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Grace in her "day dress" at Liendo. |
We are now two days out from "Liendo" and instead of the graceful young lady pictured above, Grace now looks like this...


We made the tough decision a few months ago, to drastically reduce our herd size. As I have shared before, we did not get goats with the intention of starting a dairy. Our goal was milk for our family and the ability to participate in goat shows. We had absolute liberty to keep the goats that we liked and sell others, purely on the basis of affection, beauty or whim. As time went on, once we were licensed as a dairy, we added goats on the basis of milk production, but we continued choosing who to keep or sell on an emotional basis, and who wants to see adorable babies? Or the only remaining daughter of our first goat? Or that one that had such a rough start that she spent her first month in the house being pampered? We were prompted by close friends a few months ago, to take a hard look at the list of goats that we owned. We considered how many goats we needed to be milking, if the goats were of average or above average milk production levels. We considered how much it would take to feed that number of goats plus a reasonable number of babies each year to serve as replacements for retiring milkers. When we finished number crunching we realized that with judicious breeding and culling we could be milking 3/4 the goats that we currently milk (for 3/4 the feed costs) and likely be getting more milk if we standardized the decision making process for who we keep or sell. Once we determined how many goats we really needed to make the dairy productive we were stunned to realize that we could easily reduce our numbers by 40% over time. Well...the term "easily" is a bit deceptive in this case, as deciding on paper that a goat is better suited as a "backyard milker" or pet is entirely different from actually listing that animal for sale and seeing it leave. We have effectively done that which we set out to do, but that doesn't mean that I did not cry last night, thinking of the goat girls that left during the day. We are content that our girls are going to homes where they will be loved and cared for, but the parting is still hard. Next year--we will know ahead of time whose daughters we are keeping or selling, so that we know not to get attached. I hope.
On a lighter note--or rather, a darker note--it is truffle season! Each year from Thanksgiving through the New Year, we turn some of our chevre into chocolate truffles. Addictive and decadent they usually sell very quickly, to our children's great dismay for they would rather they come home from market and go into our home refrigerator as happens to product that does not sell well. The chocolate addicts in the house anxiously await the appearance of truffle season. The Weight Watchers members in the household (sadly also chocolate addicts) bemoan the price tag, lifestyle-wise, and everyone is ready to see truffle season draw to a close as each truffle is individually hand rolled.
So there it is. Liendo is over until next year. Low season has begun, we anxiously await baby season. Time passes, the seasons roll by, as comforting in their predictability as they are disconcerting in the increasing speed with which they come and go as our children, spouse and business gets older. As noted in Ecclesiastes, "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven". This we know to be true.
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