Loss is Hard

Losing goats is difficult.  It doesn't matter if the death is expected, unexpected, or even assisted in order to end suffering. 

This part of farm life is something that we must be able to handle or we are in the wrong "field". 

When a farmer becomes callous to such things, they have no heart.  This doesn't mean we cry over every loss.  There are times we just have no time for physical tears, but our hearts ache tremendously. 

This week, in two days, we lost three goats to a mysterious ailment.  The most painful part about this is the fact a proper burial was not able to be done.  Winter is cruel.  

So our precious little buckling, Hickory Hill Woodstock, is gone.

Little Grady, our beautiful wether, he is gone. 

And our herd sire, Waterloo Pond T Galveston, gone. 

All these without knowing what killed them.  

We can't turn back time and do things differently and really, there isn't much we could have done...it was silent, symptomless, and hidden. 

But in the memory of animals who served us well, we look to the care of the remaining living creatures who could quite possibly face the same death if we just sit idly by, doing nothing. 

Goats Coming Soon!

We had a crazy breeding season last fall.  

We were limited to pens and pastures for does and bucks to be in, so some of our does will not have papered offspring.  This means no registration since we have no idea as to who the sire is.  

Want a sneak peak?  

Imagine camping next to the breeding pen with three does and four bucks.  That!  That was a crazy...err...event to listen to all night and all day.  It was also quite fun to watch the younger bucks outsmart my herd sire.  The first two days, he was top dog and managed to keep all the younger guys away, but after that you could almost see the younger bucks congregate and lay out a strategy of how to outsmart ol' dad, Waterloo Pond T Galveston *B.  

Our other herd sire, Hickory Hill Nashville, was penned up with the remaining does.  Of those, we have confirmed pregnancies in Better Wayz Mocha Latte, Better Wayz Cocoa Loco, and Windyfarm Wendy Darling.  

Our does Kids of Kaitlin Jersey Girl and Chatterbox Amber were bred by either Waterloo Pond T Galveston or Hickory Hill Oliver.  

Our unregistered doe, Genevieve was later bred by Galveston and will not be due until April.  She is polled with blue eyes. 

Finally, we have a mini-nubian doe, Tansy, who we have been working to get bred by Galveston for quite some time, but I think we may finally have a breeding!  We are excited and should know within the next week if she is pregnant or not.  

We plan to post our babies here when they come.  

Our herd was last tested in 2019 and 2020 with negative results for all goats.  We do not believe there are reliable or accurate tests available for CL.