Wow – ten days since I last updated. It sure doesn’t feel like it – with the approaching holidays, and all of the snow we’ve gotten, our usual busy schedule has been packed with additional activities, and here we are, with Christmas coming at week’s end. 
Our biggest challenge in these sub-freezing temperatures (we haven’t broke 32 degrees Fahrenheit since I last updated on the 10th) has been keeping the animals waterers from becoming blocks of ice. We’ve got the chickens covered, by hanging a heat lamp above their waterer. But the goats are another story. It’s difficult to involve anything electrical with them, because they will chew on the cords. Yes, even through the little metal spiral “protectors” that come on heated buckets. (Although, you can string those through a length of PVC pipe mounted to the wall to prevent that.) We’re trying to get by without needing to purchase one of those (they run about $60, very spendy!) and hopefully we will get through this season without it. 
There are some ideas we’re pursuing using geo-thermal principles to naturally draw heat up from the ground via pipes that we’d like to incorporate next year, if we can. If you have livestock, do you have any tips in this regard? We’d love to hear them. 🙂
Our goat does have not gone into heat since the buck left the property, and after doing some reading, I checked their…um…girly bits…today. They do appear to be a bit “poofy” – just kind of different than usual. I’m hoping that this means we have five pregnant girls. We will know for sure come early to mid April, as that will be around 150 days from the time the buck was here. By the way, if you ever need to calculate a number of days from a particular date, either backward or forward, this is a pretty handy tool. 
We know of other farms that have had goat kids born this week – so exciting! We can’t wait to have our pasture filled with little bouncing babies in the spring. Do you have, or know of goats that are expecting?
Of course, all of this is just bringing to mind the importance of getting a milking machine. We’re still researching our options. Do you have a system you’d recommend? Please tell us about it in the comments!
We are having family over this weekend, and I’m still busy with getting ready for that and our own little family unit’s celebration, so I’m not certain I’ll have the opportunity to update again this week. If I don’t, I want to wish a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all! 
We hope you enjoy this blog and the antics of our farm. Please check out our fan page on Facebook, and if you use Twitter, by all means, please add us there!
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