Whimsy Oak LaManchas

05/30/2026

Bombshell 💗

05/28/2026

6.6 lbs on 12 hour fill for two year old Alora. I’m not sure if she’s peaked yet! She’s a hard working girl. 💗

05/27/2026

There is no shame in asking questions and improving management as you learn. The worst thing you can do as a livestock producer is turn a blind eye to the condition of your animals - but there is always room to grow. 💗

I'm going to be vulnerable here. Don't flay me for it.
Continuing to be delusional about how healthy your animals are is not going to help anyone. Allowing someone else to stay in a delusion is a disservice to them. I would know. I was starving (literally) my goats when I first got them. We didn't know what the crap we were doing and then had friends and my mentor lovingly tell us that our goats weren't cared for properly. Then they told us how to fix it. We saw the difference between their healthy animals and ours that looked REALLY BAD once we knew what they were supposed to look like. We didn't have other goat friends locally at that point to compare ours to. When we visited another herd we saw the difference immediately. You just couldn't help it. Prior to that, we were new to large livestock and honestly just ignorant to the point of stupidity and blindness. We were told that, "goats can eat anything! Grass fed is best, they're DAIRY GOATS, theyre supposed to be skinny, it's normal!! They don't need grain or supplements, they're goats! That's one of the appeals! This hay is great for goats, they'll do fine!" 😬 They were not fine. We couldn't see it and had no experience to help us, until we were shown better. Looking back, I don't know how we looked at them every day and thought it was okay.
We went out the very next day and bought the best hay we could find, two hours away, and completely changed our husbandry style. We started feeding them the right food, and plenty of it, and it all turned around. But you have to be willing to see it to fix it. It's a rough ride. I cried after I realized that our herd that we loved were incredibly malnourished. My bottle babies that were weaned too early, my sick looking VERY skinny heart goat, my doe that slipped her pregnancy, ALL MY FAULT. All very very unhealthy. I'll even post a picture, even though I never wanted these pictures to see the light of day. I cringe and tear up when I look at them. But if you aren't willing to hear others when they tell you that your husbandry is lacking, then you CANNOT improve.

05/27/2026

Barn cats indeed. 🐈

05/27/2026

Always hungry… always watching 👀👀

05/24/2026

Our second milk test after butterfat, protein, MUN, and somatic cell count were tested. With the jump in MUN, it’s probably safe to say that the smaller Arizona alfalfa squares have a higher RFV than the (still very nice) pasture blocks we’d been feeding over the winter and early spring.

05/22/2026

LoveBug 💗

05/21/2026

The bucks are working on their summer dad bods. ☀️

05/17/2026

Second milk test of 2026! (Weights only)

— Bombshell (6Y, 5F — 62 DIM) 7.3 lbs (OAD - maybe I should have waited before coding this lactation abnormal!)
— KatyDid (2YFF — 51 DIM) 7.3 lbs
— LadyBug (2YFF — 64 DIM) 7.9 lbs
— LoveBug (5Y4F — 59 DIM) 9.0 lbs (was on track to milk more, but did something mischievous between milkings and came in this evening with a large knot under her chin - TBD whether hematoma or dental abscess but it’s not bottle jaw or CL)
— Luna (2Y2F — 62 DIM) - 9.9 lbs
— Alora (2Y2F — 50 DIM) - 12.0 lbs

Everyone milked more than last test, and I’ll take an 8.9 lb average per doe, especially considering four of them are two year olds, two are first fresheners, one aged doe is OAD, and the other mature doe came in with a crazy knot under chin! 💗

05/16/2026

A doe that isn’t featured as much but is certainly a hard working doe and deserving of recognition: 2YO Alora. She put up 10.7 lbs of milk at 22 days fresh on our last test, and I’m looking forward to seeing what she does on our next test!