Journey to farmlife

LADYBIRD, LADYBIRD FLY AWAY HOME.

20/05/2009

Last night we went to see two breeds of dairy goats not too far from us. This couple who run the goat club. Their names are Elaine and Basil. They are on pension and this is their hobby. They judge a lot of the shows too. Their goats are show goats aswell. They are more into showing the goats than milking them. I asked her what she does with the milk. Mostly it goes to the kids and then to a new foal down the road and the rest to a friend of theirs that has puppies. The goats are incredible! She has two types. One is an Anglo Nubian and the other is the British Alpine. Both of these breeds have a very high percentage of buttermilk so it is very good for cheese making. The Nubian goat has the most incredible coat. My goodness but they have big ears. The ears hang down almost touching the ground! They are far bigger than the Boer goats although these goats are much older. The Alpine goats are black and have little white markings. They are also quite big goats. The strange part about the Nubians are their faces, well actually it is the bridge on the noses which are humped. It is the strangest sight! Elaine feeds her goats about a dozen different feeds to make sure the goats coat is perfect for the shows. I must say the doe was beautiful. She had just won first prize yesterday. In the shed where she keeps the goats, we saw two possums up in the roof. They just sat there and watched us out of big round eyes, waiting for us to leave. I believe we were interrupting their dinner time. Elaine told me that a friend of hers will be having a kid in the near future and she will also be having a kid, both will be the Alpine goats. Possibly they will be for sale. She took my details and told me she would let me know as soon as she knows something. It’s so exciting to know down the line I will be getting dairy goats. Then I will be frantically learning about cheese making. They are not as expensive as I expected which is another bonus. The heavens opened up as we were on our way to Elaine and continued to pour down through the night. The water tanks are over flowing again.

After we bid our new contacts goodbye, we received a call from David. David was the contact breeder for the Dexter cows we went to see on Sunday afternoon. He told us that his contact up in Toowoomba has more heifer’s ready to sell. He is willing to bring them to us free of charge and they will both be pregnant. So after sorting out the details and price we have settled on taking David’s one and their two. Hopefully by Christmas or just after that we will be the proud owners of six Dexter cattle. David said he will let us know when they can come down. It’s all so exciting and nerve- racking too. I know we have two already and the Dexter’s can’t be all that different but it’s still all so new.

I learnt another tip from Elaine about disciplining naughty goats last night. Goats do not like to get wet and a squeezer bottle fill of water will quickly sort out any misbehavior.

I climbed into bed and had such trouble summoning sleep with all these wonderful thoughts flying through my head of goats and cows. I eventually drifted off to sleep with the soft patter of the rain on the roof. What a start to the week!