Another week has past and all the usual things went on. I was out early most mornings between 5 am and 6 am since this week I needed to get the kids off to school on my own. I am still milking only in the mornings and getting between a gallon and a half and two gallons. The baby goats all look like horned devils with their growing horns. Chicken and duck production has been five duck eggs and six to eight chicken eggs a day.
Henry has been busy all week so I will probably have some summer babies. Celia is due in April or May, depending upon which heat took. She is definitely pregnant because her milk supply is dropping slowly. If Henry was successful, I’ll also have babies in June and July as well.
I made goat butter for the first time last Sunday and used it all week. Mmmmm. Goat milk from nubians is higher in butterfat and if you let the milk sit for a couple of days, you can skim a tablespoon or two of cream off the top. I saved daily in a quart jar in the freezer and when I had a quart full, I thawed it to room temperature. Then I spun it in my food processor until the butter milk separated out. Then I spun chilled water through it until the water stayed clear. Then I pressed the extra liquid out with a wooden spoon. It was white like Crisco which was disconcerting but it had a nice mild butter flavor.
Today I had three different families come to visit the farm and see the baby goats. The babies are almost past the cute stage. They are all around thirty pounds and jump up on children like poorly trained dogs. They nibble on fingers, coats, zippers, shoelaces intensely. The first family was one of my goat share customers and who recently referred some really lucrative legal work to me. The second family had tasted some of my cheese and wanted to see the see the farm and get some cheese. I found out the husband has a very similar law practice to mine and worked on a farm in Montgomery and use to go to Union Square Green Market to sell farm products. Both of these families took to Emma and want to use her as a babysitter. I like when I can network in both farming and lawyering.
The third family that came today were from the religious community that boarded the boer does this fall for breeding with Henry (and mucked out my barn in return). I have been dealing with one man in particular but every time he comes, he brings six to eight children, usually all boys, and one or two other men from their community. I have taught the boys basic goat care, how to milk and how to trim hooves. Today this man brought his sister and mother, the first women I have met. They are very much like the Amish. This man has expressed interest in purchasing four of the doelings and three or four of the bucklings. I have been hesitant because I would prefer to sell all of the baby goats as a lot. I talked to him about taking all ten babies and my price and he seemed agreeable. He is going to confirm with members of his community. If he takes them, I need to start separating the babies at night and weaning them gradually. That means I have to be prepared to deal with a lot more milk, maybe up to nine gallons a day. I told him I would have them weaned by the end of February. This money will pay for next winter’s hay.
This religious community also taps sugar maples for syrup so I asked him if they had tapped yet. He said they tapped yesterday and the sap is running. I have had no luck in February for the last few years. I usually find the sap runs in March rather than February but I better get my equipment out of storage this week and strategize what I want to do.
Yesterday I was able to pick up almost three dozen egg cartons locally that I found through freecycle. That solves my problem for the time being. I just need to train my customers to return the empties! I saw the man I bartered Goldie the Rooster for five of his pullets at a local restaurant midweek. I told him my pullets were laying but surprisingly his are not yet. He raved about Goldie being so gentle his granchildren could pet him. He has forty pullets that should overload him with eggs soon. I told him I’d be happy to buy some more of the pullets off him if he wanted. I’ll keep my fingers crossed. I have been hesitant to order laying chicks, meat chicks and turkeys from McMurry’s because of the uncertainty looming in my life and because of the cost. Everyday I go back and forth on what to do.
There is almost no snow on the ground now after torrential rain Friday night and warm temperatures today. It is almost possible to think about spring. I need to plan my garden! I need to order seeds! And then set up the grow lights in the basement and start some seeds.
