First Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goat Kids Born on Alba Ranch

Jeff, the new buck

We have had a few new arrivals.  Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goat Kids!!  Ana had triplets on January 9, 2013.

She had been locked in the barn in the kidding pen for about 3.5 weeks by that time as I swear she was going to explode much sooner.  Temperatures were really low with snow and high winds so very glad we had them inside.  There were two bucks and one doe born.

Smut, the new doe

The third kid born, second buck, was weak from the start and unable to hold his head up.  He died about 2.5 hours later.

The remaining doe and buck are growing and moving around well.  Doe is a little thin and I can feel her bones.  Buck is fat and plump so you know who has been at the milk bar the most.

The doe has a black smudge smut stain on her nose like she stuck it in a coal bin.

Twins together in the hay stack

Aren’t they just too cute?  all fuzzy, small, spotted, speckled and darn cute!  There is NOTHING cuter than a baby goatie.

Nigerian Dwarf Dairy goats have an average butterfat of 7-10% and given that whole milk is about 4% that gives you an idea of how creamy and wonderful their milk is.  They are on par for similar taste and creaminess of a Jersey milk cow.  I can not drink cow’s milk but I can drink goat milk.  I have had at least 5 different breeds or crosses of full size dairy goats in my time and they all had some of that “goat taste and smell”.  Many were very milk, but I could still taste it and I am very sensitive to that smell. I would use the milder goat milk in cheese and cooking but never drank it straight.  I drink the Nigerian Dwarf Dairy goat milk straight all the time.  Charlie teases me that my 24 oz coffee is a minimum of 12 oz goat milk and 12 oz coffee.  He says that he has seen darker tea before. ha!  I can’t wait to see how these little ones develop.  Their momma is one of my favorite milkers, so easy to milk and gentle on my weak and sore hands.

I have been wondering about names.  I have been kicking the names around of “Smut and Jeff”.  What do you think?  leave me a comment and tell me your name ideas and what you think of my idea.

The Day After….

Today is the Day After my Birthday.  We are recovering from eating and cooking all sorts of things yesterday.  The Llama ladies seem to be settling in nicely and mostly getting along with the Live Stock Guardian dogs. Glenda has been particularly pissy this last week or so with the LGD as her due date for her cria is May 15 so her hormones are showing.

Hand Painted Cheviot Roving

I was ran over by an alpaca about 5 weeks ago which sprained a wrist, broke a bone in my hand, knocked ribs out, shoulders out and other damage.  I have not been on the computer much with my hand injuries or doing a ton of spinning.  The alpaca is no longer on the ranch, nor will it be ever!

I have been dyeing Cheviot rovings, Merino Rovings, Various yarns in fun boucles to keep myself busy.  The Cheviot roving will be used to create more art batts like I did several months ago as I need at least 600 more yds to go with the yarn I have now to weave my sweater coat.  I have the warp all dyed and ready, half the weft dyed and spun, and all the Teeswater Long Locks dyed and ready for the cuff and trim bits.

I think that the Cheviot roving will make some interesting art batts and the rest I am thinking of weaving into a rug on my peg loom.

I did just get an 8 ft Triangle loom, easel and other bits so I can make numerous sizes of triangles as well as rectangles.  We have not set it up yet as I am in the middle of crocheting

Mystery Yarn

a poncho and then a shawl and then the loom will go together.  It isn’t something I want sitting around not being used.  I can’t really put it together in our little cabin until I am ready to use it.  The cabin is only 12×18 so which corner would I put an 8 ft Tri Loom in out of the way? haha

I did make other art batts, hand dyed and hand spun them into yarn to go with the sweater coat.  But the art batts did not turn out the correct color for the sweater coat.  Right now I have about 750 yds all spun up and the twist set with enough art batts to maybe spin up more for a total of 2000 yds.  Not sure what to do with this yarn as this was unexpected.  I haven’t even been able to come up with a name for it.  It is Merino, Silk, Milk, Angelina, Bamboo and a touch of Cheviot.  what do you think I should call this yarn?