notes from the goats

Betula is doing well. 

He's staying in the barn paddock with Violet and Sambucus for company until I feel confident the broken horn will not start bleeding again. So far, that has happened twice. Most recently yesterday. Meanwhile he's eating very well, resting well, and generally acting comfortable.

In other goat news, cashmere shedding is definitely underway. 

Almost as soon as combing began there was a hiatus of a few days due to suddenly very cold, very wet, very windy weather. But now it's just cold and muddy, so we can expect weeks of combing. I'll try to comb at least one goat on any day that is not raining. There's no point in trying to harvest damp cashmere.

Did I mention weather?

In the past week we've had snow, rain, freezing rain, and a world coated in ice. Then the ice started melting from every twig of every tree, and now we have mud. And that's all I'm going to say about weather.

I'm continuing to fine-tune the system for distributing chaffhaye to the goats every morning and evening.

At this point I don't have to tie every goat, every time, in order to get every goat fed, huzzah. Just some of them, most of the time. And I'm still doing individual pans, morning and evening.

If I could shift them over to free-choice feeding, it would be a lot less labor for me. I couldn't try it right at the introduction of the chaffhaye, because there would have been a few very assertive - and chunky - goats and many very hungry goats. But now that they all know there will be pans for everyone I'm experimenting by doing both: giving them each their pan of grub, and then putting out additional feed in big bins, and keeping an eye on behavior.

So yesterday I asked my Occasional Helper to leave a couple of extra 50-pound bags of chaffhaye in one of the shelters for my convenience, next to a bin in which I opened a third 50-pound bag for self-serve.

Here's what the extra bags looked like by last night:

In case my description wasn't clear: there was a bin containing a wide-open 50-pound bag of chaffhaye literally 8 inches from these "backup" bags.

The forklift operator had made small holes in these two  bags, so maybe that was considered an invitation? Or a challenge? I don't know. But once these bags are open, they must be fed out quickly. For the next couple of days I'll have to carry empty feed pans down to this shelter and fill them from these wastefully punctured bags, and then carry those full pans all over the paddocks to distribute. 

So far, this experimental free-choice supplementation has not been what one could call "a time-saver."

Oh well, everyone is eating, that's the important thing. Here we have three generations - Lily of the Valley, Tsuga, and Fern - demonstrating synchronized chewing:

And I'll close this Note from Goat World with my birch boy, Betula,

resting his chin and soaking up some vitamin D:

~~~~~

so far so good

Afternoon sun on the Upper West Side.

We've been having some lovely, sunny weather this week. Still quite cold, mostly teens and 20s F, but not windy. Very pleasant weather to be out in.

Moxie surveying her domain.

Bluebird hoping the starlings left some mealworms.

Tsuga in the sun.

Fernie at my fingertips.

The brighter sky in February has been very welcome, especially following the series of snowstorms in late January:

Now the forecast is a few days of warmer weather - in the 30s or even higher - which could melt more of the remaining snow in the driveway. This would be helpful because I'd like to get the next delivery of chaffhaye to the top of the driveway, at least. Each pallet holds 30 densely-packed 50-pound bags. They are large, slippery blocks and I do not find them easy to handle. If the pallets have to be left at the bottom of the driveway this time, every individual bag will eventually have to be brought up with either a sled or a wheelbarrow. The driveway is a hill. I've brought countless items up the driveway over many years, and I can tell you: 90 bags of chaffhaye would be No Joke. So here's hoping for good timing, a clear-ish driveway, and an experienced forklift operator.

Meanwhile, I hope you are having blue skies in your neck(s) of the woods!

~~~~~

right now: goat vote round two

NB: Update at bottom of post

Well, it's the second level of voting for Pen 3.

Here's what the post looks like on FB:

If I understand the system, there are three levels of competition in each "Pen" before the winner of each Pen (there are 4 Pens, and each began with 20 goat pictures!) will go on to - I sincerely hope - the Final round.

So, if you'd like to vote for Tsuga and Lily - before 5 PM ET today - click here to go to the Chaffhaye FB page and leave a comment with the number 47.

Thanks again for all your support, both voting and sending good thoughts :)
~~~

9:10 PM update:

Well, Tsuga and Lily made it through Round Two...
 and will proceed to Round 3!
Thanks again for all your support.
Onward :)

~~~~~

heads-up right now contest alert

NB: Update at bottom of post

Remember the Chaffhaye feed contest that began a month ago?

It's FINALLY Tsuga and Lily's turn for the first round voting!

If their picture gets more votes in this one-on-one round,

they will progress to the next level of voting.

Here's the Facebook page link. A comment with #47 is a vote. 

Voting ends at 5PM ET today.

Here's what the voting post looks like.

Thanks to everyone who has asked me about this since I first posted; otherwise I would have been reluctant to bring it up again on the blog. It seems very me-me-me, but it's really feed for them-them-them! And Chaffhaye clearly wants everyone to ask all their friends to come and vote, so...

(looking down, shuffling feet, twisting toe of barn boot in the mud)

Thanks :)

p.s. If my link to the voting page doesn't work, just look for Chaffhaye on Facebook. There are only a couple of pairs being voted for each day - which is why this contest is going on soooooo looooong - so it shouldn't take long to find the picture.

~~~
9 PM Update:
the voting was close, but Tsuga and Lily will "proceed to the next level."
So far, so good!
Thanks to everyone who voted and/or sent good wishes :)

~~~~~

votes for goats

I don't do much with facebook. I joined because it's the only place my local animal shelter posts information, and I have since found that many companies offer coupons and specials on facebook that aren't posted anywhere else. But I have no desire to become facebook-proficient; blogging and twitter and ravelry seem the right combination for me, with just an occasional visit to facebook.

Like yesterday, when I discovered the makers of Chaffhaye were having a "Cutest Goat" photo contest on facebook, with a prize of 10 bags of Chaffhaye. I don't usually use my animals as contest material, but this time it makes a certain sense. In addition to their hay and oats, my herd eats about 50 bags of Chaffhaye every year, so if the goats could bring in 10 bags for themselves, that would be pretty nice!

And just as I was thinking "must post this contest in my goat group on ravelry," I saw that entries were closing - in about 40 minutes! No time to share, or even to ponder my own gallery of "cute goats" - I chose the very first one that came to mind.

You've probably seen this image before, as it's one of my favorites. It's Lily of the Valley with her brand-new first baby, Tsuga, back in 2013:

I always got a kick out of this image, because Lily looks like the good mama she instantly became, checking that her baby's jacket is properly fastened. And Tsuga's sweet, confident expression looks like she's saying, "My mama loves me Very Much."

(Excuse me for a moment, there's something in my eye.)

The voting starts Monday, with randomly-paired pictures, and goes on each day  until there's a single winner. (I think. It says "tournament style brackets" and I think that's what that means.)

Now, I know many of my readers are on facebook and enjoy goat pictures, so maybe you'd like to take a look? If you feel like voting please don't think you have to vote for Tsuga; vote for the goat you think is the cutest! I expect every picture sent to the contest will feature a totally adorable goat, and it won't hurt my feelings if Tsuga and Lily don't win. Those other goats have to eat, too!

~~~~~

UPDATE, Monday noon:

I just checked the Chaffhaye facebook page, and there are 80 (!) entries, divided into four "pens" - but no pictures up anywhere that I can see, and no info on voting. Maybe they had a much bigger entry than expected, and it's taking some time to get it organized.

 Here's what it said about the brackets and the voting in the original instructions:

• Each day (starting on Monday, August 22nd) we will present the matchup of the day starting at 7am EST. At 5pm EST we will end the voting and determine the score by the number of “likes” (1 point)  and shares (2 points). The winner will be announced and moved forward in the bracket.
• After each matchup for the round is completed, we will continue to the next round and so on until there is only one Cutest Goat Photo!

So, I guess I'll just check back later and see what's happening. If there are 40 pairs of pictures to vote on today, they'll probably want to give people a little time to look at all of them. Imagine: eighty cute goats! :)

~~~~~

MORE UPDATE, Monday 1:30PM

So the "first matchup" was posted as two separate pictures, entry #1 and #2, and each is accumulating votes in the form of Likes and Shares until 5PM, when the winner of that vote will be determined. If Chaffhaye is going to put up only one pair from one "pen" each day, this contest will be going on for a loooong time! Probably by tomorrow they will have figured out and announced any change in the original system; I think they must be blown away by the number of photographs they received. Bet they're glad they limited entries to one per person!

~~~~~