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Mar 27, 2014

Making Greek Yogurt!

First off you'll need to make regular yogurt with your fresh raw milk, following the instructions on a previous post:  Homemade Yogurt Recipes and Instructions.   Then before refrigerating, follow the instructions below:

The next part is really quite simple, you just need to find something tight weaved to pour your yogurt through so it can drip and release any excess whey and moisture.  This is what gives the yogurt a nice greekish consistency.  See below:


This is a large flour sack towel, which is quite a bit thicker than cheesecloth, but not too thick for the liquid to pass through, and it also won't leave lint in your food.   You can usually find these at a cooking store, or anywhere you can get canning supplies.   Or you can order them on Amazon.com

This process usually doesn't take more than an hour to hour and a half, at which point I dump the thickened yogurt into a container, and scrape the excess off the towel with a spatula, then put it in the refrigerator to cool and solidify some more.  

You can add fruit, maple syrup, Agave, or any other mix ins you like and get that creamy, rich flavor you get from other store bought greek yogurts, while knowing that yours is much healthier.  Enjoy!


PS, if your'e looking for another great yogurt maker, I recently purchased the Dash Electric Yogurt Maker from Amazon, and it has a mesh strainer included for making greek yogurt!   Love it!





Goat Birthing and Kid Care

Knowing when a goat will kid can be very difficult if you don't keep track of the breeding date.  Just ask me, I always do things the hard way.   I mean to write it down, and then a week goes by, and then two, and pretty soon I can't remember, was that last Saturday... or was it 2 Saturdays ago?   Its even harder if your doe is bred accidentally by a young buck you didn't think was up to it yet, or an escaped male who hops a fence.   Whatever the reason, you need to figure out when to expect your kids.

PattyCake, our Saanen, and her babies, Larry, Mary and Curly  (My daughter would not let me name a Girl Moe)
While there is no way to predict the exact date, there are a series of signs and symptoms you can watch for leading up to the event.   Usually the goats "pooch" or hind end will be swollen as she gets closer to delivery.  You may also see yellowish discharges off and on.  Very similar to when they are in season, except that the swelling accompanies it.   They will tend to "flag" almost nonstop in the last month or more of pregnancy as well.  Flagging is when a goat walks around with her tail up.  This is not a sure sign though, as I've had goats who flag often.  They will also loose a "mucous plug" similar to humans once, twice or even multiple times in the weeks before birth.

Your goat may paw the ground, and nip at her sides, in effect talking to her little ones, and preparing her birthing area.   She may be extra whiny or vocal, and seem stressed at times the closer she gets.   But unfortunately there are many goats who do none of these things.  One of my does that delivered showed many signs, but she never seemed stressed until just moments before she lay down and started pushing.  Also she is a very noisy girl, and she actually quieted a lot the last week or so.  And even after her kids were born, she talked to them in very sweet hushed tones.  It was so pleasant to watch her interact with them.

Lucy and Ethel our 2013 Nigerian Kids
Another sign that is more definite is the loss of ligaments on the hips right before the tail.   If you feel on their rump, you can feel a nice tight ligament going down each side.  24 hours before birth, this ligament becomes so loose that its like it has disappeared.  This is in preparation for the babies to pass through the birth canal.

Mary
Baby goats are one of our favorite things about having a farm.   We look forward to the babies every year.  I personally let the moms care for their kids, and nurse them as I believe in doing things the way nature intended it.  Not to mention it is much less work for me.   I do watch closely the first few days to make sure kids are latching on and eating regularly.   If your babes are born too early in spring, or more like winter, sometimes you'll need to provide extra heat in the barn for the first week or so.   You can do this with a heat producing light bulb, OR an outdoor heater.   Just don't use one that use propane unless you can be sure theres enough ventilation and minimize the risk of fires.

At about 2 weeks of age, if you desire, you can start separating the kids from their moms at night.   I usually do this by putting them in an enclosure right next to their moms so they can still see and interact, and I've even locked them in a large dog kennel inside their moms Pen before, and that works too if you only have a couple kids.  They started going in there one there own to sleep after a few days.   This allows your doe to fill up with Milk all night, and then you can milk her out in the morning and let the kids back on her during the day.   This is how you increase milk production, and especially "train" a new milker to produce well.  Don't worry that the babies won't get enough milk.  Mom will hold back a little for them, and also with the new demand, she'll begin to produce more.

It is also crucial between 2-3 weeks of age to have the horns burned if you do not want to deal with Horn issues.    If you wait past 3 weeks the chance of the baby having scurs is higher.

To grain, or not to grain?   Personally I don't think it is necessary as long as the babies have access to good clean water, hay or pellets, and loose minerals.  I have only ever grained one baby and its because she was getting picked on and not getting enough to eat.

Minerals are super important for goats.   I know a lot of people who have had nutrition deficiencies and problems because they either do not use minerals, or had let the minerals run out for even as short a time as a couple weeks.   Mineral blocks or salt licks are not as effective as Loose minerals.  This is ESPECIALLY Crucial at delivery time and for several weeks if not months after.  I use the Meat Maker Minerals from Sweetlix, technically made for meat goats, but its the best nutrition for all goats.   I feed it free choice in a bucket that is attached to the wall of their stall.

 

We raise goats mostly for the milk, so we are very careful about what goes into our goats mouths because we are sustaining ourselves with what they produce.   I try not to feed too much corn, and I've heard that Purina doesn't use any GMO's in their feed.  I still have yet to verify this, but I am using the Purina Goat feed for graining at milking time.   Quantity of grain directly affects quanitity of Milk, keep that in mind and don't be stingy on the grains if you are looking for good milkers.

We only had a single birth on the farm this year.  Born to our yearling, Boo, a 1/2 Saanen 1/2 Nigerian Dwarf cross which is becoming widely known as a Mini-Saanen.   She had a big baby boy, of course.  :-)   He's adorable though, and came out eating.   He found the food within minutes of getting his legs under him.   Here is Boo right as we noticed she was in Labor:

I put these photos in small so you don't have to look closely if you don't want to, but above left you can see her mid contraction, body tensed, and the mucousy liquid just starting to come out..

She had the baby out within about 20 minutes of this, and I just moved him under her nose so she could clean him, and bond, etc.



This is the afterbirth hanging out.   Usually it is much bigger, probably with multiple births.   And it can hang on for days.   Whatever you do, never PULL it out.  It will usually take care of itself within a day or so, but sometime takes a few.






IF you want to watch a normal kidding, I have links to that below:

Sugars First Kidding, May 4, 2013 

Sugars First Kidding, Part II, Breech Doeling