Welcome To The Bleat Beat by Scott Bice
It’s a warm, spring-like February evening in the barn as I await the first kids of the new year. A full moon is rising over Mt. Saint Helena, and the sounds of the milking herd browsing and ruminating fills the air. Hope Springs Eternal on the farm, and we are excited about the arrival of the adorable new kids, as well as their fresh-into-milk mothers, who will be our show goats for the new year and provide us with delicious milk to make our cheese and cultured products.
Eclair, getting ready to be among the first to give birth this year
Yes, we know spring is coming with the first kids born of the year that usually coincide with the first daffodil and apricot blooms. Soon the first asparagus spears will be poking out from the warming earth and the Gravenstein apple blooms will start to the fill the orchard. We are excited about another first we will have at Redwood Hill Farm this spring, the blog you are reading now – The Bleat Beat. Our blog will provide a window into the daily life at Redwood Hill Farm.
The First Daffodils of the year
Of course, we will spend a good amount of time covering our first love – our dairy goat herd. We are proud to have been the first dairy goat farm to be Certified Humane® and we know that the time and effort that we commit to the herd and its health and happiness is what makes the difference in the milk production and quality. We hope to help educate the public on these smart, affectionate animals that give us this wonderful milk we use to create healthful, nutritious products. Redwood Hill Farm is more than just a purveyor of goat milk products, and we will spend time blogging on all aspects of life on a family farm, including our organic fruit orchard and vegetables gardens, and our commitment to sustainability and being good stewards to the land.
There is a lot of excitement for 2012 here on the farm. From our venture into beekeeping to our road trip to the American Dairy Goat Association’s National Show in Colorado this July, we invite you to come along for the ride. Bloggers will include David “Cultured Aloha” Bice, Trinity ”The Goat Whisperer” Smith, Jennifer ”The Big Cheese” Bice, Zimba “The Herd Queen” – one of our Alpine Dairy Goats and, yours truly, Scott ”The Goat Guy” Bice.
Sunrise looking out from our dairy
Éclair, one our La Mancha’s, is starting to push now…..and the first baby of 2012 is born…eyes wide open taking in the new world. And it’s time for me to get back to work. We welcome you to The Bleat Beat and hope you will visit us regularly for news fresh from the farm.
Love the blog but hey, you didn’t talk mention me Scott! Zimba
You always got to have ALL the attention Zimba! How about you do a blog for the site this week? Sound Good?
Way to go Redwood Hill!
I’m looking forward to your future blog entries!
What wonderful photos. Thanks and keep it coming.
I’m looking forward to following your days with the goats. Great start!
I grew up going to visit my Amish friends, meietmsos for 6 weeks at a time in the summer.
They had cows for a lot of years and then only goats for milking. My friend got kicked by her cows at least twice while she was pregnant and milking. I remember liking the cows milk to drink and in homemade ice cream and other recipes. I didn’t like the goats milk, it was gamey. I was used to it but preferred the cows milk. I took Joe to meet my friends when we had gotten serious. He ate lunch which was made with goats milk in the recipes, excused himself from the table and went outside and hurled! It was quite the first impression. 
I didn’t mind the cows bc they were in the barn, but the goats roamed free. I was knee high to a grasshopper and as soon as we went outside to play the goats would run up and butt us with their horns and wouldn’t leave us alone. They wanted lots of attention all of the time and it was scary to me bc they were taller than I was and they were aggressive. Just my two cents from a little one’s perspective. 
Love your creativity and passion!
Mariana- Sad to say, some people of had these first experiences like this to goat milk. It’s not typical. We take pride that our milk and products are not “gamey”. Things that can produce off flavors in Goat milk are:
1)unsanitary conditions- If the equipment is not cleaned and sanitized or the goats teats not properly washed, you will have high bacteria and off flavors.
2) It is important to chill the milk right away after milking(unless you were going to culture it and make cheese or yogurt right away)
3) If you have the male bucks in with the milking girls during breeding season(this is when the males produce a strong smell to attract the girls), then that can come across as an off flavor in the milk.
4) If you have goats with a lower butterfat percentage to their milk, it will not generally not be as good tasting as on with a higher butterfat percentage.
If you follow good procedures and have good genetics, I guarantee you will have a great tasting milk that is not gamey.
SB
What a beautiful sunrise picture! New background wallpaper photo for my computer
Am Kenyan and really liked what you do at the farm.
This type of work is required in Africa Kenya in particular.
Keep up good work