Max is Sold!

Molly's remaining buckling, Max, has been sold! I put an ad up on Craigslist, and within 3 hours, I had sufficient response so I could pick and choose.
Here's Max as a newborn:

His twin brother, Morpheus, we sold to a petting zoo. And Max is going to be a herd sire! Yes, looks a little too little for that duty...but look at him now!

We didn't castrate him, as we had hoped to find someone that wanted one of our young bucks to use as a herd sire.
The gentleman that is buying him also wants a lesson in milking goats and wants to buy some goats milk  and some butter!
So, at 8 am tomorrow, I am giving an impromptu class in goat milking! I plan on using Champagne for my demo animal, as she is the best and easiest milker we have. I will also use one of our most difficult animals, Molly, so my student can see the best and worst of the goat milking experience!
I'll also show him how to filter and strain the mil and make his own butter.
I hope I do this well...the more people that know how to "do" for themselves and their families, the better!

....And Now For Something Completely Different.....

First, the farm update:
I was supposed to start milking Molly this morning, putting her on a regular schedule. I took little Max away from her last night and put him in the kid pen.
Much bleating ensued...from Mama Molly and little Max. Finally, they settled down.
This morning, as I was helping the kids get ready for school (after I fed the goats), I heard SCREAMING coming from the kids pen. I hauled butt out there and found little Max had attempted an escape and gotten his head caught under the fence. He was panicking and totally freaking out.
I swooped in and grabbed him and took him to his (now) half-hysterical mama. He immediately began nursing, for comfort and out of hunger, and Mama Molly --- after checking her baby out---gave me the dirtiest look I imagine a goat can give!
It was a look that said "Some baby-sitter YOU are! Look at my kid! He could have died over there!"
Yeah, I felt awful.
So, I am going to try to milk her while she still has Max at her side, so to speak. I'll just take her out of the pen in the morning, milk her, and then put her back in.
At least until Max has a little more common sense...or is too big to fit under the fence!
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I rarely get political on here.I also don't talk much about peak oil, global warming (or cooling---depends on who you listen to), conspiracy theories, government control of our lives, government excesses (in everything), etc.
Well, boys and girls, got your tinfoil hats ready?
If not, I'll wait a moment while you prepare yours.

Ready? Good, let's proceed then.
What search engine do you use?
Google? Bing?
Both of those track your travels around the internet and have no qualms about selling your information or turning it over to the government.
We all need to use a search engine on occasion.
But I don't like the idea of google following me around the internet!
Check this out, really, please read it!
http://donttrack.us/
Creepy, huh?
So, I have started using DuckDuckGo for my search engine of choice.
No tracking, no ads. No B.S.
And no, they don't pay me for advocating them.
It is simply that in a world with diminishing privacy boundaries, it is always safer to put up whatever *walls* you can---in my opinion.
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I will be writing more about "going gray", as in protecting yourself, your home and your family from unwanted scrutiny, especially if you are a *prepper* in my next few posts.

Sunday Morning...

Penar and his girls over by the milking stand

Max, Xander and Heloise enjoying the sunshine

Persephone and the new peahen, Phobe

Phoebe is smaller, Persephone has the white patch on her wings

They get along well, as long as Phoebe agrees that Persephone is in charge!

Lily is still waiting...and waiting...to kid

Yup, bagging up and pouchy goat butt...she is close!

Pendar looking magnificent as usual!

Yes, we have acquired another peahen. She was offered to us at a price 1/4 of what peahens usually sell for, so we decided to go ahead and get her. We named her Phoebe.
Lily is getting closer and closer to kidding...just wish she would go ahead and kid already! Poor thing is waddling around her pen and seems to have that "Oh, I am so fat and miserable" thing going on. Frequent ear scratches and tummy rubs help.
Little Max is growing by leaps and bounds and enjoys head-butting the geese. Tonight he will spend the night with Gerte and Gustav in the kid pen, as his mama will be milked in the morning. We have been conditioning Molly to the milking stand, but she is still pretty fidgety, so milking her will be a definite TWO person job!
Pendar loves being "cock of the walk" now that Red is gone. He takes good care of his hens and Ugly Betty has moved out of the peafowl pen and into the chicken coop! Pendar made sure the other hens didn't pick on her and Betty has adjusted well.
That's Sunday morning here, hope all of you are having a lovely day, too!

Meet Maximus and Morpheus!

Molly JUST gave birth!
Twin boys!
Here they are, complete with mama Mollys' floppy ears!

The dark one is Maximus, the lighter one is Morpheus.
Mama and kids doing fine!

Quick Update!

Lily the goat is in the beginning stages of labor! And so is Molly!
Lily was panting a bit,and some discharge and her udder was filling.Molly has a mild discharge and her udder has filled out more.
So, I moved Lily into the milking goats pen so that Molly (who is a bully) won't endanger Lily's newborn when it arrives.Or they arrive, as I am pretty sure Lily is going to have twins.
Of course,when I moved Lily, I had to move her best buddy with her, as Lily bellows her head off when separated from Nina!
Picture reference:

Nina lookig svelte (before she was pregnant)

Molly with her cute "bobby sox"and spiffy red collar. (Another pre-pregnancy pic)

Lily, her first day here...with Wang introducing himself! Wang is the daddy...but he has been sold to another enterprising goat owner that liked the look of his offspring.

So...we should have new kidlings by the weekend. Goats are hard to predict, but I will be keeping a close eye on both of them!
Somehow....I see this ending with my spending the night in the goat house holding Lilys' hand hoof. It is her first kid and she is a very people oriented slightly nervous animal. Whenever upset, she makes a bee-line to the nearest person...with Nina in tow, of course!
I have my kidding kit ready...to that I have added a pillow and blanket...just in case!

Farm Surprise!

Remember Xander and the lovely Heloise?

Well, they currently share quarters with some of the goats.
Xander does well on holding his own against the goats at feeding time, so it will do until we get a goose pen constructed.
This morning in the goat house...

Goose eggs!

I went to retrieve them...arming myself against Xander...
Yes, a broom is the preferred weapon of defense here! It'll brush Xander away without injuring him and he has now developed a healthy respect for the broom and waddles off when I approach with it. Of course, he mutters goose talk while moving away from me...I can only imagine the threats he is making!
"Darn human wouldn't be so big and bad without that broom! I'll get her one day when she forgets that evil weapon!"
So, I gathered the eggs...turned out there were five,but two had been crushed by the goats.Heloise appeared to have abandoned the messy nest she had constructed, so I didn't feel too bad about collecting the eggs.
Someone else was setting this morning as well!

Ugly Betty, in her nest constructed of straw, her feathers and peacock feathers (ooooOOoohhh...fancy!)
Pendar had just gifted Betty with a lettuce leaf when I took the picture. He is a very protective and compassionate rooster! He brings Betty choice bits out of the feed pan and snuggles up to her at night to keep her warm.
So, I gathered an egg from Betty as well. Her eggs are small, but she usually lays 2 a day!
Comparison picture:

Bettys' egg on the left, Heloises' on the right.

I think I will make cornbread tonight and use one of  Heloises' eggs.
I cleaned out the goat pen, put down fresh straw in the goat house as Molly is due to kid ANY DAY and cleaned out and refilled their water trough.
I think we need to construct a goose house asap, though. I don't like the goats trampling Heloises' nest and I really do want her to hatch out a clutch of eggs!

Back to Molly....her udder is beginning to fill out and her tail has raised a touch. I am hoping she will be on schedule. She is due this week!
More kidlings....YAY!