Pregnant ladies and comfy goatlings

And here she is, Moyra goat.  Due to kick off the kidding season in 2012.  She is a pretty huge goat at the best of times but is now getting quite 'portly' and still has just over 2 months to go.  We have a daughter from her already - Cristal - and a granddaughter, Minerva, born this year.  Moyra also has a twin sister Meryl, who is quite a lot smaller than her, but with a much longer beard!!

And just how many goatlings can you fit in a hayrack?

Taken on my phone when I walked into the barn this morning, so not the best quality, but there are actually 3 goatlings curled up in there!  As you can see, everyone else looked pretty comfy as well.

Spent the day making cheese again today.  Why does Xmas come when the milk yield drops and we don't have enough cheese to go round!  It's a constant juggling act at this time of year to try and keep everyone happy.  Priority is always given to the bottled raw milk customers and so cheese has to be made whenever we have enough milk left.   If I ever get to be Queen, I shall move Xmas to the peak milk production time of the year - round about June/July should do nicely.

As well as making the cheese, I also have to do a bit of Blue Peter with it this time of year and make some gift boxes for Xmas.  The Shaggy's Beard camembert always goes down well in the nice little wooden boxes.

A busy few days ahead now with deliveries and markets.  This time last year we were battling the elements with the snow and the Radio 4 weather forecast this afternoon was promising a little snow for tomorrow morning.  We shall see what the morning brings ..

Meanwhile, here is a photo of the dairy entrance taken last year when it snowed.  We had to dig our way into the goat barn at one stage as the drifts covered the main door ...