Kidding and camping

My, how time flies! The best of intentions to post weekly updates disappeared in keeping up with kidding, preparing for a camping trip to a workshop in eastern Oregon, and finishing (yay!) the interior of the Bunkhouse. Instead of writing, there were regular posts to our Instagram @cloverdalecountryskies with goats behaving, goats misbehaving, and progress on the Bunkhouse.

We also had to make sure everything on the ranch was settled to allow us to travel for a week in Philadelphia for a Braver Angels National Convention celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of independence. Happy birthday to the United States of America!

The last does gave birth in early June for a total kid count of 195 births. Only six of those became bottle kids for a variety of reasons. Sometimes mothers have triplets but don’t have enough milk for all of them, Sometimes the first kid born is too frisky for its own good and wanders off while the doe is busy birthing the second, and she loses track. We lost a few to natural causes for a total of 187. A successful kidding season, and a healthy herd. The big herd is down in the far pasture, a small herd of does and kids is at the big barn next to the house, and the bucks and big wethers (fixed bucks) are working on a project to clean up a neighbor’s weeds and reduce fine fire fuels.

Our other major focus was getting the Bunkhouse ready. New photos have been added to website today and we’ll be offering a discount for July bookings. There are a few finishing touches to go - mounting the solar charged pendant lights, adding curtains to the south windows, installing a screen door to the deck - but those won’t take long. Let us know what you think of the finished project!