Winter Break
The goats make great use of recycled Christmas trees!
January is not my favorite time of year in general, but now that Jollity Farm has been in business for almost ten years, I really look forward to January. And February.
We start breeding the goats in the fall with an aim to have the first string of does kidding the first week in March. It is really hard on a body, any body, to make kids and milk at the same time. So we stop milking the girls just after the Winter Solstice. Not just because its cold & muddy and rainy, and after ten months ya start to really lose motivation to go milk the goats....again....but really because it gives the girls the last two months of their pregnancy to just grow kids.
So its down time around Jollity Farm. Time to let bodies (goats and humans) recover a bit so we can do it again come spring. Time to catch up on some of the things that fall behind the rest of the year (like sleep and fixing fences). Time to let the land recover, too. We keep the girls out of the fields to reduce erosion when the soil is wet.
Golda is up first this year. She is due on March 1st plus or minus 5 days. Then 15 more girls in the following two weeks!!
We do really look forward to the kid fest again....or as I like to call them, the kid storm. Gonna be a freaking BLIZZARD this year. We can't wait. But in the meantime, we really are enjoying our winter break.
Charley teaching the dogs about Christmas tree recycling.
Golda is a two year old. She is the daughter of Goldie. This will be her second kidding.
The best part of winter break:
It is our time to step away from the farm for a few days. This was our trip to the coast last winter break. We are being covid careful, so we may not be able to make this trip this year, but we are getting plenty of rest & refresh time none the less. Peace.
Originally posted January 17, 2021