New kids on the block - Three-Generation Farm welcomes the birth of five baby goats

MAE RIM, Thailand - March 13, 2013 - PRLog -- As you near the elegantly-crafted wood stables on the path just beyond the mushroom hut and heaping compost piles of Three-Generation Farm, a comical (and youthful) chorus of voices will greet your ears.  Hooves clatter and skid. Five pristine white figures will leap for your hands and rush the gate of their pen, in frenzied anticipation of warm milk. And if not milk, something to chew on – from fingers and shirtsleeves to knobbly knees and belt loops.

The baby goats are five: Luigee, Pearl, Nacho, Mario, and Dotty. Born between 7 – 10 January, each baby was conceived via artificial insemination of our farm’s female goats from one father, a purebred Saanen from the Doi Saket Huay Hon Khrai Royal Project. Saanen goats are Swiss, generally snowy-white, and the largest of the dairy goat breeds:  a healthy doe has the capacity to produce 3.8 litres of milk every day. In short, ours are the select inheritance of the King’s royal dairy herd and a welcome addition to the farm’s portfolio of livestock.        

So why have we added an unruly gaggle of springing and bleating bucks to the farm – apart from its amusement value?

Expanding the herd has obvious benefits. Previously, Prem students (http://ptis.threegeneration.org) and students from the Visiting Schools Program (http://vsp.threegeneration.org) never had a reasonable opportunity to interact with the goats when they were a “meat herd.” Now that the conversion to “dairy herd” is well underway, students are welcome to visit in the afternoons for milking and feeding. Both tasks are enjoyable and must be done twice every day, at approximately 8:30 am and 4:30 pm. Lately, a small cadre of children jump on their bicycles and come up for the afternoon bottle-feeding, and they have never missed a day since they first visited. The children erupt in giggles as the goats nudge and pull at the bottles, tails wagging madly. Bottle-feeding and merely handling the goats at a young age will ensure that, as the goats age, they will be friendly and inclined toward human contact: they will be more approachable, and less likely to chase visitors away.

While serving to educate students on the pregnancy and birth cycles of goats (not to mention providing us plenty of manure for the compost piles), the herd’s milk also generates creative possibilities for our consumption. Goat’s milk surpasses cow’s milk and vitamin supplements in regards to the ease with which we can absorb its calcium. Believe it or not, to many the taste is creamier than cow’s milk and yet has lower amounts of fat and cholesterol. When the billy goat (effectively, the alpha male) is kept separate from the female goats, fewer hormones are present in the milk, which in turn positively affects the taste and smell. This safeguard, combined with scrupulous attention to their food – we feed the goats soya bean husks – underwrites the organic quality of the milk produced. Just imagine the healthy alternatives to your favourite dairy products!

When the baby goats are gradually weaned from bottled milk in April, and when the two young does are old enough to produce, the farm will have enough goat’s milk for cheese, ice cream and butter. Chrissie is also keen to begin making goat’s milk soap and shampoo, which is known to work wonders for dry and sensitive skin. Unlike water-based soaps that use chemicals to remove dead skin cells and treat skin conditions, goat-milk soap combines lactic acid, Vitamin A and moisturizing fats for treatment. Goat’s milk soap also contains high amounts of selenium, a mineral believed by many scientists to be effective in preventing skin cancer, so keep keep your eyes open at future community markets!

The babies have grown quickly, prancing around the farm like little emperors and tangling themselves underneath sinks, in bamboo groves, wheelbarrows and virtually anything they can climb.

“I am not a mountain!” we tell the newborns, as they bounced off our thighs and collapsed in heaps on the ground. One month after their birth, the boys were castrated.  Horns began appearing on smooth brows. After incorporating solid food into their diets, they now enjoy afternoon browsing in the fields with the elder goats. The “old vanguard”, or the herd’s beginnings, are half-Saanen and half-Togenberg. Saanen milk is less pungent in taste, but the Togenberg boasts a fattening calibre that’s better for cheeses. These first females (the mamas) were named after flowers by the students: Honey, Ma Lu Lee, and Lila.

What’s in store for the herd? Well, we’re in talks with a local permaculture project manager who would like to use the goats for browsing and clearing vegetation as well as perpetuating compost for a healthy supply of fertilizer. Clearly, there’s a lot you can do with a frolicking herd of dairy goats – and the babies could always use more visitors!

Written by Hannah Wittmeyer

WWOOF volunteer, Three-Generation Farm