a day in the life of a goat farmer

We wake up early-ish with the sunrise. Since moving from a rather crappy old dust-filled trailer to a delightful wooden cabin built looking out down the valley towards nearby mountains in the east, the morning sun rises above the horizon viewed directly from our bed. At night we can see the brilliant stars through the same window. A quick wash with a bucket of cold water then we head to the goat pen. The pregnant does are checked through and the herd is let out for the day, free to roam wherever they please with their guardian dogs to protect them from coyotes, bears and wolves. Very expectant mothers are kept at home and those who have already given birth are milked. At the moment this is by hand but soon there will be too many and the machines will be used. Milking is pretty hard work it turns out. Then we head in for a massive breakfast, mostly pancakes or waffles or something similar. We take it in turns to cook and clean and despite the large number of wwoofers there is always so much food around, everyone likes to experiment with making various cookies and cakes so there's always great snacks throughout the day. After breakfast food is laid out for the goats when they return at the end of the day, the animals and gardens are watered and the day's projects begin. Some days this is processing cheese others gardening or moving animals. Recently we've been really busy with birthing, it's amazing to watch and even better when you get to help out, pulling out babies which the mother is struggling to deliver. After a couple of days the kids are keen to play; undoing your shoelaces, nibbling your knees, jumping on your back and even better you get to help feed the smaller ones along with the two little lambs that are here (now getting a little demanding). Today was a sadder day as we had to thin out the herd by slaughtering some of the newly arrived little bucks, they aren't kept as this is a dairy herd so only females can be used. Seven were killed by cutting their throats. We then removed all the edible organs including the brain and the rennet from the stomach was put aside to make cheese with later (this is how all cheese - except vegetarian cheese - is made, who knew?). The carcasses were given to the pigs. We normally have a couple of hours off after lunch, every few days we heat some water for an open air shower, you just have to hope the weather is on your side as a warm day can be 16 Celsius but when it's cold it's below zero. In the afternoon there is more milking and feeding and checking the babies and mothers then a huge dinner. Often some of the other wwoofers play guitar, violin and clarinet in the evening in the large (very much working) kitchen, full of dirt and jars containing anything and everything, should you attempt to look, with the company of Coco the very elderly and decrepit retired Maremma dog.

Go Go Coonridge

making sure the kids get enough milk, especially the does. one of our favouite tasks

there are tons of these little kids now, we're going to slaughter most of the boys tomorrow

baby goats playing

saying goodbye to Freya and her family

squash bread muffins

Nate about to eat the baby pig's head

Anneliese's first milking attempt

Becs milking

chickens roosting in the snow

our caravan in the snow

Mike with Ross' chicken biscuit

Kai's special way of drinking tea when he's being Brenda the kitty

Mike and Freya helping cut out ginger cookies

Ross' sense of humour

planting the vegetable garden

playing in the mud

Kai took us for a walk

sweeping with Kai and Coco

mighty breakfast fare every day

Freya and Kai

jars in the kitchen

cooking a baby pig that died in the cold

waiting for pie

Mike, Tom and Nate making music in the kitchen in the evening

Coco, 14 year old maruma dog, retired and now spending most of the day snoring in the kitchen

our knitting circle

Life at Coonridge Dairy

some of the random things around the farm, the house in the background was built by Nancy and her husband after they had been living here for ten years, the goats' needs came first!

the goats like scratching their heads on you, here they are waiting to be let into the barns and fed at the end of the day - they are free to roam wherever they want all day with their guardian dogs to protect them

this is Star giving birth to Big Dipper - a girl so she will be kept with the herd, baby boys are sold and mostly slaughtered. All the babies born this year will have names beginning with B, like a hurricane!

here's the second baby, Small Dipper, on the way - a boy so he'll only be with us a short while

check out Small Dipper's goo

at the end of the cheese-making process, labelling the jars and boxing them up - they make about 15 different kinds of goat cheese here, mostly by adding different herbs, oils and spices

this is Freya, a wwoofing couple's daughter from Scotland - she spends all day with the goats - with Small Dipper at 5 hours old

knitting in front of our slightly crappy caravan home - heated by a wood stove so everything is covered in soot, no electricity or running water (we heat it on the stove and shower with a bucket outside)

the lambs, they are super friendly and follow you around

Kai, the 4 year old son of the same couple

our visit to Pie Town, two hours from the farm but only 19 miles as the crow flies, the pie was phenomenal

banana cream pie

Nathan the pie-rate

Nancy (with pie)

we went to visit some angora goats at another farm

they gave us a ram, he was viscious

hog-tying the ram

Jet the amazing jumping dog

this is Mika showing Nathan how to make Kamboocha (no idea about spelling) a fermented tea drink that is delicious