This was Betty’s first freshening. I wouldn’t give her an A+ on her pregnancy and birthing, but she did pretty well and birthed two cuties.

Betty’s dam is Georgia, who is black with random spotting, roaning, and frosting. Betty’s sire is is our main herd sire, Tam. He is buckskin. Betty is also buckskin.

Wingman was one of the kids from the first litter born on our farm. When he was born he had the coolest fawn colored hair spattered with roaning. It has lightened up significantly as he has aged. Wingman’s sire is Crash. He had a combination pattern of Swiss marked and medium to light buckskin. Wingman’s dam is Willow, who is a solid cream color.

One buck and one doe for Betty. They are both light buckskin, like their mom and grandsire.

EUMELANIN COLOR

Color	Wingman	Betty	DWB1	DWB2
Dark Brown	–	–	–	–
Black
Unknown	–	–	–	–

PHEOMENANIN COLOR

Color	Wingman	Betty	DWB1	DWB2
White	–	–	–	–
Cream	–
Tan
Gold		–	–	–
Red Brown	–	–	–	–

AGOUTI LOCUS PATTERN

Color	Wingman	Betty	DWB1	DWB2
Solid		–	–	–
Chamoisee	–	–	–	–
Buckskin	–
Cou Clair/Blanc	–	–	–	–
Swiss Marked	–	–	–	–
Sundgau	–	–	–	–
Hidden	–	–	–	–

WHITE SPOTTING & MODIFIERS

Color	Wingman	Betty	DWB1	DWB2
Random		–	–	–
Belted	–	–	–	–
Schwartzal	–	–	–	–
Roaning
Frosting
White Poll		–
Moon Spots	–	–	–	–

POLLED, OR NOT

Color	Wingman	Betty	DWB1	DWB2
Polled		–		–
Horns	–		–

Science is Fun & Genetics are Fascinating!

Please keep in mind this information is primarily for me. I’m posting it publicly in case others are interested. However, I don’t claim to know all the things. This is my method for keeping records of the genetics because I find it fascinating and I’m trying to educate myself.

#2kpioneer

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WyldeStyle was one of the first group of kids born on our farm. She’s always been a bit naughty & I adore her.

WyldeStyle’s dam is Willow, who is a solid cream color with random spotting and roaning. Crash is WyldeStyle’s sire. He has a light buckskin/swiss marked combination pattern.

WyldeStyle is beautiful with a Swiss marked pattern.

Tam has a buckskin pattern. His sire is light buckskin, while his dam is a medium buckskin.

WyldeStyle birthed 2 does and a buck. All are light buckskin and so adorable. All three look a lot like their daddy, Tam.

EUMELANIN COLOR

Color	Tam	WyldeStyle	DWS1	DWS2	DWS3
Dark Brown	–	–	–	–	–
Black
Unknown	–	–	–	–	–

PHEOMENANIN COLOR

Color	Tam	WyldeStyle	DWS1	DWS2	DWS3
White	–		–
Cream		–
Tan		–
Gold	–	–	–	–	–
Red Brown	–	–	–	–	–

AGOUTI LOCUS PATTERN

Color	Tam	WyldeStyle	DWS1	DWS2	DWS3
Solid	–	–	–	–	–
Chamoisee	–	–	–	–	–
Buckskin		–
Cou Clair/Blanc	–	–	–	–	–
Swiss Marked	–		–
Sundgau	–	–	–	–	–
Hidden	–	–	–	–	–

WHITE SPOTTING & MODIFIERS

Color	Tam	WyldeStyle	DWS1	DWS2	DWS3
Random	–	–	–	–	–
Belted	–	partial	–	–	partial
Schwartzal	–	–	–	–	–
Roaning	–
Frosting		–
White Poll	–		–	–
Moon Spots	–	–	–	–	–

POLLED, OR NOT

Color	Tam	WyldeStyle	DWS1	DWS2	DWS3
Polled	–	–	–	–	–
Horns

Science is Fun & Genetics are Fascinating!

Please keep in mind this information is primarily for me. I’m posting it publicly in case others are interested. However, I don’t claim to know all the things. This is my method for keeping records of the genetics because I find it fascinating and I’m trying to educate myself.

#2kpioneer

The post 2020 WyldeStyle & Tam Breeding appeared first on .

A couple weeks ago I attended the NWODGA’s annual goat conference. It was a great day and I learned a lot from the speakers I had the privilege to listen to.

THE SESSIONS

There were a wide variety of classes to choose from, whether you were a youth or an adult. There were topics for dairy, meat, and fiber goats. There were topics on disease, cheese making, using herbs medicinally, mastitis, and more. That was one of my draws to attend the show – the variety.

There was time to attend 4 sessions.

My first two sessions were with Gianaclis Caldwell from Pholia Farm, author or Holistic Goat Care and Mastering Basic Cheesemaking. I enjoyed her a lot. She was knowledgeable, a great speaker, and definitely adored her goats.

I have her Holistic Goat Care book in my personal library. I asked her to sign it for my goat partner/daughter.

The third session I attended was on dystocia, the possible problems you may run into during kidding. Again, the speakers were knowledgeable and a joy to listen to.

The fourth and final session was an online class that I believe was developed by Washington State University. It is a new online curriculum geared towards middle and high school students. The module we did was on biosecurity. There are more modules in the works. They are great for 4H kids.  The researchers would like more feedback on the modules, so if you or your 4H group are interested please take the course and fill out the evaluation.

I had goats due to kid, so since I had my laptop with me, I was able to keep an eye on things using our security cameras. It may seem silly, but those cameras made it possible for me to go to this conference. I wouldn’t have felt comfortable being gone all day without being able to check on things in the goat barn.

THE VENDORS

I didn’t have a lot of time to browse the vendor tables. But, I was able to talk with the people from Simple Pulse, who I just recently bought a milking machine from. I also bought a couple goat coats from Coat Your Goat.

We had so much snow and ice that our road was slick enough it required chains to come and go. I had 3 goat mama’s due any day, and the conference was quite a drive. Despite the challenges at home, the conference was fabulous. I’m so glad I went.

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Even with our small herd it’s difficult to remember all the identification and medical records for each goat. To keep track and stay organized I created a few worksheets to help me manage our goat family.

I am offering these sheets as free downloads that you print at home. You will need the latest version of Adobe Reader to view the PDF’s. It can be downloaded for free from Adobe.

identification & medical records

This 3 Page PDF is ideal for identification and medical records. There is also room to add other information such as where you purchased the goat and any awards she may have earned.

breeding record

1 page for recording breeding and kidding information.

milk production record

2 pages to record milk production for the entire year.

Please enjoy these printables! However, do not sell or share the file as your own. Also, do not post the PDF on your social media page, please link back to this original post. For more about the Terms of Use, click here.

The sheets are letter size and would work in a 3 ring binder.

However, I prefer Staples Arc system for my planners and record keeping. It is not the cheapest option, but I like the versatility of the system. I actually have 3 planners/record books. I use one for my everyday planning, one is for my Ridgetop Digital Shop business, and one is for all our farm and garden records.

Enjoy!
And, have fun staying organized!

Looking for more organizational printables? Check out my other site, Ridgetop Digital Shop.

The post Goat Records – Free Printables appeared first on .

I brought Vern home as a companion for Sven. He’s a good little goat who has to take a lot of crap from Sven.

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PEDIGREE

He is a wether and I don’t have registration papers for him.

BORN: about January 2014

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Vern gives me very little trouble. He doesn’t try to escape. He comes over to greet me when I’m near the fence.

He’s so well mannered that he’s another reason I decided to expand our herd.

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Sven was one of the first two goats I brought home. Him and Olaf are absolutely the reason I’ve decided to expand our herd.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

PEDIGREE

He is a wether and I don’t have registration papers for him.

BORN: January 2014

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

When I purchased Sven, I had no need for a registered goat. I wanted a goat. That’s it.

I wasn’t too picky about breed, although I was leaning towards a smaller breed. I wanted low maintenance. I definitely wasn’t ready for milking. Sven is all those things. He eats a little, needs water, housing and hoof trimming. Pretty basic stuff.

The first two goats we brought home were Sven & Olaf. Love them!

They were quite the pair. Olaf was the sweetest goat and Sven was definitely the one in charge. Sadly Olaf passed New Year’s Day. Sven was obviously saddened, too. A couple weeks later I brought home a companion for Sven. He’s a wether named Vern who is nearly the same age as Sven. They look similar too. Although they get along, they don’t seem as close as Sven and Olaf were.

He’s such a character

He definitely likes to play King of the Hill.

This little escapade of jumping on the house with the ability to run off taught me not to leave items for him to jump on near the fence. Lesson learned. No harm done.

Sven is the beginning of our goat story.

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It’s been a crazy week! Lots going on.

• We added 3 goats to our herd. Willow, the mama. Betsy & Georgia the little girls.

• Willow is in milk, so I’ve been milking a goat for the first time.

• I cleaned up Farm Kid2’s flower garden near the chicken coops. I gave the cut flowers to the chickens – which they loved.

• I’m trying something new. I usually sprinkle flower seeds in the spring. But, they don’t grow well in Farm Kid2’s flowerbed. So, I decided I didn’t have anything to lose and sprinkled a bunch now, covered them in dirt and dried chicken poop. We’ll see what happens come spring.

• I ran my first marathon on Sunday. Part of the finisher’s swag was a cedar seedling. I got that baby planted in the ground. Now I need to find a way to keep the deer away from it.

• The well pump quit working. Thankfully, we were only without water for a few hours and it was an easy fix.

• The craziest thing that happened was that our dog found a porcupine. A porcupine?! I have never seen one or heard about anyone else seeing one around our house. But, sure enough, the dog met a porcupine.

• Now we’re in the beginning of what is supposed to be a horrible storm. Fingers crossed the power stays on.

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Happenings this week in the hot days of summer:

• Have I mentioned lately how much I love our goats? Well, I do. They’re fun & cute & awesome.
• Fish taco’s made with homegrown tilapia. One of my dinner fav’s!
• Wild blackberries are ripe.
• The little’s have been moved to an outside brooder.
• The taco garden is growing nicely.
• We have harvested a bunch of yellow squash. Once they get even slightly medium sized, though, they are seedy and pithy. So, the majority have been going to the chickens.
• Awhile back Farmer John brought home 2 Delaware chicks from the feed store. Of course, they were both supposed to be pullets. However, I have my suspicions that one will eventually start crowing. I don’t really mind. I think he’s handsome.

The post 2016 Update – Week 31 appeared first on .

It’s officially the busy season. The hens are laying eggs like crazy. The garden beds are taking off and we’re beginning to enjoy the harvest. The weeds are growing like mad, which means there is a lot of weed pulling these days.

• I collected calendula flowers. They are set out dry and eventually I will make calendula oil.

• The grow beds in the aquaponics system are going crazy. I had to give them a trim. I probably should have trimmed them even more.

• While trimming the grow beds, I harvested a bunch of tomatoes, Mexican sour gherkins, Thai eggplant, and okra.

• In the regular garden beds the squash are ready. We’ve picked a bunch already and will continue picking.

• A couple months ago, Farmer John planted half of the goat’s field with a grass mix. It’s finally established enough that we’re letting the goats graze on it.

• Last week 15 chicks hatched. When they aren’t eating, drinking, or pooping, they are napping (bottom left). So dang cute!

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• The majority of our fruits, veggies, and herbs are growing well.

• Farmer John planted one side of the goat’s field with a grass mix. It’s finally taking off. We’re going to let it grow a bit more, though, before letting the goats graze on it.

• A bird I have never seen at our house showed up. I believe it is a Yellow-breasted Chat. He is quite the chatterbox.

• The lavender is in bloom and I love it. I am conflicted about whether to cut it or leave it. I want to make an herb craft with the cut lavender, but I love the way it looks in the garden. So, I hate to cut it. Decisions, decisions.

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