To say that homesteading with no home or land of our own is fun and easy would be quite the understatement. Don't get me wrong, we do enjoy parts of it and we do consider it quite the blessing. We have inherited a herd of goats (starting around 26 and now up close to 60), have borrowed land from friends to let them graze on, and so many other blessings along the way that are really too many to recall right now. However, it's been far from easy. If I'm being really honest, it's been a huge time commitment and a bit of a money pit. The struggle is real.
Now that I've said all of that, would we take this opportunity again, now that we know a little bit about what it involves, I think the answer is yes. What better way to learn than to jump in and just do it? Ok, so maybe having a truck and trailer first would have been beneficial, but still...yes, we'd do it again.
We would, however, change a few things along the way. For starters, we probably would have fenced in a smaller area and giving a few sections so that we could keep a better eye on things and segregate the goats as needed. We also would have been better equipped to handle cold weather and a few medical issues. But, again, we are doing this all backwards so all we can do is the best we know to do.
Since my last post, we have lost one of our bottle babies. She ended up quite bloated and we just didn't know in time what to do about it. We tried...even to the extent of taking her to Ace (where my husband works) and doing a little tubal "surgery" on her while there. We had called our vet and followed his suggestions. It was just too little, too late.
That was a super hard day for us. It happened to be another cold day, our co-op had been canceled. So my youngest and I thought we'd have time to catch up on things around the house and have a more easy-going day at home. Boy, was that ever wrong! Instead, when we went out to the pasture to feed the goats, we found one of our missing kids (she had been gone a day or 2 and we just couldn't seem to find her) along with a few other kids who didn't make it for one reason or another. One of them was barely alive and we did all we could to revive her. I even wrapped her up and cuddled her close in my coat. But, sadly, that same day, we took a 6 kids out to the pasture (aka livestock graveyard). This left us with 6 kids in the field and, well...honestly I can't remember the time frame anymore. I don't remember when we brought home our newest set of bottle-fed twins. But we currently have 6 bottle babies at home and 6 thriving babies out in the field.
We are having another, even worse, cold front today and the next couple of days. So hope and pray this all goes well.
On top of this, our goats have been getting out of the electric fence. We have tried for several days to fix it. We finally bought a new fence charger last night, only to realize that the electric box we were planning to use didn't work. So now my boys are out in the VERY cold weather trying to take care of it because, once again, the goats got out. But that's all a story for another post.
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This is our first kidding season on our own with our herd of goats. We had a few successful births in November/December. Then weather got cold and things took a turn. In about a month's time we lost about 12 kids. Some were due to new moms who didn't know what to do. We lived too far away to keep a constant eye on them. By the time we made it to them, it was too late. Others died because it got too cold during the night and they just couldn't get warm enough. We did our best. We had a propane heater (only used while attented), we put hay all around the shelter for extra warmth, made sure goats had plenty to eat...everything we could think of.
Then, we finally had it. We were tired of loosing our kids, even some we brought home to care for. I called on a friend who has been caring for goats for 8 years. She was my lifeline. We had a set of triplets born on a Friday. It was going to be a cold night and there was also a chance momma (who had kidded before) would only be able to care for 2 of them. We tried moving them into a barn, but it traumatized mom so much she wouldn't relax enough to care for her kids. So, we brought the kids home. We made sure they had momma's first milk and had replacement on hand. It was suggested to take them back just before dawn the next day to see if momma would accept them back. She would have, I think, had she been more relaxed and in her element. The barn was a ways away from the pasture she was in and it also had a couple of dogs in the stall next to hers.
So, home with the triplets we went. One of them seemed a bit sickly, so we kept her separated and kept a close eye on her. Sat night I was up every hour and a half or so to check on them and do the feeding. The couch was my bed. Every 45 min-an hour I'd catch a little nap. Thankfully they all made it through the night.
By this time we had given them a dose of silenium, and clipped and cleaned the cord of one of the bucks. On Sunday, we had a set of twins we brought home. Mom just didn't seem to be taking care of them and it was going to be another cold night.
By Monday we decided to take them to a vet. We wanted to ensure we were doing all we could and also needed the learning experience. So we loaded up the triplets and off we went. Thankfully we were told we could have all 5 together, no need to segregate. Our little doe who was sickly got an antibiotic shot and she was good to go.
Now, here we are the following Saturday. We now have another 12 (I think) kids out on the pasture with the other goats. And our 5 bottle babies are in our back yard and thriving.
Join our HomeGrown Homestead community—a place where we learn, grow, and share our homesteading journey together, fostering a bond of shared wisdom and experience. (everyone is welcome!)
Step into Lavender & Coffee: A Sip of Serenity, a haven for moms seeking support and community on their journey to fulfilling their roles as wives and mothers with grace and purpose.(for moms only)
