I milked a goat for the first time since I was about 10 or 11 yesterday.  It's like cycling a bicycle... it all comes back after the first few snigs.

Excited and Delighted

Although we had goats for a very brief period when I was a child, I've haven't had the responsibility of a goat's welfare while kidding until this week.  I am so delighted that 'Star' has kidded naturally and that she and her kid are in perfect health. I was away on Friday when the birthing occurred - wouldn't you just know it?.  Eddie had housed and bedded her and Alara by the time I returned. He told me the news by showing me a photo on his phone, saying he hadn't dared send it to me in case I got a speeding ticket on my way home.

Milk

We will finally have milk - not pasteurised milk... but milk!  I refuse to use the word 'raw' for milk in it's natural state - it's milk!  Any form of milk that is not in it's natural state is processed milk, requiring a pronoun to describe this as it's lost a lot of it's nutritive value and beneficial bacteria.

I can boil this milk, without fear of it cracking.  We will use it in the house, at the table and for baking and cooking.  I can make cheese and soap maybe even butter, if I ever get the time - a steep learning curve lies ahead!

The New Arrival

Alara, the new arrival had only one day in the house to find his next meal, his feet and adjust to the outside world.  On day two, he was introduced to the great outdoors in the company of his mother.

Nature is the most amazing thing to watch at every level.  'Star', the mother goat, although she had to submit to the indignity of being milked by me, was at all times alert to the whereabouts of 'Alara' her kid, while he regularly called to her.

First Trip Outdoors

She grazed close to her house, keeping her kid 'Alara' in sight all of the time. In this video he is  playing, leaping and falling over.  He copied her by smelling the grass and picking the tip of an odd blade, here and there but was more interested in finding his legs through bouncing about. His father is a purebred Anglo Nubian and his mother is a Toggenburg x Anglo Nubian cross, making him three quarter Anglo Nubian.  I'm particularly fond of Nubian goats, their appearance and temperament, plus their milk is particularly suited to cheese making.

The newest arrival on Our Smallholding is still a little unsteady on his feet.

Star, the little Toggenburg x Nubian crossed goat, gave birth to this little guy this afternoon.  Despite being unable to stand steady as yet, he is attempting to make little goat leaps. Neither is he hungry yet but he has found her teats.  All without human interference.

Isn't nature amazing!

I haven't got a name yet, I wonder what shall I call him?

Never has it been more important or more difficult to support or keep the dark native Irish honey bee (Apis mellifera mellifera).  Einstein estimated that the human race will only survive for approx four years, if the honey bee becomes extinct.  Contrary to common belief, the main task of the honey bee is pollination, honey is a by product.  Without pollination there will be no food... there are parts of the world, especially Japan where it is now necessary to hand pollinate crops.

Bees in the Wild in Ireland

The current crisis for the honey bee world wide, in my opinion, is due to the intervention of man, agricultural practices, and the widespread use of chemicals at every level of society.  It is commonly believed that there are no wild honey bees left in Ireland, occasional swarms are found but are escapees from managed apiaries.

The challenge on Our Smallholding is to find an acceptable balance between keeping the honey bee as naturally as possible, while ensuring their continued survival.  The main threat for the honey bee, varroatosis, comes from a tiny parasitic mite that infests the hive and weakens the colony, leaving it susceptible to other complications causing their eventual death.

Beekeeping Association

Being a member of the local beekeeping association, and maintaining contact with experienced beekeepers is essential.  It is from this collective knowledge and support through workshops, field trips and information evenings that solutions can be found.  The more I attend, the less I realise I know.  Beekeepers of forty years, tell me that they are still learning and attend so that they remain informed of developments, locally and nationally and internationally.

Natural Beekeeping

There is a tendency to use chemicals (artificial and natural) to combat varroatosis.  While ideally, we'd like to keep bees naturally and be completely chemical free, we've discovered this is not possible with bees in the long term.  It can work for a couple of years but eventually the bees will loose the battle.  We are attempting to find a balance, using only a bare minimum of naturally occurring chemicals, coupled with procedures to break the reproductive cycle of the parasite, and planting the apiary with plants such as thyme and mint etc., etc.

Inspecting the Hive

Here,  beekeepers inspect our association hives on a field trip to the apiary.

If anyone in Ireland has successfully managed to keep bees naturally and without chemicals for more than five years, that are still healthy and productive, please get in touch, please share your knowledge and technique.

What an amazingly wonderful day it's been today. Good for man and beast.

As the day progressed and temperatures soared, Our Smallholding came alive.  The grass seemed to get greener before my eyes. Dandelion is breaking into flower all over and the bees are busy with the first real honey flow of the year.  Both pollen and nectar are being collected at the moment.

In the Beehive

This is a very important time in the hive, the queen is busy laying, to produce worker bees for the summers work.  Worker bees, having successfully over-wintered, are now busy housekeeping, drawing comb or on the wing collecting stores for the new bees which are about to emerge.

They can be seen coming and going at the hive entrance, their pollen baskets laden with red gold pollen.

Bee numbers will increase exponentially from about 10,000 to up to 60,000 in the coming weeks.  When the brood chamber is full they will move up to the next box where excess honey will be stored.

There is a practice among beekeepers to feed a syrup of diluted sugar to the colony at this time, to speed up the building of stores and encourage the queen to lay eggs.  Our bees will not get this feed, unless they are in danger of starving.

Bees in Decline

We are very new to bee-keeping, this being only our third year and may yet be proved wrong in this thinking, but the other methods are not working.  Bee numbers worldwide are in decline, due to attack by pests and diseases.  Being attacked is not new to bees, but they seem to be less resistant to attack. Are our bees weaker than bees of previous times?  What has happened to natural selection, to survival of the fittest?  There are various arguments as to why this has occurred, but it is obvious that the hand of man - in whatever form, is responsible for their decline.

Natural Bee-keeping

Bees have existed for more than 30 million years, perhaps if we allow them to continue doing what they do naturally, they will be less prone to disease and better able to adapt to changes in their environment.  Natural bee-keeping will hopefully allow us to take enough honey for our own use and leave them with enough stock to overwinter, and propagate in the spring without reverting to artificial feed.

They will be working at a bee's pace not one that's been determined by man.