Winter Ramblings

So, for anyone who doesn't know the story of how we came to have 40 goats, you can find the story on our website... www.hdiamondfarms.com/aboutus.html.

I was able to breed another doe today. It is taking me forever to get everyone bred this year. The thought of having kids in June is not one I cherish, but such as it is, we'll make the best of it. Were we got the goats later in the year, then had to wait a bit to get things figured out before we started breeding, it's just taking awhile! Hopefully next year, we'll get on a better schedule. One good thing about having kids so late, we sure should have a steady supply of milk until the 2013 does start kidding.

Other than getting Tunes bred today, nothing major really went on. Fed the goats this morning. Spent some time talking on the phone with my Mom, which is always nice! Did some office work today also. I've been trying to figure out an alternative to alfalfa until we get out of this drought and hay prices go back down to something reasonable. I'm considering an alfalfa pellet or chaffhaye/beet pulp/BOSS mix as a replacement for alfalfa. I'd keep everyone on feed hay and give this mix at night. Right now, with hay roughly $275/ton, I can feed the mix cheaper, and that's not considering any bulk price I could hopefully find on alfalfa pellets. I would have to get alfalfa for $216 a ton before it would be cheaper. Another item on the agenda is trying to decide how I'm going set up my kid management system. Whether to separate the kids or keep them all together, what to use for housing, what method to use to feed them... warm milk or chilled, free choice or on a schedule out of a bucket or some type of cooler. Thankfully I have just under 2 months until I have to have everything in place, but it drives me nuts if I don't have things in order, lol. Soon I'm sure.

H Diamond Farms will have an ad in the February issue of United Caprine News. Hopefully this will generate some hits for the website as well as some interest in reserving 2012 kids. Well, I think that's all the ramblings I have for today!