Buggy

Newest members to the farm, Pygmy mom & daughters (doelings)

Fall is in the air and so are the bugs! The weather has cooled off nicely, not too cool which keeps the garden in production, but cool enough which makes the bugs want to come inside. It also attracts the flies to warm things like humans, animals and the house. YICK...I hate walking out of the house and have a fly hit me in the mouth! Fall also means ladybugs...now they do look cute but those little things can bite. They also stink...stink when they are smashed or make your fingers smell when you pick them off. Now I dont generally mind bugs, I dont yell and scream when I see one. But this time of year they are an annoyance! The lady bugs too like the warmth and once the farmers start to harvest their crops that really kicks them up! They will start swarming on the house, especially the south side which is the warmest side. You have to be quick when coming in and out of the house so you dont let too many of the critters inside. Maybe the chickens will cut down on the populations some?Well, if you have been reading my previous blogs you have read that we have been looking for a dairy goat. We have now come to the conclusion that maybe this isnt the best time of the year to find a dairy goat. Other than "Filth Farm" there have been no ads with a dairy goat for sale, lots of pygmy goats and boer (meat) goats but no dairy. I did find an ad for pygmy goats that were with their new kids. So Saturday we drove up to an Exotic Animal Sale in Waverly IA to see this lady's goats. There were lots of them, bucks, does and kids! We let our son pick which one he liked....he picked the one shown in the picture above since she seemed the nicest. She is pretty nice and since she has the little kids is producing milk for them. We are going to give the kids another week on their mom full time, then at night they will be put in the stall next to her and I will try milking her in the morning. Pygmy goats, since they are smaller, will not give as much milk as a full sized dairy goat but some is better than nothing. We will keep looking for a full sized dairy goat, maybe something will be available in the spring. The mom is named Wanda, the lighter colored doeling is Daisy and the darker is Violet.