Swamp Thing, aka Swampy, is now on the flip side of her lactation schedule. Every day, there is a bit less milk in the pail when I take it up to the house. This is the way it is with goats. She’s a very good producer, and I am very fond of her. She’s a very proud goat, and as such, she seems at times to be somewhat aloof. But she so enjoys the few moments we have after I milk her. I give her a good scratch and tell her what a good girl she is. She then looks very content.

Swampy

The question is, as it always is when you have a female goat around, what does one do when they dry up? I have no doubt that she is fertile and would readily take if bred. The problem is that her breeder sold her to us, at a discount, with the proviso that we not breed her because she has a less than desirable udder.

What the breeder didn’t realize (and I discovered) is that she’s a high producer. She’s given us a lot of milk over a long period of time.

Swampy is a purebred registered Alpine. I’d like to breed her to a non-alpine and see what she produces. If she has males, I’d sell them as pack goats, with the expectation that they be neutered. If she has females and the udders looked good, I’d sell them as milk goats. If the udders looked funky, I’d sell them as pets.

There is another problem here, and this is that Pete isn’t overly fond of goat milk. And he does not like making cheese. This is a point of contention because Swampy is such a high-end producer.

If we do breed her, I would commit the next time around to making cheese. It was just that Pete is far more efficient in the kitchen and way more practiced at making cheese than I am. I guess I can learn.

Tending to livestock must be in my genes. I really enjoy it. I wish we had more space so that I could have a few more goats. This is much like the book situation. I’m just lacking in room for them.

I clean the goat pen once a week, usually on Wednesdays. When Ranger and Rover were the sole occupants I cleaned the pen every two days. I feel bad that right now, I just don’t have the time.

I get Ranger and Swampy out once a day, and Sastrugi out twice a day.

I am looking forward to the grass again being green and watching them eat the yard vegetation. And I’m looking forward to doing agility with Sastrugi. We got behind on plowing the Playground of Higher Learning, so this year, there is no dog, pony, or goat agility going on. I miss it, and I think so do the horses. Shadow has her Saturday classes still.

Life on the farm. The work is never-ending and there are always decisions to be made.

Next: 21. 1/21/22: The Flip Side of the Solstice