Helelelelp, Helelelelp

That is the sound the goats made when I loaded them up in the truck last night.

The friend of a friend of a friends goat deal I wrote about a few days ago came though. I was skeptic because of the price he was selling them at was really low, but there were no hidden costs, tricks or misunderstandings.

For some of the newer readers and even for some of the old ones who cannot remember me posting about goats (I won't say names - sista), I have dealt with goats my whole life. When I was young I showed goats in 4-H and on the farm we had a huge milking operation that was part of my chores. Mom would make cheese and soaps with the leftover milk being given to us kids to drink. It wasn't till I was older that I went back to cows milk and I did not like it at all.

After I was married and built my house in the woods on the farm, the first animals I called my own were goats. As soon as we moved out here to the Mini Farm we put goats in the pasture as well, but this time I went small. We started out with Pygmy goats, but now have a nice herd of pure bred Nigerian Dwarfs.
Last summer when the AC went down I sold off close to thirty for the cost of repairs and kept just six of the smallest ones. We have been looking for good deals to build our herd back up to around twenty five, but the goat prices are out of this world.
Last month I went the sell and sat there in shock shaking my head at the prices. The same goat a year ago that was going for $25 dollars, now was selling for $60 to $75.
The higher prices have cut out the profit margin to say the least. Last year we ran around seventy five goats through the Mini Farm and so far this year only about four. If I cannot find them cheap, I don't buy.

This deal last night was a long shot that paid off. I got five nannies and six babies ranging from two weeks to four months old. Some of the nannies are already bread back so that is money in the oven.
The bad part of the whole thing is they are not Nigerian. With the old saying that beggars cannot be choosers, I will take what I can get. Two of the older does are Spanish and the others are Pygmy mixed with Nigerian. Like I said, a goat is a goat and this was a great investment. I could take them to the sell this Tuesday and almost triple my money but I will let them drop what kids they are bred back with to hopefully do even better. That is if the market stays up.

I do not milk them because number one, I do not want to take that butt kicking again and number two, I do not have the time to commit to it. I would rather buy my Goat Soap from sista. I already have her soaps on display in the Solar Bathhouse. They are too pretty to use.

I don't know if I told y'all this or not (maybe once or twice), but the oldest girl BEB will be home from collage tonight for the summer. Good times

My day tomorrow has changed up some, I still plan to make the run to the old farm to scavenge the tin off the walls but in the morning I will be going over to my dad's house for a good old chicken killin. I have four or five roosters ready for the knife and he has about twenty. We will be using his home made chicken plucker and kill station.

Until tomorrow,