The Bleu Siege of Doe Hill

One fine morning, the does of Noodleville milled about the pasture with not much to do.

Feeding time had come and gone, milking was finished… All the forage worthy yummies were long ago devoured & the grass was drying up making prospective pasture pastimes greatly diminished….

Until they spotted the hill… The hill was ever present, but just out of reach. No fence blocked their path, no obstacles to keep them at bay… They stared longingly at the hill but couldn’t venture out without the security of The Gal with Food Buckets…. Apparently The Gal with Food Buckets is endowed with magical powers that instantly vanquish the Boogie-men who reside in the imaginations of goats…

They milled about at the base of the hill…..Each secretly contemplating how they would reach the top and rule all of Noodleville Goatdom…

A Nubian named Rosie trekked up the hill without contemplation, simply walked on up and surveyed the land……. But to rule, one must have more than bulk. One must be brave and smart…… An alliance was formed. Tricks & Mocha- The Guild of Earless Wonders. Though they lack ears, those Lamanchas are clever. Rosie lost her throne as quickly as she claimed it, so fast in fact, there isn’t even a photo record of her brief rule.

 

Quite smug & cocky, this Guild of Earless Wonders. How easy it was to bully Rosie off Doe Hill. Jr does come and try to sneak by and are beaten back with ease….As they run off the latest threat to their rule, this pair ponders their magnificence and happily surveys their kingdom….. Those who are smug & cocky though must also be watchful…..

Places of great power attract those who are power hungry….Like sharks drawn to blood, the pull is inevitable. Quickly Tricks & Mocha find they must defend their throne again….

Bleuberry is Queen. Bleuberry doesn’t need allies. She doesn’t charge up the hill in a fury. She doesn’t try to sneak on by… Ears held high, she marches slowly, with purpose, clearly making her intent known.

 

 

The battle begins and with a few well placed hits too fast for the camera to capture, Tricks is stripped of her royal title….. Ordinarily, she’d quickly jump back into the fray, but Lamanchas suffer a great weakness…. Curiosity and the ability to be easily distracted…... As quickly as holding the hill caught her attention, she’s now meandered off to fuss at Jr. does over some leaves on the fence line…

 

Mocha grows bold. She is older than Tricks. Not as easily distracted on this day. Perhaps the extra Chaffhaye has fortified her and made her more daring than she usually is….. Or, perhaps she finds this royal seat comfy and isn’t ready to give it up to one lone Alpine who fancies herself a queen..

 

Mocha meets the would be usurper head on. Hair bristled, she does her very best to intimidate Bleuberry.

Bleu is an old hat at this game though. She’ll not be defeated by a mere first freshener with no ears. She hops happily in between attacks, sneaking in hard nips with her teeth and is ruthless with her rearing assaults.

The siege is over. All that’s left standing atop Doe Hill is Bleuberry, queen of the Noodleville Goats. Mocha turns away in defeat..

Graceful and beautiful she may be, but Bleuberry is not a regal, gracious winner. She flaunts her victory over those she deems inferior and mocks their short reigns.

 

Oh how she bask in the glory of her newest conquest.

Being queen is good. Ruling the milk room, having the choicest feeders, the nicest resting places and always being the first to get treats are just royal perks….. This victory at Doe Hill is just another conquest in a long list of conquest…

~The End~

 

Short video of Bleuberry enjoying her hill….. Right before I started recording, she was rolling, digging and swinging her head from side to side like she was dancing….And of course she stopped most everything once I hit record.

Foul Fetchings & Flashing Lights

 

Once upon a time in the land of Noodleville, lived a girl who took the “just wing it approach” too many times and entered into breeding season quite unprepared.

The air grew crisp, the leaves started to fall, the does started to cycle and there was no buck to call. No rank, musky stench on the air, and this poor gal was starting to despair….

Alright y’all, poetry isn’t really my strong suit, but ya get the gist of what I was trying to say.

It’s fall, I had no buck. Well, actually, I own a Nubian buck, the uber handsome Mr. Rocco, but he didn’t have a companion, so when he entered into the “man goat” phase of his life around 6 months old, I sent him to work for a friend until I needed him…

  

 Sweet baby Rocco before he turned into a “Man Goat”…

My dilemma was I needed a LAMANCHA buck, as that is my primary focus, and yet, here I sat with no earless boy to my name, and no true prospect in sight.

Just as I was getting frantically paranoid thinking of all the Numanchas I might get stuck with, along came an offer from a good friend and it was one I just couldn’t pass up.

Of course, as these things usually go, the timing was wrong, but I’m nothing if not determined, so I set out to make it happen at any cost. My dilemma was transportation. The big Ford truck had the welding rig set up on it with no room for goat hauling, and hubby’s schedule didn’t allow for him to remove it for me in a timely manner…

My car is a lil SUV… A Dodge Nitro that looks like a roller-skate.

Yup.... I really was too lazy to snap a pic of my car so I stole a pic from Google…

Not an ideal animal transporter by any means, but I figured “What the heck, I’ve stuffed a goat in here before, why not do it again?”

Why not eh……? Well, I’ll answer that question for ya.

In the past, I shoved babies in crates in there and even an older doe… On tarps of course, and it worked well…. But this…. This happened to be a 3 year old, fully grown Lamancha buck, in full rut, in all his pee stained, musky glory.

Before I could ponder too hard on the ramifications of this move I was about to do, I wrapped everything in the car in tarps and took off down the road. A short 2 hours later, I arrive at Lynne’s ready to pick up Mr. Tall, Hairy & Stinky, also known as Avatar.

I hop out of the car as Lynne eyes my ride with a bit of doubt, and humorous disbelief…

“You’re going to put him in there?”

Yup…

“Will he fit?”

I can squish him if I have to… Desperation is a great motivator and I’ve worked too hard on collecting the Lamanchas I have to waste an entire year on “Numancha” mutt kids..

Lynne was kind enough to give me a tour of all her lovely animals……I may have fallen in love with a particular Alpine doe that I shouldn’t have since I’m supposed to be focusing on my Lamanchas, and I got to learn a new goatie skill as well….

I’ve been curious about trimming feet with an angle grinder, so Lynne pulled out hers and did Avatar’s feet for me before we loaded him up… Pretty spiffy, and I can’t wait to give it a go on my own…

Dream-Fire LOX Avatar

Anywho… Now comes the loading part… Avatar is such a sweet, mellow boy…Walked right up to the car, but convincing him to hop into the confined world of plastic just wasn’t happening.

So, I grabbed a front leg, Lynne grabbed a front leg…

She then held him half way in while I went around, hung upside down over the back seat and pulled while she shoved the rear…. This lil acrobatic feat was followed by a swiftly closing door and I swear I could still hear Lynne laughing at the absurdity of the whole fiasco as I drove away with a smug look on my face.

Ok, ok… I’ll be honest… I’m not sure if I was actually wearing a “smug” look, or if my face was just contorted in disgust over the overwhelming, extremely pungent smell threatening to choke me out as I drove….… But none the less, I had a buck, a beautiful buck, with genetics I greatly admired, riding comfortably and quietly in the back of my car…

Rank smell be damned, I made it work and I was happy!!

I hit Dallas traffic at dark, trucking on along imagining what kids I’d get and what I thought they’d look like when my happy musings were interrupted by the flashing red and blues in my rear view mirror..

Well crap!

Pull over, get all the necessities gathered up and wait for the officer to approach…

The Officer peers into my window with his flashlight as I roll it down and he leans in, with partial words leaving his mouth before he interrupts himself with:

Officer: “Woah!!!!!!!...... Ma’am……. are you feeling well?!?!”

This statement was said with such genuine concern as he reeled backwards away from the pungent stench wafting from my car that I couldn’t help but to laugh…

“Yes sir officer, I’m feeling quite well, I’m just hauling a buck home and he’s a bit smelly”

Officer: “A buck??”

“Yes sir, a buck, a goat, he’s laying in the back, let me show you”

At this point, I roll down the driver side rear window and he peaks inside with his flashlight with a very doubtful look on his face…… You see, Avatar had made himself quite cozy and was laying down, out of sight, behind the seat…. You could just tell by the look on the poor officer’s face that he was highly doubting my sanity…. Not to mention he was wondering what awful medical condition I was suffering from to be emitting such a horrible smell and making up weird stories…

Just as the kind officer was about to question me, Avatar popped his stinky, earless head in all its golden bearded glory over the seat and said “Ehh-ehh-ehh”

I think Avatar has a sense of humor….lol

The startled officer jumped back and exclaimed “Holy crap, what the hell is that?!?!” as he eased in slowly for another look..

“I told you, it’s a buck, a goat, a Lamancha, I’m taking him home to breed my does”

Officer: “I’m sorry ma’am, that’s no goat, THAT looks like something off of Star Wars!”

 

To be fair, I GET the comparison he was trying to make, though it is a Stargate the movie creature he was thinking of, and not a Star Wars creature…. Of course Avatar is pretty, while the creature is quite hideous and only shares a vague resemblance..

He stares… looks at me, takes another look at Avatar, and while keeping his eye on Avatar, he ask me for my DL and insurance…. I couldn’t help but wonder if he was afraid the smelly beast would jump out and get him or what, but his reaction was absolutely priceless.

As he heads back to his car with my info, it dawned on me that throughout this entire exchange, I still had no clue why I was being pulled over…. Apparently the same thought dawned on him once he was away from Avatar, and so he returned my stuff and got down to business..

Officer: “Ma’am, are you aware that your insurance and DL have different addresses?”

“Yes sir, I just moved not too long ago and keep forgetting to change the address on my DL..”

Officer: “Your DL says “Noodle”…. I’ve never heard of it? That even a real town?”

“Well of course it’s a real town! I used to live there, you can Google it, and just to let you know how bonafide legit this town is, there’s even a blog about it online!”

Officer: “Who on earth would blog about a town called Noodle?”

“Me of course”

To this he laughs and says “Ok, ok, how to do I find this blog about this town of Noodle?”

So, I write down the address on the back of an old receipt and hand it to him…

Officer: “BTW- Did you know you were speeding? That’s why I pulled you over this evening.”

“No sir officer, I was not aware I was speeding… But I gotta ask you something….”

Officer: “What’s that?”

“Wouldn’t you be speeding too if you were locked up with this stench?!?!?!”

To this his busted out laughing and said: “Why yes ma’am, I do believe I would! I’ll give you this warning if you promise to watch your speed for the rest of the trip home, perhaps try cracking a window so you can survive and drive the speed limit…”

I thanked him, an Officer Daniels according to the written warning I received, and as a parting salute I told him to watch my blog as he was about to become a famous feature here at “The Adventures of Noodleville”.

As a farewell greeting he said: “You know, I’ve been a cop for the last 9 years, and I have to say this takes the cake for the weirdest traffic stop I’ve ever made, thanks for the laugh Noodle”

Hahahahahahahahahahaha!

Happy to oblige Officer Daniels, and thanks so much for not making this foul fetching an expensive endeavor by adding a speeding ticket to it!

Now that you know the story of his arrival, I must gush a lil about this handsome boy! I wish I had got him earlier so I could clip him and show him off in his pretty clothes, but the weather is getting a bit chilly, so you’ll have to settle for shaggy, rutty buck pictures instead.

Dream-Fire LOX Avatar

He is SO SWEET and easy to handle….. I’ve never met a buck with a more laid back disposition. His first night here, he busted out, got in with the does, and bred Rosie, a NUBAIN……..but even that lil stunt couldn’t make me mad at this sweet boy. The following day (October 13th) he also bred Mocha, Tori, Tricks and Bleuberry (the Alpine). So he wasted no time getting to work and made the rounds tagging at least one doe from every breed I own… Not exactly thrilled with that, but I’m flexible and can work around it, so no worries.

Avatar & Rosie enjoying a bit of inter-breed, forbidden love….

Most of my Lamanchas have quite a bit of South Fork in them…… I love their animals, and Mr. Avatar just so happens to have a bit of South-Fork in his family tree too….. Here’s a lil picture pedigree for this handsome boy. His dam is the very lovely South-Fork Sweet Xcite, and if ya can believe it, she’s even prettier in person.

 

                                                                                                 

                                                                                     Avatar’s Grandsire: Altrese Almost Legal

       

                                            Avatar’s Dam: South-Fork Sweet Xcite

                                                                                              

                                                   Avatar’s Maternal Granddam: GCH South Fork TT Sweet Treat

 

                                                                                             

                                                                             Avatar’s grandsire: Kastdemur’s Twist of Fate

       

        Avatar’s sire: *B Little Orchard TF Xavier

                                                                                               

                                                                Avatar’s paternal granddam: GCH Little Orchard BR Pia

I am just smitten with this boy… I really think he’ll compliment my girls nicely and am so excited by the possible improvements he’ll bring to my herd. Thanks so much Lynne for trusting this handsome boy into my care!

Five months is such a long, long wait….Cross your fingers and hope for golden lil doelings for me!

Can. Not. Wait. For. Kidding. Season!

Bittersweet Endings & New Beginnings

I’m happy to announce my 2013 kidding season is officially over! This year was a bit bittersweet. Welcoming the newest additions into the world was great, but each new arrival was just one more kid my mom couldn’t “Oooo & Ahhh” over with me.

I missed the smell of her overly sweet coffee (usually her 7th or 8th cup, lol) while I sat in the barn with laboring does.....There was no excited chatter about what may be coming and there wasn’t an extra set of hands and reassurance in the more stressful times. My first kidding season without her, and I missed her dearly. I had hoped that as time passed her absence would be easier to bear, but the reality of it all is the void she left behind will never be filled.

On that note, I made some rather large changes this year. I will no longer be raising Alpines. I grew up with the breed and have really enjoyed them, but going through my mother’s goat book with all of our Alpine plans is painful. You would think I’d want to continue on with all we had talked about, but the reality is, I have no desire to do it without her.

So, all the Alpine kids were sold; a total of 2 doelings, 4 bucklings and 2 grown does.
Bleuberry, my big silly goober who has starred in her own post more than once here on my blog, stays. She’s a rotten mess with an affinity for biting strangers all while doing her fabulous “devil goat” impersonation, so I just couldn’t part with her.

                                    The Last Alpine, Bleuberry
 

When one chapter ends, another must always begin……. Though I can’t believe I’m saying it, we have more Nubians! Years ago I owned a few… HATED them! Loud, obnoxious, dumb, annoying animals who didn’t produce worth a flip. Sold them and swore I’d never, ever do that again! But, ya know what they say about never saying never…
 

Last year we bought my daughter a little Nubian doeling for her 7th birthday. Miss Rosie changed my once foul opinion on Nubians. She’s quiet, calm, easy going, sweet as pie and smart. Nothing ever phases this goat and she’s very happy to go along with whatever you’d like her to do.

                               Rosie-Posie chewing her cud.
 

Rosie was bred to TLC Farms Mr. Beau Jangles and kidded on March 8th with a big, beautiful red roan buck kid and a very feminine, sweet blue roan doeling…
 

                            Rosie’s twins- Red roan buckling, “Lucky” & blue roan doeling, “Bonny”
 

Keeping with the flower name theme, we named the blue doeling Bonny, short for Bluebonnet. The buck had a rough time getting here, and for a lil bit I thought I’d be pulling a dead kid, so hubby dubbed him “Lucky” when he came into the world yelling his protest.

Typically I get rid of extra buck kids quickly, but this lil guy is such a handsome man, we decided to keep him as a companion to the buck kid we reserved..

Which brings us to Roco:

                             Prairie Nights Midnight Rococo
 

                           Showing off some of Roco’s little spots
 

Roco hails from Old Paths Homestead in Oklahoma. We are very thankful that Jana trusted this stunning boy into our care. His dam is Hoanbu PB Pure Graffiti…. She is such a lovely, correct doe and she has one of the easiest to milk udders I’ve ever milked. His sire is heavy on the Goldthwaite lines and I’m very excited to add these genetics into our little herd.

                   Noodleville’s Nubians: Bonny, Roco & Lucky
 

                               Roco channeling his inner artist.. Got a bit of green tattoo ink perfectly around his eye
 

One bonus to Nubian kids that you don’t get with other breeds is the EARS! I have had such a fun time snapping pics of flying ears, though this one of Bonny has to be my favorite:

                           Airborne Bonny
 

                              Flying ears: Roco, Lucky & Bonny
 

                             Lucky, Bonny & Roco playing “King of the dirt pile”
 

We have one more Nubian doeling due to arrive from Buttercup Acres in a few weeks and then we’ll be done adding new stock for the year.

And of course I had some lovely Lamancha kids born too, but my keeper kid from that batch is so stinking cute, she deserves her very own post!

Until next time… Happy kidding to those of y’all who aren’t finished yet… While y’all camp out with your does, I am very thankful for my nights of uninterrupted sleep. 

A Noodleville Review: Chaffhaye Alfalfa

Thought I’d share a bit about one of my new favorite feed items for the goats.


As my readers know, I raise dairy goats. I want healthy, productive animals who maintain body condition and I want to be able to afford to maintain them.

Each producer manages their herd in their own way based on what they can afford and what works for them. I’ve always fed a diet that includes grass hay of some sort for roughage, whole grains on the milk stand for calories to maintain body weight, good quality loose minerals and alfalfa in some form as the base of their diet to provide calcium and protein to fuel milk production. I don’t feed much grain or concentrates and feel my animals are healthier on a forage based diet.

In west Texas, good alfalfa is hard to come by and even harder to afford. And, if you happen to spring for a nice bale, those picky goats will pick through the bale, eat all the soft leaves and waste most of the stems… When a so-so quality, 55lb bale of alfalfa is running $18.50 a pop, this is far from economical. Alfalfa pellets on the other hand have no waste & they store easily. I would only buy Standlee brand pellets because they are a GMO free product and unlike other local brands, it was dust free, not preserved with animal fat (yes, some pellets for herbivores contain animal fat and that's just nasty!) smelled great and at $10 per 40lbs, I felt like I certainly got my monies worth.

A couple months ago, I started having supply issues… My store frequently ran out. And then the price started creeping on up… Current price is $12.99 for 40lbs.

Heard about Chaffhaye and discovered I had a semi-local dealer and thought I’d give it a test run. First, I gave Kimber a call and chatted a bit… She was really helpful and even sent me these lil sample packs in the mail to try out:

Chaffhaye sample packs

Chaffhaye is a GMO free, fermented alfalfa. It’s chopped in the field, allowed to dry to 50% moisture.. Afterwards it’s misted with a smidge of molasses and then inoculated with beneficial bacteria… Once it’s been inoculated it’s baled into airtight packages so the beneficial bacteria can get to work breaking down some of the plant fibers… The end result is a semi-moist, highly digestable fermented alfalfa loaded with natural pro-biotics and beneficial yeast. Click on the video below for a short clip showing how Chaffhaye is produced.

I was VERY skeptical.. Price was $12.50 per 50lbs, but since it’s a semi-moist product, part of that 50lbs I’m paying for is just moisture…. Really thought I’d have to feed more pounds per animal than I was feeding with the alfalfa pellets and if that was the case, it would not be an economical choice for my herd….

Despite my reservations, I bought 6 bags and worked on introducing the new food slowly. Being a new product to me, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I once tried a bag of this chopped, dried TNT brand alfalfa and it was chopped so fine it was almost dust, it smelled stale and no one would eat it…. Knowing this was a product with 50% moisture I had pictured kind of a damp mush..

I was pleasantly surprised when I opened the first bag that it smelled wonderful and it was only a coarse chop, not a fine chopped, mushy mess… There were several stem pieces in there in the 6”-10” length, but all were very soft stems..

Here is an up close picture of a clump of Chaffhaye… On the left is what 90% of the Chaffhaye looks like… On the right is a picture of a giant beneficial yeast colony I found in one bag. These yeasty bits are like a super food…. It has a velvety texture and the consistency of a good Greek yogurt.

Chaffhaye up close. Beneficial yeast colony pictured on right...

Curiosity, as always, got the best of me, so I tasted a bit on a dare from my 9 year old son (He double-dog dared me, so of course I couldn‘t chicken out, so quit with the disapproving head shakes!)….

It was kind of yogurt-y with a yeasty hint… Almost like someone mixed beer and a mild yogurt.

I will say it certainly was NOT my cup of tea, I prefer my yogurt sweet, without beer & alfalfa undertones, but the goats fight over these pieces! I have to break them up and distribute evenly between feeders or Bleuberry will hog them all.

Large yeast colony in Chaffhaye

Kimber up at Chaffhaye recommended fluffing up a bucket full and letting it air a bit before feeding the first time and I found this really helped my picky girls give it a try. My grown does LOVED it… Ginger, my old girl who hails from Idaho, land of beautiful alfalfa, was MOANING in her feeder and trying to cram as much in her mouth as possible… She certainly thinks this is much, much better than pellets..

The doelings shocked me.. Being younger, I thought they’d readily attack it, but they acted as if I put poison out for them. Snorting, head shaking and staring at me as if I lost my mind.
So I mixed it up ½ & ½ with their alfalfa pellets and gradually reduced the amount of pellets each day.. By about 10 days in. the doelings were mobbing me at the gate when I brought in the Chaffhaye & were picking around the alfalfa pellets so they could eat just the Chaffhaye…

The bucks took about 17 days to finally try it. Goats like routine so I guess I shouldn't be so shocked that they took a while to make the switch.

We’re almost 8 weeks into feeding Chaffhaye and I must say I’m truly impressed. I have dried up all but one of my does and I am feeding my milking girl about 2lbs - 2 ½ lbs per day. When I fed alfalfa pellets, I also fed about 2lbs- 2 ½ lbs a day, so my fears about having to feed more because of the moisture content turned out to be unjustified.

I had another pleasant surprise… Since I already fed an alfalfa based diet before the switch, I didn’t expect a change in milk production at all, but Bleuberry went from producing right at 4lbs of milk (½ gallon) each morning to producing 4 ½ lbs - 5lbs each morning! She’s a first freshener who has been milking for almost 10 months now, she’s pregnant, plus I cut her down to once a day milking in preparation for drying her up… Yes, I know ½ lb - 1lb isn’t a huge jump or anything marvelous, but to see the jump this late in lactation while feeding the same amounts as I was feeding of the pellets was pretty nifty.


March 2012 doelings: All ear varities love Chaffhaye! Mocha the Lamancha, Heidi the Alpine & Rosie the Nubian

I’m very happy to see that Ginger, who is going on 9 years old, is putting on weight even though she too is not eating more pounds of Chaffaye than she was of the pellets… And Austin, the scrawny Alpine buck I bought at the beginning of fall is actually putting on weight as well which is awesome!
Oh! And I must mention the packaging! I love the packaging on these bales.... It's very compact so you don't need as much storage space and the packaging is very durable. If you're like me and don't have a big hay storage area, you can stack this up outside and just cover with a tarp to keep the sun off of it and it will store well for at least 2 years with no spoilage or loss in nutrients as long as the package is intact.... Plus, you can toss a few bags in your car and not worry about a mess:

I had 6 bags tossed in my lil SUV, plus still had room for groceries & a few bags of feed.

Tricks stopped eating to have her picture snapped.

I have no waste, the goats lick up every last stem & I’m finding that as long as I close up the bag, my Chaffhaye isn’t drying out or spoiling even on a bag that’s been open for 2 weeks.

So, color me convinced, I love this stuff!

For those of y’all interested in learning more, hop on over to Chaffhaye's website for all the techincal info I left out of this post, and if you still have any questions, contact Kimber by clicking here.

For my local readers, hit up Mr. Jack Cress.. He’s been wonderful about accommodating my schedule and is always helpful… Plus, he’s offering the best local price per bale.

Oh, another nifty thing… I am a frugal goat keeper, so anytime I can save a bit of $$$$$ I’m a happy camper.

In October, Chaffhaye did a photo contest on their Facebook page which you can find here: Chaffhaye on Facebook and this picture of Blueberry & Ginger won!!

Our Chaffhaye Photo Contest picture.

I must confess, getting that picture almost killed me. I wanted to be able to show that they were truly eating Chaffhaye, so instead of my usual bucket feeding, I toted the whole bag out.

I had this cute idea of all the girls standing around the bale eating peacefully and looking serene….. But what I got instead was a mobbing, mad dash of goats everywhere, I was barely able to hold on to the bag and get the gate closed!!

Fighting, ear biting, shoving and I had my toes stomped on more than one occasion… Star ducked between by legs trying to get around Ginger, which landed me on my rear, and Bleuberry, in an attempt to keep the bag to herself, knocked it over twice.. One head toss sent my cell phone flying out of my hand and I‘m actually very shocked it didn‘t break and I was able to continue snapping pictures…Took about 30 shots to get just one non-blurry picture and I tried to get Star in a shot, but the Alpines weren’t allowing a Lamancha at the bale, so I had to settle for just a shot of Blueberry & Ginger. To say I worked for that darn picture is an understatement!

And here is our prize.. Hard to read, but it is a coupon for 5 free bags of Chaffhaye! Pretty spiffy eh? They had 2 of these contest in October, so I think it’s great that they hook up customers with cool prizes. So, go “Like” their Facebook page and watch for tidbits and future contest.

Kidding season in Noodleville starts February 2013 and I'm really looking forward to seeing how my next kid crop does when started on Chaffhaye instead of pellets... Also looking forward to my milk numbers next year so I can see how all the girls milk on this at peak lactation...

As a parting shot, here's some of the March/May 2012 doelings chowing down on some Chaffhaye. Cookie the Alpine has a big mouthful and 3 of the other doelings are trying to lick every last leaf from the bag.

Cookie, Mocha, Rose & Tricks

Best Wishes,
C.W

A Noodleville Bloody Battle of Wills

I’m naturally a stubborn person. Persistence is my middle name and I’ll usually stick with it until I accomplish my goal or until it becomes glaringly obvious that persistence is futile.

I really hate to confess that I may have met my match. Worse yet, standing so stubbornly against me is a goat.

This goat to be exact... Don't let that sweet, happy face fool ya....

That would be Bleuberry of course. She is a 1st freshener this year and our milk stand mambo every morning is getting old.

In the beginning I tried cutting her some slack… After all she had a rough kidding (mentioned here) and if you recall, she had a nasty leg injury a while back… Well I thought the multiple doctoring that injury required (all done on the stand) may have made her a lil wary of it.... So I tried very hard to be sympathetic...

We had a back breaking routine every morning……. She walks peacefully up to the stand, I break out the treats and try to coax her on. After failed bribery, I pick up her front end, place it on the stand, and pull her forward by her collar so she can’t back off. At the same time, I reach back with my other hand and try to grab a hind leg & heave her forward. Every day. Twice a day, this same old routine.

Bleuberry is not a small goat.

I am not a very strong person.

This game is no longer fun.

My sympathy and understanding are rapidly deteriorating.

This morning in particular I was up late the night before, didn’t sleep well, then my alarm didn’t go off so everything was a bit hectic. To say I was NOT in the mood for her nonsense is an understatement.

Our battle was more dramatic than usual… she finally figured out my trick and kept backing off the stand before I could grab a back leg, so it took several tries. Then she decided to do the jitter bug on the stand, spilling most of the milk and even splashing me with some. Since she can NOT win this, I ended up milking quite a bit on to the barn floor while she danced, hopped and snorted at me.

This is great because she finally got the hint that I will continue to milk, regardless of her actions. This is not great, because I would have to come out later and clean the barn floor so the milk wouldn’t sit and attract flies.

I finish up and I’m wearing more milk than I thought was possible.. My jeans are soaked and thanks to the holes in my jeans, I can even feel lil puddles of milk inside of my right boot!!!

Unreal!

Given how much I’m wearing, I’m assuming her production is decent… But I can’t say for sure because I haven’t got a full milking inside to weigh yet…… I grit my teeth, talk sweetly and give Bleuberry her customary treat for finally standing still. I was about to turn her loose when I realized I forgot to spray her teats.

In the beginning she was really fussy about the after milking spray. I use Fight Bac spray, and it’s a bit cold, so it took her some getting used to, but the past few days she’s not even flinched when I’ve sprayed her.

I walk around behind her, let her know I’m there, and hold one side so I can spray it well. Then move on to the next one…..

Then WHAM!

Before I even did the second spray, and without a bit of warning, she mule kicks me square in the face!

I really freaked because I thought she broke my nose and there was blood spraying everywhere. It is really quite amazing the amount of blood that can come from a nose.

I swear to you she purposely lulled me into a false sense of security and had this attack planned the entire time!

I don’t have anything but my barn towels to hold on my nose and I just bought new ones so I didn’t want to stain them up with blood. Since the entire front of my shirt was covered in blood anyways, I just held my shirt up to it, sprayed her teat and let her sit on the stand while I leaned against the fence holding my injured nose.

Called the barn cats up to finish what little milk actually made it into the bucket, & glared at Bleuberry the entire time I waited for the throbbing to subside and the blood to stop pouring.

On my trek back to the house, I fancy I might have looked like one of those action heros after the grand finale in a top notch action movie…

Ya know, like Bruce Willis dashing away from an explosion or something. Bloody, beat up, but triumphant...



Ok, ok.. Perhaps my slow trek back to the house wasn't THAT dramatic..

 There were no cool explosions behind me as a back drop, but still, the milk soaked clothes and blood EVERYWHERE looked pretty darn dramatic as I trudged back up to the house. Would have been even cooler if I were toting a weapon, or someone I rescued, instead of my milking caddy, but you work with what you have.

Whatever the image, I do know, without a doubt, that it was shocking, or perhaps “disturbing“ is a better word for it…….

Hair disheveled. Covered in sweat, milk soaked jeans, blood down the front of my shirt, a bit of blood smeared on my cheek & chin and strangely I had a good bit on my arm too….

This is the lovely image the Fedex man saw as I met him at the porch. His expression as he took me in was worth a thousand words. I really must start toting a camera just to capture these moments...

He asked if the name on the package was correct, did his lil' scanner thing, and warily asked if I was ok.

My uber cheerful reply?

“Oh sure.. I’m great! Just finished milking a goat…This weather is just fabulous, don’t ya think??? How are you doing today?”

His facial expression after that comment was far better than the first. The beaming smile and overly cheerful tone were a stark contrast to my bloodied appearance....

It took all I had not to giggle manically at him. Though now that I think of it, maybe I should have…. Would have been funny…

He wished me a speedy “Good Day” and was on his merry, wary way.

Poor guy, probably wondering how that much blood was involved in goat milking.....

Granted I *could* have explained myself better, but vague answers get much funnier reactions, and after my morning, a laugh at the expense of another was well earned. At least he did not get stuck in the situation I put the UPS MAN in a while back… That was a bit more awkward…. lol I really must make a note to try harder not to disturb, embarass or upset those who deliver my packages....

ANYWHO, looky what was in my package!!

Goat goodies! Dewormers, nipples & tubing so I can build a lambar feeder, needles, Fight Bac, syringes (much cheaper to buy in bulk online that to purchase from TSC), more dairy sanitizing products, new filters for my stainless steel strainer, coccidia meds, a new weight tape since Jasper ate mine, CIDR applicator, and some products for my momma too.

As a side note, for the evening milking, I told Bleuberry that there was NO way we were repeating this morning’s fiasco. She could cooperate and get treats, or I’d sell her for dog food. But one way or another, I was done, done, done with the drama, and all my understanding and patience went right out the door the moment she busted my nose.

She glared at me, ears back and stood right behind the stand. I held out a treat and calmly let her know this was her final chance to hop up unassisted......

After a minute of contemplating, she, for the very 1st time, 12 days after freshening and 25 back breaking, individual battles later, jumped up on the stand all by herself!!

Dunno if it was my tone of voice, or if she just sensed that I was finished, but either way, I’m thrilled…..

Persistence does pay off my friends…. Especially when it’s accompanied by a few threats.

-C.W