Close Quarters Cooking and Goat Sorting

Here is my new kitchen!  Prior to moving in, I thought my cooking would be severely hampered by the small workspace, but with a little ingenuity and a few workarounds, things are going well. I think we got a great trailer. All of the appliances and plumbing work and the cabinets are well-made with real oak doors. Finding where to keep everything is a work in progress, but we have adjusted our habits quickly-- washing dishes immediately after use is definitely the way to go!

I brought my large crock pot with me and it is stored under the seat of one of the benches at the dinette, I use it about once a week and cook beans, soup, or carne guisada. It's a six quart cooker, so I always have some left to freeze for later.  The crock pot is really nice because it doesn't heat up the trailer like the midget oven or stove top does. I have one small counter space area and do most of my chopping and mixing there, but also use the dinette table for that. Of course,  the dinette table is also the place where we compute! So there's is a bit of shifting while doing anything. I feel very fortunate that Danny's house has electricity as I have hooked up my full-size refrigerator in his 'living room'. This allows us to have a big freezer and a place to put extra milk and Gatorade. Outside, I have my trusty gas grill, which produces all types of yummy stuff.

Does exploring their 'new' pasture

Today, we did the monthly 'goat shuffle' a couple of days early. In July, we put Billy BA in the middle pasture with some of the open 'girls.' To do that, we put the does with kids and the doelings not old enough to breed yet in the Triangle with the donkeys. In the lower pasture, we put the young bucks and wethers. Well, that didn't last long as Melonhead and Doll's boys braved the electric fence to get back to 'momma'. (Geeesh. If you are so big you have to lay on the ground to nurse, it's time to give up the milk!)

Crying for Momma

So we had a little goat rodeo today. Danny got all of the goats in the two connected round pens, then we segregated all nine of the boys from the girls. The boys got CL vaccine boosters, fly spray and a hoof trim before we all about passed out from the heat. Danny led all the boys to the Triangle with a bucket of feed, and I brought up the rear, driving the slow pokes. Dan had to carry Brownknee to the Triangle cuz he did NOT want to go! We got them all penned up and are now listening to Melon, Spot and Brownknee whine about missing mommy.

The three donkeys took over the Middle Pasture, and all the does and kids are relaxing in the lower pasture. July and August are tough on the goats and donkeys due to the forage not growing as fast. And donkeys eat a lot! This will be their first time without any goats in their pasture in several months, so I figure they can  use the break. It will also allow us to feed them separately from the goats.

If BA got his job done, we should have baby goats in December!  Great Red Spot and Flower had been with him earlier, so they may kid out in October.  In October or November (we haven't decided yet), we will set up all the eligible girls with one of the bucks.  Jupiter should be raring to go by then... he's got the beard for it!