While on my way out into the barn to meet our new livestock, this Sacred Heart photo caught my eye. A very nice reminder of Who is in charge. Not sure which one of the kids hung it up there but I’m glad they did!
Meet Mabel! She’s a French Alpine dairy goat who will be a first time mom sometime in March. It’s been a very long time since we’ve had goats. I’m thinking 2007 or 2008. Those who know me will be shocked knowing how much I dislike them. This is Fred’s plan though and who am I to stand in the way! He figures, and rightly so, the youngest children here need a very early morning purpose. They need something more time sensitive then light chicken chores etc. Mario and Isabella were begging to have something to milk so this is the end result of much debate. Below is the second goat.
This French Alpine is named Sabrina. They are pure bred and seem to be of very good quality. She is due in April. The children are very enthusiastic to say the least. One of our milk cows, on the other hand, is less than thrilled at the newcomers. “Annette” kept jumping over the fence in fear of the new goats which she had never before been exposed to. She is still, after 4 days, adjusting to the idea. Anyway, as much as I prefer dairy cows, I must say these goats are really beautiful! So far………so good. Now I will continue to like them if they stay where they are supposed to be. They have to stay out of my yard and out of the gardens!! Then, life will be peaceful here on the Callens Farm!
Cute isn’t she? What’s not to like? Both of our youngest children are so excited about the prospect of having their own animals to milk. They will need to have guidance from the older ones around here and listen carefully or else risk the loss of this important responsibility. It’s opportunity like this that helps create a good sense of work ethic. Start small on the farm with little jobs, as they have for quite a while and then move on to the next best thing. Honestly I’ve been consoling myself with the fact that goat milk is actually better for us than cows milk. So we need more milk around here? The answer is no! At least not for now but the children need this and so the next adventure starts. One of our milk cows is “on vacation” until around March 4 when she will give birth to a baby calf.
That’s the news for now.
CALLENS HONEY FARM 
a co worker of mine has 5 fainting goats on her 10 acre country home. They are like “dogs” and follow her everywhere.
looking forward to more goat stories and pictures of kids milking them.
They’ll be no following around here 🙂 ha ha I look forward to seeing how it all goes for the kids. I love new things on the farm here and there. God bless!
Sounds great. I wish we could break Masha in on a goat before she joins the milking staff this summer!
Beth
She’ll do good with your patient guidance no doubt. Give her the easy cow to milk first:) xo from a far……..
People that are lactose intolerant and allergic to soy can tolerate goats milk and from two great milk goats you can get two gallons of milk a day which is quite a bit but if you have five goats, four does and one buck they will go through one round bale in about 1-2 months or longer (it takes our ten goats to go through one round bale a month (and they normally still have about 1 weeks worth of hay left) but goats are super friendly and if you are in a pen with them you dont have to worry about them stepping on your foot and completely crushing your foot like a cow would and they are just so sweet mucking out stalls is pretty easy and when you have twins a boy and a girl the girl you can still use for breeding.if you get saanens the kids take one year to grow and they are huge(our buck jack is about a year old and is already fully mature)while with a cow it takes two years for them to reach maturity and saanens are the highest producing milk goat (and our saanen buck bred two of our saanen does and we got twins from both of them) and goats are the leanest meat in the world
Thanks for all of the great goat information! They are not new to us only we have just decided to put them back into our operation. Cows……on the other hand…..our kids love and wouldn’t do without:) I think they are trained pretty well. That rabbit was around 3 years old at the time the photo was taken and it is a Spotted Giant. Thanks for the notes.
Danielle just got goats back as well which is exciting for me because I love goats! 🙂 Two goats and three babies on the ground, this will be a fun summer of the cuties bouncing around!
I am not in love with our goats……….they are smart and like to figure out ways to escape. But……they are easy for kids to milk 🙂