Happy New Year Everyone!!

We reflect on the past year and give thanks for all the good times and good people we have had the opportunity to meet.  2011 will be another beginning to improve our milking herd of Nigerians even more.  The milk test will let us know how we are doing.

We are on the edge of our seats waiting for UDiamond to kid.  We call her Diamond and she is a Diva. She is a Uni Daughter sired by Galaxy.  She will be two in February and she is bagged up and ready to kid by Mr General.  Her udder is really nice already and she is such a beautiful doe.  This breeding is bringing together Eclipse, Tiger and Uni.  Mr General is line bred on Eclipse and has produced very consistent wide rears and beautiful toplines.  Diamond is already perfect and really is spectacular when she is clipped up with her golden, glistening coat.  We just need to verify her greatness in the milk pail.  She knows she is special and struts her stuff like the queen she is.  She is a sweet heart and loves her mom...

Mr General's first daughters as yearlings will be kidding in 2011.  Galloway is bagging up (BOB and Jr Doe), Brat's daughter by Mr General, Rosa, and several others.  Pay Off is just starting to bag up by Mr General son, Mr Marine.  One daughter out of Silver by Mr General has kidded, but she is very small  (snow granddaughter) and her udder is good, but not spectacular.  She kidded before a year old and was a triplet.  She had a single doe who is so fat she can hardly walk.  I plan on milking her a bit to see how much she is producing, but will wait until next year to see what she can really do in the milk pail.  The baby doe is beautiful and we will grow her out a bit to see how she matures.  Both the mom and baby are very friendly and the baby pesky.  It is neat how some goats are just friendly and seek out attention, while others prefer to stay at a distance and just watch you...

Have a Great New Year and be safe!!!

Christmas Wishes to All...

It is Christmas Eve and we are working to milk the girls and get everyone ready for the Christmas Holiday.  We want to thank all our Clients and Customers for a wonderful 2010.  We could not have accomplished our goals without your support.  Thank You Everyone!!
We plan to work even harder for 2011 and bring you more GOATS THAT MILK and sheep and goat products of outstanding quality.



Since our Blogger does not seem to give a darn about the picture upload not working, we are not sure what to do.  We may just do a monthly newsletter to let folks know what is happening.  We have so many folks who enjoy our blog, but if we can no longer up load pictures...  It is of little value.  Especally since I love to photograph everything and let folks see through my eyes...


We appreciate you all and want to wish you a Merry Christmas and an even better New Year for 2011!!
Thank you,Terry Babb
Oldesouth Farm

Heading into the Holidays...

Time moves to fast for me...  Thanksgiving is over and the Christmas Season is upon us.  Our weather went from warm to cold again and we are checking for snotty noses on our young kids.  Extra bedding and full bellies keep the babies warm.



We are preparing to go on DHIR (Dairy Herd Improvement Registry) Test and working out the many details.  Once we get going, things will sort themselves out.  We have been milking with the Capralite Machine, which has been wonderful, once a day, until the kids are weaned.  We will milk twice a day once the kids are weaned.  We are milking 8 does now, until several others freshen.  We have several kids who are half bottle babies.  What does that mean??  We are milking mom in the morning and if she has triplets, we need to bottle them to keep the kids from attacking mom and biting teats while they fight for a teat.  We have a couple of kids who have just decided they want some bottle too and show up for a snack.  This tames the kids, but gives us the flexibity to not have to bottle them while at work.  The kids have mom during the day, until moms are locked up at night for morning milking.


The fresh Nigerian milk is wonderful and the cheese even better.  The yield of cheese, with the Nigerians, compared to the Nubian is almost double.  Nigerians have more milk fat and protein.  The smaller teats of the Nigerian makes it difficult to hand milk.  My hands are large and shot from hand milking.  My Nubian Ariel is hand milked because she has large teats and it takes just a few minutes to milk her.  We will be the FIRST and ONLY Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Herd on DHI test in Alabama! 


As our does freshen, we will milk them and decide who to keep and who to move on.  These does will be used to milking both with a machine and by hand.  We do have a waiting list for milk stand trained goats.  If you are interested in a home milker, let us know and we will add you to the list.  These will not be record breaking producers, but will give enough milk for the average family.  Some may even end up quite nice down the road if one continues to milk them.  The more you milk your goats, the more milk they will produce.  The less you milk, the less they produce.  It looks like the blogger photo insertion is not working, so we will cut this short and add photos at another time.  I have some great shots of Oldesouth Blue Alexa's second freshening udder.  It is really nice and she is milking over a pound and a half once a day.  She may just qualify for her star this year.  We will wait and see.  The cold weather has the girls giving less milk.  They milk the best at about 50 to 70 degrees.  I think this will ease up once the girls get used to the colder weather. 



We are going to move in another large storage shed type building to make into a milking Parlor and clean up area.  It will be heated and cooled and have hot & cold running water.  It will be a joy to milk, no matter the weather.  It will not be Grade A or anything, but comfortable for us and the girls.  We won't have the water dripping on our heads either.  When we have frost on the metal buildings, as soon as the sun comes up and it begins to thaw, it is like a rain forest dripping on us.  It is absolutely miserable...  Enough for now...