Just an update

Hi everyone! I am soooo sorry that we have not been keeping you up to date on things over here. For the past few weeks I have been feeling like I am running through life at a hundred miles per hour without even stopping for a breath!
Unfortunately we have sold quite a few of our animals since the last time I wrote.

The one thing we didn't think about when we got our ducks and geese was all that manure everywhere. They were on free range so we wouldn't have to feed them any grain so naturally they explored the property and left evidence of their being there. Of course mom was not thrilled at all about having to watch where she put her feet so the ducks and geese had to go. I sure miss my geese, they were all so friendly. They would come right up to you to be stroked or hand fed. But both the duck and geese are now at loving forever homes and they aren't too far away so we may get to visit them someday.:)
Our goats are gone as well. I know your probably thinking, "What! but you just got them!" I know, I know. The thought of selling the goats came rather unexpectedly. We have been selling goat milk to some families but things just became increasingly complicated. Feed prices were sky rocketing, Hay is always very expensive, one of the families wanted to stop buying goat milk, our extremely sweet Oberhasli was giving bad milk. We prayed about what to do. Get more goats? Sell them all? The Lord very clearly answered our questions. The person who we bought the Oberhasli from was very willing to take her back since we didn't like the taste of the milk. one person was very eager to buy our Nubian/Alpine and another person wanted Anne, our Nubian so she could bottle feed her Pygmy goats. So we are now goat-less. I have to admit I don't miss them, well... maybe just the Oberhasli. All the others were just plain annoying!

Our feline population was at 12 but has now come down to 10. We have been lucky enough to rehome two so far. (pleeaaassee come get a kitten from us!)

Right now we are trying to sell our alpacas. It just wasn't worth it. The shearing was very expensive and us girls are still trying to pay mom and dad back for it. I did sell all my wool but did not make any profit off of it. They sure are fun and, not to mention, adorable though. We are not sure if it the Lord's will or not to sell our alpacas so, like Gideon in Judges 6:36-40, We are putting out the fleece (literally) and we will wait to see what happens.

I think that is all for now. I will try really, really hard to keep the place updated but I won't make any promises.:)

~B#2

Dead or alive?

Lancelot, B#3's funny alpaca, taking a nap and enjoying the sunshine. At first I really did think he was dead!

-B#2

A day to be remembered

What a Day! One thing is for certain, I definitely do not want to be a shearer when I grow up!

So we got the alpacas shorn today (I'm going to say shorn because I like it better). :) It was a very interesting experience. Our alpacas went from these fluffy adorable animals to skinny wierd looking creatures. We started with B#4's alpaca, Sundance. As it turns out he has the best fiber of the bunch which suprised us because he was always the dirtiest one and he wasn't as fluffy as the others but I guess looks can be deceiving because his fiber has excellent crimp and lots of luster in it. Lancelot, B#2's alpaca was second. He gave us a little trouble because he didn't want to stay still, but we did get him shorn!:) His fiber is second best, it has lots of crimp but no luster to it. Valentino, my alpaca was very interesting to work with. He wouldn't stand still, he kept leaning on everbody and he kept on lashing out and kicking when he was on his side. I thought he was behaving terrible but the shearing people said he pretty good compared to others they had tried to shear. He has grade #3 fiber, barely any crimp and no luster.:( But it is still spinnable and usable so if I don't sell it then I'm going to spin and use it all myself!:)
It was very labor intense work but in all I'd say it was fun, and the shearing people took a kitten home with them.:) But don't worry, you still have nine to choose from.

-B#2

The cow that became a goat

Hello all! B#2 here again. I know your probably tired of reading everything I write (which is mostly about animals) but I guess you'll just have to get used to me because I absolutely love to journal about things and this is doubly-fun because other people get to read what I write! Anyway you are probably wondering about the strange title that I put up there so here is the answer for ya'. :)

For a looong time we have been going back and forth about which to get, a cow or more goats. We have quite a few families who have been wanting raw milk from us but it has been very hard because we only had one goat that was giving not even a half of a gallon of milk a day. So we went to visit some people who had a Jersey cow for sale and talk a little with them to get their opinion on things (they had La Mancha goats as well as a bunch of cows). The cow was really nice She was A fawn color with white patches and her name was Sunshine. The people who owned her said she was giving about 3 gallons a day. Their honest opinion was that we should stick with goats and consider getting some La Manchas because they are supposedly the best milkers. I'm going to cut a little bit of the story to make things a little shorter. :) So we went home and talked about the issue and looked at some goats for sale online. It has been pretty amusing watching mom throughout this whole ordeal; One day she'll make up her mind that were getting a cow and all of us kids would be so excited then ten minutes later she'd say were getting more goats and no cow. Day after day We've been on a seesaw of indecision. Cow? Goats? Nothing? Both?
Then one day I was looking on Craigslist at the goats for sale when I stumbled across an ad for some Oberhasli goats for sale. Oberhaslis have always been my favorite breed of goat because of their coloring which is a striking black and Tan.
So we went to go see them and we immediately knew that we wanted these goats. So now we have one doe and we are hoping to get another soon. The one that we have is a ADGA registered four year old and is giving a little over a gallon of milk a day. Her name is Alexis and the other doe that we want is a yearling whose name is Struedel. Struedel is giving about half a gallon a day but is from very good lines and is expected to be as good (or better?) as Alexis by her second freshoning. Sorry the picture of Alexis isn't very good I'll try to get a better one soon. I'll stop here for now just because my hands are tired from all that typing but don't worry I'll be back. :)

P.S. Were getting our alpacas shorn (or would you say sheared?) tomorrow so I'll get some pictures of the process so ya'll can see what that was like.

-B#2