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

Our Pygora kids at Play!

Photo taken 5/1/11

Hi Everyone,

I’m happy to announce that our 2011 Hawks Mtn Ranch Pygora kid list is now complete and I have e-mailed it to the first 3 people on our deposit list this evening. Once the first person has picked their kids, then I will send the list to the 4th person to view and so on. Once everyone on our pre-deposit list has picked their kids, then our list will go public. It's not too late to still get on our deposit list.

We are excited about our crop of kids this year! A hint of little fuzzy fleeces are just starting to show up on many of the kids already. We have everything from white to all shades of caramel, light grey to dark greys, browns to blacks. We even have a few very striking black and white kids. 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

Our 1st 2011 Pygora kids have arrived!

During my night time barn check last night, I was surprised by tiny little squeeky noises coming from the back of the barn. It was our Pygora goat, Fudgesicle,with 2 very curly twin boys! Fudgesicle is the first Doe to kid on our farm this year. She has been the first on to kid 3 times in the last 5 years.That’s all for now. Check out our website or facebook page as I will be giving updates along the way.
 
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

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

Our herd sire, "Boo Boo" is looking good!

Our breeding groups have now been together for just over 3 weeks. We will be keeping them together for another 10 days.

We are using 11 herd sires this year. 2 of the breeding bucks are bucklings that were born last spring. One is named, "Copper Spats" and is a beautiful brown buckling with frosted ears and nose. He is out of our late herd sire, "Spats" . He definitely knew what to do when he was first put with his group of girls.

Our other buckling, "Hot Dog", was a little slow to figure things out so he missed the first cycle of his group of girls. Fortunately he is now showing interest in his girls as they are starting to come into their 2 cycle. It looks like his girls will be the last to kid. This is not uncommon for bucklings to be slow as I found that they mature at different rates. Sometimes bucklings won't come into maturity until late winter.

It looks like the rest of our 9 herd sires have settled most of their girls. I am ready for breeding season to be over so I can take down the breeding pens and send the boys back out to their pasture away from the girls. I'm looking forward to peace and quiet until the babies start arriving in March!

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

Cleaning the barn can be a real challenge with so many helpers

Our Northern delivery trip is complete and we are now busy preparing for our Southern delivery. Our truck and trailer are now full. We will be leaving from Oregon on October 4th to make the cross country trip to the east coast.  My driver on this trip will be my husband, George. 

Yesterday we took the kids in for their health exams and received their certificates of veterinary inspection. All is a go!

Hoof trimming, worming, updated photos and descriptions are just a few of things we have on our list to do today.

Lisa

Happy Mothers day!

Happy Mothers Day to all of you with 2 and 4 legged kids! Yesterday I had a bouquet of beautiful Oregon grown flowers given to me for being the mom of 140 baby goats! It was so thoughtful and it really brightened my day. Thank you very much, Wanda and Rick!

Our Pygora kids list is making it's way down the pre-deposit list. It started out very slow but I'm hoping to pick up speed soon.

If you are on the pre-deposit list, feel free to contact me with an estimate of when we will get to you. Once everyone on our list has previewed and selected their kids, the list will go public on our website. Check back as we give updates.

This coming week we will be giving the kids their first CDT vaccination. They will get a series of 3 boosters over the next few weeks and then after that, they will receive a yearly vaccination.