Goat farm

Over the past two years during the holidays I have been helping out at a goat farm near my house to get some farm work experience now I know goats aren't immediately the first farm animal you think of when going to do work experience. But I have to say these goats have made my time so enjoyable. I love spending time around the farm. 

Throughout my two years I have always done the milking first thing in the morning then washed the parlour down. This is really important because you don't want any bugs and bacteria getting into the milk because it can cause the rating if the mill to go down. So every time after they have milked the whole parlour gas to be scrubbed down. 

After that I will go and feed all of the kids down the bottom yard which is not an easy task, there are kids all year round, more in the summer but still all year round. They don't understand how to feed off the bottle at first so you have to hand feed everyone but after a few day maybe a week they will learn how to drink from the feeder which doesn't mean to say it's easy for you because the amount of times you see kids twisted round each other or doing the splits is unbelievable. You have to be careful when putting them on the feeder because they need to be straight and it needs to be at the right height so that their necks and extended and straight. 

After feeding the kids I will clean out the bottles and go for some breakfast. 

After breakfast we will normally do some feet trimming this is my least favourite but but I have been getting better thought I still like to take my time. 

After this we will go feed the goats and check none have kidded and if they have then we will mark them and give them a jab. With goats it is best done in the shoulder because there is where a lump doesn't form if you do it on the neck a lump can form. Also if the mother isn't good we will give the kid some colostrum this gives them a bit of strength to start trying to feed on the mum if they haven't already started. 

I have had to deliver some kids that have got stuck while being born. This was a really cool experience but I would still like to try lambing. 

Sometimes at the farm the lady who owns it will have a dog training class this has been so fun to help out with because all of the dogs are so nice and it has introduced me into the world of dog training and how dogs see thing differently. 

Once that's all done we will go around the farm doing odd jobs here and there. Like bedding up and cleaning out, moving kids, covering the bales of straw and hay, etc. 

It has been such a lovely experience and I can't wait to keep doing it in the years to come.