We were so happy to have the opportunity to purchase such a nice buck to be a foundation to our herd and compliment our does.  Only five weeks old, we are loving the chance to hug and kiss on him, until he gets preoccupied with "huggin' and kissin' "on the goaty girls.  His breeding is  LTE Acer Rubrum X Woodhaven Farms Cowgirl, bred by Rusty Repp.  One of the things that makes having this buck so special is that he is out of the beautiful 11yr.old, PGCH, 6X  Grand Sr. Doe, 9X Best Udder, Cowgirl.  Also, his sire, the up and coming, Acer, 3X Jr. Ch. and 1X GCH is a son of the late great Cowboy Cadilak, who happens to be a full brother to Cowgirl!  Check out his full pedigree on the Goat Page.  We named him Bandolier - "A pocketed belt for holding amunition"!  Perfect!  

Chalk it up under the column of great times!  Becca, Katie and I (and 6 of our goaty girls!) trekked up to Carrollton, GA for the West GA Dairy Goat Show this weekend. This marks our official ONE YEAR anniversary of Katie and Becca showing goats!   There was no shortage on hugs and laughs.  Once again, we are limited to the Junior Doe Division, not having had any Hooah Hill babies of our own yet.  But hopefully that will change soon.  Got the bad news from the vet on Friday that Sugar and Nilly's preg test came back negative, but fortunately Sugar looked like she was receptive to another date on Saturday and Valentino luckily was at the show!  The realization from that show was "You really do need a buck of your own!"  More to come soon on that issue!  While Sugar was busy on her "date", Katie and Becca started the day with Showmanship.  They both did so well, and I'm always proud to see them working on the important showing skills and knowledge.  Our little goaty girls won 2 classes, 3 seconds, a couple of fourths and a fifth.  Classes were all large and competitive.  We get a three week break before heading to the show marathon, Clemson!  

Our vet came today to float the horses teeth, and when he got to Monty...there were no teeth to float!  Dr. Mike said he has never in his career seen a horse with absolutely NO teeth and look the way Monty looks!  He said it was a testament to the care he gets.  Monty has been getting fed Sr. Sweet Feed grain, with soaked Alfalfa cubes, calf manna, and multi-vitamins 2X a day.  The whole thing get mixed together and soaked with water before he gets it.  We soak all the boys grain, even the young ones.  Never had a problem with choke or colic. And don't want too!    It made us feel so good to know that our boys are happy and as healthy as they can be!  Nothing else matters when it comes to our animals.  We have been moving them over to the "summer" pasture about 1 -2 hours daily for a couple weeks now.  They will be over there full-time on Sunday.   Also, an FYI on Sugar and Nilly - We had the vet draw blood to check for pregnancy.  They were bred about a month ago.  We will know on Thurs!  Fingers crossed!

Spring show season has officially begun!  Such a wonderful start to the year!  We ventured out Friday with our five Junior Does in the back of the truck and headed almost 5 hours north to Clinton, SC for the SC Classic Nigerian Dwarf Specialty Show hosted by Teena Bagwell of Gypsy Moon. Compliments go out to the Bagwell's for being such gracious hosts and opening up there beautiful farm to all us Nigey people.  No matter win or lose, it was a fantastic good time with great people!  Becca and I were flying solo since Katie had a ballet performance she participated in.  Becca's Bunbluza made us so proud capturing both judges, Karen Smith and Brent Deitrich's attention for 2 Reserve Junior Champion ribbons!!  Katie missed her Roxy being expertly shown by Becca for a strong 2nd out of 13 yearlings, with her (sunburned) Nilly following behind with a strong 4th.  Bella and Coppelia showed very disciplined coming in 2nd and 6th in a large under 6 mos class.    Most importantly......we had a great time visiting with friends and meeting new ones!!!  The only disappointment was my camera wouldn't work and there were so many opportunities for glorious pictures.  Many promised to send me what they took :) Thanks to them!    

We had a pretty good gust of wind come through last night around midnight that blew over a couple of trees in the goat paddock.  The goatie girls were thrilled at Mother Nature's gift left for them this morning.  It did damage some of the fence, but we just didn't have the heart to remove the debris quickly since they seemed to be having so much fun.  

As day 150 came and went, it's become quite clear that Honey will NOT be having more Honeys.  We have concluded that she must have the dreaded CBS (Chubber Bubber Syndrome)! I didn't realize it could be contagious, maybe she caught it from me! 

We got all prepared for welcoming a new little family member to Hooah Hill, but even though she is round as a basketball, her udder never developed.  Strangely, we can't figure out what the weight gain could be attributed to.  Her diet is no different than the others and she is very active.  I have the vet coming in a couple weeks to float the horses teeth, so I will have him check her out.  Honey still remains the Grand Dam of the herd!

An additional blow to our attempt to grow our herd, is that Sugar and Nilly were bred last month and Sugar came in a very strong heat last week.  Nilly had a questionable day, but not sure.  I will have the vet do a blood test on her to determine if she is pregnant, so no more guess work!  We will definitely get Sugar rebred to Valentino. 

The garden has officially left the starting gate!  Finished getting in my last seeds and seedlings today (with the exception of eggplant - next week).  Finished planting zucchini, yellow squash, bush beans, pole beans, okra, tomatoes, peppers, basil, parsley, sweet potatoes and cucumbers.  The peas, asparagus, radishes, lettuces, kale, beets and perennial herbs are well on their way growing nice and strong.   It was a beautiful day today, a little cloudy and breezy around 70 degrees.  I couldn't help but feel a little bad for my loved ones living in Massachusetts getting a nor easter today....but then the moment past as I pulled off my sweatshirt!

Check out how wonderful my experimental potatoes are coming along! I'm told when they start to flower you can harvest, but if you wait a couple of extra weeks, you will get more of a baked potato size.

Our resident nosey body, Monty, is always curious when we work in the garden.  Polka always follows just in case there may be something for him.  Whenever I walk the fenceline to check the electric, Monty walks with me...not to close... but always interested in what I am doing.  I always make sure to explain to him what I'm doing! You never know, right?!    Or maybe they just enjoy watching humans work!

FYI -  HONEY UPDATE - Her due date is  this Sunday