Black Mesa Ranch
Snowflake, Arizona, USA
Artisan Cheese
Nubian Goats
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Updated!
6/07: We have revamped our Ranch Workshop Packages!
In addition to our one and three-day cheese making and goat management workshops learn about our free open- house days and lodging accommodations.
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Award Winning Artisan Goat Cheeses
4 Awards 2005 ADGA National Competition
3 Awards 2004 ADGA National Competition
(available seasonally)
2 Awards 2005 ADGA National Competition
2 Awards 2004 ADGA National Competition
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Click here to read the online version of Kathryn's booklet
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This site last updated:
October 11, 2008
© 2000-2008 Black Mesa Ranch Inc. All Rights Reserved
Arizona Grown!
A BMR sunset
7/1/01:
We equalized the Powerhouse battery bank today. I spent a couple of hours at the orchard rototilling under some of the weeds that have exploded around the fruit rows and the trees. Unfortunately the rototiller died well before I was done. I field-analyzed the problem (checked fuel, filters, lines, oil, etc.) but aside from being able to tell that it wasn’t getting any spark all I could tell was that it was more than a field repair. I dragged it back to the barn and quit for the day.
7/2/01:
The big news today is that ALL THE RABBITS ARE DRINKING ON THEIR OWN!! Just 2 months after acquiring the little rascals they are all able to use the waterer bottles without help. Yippee!
I spent a little quality time with the rototiller manual and decided that replacing the spark plug was my best bet to fix it. If it wasn’t the plug I’d get it looked at under warrantee.
7/3/01:
Our first eggs!
We got our first real egg this morning from our laying hens! We’ve found a couple of rudimentary eggs over the last few days but this one had a shell and everything. It was a big sucker too, probably a jumbo, and I gotta think it was hard on the hen. Went into town and went to the feed store, grocery, auto supply (plugs for the rototiller), lunch & PO.
7/5/01:
We moved the baby chicks from the guest bathroom out to the Chicken Coop and set them up in residence in the “Red Room”. The Red Room is a fenced-off area in the Chicken Coop where we normally store feed and various supplies and equipment for the chickens and rabbits. We also use the room for segregating the chickens we will be butchering during their 24-hour pre-butcher fast. We call it the Red Room after a story we had heard about a large poultry purveyor who had a special room painted red (a soothing color for chickens according to the story) where his chickens went before slaughter. Our red room, however, isn’t even red.
Next I took the spark plug we had just bought for the rototiller (as specified in the manual) and went to put it in the machine but it didn’t fit. Not even close. In looking at the plug I removed from the rototiller I found that it was the same one used on our Coleman Generator, for which I had a spare. I popped it in and it worked right away. The removed plug was seriously carbon fouled but the manual (which I trust SO much by now) says that it was about ready for replacement based on the hours (about 50) I’ve run the machine so it was no big deal. Since it was running so well I took it out to the orchard and worked it about 2 hours but before I was ready to quit it started running ragged again. I took it back to the barn, removed the plug and sure enough it was almost completely fouled again. Something’s not right here, probably a carburetor adjustment because of our altitude here, but I’ll probably just take it in to be warrantee serviced.
7/6/01:
Got some rain this evening after being cloudy all day. High temp only got to 78 degrees!
Friends visit from Tucson
Our friends Martha & Glenda from Tucson came up late tonight for a visit with the new goat twins.
7/7/01:
Cool and rainy again, high near 85 degrees. Worked on building a jungle gym-type structure in the goat habitat area for the babies to play on. Built 100% from scraps, salvage and odds & ends (and most definitely NOT OSHA or ADA approved) it came out OK and the kids love it. We celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary tonight.
7/8/01:
Another rainy and cool day. Our neighbor Linda came over with her husband Eddie to see if they could do the re-banding of Ordoño this morning. We had set up time tomorrow AM when we would go to their house with the little guy but since they came over here we went with it. After checking him over, the 4 of us were able to get a real good fit on the new band. He was very unhappy while we did the deed and screamed to break our hearts. M&G were the lucky ones, able to leave and took off with the dogs for a short walk until we were through. After taking a really nice walk with us up the mesa for a little potshard hunting M&G headed back down to Tucson.
7/9/01:
Afternoon showers. Ordoño is scouring (diarrhea) a bit.
7/10/01:
Went to town including the auto supply place, the feed store, the grocery and had lunch out too. Big rains in the afternoon with the washes running.
7/11/01:
Made a 4-gallon Colby cheese. Rain in the afternoon and evening. Anise now scouring too. Both babies taken off milk to help with scours.
7/12/01:
Quick run into town to pick up Kaopectate for the kids. The Cornish Rocks cockerels are now out of the “Red Room” and have full run of the chicken enclosure. Afternoon rains again.
7/13/01:
Scours much better, babies back on milk. Rain in the afternoon.
7/14/01:
Made a 4-gallon Cheddar cheese. Twins now on 20 oz per day of milk, 2 feedings. Afternoon showers.
7/15/01:
Big rain today.
7/16/01:
Filled the water tank today. CDT shots to Ordoño and Anise.
7/17/01:
Made 4 gallon batch of Feta cheese. Big rain this afternoon.
7/18/01:
Removed the chick brooder for the Cornish Rocks from the hen house.
Meat chickens
Added a qt of oil to the LPG generator.
Because of the lack of litters from the rabbits we have decided to try another method. We will begin putting the does in with the buck for extended visits, perhaps 4-5 days at a time. Today we put Reba in with Paul. It is likely that despite our best efforts to keep them cool the heat has caused a temporary sterility in Paul. Once he starts producing viable sperm again it will be important to get it moving through his system ASAP so we will continue with this method until we see results then re-evaluate.
7/19/01:
Trip to Showlow today. Brought in the rototiller to Sears for warrantee repair work (it is fouling the spark plug very quickly and blowing blue smoke).
7/20/01:
New (to us) horse trailer
We bought a used horse trailer today. We had seen it on the side of the road near here with a “For Sale” sign on it and called the owner Felipe. He had wanted $700 for it but we got him down to $500 cash. It is in kind-of rough shape but it has a permanent registration, drives OK and should work for our needs.
Lost one of the Cornish Rock fryers today, probably to “flip” (basically a chicken heart attack from over-eating). Made Cream Cheese today which came out very badly and we fed to the chickens (this was after the “flip” so it wasn’t my fault. Really).
7/21/01:
All of the goats have been acting “off” a bit and milk production is down so we have decided to treat for Coccidia. Began a 5-day course of Albon orally. Discovered some pretty serious damage to all the orchard trees by deer or small elk who have nibbled off nearly all of the young tender leaves and shoots up to a height of 5’ or so. Lots of ungulate tracks all over the place and it’s obvious that the barb wire fence isn’t even slowing them down. We will investigate our options for improving the security there and see what we can do against them. Reba is taken out of Paul’s cage.
7/22/01:
Visited neighbors Linda and Eddie today to see their place for the first time. They gave us some strawberry plants which we brought home and planted right away. Did big garden irrigating today. Paul off.
7/23/01:
Finally, we have gotten Matt to order the new solar panel parts. It’s going to be about $4000 worth of stuff and we’ll probably have to do most of the assembly and installation ourselves because he is too busy with his new venture (a satellite internet company).
Rabbit Chesney is put in with Paul for breeding.
Tried to make a Mozzarella cheese but it didn’t set up properly and totally flopped. Made our first goat’s cream ice cream and it was pretty good but there’s room for improvement.
7/24/01:
Did a bunch of little projects around the ranch today: repaired the chicken’s Red Room door and the milk room door; redesigned and rebuilt the guard for the goat’s manger; replaced the torn sun screen for the rabbits; did a 10-hour maintenance on the tractor; fixed the goat’s creep feeder.
7/25/01:
We disbudded Anise today. It went pretty well but one side seemed to be better than the other. We’ll keep a close eye on it for possible scurs and the need to re-disbud her.
Tried to make mozzarella cheese and it failed again. Bad rennet? Albon complications? Weather related problems? I pureed it up and it all came together into a rather tasty cream cheese-type cheese. Placed an order with N.E Cheese Supply for new rennet.
The garden is doing well.
Veggie garden & produce
Cool (92°F high) and rainy weather all day long. Today was the last Albon treatment of the goats this series. Worked on the web page some today.
7/26/01:
Started the goats on Probios to help counteract the use of the Albon antibiotic in their rumens. Started the dogs on Panacur for worms. Removed Chesney from Paul’s cage.
7/27/01:
Went to town today: feed store, Auto parts store (parts for wiring the horse trailer), bank, gas. Worked on goat-proofing the Cotoneaster plants (newly planted veggie garden wind block hedge) with some found woven wire fencing and some plastic security fencing we had from camping trips with the dogs. Paul off today.
7/28/01:
Last day of Panacur for the dogs. Made yet another failed Mozzarella today. We are convinced that there is something wrong with the rennet and eagerly await the NECS order to arrive. We put Sage in with Paul for mating.
7/30/01:
Went for a visit to neighbors Linda and Eddie’s. Linda gave me some very small eggplant plants for the garden which I immediately planted upon getting home.
7/31/01:
We cleaned out the goat house and paddock today hauling 4 tractor bucket loads to the garden for compost.
We started the project of improving the fencing in the orchard where we are erecting 5-6’ of some used woven wire fencing (from our supply yard) in addition to the stranded barb wire already in place to see if we can deter those nibbling deer pests. Filled the water tank today to about 2/3 and irrigated the orchard well. Removed sage from Paul’s cage today.