End of April and other things

This last week of April has been full!  I started out bring in the butcher to dispatch two of our male goats, Snowshoe and Stewie.  A friend of ours wanted a buck of hers butchered but didn't want it done at her place so she brought her goat over last Saturday to stay at our place until the butcher arrived.  Being he has never been tested for the dreaded goat disease CAE, we put EV (Extreme Vision) in with our girls - just in case.  EV is our pure bred Boer goat.  He and Snowshoe were born last spring and EV probably is 40 lbs heavier; I can understand why people like the Boer goats for meat.

Snowshoe looking over our friends goat Tank

When the butcher arrived I first led our friends goat out.  He didn't like the experience much and made a lot of noise.  Our goats seemed to understand that it was their destiny, walking gently to the butcher and never made a sound.  It was really awesome.

EV, our Boer goat, made the cut and gets to stay on our farm

 Alure, the mother of our little kids, continues to have problems.  She doesn't like to eat grain, and she needs grain to produce milk.  A couple of weeks ago her morning milk supply fell from an average of 3.5 lbs to 1 lb.  I took her to our vet and she checked out ok.  We did stool samples and drew blood, checked her teeth, had her milk tested...The blood sample came back with a liver problem on one of the tests.  The vet doesn't know what that means, so he sent the information to Washington State University and had one of the professors look at it.  He doesn't know what it means either.

Trying creative ways to get Alure to eat grain - her new thing is to eat directly out of the can

Nettle is due to birth within the next three days.  She is huge, and her utter has filled up (called "bagging up").  Last night we cleaned out her birthing room and have isolated her in there by herself.  She seems to be doing fine.

Pam cleaning Nettle's birthing room last night

Our bees are doing well.  Their hives are all set up and the bees are very busy.  Today I'll do the first mite treatment.  I found a new product just approved in Washington State, called Mite Away Quick Strips.  My bee guy said this is about as close to being organic as you can get, the product consisting of Formic acid.  Formic acid is naturally occurring in honey.  Two strips are added per hive three times per year: now, early September and late December.  Sunday I have enrolled in a beekeeping class put on by Washington State University Extension Service for Island County.  That should be interesting.

EV asking for more grain

April weather on the farm here in Greenbank has been close to normal, except much cooler.  Our rainfall for the month is at 2.1 inches, with some more projected for Monday, but then dry.  This morning we have no clouds and all sun, with highs expected to be in the upper 60's, maybe 70 for Sunday.  Nice!

The three kids waiting to be let out in the morning