Blog Slacker Part 3 ~ Things to Love About Fall

Things to love about fall...

Breeding season! Bellowing does, blubbering bucks, the clingy odor of the rut hangs heavy in the air.  As usual the does did not cooperate with my ideas for the breeding plan, we will have kids scattered towards the end of February through mid-March. We are happy to wash and put away our stinky breeding coveralls and there will be no more goaty-dates in my new car this year. The breeding page on the website is up to date, here is the link: http://www.capralane.com/planned-breedings

Beautiful blue fall skies, ever-changing leafy displays, living in the country where raking is optional. . . 

Resourceful postal workers. In the city that box would've blown away.

Hemi. . . our latest rescue. He has a total of 27 toes, fitting, given my profession... Hemi is short for Hemingway, who is partially credited with bringing the trait of paddle-foot or polydactyly,  in cats to the US.  Hemi is now fully recovered from pneumonia and life on the streets and growing well. He will be a barn cat, eventually.... He really loves the couch right now. 

Tinder...the dog who hates everyone (but me!) loves Hemi. They wrestle and snuggle 24/7. T-dog is deadly but loves kittens...who knew?

After a few late night stake outs and shoot outs, we finally got the little bastard who took up residence in our chicken coop. No chicken attacks but several dozen broken eggs later, we got him! The best part is, we didn't get sprayed. Neither did the dogs nor the cats. A few stray bullet holes in the chicken coop (oops...it was dark!) should make it look more threatening to future intruders.

"Take that, trespasser!"

Blog Slacker Part 2 ~ Meat

Chore time is trimming down nicely. After exactly 8 weeks, and 0% losses the chickens were processed and we filled our freezer with 30 birds averaging 6-8 lbs each. 

After distributing a few of the pre-ordered birds, I've delved into winter cooking mode, stocking up on stock, chicken soup, chicken and dumplings and paprikash. Last spring's beef was put to good use by stockpiling chili and using the last of the garden to make stuffed pepper soup. Everything goes with mashed turnips...and carrots...and zucchini. I think I planted too many. Again.

There's such a difference in these birds that we raise solely on grain, veggie scraps and milk. No greasy stringy dark meat, excellent flavor. Boy can they eat! We were flying through feed, 50 lbs at least 2-3 times a week.

Variety is the spice of life! Alpaca chops for dinner. Taste and texture of beef, zero gamey taste, maybe just a hint of smoky flavor. Very lean and healthy. Again with mashed turnips...and carrots.

Remember when the pigs were cute? For about 5 minutes? They quickly turned into destructive eating machines. They tossed, yes tossed and chewed up the 18" x 18" x 2" pavers in their pens. They lifted the 100lb rubber mats to burrow under them to sleep. From birth to 250 lbs in a little over 5 months. Overall very efficient. Raised mainly on milk, a little hog feed, whole oats, cracked corn and garden scraps, they cost only about $100 to raise to 500lbs live weight and yielded nearly 70% in meat. We finished them on acorns after reading that most of the world's best Spanish hams and cured pork products are finished on acorns and on wooded forage. 

A great angle...check out those hams! 

Now all is well in the world, our freezer is stocked with fabulous beautiful bacon, roasts and chops. The acorns were a good move, the flavor is fantastic. Aside from the odors and sometimes daunting displays of strength, they really were fairly easy to deal with. Loading and unloading went smoother than expected, no one was hurt! Recent news stories reminded us to respect those hogs...

Baxter and Bettina are now Baxter I and Baxter II. Fall feather displays  are suggesting that they are both male. They are growing very large, very quickly, and yes, I am scared of them. When we reach in to feed them they are right at eye level. I hope they don't realize Thanksgiving is right around the corner... No worries there, they truly are incredibly unintelligent. They pace back and forth behind their enclosure in the wind and rain, too dumb to walk around and go inside the shelter.

The last of this years surplus goat meat has been distributed and orders are filling for next year. My pumpkins, so promising early on this year turned into a total bust. Little black beetles burrowed under every last one of them and destroyed them. Maybe next year...no time or motivation to carve one, it would probably blow away anyway!

Blog Slacker Part 1 ~ Fall Highlights

 Capra Lane has not dropped off the face of the earth....just very busy! After fair week we were inundated with overflowing work at our "real" jobs, the ongoing desperate search for hay, family weddings and birthdays and finally filling our freezer with the fruits of our labor from the garden and the barnyard.

After months of poor planning, M and I finally gathered a free day dedicated 100%  to cheese. Armed with 3 reference books and 12 gallons of milk we tried to put our education and skills in hard cheesemaking to good use. 

So far...so good! Floculation (gelling), curd cutting, careful timing and hours of sitting by the stove.  After pressing and brining, we had produced 3 goats milk tommes and one wheel of garlic and chive fresh pressed cheese. Into the aging cave (dorm refrigerator) it went. At first, no excitement..which is good. Then mold. Then panic.

After consulting with our trusty cheese leader, we scrubbed and washed and continue to do so every other day. Brown  spots and gray fluff gave way to pearlescent blue-green and white. No rotten death smell but still intimidating. "Taste it" she recommended. Hells no. Too scared. Something tells me the affineur should not fear affinage...

Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks...a family wedding over Labor Day.  This spot should be at the top of everyone's "to-do" list and is definitely high on my "repeat" list. I have my eye on that ranch in the valley...

Buffalo...another one of those animals that is somehow bounds more charming in its natural habitat.  We accomplished a ton of sightseeing in our 24 hours. 

Happy 90th birthday to Nana Batt

Goats in the news

 Want to start a goat farm?
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/cleanplatecharlie/2012/09/want_to_start_a_goat_farm_jojo.php

Drought Challenges Goat Dairy
http://www.mauinews.com/page/content.detail/id/564530/Drought-challenges-goat-dairy.html?nav=10

New Grade A Goat Dairy
http://www.dailycommercial.com/081312goats

Goat Milk and Cheese a Big Hit
http://blog.syracuse.com/farms/2012/09/goat_milk_cheese_a_hit_at_the.html

Goats Gaining Popularity as Show Animals
http://thedailynewsonline.com/news/article_d93f87b4-e75d-11e1-9786-001a4bcf887a.html

Fair Week

 We aren't strangers to the 'goat show' world. On average, we try to attend a few in-and-out shows in the area to try to win awards and potential championships to help confirm that we are breeding in the right direction and also increase the value of our animals. This year, two lovely groups of my friends encouraged me to attend and show during the open class at the Lorain County Fair. Rog and I are faithful attendees of the fair for the past 15 years or so, it is one of the largest fairs in the state and takes place in a community local to my practice and to Rog's summer park gig. I've hesitated to attend many fairs, because most require that the animals are present for the entire week, which equals stress, french fries offered by visitors (adults, naturally...), close quarters with other animals that may not lead such a privileged or healthful life and lots of grubby hands that are irresistible to curious goat lips. With Rog already back in school, and offers from my friends to help with feeding and watering while I was at work, I gave in and brought 4 junior does, May, Esmerelda, Sage and Mona Lisa. My dedicated companions also had 4-H duties of their own to perform so they had planned to stay at the fairgrounds all week to facilitate the process and I opted to join them for a few evenings. Here's a little photo journal that sums up the week (not all mine, I was too traumatized to take many pics. Actually I kept my phone tucked away so I wouldn't be tempted to start a gallery of "people of the Lorain County Fair", I have to maintain at least a hint of professionalism while in public)

Infamous for causing massive traffic jams in the booming metropolis of Wellington, nearly 130,000 people attended this years fair. 

 

 

 

I attended my very first pig race. I can't fathom that I made it 35 29 years without witnessing this. The little porkers can fly when there are oreos at the finish line.

The fair provided me much needed quality time with the great love of my life...fried cheese curds. Move over elephant ears, Oh Boys and soggy french fries, you don't hold a candle to these guys. Salty, squeaky, what's not to love? My GI tract is now fully recovered.

The yearly NSTPA (?? ) tractor pull. I made up those initials, lets just say I didn't buy a t-shirt. Every year we go.  Every year seems longer and longer. Every tractor looks, sounds, pulls the same with the exception of a few flames and explosions every now and then. Every year the way home is filled with loud gutteral W-W-W-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A-A's from the drivers seat as we exit the muddy parking lot. Every year I pray for rain. This year, 5 hours in to the event, I found myself unknowingly rocking back and forth RainMan style in my seat out of sheer exhaustion. My eyes must have been involuntarily crossing too b/c noone protested when I politely excused myself to the tent.

A must for fair campground dwellers. Providing endless hours of entertainment to boisterous underage drinkers who call the fairgrounds 'home'.

The campgrounds are the picture of organized chaos. With inches to spare, the campers and RV's are organized into cubicles and figure-8 family cliques, generally arranged to seclude the inner circle which may hold anything from an outdoor kitchen, to a couch or a full sized refrigerator, a pool, a dance floor, or all of the above. The tents were few and far between, and we were in one of them, conveniently located near the porta-potties. Now, I'm no stranger to tent camping, and we certainly didn't let the intermittent rain showers dampen our parade. The tent provided a lovely daylight nighttime glow from the giant floodlights overhead that stayed on 24-7. It allowed us to enjoy the many trains that seemingly careened right through our tent until 1am, after which we were granted a reprieve until 5. Each morning the 5am train provided a thorough and reliable alarm clock, I actually woke up running for my life on more than one occasion.

So I admit, our tent probably looked something like this. Aside from forgetting the pump for my air mattress and just rolling it up and sleeping on it, everyone was quite comfortable.

We also had a screened kitchen and dining area where we enjoyed many non-fair-food meals. Ours looked a little different than this, our decorative light fixture and camo chairs helped us blend in.

We did spot this cool bug on our tent. 

The other campers decorated their sites as well. 

I learned all about the fair 'uniform'. It starts with daisy dukes. It is preferred that the shorts are so short that either the front pockets stick out, butt cheeks stick out in the rear, or both. I was quite comfortable in my Umbro soccer shorts that I've had since high school.

In reality, the scene more closely resembled this. The 'uniform' was favored by everyone, ages 10-70, size 0-20. When paired with a shirt proclaiming ' I pooped today', or 'Slut 1',  in a play on Dr. Suess, you truly are at the height of fashion. Some of my favorites were seeing a mustard stained Red Cross 'orgasm donor' t-shirt stretched precariously over a furry bulging belly. Perhaps he should seek out the 'Redneck in Heat' I spotted earlier. I was a bit horrified at seeing a sparkly pink 'Sexy 1' t-shirt on a 12 year-old. Can't wait to watch you on 'Teen Mom'!

So where is mom in all this? Strutting proudly in her daisy duke mom jorts!

Looking for dad. . .

The shorts generally should be paired with cowboy boots. The heels will accentuate your butt and help you look more like a farmer-type. I didn't see many of these beautiful leather boots.

But I saw plenty that resembled these.

Aviators finish the look.

Even the sheep were wearing spandex! What is the world coming to... Seriously, apart from a few spectacular specimens, the crowd was pretty enjoyable. The 4H barns were impeccably clean thanks to the kids on barn duty, the vendors were generally friendly, we spent time with goat friends, old and new. I was able to share the 'farm-side' of my life with co-workers, patients and other members of the community and of course, 'promote the goat' whenever possible. 

First year in 4-H, Miss Moon finished 2nd in showmanship in a large class that spanned ages 8-18, very impressive! The accolades continued when her junior alpine, Zaidee was named Reserve Grand Champion in the open class.

Capra Lane BS Sage was named Grand Champion Junior Alpine in a class of nearly 40! This counts as her 'dry' or 'restricted' championship leg. We were very pleased and are excited to see her compete as a senior doe after kidding this spring.

Mona Lisa, too was awarded GCH in the saanen class! She had already earned her dry leg at an earlier show, but still an impressive win. That meant 2 of the 4 Capra Lane does in attendance had to stand in the Best-in-Show lineup at the end of the day! Our Toggs rounded out the day with 3rd and 4th in their class. All in all, a good show for the barn 'newbies' and a very long week for the goats. Sunday couldn't come fast enough...

Goat noses are cute, as far as noses go. Soft, smooth, generally clean.

Not quite as cute when coated in green boogers and hay bits. The fair crud set in by weeks end. It then spread from the goats who attended the fair, to the baby goats that stayed home, and finally one by one through the milkers. Snot, congestion, fever, lethargy...my $50 or so dollars of fair awards was quickly spent on antibiotics for the goats.

The thing with goats is, when they don't feel well, they crash. They whimper and whine, hang their heads with a fixed spacy stare and sometimes play dead. All to screw with their panicky owners.

Just like humans, they need rest to recover. I *hope* I gave my last dose of antibiotics yesterday. A few more days of milk dumping and things will be back to normal around here. So will I bring animals to the fair again? Probably not. I don't have the time or energy to deal with the aftermath. Will I attend the fair again? Of course!!! I'll help with my friends' animals, help during the show, and dutifully sit through yet another tractor pull. I'll fill my gut with cheese curds, cheer on Hilary Rod-HAM Clinton at the pig race and comfortably retire to the tent and enjoy the sights and sounds of the fair. But next year...................I'll know what to wear.

Summer is winding down

I have to admit I'm a bit depressed to see summer end. Although it has been trying at times with the lack of rain, we haven't really missed mowing the lawn. The only thing growing around here is ragweed. And my nose is paying for it. I'm currently covered in an itchy rash on most of my exposed skin from harvesting turnips yesterday. We finally ditched our zucchini plants too and the cornstalks are cut and drying in time for fall decor for our friends. My first soybean harvest was a success, we should have a few lovely pots of salted edamame this week and the stalks were excellent supplements for the pigs. Eggplant was a bust this year, the plants withered and died for some unknown reason and the fruits were stunted and bitter, also good food for the pigs, although they prefer tomatoes.

We harvested just about as many small buttery yellow potatoes as we stuck in the ground this spring, kind of a bust also. Our first foray into sweet potatoes yielded several large lumpy bump things that look as though they were slashed repeatedly by aliens or something.We'll see how they taste...

In other farm news, the girls are starting to act like hussies, hanging out by the boys' pen and teasing them. Breeding season is looming as the nights get colder. The boys are already in full rut, stinking to high heaven, blubbering and mounting each other, spraying urine to and fro and being generally charming.

6 hens-a-laying... well, more like 25. The old have been successfully incorporated with the new. It was quite the endeavor, we were like seasoned sleuths sneaking up on them at night once everyone was roosting and resting for the night. We first sprayed them with an old bottle of Calvin Klein perfume we found to 'scent confuse' them into not recognize the newbies. They smelled fabulous. After the transfer, one by one (by Rog of course, I wouldn't willingly grab a chicken if my life depended on it) we loaded the coop and run with tomatoes and watermelon chunks. We were told by a chicken friend that the red color would distract them from fighting and pecking at each other. So far, so good except for a few minor skirmishes.

Tasty chicken on the way in less than 6 weeks! 30 little peeps hatched on August 1st, boy those buggers can eat! 50 lbs of feed every 5 days or so. We were gifted with one 'rare breed chick' as a bonus on our chick order. No idea what breed or sex, to me, he/she looks a little like a penguin. The meaties are outgrowing him by leaps and bounds but so far they are getting along. Not quite sure what I'll do with him in the future. If it turns out to be a rooster, it will be dinner. If its a hen, will eventually transition to the laying barn.

Baxter and Bettina are growing by leaps and bounds. 4 weeks after their arrival they are standing about 18 inches tall, they are starting to develop more mature features with reddening throats and little knobby things on their noses. Should be right on track for Thanksgiving.

A good way to use excess eggs...dutch pancakes with fresh raspberries from the garden.

Little Tinder had her first bee sting yesterday on her left front paw. After crying actual tears for a while and clumsily hobbling on 3 legs she settled in her bed but still elevated her left paw for sympathy. 

Kaelyn stood guard during Tinder's recovery period.

I recently experienced the noise, dirt, food, sweat and glamour *insert sarcasm* of the Lorain County Fair where we left with several goatie-awards. More to follow...