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Goat Yoga registration is still open and available for this weekend, July 6th and July 7th. Our gazebos will keep you cool and our baby goats will keep you laughing.
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My mentor once said the at goats originally come from mountains where they may roam and jump on rocks, finding browse in hills and forests. Truly they are alien livestock in the plains of Illinois. Within the environment of a city, their ability to thrive is stimulated by their owner's care. Basic goat care includes the following: Clean water Clean living quarters, no deep litter options. Ability to exercise in sunlight Good hay to eat Minerals to balance odd diets Trimming of hooves For GlennArt we work to maintain our animals beyond the basics. it has been a journey of mine to learn how to care for these animals to thrive in the city. When I started this experience over eight years ago, I had no desire to get this technical. When we became permitted to sell milk by the State of Illinois, life became more integrated. In order to assure these animals live healthy lives, I had to change: Supplements like yeast and kelp; Measurement of grain and nutrition; Fecals, or poo review to understand parasite in goat stomachs; Somatic Counts or infection indicators in mama goat milk; Seven Point check of observations for healthy goats done monthly; COWP timing which is a copper supplement vital to their health; Herbal treatments for Parasites to avoid chemicals as much as possible; Obtain vegetables to provide a variety of food sources (Sugar Beet Food Coop and Whole Foods). This year I have committed to setting up the wonderful GOOGLE FORMS which bring my data from my phone to the spread sheets of information. Every time I change something, I have a form app on my phone. Thank you Google. (Just don't sell my data). It makes me happy to see my girls healthy. Yikes! During our trips to Garfield we also almost ran over a bird on Pulaski and Lake. I looked for a nest in the Elevated train pillars. It turned out to be a baby pigeon. I called the Trailside Museum of Thatcher Woods. Here are the instructions if you find a baby pigeon. As you can see it looks like a small chicken. It had formed wings, close to flying. We tried not to touch it. DO leave it alone when found. DO NOT pick it up and take it. Baby pigeons are fed out of the nest by parents and will be cared for. Opps. DO NOT feed the bird, as it will make it sick. Pigeon parents regurgitate a mix of food for the baby and will feed it on the ground. Do NOT handle it much. We tried not to touch it. So we brought it back to where we found it and praying for its survival. With everything else we have done with goat care and farm work, our urban animal interactions gave us a new understanding of life in Chicago. Sometimes that street cred we receive is a bit surprising. One Sunday in the fall of 2019, the doorbell rang with a total stranger stood there holding a kitten. He had almost run over it on Waller Street. The firemen by the Waller Street fire station told him to give the kitten to the 'goat lady.' She would take care of it.
So I took the kitten, chatted with neighbors, and called friends in Oak Park and Chicago. My neighbor six blocks away found a home for the kitty after about a day. Kittens are cute but demanding. We wished the best for his new home. Our Lab Samples are IN. After complications from kidding season, our quality control on the milk is updated to the first of June. All our girls are now on the milk line. I will be sending lab samples biweekly to check on my goats for health checks on their milk, and once a month for bacteria checks as well.
SOOOO, if you wish raw unpasturized goat milk, please complete the form on the link listed below. I simply cannot remember who is coming unless I receive an email via the order form. Customers may call to confirm arrival to pickup milk AFTER completing the order form online and receive a confirmation email. All inquires made via phone will be directed to the website to complete the form. Thanks to all who have already discovered the form and have been ordering their milk. We hope all future customers will benefit from our product as well. Although chaos hit Tuesday, we are grateful that all babies have arrived safely. I just left the garage. All new babies are quiet, fed, and growing. Mommies are healthy and calm. All goats has a space with water, hay and are clean. Gracie appears calm with few labor signs, our last mommy to kid. I expected a chaotic week; however I was gratefully surprised to have so many people participate in it. My main help after David was my mentor Deborah Niemann-Boehle of Antiquity Oaks Farm. Both Abby and Starry Night birthed twins, male and female from Midnight on Wednesday (Starry Night) to the afternoon of the same day (Abby). I was not present at either birth, arriving as the babies began to stand. The complications came after. Starry Night had a rough kidding alone, she behaved like a millennial Mom: she did not lick and clean her babies completely, but laid down to rest. She made no effort to bring them close; yet was talking with them. All voice and no action. She did not realize she had to provide milk. I waited till 5 am when the situation became critical. Goat babies need colostrum by 6 hours old. Praise God for Deborah Neimann of Antiquity Oaks who took my calls since Wednesday early morning to provide a plan of action. We had to put Starry Night on the milking stand, milk her and feed the babies by bottle or attach them on the teat. She learned unwillingly to cooperate being bribed to get on the stand with apples and carrots. The babies were not latching onto her teat, they needed her to stand still to figure how. Starry Night continued to be nervous until tonight when she calmly received both twins at the same time. While all this was happening, Abby had her kids like a pro at 3 pm. I did not notice her udder to abnormally swollen. At 6 p.m. last night Thursday, she received her evening grain and I found all her udder rubber hard to the touch. Once again I had to contact Deborah Neimann to help me understand what I was observing. California Mastitis Test confirmed the mastitis is acute. We had no medication to respond to this situation. At 7:30 David and I left for a three hour road trip to Romeoville the nearest source of help at Blaine's Farm and Fleet. Praise God it closes at 9 p.m. Abby was producing less and less milk as the infection took over her udder. Medication was administered by 10:15pm Thursday night. As of today, she is still separate from her babies with three treatments; however she is producing more milk after each 12 hour injection. Continual rain did not help. We could not get the goats to the field Wednesday due to the kiddings. We had two hours in the Waller Street pasture before the rain hit again on Thursday at noon. Last night Abby was separated from her babies, resulting in bottle feeding them every three hours. Slowly training Starry Night to nurse every three hours has had an effect. She is much calmer and quieter as she is locked in a pen with them. Esther came into critical labor today at noon with three abnormal deliveries of her triplets, two boys and a girl, together weighed 26 pounds, big babies. Two were born butt first and one with legs back, which can be dangerous, but certainly painful to the mom to push them out. We still have complications with these three as they are not progressing. The rain continued till two this afternoon and again tonight. Our urban farm operates in community and this week the community walked with us with great kindness. People showed up miraculously. When we went to the field on Thursday, Lorel Jankiszewski surprised us with a visit and walked three groups back to our Midway Park property as yet another storm hit. Other folk literally walked into our lives and supported us in the moments that we needed. Roman our ESL student from Belgium cleaned pots and pans late at night, when I was practically living in the garage with the laboring nannies. Kari our Air BNB guest showed up at 7 a.m. to help weigh babies and re arrange spaces to accommodate the increased population. Ali Kushki cleaned floors and hauled supplies at 10 in the night and helped with medicating Abby. The craziest moment was this morning when two women walked up to me to introduce themselves as the owners of the Oak Park Brewing Company on Lake and Austin. AnnMarie and Kristen provided support as Esther labored over her triplets, running into the house for more towels and finding gloves while I was on the floor of the pen with Esther. As a reward, they could name a goat. So Esther's first boy of 2019 was named Stout. We gratefully take this time to give a shout out to those who helped us in our time of need. To date we have two goats in labor in the garage. Starry Night and Abby are due today. Both are uncomfortable and with contractions. We cleaned and cleaned the pens to help the process. It will be an interrupted night as I take a few hours to sleep and then check as their labors progress. More tomorrow.....
Raw unpasturized goat milk will become more available after May 20. I reviewed our birth dates with the breeder information. Hopefully we will be completely finished with kidding season by Friday May 17. After arrival of kids, we set up our milk line operations. I found another article about raw milk that could be interesting to review
https://chriskresser.com/raw-milk-reality-is-raw-milk-dangerous/ Please review our website area called "Get Milk" to order milk after May 20. Earth Fest
Apr 27, 2019 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM Public Works Center 201 South Blvd., Oak Park, Illinois GlennArt Goats will be available to receive snacks from the public! The event focuses on green neighborhoods, sustainable lifestyles and best practices. Highlights include eco-friendly vendors, local chefs and restaurants, games and activities for children, items for sale, and entertainment. In addition, recycling booths will be available for eyeglasses, sun glasses, hearing aids, rechargeable batteries, cell phones and old blue jeans. Event Cost: Free Event times: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Memo, our metal goat is ready for Spring. He will come with me to the Good Food Expo on March 23. I will be providing a lecture on urban goat keeping. Please join us at 1:15 at the UIC Forum. The button above will provide you with the full schedule of lectures. See you there!
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Carolyn Ioder
Seeker, Wife. Mother, English Language tutor, goat farmer, friend Archives
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GOAT NOTES(Carolyn's dates & thoughts)
February
2/4/17 Girls come home! 2/4/2017 applied for Funding WWOOFUSA 2/11/ 2017 Root Riot Meeting at Glennart. Planning garden changes. 2/18/2017 > Urban Livestock EXPO Cheese Document plan EXCEL Program 2/27/2016 > FIRST GGG Gathering March 3/9/2017 Plant: Spinach, lettuce indoors 3/21/2017 First day of SPRING!!!! 3/22/2017 Plant carrots with garlic April 4/1/2016 Plan/repair pasture fencing 4/5/2017 set up potato beds 4/12/2017 Kidding Season begins > Plant potatoes 4/21/17 Milking season begins 4/25/2016 Set up fencing May > Kidding season continues 5/20/17 Spring Gathering 5/25/16 plant Sweet potato in beds watermelon. squash 5/10/16 Cheese making begins 5/15-7/2/16 Last two does duePatsy and Destiny June July Sale of bucklings August > Sale of bucklings > Weaning begins September > Cheese making continues October > Sale of doelings > Cheese making continues November > Dry out the does December > Does to Wisconsin for breeding |