The animal kingdom is sometimes harsh but pragmatic. When our pregnant doe, Mocha, had triplets, I was so excited. Not only was this our first set of triplets, but all the kids were girls. Shortly after the birth, I realized that Mocha did not seem to have the desire or capacity to nurse all three kids. In fact, in the first few hours after giving birth, she was only nursing the strongest kid. I had to hold up the two […]
Tags: Goat Chronicles, goats, homesteading
John visited a kindergarten class in Sanger, California. The students enjoyed meeting Seahawk and Bronco, our four week old twins!
Tags: Goat Chronicles, goats, schools
I was taking photos of the new kids on the block, and Wendy, who just gave birth that morning, comes right up to me and stares into the camera. So here’s a pic of the new mama. Both mom and kids (twins again) are doing great! For those of you who are counting, that gives us a total of six kids born in 2014!
Tags: Goat Chronicles, goats, homesteading
Bronco is a lot smaller than Seahawk and is having difficulty standing and nursing. Thankfully, she is doing better today than yesterday. John goes out several times per day to make sure she is getting adequate milk, but it is still kind of touch and go for the little thing…… Feb 9, 2014 Update: By day three, Bronco was strong enough to walk and nurse on her own!
Tags: Goat Chronicles, goats, homesteading
That’s Casper the friendly goat and Jennie, our Livestock Guardian Dog. Livestock Guardian Dogs stay with the herd as full-time members, protecting them from predators.
Tags: Goat Chronicles, goats, homesteading, livestock guardian dogs
Farmer John answers your questions about farm animals at J and J Fish Farm Stay. GOATS What is your favorite animal? My favorite animal is probably our goats because their personality is similar to a Golden Retriever. I also like our Livestock Guardian Dogs because they are friendly like a dog but also do a lot of work on the farm. Why did you make a floating goat house? Goats are vulnerable to predators like coyotes, racoons, bobcats and dogs. […]
Tags: chickens, fish, Goat Chronicles, goats, homesteading, livestock guardian dogs
We needed to build a goat and chicken house that was hard for predators to enter. Since we have abundant water, it seemed natural to build a structure utilizing the pond as a protective barrier. This led to the idea of a “floating” goat house. The goat house appears to be floating, but it is actually anchored to the pond bottom. When the pond was dry, 18″ diameter concrete pipe was secured into the ground. The redwood and cedar […]
Tags: "floating" goat house, chicken coop, chickens, Goat Chronicles, goats, upcycling