Goat keeping through the years

Ashley, our first Purebred Nubian doe 2010

Aiyana 2011

 --------I will likely add to this post off and on, as long as we have goats...-----------

John Henry /Double Dipper 2014

We've raised more than a few goats through the years.
We mainly raise our mixed Nubian goats for fresh dairy:  milk, yogurt, buttermilk, chevre, feta, mozzarella, ricotta.
We have eaten goat meat, but it's been a while (I can recommend goat processing by Fort  Valley State University SMALL RUMINANT CENTER).  If you like deer meat (I do), then you'd probably like goat meat.

2012

For a while now, we've sold our surplus live goats right off the homestead (Craigslist farm and garden ((Columbus, GA)) listings have worked well for us), so no extras left for eating.


Starting 2018, we had repeat goat customers.  Two had purchased bucks from us for breeding in years past, and wanted to repeat their success.  Several had purchased does for milk and/or breeding, and wanted more of the same.

I do enjoy meeting new goat folks.  But I am very much encouraged by seeing previously new goat friends coming back as happy repeat goat customer friends.

I prefer keeping our goat herd small:  ten or so, tops.  Although I have milked seven goats at morning milking, I prefer three or four at a time.  (I feel myself slowing down in recent years.)  This way some can be in milk, and some can be hanging around with the buck, for the next round of freshening.  In a perfect year (no issues with predators, parasites, weather catastrophes, budget constraints, stress, infertility, etc.), just as one half of the herd is drying off, the other half is freshening.  That has probably occurred once or twice in about 16 years.

We try to limit keeping the new kids.  I prefer us just keeping one or two doe kids (doelings) per year.  For the sake of diversity, I tend to not keep too many generations of one line.  If I really want to keep the new girl kid then I will probably sell her dam.  Not always every time.  Just a general guideline.

Emma & Grayson Spring 2019

If there is a very promising buck kid (buckling), then he's a keeper for a year or two.


We make sure to get a new buck (new genetics) every two years or so to prevent inbreeding.

Ideally we'll have two freshening seasons in a year:  a cool season and a warm season.  This keeps us in milk year round.  I'm a bit conflicted here.  On the plus side we don't have a dry period, and we'll suffer less through allergy or flu season.  On the minus side, we don't get a season of rest because we (usually me) milk goats every morning.  At peak flow (right after kidding) Bryant or Grace or Katie also milks at night.

I used to - scratch that - still do - tell folks that you can usually tell what book we're reading, or what show we're watching by what names the goat kids end up with.  In the interest of reducing attachment/limiting keepers, we keep a list of male & female names handy.  The keeper list stays short and the get rid of list (book / TV show characters we do not like) is long.

Donovan & Koa Autumn 2019

Autumn 2019

Error of omission... error correction

Repent:  for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.  (Matthew 4:17, 10:7)

I'm thankful to still receive correction, even when it is coming from a young person.  Early 2018, we had some folks over for dinner.  I shared how thrilled I was to have received a senior citizen discount when grocery shopping, even though I had not reached the store's senior discount age (I was 53 when the incident occurred).  I said that I could have corrected the cashier's error, but preferred to benefit from the error and keep the discount.  Their teenage son carefully, thoughtfully, paused and then remarked "And it's not REALLY lying..."  I laughed and said I guessed not.

Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted. (Galatians 6:1)

But I reckon it really was.  My bad.  I thought about this quite a bit, in the back of my head,  the rest of the evening, and off and on for several weeks.  MONTHS, actually.

Thank you, Jeremiah!  Bless you.

Not too long after, while driving through Leslie, GA, I was discussing this (my error needing correction) with my youngest daughter, just before being pulled over by a police officer for speeding.  Oops.  My bad.  My fault.  Nobody's fault but mine.

 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.  (James 4:17)

So, do I care that I was speeding?  Yes.  (Not just because the ticket cost $194.25, which I paid by phone April 2018 [cheaper than driving to court, for sure], but because I ought not to have been speeding!)

But woe unto you (me), Pharisees!  for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God:  these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.                   (Luke 11:42)

And do I care that I neglected to speak up to the grocery store cashier about my premature-senior status?  A few shades short of honesty?  Yes. 

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

I was wrong to not speak up about my age (it has been a long time since I've been too young for something...).  And I was wrong to be speeding.  I don't want to be a bad example for my daughters, and I do not want to be a bad "billboard for Jesus."  As a believer, my life is bought with a price.  I ought to practice what I believe on.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?      God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?    (Romans 6:1&2)

I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid.  I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin.  Selah. (Psalm 32:5)

I've reacquainted myself with the cruise control button and pay closer attention to speed limit signs.  I've asked my family to help with that (if I'm not heeding the traffic signs or signals, SPEAK UP, please).  I've adopted a stop sign ritual (with my foot on the brake, I think/say:  1-1000, 2-1000, 3-1000); this helps me stop instead of pause at stop signs.  I am trying to listen more carefully to what others say to me, and what I say to others:  is it true?  is it of good report?  etc.  To help me actively listen to the preacher (my husband) Sunday mornings, I take notes - scripture references, admonitions, instructions.  With the Lord's help, I'm hoping to maintain a teachable spirit and be able to receive constructive input from those around me.

Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
(Philippians 4:8) 

Merry Christmas 2013

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Katie's 2013 Highlights

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2012 Photo Highlights for Katie

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Sometimes Books Can Help Us Through Times of Transition

Ever since I can remember it seems like I've been "learning the hard way" - you know, do it wrong the first time, and then figure out THAT doesn't work so redirecting into another way.  I reckon if I wasn't such a rebel and maybe a better listener I'd master the art of "learning the easy way."  I'm not talking about "book-learning" or "formal education."  I'm talking about LIFE.

But in the last few years some books have come along to help me through some transitions or struggles.  Of course, my Bible has been my mainstay since my late 20's, but  there have been some recent books I would like to recommend with caution.

Sharon's Pearl book is one.  This book came along at a time when some of my relationships were in transition.  Not so much my immediate family relationships, but more distant family.  Sharon so very bravely shared some very personal struggles in such a way as to help the reader to see there is a path to forgiveness and healing.  Sharon helped me to understand that forgiving someone is not approval of what they had done, or permission to continue to do, but simply forgiving them.



[Making a Pearl from the Grit of Life is the first book by Sharon Rainey, Writer, Entrepreneur, Wife, Mother, and Lyme survivor. It allows us to follow Sharon Rainey on a very private path of early trauma. It leads us through depths of the human spirit – depths we come to recognize as very much like our own – and, through hard-won lessons, emerge onto a higher place of inner strength and happiness.
“If my life had been easy I would have been short-changed. Now I thank God for the challenges. They forced me to leave the path I was on – one that led deeper into disappointment – and to find the path of spirit.
“My world is not perfect. I suspect the world is not meant to be perfect. But today my life is truly like a pearl, more beautiful than I could have imagined.”  –Sharon E. Rainey]

And then there's the book I just finished reading yesterday:  This Life Is In Your Hands by Melissa Coleman.

• "This Life Is in Your Hands is the search to understand a complicated past; a true story, both tragic and redemptive, it tells of the quest to make a good life, the role of fate, and the power of forgiveness."

This book has really hit me hard.  I am pretty slow, so I'll be mentally & emotionally digesting this for a while.  Chewing on my cud, so to speak.  My initial reaction is that if you read a book that inspires you to begin farming, BEFORE you sell your house & all your belongings & pack everything into a yellow truck & begin your farm dream, READ THIS BOOK.  I will caution you that this is not a neat & tidy book that you can read to your little ones.  Unless you consider skinny-dipping, and some of the other hippie-style social interactions okay.  I won't be reading this to my kids.  But I'm glad I read it.

I am really impressed by the courage of Melissa Coleman and Sharon Rainey.  These women have endured various traumas, and not only survived, but have grown into beautiful, strong women.  They are opening up their sorrows and hardships so that you will be blessed.

I have been thinking a lot this year about the challenges of parenting.  How we as parents want to bring our children up in the nurture and admonition of our beliefs, goals, ideals & purpose.  We endeavor to encourage the shaping of their core, hopefully without destroying them.

My parents valued education, culture, material success – and pushed me hard in those directions.  My bad:  I ended up not achieving their goals for me, but living & pursuing my own. 

How much of what we are is a result of striving against our parents' goals? How much of what our children will become is a result of them doing the same? How can we nurture w/o smothering? How can we encourage without stunting?

So I am going to leave this post in its open ended work in progress form, work on my cud, and finish later.

Next book on my plate is my Dad's Pieces of History: The Life and Career of John J. Harter.

About the Author

John Harter's thirty-year diplomatic career included foreign assignments on four continents, a master's degree in economics from Harvard, a seven-year writer/interviewer stint at USIA, and representing the United States at many international meetings. After retiring from the Foreign Service, he served as oral historian at the National Gallery of Art, organized sixteen conferences on international economic issues for the American Foreign Service Association, and worked twelve years as a declassifier for USAID. He has three adult children, six grandchildren, and, as of 2011, one great-grandchild. He is currently writing his memoirs.

Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: 

Luke 6:37

But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses. 

Mark 11:26 

Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.
Colossians 3:21