Why Nigies?

 

When I told people I wanted to get goats, they thought I was getting Pygmies. And I don’t have anything against Pygmies, they are quite cute, but I really wanted something multipurpose. I actually started off by reading about Boer goats, but after more research I decided dairy goats would suit our family better. And not just any dairy goats, but miniature dairy goats… Nigerian Dwarf goats.

From what I’ve read, Nigerian Dwarfs have very gentle personalities and their petite size really won me over.  They’re close to the same size as pygmies, but they should produce enough milk to supplement what we usually buy from the store. We could use their milk for cheese, butter, ice cream, yogurt and soap. They’re perfect for being around our small children and come in a seemingly endless array of colors. My favorites are buckskins, creams and mostly white with black.

Also, unlike other dairy goats, they can breed all year long. They usually have anywhere between 1 – 3 babies, but some even have quads, quints and, even rarer, sextuplets. Breeding should always be done to enhance the breed, not just increase it’s numbers. That’s why it’s important to pick the best doe and buck you can find. Through careful breeding you can produce true dairy goats in miniature form.

If you look through the sites of some of the most well known nigerian dwarf breeders, you will see healthy, well proportioned animals with capacious udders. That should be the goal of every breeder. You will see goats  that are shown in order to win awards for conformation, appraised for their dairy quality and earn stars for their milking ability. These are just some of the ways you can know that the breeder is very serious about producing quality animals.

If you want to show, buy the best you can afford. They should be just one goat in a long line of champions with beautiful udders on both sides, both dam and buck’s dam. If you just want milk, buy a “brood” or “milker” doe. Sometimes you can get them bred at the farm before being sold. They can be milked some before and after kidding. If you just want a companion or a weed eater , try buying a whether, which is a castrated male goat. I don’t suggest buying a buck, unless you know what you’re getting into. Apparently they are very stinky, kind of gross when in rut and more ornery than does and whethers.
I’m really excited because I just put a deposit down on two goats from Rosasharn Farms. Hopefully by next spring I will have two little doelings or a buck and a doe to spoil. I hope to show them, breed, milk, milk test… all that fun stuff. I can’t wait.

Check out these websites to see more lovely Nigerian Dwarf goats:

http://www.lostvalleynigerians.com/

http://www.rosasharnfarm.com/

http://www.dragonfly.jmkarohl.com/

Planning Ahead

This whole self sufficiency thing is throwing me for a loop… I mean, I get the concept, but planning and putting it into practice is proving to be a challenge.

First issue: Choosing what we want.
I could just choose everything we currently buy from the store… chicken and eggs, pork, beef, fish, all manners of fruits and veggies, milk, cheese, honey, etc.

This seems like a lot of stuff to take on at one time. Hubby wants a huge garden, the kids want a ton of animals and since I’m the DF (designated farmer), I just want to have to enough food to feed the family without having too much to handle.

It also has to be cost effective. The most expensive things for us each week are meat, dairy and other things we can make/raise on our own. But the trick is, if I do all this and fail… then it’s a waste of time and money. It’s going to take some time to master and I don’t want to jump in deep and get overwhelmed. 100 chickens, 10 pigs, 5 cows, etc. Too much. I’m wondering if doing chickens, goats, pigs and maybe rabbits is too much.

How do people figure out how much of everything they need? How do you make it cost effective or maybe even profitable?

I have so much more to read.

Guns don’t kill people…

Ok, I should be used to hearing gun shots by now. We heard them in our neighborhood in Baton Rouge all the time and we didn’t even live in the hood. So maybe I shouldn’t be so freaked out when I hear a couple of shots through my bedroom wall this morning. Our neighbor was doing a little early morning hunting… or shooting at the same darn coyote my hubby shot at the other day. But after years of watching tv, that worst case scenario always pops up in my mind. What if he aims in the wrong direction? What if a bullet comes right through my house? I have 4 kids… so I have to be a little freaked.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not anti-gun. Most people in my family have them. I wouldn’t mind getting a handgun for personal protection. I went through the LAWFD hunter’s education course (more out of moral support for my bff, not so much out of the desire to hunt) and had the highest score in the class. I’ve shot a couple times and have a lot of fun target shooting with the pellet guns. I know how important hunting is to proper management of certain species. And I believe that people have the right to protect themselves, their family and their property. So it’s not a fear of guns but more of a healthy respect of what guns can do. Guns by themselves don’t make me as nervous as irresponsible people with guns do.

It just drives me crazy that I know hunters who don’t carry guns the proper way… one trip away from blowing their fellow hunters’ brains out. Not to mention those that shoot for fun, without any intention on eating what they’re shooting. Or those that fire at targets with no regards to what’s on the other side of the woods. There’s a neighborhood through those trees and it’s closer than you think. And seriously, if you have guns and kids, have the common freaking sense to invest in a gun cabinet. Under your bed, the shelf of your closet, or your top drawer are all inadequate places to store weapons unless you have gun locks on them. That’s how you end up on the news crying because one of your kids shot himself or someone else. And this isn’t just directed at strangers but some people super close to me. It drives me crazy that I’m the “over cautious whiner” because I don’t want my family to look like swiss cheese.

Anyways. Yeah. I’m done ranting, I guess.

The Start of Something New

So this is the start of my blog about a city family moving to their own little piece of heaven. I’m from Baton Rouge, Tim is from New Orleans and we’ve relocated near Hammond Louisiana, to a lovely 8+ acre property with a little pond, a rickety ol’ barn, the tiniest little garden and, oddly enough, rolling hills of pastures, all mostly fenced up and ready for animals.

I don’t know what got into us… we’re not tree huggers or preparing for Armageddon or anything, but we just had this idea that it would be better for our family to be more self sufficient; grow our own fruits and veggies, raise our own meat, eggs and milk. It’ll be relatively cheap and healthier. Now if we only knew what we’re doing.

We haven’t gotten off to a running start, but we’re working on it. Tim’s usually busy, running his own business, but on the weekend he’s on the tractor or fixing things around the farm. Everything else is my domain. I’m the designated farmer chick. I’ve read all I could on everything animal, vegetable and mineral, but I’m still a n00b when it comes to putting it into practice.

Take our garden, for instance. We moved in the summer and Tim had his heart set on having certain veggies that should’ve been planted in spring. So I had to go to Lowe’s and get whatever slim pickins they had leftover. I brought home and planted a Better Boy tomato, four Creole tomatoes, two eggplants and red, green and yellow bell peppers. I don’t know if it was the picked through plants or the garden that the previous owners had left behind, but the plants soon became diseased… I’m actually amazed that they’ve lasted as long as the did. I only harvested a couple small tomatoes and a few bellpeppers, but I’ve learned a lot and will hopefully do better next season.

My dad gave me a wonderful birthday gift; five fruit trees; three apple trees and two pear trees. They’re varieties that are disease resistant and well suited to the area. I can’t wait till we have fruit in a few years. Tim still wants more trees… satsumas, oranges, lemons… and he wants blueberry bushes and a small vineyard. Where are we going to put all this stuff?

Animals are more my thing. Right now, we only have a retired mouser, Momma, who is about 15 years old. She seems to be enjoying country life, probably reminds her of the good old days when she lived at the stable where my cousin kept her horses. We also have a few huge catfish in our tiny pond. Even though I’m sure they’ll be delicious one day, right now they’re like our version of giant ugly koi. Fun to feed and point at, but not food yet. We really want to add more animals that will help us be more self sufficient. I even have the perfect breeds picked out for our needs: Black Australorp chickens (meat and eggs), Muscovy ducks (skeeter control, eggs and meat), guineas (bug control and meat), Nigerian Dwarf goats (weed eaters and milk) and LGDs (livestock guardian dogs). Our eldest son Michael (10yo) wants a pig, and daughter Catie(5) wants a pony. (Me too, ha!) Jojo(7) doesn’t want any animals and 2yo David wants all of them.

Now we just have to spend all fall and winter getting the garden ready for plants and the farm ready for animals. Should be an interesting time… lots of excitement, frustration and hilarity to go around. At least it’ll make for interesting blog posts, right?