Castle Rock Farm Nigerians

Today is Sarah’s birthday. Let’s make her notifications go crazy!Today is Sarah’s birthday. Let’s make her notifications go crazy!

More pictures! Nane, the nearly two year old Gampr, returned to the farm yesterday, as did the four bucks that remain a part of the herd. There was a little worry at the back of my mind that Nane might not be as attached as she previously was since she’s been gone for four months, but she assured me that she’s still plenty attached. We were happy to see her and everyone else on the correct side of the fence this morning- now that a previously inner pasture is the outer ...pasture, it feels much more exposed, despite the same number of gates keeping everyone contained. The bucks have a much smaller pen now, instead of the nearly acre of pasture they had, but we were able to improve some existing space for them to get out of the weather, while their previous shed was the first thing to burn down on the property. We also still need to work on re-fencing that pasture, so this was a fix to get them home more quickly. I’ve actually missed hearing their wup-wupping sounds and they tried to remedy that all at once now that they share a fence line with the girls again. Everyone seems to be settling in pretty well so far and we’re so thankful to everyone who has helped make this possible. Still a long ways to go, and work on the house probably won’t start until April, but having access to goat snuggles while working on the property is nice!

You guys did it! Some of the Castle Rock goats have returned to the farm, along with guardian dog Nane- the humans will take a bit longer to get back. Thank you everyone for your hard work, donations, kind words and equipment. Thank you to Castle Rock rebuilds, Amanda Weber for bringing Nane and the goats over, to those still taking care of our girls and everyone else that pitched in.

Kidding Schedule due dates and reservations.

Most recent update for Castle Rock Reservations.

Sarah was looking for a silver platter that was under a drawer full of show wins. Before and after of memories.

For people who have told us they’d like to help, but weekends aren’t good for them, we have a mid-week work day on September 30.

More help and not everyone shown that pitched in the last two days. Fencing repaired or replaced in two pastures, gates mounted, sheds painted inside and out and watering system are moving along.

Work day on the farm. Loving our goat friends. Progress made. Fencing going up, floor for one of the goat sheds, floors cleaned out, walls repaired and painted. All since 7am this morning.

As some of our plants are already putting out new shoots after the fire we are working to do the same. Several kind people offered us the use of their RVs or trailers, and those offers got buried under a flurry of comments and messages (grateful for all- we just have a to-do list a mile long). We are working hard to get the goats back on the property and keeping an eye on them would make for a more secure road ahead. If your offer to lend a trailer is still on the table, please let us know, as well as if it is a fifth wheel or a bumper pull (we could only move it at the moment if it is a bumper pull). Thank you so much!

We’ve posted our first projects for this week at the farm rebuild link. Also! If anyone in the Santa Rosa area has a non-livestock trailer and would be willing to pick up our shed kits and bring them to the farm, we’d be ever so grateful. The shed kids are three open sides we will obtain plywood for, plus a roof and they’re eight foot wide. Being straps because they’re awkward and we don’t want them to go flying. https://m.facebook.com/Castle-Rock-Rebuilds-107856971046191/

Dima Blankenfield, one of our farm interns from eight years ago, drove up from SoCal with his partner, and their dog Sam to spend the weekend working on the farm, fixing up an interim water solution, and helping with fence repair and removal, marking out new posts plus a supply run. We’re so impressed that Dima has started his own business since staying at our farm and he’s still the same energetic, can-do guy who loves his tomato salads we remember from when he stayed with us. If you need any of the services covered by the list on his truck, we would definitely recommend him!

Update: if you want to help, I’ve created Castle Rock Rebuilds page. I’d link and invite, but we have to get started on things, so for now please search for it. Thank you to everyone again for all of the support and outreach to us. It’s been a wonderful ray of light in an ash-covered cloud of uncertainly, grief, exhaustion, and constant decision making. Every time we go back to the property, it is draining just to be there and while working on fixing things we find ourselves...Continue reading

You know what’s a thing I never thought to worry about? Our farm catching fire again after a fire had already burned much of it. Turns out the parts of the pasture left unburned on Wednesday are slowly being consumed by several little duff fires that occasionally get to one of the wooden anti-goat boxes we put around the trees we planted for much needed shade, and if the wind is gusty, blam! Flames! While running our never ending chores yesterday, we got a call from our neigh...bors that they could see six foot flames in our pasture. Fortunately, the fire department was able to come out and put the wet stuff on the red stuff, and they worked on getting some of our other duff fires out as well. It hadn’t occurred to me that we could lose even more than we already had, and the feeling was hard to describe. I’ll have more of an update tomorrow, but we wanted to say thank you again for all of your support and for every message. We read all of them, even if we can’t respond to each. We are still bone tired and drained, but so thankful for the community of people who have come together to support us, and especially for our close friends who have jumped right in to help us even when we’ve barely been able to articulate what we need. We love all y’all

Thank you from the bottoms of our hearts to each and everyone of you who has helped us so far and who have reached out to us. We’ve always said that we have met the best people through goats and you all are more than proving it. Your support has literally brought us to tears several times- we feel so very loved and are amazed at how many people have told us we’ve touched their lives in some way. Right now we are in survival mode- we’re very easily distracted, very rarely abl...e finish thoughts. We’re exhausted but having a hard time sleeping. The LGDs started fighting through the fences that separated them and we’ve sent one to Nevada with our dear friend Amanda who dropped everything to come take her. Yesterday the goats got checked over and are generally healthy, if stressed, though we need to keep an eye on everyone for pneumonia. Several had singes on their heads and feet, and two had bad singes on their back feet. Hail Storm has one hoof separating from the foot. We were able to get a vet onto the property with the hopes of finally grabbing the llama and bringing her to where the goats are staying. The vet saw that all four foot pads were badly burned, which would require nine months of extensive, intensive, painful rehab. The decision was made to put her down as her quality of life would not be high. Back at the property, we were able to pull out a couple of hay feeders and a generator that survived somehow. My custom four goat milk stand is burned and twisted beyond use. There’s little evidence that I even owned goats in the barn or the house. The majority of trees I’ve planted over 17 years for much needed shade are gone. My greenhouse and grow tables, which were full of native plants are completely gone. All show equipment, except for the vacuum for our Surge milker, is toast. All of our tools melted. That’s all for now. Today, Andy will be at the farm, trying to get through some things and to bury the dead goats and llamas. Thank you again everyone so much for your outreach and offers of help. We are still just putting one foot in front of the other and slowly figuring out what we need.

This morning, with very little warning, we had to quickly evacuate from our farm due to an incredibly fast moving fire. We’ve had days on end of excessive heat, with very high overnight temperatures. At 1:30 in the morning, it was 98* and winds started gusting and swirling, spreading the fire with incredible speed, and suddenly we were in the path of the fire. We had time only to grab the border collie and a couple of items and get out as fast as we could. This morning reveal...ed a complete loss- at first pass, when the scene was still quite actively burning, it appeared that we had lost our entire National Show string. Once we were allowed to go in to rescue goats spotted in one of the pastures, we discovered that we had lost all of our 2020 retained juniors and a few that were still for sale, four yearling bucks- one out of Tahiti, two sons of Jasper (who passed earlier this year) and Lil Miss B Haven Alchemy. We also lost Polar Vortex, Raspberry Beret, When Doves Cry, Moon Beam, and a couple more that we are still trying to figure out. Both LGDs and the llama survived. We are staying with friends for the time being. I have no idea what the future holds- at the moment it is just one foot in front of the other. We have been lifted somewhat by the outpouring of kindness and support from our friends and goat family- you all are amazing and we are grateful to you. We are still a bit in shock and just at the very beginning for figuring out what we will need in the coming months- thank you to everyone who has reached out.

I didn't think I'd find myself writing one of these posts, but unfortunately, here we are- we need to find a new home for Nane, our nearly 16 month old Armenian Gampr. All LGDs go through a stage where they have some inappropriate behavior towards the animals they are supposed to guard, and Nane was no exception, but we got through it, and she seemed trustworthy and like she would eventually be an even better LGD than Anush, our older Gampr. Unfortunately, she has recently r...estarted the behavior, which includes chasing our adult goats (she'll pick one at a time, she doesn't chase the whole herd), and mouthing their necks. Most recently, she went after an older doe, and did inflict some light puncture marks on the face and upper legs. So, she's not going to work for us and the way the farm is set up, but I do believe she'll be a good dog for someone. Good traits: she listens pretty well for a LGD- she sits when asked, waits for her food, and when I tell her "enough" she'll leave me alone so I can check out the goats. She loves her people and those we bring into the pasture with us- everyone else is suspect, including neighbors she sees often. She's athletic and a decent rodent hunter, and doesn't go through long barking jags unless there's a threat out there. We have four foot fencing topped with a hotwire and this has been enough to keep her in. She seems to do fine even in our extremely hot weather. She's up to date on vaccinations, and since she is grown, she's big enough to start guarding a property right away. I think she would do well with larger livestock, or where livestock have their own pen/pasture within a larger property where her job would be to patrol the property in general. She would be a very loyal companion, though she would need a good deal of exercise as she still has quite a bit of puppy energy. We've put a lot of time into this girl, and I enjoy her so much- she always seems so happy. But, the welfare and comfort of the goats is absolutely my top priority, and if I cannot trust this dog to be on good behavior with them all the time, that's not fair to them. Reach out and let me know if you think you'd have a good home for her- there will be a fee as she is still young and we'll need funds to replace her.

Update on Tahitian Sunset. 2 girls and a boy. At least one of the does is retained, the other has long been spoken for. Buck *may* be available with conditions, but no decision has been made just yet.