Buckwheat Bridge Angoras

HAPPY NEW YEAR !!

2012-01-01T15:48:00.001-05:00

A New Year

2011-12-31T09:32:00.003-05:00

As the sun sets on 2011 we will make it a goal for 2012 to post more often.
In the meantime here is a link to some really interesting photographs of the pre-revolutionary Russian Empire -
http://flavorwire.com/205115/100-year-old-color-photographs-from-the-russian-empire#1

Our first kids are due around the last two weeks in February......lambs not until late March.
In the meantime we're spinning lots of yarn and will be doing a website makeover for the coming year. The wind turbine has been working fairly well although there are still some "issues" but it is producing enough power to allow us to increase mill output without compromising our completely alternative energy generated power supply status.
Wishing everyone a Happy, Healthy and Productive New Year as well as an easy lambing and kidding time -

81 days "til Spring

Catching up Again

2011-03-01T17:49:00.002-05:00

Where has the time gone ?
January 28th brought us the first of the new kids for 2011. We've been busy ever since with new arrivals almost every day. When we get a minute to catch our breath, we'll do a real update and post some fun kid pictures. Here's one in the meantime - kids doing what they do best.

19 Days 'Til Spring

All The Way Home

2011-01-29T13:40:00.003-05:00

We had met up with a friend from PA at the HLRS sale. We drove from Kerrville straight through to Potosi, MO. We stopped at the home of Avelene and Jim McCaul - Indian Springs Farm. ISF is home to some fantastic Natural Colored Angoras. We were looking for a tried and true buck to breed to our nannies back home.

The McCauls had a 5 year old buck they were willing to sell. We loaded Boaz onto the trailer with the gang from Texas and after some minor points of goat etiquette were established, set off driving toward home.

On the Next Part of the Journey

2011-01-18T08:07:00.002-05:00

There were some things in Texas that you....... well..........just don't see many other places. Take this wall mounting of an Angora Goat. Here in the Northeast one might see a white tailed deer or a moose in a similar predicament. Not an Angora goat. And certainly not in the hallway of a local hotel.
One of the primary reasons we headed to Texas was to purchase new breeding bloodlines for our registered Angoras. Each July Kerrville Texas is the site of the Haby, Lockhart, Ross and Speck production sale. These four families are some of the oldest in the Angora goat business in Texas.
These billy goats pictured below were in sorting pens at the Speck place in Kerrville.

The sale takes place at the Ag Barn in Kerrville mid-July. Now as far as we're concerned, July is generally not the time of year us northerners want to be headed into the blast furnace heat of the South. Even though it is a "dry" heat. July 2010 though proved to be hotter and more humid in upstate NY than anywhere we were in the entire state of Texas. Much to our surprise, the Ag Barn was air conditioned ! And a welcomed surprise it was.

We strolled through the Barn looking at some of the nicest Angora goats we'd ever seen.
During our visit to the Speck sorting pens, we had taken some hair samples and did some micron counts on a number of billy goat "prospects".

When the bidding began, we knew just which goats we wanted and for what reasons -- finer hair, longer staple, denser fleece. Sales were brisk and the bidding, at times, intense. We were able to load 5 new bucks and 3 does on the trailer. After a stop at the local vet's office for the required health paperwork for transport to NY, we hit the road and headed North.

Just about now, with the snow flying outside as I write, I remember fondly, the 90 degree temperatures of Kerrville this past summer.

Our nanny goats are due to start kidding in a week or so. We'll have to start shearing and getting the barn ready. We have some beautiful alfalfa and second cut grass hay for the feeding. This year's kids will be the beginning of a number of new genetic lines for us so we wait with anticipation as to what the stork will bring.

61 Days 'Til Spring

Texas Road Trip Part 2

2011-01-10T09:04:00.002-05:00

The landscape in and around the Edwards Plateau in Texas is rocky and rugged. There are windswept canyons and craggy hillsides. The region is commonly referred to as the Texas Hill Country. Angora goats were established in this area of Texas because they were able to survive on range unable to sustain cattle or sheep. These goats are thrifty browsers and soon populated the Edwards Plateau in great numbers.

Many ranches have utilized the native limestone for building structures to house and work goats and other ranch species. This ranch near Boerne is set out in the canyons. The colors of the hills this summer were a verdent green -- very unusual for Texas in July. Fortunately for all concerned the Spring and Summer of 2010 had brought with it an exceptionally large amount of rainfall to Texas Hill Country.
Two of our new breeding bucks for the Fall of 2010 came from this ranch where the family raises cattle in addition to Angoras.
More later ....

69 Days 'Til Spring.

What we did on our Summer "Vacation"

2011-01-04T11:40:00.003-05:00

The last time we drove to Texas was 2005. We visited some old friends, made some new ones and brought home two of the best stud bucks in the state.
Fast forward to 2010 and we were in need of some new breeding bloodlines. But this year we had a bit more in the "works". Dan decided that he wanted to try and gather raw wool fiber from a number of local sheep growers and design a blanket project. The project would involve evaluating and collecting the wool from each producer ; delivering the fiber to a scouring plant in the USA ; trucking the fiber to a New York State processing and weaving mill and finally marketing and selling the blankets. The goal was, and is, to pay local wool producers a better rate for their raw wool, than the average wool pool and all the while keep production of the blanket within the USA. This was a very important aspect as there are some fiber farms and groups that claim to do business in the USA and/or with local producers in their area but somehow feel justified in shipping fiber out of the country to be processed and continue to claim its a local product produced sustainably . Go figure ?
During the months of March, April, May and June we traveled around to local wool growers and collected wool. In late June we packed the trailer full of 1200 pounds of wool and 2000 pounds of raw mohair. The wool was headed to a scouring plant along our route and the mohair was making the long trip all the way to Texas with us.

Why take mohair to Texas ? Well, Texas is THE mohair capital of the USA. There are more Angora goats in the state of Texas than any other state in the Union. Consequently a system of warehouses for collecting, storing and brokering sales of mohair developed. We took those portions of our fleece that we do not generally use for roving or yarn to the warehouse to be sold.

The warehouses are very large and hold many producers clips of mohair. Local and foreign buyers travel to Texas to buy large quantities of natural fibers for their businesses. Having the raw fiber located in central locations within the state makes it easier --otherwise buyers would have to visit individual producers who may be located hundreds of miles apart in distance.

The fiber is then made into garments, rugs and home accessories .....like blankets !

We'll post part 2 of our journey later in the week.
Until then.....

75 Days 'Til Spring !

Happy - New - Decade !

2011-01-01T12:05:00.004-05:00

This year we had a white - day after Christmas - and the day after that, and the day after that.

Drifts as deep as 4 feet side by side with bare ground. The wind blew and the turbine turned producing record amounts of power. A good thing.

The snow never seems to bother our maremmas. In fact they LOVE snow .....

Love to lie in it, stand on it and ......

Sit in it.

Wishing everyone a great new year !

79 days "Til Spring.

More Puppy Pics

2010-12-22T12:16:00.002-05:00

The puppies are growing by leaps and bounds. As of a week ago we have assigned a few puppies to groups of goats and/or sheep for them to work with regarding their livestock guardian puppy skills. Even at this age they position themselves BETWEEN the livestock and the "intruder" ( who in this case is the person taking the photo ). They are not behind the animals but in front.
Folks always ask us if we need to train the puppies to guard. The answer is plain to see here - they will position themselves and guard instinctively despite their current small size. What needs to be learned is interspecies socialization -- how to interact with people, how they are to behave around the animals they are guarding. Puppies LOVE to play and it is difficult for them to understand that the sheep and goats do not want to play along. We have found it beneficial to have a couple of puppies together in one pasture. They play with each other and do not try to get the livestock to participate. The real trick is to intervene immediately when negative behaviors, such as chasing, are demonstrated so those behaviors do not become routine.
Regardless of "training" it is essential that a would be Maremma owner understand that these pups will not be responsible adults until somewhere between 18 and 24 months of age !

78 Days 'Til Spring !

All Good Things Must.......Continue !

2010-11-22T12:03:00.003-05:00

This Sunday past and the Sunday before Buckwheat Bridge Angoras was invited to participate in the Rhinebeck Farmer's Market. A couple months ago Cheryl, the market's manager, asked if we would like to "fill in" for one of the fruit vendors who, at this time of year, really did not have much produce to bring to the market. We jumped at the chance to attend this wonderful market!
The market bustled this weekend with shoppers eager to select the perfect accompaniments to their Thanksgiving feast. It was great to be in the midst of fresh greens and root vegetables sure to depart their savory aromas in homes this Thursday.
We met a bunch of great folks, sold some socks and a couple of hats, and reconnected with a few old friends.
Sadly, this was the last day for the outdoor farmer's market in Rhinebeck for 2010. Happily the market will continue through the winter INDOORS at the Rhinebeck town hall on ....appropriately .......Market Street ! The indoor market begins on Sunday the 5th of December and runs through April 24th - every OTHER Sunday. Stop by and buy Local !

Windmill - Another Perspective

2010-11-10T16:48:00.003-05:00

So, as we mentioned the other day - we have this windmill. Here it is on the perimeter of one of our pastures. These boys really do not seems too taken with the thing, They are much more interested in the photographer standing right next to their feed troughs.
People have asked us if the windmill is loud. I can assure you it is not. If the wind is blowing with enough force to cause the turbine to generate electricity all you hear is the sound of the wind - no turbine noise at all.
When the idea of the windmill being erected on our farm was brought into the public domain - which was only necessitated by the local zoning rules restricting the height of the windmill to 100 feet - by our application for an area variance, some neighbors closed ranks, passed a petition, contacted newspapers and government offices and did most everything they could think of to stymie the effort. A number of those neighbors have since stated that " it's not nearly as bad as we thought" and "it's not that big". Not a resounding endorsement but none-the-less possibly an acknowledgment that maybe they really had not gathered all the info necessary to evaluate the project before establishing a stance "against". It's important to mention this because ...unless more of us take a serious look at "alternatives" we may find ourselves in quite a mess here on planet Earth in a few year's time. And that's about as political as I intend to get.
Buckwheat Bridge Angoras is now, most likely, the only farm in the USA that grows and processes all it's own animal fiber using exclusively solar and wind produced alternative energy. I think that goat just might be smiling !

Puppies as Promised

2010-11-09T15:55:00.004-05:00

We are pleased to introduce you to our first litter of Maremmas in quite a while - about 5 years.
There are 4 female and 5 male pups. This photo is from about two weeks ago prior to eyes opening - so they are all in one place. Kind of a "pile 'o pups". Now they are up and about keeping their mother mighty busy keeping track of them all.

2010-11-08T10:27:00.003-05:00

WE'LL HAVE TO SEE WHICH WAY THE WIND BLOWS

After a long and arduous process ( almost 4 years if you can believe it !) Buckwheat Bridge Angoras wind generator was installed in mid-September. The installation took about a week once the foundation was in place. With a tower of 100 ft in height and a blade length of 40 feet, the turbine rests at just about 120 feet above ground level. We are grateful to have this project completed and now that I have finally recovered my password for access to this blog, I'll be updating shortly with what's new around here.
Coming up next : A new litter of Maremma pups whelped 10/9/10. They are just four weeks old and "on the move". Pictures coming soon !

Last Year's Havest

2010-06-22T10:24:00.002-04:00

We finished up planting the garden the other day. In the ground are some tried and true performers - basil, jalapenos, cabbage and tomatoes. One more try with the tomatoes. The tomato blight of 2009 hit our garden head on. More than 90 tomato plants lost. We've planted a number of varieties of tomatoes this year including sauce tomatoes, cherry tomatoes and heirlooms. The heirlooms were a gift from our friend Mike Kokas at Upstate Farms. Mike and his wife Jan are the owners of a beautiful organic farm in Columbia County. They also do CSA shares and make three trips weekly to Manhattan to deliver wonderful produce to shareholders.
Some new "customers" in the garden this year are Culantro and Stevia. We'll see how they like our location.

While we wait for our garden to grow, take a look at what we did harvest last year.

Gerkin Cucumbers

Lots of green and yellow summer squash

Some of the most beautiful Basil in the county !

It's Show Time

2010-06-20T18:50:00.004-04:00

So here it is June 20th and we are getting ready to load up the show gang and head down to the Great Frederick Fairgrounds in Maryland for the - group formally known as V.A.G.M.A. - E.A.G.M.A. ( Eastern Angora Goat and Mohair Association ) Annual Angora Goat Show and Sale. The Show is next Saturday and Sunday June 26th and 27th. White goats will show Saturday. The Colored Angora Goat Breeders Association NATIONAL Show will be held on Sunday. We show AAGBA registered white goats.
One thing that is really nice for us about the EAGMA Show is that we are NOT retail vendors. No product to haul. Just pack the goats and go...... right ! Just that easy.
We'll be looking forward to seeing all the goats and their people and spending the weekend catching up with all the latest in "goat". Thirteen of the Buckwheat flock will be showing. Hopefully that'll be a "lucky" 13.
We did a dry run to the vet's and back with all 13 on board for a health check and interstate transport papers. Came home, cleaned the trailer ( power-washer, yeah !) and loaded some clean bedding. All that remains is to round up the feed and water buckets, sort through the travel medicinals, and wait until Friday to head south. I hear the forecast is for a hot and sticky week in Maryland. With any luck that'll clear out for the show. We'll post how the goats placed when we return. Maybe we'll see you there as well ?

Three on a Match

2010-02-24T15:02:00.002-05:00

And the first kids of the year are triplets !
Hey it's a boy, and then another boy and then another boy.
1 in 8 odds of that happening.
The "new kids" arrived on Thursday the 18th.

26 days 'til spring.

Any Day Now

2010-02-16T11:30:00.002-05:00

Well, the nannies have been shared for about a week now and the first of our kids is due anytime. Today is a snowy day but not too cold. Nannies seem quite comfortable in the barn.
It's Mardi Gras in NOLA, it's one day to kidding and 34 days 'til spring.

What Time Is It ?

2010-01-30T16:03:00.003-05:00

It's Kidding Time ( almost ) !

The first of this year's kid crop is due to start arriving on Feb. 17th. We've spent the past 2 months processing fiber - lots of fiber. Now that we are just about finished with the 2009 clip of mohair and wool, we'll be shearing the nannies next week and we'll start right in with 2010.
It seems that there really isn't a time when there isn't some fiber to process.
But what we're really doing now is getting ready for baby goats and a bit later lambs ( due April 1st ). Here's what we do to get ready :

-Clean the barn and kidding stalls
-Partition the barn into living areas - we house like sized nannies together to avoid un-sportsman like conduct ( translation - slamming ).
-Check and make sure we have enough buckets for each pen ( food and water )
-Test the heat lamps - our heat lamps are held up by chains and have bulb guards.
-Make sure we have plenty of towels for drying
-Blow dryer ( just like the ones used for drying hair ) - for drying kids fast
-Selenium shots - BoSe - each kid gets 1/4cc - we're in a low selenium area.
-CDT - each kid gets 1cc
-Nutri-drench - each kid gets a couple of squirts
-Ear notch tool - we notch instead of tag kids - tags sometimes rip ears or fall out. We prefer to notch. To see a sample ear notch diagram visit the AAGBA website.
-Feeding tube - in case of chilled kids and a container for the milk from the nanny.
-Prichard Teats - in case we need to supplement nursing kids or for bottle babies
-A couple of plastic soda bottles for the teats ( but no Coca Cola bottles as the threads on the bottle's neck have been changed and no longer accommodate the Pritchard Teats. )
-Worming paste for the nannies - after the stress of kidding we generally evaluate nannies and worm if needed. Stress can cause a decreased resistance to parasites.
-Something on hand for scours - we use a pepto-bismol like liquid.
-Shear the nannies - keeps the fleece clean and gives the kids a nice mohair-free udder to latch onto. After shearing the nannies stay in the barn until mid-March.
-Put the radio in the barn and tune to WAMC - our local Public Radio Station ( this is a plug for the station. Their fund drive starts in a few days. )
-Wait for the kidding to begin.

18 days 'til baby goats
51 days 'til spring

Where 'Ya Been ?

2009-11-25T17:18:00.003-05:00

It's that time of year again - catch-up time. It's hard to believe that it's been 4 months since our last post. Time flies around here in the summer and early fall. Hopefully things will slow down a bit and we'll get back to a regular routine. Happy Thanksgiving !
PS. This is NOT our turkey !

From the Dye Pot

2009-07-23T08:38:00.002-04:00

We've been spending a lot of time this summer trying to catch-up with fiber processing. While the unusually wet weather has put the kabosh on outside farm work, the cooler temperatures make for a good opportunity to get a jump on getting things ready for the fall fiber shows.
This is a batch of kid mohair that I've dyed in anticipation of a roving colorway. Roving kind of takes on the colors of the fiber that comes out of the dye pot in our mill. It seems that no matter what color I "plan" on, the fiber takes up different color components of the dye bath at different rates. This is actually a good thing for me because it provides endless possibilities for combining color. It makes many colorways unrepeatable though making it all the more important for us to encourage customers to get the quantity they need at the time they are purchasing roving ( or yarn for that matter. ) This is one of the many pluses, but also one of the minuses ( for some ) of small batch dying.

Perspective - Cat in the Garden

2009-07-23T08:34:00.003-04:00

Cat and Zucchini Plant

Watching the Garden Grow

2009-07-14T09:13:00.003-04:00

We planted a bunch of "stuff" the end of May. In June it rained - not just a bit, a whole lot'ta rain. Ark building type rain. We just hoped our vegetables would survive being continuously wet and cold. And then the sun came out a couple of weeks ago, not all the time mind you, but just enough to inspire the plants to open their flowers. So, here's where things stand today - in the sunshine !

This is a very small bell pepper

Swiss Chard

Zucchini

Zucchini again -

Rows of staked tomatoes - Brandywine and Roma

Eggplant flowering

Green Cabbage

Basil and Italian Flat-leaf Parsley

This year we decided to put down a ground cover and then mulch on top. A really good decision. The result is virtually no weeds. Years past our garden was always overcome with weeds ( we do not spray anything and there is never enough time to spend weeding ). We debated regarding the ground cover - did not want to use plastic - and decided on using a cloth or fabric variety. Our hope is to be able to re-use the cloth next year. Having the hay mulch on top keeps weeds from sprouting beneath and also may preserve some of the integrity of the cloth as well. We'll see what happens. By the way, we needed to put the split firewood down on top to keep everything from blowing away - we're in a windy spot !

Is That The Sun We See ?

2009-07-13T07:43:00.002-04:00

After almost 5 weeks of rain without much more than a day of non-rain in-between ( can't call it sunshine 'cause there wasn't any ), we're finally back into the swing of making some hay. If you look closely you can see a "square" bale being "kicked" into the wagon, from the baler. An "Action-Shot". Now we have an awful lot of catch-up work to do. Because of the late first cutting of our hay this year, we're going to have a lot of clover in our round bales which makes for a really nice feed. It just takes an extra day or so to dry and this week we've got the time to make it - 4 days ( predicted ) of good drying weather !
These square bales are also full of clover. We'll be using them next February to feed our nursing nannies so they make a lot of rich milk for the 2010 kids.

Sheep and Wool Workshops

2009-06-08T11:21:00.003-04:00

If you have not taken a gander at the NYS Sheep and Wool Festival's workshop offerings this year - take a look: http://www.sheepandwool.com/workshops/index.asp
Please spread the word to anyone who you think may be interested.

This is an AMAZING work of art - not part of the workshop program - but just something at which to marvel. About a gazillion tiny glass beads and counting - all placed by a steady hand.

Meanwhile Back at the Ranchero

2009-06-01T17:29:00.003-04:00

This Spring has been extremely hectic for us. We've been to a bunch of Fiber Shows -- Maryland, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Seen a bunch of folks and talked a lot about goats. This is a photo taken about a month ago of our very own "Three Amigos". The only bottle kids this year, who, thankfully are now weaned, grazing and happy.

This is also a picture from a while ago of a group of kids. All different sizes and colors and all much bigger now than that photo shows them to be.

And finally, a kid, well...... just being a kid.

The garden is almost planted - we have a few more rows to go. And soon we will start cutting hay - weather cooperating.

30 or so lambs have been born and are out grazing with the ewes.

We'll take some more up to date photos and hopefully be more faithful to getting some posted here.

Spring Has Come

2009-03-28T07:32:00.003-04:00

Farm life has been busy these past few days. The goats are just about done kidding. The sheep should start lambing any day now. We've spent the last 10 days shearing sheep and goats - 21 Ewes remain to be sheared and about the same number of Bucks. 120 ton of lime has been spread on the pastures and hay fields. A lot of time has been being spent on cleaning up our fence lines which were littered with debris from winter storms - tree limbs down, fence posts heaved and broken, wire needing tensioning. We're also trying to get fiber prepared for our Spring Fiber Show Schedule. We've taken a bunch of new pictures but have not been able to get them posted yet. Maybe this weekend ?

Heard (Herd) Around the Water Cooler......Almost

2009-03-16T11:18:00.003-04:00

We've had this solar water tank for about 3 years. It is really great. Uses passive solar to keep the water from freezing. How it works is the tank within a tank method. There is an inner tank that holds the water and an outer shell with a plexi-glass "window" on one side. In the winter, the tank's window gets oriented toward the sun, in our case south. The sun passively heats the inner tank via the plexi-glass window. In the summer, the tank is turned 180 degrees so that the window stays in the shade keeping the water cool.
The tank comes with a heavy black oblong floating lid to keep debris out and the heat in. The goats were not able to press hard enough on the lid supplied with the tank to get to the water....so we cut this goat sized lid from a piece of foam we had around. During the last 3 years we've had to replace the foam lid as the Maremmas tend to think that it is great fun to "steal" the lid and rip it to shreds. This year the dogs are a bit older and wiser and would be embarrassed to be caught in the middle of such foolishness - NOT ! (If you look closely you can see distinctive teeth marks in the upper left hand curve of the blue foam lid. Dogs: you've been discovered and exposed! Ha! That'll teach 'ya!)

BTW - What do you suppose goats talk about around the water cooler ? We'll never know and maybe that's a good thing.

5, Count'em, 5 Days 'Til Spring

Sheep To Be Sheared

2009-03-14T12:02:00.004-04:00

Yesterday we sorted through a bunch of our ewes. Now that kidding is winding down, its time to get ready for lambs. We have 22 bred Cormo and Cormo Cross ewes - we think. The Cormo Crosses are our Natural Colored Fine Wool sheep. So, starting next week, we'll be shearing some sheep as we prepare for lambing. We like to get the fleece sheared before the ewes lamb -- for one thing it allows the lambs to find a teat with ease and for another it keeps the fleece from getting contaminated from the birthing process. We also have the remainder of our goats to shear as well - yearling does and bucks, adult does and bucks. So in the next few weeks we need to harvest the fleece off of about 100 animals.
As we shear, we do a "rough skirt". That means we remove as much of the undesirable parts of the fleece as possible before putting the fleece into a bag. Undesirable parts include; any fleece with manure stuck to it ( these are called "tags" ), any fleece discolored by urine ( called "stain" ) , any parts with a lot of vegetable matter ( VM , the handspinners nightmare in fine wool ). We also separate the wool from the underside of the sheep's body - the "belly wool" - and bag that separately. This wool can be very different from the rest of the fleece. Sometimes it is shorter in length, sometimes the crimp is different and sometimes it is of a different "fineness". Most of our sheep are covered which keeps a large percentage of the fleece very clean and free from debris. This fleece is then carefully re-skirted, bagged and offered for sale. Some of our fleeces - the really special ones - are kept and entered into competition at some of the local fairs. There is nothing more beautiful than a pristinely clean, freshly sheared fleece.
This year, the Dutchess County Sheep and Wool Growers Association, a local sheep breeder's association to which we belong, is having a Spring Fleece sale. It will be held on Saturday May 16 at the Elmendorf Inn in Red Hook, NY at 10:00AM. We'll be participating with some of these beautiful fleeces. See you there?

7 Days 'Til Spring

Kids Do The Most Amusing Things

2009-03-13T18:14:00.002-04:00

Well, it has been a while since we've had time to sit still long enough to update this blog. A bunch of kids have been born - 34 to date, 8 within the last 36 hours. We've moved a bunch of the older kids and nannies outside to our leanto area. This area has access to the rear portion of the barn but also allows everyone to go outside if they choose. The kids have a large area to race around in and the nannies have a lot more room to stretch their legs as well. With our oldest kids being almost 4 weeks of age now, they have started doing all those things a goat must do to well...be a goat. A real goat climbs on things ....

A real goat gets into things....... like this round bale feeder. This little girl is not stuck, she's just thinking that there's got to be something more here than this big bale of hay. Although you can not see the whole of the round bale, these bales are large - 5 foot diameter and 4 feet tall. They weigh about 900 lbs. We use a surrounding "round bale feeder" fence with large squares of fence left open so the goats can get to the hay without getting into the hay. Keeps the VM out of the fleece. It also makes for a much more efficient method of feeding and a lot less waste. They are made by a company called Premier One. Premier manufactures and sells a lot of small livestock equipment that really works. They have a flock of sheep themselves and test out all their products before offering them for sale. The result is that the products you purchase have been put though their paces by a tough panel of "test sheep". We've had good luck with these round bale feeders and would recommend them. We also use Premier electric net fence which we like as well. We have no financial interest in Premier. Just sharing the name of a company we think has the right idea about testing products first, and products that work.

8 Days 'Til Spring

Kids in a Row

2009-03-03T09:58:00.005-05:00

A bunch of kids have been running around one side of the barn now for a week. Every once in a while they all get "pooped" at the same time and collapse into one giant "mass-o-kid". Usually this happens in a relatively cozy location away from the threat of being stepped on by a rushing mother coming to look for her kid. Oh yes, and there's usually a spot of sun involved in the selection.

18 Days 'Til Spring

Ducks in a Row - Almost

2009-03-02T08:18:00.004-05:00

These are Muscovy Ducks. We got them from our friends Pen and Andy at Cobble Rock Ridge Farm. Muscovy ducks are the kind of duck people either really like - or not. They are very different from the average white duck in the neighborhood pond. For one thing, they do not quack. Vocalizations from these guys are more of a "hissing" or back of the throat noise. When they walk around the barnyard, their heads move back and forth from front to back extending and retracting their necks. But the thing that is really the most fun, is watching them fly - and they are expert fliers. No matter where they are - on the pond, grazing with the goats up on the hill ( And yes ! ducks do graze for young shoots of tender grass. They also "graze" for insects.) when the grain hits the feed trough the soaring Muscovy is to be seen gliding in for a perfect landing right next to the grain. They also have acute hearing capabilities.
This time of year, the ducks spend most of their time in a lean-to off of the main barn where we house some of the goats. There is a small wooden box, with hay as bedding, that they use as a "duck house" when they feel the need to be inside. Otherwise they are out and about, sometimes floating in the water trough that is gravity fed from our main pond. Even on the coldest day, those ducks take to water for their bird bath. They always seem to be a harbinger of Spring despite the cold. It seems that, around here anyway, everyday is a good day for ducks.

19 Days 'Til Spring.

More About Maremmas

2009-02-27T12:36:00.003-05:00

A picture is worth a thousand words and this one speaks volumes about the intelligence of this breed of livestock guardian. Our dogs provide us with a sense of ease about the safety of our sheep and goats. Always on duty, we can rest assured that they are on the watch.

This is Laika our adult female.

Sirius as a serious puppy.

Laika as a puppy.

Days 'Til Spring ?

Now it's 22 ! YES !

A Break in the Action

2009-02-25T09:07:00.003-05:00

Well, its been a very busy week since our last chance to post something here. To date we have 18 kids - 6 boys, 12 girls. Not quite half the nannies have kidded.

This is a brother - sister set of twins born on the 21st.

A group shot of week old kids playing in a corner of the barn.

Another section of the barn with nannies waiting their turn and one very frisky one year old.

And at the end of each busy day we get to see a beautiful picture courtesy of mother nature.
Don't get me wrong, its hard work and there's heartbreak along with the highlights. This morning we delivered a breech kid that did not live. This is the story of farming and the story of life. We try to learn something from each disappointment and realize it is all part of the circle of life.
24 Days 'Til Spring.

More Baby Goats - 30 Days 'Til Spring

2009-02-19T16:33:00.003-05:00

No, this nanny is not in the witness protection program. She just had the smallest kid of the season. This little guy weighs in at about a pound and a half but he's up and nursing and doing well. You go guy !

A very handsome BIG buck kid. Maybe a future stud !

You know what they say "Let sleeping kids ......".

Twin red natural color doe kids.

So, to date ........ 9 kids total - 3 boys, 6 girls.
To be continued.

Very Pregnant Nannies

2009-02-16T09:05:00.002-05:00

33 Days 'Til Spring

New Kids on the Block - They're Here !

2009-02-15T13:34:00.005-05:00

After much anticipation the first of our 2009 kids arrived without incident yesterday. TWIN GIRLS ! Yeah ! The nanny, Allie or BWBA #9, is one of our oldest mothers this year. The new kids are BWBA #402 and BWBA #403. Both are healthy girls. They arrived a bit earlier than we had calculated but that was an arithmetic error on our part.

Welcome to the farm - girls !
34 Days 'Til Spring

6 Days 'Til Baby Goats - 37 Days'Til Spring

2009-02-12T16:19:00.002-05:00

Yesterday and today we sheared our pregnant nanny goats - 35 in all. This is about 20 less than we had planned on kidding but that's the way things go sometimes. On the plus side is that all of our girls looked great and we will not mind the shortened kidding season at all ! Sometimes an unexpected break is a good thing. Now in just about another week, we should have our first kids of 2009. Can't wait ! Many pictures to follow.

8 Days 'Til Baby Goats, 39 Days 'Til Spring

2009-02-10T07:31:00.002-05:00

Well, we've reached a milestone in the countdown to kidding time. Tonight we put the nannies in the barn. Tomorrow and Thursday we shear. Then we wait, and check, wait some more, check some more. The first kid of 2009 will be goat # 402. Hard for us to believe that we have had 401 Angora kids born on the farm. This number pales in comparison to Texas Angora numbers but for us it represents 15 + years of painstakingly breeding for a "better" fiber animal. Progress is slow. Rule of thumb is it may take 10 generations to breed finer fiber onto your animals. We have focused on this trait in our herd. Fine fiber is what goes into our products. The longer an animal produces a fine grade of hair, the more productive the animal is for us. With little exception, all of our adult animals are producing a kid or yearling grade of fiber. Most of our fiber is sold "raw" to other fiber mills and farms, or used for our own products - we only use kid. Any fiber we do not use is shipped to warehouses in Texas where customers come from all over the world to purchase high quality American mohair.
So, tomorrow we begin our spring harvest....

12 Days 'Til Baby Goats - 42 Days 'Til Spring

2009-02-07T08:46:00.002-05:00

Today we are processing fiber. This is generally what we do during the winter months. Other than the daily farm chores there's not a lot of things we can do outdoors with a foot of ice and snow on the ground. The barn is pretty much set for our kids to arrive and next week we shear our 35 pregnant nannies. Thankfully it is supposed to be above freezing for the next week so maybe some of the snow and ice will melt and we'll feel a hint of spring in the air. Elvis ( pictured above) is ready for some baby goat action as well.

16 Days 'Til Baby Goats

2009-02-03T07:26:00.003-05:00

Just a couple of weeks from now we'll have a new "crop" of kids ! That's right, our main farm crop is our fiber babies - kids and lambs. These animals represent our farm's future in both breeding stock potential and fiber production. Each day brings the excitement associated with opening a gift - we wonder with each potential birth, what's inside ?
Before the kids arrive though we will be shearing the mothers, our nannies. The majority of our nannies are experienced mothers, but we always have a few "first timers" that sometime need a hand getting started. We do around the clock barn checks and only help out when needed.
Angora kids can be delicate the first few hours of life, especially when its cold outside. While our goats kid indoors in the relative warmth of the barn, we are always there checking to make sure everything is ok. Besides, we want to be there when our gifts are opened - there's NOTHING cuter than a baby goat !
Our apologies to all you humans out there - no offense meant.
46 Days 'Til Spring

47 Days 'Til Spring - Ground Hog Day

2009-02-02T13:32:00.002-05:00

The other day we were the recipients of yet one more snow, ice and rain storm combo.
Our solar panels were covered with a sheet of ice as was everything else. There is even a sheet of ice on top of the snow. This makes for a lot of slipping and sliding by all concerned. Where's spring ? What did Punxsutawney Phil say ? 6 more weeks of the white stuff ! Rats ! -or should I say Ground Hogs !

49 Days 'Til Spring

2009-01-31T08:22:00.004-05:00

Counting down until spring arrives helps get us through the long dark days of winter. Spring is an exciting time of new beginnings. While most people think of Autumn as harvest season, for fiber animals producers, Spring is our primary harvest time. This year we have 50 beautiful Cormo and Cormo Cross sheep fleeces to harvest ( in addition to 100 goats to shear ) . Generally, we do not like to "toot our own horn" when it comes to our products but........we think we have some pretty special wool fleeces. For those of you not familiar with cormo sheep, they are a fine wooled sheep originating in Tasmania in the early 1960s. The first Cormo were imported to the US in the 1970s. Cormos were developed by a one-time breeding cross of Corriedale Rams with Saxon Merino Ewes.
The result is a sheep that is particularly hardy and thrifty, producing a beautiful true white fleece, which has a phenomenal staple length ( 3 1/2 - 5 inches ) for it's fineness ( 17 - 23 microns). For more info about Cormo Sheep you can check out the US Cormo website at:
www.cormosheep.com
The fleeces in the picture above were sheared from our flock last year. They are show winners and will soon be made into yarn and roving for sale in 2009. We take exceptional care to make sure our sheep's fleeces remain clean and free from vegetable matter. In order to accomplish this, our sheep are pasture raised year 'round. In the autumn, just before we need to start feeding hay, we place a lightweight cover or sheep jacket on the sheep to keep the hay debris from getting into the fleece. Usually once and sometimes twice during the period that the fleece is covered, the jacket will need to be changed due to the growth of the fleece. This ensures the animal remains comfortable in the cover and the fleece has room to grow. The result is the beautiful, clean, fleece you see in the picture above.

53 Days 'Til Spring

2009-01-28T11:43:00.005-05:00

Today it is snowing ..... AGAIN ! Winter 2008 - 2009 has been pretty cold and snowy so far.
In looking through some photos today I came across this one of our "boys" in the snow with a beautiful background scene. One of the advantages of winter is it allows you to see the "bones" or profile of the landscape without the fluff and clutter ( leaves and grasses) of other seasons -- just the rugged profile of the geography of your "world".
The picture below is taken in the same general area. If you scroll back and forth between the two you will see beneath the lush foliage, the faint outline of the dramatic landscape of winter.

People We Admire - Fritz Kuebel

2009-01-23T08:48:00.003-05:00

Fritz Kuebel has been raising Angora Goats in Texas for nearly a lifetime. Many, many Angora Goat breeders in Texas and around the country can trace their goats' lineage to Kuebel bloodlines. Most of our most highly prized, fine hair, genetics show Kuebel ancestry. Several years ago he suffered an injury to his hip and has been dependent on using a walker to get around. For a less dedicated producer, an injury such as that would put a halt to their ability to work goats, but not Mr. Kuebel. As you can see, he's still out there in his catch, evaluating goats and selecting the best to breed. As the saying goes "You can't keep a good man down".

58 Days 'Til Spring

60 Days 'Til Spring

2009-01-21T08:43:00.003-05:00

Here's a photo of some of last year's tomato harvest. We planted about 90 tomato plants -
Brandywine ( a favorite ), Cherokee Purple, Georgia Peach, Yellow Pear, and Sweet 100.
We processed, canned or froze about 50 lbs of sauce and diced tomatoes.
Currently we're working on selections for this year's planting..... to be continued.....
once we choose !

Lynne Sherwood's Prize Winning Shawl

2009-01-17T11:00:00.000-05:00

It is always nice when yarn customers show us or tell us how they have used our product. This beautiful lace shawl was entered by Lynne in the Skein and Garment Competition at the Fingerlakes Fiber Festival in Hemlock, NY. Look at the "close-up" below. Amazing!

Thanks Lynne !

64 Days 'Til Spring

How Things Look From Here

2009-01-15T20:13:00.000-05:00

Today's Weather :
Snowing
Blowing
10 Degrees F

66 Days 'Til Spring

68 Days 'Til Spring

2009-01-13T17:00:00.000-05:00

Maremmas LOVE The Snow

2009-01-12T10:30:00.001-05:00

This is Sirius our 8 year old Maremma Livestock Guardian. He is the patriarch of our family of 5 adult and one adolescent working dogs. When we get a snow storm of significance - say anything more than 3 or 4 inches - we drive the tractor through the fields making paths for the goats to access water, hay and feed. So here you have a perfect example of where a livestock guardian situates himself when he does not want his group of goats to head off down the path without him.
Good Boy !
69 Days 'Til Spring

70 Days 'Til Spring

2009-01-11T11:33:00.000-05:00

Even though its winter we're still busy here on the farm. The cold weather can make animal care more challenging in many ways but the cold also offers some "pluses" that we appreciate. For one thing it assists
us with pasture management. Cold kills off a lot of parasites. It is a cleansing force for the pastures in this respect. We try and leave a couple of our smaller area pastures "open" or devoid of animals during the winter months. This allows the pasture to "cool off" and get ready for newly weaned kids and lambs come spring.

Our first kids are due mid-February. Lambs April 1st. They'll be ready for grazing just about the same time our pastures are really growing full out.

We do a lot of work in order to prepare for kidding season. We began last year after we moved the final group of our ewes and lambs out of the barn in late May. The barn floor had been built up with a layer of composting bedding, with always fresh, clean material on top. This allowed the warmth generated from below, to keep the kids and lambs comfortable during the cold months.
All this had to be removed or mucked out and scraped down to the concrete. We then use lime to neutralize the effects of manure. The kidding pens ( areas of the barn where we can isolate new mothers with their kids from the flock for "bonding" purposes) are treated in much the same way.
Then, during the summer the barn interior is whitewashed. It's an old practice that again uses a lime slurry to clean and disinfect the barn. Every reachable surface is sprayed and the inside of the barn is sparkling white. If we're lucky we can manage a day or two of sparkling white, but not too often. It's a good feeling though fleeting.
This time of year we're starting to build up the heating layer of the barn floor
so the bedding is thick and warm once again. Feed and water pails need to be inventoried and cleaned. Supplies need gathering. We try and intervene as little as possible and let the nannies "do their thing", but kidding in February in upstate NY can be chilly. The newbies need to get dry and warm - FAST. So we always have plenty of towels, a hand held blow dryer and a heat lamp available if the need arises. Barn checks are every couple of hours once the festivities begin and you can always count on a blizzard timed perfectly to occur at the first signs of a laboring nanny. The barn stays toasty warm though and we usually take the latest book being read with us to await the birth.
Its the circle of life on a small scale.

The Beauty of Winter

2009-01-10T09:18:00.000-05:00

A New Year

2009-01-09T08:07:00.000-05:00

It's been quite a while since we've had the time to even think about the luxury of sitting at the computer to post something on our blog. But now that winter has truly arrived with a BANG ! and the out of doors work has slowed a bit, I need to spend a bit of time catching up here.
When I last posted an entry we were getting ready to shear kids. Well, here's what's happened since then ( Monarch Note version) :

-We sheared 100 adult goats (actually our shearer Jeff Traver sheared, we skirted, vaccinated etc.)
-We did our second cutting of hay
-We stacked the hay in the barn
-We fenced in a new 10 acre pasture
-We processed 250 pounds of fiber for our Fall shows
-We harvested 10 huge red cabbage from our garden
-We made and canned 15 pounds of sauerkraut
-We harvested bushels and bushels of tomatoes
-We canned quarts and quarts and more quarts of sauce
-We harvested peppers : sweet peppers, fry peppers, hot peppers
-We roasted and canned lots of peppers
-We dried a lot of hot peppers
-We attended the Fiber College in Searsport, Maine
-We attended the Fingerlakes Fiber Festival in Hemlock, NY
-We lost the brakes on our truck on the way home and had to replace all the brake lines
-We placed 6 bucks with 6 groups of nannies for breeding
-We purchased a beautiful fine fleeced, natural colored ram lamb from Alice Field
-We placed 2 rams with 2 groups of ewes for breeding
-We processed more fiber
-We attended the NYS Sheep and Wool Festival
-We removed all the breeding bucks and put all the nannies back in the same pasture
-We repaired our sock knitting machines with the help of Marvin our sock machine repair friend
-We ate Thanksgiving dinner
-We ultrasounded all our breeding nannies to confirm breeding
-We discovered that one of our bucks had not done his job
-We attended the Hawthorne Valley School Yuletide Fair ( a truly wonderful local Waldorf School)
-We had a huge ice storm and were without power for 6 1/2 days ( Yes, even though we have the solar panels, we net meter or feedback electric to the grid. When the grid goes down our panels must shut off as well. If we were to continue producing power and feed it through the grid it would electrocute those folks working to repair the lines - not a good thing.)
-We celebrated the holidays and new year with friends and family
-We wish everyone a Happy and Healthy New Year
-We took a deep breath.

There- now you' re up to speed !
Cheers !

Summertime and the Living is Easy ?

2008-07-30T08:58:00.000-04:00

Here we are at the, just about, mid-point of summer. The first cut of hay just got stacked in the barn. Now we wait a few weeks and start on the second cutting. The nanny goats have weaned their kids. The lambs are beginning to be weaned. It's sort of like the seventh inning stretch for us and our farm.
In between the exhausting haying work, we've been re-doing many of our fences and catch pen areas so our animal maintenance work will be easier. We still have a few to go, and nows the time to do it.
Our first born group of kid goats is just about 6 months old. It is always amazing how fast they grow and how quickly the year progresses. We'll be shearing some of them for the first time tomorrow, harvesting coveted kid mohair -- the first clip of fiber from the goat. Kid mohair is a special fiber. It is the softest, finest hair the goat will produce in its lifetime. It is also the ONLY
fiber from the animal with one cut end ( cut ends can add to the "itch" factor). Kid mohair describes a "grade" of fiber less than 30 microns and can be obtained from any age angora goat.
First Clip Kid Mohair, is a special fiber only obtained once in the goats life.
This is the fiber we use in our custom line of knitting yarns.
Over the next month or so, we'll shear all the goats and get them ready for breeding season.
We'll then have all that fiber to look forward to processing during the fall and winter !

Show Biz

2008-06-30T12:04:00.000-04:00

Well, we arrived back from the VAGMA Show tired but happy.
Friday saw us on the road headed south toward Lewisburg, West Virginia and
the annual Virginia Angora Goat and Mohair Association Show and Sale. This year's judge was Mac Gilliat from Leakey, Texas.
Getting ready for a show involves a lot of animal preparation, a trip to the vet for a health certificate and interstate transport papers and time on the road away from the farm. All that time and effort was worth the trip for us. Our string of show goats this time around, faired well among their competitors. BWBA goats took Grand and Reserve Champion Doe and Reserve Champion Buck. Needless to say we are very pleased with our results. Nine goats went to the show and here's how they did:

Kid Does
BWBA1347 - First Place
BWBA1349- Third Place

Yearling Does
BWBA1294 - First Place - and - Grand Champion Doe
BWBA1312 - Second place - and - Reserve Champion Doe
BWBA1296 - Third Place

Adult Does
BWBA1274 - Second Place

Kid Bucks
None Shown

Yearling Bucks
BWBA1310 - First Place and Reserve Champion Buck
BWBA1303 - Third Place Buck

Adult Bucks
BWBA1251 - Second Place

We are hoping to post some pictures from the show once they're available.

The First Time

2008-06-06T16:00:00.000-04:00

It has taken us some time to get up to speed with the rest of the world, but we've finally entered the realm of the blog.
For those of you who do not know us : for the last 16 years we have raised Angora goats on our farm in Columbia County, New York. About 8 years ago we added our first Cormo Sheep. Our farm census at the moment - goats and sheep, including this year's "new arrivals" - borders the 200 mark. The primary focus of our efforts is fiber production although we also farm 100 acres of hay. We practice sustainable agriculture and 6 maremma livestock guardians patrol the pastures at all times. Fiber from our animals is processed on the farm in a "mini-mill" which we purchased in 2001. We produce roving, yarn and socks as well as raw fleece, washed fleece and dyed locks.The mill is powered by 84 solar panels. We net meter and keep track of our power consumption.This way we are sure to not use more power in processing our fiber, than we produce. Our products contain ONLY the animal fiber that is produced on our farm. While we know that many other farms produce quality fiber, we want to KNOW where our fiber comes from, KNOW what the animals are fed, KNOW where they graze, KNOW what else does or does not go into and on their bodies and KNOW that the fiber we are offering to our customers has been raised humanely in to good old USA and farm workers have been paid a living wage.

We have had a website for many years, and a wonderful webmaster in Nicole. However, we wanted an informal venue to share more of the "happenings" on our farm with some of the folks who frequent our sales booths at the many shows we attend.
Our plans for this blog are to provide you with up to the minute (almost) news regarding the latest, breaking farm and fiber activities. We'll post the latest roving colors, the hot off the spinner new yarn blends and colors, just completed patterns, and pictures of the kids and lambs as they are born each February and March .
Since we're just getting started, I'll end it there and invite you to visit our website for more of the "history and herstory" of Buckwheat Bridge Angoras. We believe its important to know where our fiber comes from - how about you? http://www.bwbagoats.com