Ladona Farm

Ladona Farm Chickens, goats, and homesteading life

I've been trying to come up with a feeding station for Bettie The Emu that the goats couldn't get at. This is what I've ...
07/22/2025

I've been trying to come up with a feeding station for Bettie The Emu that the goats couldn't get at. This is what I've come up with. I cut up this panel of 4"x4" squares and made a cage. I wired the pieces together with baling wire. The top is wired together at the back, so I can open it to take the bucket out. I clipped it closed at the front, so the goats can't open it. Then I screwed it to the side of the shed with a couple of cinder blocks underneath, so the goats can't try to go under it.
So far, it's working really well! It's a very strong and sturdy cage. The goats tried to get to Bettie's bucket, but couldn't. This is going to be so much better for Bettie. I was having to go out there several times a day to feed her. Now, she can eat whenever she wants to.
I'll put a couple of videos in the comments.

Boop is my oldest and most experienced milker. She jumps right up and stands perfectly still while I milk her. But, gett...
07/02/2025

Boop is my oldest and most experienced milker. She jumps right up and stands perfectly still while I milk her. But, getting her TO the stand is her problem. When her turn is getting close, she will go hide on the complete opposite side of the pen and make me go all the way over there to collect her. Can you find her in this picture? Hint: zoom in. She's a black and white goat and she's about as far away as she can possibly get. 🙄😂
I'm going to add a couple of pictures, because sometimes I can't zoom in on pictures on fb.

06/27/2025

Want to meet Bettie The Emu and the goats?

06/27/2025

Want to meet the goats? And Bettie, the emu?

These two boys are the grand finale to a very extended 2025 kidding season that began at the beginning of January. These...
06/22/2025

These two boys are the grand finale to a very extended 2025 kidding season that began at the beginning of January. These adorable boys were born to one of my older does, Emma. Emma is 9 years old and is in great shape with an udder that has held up extremely well. Emma always has such beautiful babies and these boys definitely follow in that tradition.

06/14/2025

Awww, it looks like Clary is dreaming of nursing. So sweet.

About a week and a half ago, I posted about taking in a newborn doeling whose mother had been stricken with a severe cas...
06/06/2025

About a week and a half ago, I posted about taking in a newborn doeling whose mother had been stricken with a severe case of toxemia right after kidding and wasn't expected to live. Amazingly, the momma made a full recovery after we treated her with what she needed, but her owner decided to leave little Lavender with me, so it wouldn't be too much of a strain on her. I had a doe that had one single doeling that same day and I decided to try and get this doe to accept Lavender and raise her with her own doeling. Goats don't often consent to raising babies that aren't their own, so I wasn't real hopeful that Jubilee would let her nurse. But, she did!! It took a few days of me going out multiple times a day to make sure I put Lavender on Jubilee at the same time her doeling, Clary, was nursing. Now, she's fully accepted her as her own. Fast forward to today and you wouldn't know that Clary and Lavender didn't grow together in the same womb. They're as close as actual sisters and it's the sweetest thing to see them snuggling together and bouncing around together. Aren't they beautiful? Lavender is on the left and Clary is on the right.

140 eggs going in my freeze dryer. I separated the eggs and I'm drying the yolks and whites separate from each other. If...
06/04/2025

140 eggs going in my freeze dryer. I separated the eggs and I'm drying the yolks and whites separate from each other. If you've ever priced egg white powder, you know how expensive it is, so I'm making our own. The yolks can be made into lemon curd or other custards.That's only about half as many as I could fit, so I'm also going to put a gallon and a half of raw goat milk into the freeze dryer. I can rehydrate that when I need it.
Also, I don't want to waste all those egg shells, so I washed them and I'm baking them until they're dry. Then, I'll powder them up. This becomes a gently abrasive powder that you can use to clean things like pots and pans, sinks, and stuff like that.

05/28/2025

A couple of days ago, one of my does, Jubilee, gave birth to a beautiful little doeling. That same day, I got a call from a friend whose goat had kidded a beautiful little doeling. Problem was, that little one's mother went down with toxemia and was in very grave condition. I went over to help. We administered appropriate meds, but neither of us thought she would live. My friend asked me to take the baby and bottle feed her. I agreed and brought her home. Then, I thought that maybe I could get Jubilee to adopt her and raise her as her own, along with her own baby. Most goats will not do that, but I decided to try. I rubbed the baby with some of Jubilee's birthing fluids, so she would start to smell like her own baby. Neither Jubee nor the baby was willing to try, though. So, I milked Jubee and fed that milk to the baby. I noticed that Jubilee would talk to that baby and she would respond, if she started crying, so I kept trying to get Jubilee to let her nurse. Well... this is where we're at today. Jubilee is letting her nurse! This is fantastic!!!
The icing on the cake, though, is that my friend's doe is making a fairly miraculous recovery!!! She's not out of the woods yet, but she's up and walking, eating, and drinking. She was so close to death. Neither of us can believe she survived. We discussed trying to reunite baby Lavender with her birth mother, but decided it was too much for her body to handle, as she's still in a fragile state and feeding Lavender could easily take her down again.
Still, it's an all around happy ending!!!

05/26/2025

Never a dull moment with Hershey around!

Jubilee had a single, lookalike doeling this afternoon. She's so pretty!I also took in a newborn doeling whose mom was h...
05/26/2025

Jubilee had a single, lookalike doeling this afternoon. She's so pretty!
I also took in a newborn doeling whose mom was having some serious health issues. We aren't sure exactly what is wrong and we did everything we could, but her prognosis is very poor. Praying for a miraculous recovery for that doe.
I'm hoping Jubilee will take this little girl in as her own. She looks enough like her own baby that she might. I rubbed her all over Jubilee, so she would start smelling like her and I'm feeding her Jubilee's milk. I'm hoping that she'll accept her in a couple of days.
Look at these two little beauties!!! The first three pictures are of Jubilee's baby. The lighter blue roan with the white belt is the little orphan.

Y'know, if I didn't know Hershey, this would terrify me. That said, even I did a double take, as my brain immediately we...
05/25/2025

Y'know, if I didn't know Hershey, this would terrify me. That said, even I did a double take, as my brain immediately went to Cujo.

(If you're not familiar with Hershey and her faces, please see my previous posts about her.)

It's a really good thing that I know her to be the sweet, gentle goat that she is, because those faces she makes and the unexpected heart-stopping encounters we have would scare anyone else. As it is, I just whip out my camera and document every moment.

(I have lots of beautiful, sweet, precious pictures, too. One of these days, I'll put a whole Hershey compilation together. It will be amazing.)

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Bulverde, TX
78163

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