No matter what your goals are or where you are in your dream of being more self-reliant, building a three or four season greenhouse is an effective way to provide safe, healthy food for your family.

A BIG thank you to one of our young attendees, Brandon Wheeler,who wrote a blog which sums up the class and his experience on Sunday. Enjoy his recap and his wonderful photos.

http://doubleframephotography.blogspot.com/

If you missed this class but are interested in attending another Greenhouse Construction and Maintenance Class, please leave a comment below and we will contact you when we get the next one on the calendar.

What other classes would you like to see from A Joyful Noise Farm? Let us know in the comment section and we will get them on them scheduled.

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I would like to introduce little Pearl. She arrived bright and early Thursday morning. Wednesday night we had been watching her mom, Lucy, on the barn webcam via the ipad from the house before we went to bed. Craig woke to check on her again at around 3:oo a.m. and she was still exhibiting some beginning labor signs, but nothing eminent. We awoke at around 6:50 a.m. and checked the webcam.

Sure enough, there was a little one scooting around with mamma. We went down to the barn to check Lucy and baby to make sure both were doing ok and if there were to be any further deliveries that morning. Lucy looked as if she was done, having passed the placenta. The two Boer does we have don’t seem to be very attentive moms, in comparison to our dairy breeds. So, it is frustrating when they just stared around looking at us as if to say, “Now what do I do with this thing?” Actually, come to think of it, I probably thought the same thing when I had my first child, too.

Little Pearl didn’t seem like she was nursing or being allowed to nurse, so we milked Lucy out a bit and fed it to Pearl. I watched them over the next couple of hours to see if she would begin nursing and NOTHING. So, I spent the next half an hour or so, getting her to latch on and she took to it like a champ.

During my time of observation, I noticed Pearl was not as active as the others at that age and saw that she favors her hind left leg. I don’t know if mamma stepped on her shortly after birth or that she was born with something wrong with her leg. You can see in the photo below how her leg tends to stay “limp” and extended. Its like there is no strength to it or gets hyper-extended. She has some difficulty walking, so I will continue to watch her and see if she adjusts to it or if it begins to heal. I will also go down regularly and make sure she gets attached to Lucy and gets enough milk.

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Well, here she is. The first sow of our Large Black breeding program. Ain’t she pirdy? She and her “little posse” of piglets arrived safe and sound late yesterday afternoon and are settling in nicely. They are LOVING the green pasture, doing hot laps around the edges. I think they are inspecting the fortification standards and are reassured every time they touch the hot wire. As the “posse” explore their new home, they seem baffled as to what  two big animals are adjacent to their pasture. They have never seen cows before apparently. Every time they approach the cows along the shared fence and one of the cows move, it spooks one of the little guys and the whole “posse” jumps and then goes for a run. It is hilarious.

This heritage breed is very docile and fun loving. We are SO looking forward to having her bred at the end of this year for piglets early spring of 2014. Several of the pigs shown have already been reserved for 2013 end of year processing, but there is still time to reserve your half or whole pig today. Click here for more pork information.

Now, we need your help to name our beautiful sow! Please put any suggestions in the comment area and we will soon choose from your ideas.

The post What’s in a Name? appeared first on A Joyful Noise Farm.

Once down in the barn, we got comfortable under the commercial heater we have and began to wait. Did I mention that a normal, every day heating pad is part of our kidding equipment now? They’re great to have heated and ready to go to lay the newborns on, keeping them warm while mamma is cleaning them up. It also comes in handy as part of a stool pad for ME so I don’t freeze on miserable nights. Anyway, I digress. We didn’t have to wait long before Kirsten was pushing strongly and out came the first baby! It was a girl! Yeah! But even more surprising than the fact that it was a girl was that it was from an Oberhasli daddy. Based on our previous three births this season being from a Boer (meat goat) daddy and how “popular” he was, we were so expecting the same result with Kirsten. Gotta give out little Romeo Oberhasli buck kuddos as he was A LOT smaller than Kirsten and we would NEVER have thought he could gethe job done. Apparently, we were wrong!

Mamma quickly got to work and began to clean her up, when another bubble appeared and she began to push again. Right away, another baby appeared and what do ya know, another girl! This one was a little larger than the first and a little perkier. Mamma spent quite a bit of time tending to both, while I revved up the hair dryer (another new addition to our kidding supplies) and helped warm up the little ones to prevent chilling. An hour went by and Kirsten began to push again. Craig assessed that this goat’s presentation was breech so he assisted its exit and unfortunately, this third girl was stillborn. We have had several stillbirths this season and are down heart and frustrated to say the least. Our vet, Dr. Signe Bolich, said that she has seen an unusually high number of stillbirths this season and attributes it to nutrient deficient hay produced from last season’s drought.

It was determined that since Kirsten is named after the American Girl doll, all her babies will be as well. So, Molly has chosen the American Girl doll names of Elizabeth (Lizzy) and Sage. Mamma and babies are healthy and getting used to each other. Now, if only we can get Lizzy to show an interest in nursing! Uuugh! The things we go through with these babies. It’s a good thing she is so cute.

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We are now taking applications for the 2013 season. If you would like to join us here on the farm please take a moment and fill out our application.

Click Here for more info.

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We are now taking pork deposits for 2013!

This year we have secured a heritage breed pig that should produce some of the best organic pork in Colorado!

For more information about our pork Click Here.

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Just a reminder that our greenhouse construction class is next Sunday the 14th from 2pm to 5pm.

The price is $10.00 per person.

Click here to register or for more details on the class.

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We quickly ran down to the barn and found her tending to the first, a buck. The second, a doe, did not make it.

After farming for going on four years, this was our first loss of a goat kid. It was very difficult and sad. Gracie did great. She is a very attentive mother and little Lucky Charm (Molly named him that because he was born on St. Patty’s Day) is doing great.

Monday we went down to do morning chores and found Frisky just outside the barn laying in a dug out bed. She was clearly in labor and had apparently delivered the cord prematurely. We decided to get her in the kidding stall, but she would not stand. Craig and I carried her to the isolated stall and called out vet. Dr. Signa said we had to go in and get the baby out and that it was probably already gone due to the cord detaching. So, I gloved up and went in after the kid. It was right at the entrance and came easily out. It was a doe and could  not be revived. Shortly after, as was expected, Frisky delivered her second kid, a buck. She then delivered a third kid, a doe, about fifteen minutes later. Pebbles and Bam Bam are doing great and mamma is tending to them beautifully

We then got a reprieve on Tuesday, allowing us to rest up. I particularly was enjoying the down time as I was fighting a horrible head cold since Sunday night and all I wanted to do was to sleep.

The rest didn’t last long!

Wednesday morning we noticed that Ginger was beginning labor and we continued to monitor her and watched the time. She was not progressing as she should and was getting very tired, so I gloved up to go in after the baby. I quickly assessed that the baby was not fitting through her pelvic bone and she probably was only throwing a single kid again this year as she did last year when the baby shoulder locked. Usually, a goat birthing just one baby is not any big deal or an unusual circumstance. But Ginger has a VERY narrow birthing canal apparently, and grows too large of babies to pass through easily. If she throws multiples, which she has done in the past, they are each small enough to birth with no problems. This was not the case.

After trying several different attempts and approaches to getting this baby out, we called Dr. Signe and she came to assist. She eventually got the baby’s head out, but couldn’t get it’s elbow to straighten and allow passage. So, to save you from the extremely stressful details; after four long hours of pulling, re-positioning, twisting, etc., we had to assess the situation and make some difficult, heart wrenching decisions on how this needed to end. Just before we were going to “extract”  the baby, Dr. Signe tried one last heroic try and with all her strength, what was left anyways, she pulled a VERY big, weak, lethargic, and limp buck from Ginger. He was still breathing, but barely. We VERY quickly got him cleaned, dried and gave him some liquid nutri-drench (kind of like electrolytes) to hopefully pep him up. His core temperature was too low to get any colostrum into him as of yet (it will sour otherwise) so we broke out the hair dryer to help warm him up.

We finally got him warmed up enough for some colostrum, but he was not receptive to nursing and Ginger was in so much pain and shock, that she was not really interested in him nursing. So, for the next two days we got Ginger on some high doses of pain meds and anti inflammatories, watching her and praying that her uterus didn’t tear (making sure she ate and drank). Also, little Miracle, needed assistance to nurse every two hours and eventually would latch on to Ginger. She finally allowed him to nurse once the pain meds kicked in. On day two, Craig and I realized that Miracle was blind and couldn’t find his mamma to nurse.

NOW WHAT WERE WE GOING TO DO?

Ginger wasn’t eating or drinking a whole lot, so we were concerned. We upped her meds and just prayed. The morning of the third day, Craig and I went down to the barn to help Miracle latch on when we noticed he was already nursing. Dr. Signe said that during such a birth, the eyes receive a great deal of pressure and that the pressure must have been released and the swelling have gone down, therefore allowing his sight to return. I am SO happy and thankful to say that both Ginger and Miracle are doing great now. Needless to say, we have decided that Ginger will NOT be bred again as there is no guarantee that she will throw multiples or not, and we just can’t put her through such an ordeal again. It is a shame as she is such a great mamma and milker.

Here are some up to date pictures for you to enjoy. We still have five goats to deliver, so make sure you stop by the farm and experience the goat kid silliness.

The post Spring Has Sprung! appeared first on A Joyful Noise Farm.

We have raw goat milk shares available! Yeah!

What is a milk share and how does it work?

In Colorado, it is illegal to sell raw goat milk directly to the public. Retail sales can only come from a Grade A dairy and the milk must be pasteurized but it is legal to drink raw milk from a goat you own. By purchasing into the A Joyful Noise Farm herd, you then own a share of the herd which entitles you to what they produce. We, in turn, give you a service of housing, feeding, milking and tending your goat. A goat share has an initial buy in fee of $10, a one time $10 jar deposit and a monthly boarding fee of $34, which entitles you to 1/2 gallon of raw milk per week.

If you are interested in beginning to receive milk shares or want more information, please click  here or visit the Farm Stand  tab on our website.

Have further questions?

Contact me and I’ll try to answer them for you.

Let me know asap how many shares you want as they are going fast.

Kellie

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