Animalympics

I saw a very watchable 1980s cartoon movie the other night called "Animalympics" which was more or less a collection of short sport-centric stories staring animals. Most were pretty humorous including skicap wearing squids from Italy competing in the bobsled and a new-age otter from California in the swimming events (apparently the winter and summer Animalympics happen at the same time.) The most disturbing part was the goofy trippy music video type interludes (such as when a canine downhill skiier gets lost in the mountains and goes to Dog-ri-la.)

There was one main story that runs through the whole movie which follows the competitors of the marathon (which is run over 4 days!) The two main runners are an African cat (cheetah?) named Kit and (ta da!) a French goat named Renae Fromage.













Well, as you can see, the congeniality of the games soon overtakes the two of them and they cross the finish line holding hands - awe!

Note: this movie is featured on this wepbage which happens to be all about cats in the movies! Happy to fill the gap that seems to exist regarding goats in the movies! More to come!

How much is a pound of milk?

I have found a note on this page that an Australian Saanen doe (the breed originally came from the Saanen Valley in Switzerland) named Osory Snow Goose holds the world record milk production of 7,711 lbs in 365 days. Dairy records are usually kept in pounds not gallons so it is helpful to know that 1 gallon equals roughly 8 pounds. Average dairy goats can give 4-8 pounds of milk a day.

Goat Supplies

I stumbled across this site : http://www.caprinesupply.com/
which has all types of goat dairy supplies while reading http://fastgrowtheweeds.com , a blog about a city girl who moved to rural Michigan. A fun read. The caprine supply site has some good tips under their article tab, such as goats will drink warm almost hot water in winter which helps with milk production.

Another farming blog with a sad / telling entry on goats is http://a-homesteading-neophyte.blogspot.com/
- the author describes it as "a beginner's tale of mistakes."







Little Critter Heater
A microwavable blanket designed to raise the core temperature of hypothermic kids. Easy to use: simply remove bags from blanket and micro-wave 1-3/4 minutes. Blanket will reach peak temperature of about 110 degrees and cool down over 45-60 minutes. Reusable, water-resistant, washable, American-made. A must for every barn.

AFLAC goat comercial

Siletz River Drum

Siletz River Drum

Origin: The Little Goat Dairy by the River, River's Edge Chevre, Logsden, OR
Price: $2/ oz. (I bought a $4 drum)
Description: This is a surface ripened cheese coated with a mold-rind which, if you don't mind the slight mildew taste, is very tender and earthy. I would say that the size of drum I purchase (drum just designating the hockey-puck shape) was a little too small. You get too much mold taste and not enough of the creamy white cheese within, which was a little sharp. It may have needed to age a bit more (see their tutorial on how to serve "bloomy rind cheese" here.)

Crescent Dairy Goats

My mom pointed me towards this story. A married couple in New Zealand wanted fresh milk and cows were too big so they went for goats. They started the Crescent Dairy Goat farm. After a while at their farmer's market, the milk customers kept asking about cheese so they tried that. In 2007 they won the best cheese award for all of New Zealand with their herd of only around 20 goats!