Production Up

I don't know what is going on around here but both egg and milk production has gone up. We have gone from 5 eggs per day to 8 eggs per day. I have also been getting more milk from my doe. I don't know what has changed other than the year. Perhaps my hens and doe made New Year's resolutions to provide more for the humans that feed and care for them.

I milk using a hand spray nozzle, if you didn't read my blog about it back in June of 2008, here it is: Easy Goat Milker. I sold the goat that I was milking at the time of that blog. She gave more milk than we could use and we had to hobble her because she would occasionally kick up a hind foot.

I am milking her daughter now, who is a dream to milk. She had been giving around one and a half quarts of milk per day. She would give more if I milked twice per day but I am lazy and don't need the extra milk anyway. But for some reason she is giving a full two quarts now.

I have gone through two spray nozzles since I started milking with this milker. They just eventually wear out. The last one wore out last week and when my DH went into town to pick up a new one he couldn't find a good quality one. So he brought home a cheap, small one.

I didn't think that it would work but since I didn't have another choice, I hooked it up. It doesn't have enough suction to start the flow of milk but if I hand squeeze the syringe full of milk before attaching it, it works just fine, in other words it has to be primed each time, whereas the better quality nozzle is a self-primer.

It also takes me twice as long to milk with this new nozzle because it doesn't have the same long draw that the better one has. It shoots the milk out in shorter streams. My fingers are getting some arthritis in them and hand milking is hard for me but the main reason that I like this milker is because I can keep the milk clean.

Calico gives extremely good tasting milk like her mother did. I have tasted milk from some goats that just wasn't good. I know that milk flavor can change with diet or even with milk handling but I also believe that different goats can produce a variety of flavors because of fat content.

I am having a glass of milk while I am typing this and it is perfect. However a few days ago I had to give a whole milking to the dogs because the taste was off. It was the first time I had ever had to do that with Calico's milk. I have no idea what went wrong with that batch other than we had changed feed brands. Needless to say, the horses got the rest of that sack and we went back to the old brand for Calico.

Recent Events

Where to begin? Yesterday my DH had the day off because it was New Year's Day. He made good use of the day by working outside. I made good use of the day by staying inside. I kept hearing this annoying sound and so I finally gave some thought to what I was hearing, it was Paris outside my door, in the stall, screaming her head off. I asked myself this question, "Why is Paris screaming her head off?" Then I answered myself, "It could be that she is in heat, dummy."

I ran to the calendar and looked at the date that I last suspected that she was in heat, low and behold it was twenty days ago. So, I opened the gate and let her out, she did not pass Go or collect $200. She ran straight as an arrow to Cooter's pen and didn't wait for me to catch up to open the gate, she just squeezed through it.

He was pleased to see her again and they spent the rest of the afternoon together, when she got tired of him, she squeezed back through the gate and came back to the barn and that was that. So now I have a firm date on when Paris was bred, it was on New Year's Day, easy to remember.

Bootstrap seems to be improving everyday and he wants out of his cage but I tried letting him loose again today and I later found him hiding in a corner with a tiny banty rooster, half his size, plucking all of his feathers out. There were feathers everywhere, he just doesn't have any fight in him.

We have had another chicken problem that I hope to have fixed today. The house part of our barn was made with Foam Forms, they are styrofoam forms filled with concrete and in a few places around the outside and the entire interior wall still has some foam forms exposed.

The problem is, chickens love styrofoam. It is like one of their favorite foods in the winter time. During the summer they never touch it but right now, I cannot keep them away from it. They are literally eating us out of house and home. It isn't that they are hungry because they leave their corn, sunflower seeds and chicken feed to feast upon our walls.

We had some cans of red spray paint, so since I can't keep continually chasing them with a broom. I started spraying this evening, they stood back and watched, so far, so good, they looked at the new color and cocked their heads from side to side, but no one tired it. I am anxious for tomorrow to get here, to see if this has solved the problem.

Now on to my New Year's Resolution. I only made one resolution last year and almost kept it, however, I did falter from time to time. That resolution was to blog everyday, well, I never said that I was perfect.

In keeping with the tradition that I set forth last New Year's, I have again resolved only one resolution this year and that is to quit griping at my DH and be kinder and gentler to him. He does not deserve my criticism most of the time. He has looked at me several times today and said something about it not even lasting 24 hours, but these things do take time and patience. Old habits die hard, I can't just flip a switch and be sweet.

Inspiring

While catching up on some of the blogs that I read this morning, I was inspired by Chris' post and determination at Johnson Family Farm. He is really putting himself to the test and making a public declaration to be held accountable. Hopefully he will keep us all informed about how he is doing while breaking his 1 1/2 pack cigarette and 20 can diet coke per day addictions.

I don't smoke or drink diet coke but think of the money that I could save if I quit eating so much!! I could actually kill three birds with one stone, lose weight, be healthier and save money.