Missing Willow Farm

Doelings and bucklings have all gone to their new home so I am now milking three goats twice a day.  Mina was added to the milking roster on Sunday, but she’s been recently treated for internal parasites so we’re waiting for the medicine to  leave her system before we use her milk.  It’s called milk withdrawal and we always wait a few days longer than the label recommends.  That means Mina’s milk is up for grabs in our canine world, and FiFi has claimed it as her own.  She asks so very nicely!

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Roasting enhances the flavor of beets and takes away the bright color.  These are on their way into the oven after seasoning, but they called my name with their beauty asking for a photo op.   So pretty!  If you don’t like pickled beets, and lots of folks don’t, try roasting them.

Goatlings from our farm usually go to new homes.  We have five adult does and keep our own buck.  We get milk from the moms when they kid and their babies are old enough to fend for themselves.  When they’re a few months old, we start separating moms from babies overnight and milk the moms in the morning.  Once they are fully weaned and fending for themselves at the grain feeder, the babies go to new homes and we milk the moms twice a day.  This year, all of our baby goats went to new homes except for CoCo’s doeling.  Isn’t she pretty?  Her dad’s an alpine, CoCo’s an oberhasli.  My husband was calling her ‘Lil C’ (little CoCo) and that eventually became Elsie.  A proper name for a future milking goat, I must say!

Humongous is how I’d describe some of this Spring’s lambs.  Kat’s boys are just a few months old and are almost as big as she is.   They are a tight family unit and stick to each other like glue while both grazing and resting.   And snuggling.

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