Our 2012 Kidding season is about to begin!

Hi Everyone!

Our 2012 Kidding season is almost here! The momma goats are getting bigger by the day. Our very first kids could arrive as soon as March 23th (145 days gestation) if they got bred the first day they were put in with their assigned buck. Typically they arrive at 147-152 days gestation. Our major kidding will continue on through the month of April. As you can imagine, it will be a busy time on the farm very soon.

We have been busy preparing for our first arrivals. All of our Does received their annual CDT booster so the babies will be protected at birth. The kids will then receive their first CDT vaccine at 4-6 weeks of age, a booster 2 weeks later and then their last booster 4 weeks after that. By that time it should be just about weaning time!

Other things we have been doing around the farm to get ready are:

-We condition scored our Does and they are looking fat and happy. We did sorted out 4 of our older girls that we felt needed a little more tlc and put them on a richer protein diet.

-We recently replaced some of our old barn lights in our kidding area. I’m so excited to have reliable lighting this year!

-All pen card forms are printed out for each Dam and are ready to be filled out with the newborn kid information as they arrive. If you would like to see a copy of what our pen card looks like, here is the link to it: www.hmrpygoras.com/kidpencard5-19-01.PDF

-Our kidding supply bags are all put together and ready to go.

-Kidding supplies ordered and received.


Some things still left to do:

-We will be hauling hay tomorrow and filling up our barn so it’s well stocked throughout kidding season.

-This coming week we plan to clean get our kidding areas and layer them with fresh straw. (BIG JOB!)

-We will be wrapping up the last of the bucks that need shearing

-We will start crutching the bred Does that need it. (shearing their bottoms and udder areas only)

-Our “clip, dip and strip” supply tote put together.

Thanks for checking out our Blog! You can see more information at our website at: www.hawksmtnranch.com

Take care,

Lisa

Pygora baby in the tall grass

Hi Everyone,

Every Wednesday is dedicated as our "Herd health day". This is where we round up the goats and have a list of various items that need to be taken care of.
This Wednesday, we will be rounding up all the kids. We plan on taking updated photos and descriptions of about 30 kids. We will be checking heads for scurs and redisbudding if needed. It's best to catch scurs now as they are still small and easy to remove. Once this is done, we will be rounding our few sheep friends as it's time for them to be sheared. After that, the time will be spent doing a list of chores around the farm. Everything from washing buckets, to moving plywood to the hay barn. It will be a very busy day.

If you are on facebook or thinking about joining, don’t forget to check out our goat photos at: www.facebook.com/HawksMountainRanch

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.

 Take care,

 Lisa

Momma goat with kid on board!

Today as I was turning the momma and baby goats out to the lower pasture for the first time, I decided to take my camera with me. I couldn't believe what I saw. This mom was actually walking around with her baby "on board". What a good momma!

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Hello everyone! 

It’s been a super busy time at the ranch! It’s amazing how quickly time is flying by! Kidding started exactly 1 month ago on 3/14. Since then, 134 Pygora kids have been born here! We only have 3 more Does left to kid. We have a very colorful herd of bouncing baby goats and all fleece types too! 

This week, I spent writing descriptions for all of the kids for our kids list.   As each kid was handled and critiqued,  I was really impressed with the quality of kids we have this year! 

I have photos of all the kids now and I've been busy cropping them down to a size for easy and quick viewing on the internet. I will be spending a lot of time at the computer over the next several days.
 
My plan is to spend most of my time putting all the pieces together for our kid list.  I can't give an exact date when my list will be available as I have a lot to do out in the barn still but I will give an update when I have it ready for our pre-depositors. 

Thanks everyone for your patience and if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. I can be reached via e-mail, facebook, text or phone at: 503-539-0295. Please leave a message and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
  
Take care, Lisa

Sarah's favorite Pygora doelings

120 kids on the ground so far with 19 more Does still left to kid. 

Busy, busy, busy taking photos for our Pygora kids list.

Kids arriving is just the beginning.  The real busy work continues as we care for the kids and mommas.  I thought I'd give an insight of what we are doing on the farm right now:

Once kids are born, they are brought into the barn with their mom and put in their own private kidding pens.  They are in these pens for 2-3 days so they can bond together and to make sure babies are doing well and mom has enough milk for them.  Also during this time, the kids navels will be dipped in iodine to help prevent infection, moms teats will be stripped to make sure the waxy plug is removed and milk is coming out.  We also give each kid a selenium and vitamin E shot.  We take a photo of each kid at this time and they are given a temporary farm eartag for identification.  All moms are given a wormer and are hoof trimmed.  Once everything is checked off, then the moms and kids are turned out into our nursery area with other moms and kids. 

While in the nursery area, all kids will be tattooed with their own unique identification number, disbudded and band (neuter) boys.  We will also do our "3T's" check.  The "3T's" are; "Teeth", Teats, and Testicles".   We do the "3T's" check to ensure our kids qualify for our breeding stock standards.  We want to make sure the mouth is aligned properly, they have 2 teats, and that the boys have 2 testicles.  The "3T's" is an ongoing process as the kids get older too.

Once everything is checked off, the kids and moms then leave the nursery area and are turned out to pasture and it's play, play, play time for the babies as they investigate their new surroundings.  It's my favorite time of year watching the kids take off leaping, hopping and skipping down our hilly green pastures.

Inbetween everything that is going on, I will be working on putting together my Pygora kids list.  I have been taking photos of each kid before they are turned out to the nursery area.  I still need to take photos and get descriptions for them.   I'm hoping to catch some sleep in there somewhere! 

Feel free to contact me.   I can be reached via e-mail, text (503-539-0295 or facebook or phone.  Please leave a message if you can and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
  
Take care, Lisa

Pygora Does get their annual CDT vaccination

Hi Everyone!
Kidding time is almost here! The momma goats are getting bigger by the day. Soon baby goats will be bouncing around the farm!
Our first kids should arrive around March 19th and continue through the middle of April. I have a very good feeling that this will be our be our best year ever.  I’m feeling very prepared for the first arrivals. All pen cards are printed out and ready to be filled out as the kids arrive. Kidding bags are all put together stuffed with supplies.  Some local school kids have volunteered to come up and spend some nights with us during Spring break. This will be a heavy kidding time for us. It is always really exciting for the kids and I to share this experience.
Wednesday 2/23, we gave our Does their annual CDT booster so the babies will be protected at birth.   At 4-6 weeks of age the babies will receive their 1st CDT vaccine with a booster 2 weeks later, and the last booster 4 weeks after that.  
We are now on facebook. If you would like to see photos of the baby kids as they are born, we will be posting photos on facebook. You can find our facebook page at: www.facebook.com/HawksMountainRanch  
That’s all for now. I will be giving updates along the way.  
Take care, Lisa

Plump bellies on our Pygora mom-to-be's!

One recent misty morning I noticed some plump bellies starting to show on our girls.  A good sign that babies are soon on their way!

The ultimate goat playhouse!

Thank you, Eileen Gates of Falls Brook Farm, Blandford, MA for the use of your wonderful photo!

The slow winter days are now here. Breeding season is over and we are now waiting patiently for kidding season to arrive. Right now we are getting ready for delivery of 18+ tons of hay in the next week.

Recently George has gotten into the holiday spirit and decided to put Christmas lights around the house. A lesson was learned to not plug in 10 strings of lights together. Without going into detail, it is now day 2 and the lights still aren't working. George came home this evening with a bag of new lights, bulbs and fuses and assures me he will have have them working tomorrow. If all goes as George expects tomorrow, our mountain top should be glowing brightly for miles away. Oh what a wonderful time of the year!

Now is a great time to get on our pre-deposit list for the best selection of Pygora babies. We are expecting between 125-150 kids to be born on the farm this 2011 spring kidding season. Last year we sold out of doelings before our list when public in June. Get on our pre-deposit list now to pick your kids starting in April!

Lisa

Black Bo is our top fiber producing Pygora herd sire

Our 2010 breeding season is finally over. All the breeding bucks have been returned back to the "boys pasture" while the girls have been returned to the "girls pasture". Life on the farm is quiet once again.

Next week we will be busy preparing for kidding season. Yes, it's that time already as it's only 4 months away! I'm currently in the process of putting together our Pygora kids list with info on each dam and sire leaving room for their babies photo and description to be inserted once the kids arrive. My goal is to get our kids list out to our pre-depositors as soon as possible once the majority of the kids are born.

Now is a great time to get on our pre-deposit list for the best selection of Pygora babies. We are expecting between 125-150 kids to be born on the farm this 2011 spring kidding season. Last year we sold out of doelings before our list when public in June. Get on our pre-deposit list now to pick your kids starting in April!

Lisa

Week 2 of breeding season

Our breeding groups have now been together for over 2 weeks. Things are starting to quiet down. I think most of the Does have been bred as I'm not seeing any signs of them showing any interest in their bucks. Of course the Bucks still check to see if there is any interest but with no luck. Hopefully this means that most of our Pygora babies will be arriving within a 2 week time frame. That would mean during Spring Break! Yeah! It should be a very busy time on the ranch!

This week we had a few sunshiny days between rain storms so we took the opportunity to take some updated photos of our bucks. Check back as we post new photos of our handsome boys!

Lisa

Mud Puddle has quads!

Baby Count as of today: 105

Wow! Last night Mud Puddle surprised us with a set of quads! All are doing well. Quads are very rare at our farm. We have only had one other doe have quads in all the years we have been raising Pygora. It happened to be Mud Puddles Dam, Mud Pie. Mud Pie has had 2 sets of quads in her kidding career. As of today, Mud Pie hasn't kidded yet and is as big as a house! Stay tuned!

We have about 20 does left to kid. It has been a whirlwind season! We have been busy taking baby photos, disbudding, tattooing, and playing with the babies!

The Golden Fleece 4H Club came up yesterday for a visit. It was a great time! More info about the visit coming soon!

Kidding season is just a few days away!

HAPPY ST. PATTIES DAY!

In 2 days, our Doe, Fudge, will be at 150 days gestation. That means she could start kidding any day now! We can hardly wait to see what our permanent grand champion Doe produces this year!

The rest of the herd is expected to start kidding a week later so we are busy preparing for many babies to start arriving any time after March 25th!

Once the babies begin arriving, my plan is to give frequent updates as often as possible. At times it may be just a brief update depending on how busy the day/night went. Pygora goats are usually very easy kidders but I like to be there to make sure momma and babies are doing fine.

The date for the Golden Fleece 4H Club visit has been moved up from April 17th to April 3rd. This should give them an opportunity to experience what it is like to be here in the heat of kidding season.

The 4H'ers will have the opportunity to take care of newborn kids and their moms. For the brave, they might even catch a doe giving birth.

I'm really looking forward having the Golden Fleece 4H Club visit the ranch! ~Lisa