Fall Kidding Underway...

brief update from the Heartland Goats farm.

You know, I really hate using a computer, but if these sort of posts inspire someone else to unplug from the machine it was all worth it ;)

Thus far we have 20 new kids from 11 mothers. 10 sets of twins, 1 single birth, 1 kid buried.

I was not so sure about hauling my pregnant goats across the country from California to West Virginia and how it would affect the kidding season, but so far so good... Goats are hardy beasts. Especially when you cull for better genetics each year.

. . . our guardian dog keeps everyone safe.

For most of these goats this is their 2nd kidding this year, the last being January 2023. We have been able to get 17% more frequent kiddings by switching from a 12 month kidding cycle to a 10 month kidding cycle. We were shooting for every 8 months after a phone call 2 years ago with Dr. An Peischel and Dr. Frank Pinkerton, but we are happy with 10. If we weaned and creep fed the kids sooner we think we could do better. In 2024 we will shoot for August births.

This is our 5th year, 6th kidding. Off the top of my head it's been something like 250 kids born over this time.

Our history makes us more confident each season. We are hands off, like some cattlemen, and I mean it. I only touched one of the twenty kids so far. I felt bad he was on the top of a hill and his mom and sibling were on the bottom. I probably did not have to move him and I hate to touch them when they are under a week old but I had just buried that one kid earlier in the day and it makes your confidence flounder.

A few more twins are born a moment later and your confidence is restored.

I will ear tag all the girls when the time comes, but I might just sell the boys untouched until the day they leave this farm either to live sale, butcher or to auction. That will be in roughly 9-12 months depending on the weight.

We sold 90 goats before we left California, so this remaining flock is the best we’ve got and they are earning their keep.

One of the major impetuses for moving to West Virginia, including many many more, are some numbers I'll share with you briefly.

These are our annual feed costs for the last 5 years.

2019: First year did not track.
2020: $7300
2021: $6100 (switched to Big Bales which are more cost effective)
2022: $8900 (Covid made all commodity costs climb drastically)
2023: $3600 ($2700 of this was spent the first 6 months we were still in California)

Next year I project we will spend $1500 on goat feed for the whole year! Mostly 4x4 round bales of pasture hay. This is the difference between farming in California and farming in the Mid-west and West of Appalachia. Feed costs are simply astronomical in California ensuring only the largest of producers can survive. The Big Livestock Conglomerates tend to contract out their feed in advance for tax purposes and to lock in a price for several years driving up the cost for everyone else. It is very difficult to run a small farm in states with such high cost inputs. It is the local politics too. There are almost no goat farms in Massachusetts where I am originally from. Sure you can still become an Engineer in these states and make money working for the Globalist Silicon Valley machine staring at a screen all day, but why would anyone want a desk job when you can watch Goats all day instead?

We all know the answer as to why people choose such soul-sucking jobs. Because most people want to live like a boss on $1000 Mammon St.

. . . I would rather look out at this every day instead

It is nice to be surrounded by fellow farmers here. Most of my neighbors have a hay baler. We can bale our own hay someday too! The local farmers stop by and admire our goats and cheer us on. What a difference from where we came from.

Everyone is loving West "By God" Virginia. It really does seem like Almost Heaven sometimes. . . We feel blessed every single day that we ended up here.