisted, and bucked, dumping the milk bucket over on me with regularity, turning the entire milk stand upside down with some frequency. I tried tying her entire body down, I tried begging, patience, bribing, and the third time she broke open my bloody knuckles, I lost both my temper and my mind and BIT her!

The boss wife’ keeps saying “Get rid of that animal! There are way too many nice goats around to put up with her.” But…Prissy gives 1 ½ gallons a day of some of the best milk I have ever tasted. So, she has remained until someone, hopefully her daughter, can replace her.

This morning, my RA has flared again, it is painful to move my thumb even  the slightest degree. I was not able to milk, and there is no one who can stand in for me. I tried to milk with just my left hand, but it was taking forever, and that hand was cramping and starting to give me grief. Desperate for help, as I could not just leave her, due to the possibility of her developing mastitis and being ruined, I decided to try something…well…in HER case, something totally outrageous. And destined for failure. I decided to employ one of the 13 leppie calves I have been bottlefeeding. Not just ANY calf, but MOOSE.

MOOSE was born a week ago. One of the ‘day cowboys’ found him just after his mother gave birth to him. She had a ‘bad bag’ and would be unable to nurse him. He is a calf of enormous proportions. Most of the calves here weigh from 30 up to 60 or even 70 lbs at birth. Moose weighed about 120. I was surprised his mother didn’t die from having him. The cowboy managed to get him in the horse trailer and hauled him in. I prepared some colostrum for him and gave him his first meal, in a bottle. Moose has done well, but thinks I am his mother. He will follow me anywhere, unlike the other calves, so Moose was my first choice as a ‘volunteer’.

Prissy was already on the milk stand, trussed up, and tied down, when Moose followed me in. I expected her to start tearing up the place the minute she saw him, as that is her response if a lamb, or kid goat manages to get loose and show up in the milk shed while she is there. If she even HEARS them she starts pitching a fit. She looked at Moose with little interest and went back to eating her grain.

 A friend and I sort of led Moose up to where the ‘faucets’ are, and I sat on the milkstand and held onto Prissy’s leg, waiting for the rodeo.

Moose needed very little encouragement. He latched on and went to drinking and smacking his lips. In no time Prissy was all milked out, Moose had a warm and tasty breakfast, and I stood, lower jaw hanging, unable to believe what I had seen. Not only had Priss allowed him to nurse her, she was CHEWING HER CUD! This is a sign of contentment in ruminants!

Mulling it over and assessing the situation, I have come up with this theory. She hates baby goats. She hates lambs. She hates me milking her. Moose being there and nursing her did not seem out of the ordinary to her… I can only assume that the reason behind this, is that she is either in denial, or thinks she brought this on herself, because every time I milk her…

SHE HAS A COW!

Sometimes you just have no idea what the day is going to bring you.

REAL Homemade Yogurt

I confess. I love dairy. Ice cream, cold, creamy milk, whipped cream, cottage cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, all kinds of cheeses and yogurt.

Yogurt is a great food. It’s filling and it has essential bacteria needed by your body for healthy GI system and proper digestion. It boosts health, helps and speeds healing from intestinal infections, helps prevent yeast infections, lowers cholesterol, and provides calcium and protein.

When my calves or baby goats get sick or stressed, they get…you guessed it, yogurt.

It can be subbed for sour cream, strained and used like cream cheese, used for marinating lamb, in salad dressing or just as a snack. I love it for breakfast with raw honey and granola mixed in, or even better, a tablespoon of homemade fruit jam. It even lends itself well to baking muffins and such. It can also be used as a thermophilic culture for making cheeses.

It isn’t necessary to pay a buck and a half for those little bitty cartons of yogurt, when it’s so easy and inexpensive to make your own.

 All that is required is liquid milk, a bit of powdered milk, (which helps provide body), culture, a thermometer, and an incubator of sorts. Some folks use the oven light, others use a heating pad, and some even have a big enough food dehydrator to make their yogurt in. Whatever it takes to keep it at a steady 108 degrees. I have a Yogourmet Incubator because I use it a lot, and I can make a 2 qt. batch at a time.

You CAN use store bought, pasteurized milk.

I, however, prefer to procure my own milk, raw, with all the healthy vitamins, minerals and probiotics it contains. Plus, it has natural cortisone in it, which helps with my pain levels. Pasteurization is a necessary evil in most commercial dairying, due to sanitation hazards. Pasteurizing milk also kills all the beneficial bacteria as well as the vitamins. That is why vitamin D has to be added back to commercial milk, because your body cannot take up calcium without it. The difference is like fresh vegetables vs fastfood. The practice doesn’t do your milk any favors.

Having my own milk goat or cow is a privilege for which I am very grateful. It’s one of the greatest luxuries of my life, as well as one of the greatest pleasures, but I digress.

Currently, my cows are both dry and not due to calve until July. My little bummer lambs are just about old enough to be weaned, so we are finally getting a little hard earned goats milk for our OWN use.

Greek yogurt is made with sheep or goats milk, which is one reason it is so smooth. I can definitely tell the difference between my goat yogurt and cow yogurt, although both are good. Today, I have surplus milk, so I made …tadah!! YOGURT!!

Here are the steps.

I have 2 big Nubian doe goats…sisters. I call them “Scarlet and Prissy” after the ladies on Gone With the Wind. Scarlet is unflappable and greedy, and Prissy…well…Prissy is a drama queen who has panic attacks and can’t truly do anything right. She is the most insecure goat I have ever known, screaming loudly if she thinks she is alone in the milk shed, crying if someone else is getting fed first and generally just being a pain in the caboose. She had triplets her first birthing and because they caused her some discomfort, she immediately freaked out and rejected them. Hence, I had to milk her by hand twice a day. She gives a surprising amount of milk, (1 ½ gallons daily) with an unprecedented amount of cream for a goat. I just let Scarlet feed her twins, as we have enough milk from one goat for our needs, now that the lambs are older.

As with most things, there is a price for this wonderful milk. Prissy hates having her udder touched. She has tipped the milk stand over multiple times with her tantrums and gymnastics. It is necessary to lock her head in, tie her hind legs together, and chain them down to the floor. Then milking can commence. She can only lift her feet about 4 inches in this manner, and only kicks about 80 or 90 times before I am through. She rarely picks up both hind feet at the same time anymore, lifting up the milk stand and slamming it back to the ground with a bone-jarring crash, spilling milk all over me and the pups, who learned early on there might be a spill to clean up and valiantly volunteer. We have only been enjoying this routine for 5 months now.That would be a mere 300 or so milkings in this manner.

Here is where we will begin:

1. Grab a stainless steel pail and a bucket of grain, let your goat in on the milk stand, wipe her down, set yourself down and fill your pail with nice, fresh squeezed milk. Then take it to the house and strain it, just in case any hairs or pieces of hay fell in. Goats are usually cleaner than cows. Probably because they don't produce nice warm 'goo pies' that they then lay in, immersing their entire  udder so you can spend an hour cleaning her up before you start to milk. You can either chill it now, or put it right in the pot.

You could also go to the store and just buy 2 quarts of milk, but for me that would be ridiculous, as it would cost me about $200 in fuel.

2. Put your 2 quarts of milk, and about 1/3 cup of powdered milk, into your pot and heat over med heat to 170 degrees. A candy thermometer is fine for this. Stir it once in awhile. I use a cheese thermometer that has an alarm on it when it reaches temperature, as I have a very short attention span and will find something else to do while the milk heats.Oh look! A squirrel!

I usually practice deep breathing to follow my fabulous daily goat milking experience. It helps take the redness out of my face and lets my hair go straight again.

Meantime, get your culture ready. You can buy culture tablets, or you can do what I do, and just buy some commercial, live culture, plain yogurt at the store. You can use Fage, Greek yogurt, or Cheap-o yogurt, just make sure it is live culture…my very favorite is Tillamook. They have excellent dairy products.

 I take about ¼ cup and put it in a glass-measuring cup, then put the rest in ice cube trays and freeze it for later use. This way I don’t have to keep buying yogurt, to make yogurt. The next batch, I will save some of this batch as the culture for the next, and save the frozen cubes for when I either run out, or the culture finally weakens.

After your milk hits 170 degrees, cool it back down to 108 degrees. I place the pot in the sink and fill the sink with some cold water and keep stirring until my milk cools down, as I am very impatient, and “Oh LOOK! A butterfly!”

 

Once the milk is 108 degrees, I pour a little into my cup with the culture and mix it up good. This is like tempering eggs. Then pour the mix in the cup back into the big pot, stir it all up, and pour it into my big container, which I then place in the incubator for 4-6 hours. The longer it incubates the sharper it will get. Six hours seems to work fine for mine.

After the 4-6 hours are up, place the container in your refrigerator and let it cool and set up.

Next morning, you will have a nice, thick, smooth yogurt. You can dish out and flavor anyway you want. A tablespoon of homemade jam mixed in is fantastic. You can use syrup, honey, Jell-O, Vanilla, or any combination or number of things.

Welcome to REAL food! Caution though…you might get hooked!

Let’s recap, shall we?

Homemade Yogurt

2 qts milk

1/3 c dry powdered milk

live culture yogurt or other yogurt culture

Heat milk  w/ powdered milk to 170.

Cool to 108, temper culture.

Mix culture back into milk and incubate for 4-6 hours.

Refrigerate.

Dish up and flavor as desired, or use plain.

Enjoy.

The Horns Of A Dilemma

Before the goats freshened this year, I bought a ‘de-horning’ iron. I never dehorned goats as the horns weren’t much of a problem for me before. They were always in the same pen, in plain sight and unable to get their heads stuck. Now I have much larger, Nubian goats, who not only could have their heads stuck and be dispatched by predators in their unfortunate condition, but could easily use them to injure my pups, or worse, one of the visiting grandkids, so off they must come.

Randyman and I steeled ourselves for the pitiful crying and the guilt that comes with this dreaded job of burning the horn buds off the baby goats when they were a few days old. I shaved their little heads around the horn buds, and stuffed them in a little box to help keep them still. Randyman did the ‘iron work’ while I held their little heads still with gloved hands. There was almost no crying, in fact, they were more vocal about the shaving than the burning. The good news is, that much like when branding calves, after the initial burn, the area is deadened as the nerves in that area are destroyed, so the pain isn’t as brutal as one might surmise. I complained that we needed to keep the iron on for 10 seconds or so, but he insisted we had a good copper ring. The tops of the buds weren’t burned off either, in our inexperience and ignorance. Several weeks later, I noticed we had 5 horned baby goats…well…4 ½ actually. ONE out of 10 horns burned successfully.

I re-burned the horn of the one little doe we sold and I hope that was successful.

The little bucks I decided to just leave horned as they will probably be ‘party animals’…that is to say, they will likely be invited to a BBQ somewhere. The does, however, I have attempted banding. We put the same kind of bands at the base of their growing horns that we use on the buck goats and lambs to wether them. Again, this method doesn’t seem to be as uncomfortable as one would think. The bucks tend to walk funny for a few minutes until the area goes numb and then it is business as usual until the offending body parts just fall off a couple of weeks later. This also works great on lamb tails, which are quite long at birth, but pose a danger of fly strike and maggots as sheep get older. They have to be docked for health reasons. The bummer lambs will get banded soon, likely as not, next week. Samby’s tail already detached and it looks great! One day he was wagging a long tail, and the next he was waggin a short one! If only I could eliminate my own ‘excess’ so easily.

Anyway, the two girls have their horns banded and I am hoping that will get rid of the offending appendages. I will let you know how that works out.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

There is a saying, that if your fence won't hold water, it won't hold goats. There is a lot of truth to that.

The other morning, the ranch went into a cleaning frenzy. It seems some people from Texas were stopping by for the night along with a ranch relative who hasn't been here for several years. We were given no advance notice. Its been a rough winter here, and between illnesses, injuries, too much snow and too much ice, broken water lines and trying to keep the cows fed, the houses and cabins have been at the bottom of the priority list.  Add to that, a 19 yr old bachelor cowboy who works from sunup to dark, and has to cook, clean and do his own housekeeping and you have a disaster in the making.

Two of the boys were sent to pick up broken limbs and branches in front of the original ranch house, where some of the guests would stay. As I headed down to talk to them, I heard the pups barking wildly, with an anxious tone I had not heard before. I looked over and saw all 4 remaining baby goats in our GARDEN, with the pups trying desperately to alert me, as they were not supposed to BE there. The boys and I headed over, captured them and put them back in the back pen where they belonged. The dogs, clearly upset by the delinquency of the goats, remained out by them the remainder of the morning.

I headed up to the young cowboy's house with the boss' wife and daughter to see what could be done about the lack of domestic skills he practiced (or not) in aforementioned house. Eight hours later, after employing everything but the use of a tractor, we had it sparkling. The ranch relative was going to be staying in the extra room there, so there was added pressure. During the exercise, I headed to our house for a couple of needed cleaning supplies, and caught a movement out of the corner of my eye. The dogs were both back in the forward corral clearly dismayed by what they were witnessing.

Four baby goats were on top of the makeshift cattle panel shelter, bouncing, turning said shelter into a makeshift trampoline, then one by one, using it as a launchpad to jump high in the air and land in the other corral, and freedom. So THIS was how they got out!   For two  days and nights now, the pups have been sleeping in the corral in the rain and snow, in an attempt to maintain some sort of order. It seems that the unseemly behavior of the goats  has triggered the deep ingrained Guardian instincts of the pups and brought it to the forefront. At least one of them has been remaining with the naughty goats at all times, except in the event of what they deemed an emergency.

Cider was playing in the front yard, when one of the cowdogs came down and attacked him. For whatever reason, Cider seems to be the target of every dog on the ranch, with the exception of the Maremmas. The pups showed up and without any unnecessary force, an advancing 230 lb of "polar bears" convinced the instigator to return to the barn and leave Cider alone. They spent the next hour or so as active 'bodyguards' to him, until they were sure he was safe, then returned to the goat pasture. Bruno won't come in the house to visit me anymore. They have adopted a new routine. They patrol at sunup, returning a short time later to keep an eye on things here. Cletus guards the goats, while Bruno keeps an eye on things in the front yard...sometimes they switch places. But for the most part, Bruno has decided their territory and influence should extend to the front of the house from our lawn, to the barn.

As the new folks showed up, he merely laid watchfully observing, as they passed him by, never molesting them, or drawing attention to himself, until a couple of folks drove up and headed to my front door. He introduced himself politely, then set himself between them and the door until I opened it. When I greeted them, he acknowledged my judgment and quietly returned to his post on his own.

He's so professional.

Brains and Brawn

 

Tuesday I went to clean stalls. Bruno accompanied me. He has decided lately, that he should be spending more time in the house watching over me, than out back, so Cletus stays outside, which is his choice. It makes it convenient, as it is impossible to train the pups when they are together. I just wasn’t prepared for how intelligent these dogs really are.

Bruno’s habit, when we go out front, is to walk off out of sight, while I beg him to come back. Not anymore. Two trips to the barn on a leash, now he heels so close he pushes me off course, OFF leash! He met the goatlings and suddenly, he is a total Livestock Guardian Dog. It has been difficult to get him out of the stall, as he plants himself between goats and gate, a formidable opponent for any predator.

Prissy, as usual is being a TOTAL drama queen. She will NOT let the babies nurse and it has been necessary for me to milk and strip her twice a day. This takes both Randyman AND myself, with her head locked in the stanchion. I have never seen anything kick quite like she does. We brought “Sonny”, the buckling home and put him in a playpen, to spend the day trying to get him drinking from a bottle. Bruno followed me home with him and spent some time in the house with us again. Sonny figured out bottle feeding pretty nicely, then also figured out how to jump on and off the furniture. Cider desperately wanted to give Sonny a ‘lickin’ but Bruno snarled at him, and made him step aside and keep his distance. Up until that moment, Bruno had ALWAYS been submissive to Cider. The two little does remained with Prissy, I was hoping they would be able to nurse. Bruno returned to the barn and spent the night with them.

This morning at 5 a.m. (which was MUCH too early for me, as we were at a ‘Company Party’ last nite, which the boss put on for crew, on his own birthday) Scarlett had twin does. She did a good job, and handled things all on her own. Bruno and I only assisted in drying them off. Again, Bruno planted himself in the straw, wanting to stay with the new little family. I convinced him he could just lay in the aisleway, and I returned to the house, to feed the first 3.

Cletus, well, Cletus still acts like a big puppy, which he is. When he sees Bruno, Cider and myself walk by, he begins howling, and doesn’t stop until I return. He doesn’t mind being alone as long as he thinks I am in the house, but he doesn’t want to be left behind either. Nevertheless, it is HIS job to guard the remaining sheep and calves. He’s just not mature enough and ready to guard young stock.

The wind totally flipped the sheep’s shelter over so I went out to disassemble it, hoping we can get it back together. The ram was making me nervous, following me much too closely and enthusiastically everywhere I went. I managed to get them into the next corral, hoping they would be happy munching on some weeds in there. Cletus went with me, and he just kept going til he got to the barn. That was the last I saw of him. When I stepped back into the first corral to work on the shelter, the sheep came thundering at such high speed I couldn’t shut the gate. I managed to lock them in the chicken pen, where Wooly proceeded to get abusive to Pet-ewe-nya. As she took a couple of blows and tried desperately to avoid him, I noticed the size and shape of her in comparison to him. It looks to me like “Tooney” is pregnant! I am hoping for an early March baby. Looks like Bruno is gonna have his hands full this summer!