Category Archives: Goats

Ryah and Padme have gone to their new home – but watch for 2015 kids appearing in the coming weeks!

Click image for gallery:

Ryah and Padme are nine-month-old doelings from the award-winning Mystic Acres Oberian line, and are looking for their new home.

Oberians are a cross between Oberhasli (full-size dairy goats) and Nigerian Dwarf (miniature dairy goats). They are quiet, friendly, and easy to contain, with does/wethers/kids requiring only 4 foot field fencing. They make great family or homestead milkers.

The photo gallery above is current; this video of them is from late Summer 2014:

Both girls have their horns, and have been dam-raised with access to organically maintained pasture. They have been handled and loved-on frequently, and are very friendly. They will be ready to be bred this fall, for kids (and milk!) in the spring.

These girls were both single births, born just two weeks apart, and have grown up together. They are more like siblings than just herd-mates. We would prefer that they go to a new home together. $300 for the pair.

Contact Teri or Peter at Braided Bower Farm for more information or to arrange a visit.

Goats for sale!! ALL SOLD!

UPDATE 8/22/12: Starbuck and Boomer went to their new home yesterday. They were the last of our goats available for 2012. Stay tuned for the 2013 arrivals!


UPDATE 8/17/12: Crake and Anakin have gone to their new home! At this time, Starbuck and Boomer are still available.

We have a variety of Oberian (Mini-Oberhasli) wethers who are looking for their new homes. All are very friendly and will make wonderful pets. All are from Mystic Acres’ quality Oberian dairy goat lines.

Crake
Crake

Anakin
Anakin

Starbuck
Starbuck

Boomer
Boomer

Crake and Anakin are cousins; Crake is 3 months old and Anakin is 2 months old. Both of these boys have intact horns, and have been castrated. Crake is a deep reddish brown and Anakin is a medium brown; both have black markings. Both of these boys are sweet and friendly, and with training, could make great pack goats. It would be wonderful if these two kids could find a home together.

Starbuck and Boomer are 4-month-old brothers. Both are disbudded (de-horned) and castrated. Both are shades of light brown with black markings, and both have a frosted nose and ears like their mama. They are best friends, and can usually be found curled up together for their afternoon siesta. We would love for these two boys to be able to remain together.

We are asking $125 for each pair, or $75 per goat if sold singly. Goats are herd animals, and need to live with others of their kind. We will not sell any of these goats separately unless there are already other goats on the property (preferably of a similar size and/or age).

Best buddies
Boomer and Starbuck

Sephira

This is Sephira, one of Zoe’s daughters from this year, at one month old. She is now four months old, and has gone to live at her new home, with her uncle Barnabas and aunt Clarisse (Aberdeen’s kids from last year). I can’t believe I didn’t get any more recent photos of her before she left, but fortunately her new person has already sent us several photos of her in her new digs.

Some of our critters get to stay with us for years, but some are with us only for a short time. It’s getting easier to accept that, as time goes by.

Our current totals, including both the recent losses (to hawk and to hatchet) and the recent gains (namely, Maud’s new chicks):

  • 31 chickens (it’s too early to tell the gender for sure yet on this year’s chicks, but those that turn out to be male will be destined for “freezer camp”);
  • 9 goats (two of which are for sale: Zoe’s other daughter, Isis, and Lulu’s boy, Galahad – details on those two coming soon!);
  • 1 dog;
  • 1 cat;
  • …and hundreds of plants!

New goat house almost ready!

We’re moving our goats to a new area about 300′ from the old one, and the new goat house is almost ready. No, I’m not using a cheap camera; 90° angles are rare here, due to the use of salvaged lumber and also my inexperience with building anything on this scale; it’s sometimes difficult to push a thousand pounds of lumber into the perfect position and secure it with just two hands. But it’s darn solid and should be much nicer for the goats.

Here’s the front, with a nice wide door, to reduce the bottleneck when 9 goats try to rush through at once:

The basic structure is 4x4s with plywood sheathing, which would not stand up to the antics of a goat herd for very long, so the lower part inside is reinforced with, what else, shipping pallets:

…and their new pasture area is really, really ready for some munchin’:

 

 

 

 

From the past few weeks…

Galahad (more commonly known as “You Little Weasel” or simply “Pesky”) meeting the rest of the herd for the first time, with mama Lulu keeping watch

Galahad introducing himself to cousin Isis (again, with mama Lulu keeping a close eye on things)

Sorry for the blurry image, but I love this shot… and goats love Peter!

Broodies, broodies everywhere… (The record so far was seven hens broody – i.e., wanting to hatch eggs, and therefore not laying – at the same time. I did give in and give eggs to two of them, one in each coop… 1-1/2 weeks until we have chicks!)

Nettle harvest, from a very small patch by the river – enough for a nice helping of steamed nettles for each of us with dinner! (The nettles were so tasty, I can’t even remember what the main course was…) I’m hoping to get one or two more meals from this patch before they get too large and tough.

Our first spring salad! Lettuce from the farmer’s market, volunteer arugula, spearmint and chives from our garden, wild dandelion leaves, oxeye daisy leaves (so sweet!) and purple deadnettle tops, and wood sorrel from the woodsy area by the river… eating this salad, my body sang!

Our beautiful eggs, from our beautiful hens… these are a staple in our diet almost year-round

One giant buckling, one traumatic birth

Three nights of very little sleep, thinking she was going into labor. Today, finally, in labor. All day. Single birth. Giant kid, with really giant head. First-time goat mama, with really tiny birth canal. Head stuck. Amniotic sac burst. Me pulling while she’s pushing. Mama goat hollering. Can’t budge head. Mama goat tiring, stopping. Kid’s tongue turning blue. Thought we’d lost him. Still not sure how we finally got him out of there. Wonderful surprise to find him still alive. Choking and wheezing on aspirated amniotic fluid. Swung him several times, now seems fine. He’s a little firecracker. Mama Lulu is tired and torn, but seems happy with her brand new baby. Did I mention he’s huge?