Author: Jada Sharp

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Uncategorized

Kidding 2024

We finished up kidding for 2024 this week. The final count is 2 doelings and 4 bucks. The does will be kept in the herd as they are all purebred Lamanca’s that we will register. Here is a recap of the babies born this year.

Hope was first with a big buck kid. Since he was so big, she had to have a little help and I ended up pulling him. It took both of them a little while to get up and going afterwards but both are doing well now. Her baby is black and white but looks more like salt and pepper mixed. It was a surprise when Hope kidded first because I was betting Holly would be the first one!

Next was Faith with another buck. Again, not who we expected to be one of the first ones! She delivered her baby without any help and he was up and nursing quickly. Her baby is also black and white. Our buck is black/white and he has marked almost every one of his kids with similar markings.

Finally, on Easter Sunday, Holly kidded with a set of twins. We all thought that she would be one of the first ones to kid but we were wrong! She had a very pretty little grey/white doe that Colton named Easter. Her twin is a black/white buck. Both babies were up and nursing in no time. Holly is a great mom. I’ve written about her before as she is special to Colton. You can read it here if you missed it before https://14handsranchks.com/february-featured-animal/

Cocoa finished it up on Wednesday with another set of black and white girl/boy twins. The girl is dainty, petite, and half the size of her brother. Colton decided that his goat herd was large enough so he gifted the little doeling to Kinzie for her to start her herd. She won’t be able to show livestock in 4-H until next year but she is so excited that she will now have her own goat to show. Kinzie got to name it since it was now hers and she decided to name her Moana.

Almost every year we learn something new or have something happen that we’ve never experienced before. Last fall we bred 7 dairy goats to kid this month. Unfortunately, only 4 of the does kidded when they were supposed to. After the really cold snap we had in January, three of the does aborted their babies within a week. We’ve never had that happen before and still aren’t sure what caused it. Those does have been receiving extra care to make sure that they are healthy for breeding in the fall.

Overall, we are happy with how it went. In a couple of weeks, we will start separating the babies from their moms at night. This allows us to have enough milk for us to milk in the morning. The babies then are with their mom all day long and have as much milk as they want during the day. The goat milk is used for our soaps and lotions but also for the bottle lambs that we have. Goat milk is very similar to sheep milk and easy for the lambs to digest. Whenever we have raised bottle lambs on goat milk they have always been healthy and strong.

Be sure to follow our social media channels for photos and videos of all the babies this spring and summer!

Here are some goat kid photos!

Categories
Finnsheep

April Product of the Month

Since the sheep will be lambing by the end of this week, we are featuring our Finnsheep yarn and roving for April!

Finnsheep wool is incredibly soft and for most people can be worn next to the skin. The Finnsheep breed has a wide range of colors and patterns. Our flock has sheep with white, brown, gray/silver, and black wool. Many Finnsheep also have spots or other patterns. Their wool is excellent for spinning, felting, knitting, crocheting, or just about any fiber arts project that requires wool! It also takes dye well.

Here are a few interesting facts about Finnsheep from the Finnsheep Breeders Association website: “Renowned as prolific breeders producing multiple births, the Finnsheep regulary has triplets and quadruplets. Our history records show several litters of octuplets and septuplets. It is not uncommon for ewe lambs, twelve months of age, to have twins and triplets. Finnsheep are excellent mothers with plentiful milk for the large litters. Finn wool has an unmistakably soft handle and luster.  Fleeces average 4-6 lbs with 3-6” staple and a micron count of 24 to 31 (50’s spinning count). They exhibit greater foraging ability, enjoying leaves and brush as much as cultivated pasture.”

We love the personalities and friendly dispositions of our Finns. They are easy lambers, excellent mothers, and have beautiful wool. When deciding if we wanted to focus on the Finnsheep or hair flock, the Finns were an easy choise for us. I can easily lamb them out on my own, the rams aren’t aggressive, and they are a good size for me to handle. Plus the wool gives us more options that just raising and selling them for meat.

Currently, in our online store, we have a few colors of roving. We have a variety of browns and a few skeins of white yarn left. As our April Product of the Month, all our roving and yarn is 10% off with the code featuredproduct24 at checkout. I even found a few skeins of yarn I had set back and added them to the store.

Future yarn.
Categories
Contest Goats

Featured Animal of March

We are going to do it a little differently this month and rather than featuring just one animal, we have four! These four lovely does are all due to kid (have baby goats) at any time. I thought having a contest and letting people choose who they think will kid first would be fun. The winner will be drawn randomly after the first doe has kidded. The winner will win your choice of a bottle of our Goat Milk lotion and a bar of our Goat Milk Soap!

Here are the four does due to kid at any time:

First is Holly. This will be her second time kidding. Her belly is much bigger than last year when she had one beautiful doeling.

Next up is Cocoa. This will be her second time kidding as well. She didn’t breed back last year but had a single the previous year.

Hope is next. This will also be her second time kidding. Last year she had a single buck kid.

And last but not least is Faith. She will also be kidding for the second time. Last year she had a single doeling.

To enter the contest leave a comment here or on a social media post going with this blog post, sharing which doe you think will kid first. For extra entries share social media post or sign up for our newsletter (please message me the email address you are signed up with or reply to the email sent out with this post). Due to the cost of shipping, the contest is only open to people living in the United States. The winner will be announced within this post and emailed or messaged.

Attempting to take pictures of goats is always full of bloopers because they are so curious. Here are a few of them of Holly and Cocoa from this morning’s photo shoot.

Categories
4-H Agriculture Dairy Cow Guernsey

New to the Farm

This past weekend we welcomed two Guernsey cows, Buttercup and Tulip, to our farm! Buttercup is a 4-year-old cow and Tulip is her 10-month-old daughter.

Getting ready to load them in the trailer.

We have been looking for a Guernsey for several months because Colton asked for one for Christmas and his birthday. He has wanted to do the dairy cow project in 4-H for a couple of years. This year Lance and I decided he was old enough to do most of the work caring for his cattle by himself, with our supervision, so we said yes.

I found Tulip on Facebook in a Guernsey cow group. When I found out that Buttercup was available too and they checked all of our boxes I was excited! A bonus is that Buttercup was recently AI’d so hopefully she will calve again in December. We will test her in a few weeks. The only problem was that they were in Ohio! Thankfully, the family that we purchased them from was able to hold them for us for a couple of weeks until we could get there to pick them up.

Early Friday morning we loaded up and headed to Ohio to pick them up. We spent about 11.5 hours in the truck Friday so we could pick them up early Saturday morning. It was so nice that the previous owners had halter broke them because it made walking to the trailer and loading very easy. After loading them up early Saturday morning, we started the drive home. They have settled in nicely and everyone is getting used to each other and the routine.

Tulip was still nursing on Buttercup. We decided to put a calf weaning ring on her nose to start weaning. She was not happy at first but is finally not hollering at us every time she sees us.

We milked Buttercup for the first time on Tuesday morning. Unfortunately, she stepped in or kicked the bucket three times. And since we are currently hand milking, the milk was gross or on the ground. Wednesday was much better, with her giving us just under 2 gallons of milk! I am looking for a milking machine to help us keep the milk cleaner and make milking a little more efficient. My patience while looking for the perfect cow paid off so I will continue to be patient until I find a machine that will work for us.

Several people have asked us why we decided on the Guernsey breed, especially when there aren’t very many of them in Kansas. I have always loved heritage or old breeds. Guernsey’s are a heritage breed with lower numbers and being a small part of helping to boost the numbers to keep the breed alive is something I enjoy. They are also a breed that does well on grass and a variety of forages with a lower feed-to-product conversion compared to other dairy breeds which is important to us. We don’t want a breed that has to have a ton of grain to keep milk production and body condition.

Here are a few facts that I find interesting about the Guernsey breed. These are quoted directly from the Livestock Conservancy website. “A distinctive characteristic of the breed is the golden color of its milk, which results from exceptionally high levels of carotene, a precursor to Vitamin A. It is thought that the Guernsey excels in its ability to absorb this nutrient and transfer it to butterfat. Guernsey milk has been promoted under the trademark “Golden Guernsey.” Butter made from the milk is distinctively golden. The milk is also naturally high in A2 Beta Casein.” “Cows are noted for their quiet dispositions.”

We are all very happy with Buttercup and Tulip. They have sweet personalities, are easy to lead around and work with, the kids can handle them by themselves, and we think they are the perfect fit for our family.

Colton’s ultimate goal for his little dairy herd is to start an ice cream business using milk from his cows. We have been experimenting with ice cream recipes using milk we purchased from a friend for several months and have finally found one we like. He is anxiously waiting for the first batch of ice cream using milk from Buttercup!

P.S.

I never did get a new product of the month post up and March is half over so our Goat Milk Soap will continue to be our featured product for March. Use code Featuredproduct24 for 10% off of your order!

P.P.S.

The cattle were one of two new species we will be adding to 14 Hands Ranch this spring. Stay tuned to see what the other species is! Hint: it will be a new 4-H project for Lane! One of my favorite things about 4-H is that it gives the whole family a lot of learning opportunities!

Here are a few pictures of Colton’s new dairy cow herd!

Categories
Goats

February Featured Animal

I want to spend a little time each month highlighting one of the animals on our farm. If we didn’t have livestock, we wouldn’t have a business, so we want to give them some recognition!

Holly is the February feature! She loves the camera and likes to have her picture taken. I’m sure she knows she’s pretty!

The animal of the month for February is Holly. Holly is a 4-year-old registered Lamancha dairy goat. She is our friendliest goat because she was a bottle baby. That means she is also the one who is always in the way and “helping” when we are doing something near the goats. We have her one and only daughter so far, on our farm with her. Her birthday is April 29th.

Holly had a bit of a rough start and was rejected by her mom at birth. Her back legs didn’t work when she was born. Colton spent quite a bit of time working with her to get her up and going. She spent some time living in a box in our kitchen until she started walking on her own. I always said I would never have sheep or goats in my house…never say never! I wrote about Colton saving her here: Colton and Holly.

Colton has shown Holly at our county fair a couple of times. She never places well because she is cow-hocked (back legs turn in at the hock) and doesn’t have the best confirmation but he still loves taking her. She is his favorite goat with her daughter, Ivy, a close second. Holly loves food and is almost always the first one to the feed trough or hay feeder when they are refilled. Pumpkins or winter squash are a favorite snack for her. She will almost always have an orange face when we treat them to winter squash because she rubs her whole face in it.

Holly has only had one kid, Ivy. She didn’t breed the first year we tried but did last year. She is also bred this year and due to kid in March. Some of our goats have miscarried their babies this year so we are watching her closely. Colton is hoping she has at least one doeling so he can keep it in the herd.

Holly is one of the dairy goats that provides milk for all of our goat milk soaps and lotions. She is usually the third one to be milked. It is amazing how the goats quickly learn the routine and will line themselves up at the gate and for the most part stay in order. They are smart creatures!

Her favorite treats are pumpkins but if those aren’t in season she also likes orange peels. Holly enjoys the leaves of thorny Locust trees and helps to keep them under control by regularly eating the saplings down in the pasture. She is almost always cooperative while milking unless she runs out of alfalfa pellets. When that happens she refuses to stand still until her feed bin is refilled.

When you purchase one of our goat milk soaps or lotions, there’s a good chance that some of Holly’s milk is in it! You can check out all of our goat milk skincare products as well as our other products here https://14handsranchks.com/ranch-store/.

Here are some pictures of Holly over the years. She is well-loved and will hopefully have a long, happy life here at 14 Hands Ranch!

Categories
Goat Milk Soap

February Product of the Month

Our featured product for February is our Goat Milk Soap. Goat Milk Soap is a great option for sensitive skin as it is less allergenic, less drying, and offers several benefits to the skin as well. Our soaps are all made with only high-quality ingredients that are good for your skin.

You can download a more detailed list of what goat milk soaps offer from our Free Resources here: Benefits of Goat Milk Soaps and Lotions

If you would like to try our goat milk soaps or stock up, you can find a code at the bottom of this post, that is good for all of February on all of our soaps. I do have several batches of soap on the curing rack that will be added throughout the month as well.

Why We Use Goat Milk Soap

Several years ago, I experienced skin issues that included itchy, dry skin, and rashes. It felt like my skin was itching on the inside. Looking for relief, I went down the rabbit hole of natural skincare products. When I discovered goat milk products and the benefits from them, it seemed like a natural solution since we were already raising dairy goats.

This led to a lot of research and trial and error when I began to make my soaps and lotions. The relief from the skin issues I had been having was almost immediate after I began to use our products daily. My skin was no longer itching inside or out, no more rashes, or dry skin. I have experimented with adding synthetic fragrance oils to my lotions and that will make all of the symptoms flair up again. For that reason, you will never find synthetic fragrance oils used to scent our products. We promise to always use the best, most natural ingredients we can find so that our products are great for all skin ages and types.

Coupon for February

If you are looking for a more natural skincare option for your skin, I encourage you to check out our Goat Milk Soap. During January, we will be giving a 10% discount on all purchases of our soaps. Just use the code featuredproduct24. It cannot be combined with other coupons.

Goat milk soap
Categories
4-H Agriculture Goat Milk Lotion Goat Milk Soap Goats Livestock

Animal of the Month

I want to spend a little time each month highlighting one of the animals on our farm. If we didn’t have livestock, we wouldn’t have a business to begin with, so it seems like a good idea to give them some recognition!

This is Stormy with her set of twins from a couple of years ago.

The animal of the month for January is Stormy. Stormy is a 6-year-old registered Lamancha dairy goat. She is our oldest goat. We have 3 of her daughters on our farm with her. Her birthday is April 1st. Hailey named her Stormy because she was born on a stormy night; yes we choose very original and unique names around here.

Hailey and Colton have both shown her at our county fair. She has a sweet personality and is a very personable goat. However, Stormy prefers to do her own thing most of the time rather than follow the rest of the goat herd. Stormy strongly prefers the weather in spring, summer, and fall. When it starts to get to around 40 degrees or below, she chooses to stay in their shelter unless fresh hay or grain has just been delivered.

Stormy is always a good mama and usually has twins. Interestingly, all of her babies have been mostly black with just a small amount of white on them just like her with the exception of one (pictured above). We are hoping she will have at least one doeling again this year when she kids in March or April.

Stormy is one of the dairy goats that provide milk for all of our goat milk soaps and lotions. She is always the first one in line to go to the milk stand for milking and does NOT like it if another goat pushes out the gate in front of her. Her favorite treats are alfalfa pellets and orange rinds. She also really likes a spring sapling with new green leaves, my peach trees are a particular favorite of hers. Stormy is always a good girl when being milked and never steps in or kicks the bucket, which is greatly appreciated by the person milking her.

When you purchase one of our goat milk soaps or lotions, there’s a good chance that some of Stormy’s milk is in it! You can check out all of our goat milk skincare products as well as our other products here https://14handsranchks.com/ranch-store/.

Here are some pictures of Stormy over the years. I didn’t have as many of her as I thought I did becasue she doesn’t really hang out with the other goats. Almost all of my photos of her are of her taking care of her babies which shows how good of a mama she is. We love Stormy and hope to have her around for several more years!

The morning she was born. Hailey is holding her.
Her first set of babies.
Categories
Agriculture Finnsheep Goats Hair sheep Livestock Sheep Winter

Winter Chores

Winter finally showed up this week with cold, snowy, windy weather. Before this week, we’ve had a few cold days and some light snow but nothing too bad. This week has been and next will be extremely cold with highs anywhere from -2 to low teens. The windchills though are dangerously low at -25ish. I want to share how we prepare our livestock for the winter weather. Preparing for winter begins towards the end of Fall before the first hard freeze.

The first thing is making sure that everyone has a shelter from the north wind. The Finnsheep flock (and any smaller or older hair sheep) has access to the old limestone barn. It is built into a hill and on the south side of our shed so it is pretty warm. The goats are all in smaller pens that have south-facing three-sided sheds in them. Each of these sheds has round bales stacked behind them during the winter. This provides an amazing amount of warmth in the sheds. Goats hate the cold weather and these sheds are the warmest we have when the bales are on the north side of them.

The hair sheep flock also has a south-facing three-sided shed in their paddock as well as access to a few other small sheds. Our chickens and ducks are in a large coop and have protection from the wind as well. Lane is also very good about giving the chickens warm water a couple of times a day. Chickens and ducks are amazingly resilient when it comes to the cold weather as long as they can get out of the wind.

Every tank has a heater in it to keep the water from freezing. They work great but a thin layer of ice will sometimes still form on the water when it gets to the single-digit temps. A thin layer of ice is still much better than trying to break through thick ice several times a day! We do not have automatic water tanks on our farm (hopefully someday!) so for now we have to drain the hose every time we use it. If it doesn’t get drained or too much water is sitting at the end of it, the hose has to come into the house and sit in the shower until it thaws….not fun!

During the winter, we feed brome hay to all the sheep, goats, and horses. When it is colder than usual they all get extra hay. The extra hay helps their rumens to generate more body heat. All horses and Finnsheep receive grain and the goats get some alfalfa pellets. Most of the time the hair sheep are very hardy and don’t need the extra calories.

The Finns need the extra calories from grain when they are pregnant because they have such high rates of multiples. Last year, we had a set of healthy quads and several sets of triplets and attribute their health to adding grain to their diet in the winter when they are bred. We learned the hard way a couple of years ago that bred Finns need extra calories to grow all those healthy lambs. Some day, I will share more about the lessons we have learned going from hair sheep to Finns.

There are a few animals here that love the cold. The livestock guardian dogs are built for this weather. They have access to shelter but will rarely use it. Snow days are their favorite days and will spend a lot of time running, digging, chasing, and playing when it’s this cold out. We also offer them extra food in the winter.

Winter is not my favorite because I hate putting on all of the layers to go outside. Once we get out, it’s usually not too bad unless the wind is blowing hard that day. We are moving fast enough, that I am usually sweating by the time we finish everything. This week, the 20-40 mph wind does make your face hurt.

Chores are harder in the winter and require more work on our part. However, if I am being completely honest I don’t mind them that much because it forces me to get outside when I would otherwise not go out willingly. The physical labor of loading and unloading small square bales of hay multiple times a day helps to keep me strong. Plus, I know that right around the corner is springtime. And with spring comes my favorite season on the ranch, kidding and lambing!

Crocheting by the fire after chores!
Categories
Goat Milk Lotion

January’s Featured Product

Welcome to 2024! We will be starting a new featured product spotlight every month. This will come out the first week of every month and will give you information about the product and a discount code to use if you purchase it.

January’s featured product is our Goat Milk Lotion. By now many people who are experiencing winter temperatures have dry and itchy skin from the cold, dry weather. Our creamy, goat milk lotion, made with only natural ingredients, is perfect for winter skin. We offer a variety of scents as well as unscented.

Goat milk provides several benefits to skincare products. It is a gentle cleanser and helps to maintain your skin’s natural moisture. Goat milk is rich in nutrients such as vitamins and minerals as well as helping to reduce inflammation. It can even help to reduce wrinkles and acne while soothing dry, damaged skin. The benefit that was most important to me though was that it is less allergenic than products containing synthetic ingredients.

Several years ago, I experienced skin issues that included itchy, dry skin, and rashes. It felt like my skin was itching on the inside. Looking for relief, I went down the rabbit hole of natural skincare products. When I discovered goat milk products and the benefits from them, it seemed like a natural solution since we were already raising dairy goats.

This led to a lot of research and trial and error when I began to make my soaps and lotions. The relief from the skin issues I had been having was almost immediate after I began to use our products daily. My skin was no longer itching inside or out, no more rashes, or dry skin. I have experimented with adding synthetic fragrance oils to my lotions and that will make all of the symptoms flair up again. For that reason, you will never find synthetic fragrance oils used to scent our products. We promise to always use the best, most natural ingredients we can find so that our products are great for all skin ages and types.

If you are looking for a more natural skincare option for your skin, I encourage you to check out our Goat Milk Lotion. During January, we will be giving a 10% discount on all purchases of our lotion. Just use the code featuredproduct23. It cannot be combined with other coupons.

We hope you enjoy our Goat Milk Lotions!

Categories
Uncategorized

Life

“It is hard to know where God will lead us to next. But always have an open heart to let Him guide your steps in His ways.” Wise words texted to me a couple of weeks ago from a dear friend who always says what we need to hear.

The last two weeks have been really hard. We have had several things happen that have caused a lot of anxiety and stress. It took a few days to be able to step back from it all and begin to think about the next steps.

Sometimes life is just hard. Plans don’t work out, people suck, people don’t mind their own business, sheep won’t stay where they belong, family gets sick, etc. Just when we start to think we are in control and know what we are doing something happens to remind us that we are not the one in control.

Over the years, I have discovered a few things that help me to cope with situations. The first is my husband. We are a team and when life is hard, we need to be on the same page, even if it is just venting to each other at first. Taking time to talk, pray, and work through it together always helps.

Second, find some humor. Our family uses a lot of sarcasm and humor to deal with pretty much everything. It helps to break the tension and it is how we connect with each other. However, you do have to know when it is appropriate to use and when it’s not.

And third, pray, pray, and pray some more. It is hard to give up our perceived control over situations and our family, even though that is what we are called to do. God promises to take care of us. He does not promise to make our lives easy. I struggle a lot with giving up control and fulling trusting God and His plan.

I have been pondering the words above from our friend since he sent them as I try to remember to keep an open heart so I can let Him guide my steps.