The Dairy Days of Summer

I am still milking my four girls: Astra, Ava, Caroline, and Joy.

Caroline

Now that I’ve finally gotten Perdita to quit nursing her mom, I’m getting right at five quarts of milk per day.

I’m making yogurt and some buttermilk and chèvre. I am making lots of mozzarella cheese for the next year.  I want to make more mozzarella sticks again this year because they were delicious, and they make a nice treat at family get togethers.

heat treating and stretching it

I am also making soap.  It’s been way too long since I made any, but everything is so uncertain since the farmer’s market shut down and then the pandemic stopped me opening my soap room to the public.  I’m not even set up for it anymore.  I still have the bed in there from when I lived in it after the derecho.

oatmeal and honey and plain soaps curing

I’m restocking.  So far I’ve made six batches.  I have a list of fourteen more that I should make.  I’m not sure I actually have enough supplies to make that many, but we’ll see what happens.

Hopefully, I can continue my little soap business, but with rising shipping costs and everything else, I’m not sure.  If you’re interested, you can check out my soaps HERE.

Jasmine Dreams, Kentish Rain, and Lavender

When I get all of the cheese and soaps done, I need to refill my freezer for any bottle kids I might have next year.

Pretzel (every picture of her will be running to see if I have a bottle)

Pretzel has nearly emptied my freezer, and she’s still getting bottles.

Food Fight Part II

You might recall that I’m feeding Aurora extra feed to try and put weight on her before winter gets here.  Odie has some issues with not being fed also, even though she’s already plenty heavy.

Odie is not a skinny llama.

Every time I let a goat in the milk room, Aurora’s right there begging for food.

Aurora steaming over my window.

Haley gets to come in and eat because I want to make sure she gets plenty with her bum foot; although, she is doing really well.

As soon as she comes in,  I put the pan out for Aurora.

Dolly also comes in because she’s old and has bad teeth.  These two old goat ladies race for the door and push each other to be first.  When Haley wins (and she pretty much always wins), I have Dolly standing outside waiting rather impatiently.

But it doesn’t take long until I let her in and kick Haley out.  If Aurora isn’t done, then I have to go out and referee.

Okay, I have to tell Haley to go away.  So far, Aurora has been pretty nice about not just stomping or spitting on Haley.

I can’t say the same in her treatment of Odie when she gets pushy.

Cranky llady does not share her food.

Shipping Fever

I mentioned that Saturday was not really a good day to buy an animal from the sale barn because of the heat and humidity.  I was serious.  By the time we got home, it was obvious that Benji had shipping fever.  Honestly, it’s pneumonia caused by stress, and going through the sale barn in horrid heat is quite stressful.

Benji

I treated him with antibiotics, banamine, and probiotics. I did do a fecal, which came back clean.

He really wants out to join the herd.

This is why it’s always best to isolate a new animal to the farm.  Unfortunately, especially with this heat, I’m not well-equipped to completely isolate him.

Cupid coming to say “hi.”

I did call the vet and he came to check him.  He agreed that Benji is a nice-looking buck, but he’s still really congested.  He added another long-lasting antibiotic and said to do the banamine for another day.

Won’t Benji and 2TC make beautiful babies!

So far, getting him to eat has been the hardest thing.  I think it’s the being penned alone, not feeling well, and the stress of moving to a new place.  The vet did give him some vitamin B to try to stimulate his appetite.  We also talked about the need to continue isolation, but a companion would likely help reduce his stress and encourage him to eat.  After weighing the risks and benefits, I decided to put Gilbert in there with Benji.

Gilbert (not so happy with the move) and Benji

He already seems calmer.  He wants to get to know Gilbert.  And after Gilbert was eating, Benji decided to check it out as well.

Here’s to a soon-to-be healthy Benji.  I am optimistic he’ll fully recover and give me lots of beautiful babies.