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April Greetings!
Hi!
My name is Bethany however, everyone calls me Beth or Beth-Joy! I thought for my frst post I would just tell you all a little bit about me, my family and our farm, Covenant Ranch.
I am one out of eleven children. I have seven brothers and three sisters. The oldest in my family is 21 and the youngest is yet to be born. 🙂 I am fifteen in June. My little sister, Sarah-Grace, and I both share our birthday. I have a horse named Miracle. I enjoy helping my brothers and sisters with their animals. Besides our lovely little herd of Kinder goats, we have two milks cows, two meat cows, one busy beehive, one Arabian horse, one Quarter horse, our sweet little herd of hair sheep, an assortment of chickens, chicks, ducks, and one goose that thinks she is the queen of the barn. We also have a very fluffy little puppy and two cats!
Sarah-Grace, Elisha (one of my older brothers), Timothy (one of my younger brothers) and I all take care of the goats together. Elisha and Sarah do most of the milking, Timothy does a lot of the feeding, with Elisha’s help, and Sarah and I take care of the kids. I am also in charge of selling the milk to our customers who come to our farm, giving farm tours and keeping track of all the paperwork and farm activity.
These are some pictures of our farm.
Our property flooded so the boys all went fishing with pitch forks. They caught three fish. =)
This is our bee hive. Timothy takes care of all the bee hives for our family. He is only 10 but he loves bees!
This is my youngest brother Matthew. He is very athletic. Matthew, Elisha, Bekah (my oldest sister), and I all go running together. Matthew and I ran in the Dover race last year. =)
This is our Jersey milk cow. She really loves my little brother Josiah. Josiah takes care of all the cows.
These are our chickens. They love to sit on our front pourch!
This is Liberty, one of our Kinder Kids that was born in the Spring of 2009. Matthew nick-named her Libby. She is one of our sweetest does’s. She was bred just last month. I can’t wait to see the kids that she gives us.
I’m excited to share with you all the activity at my house this month. I hope you all enjoyed the pictures!
For the love of goats,
Miss Beth Joy Wood
The End
Well, the last weekend of March was beautiful. A little rain, but balanced with some sun and warmer temperatures. Saturday, thanks to family, we got our hay barn finished.
Next thing I need to do is order some gravel to place inside of the barn, just a few minor checks and adjustments and it is ready to put hay in, however, our tractor is currently residing inside the barn. 
Sunday, I took my Working goat project group for a short hike. It’s the first hike for this year, so we all have lots of conditioning to do with our goats. Three of the kids have kinder wethers for their pack animal and the fourth (my son Tyler) has a 1/2 Kinder and 1/2 cashmere wether which was our first bottle baby. The three black ones are from a set of quads I raised last year on a bottle, the fourth I sold for a breeding buck. 
This is the start of our hiking and packing season, for the rest of the summer, we have adopted a trail from the Missouri Conservation Dept. which we will check and maintain monthly. May and possibly September the pack group will have an over night campout there.
This is the start of our hiking and packing season, for the rest of the summer, we have adopted a trail from the Missouri Conservation Dept. which we will check and maintain monthly. May and possibly September the pack group will have an over night campout there.Last year was my first campout with goats, roughing
it”, in a tent, with no bathrooms or running water. It was an experience for all, I read a lot on North American Packgoat Assoc. website, then I had to convince the other goat people goats could be tethered safely on a picket line or on individual stakes. One person offered to bring their trailer to put the goats in over night, but I did point out that most would have their mode of transporting their own goat there and could use that if needed. All goats were staked out overnight with no problems or anything close to a problem. I had mine staked as close to my tent door as I could without them stepping on the tent or chewing on the tent, or soiling tent in some manner. They talked to me until quiet late that night but eventually we all got some rest. As much as you can in a sleeping bag on hard packed dirt, in a tent with two young boys and a tent full of young girls next door.
it”, in a tent, with no bathrooms or running water. It was an experience for all, I read a lot on North American Packgoat Assoc. website, then I had to convince the other goat people goats could be tethered safely on a picket line or on individual stakes. One person offered to bring their trailer to put the goats in over night, but I did point out that most would have their mode of transporting their own goat there and could use that if needed. All goats were staked out overnight with no problems or anything close to a problem. I had mine staked as close to my tent door as I could without them stepping on the tent or chewing on the tent, or soiling tent in some manner. They talked to me until quiet late that night but eventually we all got some rest. As much as you can in a sleeping bag on hard packed dirt, in a tent with two young boys and a tent full of young girls next door.Since the doeling who arrived a week ago Sunday, there have been four more babies this week, two sets of twins both sets of boy/girl and both out of my young buck THF Snickerdoodle. I decided on the name, Tiramisu, for my first doeling, the next buckling looked just like his daddy so I have named him Caboodle, he is with his mom but mom misplaced his sister and being a first time mom didn’t realize she had two babies to care for, so Ginger Snap is in the living room when my husband isn’t cuddling with her on the couch or feeding her a bottle. 
Here’s a picture of the proud new daddy, THF Snickerdoodle.
This Saturday, April 3, will be opening day at the Boone County Farmer’s Market. I have to be there to set up by 7:00 a.m. No sleeping in this weekend either. I will get to celebrate Easter with my husband and my in-laws and then Monday, April 5 my hubby leaves for the armory in Lebanon, MO to get ready to mobilize to Iran for approximately 12 months sometime in the next few weeks. Looks like it will be a very busy summer. Happy kidding all, and look me up at the Kinder Shows this year. Montgomery County Fair in June and MO State Fair in August.
Making Goat Milk Soap
Well it was perfect weather for staying in and working on my soap this weekend. I made several batches in January and February preparing for this summer when I hope to have a booth at a local farmers market. I let my soap cure a minimum of six weeks before using it. This allows the lye to reach a safe Ph. level and the bar to harden. Now I have approximate 12 batches that have cured and it is time to trim and wrap to get ready to sell. I am experimenting with different molds to find something that will give me a nice 4 ounce bar everytime. Here are my latest ones, they are made from a food grade plastic which the soap doesn’t harm while in saponification (this step gets really ho
t) and I don’t have to put a liner in the mold to remove the soap fro
m the mold. With the wooden molds I use either plastic trash bags or freezer paper to line but both have drawbacks. The plastic trash bags leave wrinkles in the corners and the freezer paper is more expensive and more time consuming.
t) and I don’t have to put a liner in the mold to remove the soap fro
m the mold. With the wooden molds I use either plastic trash bags or freezer paper to line but both have drawbacks. The plastic trash bags leave wrinkles in the corners and the freezer paper is more expensive and more time consuming.I have been making soap for about four years. I gotbought my first kinders in 2005 and started making soap in 2006. I was very hesitant to make it because the first thing I read on every book or article telling “How to” make soap, was the warnings and cautions of the dangers of working with lye. Finally after reading, Anne Watson’s book “Smart Soapmaking” I jumped in and gave it a try. Once I began using my home made soap, with the milk from my own goats I have not used anything else. It is fun trying different oils and fragrences for different benefits. Olive oil makes your soap harder, coconut oil provides a nice lather, and of course different essential oils offer their own benefits. There are many websites with recipes and directions on how to make soap so if you haven’t tried it, I highly recommend it. It doesn’t require a lot of goat milk and the finished product feels wonderful and your friends and family will enjoy receiving it as gifts.
Cart Training Your Goat
Training your goat to pull a cart is fun and useful. Pulling a cart is not hard, driving a cart requires two people who both love working with goats, the same amount…Training to pull a cart, first introduce the harness to your goat, put it on him and walk him around. Practice stopping and starting with voice commands, give lots of praise and treats when he responds with the correct behaviour and keep lots of patience when he doesn’t understand or feel like doing it right now. Introduce the cart by letting him sniff of it, pull the cart on one side of you and lead the goat on your other side, this will get him accustom to the sound the cart makes moving and he’ll get used to it being close. When the cart rolling beside him doesn’t bother him, you can hook the cart to your goat. Just for cautions sake, have a second person there to help unhook in case the goat gets frightened. One person to hold and calm the goat and the other to unhook the cart. If your goat has accepted the training so far, you probably won’t have any trouble but always a good idea to be safe. When the goat is pulling the empty cart comfortably, you can begin adding weight in the cart. Use common sense about what you put in, things that rattle go slowly and praise lavishly with treats. When your goat is full grown and in condition they can pull about 1 and a half times their weight. If you have a young goat, keep the load light, up to 3/4 of their body weight. The main things to remember, take the training slowly, repeat each step several times before moving on to the next step, keep it fun and give lots of praise and rewards. You will be rewarded with a goat who is useful and enjoys working. Zack helps me move haybales, bags of feed, fire wood and give kids rides all for peanuts.
Now what I mean by driving being different from pulling. Driving is done when one person is riding in the cart or is behind the goat, giving commands and the goat is responding correctly. Normally the goat is being led when he is just pulling and if he is not pulling my weight he can pull more of whatever chore we are doing. But, it is lots of fun riding in the cart being pulled by your goat. So to train, it really takes two people to get started. After your goat is wearing the harness without problems you will need someone up by his head cueing his response to your verbal command for “giddy up” and “whoa” turning. First tell your goat what you want him to do and if he doesn’t do it have the other person cue him with a lead rope and reward the response. Then do it again, tell him what you want wait a second if no response the other person cues and rewards. Keep the lessons short and frequent, daily would be best. When your goat is comfortable with the commands, gradually have your helper get futher and further away until they are not needed. Practice starting stopping and turning, then add the cart. You will need the helper back when you introduce the cart for safety, for the first couple of times.
Now my personal experience with Zack and driving. He will follow along with me without a lead, so kids can hold the reins but I have to be there to guide him. Zack doesn’t respond to my family as well as he does for me and I can’t lead and give the drive commands at the same time. Also, my family does not have as much fun leading Zack as I do in the cart. I think you see where I am going with this…However, I have a lot of fun working with Zack so I enjoy just leading him while he pulls for me.
Almost Spring
Finally March is here which surely means spring isn’t too far behind. I have had enough snow,ice, slush, and mud…Bring on the flowers and green grass and leaves. My name is Leah Rennick, I live in Hallsville, Missouri which is just 10 miles north of Columbia and I raise Kinder goats. The big gray wether I am scratching in the picture is Zack, he is my packgoat and a real sweetheart. And really “My” packgoat because he doesn’t listen to the rest of my family too good.
This is my husband, Craig. He was raised a city boy which I have transplanted to the country. I bought our first Kinder goats while he was deployed to Iraq in 2005. Craig is a Staff Sargeant in the National Guard reserve and we are getting ready for his second deployment to Iraq. He will be leaving in April so we are rushing this month to raise a hay shelter before he goes. My oldest son, Tyler, is 14 and you can see him here lending a foot.
Tyler, is in 4-H, and has started his own Kinder herd. He bought his first doe, Bramble Patch Kinders Ebony’s Reflection, from Sue Huston. “Ebby” is a beautiful black doe and her first year had twin black bucklings. Tyler decided he wanted a second doe to increase his herd and he wanted a light colored doe for variety. Last year we looked and finally found a doe, Still Meadow Flower Blossom. However, they would only sell her if we took her twin sister also. Her sister was beautiful, so I bought her, then found out she was pregnant. I bought one of her babies also to keep as a second packgoat. So, Tyler’s goat cost me two additional goats. We bred Ebby was to our buck, Tickleweed Hill Farm Treat and they produced two beautiful does this past January, one Tyler is keeping and the other I am keeping. Below is Tyler pictured with the doeling he is keeping. Please notice the very light creamy white color.
This is Justin, my 10 year old son. He is in my 4-H Working Goat project. He has a Kinder wether which he is training to be a packgoat. He is also thinking about buying a Kinder doe to start raising his own Kinders.
I raise Kinders and sell them for breeding stock, companions, and market. I use the milk for home use, but mostly I make cold process goat milk soap and goat milk lotion. I sell the soap and lotion both retail off the farm and whole sale through a small flower and gift shop locally. I have made some cheese, but really love making the soap and lotion.
I am looking forward to being the March blogger and sharing my love of the Kinder goat and how I spend time with my goats with you. For now, it’s time to call it a day and get some sleep…
Wild Blue Cheddar
I made Blue cheese. A long time ago. Blue cheese is easy to make and quite complicated to age. And it takes a long time. My first effort isn’t very good, it is really mild, not the right texture (more like chevre), and has no veins of blue in it. It doesn’t taste bad, it tastes like a very mild blue.
I learned a lot. The biggest thing I learned is that if you do this you are likely to get blue mold loose in your cave. I think it might be real hard to avoid this. I knew this might happen, and I tried very hard to be careful. I kept it in containers I got specifically for this, and the cheese was never exposed to the cave. But you have to turn it over a lot, and you have to handle it. I think mold got on the lid from taking it on and off. I understand that once you have blue mold in your cave it might be impossible to get rid of it. So it might be a good idea to avoid this cheese for awhile, or at least be really paranoid.
So I had a little chunk of cheddar aging in there, and it didn’t have a tight enough seal. It got blue mold. It was about 5 weeks in the cave before I noticed the blue mold. This was a complete accident. I was curious, so I left it alone until it was about three months old. It was an amazing cheese, naturally. It had the flavor of cheddar, plus strong blue, plus a bit of bite at the end, it was really great. It had a nice texture too. I wished it had a bit more salt in it. It’s long gone of course.
I’ve been trying since to replicate it, and the picture is my first attempt. It gets scraped off every so often, this is before that. I think it’s kind of pretty. But I love blue cheese. I’ve got several others working on this in the cave right now, but this is the only one I’ve tasted. It’s not up to that original accidental little piece, at least not yet. I think I’m going to be trying to do this forever. If it could be consistent I think I really would try to find someone to make it commercially. Not me. There are quite a few people making goat cheese commercially in New Mexico.
Unless you really want to experiment and play, and are willing to do the work and take the time (years), and love the flavor of blue cheese, I recommend staying away from blue mold. And if you are all of those things, you may need two caves.
This is going to be my last post, the month is about over. I have really enjoyed doing the blog, I hope reading it hasn’t been too big an ordeal. It was a lot of fun, and I highly recommend it for any of you that haven’t signed up to do it yet. I’m going to miss doing it. But I’m also looking forward very much to hearing from the rest of you!
Have a wonderful weekend, and a terrific year! I hope everyone’s kiddings are perfect. Mine don’t start until the last third of March.
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