3/16/2020 0 Comments NutmegNutmeg is Olive's doeling. Nutmeg and her sister Ginger are both growing fast and are solid bundles of Guernsey! Olive is producing well at 6 cups at morning milking, her udder is improved upon last year with more rear capacity and she is extremely easy to milk. Olive also recovers very well from her pregnancies. Nutmeg has excellent genetics from her sire as well, milk and show lines. She is the full package of beauty and function!
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3/9/2020 0 Comments GingerGinger is one delightfully spunky Guernsey doeling! She is perfectly put together, has a fantastic personality and will be a registered American Guernsey. Guernseys are a rare breed in the United States. We are a part of the breeding up program to continue and improve the lines of this mid-sized, docile, hearty, easy to care for breed. Her dam, Olive, has a well attached udder, perfectly placed and easy to milk teats. She easily gives me 6 cups in the morning and I know she's holding back for her twins!
If you'd like to add Ginger to your herd, contact us today! 3/3/2020 0 Comments DaleDale is one of Delta's bucklings and he is a classic, low key, content, happy to snuggle Guernsey boy, with a curious, gentle temperment. Dale has the beautiful dark gold coloring we love about the Guernseys. He also has nice conformation so far, a smaller head and moves well. Dale's dam, Delta, gives 1/2-3/4 gallon a day depending on where she is in her lactation, and has an overall well connected udder that is easy to milk. His sire's dam is an excellent producer as well.
3/2/2020 0 Comments GlenGlen is growing into quite the buckling. He is the biggest and tallest of all the Guernsey goat kids. A friendly guy with a sweet face! Look out Ginger, here comes Glen! Glen will make a fine breeding buck for a growing Registered Guernsey herd or anyone looking to add the Guernsey qualities to their herd. Guernseys bring a quiet, docile temperment, beautiful long coats, great production with low grain in-put, and hardiness against parasites. Contact us to add Glen to your herd!
3/1/2020 0 Comments Sunday ScramblingsIt's a slippery day out in the paddock but that's not slowing down these cute Guernsey kids! It's good to be a week old!
2/27/2020 0 Comments Guernsey Kids!Olive and Delta's kids are growing well and they are learning to navigate the herd with the help of their respective dams. During the day they are in the large loafing area and paddock with all the goats and sheep where there's lots of room to run and play. At night we close up the dams and their kids together in a safe pen. Olive's doeling, Nutmeg, has the cutest floppy ears that somehow developed after her first night (perhaps a super mild case of frosty ears?) and each day they stand up a little more! She is quite the package of spunky, friendly, straight, and well put together Guernsey; plus she's curious and adventurous! The human kids all want to keep her! Her sister, Ginger, is beautifully put together as well but loves to stay near mum and the milk! It has become increasingly difficult to get pictures of these spunky kids as they spend their days running, bopping and bouncing around. So we have to entice them with scratches to hold still! Here's Nutmeg enjoying some rubs while Ginger sleeps. Delta's bucklings enjoy the safety of having a herd queen mother....but it also means no one else can safely play with them without Delta biting ears and tails that come to close to her precious boys! Glen is the heaviest and tallest of the Guernsey kids so far. He has a nice mid gold coat with brown socks and tail. His brother Dale is a bit smaller but with all his nursing and napping, I am sure he'll catch up to his brother in no time. But when it comes to baby goat racing, Dale wins everytime, with Nutmeg close behind! We have another week before more babies are born on the homestead. Iris is due to lamb the first week in March and Debutante is due to kid March 19th! Their baby bellies are looking lovely.
2/23/2020 0 Comments Delta's DayIt started off calm and ended with quite the bang. After her morning breakfast, Delta took to just standing around and seemingly looking for the right spot to kid in this big new barn. After a few hours I helped her select the freshly cleaned and bedded "kidding suite". Once settled, she promptly began to dig herself some nests. About an hour later, at 11am, she began to push with some regularity. At noon I was bottle feeding our calf, when my kids told me they were starting to see the baby's sac when she pushed. For the next hour she pushed long and hard with very little progress, which is not typical of Delta's past births. When I was able to determine there was no nose or hooves presenting, I popped the sac to reveal a very sideways back and tail. The kid's legs were tucked up under in a twisted breech position. After trying to see if I could gently pull at the legs to get them into position it became apparent that Delta was not going to be able to easily deliver a baby in this position. This was the first time we've had a presentation like this so I had my kids call our neighbor who has a little more goat experience than I for some backup knowledge. But before she could make it, we went ahead with Ben holding Delta steady, I reached in to find both of the kid's legs. I think it was about the 3rd try and coordinating with her push, I was able to pull out baby number one, a good sized, alert, buckling! Delta went right to talking to and cleaning him off. A few minutes later, a hoof appeared....a rear hoof. A quick inspection showed the other foot was hiding. After Delta had 2 good pushes with no progress, I was able to quickly reach in, pull the other leg from under the baby and on her next push I pulled the baby out, another healthy sized buckling, who was already smacking his lips and tongue for the milk! Again, Delta went right to work talking to and cleaning off her second baby while the first was finding his legs and searching for the milk! Meet American Guernsey buckling "Glen".... and American Guernsey buckling "Dale". We now have a little break until the next kids are born and that'll give us lots of time to snuggle the healthy lamb and 4 kids bouncing around the barn!
Check out our facebook page for a little video of these sweet guys and mama Delta, https://www.facebook.com/The-Lower-Homestead-250601325812886/ Contact us if you are interested in one of these bucklings for your herd! 2/22/2020 0 Comments Kidding has begun!Olive kicked off kidding season this morning with two adorable doelings! She began pushing at 9am and had both of them birthed by 9:30. Olive is an excellent mama and we are very pleased with these active, and alert doelings sired by our purebred Guernsey buck, Worth it Farms Joe Cotton. Doeling #1, "Nutmeg", is a dark gold, slightly more petite and quiet, yet vigorous! Doeling #2, "Ginger", is more of a mid-gold, taller, quite the talker, curious and vigorous. Both doelings meet breed standard and will be registered American Guernsey.
Contact us if you are interested in reserving one of these doelings. 12/26/2019 0 Comments Who's Right for your herd? Part 3Our 2 youngest does are Treasured Rosegold and Treasured Shimmer. Both of these does kidded singles this year, were excellent mothers and have been long, steady producers. They are still milking once a day at almost 10 months and 9 months fresh respectively. Treasured Rosegold, we call her Ivy, is exceptionally friendly, has fantastic conformation, a beautiful udder and raised a fast growing, super friendly lap-goat doeling this spring, Goldfinch. Ivy is a registered British Guernsey and was bred to Joe Cotton. Her offspring will be BG as well. A buckling out of this breeding will raise or maintain your herd's Guernsey status, and could bring heavy milk and show potential. A doeling would add a Purebred Guernsey to your herd and would most likely have the friendly, beautifully put together and excellent udder genetics of her dam and sire. Treasured Shimmer, we call her Ruthie, has a beautiful little spirit and is a power-milker for the little goat that she is. Her lovely long locks make her stand out in a herd. She raised a hardy, spunky buckling this spring, making close to 3/4 of a gallon while dam raising and became steady at a 1/2 gallon a day. She is still going strong milking 3 cups each morning. She comes from long lactation lines and we are seeing that here. We bred her to Stumphollo Jeroboam this fall like last year. A buckling out of this breeding would bring British Guernsey status to your herd and also raise the American Guernsey level of offspring in your herd. He could also pass on milky lines, sturdy build and the great Guernsey long hair, all with a docile personality. A doeling will add a British Guernsey to your herd with potential to be a fantastic milker with a darling personality, that's certain to be a show stopper in the show ring.
Deposits for Reservations open January 1st. Feel free to email us for more information on who might be right for your herd! |
We are the Lowers....a homesteading, homeschooling, family of seven living in central Maine. We aim to be purposeful in what we do each day as we strive to be good stewards of God's gifts. Archives
February 2021
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