Catching Up After Conference

Well, we're home. The conference was wonderful, entertaining, enlightening, informative, and"just great to be with friends" fabulous. If you want to know more, please ask!
There was not great access to the internet at the hotel, and we got so busy that we didn't really keep up with the animals. However, on Friday night Susan called Danielle to let her know that Snowflake, the male baby goat, was choking, and Susan was very nervous and wanted Danielle to let her know what to do! Danielle called Lisa and got some reassurance, called Susan back, calmed her down, and now....Snowflake only gets sweet feed from our hands, not the feed bucket! He'd gorged and didn't have enough water, and choked. But he's fine and Susan is extremely relieved we're back.
Actually, Susan seems to have had quite the time of it, taking care of everyone while we were at the Conference. She was literally run over by the sheep one day while bringing them into the barn.
What an experience. She was definitely NOT amused. Again, she is extremely glad we're back.

Okay, on to the farm stuff...UPDATE!
The goats have found a way to get out of the new back pasture. It's a good thing they love sweet feed, because they know they can only get it from people, so when we arrive, they come from wherever they are. The babies are getting bigger, and we are holding them much more often to keep them used to humans. We didn't have a chance to de-bud their horns so we'll have another horned female. Snowflake will not stay on the farm forever, as he could impregnate his sister in too soon a time. So he'll be a wether, and eventually, well......pet? dinner? sold? We don't know, but you'll know when we know.
Alpacas: we had boarded the six alpacas at Lisa's. Her mom, Jan, has been wanting alpacas for a long time. She wanted to keep two of ours! Now, a goat situation interlude.....Stubby is the father of at least three of the females' babies. We know he is the father of Cocoa's pregnancy. We're sure he is the father of Prissy and Magic's pregnancies. We have no idea who the father of Nana's twins is. Stubby is the popular favorite in the betting pool, but since he didn't have access to Nana until two months ago, as far as we know, we just don't know. So....he can't be with the "ladies" since all his daughters will be there too. As a working farm, we had to make a decision. Do we wether Stubby and keep him as a pet, or do we sell him to another farm? We realized that we just don't have the resources to keep him as a pet, so selling it is. And this took a lot of discussion. Stubby is very sweet and cute, and we really like him. But...economic realities took hold, and the decision was made. So......back to the alpacas. We realized that the alpaca wool hasn't sold as fleece, even though many people told us they were interested before we sheared. Now the fleece has been sitting. So we are going to send it off to be made into roving for spinners. We've been told that also doesn't sell very well, but hand made, local yarn, in natural colors sells best. So we'll try that. In the meantime, Jan really wanted alpacas, we weren't making any profit, we don't have the resources to keep them all, so....we sold her three alpacas, not two. They came together, and alpacas don't separate from their herdmates well. As a matter of fact, some will commit suicide when left alone. So three alpacas came home with us, and three stayed with Jan.
Someone is offering us two Nigerian Dwarf goats. We can't really take them. They'll walk right through our fences. But my cousin Abby has a wonderful farm in Florida, and they might go to her. Abby lost her husband several years ago in a terrible accident. Their son, Dustin, was also hurt, as was Abby, but she and Dustin survived. Abby has since created a wonderful place called Tomorrow's Rainbow, a place where children who are grieving come for therapy. She uses many miniature animals in the therapy. Mostly there are miniature horses, but there are many other animals as well. You can read about her work at www.tomorrowsrainbow.org and I think you will like what you find! We'll let you know if the Nigerian Dwarf Goats become the new therapy animals!
Danielle, Susan and Jacob trimmed hooves all evening. Every sheep and goat got done, except for Peaceful, Turtle and Snowflake, who had all been done a few nights ago. The little ones have such soft hooves that we must do them more frequently. Turtle and Snowflake also got their first vaccines today, too.
That's about it. We're back, and back in the swing of things. We'll keep you posted on all the happenings as they happen. Tomorrow, look for news about the garden!