Since we have six goats that I am milking twice daily, we have quite a bit of milk! Way more than the goats and our family can drink. We are still waiting for processing equipment that is being shipped from the Netherlands. The Dutch people are famous for their expertise in all areas of the dairy business. In fact, Wendell got a call this morning from Van Leeuwen Dairy saying that a heifer calf was just born and they wanted to know if we wanted her. Wendell answered, "yes" right away and turned the truck around to go and get her. He did have to cancel his haircut and shave appointment with Kyle. Trust me, he really needs to get that done! But, the calf couldn't wait. We had to get colostrum into her ASAP. She and mom were having trouble "hooking up" for that first drink. Wendell called when he was close and I grabbed the frozen colostrum from Cloudy and Blondie out of the freezer and thawed it in some warm water. I put it into the bottle and went out to meet Wendell with our new girl. Not even 2 hours old, she eagerly drank the goat colostrum and is doing well. She will never have had cow's milk -- only goat milk! Wendell named her Georgann after George Van Leeuwen which was the owner of the dairy until his untimely death at 78 from a cow that gored him :-( Another reason to dehorn those baby calves and goats. He was an amazing dairyman and we hope that Georgann will be an amazing dairy girl.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Georgann is no kid, she is a calf!
Since we have six goats that I am milking twice daily, we have quite a bit of milk! Way more than the goats and our family can drink. We are still waiting for processing equipment that is being shipped from the Netherlands. The Dutch people are famous for their expertise in all areas of the dairy business. In fact, Wendell got a call this morning from Van Leeuwen Dairy saying that a heifer calf was just born and they wanted to know if we wanted her. Wendell answered, "yes" right away and turned the truck around to go and get her. He did have to cancel his haircut and shave appointment with Kyle. Trust me, he really needs to get that done! But, the calf couldn't wait. We had to get colostrum into her ASAP. She and mom were having trouble "hooking up" for that first drink. Wendell called when he was close and I grabbed the frozen colostrum from Cloudy and Blondie out of the freezer and thawed it in some warm water. I put it into the bottle and went out to meet Wendell with our new girl. Not even 2 hours old, she eagerly drank the goat colostrum and is doing well. She will never have had cow's milk -- only goat milk! Wendell named her Georgann after George Van Leeuwen which was the owner of the dairy until his untimely death at 78 from a cow that gored him :-( Another reason to dehorn those baby calves and goats. He was an amazing dairyman and we hope that Georgann will be an amazing dairy girl.
