Just a quickie!

Looks like David and I have to dig out our best frocks for 2 March.  Seems that we are in the final of the Taste of Kent Awards Food Farming and Landscape category!!  So we get to go to the posh dinner!  Downside is that we will probably have to sit on the same table as Jane the Cheese .. still, can't have everything.

Judges were extremely nice yesterday and spent some time looking at the goats and various bits and pieces.  There is some very serious competition though so I doubt we will win, but at least we get to go to the dinner!!

And I just thought you might like to know that as I finished my milk deliveries tonight my van told me that the outside temperature was -12.5 degrees.  Brrr ... chilly .....  Not looking forward to getting up at 4am to get sorted ready for Balham market .. Hey ho ...

Back with a proper blog tomorrow night! Wrap up warm!

Judgement Day

Those of you who have been following our blog for some time may recall that we were voted into the Top Ten in the Taste of Kent Awards Artisan Food Producer category.  Well, what you didn't know is that Jane the Cheese and ourselves have also entered a couple of the other categories that are selected by a judging panel.  And, although you may accuse us of blowing our own trumpets, we would like to announce some success!!!

So, step forward Cheesemakers of Canterbury!  Canterbury Cobble has been placed in the top three in the Kent Food Product of the Year (Foodservice) category and the Bowyers Kent Brie has been placed in the top three in the Retail category.  Well done those cheesemakers!  This means that Jane now has to borrow a frock in order to attend the Awards dinner on 2nd March where the winners are announced.  Not often those little legs see the light of day!  There is some stiff competition though as our fellow cheesemakers at Kingcott Cheese, Karen and Steve Reynolds, have also made it into the top three in the Retail category with their Kentish Bluebell.  Curd knives at dawn!

And, as for us humble goatkeepers .. well, tomorrow we are receiving a visit from the eminent judges of the Kent Food Farming and Landscape Award, as we have been deemed interesting/special enough to warrant further investigation!  Not sure how many of us are in the final but we will try and find out a bit more tomorrow.  Wish us luck!

And, finally, our friends Sarah and Mark Hardy at High Weald Dairy in Sussex have received the coveted title of 'Sussex Food Producer of the Year'.  Well done!

Anyway, enough back-patting .... What about those goatie girls and boys?

Another beautiful sunrise yesterday morning:

Unfortunately for our youngest bull calf, we had a visit from our vet in the afternoon.  Peter was on site to perform a necessary little operation on the young chap as we had not been able to fit a castration ring on him when he was younger ... I don't think you need the details or any photos, but I leave it to your imagination.  Quick and relatively painless ... and now he sings soprano.  Poor lad.

Today saw a quick trip to High Weald in Sussex with a vanload of frozen milk.  The main roads and motorways were clear of snow but the little country roads made for interesting driving in the ice! 

It's always interesting trying to get round our regular doorstep deliveries in this weather, as all of them are in neighbouring villages not served by main roads.  One delivery this morning would have proved too much for my little van so I nicked the truck to make sure that I had enough grip to get up and down the icy hills.  Just as well I did, as there was no way I would have made it in the van.  I did manage to get stuck on one occasion last year and had to call David very early in the morning to come and pull me out.  Think I had been a bit over-optimistic when faced with a series of snow drifts!

The goats stayed firmly indoors today as it was pretty miserable and there were some snow flurries drifting about.  Kitty found that the best place was right on top of the hay rack:

Eating the avalanche!

Spot the white goat in the following picture:

Nicely camouflaged!  This was Goblin trying to eat her way through the avalanche this morning.  Assisted by Dipsy:

Meanwhile, there were three very fat ladies having a lie in:

Footsie

Betty

and Flora

And they've all got over 4 weeks still to go!

Round in the boys' house, there was also a lot of lying around going on:

Fremlin, Norville, Navajo and Beamish all snuggled up together.  Beamish is the black blob to the left of the picture - lying right under Navajo to keep warm!

The fog lifted this morning to leave a beautiful sunny crisp morning behind.  Most of the goats decided to go for a wander outside into their yard:

David and I tried to coax them into the field but only a brave few would venture just inside the gate.  There was no way they were going to get their little goatie legs cold walking in that deep snow!



And, talking of deep snow ... David took a picture from his tractor cab as he arrived at one of the first roads in the early hours of yesterday morning.  Taken on his phone so not fab quality but hopefully you can get some idea of what faces him when he goes out in the snow:

Imagine you are sitting in the tractor seat and looking out through the front windscreen .. the red bit is the bonnet and at the bottom of the photo, to either side, you can see the tractor wheels.  In front of you is the road .. somewhere.  To the left a hedge.  To the right a fence.  Those fence posts are usually 5ft above the road level. Nice drifts!

The day ended quite prettily as well - this is the view from my back garden as the sun went down tonight:



The white stuff

So, there you go - the weatherman was right.  Snow .. and lots of it.  Started late last night and dumped several inches over the Kent Downs (and other places) during the early hours of the morning.  I got up a bit earlier than usual and realised that I probably wouldn't be going to market when I couldn't push my back door open against the snow drift.

David was already out snow ploughing when I got to the goat shed .. We usually get a little bit of snow blowing in around the edges but the wind was swirling the stuff around last night and I swear that there was more snow inside the barn than outside this morning.  One side of the barn looked like it had been hit by an avalanche!

The milkers were all crowded together in a couple of small groups trying to keep dry whilst the little men were all covered in snow.  The big males seemed to have got off lightly and didn't have as much snow as those in the main barn.  So much to sort out, but what to do first?

Priority was the little men.  Lots of clean dry straw to lie on and hay to eat.  Sort out their water bucket and then they could wait for their breakfast until I had finished everything else.

Same again for the big males - clean dry straw, lots of hay and enough water to keep them going.  Only one tap working in the whole place which means carrying water buckets even further!

Then to the milkers .... they would have to wait for straw until David got back as it would be much better just to load a couple of big round bales in with the tractor, rather than fiddle around with little bales.  I filled up their hayracks (the ones not covered in snow) and then sorted them out ready for milking.  Had trouble getting the back door of the barn open - bit of a drift, as you can see from this pic (taken from the parlour, looking up towards the door):

Sent a couple of text messages to my market manager and a couple of loyal customers to tell them I wouldn't be at market today. And so, into the parlour.  More snow.  It's amazing how the stuff blows in through tiny holes and roof vents!

Had to defrost everything and make sure it was all working before I got the goats in.  Cleared the snow from the milking platform so that they wouldn't slip over and then hope that they would actually go out of the parlour, down the ramp and outside into the snow to get back into the far side of the barn.

So, off we went ... the clusters kept on freezing up while I was milking and so I had to keep pouring hot water over them to keep them going.  The goats were very good girls though - they seemed to know that it was a bit stressful this morning for mum!  They all behaved very well - and even went out into the snow without too much complaining.

David came back in just as I was finishing milking which was excellent timing.  He had been battling the local roads and the A20 to try and keep them open when the snow was drifting.

He had also managed to check on the female kids in their barn and it seemed that they were not too bad.  They were surprised to see a human so early but loved to get the extra hay that he gave them!

Filled up hayracks again for the milkers and put two huge bales of straw in for them so that they were all dry and warm.  Didn't take long for them all to settle down and get cosy.  They also had the added excitement of a large blue trough filled with water in their pen as all their drinking bowls have now frozen.

Much better!

Quick coffee (and cake!) break and then off to the little girls again to feed and hay them properly.  Gave them some straw as well although they had not suffered too badly.

Goats done!  Now for the cows .. the calves in the yard at the farm were fine apart from their water trough which has been frozen for a couple of days.  More buckets of water!

Then into the truck and down the lane (ooo, pretty ...)

... and off to see the Gracie Moos who are still outside in their valley.  The girls now have Benji the Bull to keep them occupied for a couple of months.  He arrived this week and will stay until April I think.  his real name is Playboy but he is known as Benji.  HUGE great beastie of a boy.

The Gracies (and Benji) were all fine but pleased to see us with some food for them.  Smashed the ice on their water trough so that they could get to water easily and that was them done!

Back to the goats and refill the blue water trough (again!) in the milkers pen.  Final check round that everyone was warm and comfy and off home for a couple of hours to get warm and have something to eat before we have to start it all over again tonight!



Winter's finally here!

Well, we awoke to a gentle dusting of snow this morning.  The goats went out for a wander - they are quite happy out in snow as the ground is hard and they don't get their feet wet and muddy.

Jane and I didn't have to worry about temperature control for the cheese at Wye market this morning! Highlight of the day was seeing Pauline, our market manager, looking like an extra from War and Peace ..

And the real Russian cake lady was complaining about being cold, to which all the other stallholders cried 'but you're Russian!  You should be used to this!'.  Apparently not ....

The freezing temperatures mean that we are now starting to suffer with various bits and bobs freezing up.  The automatic water bowls are still functioning in the milkers' area but the one for the little chaps and the other for the big males have both gone on strike. This means that we have to put large buckets of water in for them all.  Of course, being goats, they think that this is wonderful and I am sure they are drinking much more water than they usually do, simply because of the novelty value of having a bucket there!

Mind you - Max always prefers to drink from a bucket.  He stands next to a perfectly serviceable water bowl and gives you a hard stare until you take a bucket of water over to him.  He then drinks the whole lot in one go!  Here he is waiting for his bucket at tea-time:

One of the things I love about snow in the country is seeing all the little footprints that various creatures leave.  Only a light dusting today but we can see that lazy Marmite cat has been out for a walk, closely followed by a large bird .. possibly our local pheasant that hangs around the garden.

Just had an email from Rachael, our Parson's Green market manager, who said that there is a 'generous coating of snow' now outside her window.  Sounds like it's on the way down ...

Wrap up warm everyone!  We will see what the morning brings and if I can get out to Parson's Green market or not.

Great new foodie blog!

Here's a new blog for all you foodies out there ...  http://www.atoasttofood.blogspot.com/.  It's written by Rachael who is our wonderful market manager at Parson's Green Farmers Market in Fulham. 

She is absolutely passionate about good food and local produce and has created this blog in the hope of sharing her thoughts and recipes with everyone.  She took some kid meat from me last week along with a very nice recipe for Sri Lankan goat curry - went down a treat apparently and so hopefully that will make it onto the blog pretty soon.  Anyhow - go take a look and enjoy!

Cold enough for everyone now?!  Facing a chilly afternoon in the dairy bottling milk for the freezer, I finally dug out my thermal leggings from the depths of my wardrobe.  The dairy is lovely and cool in the summer but freezing cold in the winter - tiled floor, lots of stainless steel and a large metal tank full of ice and cold milk!  In my next life I am going to do something that involves standing in a warm kitchen cooking over an Aga.  Anyhow that's it - winter is finally here now that the leggings are on!

The goats have automatic water bowls inside the barn but also like to drink from a couple of very large buckets that we fill for them outside the back of the dairy.  A lot of show goat keepers pander to their animals and carry buckets of warm water to their goaties ... although it is a good way to get poorly animals to take water, I think that this picture shows that goats will drink freezing cold water as long as it is clean and fresh.

David was taking advantage of the hard ground today to get some muck spread on the fields.  However, it all went a bit pear-shaped mid afternoon when one of the front tractor tyres got a major puncture.  The tyre went down so quickly that David had to stop in the middle of the lane and blocked it for a while until they could get an emergency replacement tyre on and drive home.  Looks like he has to go tyre shopping tomorrow for a new one ... However expensive the tyres are for your car, they are nothing compared to the cost of a new tractor tyre ... believe me ..

So, I'm off to bed.  Marmite has been warming it up for me already .. Let's see if the weatherman is right and we get some snow overnight ..

Friends and sisters

Goats are herd animals and like to live together as a group.  Our animals all live together - kids in one barn, males in another and milkers and goatlings all together in the main area.  It always makes me happy to see them snuggled up to each other when I open the door in the mornings.  Most often, they will curl up next to their sister (if they have one) or next to a special friend.  Sometimes they will just snuggle up to a nice comfy warm looking goat! 

Lucy and Marcie were curled up together this morning and this always brings a tear to my eye whenever I see them.

Marcie is the one at the front.  She was desperately ill last year and it took a lot of time and effort (and willpower on her part) to get her through it.  For several weeks she was housed in the main barn but penned separately from the other goats so that she had space to herself.  We have found this to be the best option for very sick goats - they like to be on their own but near to all their friends so that they can see everyone.  Lucy, Marcie's sister, would often come and lie next to the pen so that she could be close to Marcie.

Although Marcie recovered very well, the illness left her slightly 'simple' and she now has what our vet describes as a 'vacant' look.  She is totally happy and well but seems to be in her own little world some of the time!

When Marcie was finally well enough to go back in with all the other goats, I let her out and she immediately walked over to her sister.  Lucy rubbed her head against her and then walked away.  She somehow knew that Marcie was now slightly 'different' and couldn't quite come to terms with it.  It took many weeks before she would accept her again but now they are back together and inseparable.  Like I said - it brings a tear to my eye whenever I see them snuggled up together as I remember how we almost lost Marcie.

Remember Siouxsie?  The goat who was having acupuncture?  Well, she has finished her current course and although she still has problems with her food sticking in her cheek, she does seem to have put on a little weight and is doing well.  She doesn't have a sister but curls up next to anyone who looks comfy!  Here she is this morning curled up with one of the goatlings - totally different age group to Siouxsie but they obviously get along just fine.

And even the big tough old males cuddle up together at night!  Navajo and Beamish are often found in this corner.

And finally ... a couple of naughty goats for you.  Here's Willow, who is the prime suspect for opening the parlour gate on Sunday afternoon:

A very pregnant Ginger goat - who can no longer squeeze through the gate or climb over the top of them:

And little Morgana who decided that it was worth checking if there was any food left in the wheelbarrow: