Love on the Farm

"Something in the way she MOOS,Attracts me like no other lover,Something in the way she woos me, I don't want to leave her now,You know I believe and how." -The Beatles

Image Credit

I took liberties with the lyrics of the Beatles famous love song, "Something," but you get the picture, it is the Season of Love at our Maker's Acres Family Farm.  Nellie, our Nubian momma goat, has been in milk for a year and a half.  It is time to dry her off and have her bred.  Her daughter, Annie, is a year and a half old and it is time for her to be bred.  The only problem is we don't have a billy goat to breed them.

Tricia made contact with a friend of hers that lives an hour and a half away who has a registered Nubian billy goat that will be more than happy to breed Nellie and Annie. While I was at work, Tricia, Benjamin and my Mom & Dad took our goats on a date and drove them an hour and a half away where we'll leave them for 3 weeks. Hopefully, when we pick them up, they'll both be bred and in about 150 days, we'll have baby goats.

Annie (left) and Nellie (right) ready to go on a trip

Upon arrival, we found that Tricia's friend's farm was right on the river - one of the deepest in Louisiana and one with a very swift current.  The goats walk right down to the river's edge to drink water.  How cool is that? They don't have to worry about water troughs!

Nellie and Annie getting to know the other goats by the river

They have a Great Pyrenees like us.  I bet their dog doesn't eat chickens, though.  He appears to be a good guardian of the goats.

Learning to drink from the river

The goat pasture is a long, narrow pasture that runs alongside the water.  I like the arched gate.

The River Gate

There are also calves in the pasture.  You can see a bridge in the background.

We were so happy to find someone with a registered Nubian to breed our goats.  As Tricia talked to her friend, she discovered that she had a Jersey cow named Bessie, that she needed bred but didn't have a registered Jersey bull.  Well, we could help! Tricia called me and told me that they were bringing home Bessie for a 3 week date with Bully, our registered Jersey bull.  Funny how that worked out!

Bessie in the trailer ready to come to our house for a visit

We got Bessie home, unloaded her, and put her in the paddock with Bully and a fresh bale of hay. Daisy, Rosie and Amy ran and ran, excited about the new addition to the pasture.  Bessie is taller than our two Jersey cows.  We're milking her in addition to Daisy and Rosie.

Bessie eating hay in the paddock with Bully

Bully has been following Bessie around, but Bessie is not in standing heat yet.  We'll continue to watch her.  In three weeks when we return Bessie to her home and bring Nellie and Annie back home, we hope that all three animals are bred.  Love is indeed in the air.