2. Goats, pink eggs, and the name (River Rock Ranch)

I love being able to ask these question.

 

1.  When Matthew heard that you were getting goats he was so excited because if we do get a chance to visit this summer he said you will now have milk from the goats.  I told him that I don't think that you just get milk from whatever goat you want.  So, do all goats give milk or does this have to do with goats that had babies before?  How does that work? Goats have to be bred to milk. They only go into heat in the fall, which I think is pretty cool, so they're babies are born when there is plenty of great grass. Then they milk for about a year, sometimes less. The babies can nurse and then you can have the milk after they've been weaned, but I like to just milk the doe and bottle feed the babies. Usually there's plenty to share. Laverne gave about a gallon a day during the peak of her lactation curve, so definitely enough.

 

2. (Laurens question)  Wow, what chickens lay pink eggs? I've never seen any pink eggs because they're really rare, but Ameraucanas can lay them.* Our Ameraucanas only lay different shades of green and blueish green though.

 

3. (Matthew question)  Why is the ranch called River Rock Ranch? Well, if you've seen our Ranch there are so many rocks it's not even funny. It's really pretty, but makes putting fence posts in really hard. We didn't name it that though. When we moved in that's what it was called, there's a big sign above the driveway.

*There's a picture of an Ameraucana on "Barnyard pics".

This is so fun,  love you

ww

I agree!
kk

1.Goat food, eggs, and predator questions.

This page is such a wonderful idea.  Living in the suburbs makes it hard to imagine things that you go through on the Ranch.  Things that may seem so second nature to you we have no idea about.  This is a great idea for us to ask you about life on the Ranch and how you take care of animals.  Thank you so much.  

 

So here goes (we have a ton of questions but figured we would limit our questions to a few at a time)

 

1.  What do goats actually eat?  We know they eat weeds as posted on your (Daily Happenings) page but what do they have to eat on a daily basis to stay alive? This is a great question and I had no idea before owning goats. So, we feed our goats a mix grass hay or an alfalfa mix hay(alfalfa is good for them in moderation). They also get a grain, we use Noble Dairy feed. This has most of their protein and other nutrients. Goats require minerals which they can get from their grain, loose minerals, or a mineral brick. They can also have treats!*

 

2. (Laurens question) Do all chickens lay the same kind of eggs we buy in the carton in the grocery store? Basically, yes. All chickens lay different color eggs though, blue, green, all different shades of brown and tan, cream, white, and sometimes even pink. The funny thing is, white is not the most common color, but people just liked how pure and clean they looked. Some chickens, called bantams(which is just a mini chicken) lay tiny eggs and some, like Jersey Giant chickens, lay huge ones. But farm fresh eggs are so much more flavorful and bright!

 

3.  (Matthews question)  How do you keep the mountain lions and bears away from the barn? We haven't really had a problem with that actually, even though bears and mountain lions do love chicken dinners. They could definitely break in the barn if they wanted to, since the doors aren't that great. We keep a radio on at night, which we heard can scare them away since it sounds like people in there. Also, our dogs usually alert us if there's anything out there.

 

4. That question sparked my next question.  Do you have a problem with predators out there? My answer to Matt's question basically covered this. The radio, we were told by an old farmer, scares coyotes off. I guess it might work for others too. We've been lucky though since they are around. Skunks and snakes live under the barn, and would eat chicks, so we only put older(at least 3 weeks) out there and we have a big sturdy wooden box they sleep in. Hawks have killed 2 of our hens during the day, so we lock them all up and keep an eye out. They mostly just strike in the winter though, when food is scarce. But the biggest help with everything is our dogs. Best protection out there! So, no we don't really have problems(sorry that was a long answer).

*See "GoatieGals" for some great goat treats!

Love you

 ww

Love you too and awesome questions guys!
kk