Goat Milk?
I thought of one of the reason’ s why so many people have had bad experiences with goat’s milk and or are turned off immediately at the mere mention of it. Most people have only tried cow’s milk from the store or straight from the dairy where the cow’s are all raised under optimal conditions to produce good milk. Rarely would they first try it from a neighbor down the road who owns a cow or two, and even then most people would graze their cows in good fields and more than likely give them good nutrition and feed them properly. On the other hand most people think goat’s can eat anything and everything and give no thought to proper care and nutrition of the dairy animal. And so of course this is many people’s first experience with goat’s milk. The animal has been allowed to roam and eat weeds all day, is starving for the proper vitamins and minerals goats require and is probably chewing on things to try to get what it is missing, and then the milk is not properly filtered and cooled down right away, so of course there are off-flavors in the milk. Off-flavors in milk can just as easily happen with cows, but since more is commonly known about cow care than goat care, this does not occur as often.
On our homestead our goats get excellent care, are fed dairy quality alfalfa hay, get all the nutrients (i.e. vitamins and minerals) they need, are properly housed and fed grain formulated for dairy goats. We immediately filter the milk and then cool it in our fridge. It tastes wonderful, but we treat our operation like a dairy, since these are dairy animals.
So sad that the wonderful goat’s milk is so often overlooked due to misinformation and ill conceived notions.
Fund Raiser for my Daughter!
My nine year old daughter, Jasmine, as some of you may already know, is raising money to go to the World Championships of Performing Arts in July (I know..she takes after me…LOL) she is going for dance and acting and will be doing hip hop and tap and also comedy and drama, among other things, she wants to go for a scholarship to a certain performing arts school. (She is a very talented young lady and just went to her first commercial audition.) This is a BIG undertaking and she needs to raise several thousand more dollars to reach her goal. She has set a monthly goal for herself and has unfortunately become very ill with asthma in the last month and she has fallen about 900 dollars behind on her goal, since she has not been able to get out and raise the money. Her doctor even said NO school until she is well enough. She has been to the Doctor’s six times and the ER twice in the last month. It has been scary. What does this have to do with my art you may ask yourself? Well, I am doing a fundraiser to help her reach her goal and her dreams. Here is my special fundraiser pricing:
BOGO prints from http://stagedragon.ecrater.com until March 31st.
Custom Paintings: 16″ x 20″ with Keepsake print $100 + $10 priority mail shipping
Custom Cray Pas (Pastel) Art: 8″ x 10″ with Keepsake Print $50 + $5 priority mail shipping.
You can order these directly through PayPal, my PayPal email is stagedragonz@yahoo.com
Donations of any kind are also accepted, just PayPal them. Put “Jasmine” somewhere in the email so I know.
As for the painting and art, all but my base costs will go to her, So pretty much at least 90% of the proceeds. For straight donations, $100 % of course goes to her.
Thanks so much! Any help would be greatly appreciated to make her dreams come true while she is so sick.
Kimberly’s Dog and Animal Art Prints on Ebay again!
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View your listing: BEAGLE Bright Sunshiny Day Whimsical Art Giclee Print – 390293077945
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View your listing: SHELTIE Against SUFFOLK SHEEP Whimsical Art Print EBSQ – 390293148355
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STAFFORDSHIRE BULL TERRIER Having Coffee Pop Art Print
BOXER Puppy Martini Whimsical Dog Art Giclee Print EBSQ
BRITTANY SPANIEL Trio Whimsical Art Giclee Print EBSQ
SHIBA INU Quizzical Whimsical Dog Art Giclee Print EBSQ
SMOOTH FOX TERRIER Having a Martini Whimsical Art Print
COCKER SPANIEL Martini Jitterbug Whimsical Art Print
SHELTIE Devil or Angel Whimsical Dog Art Giclee Print
NORWICH TERRIER Drinking a Martini Whimsical Art Print
There are other too and more being added 
You can find most of my prints at ecrater as well:
http://stagedragon.ecrater.com
If you don’t see the breed or animal you are looking for, feel free to request it! Post here or email me at stagedragonz@yahoo.com
I’m liking Sarah Palin More and More…She’s got true grit.
“My fellow Americans in all 57 states, the time has changed for come. With our country founded more than 20 centuries ago, we have much to celebrate – from the FBI’s 100 days to the reforms that bring greater inefficiencies to our health care system. We know that countries like Europe are willing to stand with us in our fight to halt the rise of privacy, and Israel is a strong friend of Israel’s. And let’s face it, everybody knows that it makes no sense that you send a kid to the emergency room for a treatable illness like asthma and they end up taking up a hospital bed. It costs, when, if you, they just gave, you gave them treatment early, and they got some treatment, and ah, a breathalyzer, or an inhalator. I mean, not a breathalyzer, ah, I don’t know what the term is in Austrian for that…”
Here is the link to her original fb post:
Solving the Pet Overpopulation Problem
Wow! Found this on craigslist today,
just shows what happens when the state runs things. There are plenty of breed
rescues and private no-kill shelters who don’t run things this way. Why would
anyone want to adopt a dog from Spokane Humane Society? Nothing but heartache
from behavioral problems and disease, and vet bills it sounds like. I’ve been
there and I was appalled by the smell, filthy cages, etc. The excuses for this
are ridiculous! The hypocrisy is incredible. If any person treated their animals
like this they would lose them, and somehow it’s ok for a state-run
“shelter”? People need to be educated not to dump their animals at
these places! When there are so many better alternatives, heck most breeders do
rescue themselves (and I am not talking puppy mills and backyard breeders here,
who seem to get lumped in with the show crowd, somehow!) A lot of breed rescues
take in mixed breeds who slightly resemble the breed and have a possibility of
having some of that breed in them maybe. And guess what? Most of these same
breeders take back any and all puppies/dogs that they end up placing in pet
homes for WHATEVER reason, and would bend over backwards to keep their dogs from
ending up in these disgustingly run places! So not only are they NOT contributing
to the animals that end up here, but they are helping with the problem anyway,
by rescuing dogs that are not theirs and they get talked about horribly for it.
And yet their animals are all cared for properly, even the rescues, and
socialized and given treatment and the whole nine yards. Most rescues will
foster out if they don’t have room at the time. I know this first hand from
having worked with the local sheltie club’s rescue program, and having donated
art to many others to help raise funds. It’s just very sad when some of the
people making a BIG difference by educating people and helping solve the problem
by donating lots of money and time and or rescuing themselves are blamed for the
problem and lumped in with the ignorant backyard breeders who are breeding out
of ignorance or just to make a profit. Believe me, there is a HUGE difference
between them and people who show, who truly care about dogs, and their breed,
and improving them, and helping educate the public on dog training and real
responsible ownership. This one way or the other thing needs to stop or there
will never be a solution. There are responsible breeders out there who breed
healthy dogs for a purpose and not out of ignorance or to make a quick buck, so
stop lumping them together. We can all work together to make a difference. The
show dog crowd and obedience/agility/etc crowd, want the backyard breeders
and puppy mills to stop just as much as the shelter workers! It gives everyone a
bad name and it’s so sad to see the breed you love and work so hard to preserve
being destroyed in this manner! Do you know how carefully people who show screen
potential owners? You have to get on a waiting list, fill out a questionnaire
and be pre-approved for the occasional puppy that becomes available. What’s
happening of course now is that the wrong people are breeding and people are
buying from them because it’s easier and responsible people have to jump through
so many hoops to prove it, and then are blamed and lumped in the puppy mills
anyway! I am not encouraging people to breed by any means, I just think people
would be better off to do their research and get their companion from a caring
breeder who carefully screens them, who does genetic testing and proper
socializing, or to get them from a no-kill shelter or local breed rescue who
takes the time to get the animals the proper health care and training needed and
screens people for the right reasons, not the ridiculous list that most shelters
have (just check out PAWS in Lynwood, WA.) I could go and on. I have seen first
hand that the dogs in these state-run “shelters” are not from breeders
who show in conformation, obedience, etc. The majority are from puppy mills and
ignorant backyard breeders who don’t care what happens after the puppies leave
their property. If a show breeder’s ended up in a shelter it would be the
owner’s own stupidity since any show breeder I know will take the dog/puppy back
at any time, no questions asked! And would march down there and rescue that dog
immediately as soon as they found out, but most keep in communication with the
new owners for the pup’s lifetime so that doesn’t happen. Many shelter dogs end
up right back where they started due to severe behavioral issues or health
problems due to coming from a puppy mill type breeder, and many new owners
aren’t prepared to deal with that. People need to know the difference and stop
buying from pet stores and back yard breeders! It’s easy to spot once you know
what you are looking for! Do your research on the breed, backyard breeders won’t
know what they are talking about! This WILL solve the problem. Supply and
demand, stop patronizing unscrupulous breeders and educate the public on them,
and the supply will stop if it has no where to go, And the profits stop coming
in. Simple economics. Telling people to only adopt from state-run shelters won’t
solve the problem because, as stated lots of those dogs have so many problems
they end up right back in the shelter, it’s the simple truth as the article
below points out, the conditions are so horrible even good dogs go bad. It’s so
sad. I would much rather encourage people to go to Spokanimal or a local breed
rescue. Where the animals are cared for properly and have a much better chance
of ending up in their forever home.
I know many people will decry me and I’ve already heard every argument, and
I know it’s not the current “trendy thing” to say, but it need to be
stated more or the problem will just get worse and before we know it good breeds
will not exist, just the puppy mill versionsbecause educating is always the best
way and just telling people to”buy from shelters” is not educating them!
Giving people responsible choices is and discouraging the irresponsible ones is,
telling pople the truth abouot all options is educating them.
Here is the post on CL:
DON’T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE!
Date: 2010-10-29, 2:56AM PDT
Reply to: see below
I think our society needs a huge “Wake-up” call. As a shelter manager, I
am going to share a little insight with you all…a view from the inside if
you will.
First off, all of you breeders/sellers should be made to work in the
“back” of an animal shelter for just one day. Maybe if you saw the life
drain from a few sad, lost, confused eyes, you would change your mind about
breeding and selling to people you don’t even know.
That puppy you just sold will most likely end up in my shelter when it’s not
a cute little puppy anymore. So how would you feel if you knew that there’s
about a 90% chance that dog will never walk out of the shelter it is going to
be dumped at? Purebred or not! About 50% of all of the dogs that are “owner
surrenders” or “strays”, that come into my shelter are purebred dogs.
The most common excuses I hear are; “We are moving and we can’t take our
dog (or cat).” Really? Where are you moving too that doesn’t allow pets?
Or they say “The dog got bigger than we thought it would”. How big did you
think a German Shepherd would get? “We don’t have time for her”. Really?
I work a 10-12 hour day and still have time for my 6 dogs! “She’s tearing
up our yard”. How about making her a part of your family? They always tell
me “We just don’t want to have to stress about finding a place for her we
know she’ll get adopted, she’s a good dog”.
Odds are your pet won’t get adopted & how stressful do you think being
in a shelter is? Well, let me tell you, your pet has 72 hours to find a new
family from the moment you drop it off. Sometimes a little longer if the
shelter isn’t full and your dog manages to stay completely healthy. If it
sniffles, it dies. Your pet will be confined to a small run/kennel in a room
with about 25 other barking or crying animals. It will have to relieve itself
where it eats and sleeps. It will be depressed and it will cry constantly for
the family that abandoned it. If your pet is lucky, I will have enough
volunteers in that day to take him/her for a walk. If I don’t, your pet
won’t get any attention besides having a bowl of food slid under the kennel
door and the waste sprayed out of its pen with a high-powered hose. If your
dog is big, black or any of the “Bully” breeds (pit bull, rottie, mastiff,
etc) it was pretty much dead when you walked it through the front door.
Those dogs just don’t get adopted. It doesn’t matter how ‘sweet’ or
‘well behaved’ they are.
If your dog doesn’t get adopted within its 72 hours and the shelter is full,
it will be destroyed. If the shelter isn’t full and your dog is good enough,
and of a desirable enough breed it may get a stay of execution, but not for
long . Most dogs get very kennel protective after about a week and are
destroyed for showing aggression. Even the sweetest dogs will turn in this
environment. If your pet makes it over all of those hurdles chances are it
will get kennel cough or an upper respiratory infection and will be destroyed
because shelters just don’t have the funds to pay for even a $100 treatment.
Here’s a little euthanasia 101 for those of you that have never witnessed a
perfectly healthy, scared animal being “put-down”.
First, your pet will be taken from its kennel on a leash. They always look
like they think they are going for a walk happy, wagging their tails. Until
they get to “The Room”, every one of them freaks out and puts on the
brakes when we get to the door. It must smell like death or they can feel the
sad souls that are left in there, it’s strange, but it happens with every
one of them. Your dog or cat will be restrained, held down by 1 or 2 vet techs
depending on the size and how freaked out they are. Then a euthanasia tech or
a vet will start the process. They will find a vein in the front leg and
inject a lethal dose of the “pink stuff”. Hopefully your pet doesn’t
panic from being restrained and jerk. I’ve seen the needles tear out of a
leg and been covered with the resulting blood and been deafened by the yelps
and screams. They all don’t just “go to sleep”, sometimes they spasm for
a while, gasp for air and defecate on themselves.
When it all ends, your pets corpse will be stacked like firewood in a large
freezer in the back with all of the other animals that were killed waiting to
be picked up like garbage. What happens next? Cremated? Taken to the dump?
Rendered into pet food? You’ll never know and it probably won’t even cross
your mind. It was just an animal and you can always buy another one, right?
I hope that those of you that have read this are bawling your eyes out and
can’t get the pictures out of your head I deal with everyday on the way home
from work.
I hate my job, I hate that it exists & I hate that it will always be there
unless you people make some changes and realize that the lives you are
affecting go much farther than the pets you dump at a shelter.
Between 9 and 11 MILLION animals die every year in shelters and only you can
stop it. I do my best to save every life I can but rescues are always full,
and there are more animals coming in everyday than there are homes.
My point to all of this DON’T BREED OR BUY WHILE SHELTER PETS DIE!
Hate me if you want to. The truth hurts and reality is what it is. I just hope
I maybe changed one persons mind about breeding their dog, taking their loving
pet to a shelter, or buying a dog. I hope that someone will walk into my
shelter and say “I saw this and it made me want to adopt”. THAT WOULD MAKE
IT WORTH IT
For those of you that care— please repost this to at least one other
craiglist in another city/state. Let’s see if we can get this all around the
US and have an impact.”
When did Dogs become Omnivores?
Seems to me more and more dog food manufacturers are convinced dogs are omnivores, seems like all the brands are going to some sort of meat, vegetable, fruit mix of one type or another. Was there some BIG announcement that I missed? Last I heard, dogs were still carnivores…you don’t see them putting veggies and fruits in cat food do you? Cats are more discriminating on the whole, you would hear about it from the cats if they started doing that! And so many people brag about how their dogs love raw carrots, etc. What kind of crazy mutts are we producing? My dogs spit any vegetables or fruits out or ignore them altogether if I try to sneak them in with their scraps (yes I feed my dogs table scraps – believe me as much energy as most shelties burn through, they need it, though I have had a few that had the opposite problem, and they did have to be on a diet). I don’t know about you, but I think if something is labeled a carnivore by scientists who have studied these things for years, they probably have an inkling of an idea of what they are talking about! And I will stick to animal proteins for my little carnivores to keep them happy & healthy. I see a disturbing trend of turning carnivorous animals into vegans, poor things! They can’t help what they are….I mean who tries to feed their cows, sheep or goats meat? That would be crazy, wouldn’t it? And I am sure they would not go for it, it would probably freak them out if anything!
Sheltie Playing with Baby
This video is adorable!
It shows just what great dogs shelties really are. They are such good family dogs and so nurturing, they are incredibly intelligent!
Fellow Shelties lovers everywhere will appreciate this
When Picasso Was Born, The Midwife Thought He Was Stillborn
Picasso had such a difficult birth and was such a weak baby that when he was born, the midwife thought that he was stillborn so she left him on a table to attend his mother. It was his uncle, a doctor named Don Salvador, that saved him:
‘Doctors at that time,’ he told Antonina Vallentin, ‘used to smoke big cigars, and my uncle was no exception. When he saw me lying there he blew smoke into my face. To this I immediately reacted with a grimace and a bellow of fury’”