Filed under: Goats | Tags: cashmere goat kids, cashmere goats, Lola, Lola's babies
Lola with her babies.
We had a lovely Mother’s Day, visiting with our friends and we got back late last night. As I got out of the car, I told the family I was going to check on Lola. She was due on the 5th but, like all mothers, delivered when she was ready.
It was dark and there was no moon, so I went into the house to get a flashlight. Usually the goats go in the barn at night but as I was shining the light I caught a pair of eyes in the pen, a bluish glint reflecting back. Then I noticed they were all out and as I waved my flashlight I saw two pairs of eyes, close to the ground. You couldn’t really see the babies because they are completely black. As I got closer I could see we had two apparently healthy kids and a healthy doe. They were almost dry and there was afterbirth on the ground, so it had happened very recently.
As a rather nauseating aside: I saw the chickens devouring the afterbirth this morning. So much for vegetarian fed chickens. For those of you who pay a premium for vegetarian-fed eggs, you should know that the chickens cannot free range AND be vegetarians. They love meat. I’ve seen them eat bugs, little birds that have fallen from a nest, gophers and now afterbirth. <end rabbit trail>
Thomas and I each picked up a kid and brought it into the barn where there was a thick straw bed for them. I waited to make sure they both nursed (maybe a little bit longer :D) and then went to bed. These pictures were taken when they were about 12 hours old. I intend to get some better ones soon. We have a storm moving in and the weather’s not so nice outside and Lola has just left them in the barn. It’s dark in there and it is hard to get good pictures.
Shannon is showing signs so we should have two more very soon. Any name suggestions? Lola had a boy and a girl.
Lola's doeling
Robo-goat---kinda gives an idea of what the eyes looked like last night
Chickens in the Freezer
In the spirit of a true City Girl Farmer, I decided to try raising chickens someone else could butcher. Butchering a chicken is like cleaning a big fish or cleaning a toilet. Any one can do it, but why would you want to?
I was a little disappointed with how Aurelio tasted. I had heard such wonderful things about how you could never go back to store-bought chickens after raising your own. Actually, it wasn’t a problem for me. He tasted like cardboard.
Talking with my chicken mentor straightened out a couple of things. I wasn’t raising the right kind of bird and Aurelio was several months old before he was butchered. The chickens we are used to eating are about 8 weeks old. It cost us $2.50/bird, packaged and ready to put in the freezer. Such a deal!
Our chickens were almost 9 weeks old and we just got back from the butcher in Simla. We dropped them off at 9:00 and picked them up around 10:30, after we had a leisurely breakfast at the Hen House Cafe. Lovely!
The City Girl Farmer 