Goat Frolic

Farm Club members came yesterday to help with lamb vaccination. We weighed and vaccinated and evaluated all 75 lambs but I didn't take any photos while we were working. The next chore was to work with the goat kids and Amaryllis. Amaryllis is off the pasture and in a smaller pen to keep her away from the green grass to prevent another bout of laminitis. She also needs to lose weight and she should get some exercise every day. The goats need to practice manners and leading when asked.

                  Goat paparazzi.

                I'm not sure that I'd call this mannerly but everyone had fun.

Thanks Farm Club!

Meet the Sheep

Meet the Sheep is our spring event when we invite the public to see sheep and watch fiber activities. I haven't kept track of how long we have been doing this but I have pictures from 2009 and I think we've been at it longer than that. Meet the Sheep comes off smoothly now with Farm Club members handling all of the outside activities. I spend most of the time in the shop but I get out occasionally to take some photos.              Farm Cub members are invited to be vendors. This is Jackie with Sheep to Shop.                       These are some of her handspun, handknit pillows.                   Colleen has Fiber Confections.                      She usually sells at the Davis Farmers' Market.                   Gynna makes socks.                       Here are some of her socks knit from my Anderson Ranch yarn and Timm/Jacob yarn.                 Joy sells dye plants...          ...ready to use for dyeing and ready to grow. Her butterfly is made from a Zoom Loom square.

Farm Club members also demonstrated fiber activities. Alison and Doris were processing fiber, Laura was weaving on the inkle loom, and Lisa wove a tapestry on the Lilli loom.

                Of course, it's all about the animals, especially the lambs.          Betsy, Mary, Sue, and Marina helped children pet lambs.              My little goats were an added attraction this year since Julie, who usually brings goats and bunnies, couldn't be here.                   This fence helped keep the kids in one place. Moms could relax temporarily.                  I saved the small field behind the shop so that the sheep would be enticed to come to fresh pasture for the weekend.

An new activity was Running Through Puddles. This activity is not offered every year, but the children enjoyed it this time.

Goats

Amaryllis is our donkey and has chronic laminitis (see this story). Because of that she can't go out on the pasture or even in the back corral while the grass is green back there. She is in her own pen with a wether as a buddy. That is a poor substitute for another equine  and the sheep isn't too thrilled with the plan either. I thought long and hard about getting Amaryllis a friend. It doesn't make sense for us to have another donkey or a mini-horse or any other equine--from the standpoint of space and cost of upkeep. When Stephany was still alive she was Amaryllis' best friend. Stephany was a goat.             The last time there were goats here they were Chris' Toggenburgs that he raised for his FFA project. Stephany was the last goat from that era.                                                          Before that I had owned one goat. This is an Angora goat named Chenille in a photo from 1997. Katie was 9 then.

I contacted someone I knew who might have goats for sale and went to her place when she had some ready to go.                 These are two of a set of quads. One was the smallest of the batch and the other was having some trouble drinking from the LambBar bucket with all the others.                  I am not planning to show goats and I am bottle-feeding so those points didn't matter...                    ...and I brought these babies home.                      Oops. A third goat came along--mainly because my friend didn't plan to raise him and I figured that I could find a home for him eventually.                   Te goats are popular with Farm Club friends.

                                                That's Ellie on the left and Amelia on the right.                 Their temporary buddy, Kevin, is in the middle. He's going to a new home tomorrow. Thank goodness.                       It's sure easier to feed two than three.

                       I have been keeping the kids in the barn  but the weather has turned nice and I wanted to introduce them to Amaryllis. She was definitely interested.                   I hope that they will become her new BFFs. Here is Rusty's version of getting goats.