Crazy Weekend!!!!

I have not fallen off the face of the earth. I only feel like it. :) Okay, so it's just been really busy lately with everything going on. Here's just an idea to what we've been doing here.

Saturday: We had a very nice family out to talk about goats and see our set up. They are getting into goats and just wanted some advice. Right as they were about ready to leave, a lady came to pick up Rosemerry's doe kid. She was so excited! I think they will really enjoy her. Now, we had planned on having a public farm tour that day, but it had been canceled so thankfully we hadn't put it in the local paper like we were planning to. However, we had put it on the info papers we sell our wethers with so several families showed up during the day and thankfully our barns were in decent condition. It was a long, tiring day.

Sunday: Ahhh! Sunday is here. I will make it after all. I can take a nice long nap and catch up on some sleep....right????? WRONG! That morning one of the bull calves was not looking good at all. We had been treating it for phomonia but it was still getting worse (I personally believe that bull calves have no will to live and are looking for a chance to die) but we went to church anyway getting there the usual 5 or so minutes late. :) Dad told us on the way there that the calf wasn't going to make it and just to think of it as dead so no on really even went to check on him when we got home. I headed straight for the couch. ;) I hadn't been asleep for half an hour when Dad shook me awake. "The calf is still alive, hypothermic, and dehydrated. So.....yep! You guessed it! We hauled that 100 pound bull calf that had scours into our house and put him in the bathtub. It didn't take too long before we had him nice and warm and sucking a bottle. Mom had run to the vet (on a Sunday afternoon! Our vet is awesome, have I said that before?) and bought some medicine for him. Within a few hours though, he was starting to cool down again. I went out to do chores and let the rest of the family deal with him. :) I was exhausted but finally made it into the house. I started taking care of the milk when Mom came in and told me that I had to do our neighbor's chores. AARRRGGGG!!!! I had totally forgotten about them and I was so tired! The calf was cooling down again so Mom and Abigail took care of him and Dad was picking up our new trailer!!!!! So....I was on my own for their chores. I only had to milk one cow and throw some hay to the horses and calves. I mean, how hard is that? I soon found out. I got the milker ready, the feed in the trough and the water for washing her udder ready. Then I trudged out into the cold (it was cold, windy and snowy) to get the cow. Now, they are drying off one of their cows but she doesn't realize that. She came up with the heifer I was supposed to milk. She wanted to go through the gate first and the heifer wasn't going to let me grab her collar. I worked on getting her for a few minutes before grabbing some grain out of the barn but that only attracted all the other cows out in that pasture along with the yearling Ayrshire bull w/ horns. He was a bottle baby and very friendly, but I just don't trust a bull. :) I finally gave up and went to feed the hay. The calves were easy, through the hay over the fence. Then I went to through the horses some hay and even that was an adventure with two mares and a yearling stallion all trying to get to it at once. Got through all that though and headed back to attempt catching the heifer again. This time after a few failed attempts at wooing her with grain I just let the cow out as well. She quickly headed up but the heifer decided to stay behind! I finally shooed her out of the pen and she skittishly walked up to the barn. I had worked at least a half and hour just getting her our of the pasture! Now, the cow had gotten into the heifer's stanchion with grain in it so I had to move her (not even sure how I did it now) but with the wait the heifer about ran out of the barn. Thankfully I convinced her to stay where she was and go into her stanchion. Whew. I got her all washed up and hooked her up to the milker. Everything was going great......until the cow decided to fight for the heifer's grain. The heifer jerked back on the stanchion and broke the stanchion. The milker falls off, the milk all spills on the floor and the heifer is freaking out. Thankfully she was done so I pulled the milker out from underneath her and let her out....forgetting to take off the belt that keeps the milker on. So she starts "trotting" out the barn with the belt still on her and I took a desperate lounge to pull it off. It fell and she walked out of it. I got her put back out in the pasture and sighed a deep sigh of relief. I brought the cow out (she had eaten all the heifer's grain by now) and right then, Abigail came up with news that the calf had died. :( She asked if I wanted to dissect it and I said "I don't want to do ANYTHING with cows right now!". Thankfully she saw the need and offered to help and I handed over the milk equipment while I cleaned up the stanchions. I fixed the stanchion the heifer had broke and started spraying off the slab of concrete the cows stand on. It is all supposed to drain out.....but of course it was plugged so I had to manually scoop out all of the water with 5 gallon buckets which only pulled out about 1 cup at a time. I got it all scooped out though and Abigail got done with the milk equipment at the same time. We were walking home and the same time Dad got home with the new trailer. It looks awesome! I got inside, had something to eat and then plopped in bed (at 8:30) and slept straight through 'till 4:30!

Monday: I took classes. Class 1: Agriculture. I had noticed Alithia looking pretty close when I did chores and at 9:00 when I went to check on her she had already delivered! I grabbed them w/o checking what they were and ran into the house (we had run out of rags in the barn). I started drying them off and then finally checked (I think I just really didn't want to know what they were). Surprise, Surprise!!!! Twin does!!!! Yeah!!!! I got them all dried off and put them in Dad and Mom's room while I did my second class. Class #2. History. I watched some AWESOME documentaries on the Civil War with lots of reenacting. These were made by the History Channel and they have some really good information. Class #3. Health. This is also known as taking a nap, resting or relaxing. Unfortunately, I woke up with a headache. :( Class #4. Piano. I still hadn't practiced all week (the whole week had been hectic) and I had a lot to catch up on. Bad girl. :( Class #5. Reading/ Science. I had to read a nice long chapter on Science Natural Laws for the Driver's Ed. Then I had chores to do and hurry and get ready for Driver's Ed. Got home around 7:45, fed kids and calves and went to bed.

What a crazy weekend. I just hope this week can kinda be a little calmer, but I don't have high hopes. :) We are almost done with kidding, just have our accidentals to go. Mindie has accidentally gotten bred with Presto :( and Katrina may have been. I'm not sure when either of them will go. Probably relatively soon though.

Hope you are enjoying your week!

~Bethany~

P.S. We still are having our same septic issues (still are without a toilet, showers that work properly or a dishwasher) so please continue to pray for no rain! I really appreciate it!

P.S.S. I will be posting pictures soon of the newest kids we've had around here, the dissecting calf process (it was a cool science lesson!) and the calf in the tub.

Rosemerry's Doe Kid

These are pictures of Rosemerry's doe kid that we are selling. Because I am unable to send pictures through email for some reason, I am posting them here for those interested. Setting herself up!!
Just a curious kid!!! :)

~Bethany~

Gala!

Gala kidded last evening with twins....a buck and a doe! Yeah! Finally got that doe kid out of Presto! :) Of course she had to be black and white while the buck was the chamosee (brown, black and white) but oh well. She is cute anyway.

For the story.......
I went to go out do chores at 4:00 (I'm starting earlier since I have to be at driver's ed at 5:30) and started the whole process of milking. I got the cow in, milked Missy and Gypsy, Hannah and Rosemerry, Gatlin and Mandie, went to the next pen (with all the yearlings in it) and pulled out Spot and Natalia, put them away and was pulling out the next two does when I saw Gala in the back corner of the pen with 2 kids. I was like "Oh my word". I wasn't prepared for her at all and she had them already cleaned off, had actually nursed them :( and was happy as a little lark. AAARRRGGG! So I picked 'em up, handed them to Rachel and kept on going with my milking. She brought them inside and put them near the fire (not in a box or any type of confinement) and left them. They crawled back behind the fireplace and stayed there most of the evening. They are out in the barn now.....thankfully!!!!
Little doe kid....UR My Sunshine! (Sunshine)
Gala's buck. No name....won't get one. lol!

In Christ,
~Bethany~

My Daily Schedule

Here's just a look into my day.........

4:30: The alarm clock rings....I either jolt wide awake, turn off the alarm and jump out of bed or slowly roll over and hit the snooze button. Depends on how tired I am or how late I went to bed the night before.
4:39: Alarm clock rings again....I climb out of bed, stumble into the bathroom to get dressed with my eyes closed and slowly trudge up the stairs.
4:44: I start piecing together my milking machines and getting everything ready to go outside.
4:50: Head outside with the first load of wash bucket, extra carrying bucket and goat inflations. Come back inside and carry out both surge milk buckets. One is for the goats and the other is for the cow.
4:58: Set up milkers out in the barn, poor grain, call the cow in. Get the milker all set up on her.
5:02: Start milking the goats...Missy and Gypsy up first!
5:09: While continuing to milk the goats, I hear the cow milker "squealing" so I run to save pour Vi. I take off the milker, and send her on her way.
5:50: Goats are all finished, start taking all the inflations off the goat milker, poor some of the milk into the extra carrying bucket and take first load of inflations, extra carrying bucket and washing bucket in.
5:56: Come back for second load. Grit teeth and reach down for the full, HEAVY buckets of milk and in my head, imagine "Grant Taylor" in Facing the Giants yelling at me to "don't stop, only___ more steps! You can do it! Give it your best! Don't quit!" and finally make it to the door.
5:59: Strain any milk needed for milk orders and pour everything else into pasteurizing pails for kids. Start pasteurizing.
6:15: I do whatever needs to be done with cow milk. This is either used for calves, or strained and saved for human consumption. :)
6:25: Check emails, blog, etc. My lap top is in my milk room so I can be doing this and watching my milk all at once.
7:00: Take the last bucket of milk off the stove from pasteurizing. Set aside to cool.
7:03: Either write a blog post, email a friend, or do something of the sort. Sometimes I'll start some school work.
7:30: I start scrounging around in the kitchen, can't find anything so I ask mom what's for breakfast. Mom says "I do milk equipment in the morning so I'm not on breakfast duty anymore....ask Abigail" so I ask Abigail. She says "granola or eggs". So then I'm about on my own again and I have to come up with something. :)
8:00: Start heating up milk/electrolytes for calves, pouring milk for kids and making sure it's all the right temperature.
8:14: Make the first load out with the lambar bucket and one extra bucket of milk for kids. Feed the "middle" pen first then the youngest pen.
8:27: Head in for the last bucket of milk and 5 calf bottles. Feed the oldest kids and all 4 calves.
9:15: If it's nice out, I put the kids out. If it's chilly (like yesterday/today) they stay in.
9:34: Head inside and go get ready for the day (daily hynene stuff)
9:50: Start practicing piano.
10:45: Do as much school as I possibly can fit in.
12:00: I make lunch on Mondays and Thursdays. Abigail and Mom fill in the other days. If it's one of their days.....I keep going on schoolwork!
12:30: LUNCH!!!! YEAH!
1:00: I head back to school work.
2:30: I start heating up kid milk and Ellie's milk. She is now getting 3 gallons a day!
3:00: All the milk is heated up so I head out to the barn with my first load.
3:15: All the middle and youngest kids are fed....I head in for my second load and back out again to feed the older ones!
3:25: Because I don't feed all the calves it takes much less time then in the morning. They only get fed 2x a day. I head back in and finish up any school work or do outside stuff (whatever that may consist of)
4:30: Time for evening chores! I start putting milk buckets together repeat what I do in the morning.
5:45: I've made it back into the house and I'm working on milk stuff inside. I start scrounging around the house for something to eat.
6:30: All the milk stuff is taken care of. I've raided the cookie jar and my own personal cookie stash and am still hungry so I start bugging people about dinner.
7:00: Supper is finally ready so we all sit down!
7:45: I am finally satisfied (for now) with my stomach not growling at me and I start getting drowsy. I manage to help clean up after supper though.
8:15: I tell everyone I'm tired of feeding kids 3 times a day, they tell me to stop and I promptly head into the milk room to get their 3rd and final feeding of the day. The milk is usually still warm from chore time so I just pour it into buckets and head on out. Usually someone helps me with this feeding so it doesn't take as long but I do have feed all the calves.
9:00: I come inside to drop off my buckets and head on out to the barn to make sure everyone is going to make it throught the night without kidding. :)
9:07: I slowly trudge through the night air, back into the house. It's getting chilly out and feels good to step into the warm house!
9:15: Head downstairs to brush teeth and get PJs on. Chat/joke around with Abigail.
9:30: Crawl into bed. Ahhhhhhh
9:31: Fast asleep.
9:32-4:30: SLEEP.....HARD.
Note: times are VERY subject to change. :)

God bless!
~Bethany~

Milk Test Results

Here are the results of milk test I did yesterday. I didn't get to posting them last night so I'll be posting my daily schedule tomorrow. :) You can see here how many goats were freshening every day. We haven't had any for a full week now....yeah! Shouldn't be too long though before we have a few more!

Name/Total Weight/Days Milking/ # of Frshenings
Missy .......9.1#.............44 days ....................3rd
Gypsy .... 2.84# ............44 days ....................4th
Hannah .11.08 # ..........40 days ....................4th
Mandie....8.22 # ...........22 days....................3rd
Zoe ..........4.72# ...........16 days ....................1st(2 yo)
Candie ....7.34# ............15 days ....................1st(2 yo)
Natalia ....6.3# ..............15 days ...................1st(2 yo)
Rosemerry .6.88# ..........14 days ....................2nd
Spot .........5.22# ............13 days ....................1st(2 yo)
Jessie .......7.04# ............11 days ....................1st
Lulu ..........4.68# ...........11 days ....................1st
Savannah...2.86# ............9 days ....................1st
Gatlin ........9.26# ............9 days ....................3rd
Sapphire ...4.02# ............7 days ....................1st(2 yo)
Maggie .......6.52# ............7 days ....................1st

Now you can see why we do this and why we are planning sell Gypsy. :) She has been used as a brood doe and her milk hasn't been needed....'till now. With her eating a lot (she is a big goat) and not producing squat she is out the door. lol! She has nice body capacity and a decent udder on her tho. We are planning to keep Sara who was her doe from last summer. She will be bred this fall. I have high hopes for her!

Oh....and for other news......I'm starting Driver's Training tonight.....watch out on the roads! :) Well, I won't be out on the roads tonight. lol!

Here are the udder pictures!

Mandie's udder
Sapphire's udder
Savannah's udder
Zoe's udder
Spot's udder (she is SOLD!)

In Christ,
~Bethany~

Farm News

Has it really been almost a week since I last posted? The days have flown by! We haven't had any new kids (thank goodness!) but just the everyday work keeps me hopping! I'm planning to post something on my average day on Monday so keep an eye out for that! I thought I'd kinda let you know though what's been new.

A few days ago Nibbles came down with Polio which is caused by rumin problems. She was probably unable to eat enough to make all the milk she was producing. Thankfully we knew how to treat this since she has had a bout of this before and she was up within 24 hours. I am drying her off so she will just be going out to pasture with some of the younger dry stock.

Early this morning Abigail took her steer to weigh-in for fair. Her steer, Zeb weighed in at 816 pounds which is pretty good! When they got home we (Dad, Abigail, Ben and I) loaded up to go to the local auction where they sell animals and "junk". :) We brought 3 Boer goats and Chamomile, a sink that we have had forever and have never used and a tire that we just had laying around. We got there around 10:45 and they pulled the 2 registered Boers (Raggedy Ann and Brynna) in right away since they were selling registered stock first. We don't really know how much they sold for, we'll get the check in a few days. We unloaded the sink/tire and got it registered with the office and then Abigail, Ben and I went to go watch them auction off goats while Dad waited for the sink/tire to sell. We watched for quite a while and then Dad came in and said they still hadn't sold the sink and he was tired of waiting and meanwhile had bought 2 blue spruce trees. He had Abigail go with him to go pick them up. Not even 5 minutes after they left Chamomile came through. I don't know what happened to these people but she (a dry doe, not even bred, not registered) was bid up to.....ready for this?....$230! I believe(though I didn't see the registered stock sell) that this was one of the highest does sold. I called Dad and he was like "WHAT? YOU ARE JOKING!". He later said "well, God can make people temporarily lose their minds....He did it with Nebuchadnezzar"! :) Whatever it was, it was a blessing since we can use $230 right now. :) We also saw Pearl go through but she only pulled $55 which wasn't too bad either IMO. This was a special goat sale so there were lots of buyers for goats which was a HUGE blessing! We sat through the rest of the auction and later bought three bull calves. We pulled out of the auction around 2:30. I'll try to get pictures of the calves soon, they are pretty cute! Two are Holstein and I think one is Holstein/Angus. He looks pretty beefy.

So that has kinda been the biggest news around here. I am going to do a milk test on all of the does tomorrow so I will be posting those results tomorrow with some pictures of udders. I am milking 15 right now but we are planning to sell 3 so that will put me down to 12. I have sold several wethers and hope to sell more soon. We are getting down to a more manageable number. :)

You all have a great evening and rest of the weekend!

In Christ,
~Bethany~

Savannah, Gatlin, Sapphire, Maggie and other News

I apoligize to all my readers for not updating on current farm news earlier. Much has happened since Rosemerry and Lulu kidded.
We'll start with Saturday. Dad, Mom, Rebekah, Elizabeth and I went up to MSU for a MDGS (Michigan Dairy Goat Society) Spring Goat Day. It's always lots of fun and very educational. The rest of those who stayed behind kept an eye on the goats. Savannah kidded around 10:30 with a single doe kid. She looks much like Savannah herself, very cute. :) When we got home at 3:00 we were told that Gatlin had kidded at 1:00 with HUGE twins, a buck and a doe. They are all AWESOME eaters. :) We had also brought two beautiful doe kids home from Tammy, the lady we helped with kidding. Beautiful doe kids!

Sunday we just were laid back, no one kidded (they all wanted to give me the day off) and enjoyed the wonderful 60+ degree weather! We gather a bunch of sap and kept that boiling.

Today (Monday), I knew Sapphire and Maggie were getting close so I put them in kidding pens. Everyone else went to Coldwater and I stayed home and cleaned the licenced kitchen (where we take care of all the milk) and watched the "girls". Sapphire went around 1:00 with beautiful twins....a doe and a buck. I'm really hoping to keep the doe since her mother is looking really nice. I LOVE her udder. :) Around 4:30 I went out to go start chores and saw that Maggie had already had a buck kid. I took care of him then "went in" to help deliver the other kid.....another buck! Presto (our yearling buck) has now given us 5 bucks and 0 does. Naughty Presto. lol!

Here are some pictures I've taken recently of the kids.....

Maggie's bucks.
Sapphire's kids.
Movie (Mandie's doe kid) playing on the rock pile!
Candie's buck kid. Doesn't he look all boy?
Abigail's new doe kid we bought on Saturday.
Most of the kids on the rock pile. Aren't they adorable?
My new kid that I bought on Saturday!
Ellie, isn't she getting big?
Getting some sun!
The young ones inside, left to right....Rosemerry's doe, Savannah's doe, Rosemerry's buck, Gatlin's buck, Gatlin's doe.

So now I think I'm all caught up.....for now. :)

Till next time!
~Bethany~

Jessie and Lulu!

Some of the newest kids we have here on the farm. The one in the back left corner is Lulu's kid. The two big Alpine with black on them are Jessie's. The two little spotted ones are Spot's and the sandy colored ones are Candie's.
Yesterday Jessie and Lulu kidded.

Jessie kidded around 10:00 a.m. with HUGE twin buck kids. One has the color of her but the markings of his father and the other looks just like his father. These were our first kids out of Presto. They were 9 and 91/2 pounds. Big guys who have a bad case of DBS (dumb buck syndrome)!

I went out to the barn to look at some waterers that Dad had just put in and saw Lulu had kidded with a single buck. I'm thinking that he had already nursed since she pretty much had no milk and he was NOT interested in the bottle. He ate well this morning though so he'll start growing pretty quick. :)

Totals here on Asher Acres are now 18 kids (6 does and 12 bucks) and 11 does milking. I'm thinking Rosemerry will be kidding today and Gatlin will be close behind her. Then we might have a break for a few days and then the rest of them are going to go close together.

Oh, and I have finally decided on a name for Candie's doe.....Cup-O-Gold and I'll call her Goldie. I think she is adorable! :)

I apoligize that my posts have been boring lately....I said you all going to get tired of it eventually...lol!

In Christ!
~Bethany~

Prayer Request!

I have a prayer request. Our drain field has been overworked and nothing is draining right now. We don't have the money (and don't want to spend it) to get it fixed so we are just going to let the ground dry out. Meanwhile we really can't run much water into our sewer which means no showers, no washing clothes, no dishwasher, etc. So....we will be going to the laundry mat here, back to washing dishes by hand and going to other people's houses for showers. And of course there is the toilet....but we won't go into that. :)

So....will you please pray that:
1. It won't rain so everything will dry up quickly. (Main prayer request, if it doesn't rain it might only take a week or two clear up. If not, it might not be 'till the end of April that it's all back to normal)
2. We will be content without all of these modern conveniences (good thing we all like rustic camping!)
3. That we can see the good things in all this (like that it's March and not January)
4. That we will be more thankful for what we have!

Thanks!
In Christ,
~Bethany~

Spot!

If this post seem discombobulated that's because I'm tired. :) Last night at 10:00 I was washing up the last the equipment for feeding kids and Dad had gone out to check on the goats in the barn. He came up to the door...."Spot, twins - buck and a doe". Me - "no, not really". Yeah, totally excited. lol! So anyway, we went out there and got them all cleaned up and brought them inside, I milked Spot and brought the colostrum in. I made it to bed by 11:00. I think we are getting the system down. Of course her already having them out on the ground cut out lots of time too.
Buck kid (big spots)
Both kids together on the counter in the barn.
Me drying them off with the hair dryer. That's what I look like at 10:30 p.m. lol!
Doe kid (Dorthy or Dot unless we keep her. Then she'll get a decent name :))
So I guess that's all of our recent news. Aren't they cute though? I think they look a lot like Candie except for the long ears. Spot is for sale and possibly both of her kids. We're waiting to see what we get out of the other two that still have to freshen.

'Till next time!
In Christ,
~Bethany~

Candie and Natalia!

Yesterday morning I noticed Candie had let down her milk but no one really check on her at all during the day. It was raining and nasty here so we were all just holing up in the house. I went out to the pole barn to feed the kid and calf around 2:30 and Dad went down to the dairy barn to do some work out there. Rebekah had gone down with him but came running back to tell me that Candie was kidding! I finished up feeding and went down to the barn. I spread some fresh straw since she hadn't been moved to a kidding pen and moved the other goats out of her pen. Only about 5 minutes later she started pushing so I grabbed a glove and went in (it our new "thing" since we lost Mandie's kid from not pulling soon enough) and found one front leg and a nose. The other leg was back so I just pulled. It was a nice big buck kid! We got him all dried off and I headed in for the second. I put my hand in and she gave a great big push (probably to get my hand out) and a little doe kid practically came flying out! They are both very nice and healthy kids!

I came inside to get the bucket so I could milk her and when I came back out to the barn, Natalia was kidding! I grabbed some more gloves and pulled out a doe first, then a buck. Then I handed them over to the waiting girls and went back to milking. This was about 4:00.

After that I came in and got all the milk equipment ready and did chores. I finished feeding the newest kids around 7:00. Dad, Ben and I watched Tora, Tora, Tora which is a movie about the bombing of Pearl Harbor (great movie for those who enjoy history!) which is about 3 hours long. By the time it was done and I had fed all the kids and calf again it was 11:30. I was back up at 4:30 this morning. I'm thinking it time for a nap....:) Mom says I am going to get sick if I keep this up and I don't doubt it.
Mandie's kid "Movin' On Up" aka "Movie"
Zoe's kid "George" (I think, Rebekah chose the name for her market weather and she might used Candie's buck)
Natalia's buck kid...no name yet
All the kids born yesterday. From front: Candie's buck, Natalia's buck, Natalia's doe, Candie's doe.

So, we are now at a total of 13 kids and I am milking 8 plus a cow. Chores take me about 3 hours start to finish including feeding kids and taking care of milk. It's lots of work but loads of fun! Let's just hope I can hold out. Maybe getting to bed earlier would help...lol!




Here is a video of Candie kidding. I think it's the best one so far. You can see the second kid "pop" out! Note how much bigger the 1st is and how much more masculine he is! He is totally all boy! :)

In Christ,
~Bethany~

Fashion Show pics!

Here are the promised pictures!
All of the girls together.
Me in a green print day dress.
Abigail in a plaid day dress.
Rachel in a pink prairie dress.
Rebekah in a yellow prairie dress.
Elizabeth in a green prairie dress. Isn't she adorable?

Don't forget about Daylights Savings Time (for those that it affects) today!

Have a great day!
~Bethany~

Zoe!

I am announcing the arrival of George, Zoe's new buck kid. This gives us the needed 4 wethers for fair and this one happens to be Rebekah's. She has now named her 3 market weathers Walter, Marinus and George. :)

I went out to do chores (around 5:00) and found her pushing. Dad had been out in the barn most of the afternoon and hadn't seen her acting strange but she was totally pushing with all her might. She was dilated well but had a huge kid that Dad pulled...hard. We finally got him out, a nice big, healthy kid. He's doing great and so is Zoe. She sat there for like 15 minutes after we pulled him out, hardly moving. She was like "what on earth just happened to me?". Then she got up and I milked her and she was happy as a little lark. Goofy girl!

Today we girls went to a Civil War fashion show. We all wore our Civil War era dresses and it was lots of fun. Our camera's batteries were unfortunately all dead so we had to use someone's camera and they are going to email them to us. I'll post them when I get them.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

In Christ,
~Bethany~

Mandie!!!!

Good morning folks! I wrote this last night but was exhaused so I didn't make it through. Enjoy...and learn! :)

This morning when I woke up Mandie seemed to be going into labor. I kept an eye on her all morning and around 9:00 I noticed her starting to push though they were wimpy little pushes. However, as the day went on there was no progress and she wasn't dilating at all. Around noon we decided she had been going long enough and call the vet since she still hadn't dilated at all. The vet said to just try to get in there and open her up ourselves so I pulled on a glove and started in. I slowly was able to "open" her up and broke the water. The first kid was positioned with one leg forward with the head in the normal position but with the other leg back.
I was able to pull it out without too much hassle. It was a beautiful black doe! The second kid was coming head first, 1 leg back, 1 knee forward (the leg had been folded back) so that was a little harder to pull out. Meanwhile, because of the long wait in the birth canal the first kid wasn't doing too well. I got the second one out (also a black doe!!) and handed her over to Abigail while Dad and I worked on the first kid. She had a lot of fluid in her lungs and was really weak. Dad tried CPR and we tried swinging her but sadly, she didn't make it. Abigail had brought the other doe kid inside and when we came in she wasn't looking good either. She was really weak and already quite hypothermic (down to 94* - regular body temp is 101*-104*). Dad did CPR on her which got her breathing a bit steadier and were getting ready to tube feed her but thankfully called the vet first. He said to make sure we got her body temp up first or the milk would curdle in her stomach and it would kill her. He said to put her in warm water so we filled up our sink and laid her in. We took our out of the water and dried her off a total of 3 times. :) It was quite an experience.
When we finally got her body temp up to normal we tube fed her and I wrapped her up in one of our warmest blankets.
She and I sat for almost 2 hours relaxing while the rest of the family went outside to tap maple trees. By the time they got back inside she was already trying to stand up.
At supper time she was up and ready to drink a bottle!
We are so thankful that we have a healthy baby, healthy momma (Mandie is doing great!) and that we have an awesome goat vet!!!!

We learned a lot of little lessons today.
#1. Don't let the doe push any longer than 1 hour even if she isn't dialating.
#2. You can bring up a kids body temp by putting it in warm water!
#3. Don't forget about hypothermia. Kids can easily be effected if weak at birth.
#4. Don't tube feed if their body temp is low.
#5. Have a good vet that you can call even if he/she isn't at the office. (He wasn't in today but we were still able to get a hold of him)
#6. Don't give up on a weak kid! Fight for it's life!!!!
Hope you can learn all this the easy way.....by remembering this! :)

'Till next time,
~Bethany~

Violet....and Rose?

Actually, we haven't decided on a name yet but Rose would be a good name for the heifer calf born yesterday from Violet!

So here's the story. We had all come upstairs for lunch and I finished before everyone and went into the living room. I looked outside over the pasture and saw Violet laying down but Billy was in the way so I couldn't tell that she was pushing. Then I saw this dark brown "thing" that Billy kept sniffing at and I was like "oh my goodness, Violet's calving!". That caused quite a stir in the house....mom said she looked around her and all the plates were still on the table but the house was deserted!

So we all run out there and Abigail and I make it out there first...."It's a heifer!!!"....and start drying it off though Violet was pretty much doing her job totally right. We all stood there waiting and I realized I had forgotten my camera so Elizabeth offered to run up to the house and get it. She was back before the calf was totally on it legs yet so I have the pictures of it's first time on legs.

We moved her into the barn and milked out Violet. I think she'll be a good milker...she gave 2 gallons of colostrum! We are all looking forward to the cheese, butter, sour cream, and everything else we make. Oh yeah, and we are going to be selling soy free/corn free cow shares so you can let everyone know.

~Bethany~

Content?

Today while working on a history paper on attitudes in government I found this article written by the historical figure, Napoleon. I found these words so amazing and accurate.

Contentment

" The richest man in the world lives in Happy Valley.
He is rich in values that endure, in things he cannot lose.

Here is an inventory of his riches and how he acquired them:

I found happiness by helping others find it.

I found sound health by living temperately and eating only the food my body requires to maintain itself.

I hate no man, envy no man, but love and respect all mankind.

I am engaged in a labor of love with which I mix play generously; therefore I seldom grow tired.

I pray daily, not for more riches, but for more wisdom with which to recognize, embrace and enjoy the great abundance of riches I already possess.

I speak no name save only to honor it, and I slander no man for any cause for whatsoever

I ask no favors of anyone except the privilege of sharing my blessings with all who desire them.

I am on good terms with my conscience; therefore, it guides me accurately in everything I do.

I have more material wealth than I need because I am free from greed and covet only those things I can use constructively while I live.

My wealth comes from those whom I have benefited by sharing my blessings.

The estate of happy valley which I own I not taxable. It exists mainly in my own mind, in intangible riches that cannot be assessed for taxation and appropriated except by those who adopt my way of life.

I created this estate over a lifetime of effort by observing nature's law and forming habits to conform with them."

There is only one more I would add; I found peace in having Christ as my Savior.

'Till next time!
~Bethany~

Young Warriors

This is a short post, but I just wanted to post these thoughts.

1Timothy 4:12
Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young but set an example for the believers in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

We may feel young, inadequate or unprepared but young Christians are God's young warriors. He has clearly written in His word that we can be examples to other believers in several different areas of life. We do need to be careful that we are being a good example. If there are others looking up to you (can be adults, children, siblings), you have a huge responsibility and you must ask God to help you be an example.

In Christ,
~Bethany~

Kidding or Kid Care?

Friday evening after chores Mom, Abigail and I packed our bags and headed up to the Regan's home to stay the night. Saturday morning we (Josh, Jenna, Abigail and I, and a few of their younger ones) woke up at 5:00 to chores and eat a good breakfast before heading off to what we were planning to be a long day of kidding at a nearby goat farm.
Abigail, Jenna and Josh in the back of the truck. I was back there too but someone had to take the picture!!!

It was close to 7:00 by the time we pulled in the driveway but all the lights in the house and barn were turned off. This was very unusual since Tammy is usually out in the barn on kidding days by 4:00. We went into the barn and looked in the kid pens and saw several kids (12 to be exact) still somewhat wet signaling that they had been born recently. Tammy had heard us pull in and came out to the barn and saw that two more had been born while she had gone in to lay down. I quickly scooped up one and started whipping mucus off it while she told us what had happened.

The night before around 10:00 or so one of her does who had Pregnancy Toxemia (Strait) was having a really hard time even breathing so she had called the vet. He came out and said the kids were killing her so they would have to do a c-section. The procedure went well though because there were not enough hands to rub kids and get the mucus out of their air passageways two of the quads died.
Strait getting some attention. You can see the insicion on her side near her back leg.
The incision up close. Very good sewing Doc.!

After c-section the does started kidding right and left and kept at it all night. Poor Tammy didn't sleep all night so she had gone it to take a short nap. Only a few minutes after we had arrived a doe began delivering a kid head first, front legs back. The doe's muscles where tight and she wouldn't relax enough for them to get around to her shoulder so they could pull on something. Josh tried first but couldn't get it so Tammy tried but couldn't get it. She went to go deliver a breech kid then came back and she was finally relaxed enough to where she was able to pull the kid out.

Josh trying to get around the kid to find something to pull on.
The kid just "hangin' out". :)

After that little burst of excitment there was only Mia to kid yet so we fed kids, helped with chores, milked goats, gave shots (actually I just was the shot holder, Josh gave the shots), fed kids again, "counseled" the doe who had the c-section and just sat around in the pens chatting with Tammy. 3:30 rolled around and Mia still hadn't kidded and Tammy was exhausted so she went in to lie down while we waited around for our ride. Mr. Regan picked us up and we rode to their house. Mom came and picked us up about 10 minutes later (she had been at her parents house) and we made the drive home.


Here on Asher Acres we are getting close to having more kids as well. Mandie, Zoe, Jessie and maybe Camillia are due during the next week so be checking frequently for more pictures and maybe some more kidding vidoes!! Yeah, I know you are all groaning. :)


Hope you are all having a great weekend!

In Christ,
~Bethany~