Today was the day that we took the 5 remaining ram lambs, an ewe from last years flock with scur horns, a ram from last years flock and a kid, all on a road trip to Maple Lane Farm. They are a processor within 3 miles of us. We loaded them into the truck and took them over. They were taken in immediately. No waiting and stressing. We tried to make this as easy as possible. Is that possible?
Lots of grass, fresh air, hay and grain. Not the life of a feed lot animal.
Teddy and Edward live in the much smaller pasture next door. This is usually a good arrangement, however, there are the girl goats living right next to them. Well, this time of year Teddy is applying the cologne, strutting around like the stud muffin he is. Sniffing the air and stomping his hoof in excitement. He is very, er, efficient? We had a surprise buckling last spring. Teddy and Sadie, sort of, how can I put this? Made a little nookey through the fence.
This white buckling was the surprise. This is the bachelor pad the young bucks have been sharing. It is getting a bit cramped. Originally it was the turkey house. We do repurpose when possible.
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Now they are in the big lamb pasture. They have spent the day pruning the tree limbs within reach, munching on hay and enjoying the cooler temps. More space. As hard as it is to take the animals to the processor we try to remind ourselves that this is why we do this. We can't afford to keep every animal. We have seen how farming can be done with care and compassion. We will be updating our web site to include the sale of both lamb and kid. If you have never eaten kid it is a wonderfully flavorful meat. I was able to get a fantastic cookbook with recipes for chevon. Janice and Ken Spaulding teach Goat School in St. Albans, ME. She is a wonderful cook and has written a cookbook: Goat School: A Master Class in Caprine Care and Cooking. It is available on Amazon. I bought one for me and sent one to my mother. She loved reading about care and management of goats. I don't know why Blogger changed the size of the font on the last paragraph. I don't understand much of Blogger. I just don't like surprises that I don't understand. I know this could be alot easier. As a goat friend is fond of saying, Oy. Much Love and Prayers from Mainely Ewes Farm. |
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6 comments:
All I have to say is you gotta' love Blogger. Much of the time, well, it is a challenge, to say the least. Luckily for us the goatfather is a computer nerd or else you might hear me, on occasion, questioning Blogger's parentage all the way to Maine. :) Oy is right.
Even though you tell yourself not to get attached to the selected food stock, it's still a bit difficult to carry out.
I love goat meat! I am a wimp though and sell my goats and use that money to buy goat meat from a Mennonite farm family. I will be happy to see porkchop go to butcher though as he is one mean piggy. LOL
Goat is very tasty. It is hard to take them but one simply cannot keep every kid born, nor can you place every animal. And I would rather see my goats go to my butcher who handles things in a very careful manner than have them go to a bad home.
Always the hardest part... but it's true you cannot keep them all and some you can't place. Just the way it goes, and at least everything has it's purpose and it's use.
I used to hate taking the little wethers we'd raise to market - but it had to be done. Now we are easing out of the goat business - will really miss them. You have given them a wonderful life - good thing about animals is they don't have a concept of future - everything is what has happened and right now.
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