Update on the kids, 2016

So everyone has been asking: 'how are the kids?' 'want to see what's going on with the kids!' 'bet they're getting big! what's new with the kids?'
okay, okay here is a nice dose of things to make you smile:

Baby goats are very busy.  There is always something that needs exploring, tasting, or to be fluffed up and laid on for naps.  It's funny how they never walk anywhere but rather race and bounce where ever they go.

Buddy finds a bug.

At a few weeks old they were ready to go outside and explore.  Moma laid quietly in the shade while Grandma babysat.  Up until about 12 weeks old, most of the babies' diet consisted of mama's milk (with a little extra from Grandma).  They watch mom carefully to see what's good to eat and what to leave alone.  But like all babies, they're constantly mouthing and playing with all sorts of stuff they find in the play yard.

They grow fast.  More to come.

New babies first pictures, 2016

I don't think anyone wants to see those pictures of the babies just as they're being born, but you might like to see those sweet little faces, happy and content in their world.

Our first born, a precious baby girl

Second born, a constantly hungry baby boy

Number three, a baby boy, is now much stronger and more inquisitive than his siblings.

Fluffy, showing off her much thinner self, wanting to know why I'm taking pictures rather than giving her more sweet feed.

The hostages have been released, Fluffy babies! 2016

At five this morning, Ms Fluffy made a face at the camera then turned around to show that she was in labor.  Ah!  So we're not fooling this time!  A few hours later and she had three darling babies on the ground.  Two boys and a girl(!). 

The first born was the girl (on far left).  She, of course, will stay on the farm and is to be named 'Precious'.  The second born, a boy, is a little eating machine.  Every time Fluffy stands up, he's first to the dinner table.  When she lays down, he gets as close as he can to her, periodically nosing her side (is it time for snacks yet?).  She softly tells him to knock it off while she rests.  The other boy, had a rough time getting born and is very tired.  He's had some snacks but I suspect he's going to need supplemental feeding (oh, boy. a bottle baby.). 

Fluffy, our Proud Mommy!

Update on Queen Fluffy, 2016

No, Ms Fluffy hasn't had her babies yet.  The hostages are due to be released for another few days but still we have her on watch.

Dad-gum it! Can't reach that itchy spot!

Fortunately I still serve a purpose in her life: reaching & scratching itchies, providing cookie support, shoo-ing away any bugs (or bucklings) that are bothering her...   To keep her spirits up, her sisters have also been helpful.

Fluffy?  All you need is a new hat and you'll right as rain!

Everyone has been grazing for awhile before laying down and enjoying a summer day.  The boys have plenty of toys to play on.  If they start to bother Fluffy a little too much, their mom or even Aunt Dorothy will give them a nudge and off they go to find other adventures elsewhere.
We'll continue to keep tabs on Ms Fluffy, hoping for happy, healthy babies soon!

When did you say you were due? Adventures with Fluffy, 2016

Fluffy is approaching her due date so we're keeping a weather eye on her.  Every time she makes the slightest grunt, we jump and check on her.  I suspect she's now grunting for her own amusement (hey, girls! watch this: GRUNT!  Did you see how fast they jumped? ha! ha! let me do it again!).

I'm ready for my snack!

 It's so good to have purpose in one's life.....
Meanwhile, the boys are growing fast and soon will be ready to strike out on their own.  Constantly exploring and playing, the bigger girls sometimes will join in the fun.  Aunt Dorothy plays the goat version of Hide-and-go-seek which appears to consist of the boys hiding their heads behind a large object (while their other ends stick out like warning flags) while Dorothy walks around and around until someone is found.  Once found the hider races about gleefully bleating then goes and hides again...usually in the same place as before.

Peek-a-boo!  Where's Lightning?  Where could that boy have gone?

One just has to pause, watch, and smile.

Ninety degrees meanwhile out with the goats, 2016

I'm always surprised at how resilient Boer Goats can be.  This breed originates from South Africa and has become one of the best meat goats ever bred.  As other animals, including the human variety, head for the shade or the AC, the Boers are all out sunning themselves, enjoying the lovely day.

 I'm the first to admit, that I love our goats.  They are such personalities!  Fluffy is herd queen.  Although very pregnant, no one challenges her.  First to the pasture.  First to the water bucket.  First to eat.  First to get pats.  Everyone waits patiently until Fluffy indicates everything okay.  She's sweet as can be to the boys, gently correcting them when necessary. 
The boys are busy!  Like little perpetual motion machines with only two settings: High and Off.  Like most toddlers, they race every where: hurry to the pasture! hurry to the barn!  hurry to the feed tray! hurry to the milk wagon! hurry to see what grandma brought!  Most pictures I take of them ends up where one or the other is blurry.

I think I saw some cookies in Grandma's pocket!  you knock her down, I'll grab em!

I think I caught them sharing a secret.  We'll never know.

Goats and the Apple Orchard; Spring 2016

Not long ago a friend of mine asked why I didn't just put the goats into the Apple orchard and use them for weed and grass control.  Think of it this way: offer your family a choice of salads.  One salad is made up of plain lettuce.  The other salad is fruit-flavored and delicious!  Now offer the choice of eating grass or eating apple trees to a bunch of happy, always hungry goats.  What do you think might happen?

After trimming and pruning some of the apple trees, we took a bucket of 'snacks' over to the girls to enjoy.  Fluffy immediately started hoovering up leaves as fast as she could munch.  The bucklings watched Jellybean closely as she sampled the branches.  She allowed them to pull leaves from the branch she was nibbling on.  In short order, the lightbulbs went on and boys were soon scampering after leaves of their own.

Warmer weather, warmer smiles to share; Spring 2016

There is very little idle time on the farm.  When living in the city, I had little appreciation for the hours spent at the park watching the kids play or quietly reading in the shade.  I have no complaints.  I get up with the sun.  I am greeted by the happy smiling faces of my dog and goats.  Even the chickens want to snuggle up in my lap if I sit down for a moment near the coop.

Jellybean's bucklings have been growing fast.  This morning they each weighed in at more than 40 lbs!  All they want is to wiggle, get pats & scratches, and play! play! play!  Then, after a quick snack from mom, take a nap in the sun, then play some more.

It's Grandma!  Look how fast I can run Grandma!  Here I come!

I'm Grandma's favorite!  Are not!  I'm her favorite! Quit pushin! Moma! He's pushing me! Quit!

Fluffy is due just after the Fourth of July.  I feel so sorry for her sometimes.  She's nearly 70" in circumference.  I'm sure she's carrying at least twins (which is not unusual for Boer goats) but it may be more.  I can only hope that she's as good a moma as Jellybean has been. 
Fluffy is tired of being pregnant.  She's so big she can't reach all the itchy places.  She was trying to use scratch her back foot with her horn the other morning.  She wiggled this way and that way and stretched and contorted, grunting with each yoga position she attempted, never quite reaching that pesky foot.  Finally she laid down, periodically stretching that back leg to wiggle the foot.  Poor baby. 

Don't mind me.  Just let me lay here and moan.  A cookie would make me feel better.  Just leave the bag.  Really I just want one...or two...or...

She might not be able to run as fast or as long as the other girls, but she still romps and plays tag.  Then lays down with the boys for naps.  I suspect she feels that July can't come quick enough.  Hoping for happy, health babies and easy births.

Spring has Sprung, new babies

Life has been quite busy the last few weeks with the birth of our first babies.  We couldn't be more pleased!  Jellybean had two delightful little boys about a week ago.  Birthing went smooth and she's a good mom.

We were ready for bottle feeding just in case.  As it has turned out, Jelly has plenty of milk to take care of her children.  The boys have been growing at a rate of 1/2 - 2/3 lb per day and have plenty of energy to race around, explore, and get into general mischief.  

Now all we need to do is think about names.

Spring has sprung, taking care of the itches

On the one hand, Spring is a lovely time of year.  The flowers are coming up.  The grass is turning green again.  Brightly colored birds are returning and greeting the day with their trilling songs.  Spring is also the time of mud and hairballs.

"I don-wanna walk over there!  It's muddy!  Icky!" the goats all seem to say as they gingerly step through the softer places in the pasture.  Then, they all want to stand on the same 'high place', be that a rock or a brick or slightly raised place on the ground that appears to be a wee bit drier than where they were standing before. 

Before you know it, the tussling starts: 'This is my rock! Get your own!'  followed by pushing and shoving and running and stamping down whatever the coveted 'high place' happened to be.

The warmer weather also triggers everyone to begin shedding her winter coat.  That lovely, thick angora undercoat that worked so well at keeping a goatie warm while rolling about in the heavy, wet snow, is now too hot and itchy.  Every fence, post, gate, and pant leg that holds still long enough, becomes a place to rub against.
Think about your pets.  In the Spring and Fall it becomes important to brush and keep them clean.  This small step keeps them happy and healthy.
Using a nubby paddle brush, each girl gets in line to get some personal grooming time with the Moma.
  

ohhhhh yeah!  that's the spot....ahhhhhh!

Moma's all done!  don't I look pretty?

Secret Stuff, Spring 2016

We have a little secret that we're very excited about: two of our goat girls are pregnant!  Due at the end of April we're doing our best to ensure that they are all safe and well taken care of.  Special hay and lots of extra attention has been the rule of the day.  If you thought the girls were spoiled before, you haven't seen anything yet!  Boer goats are well known for having twins, but triplets and quads are not unheard of.  We're just hoping that the girls are all able to take care of their own babies and are good mommies.
For now, all is aglow at our house as we enjoy the happy thoughts about dancing baby goat feet!

Is it Spring yet? 2016

We're all getting a little stir crazy as we wait for Spring to finally arrive.  Temperatures warm into the 40s and 50s, then plummet back into the teens and 20s.  The chickies and the goat girls stand at the doors of their respective homes and stare out at the weather.
"What?  Are you nuts?  It's cold out there! We want WARM food! Can't we get something delivered inside?"

Then it happened: a warm day.  DH opened the front of the barn and out bounced the goatie girls.  Oh, happy day!  They ran back and forth as they bounced and they played.  This continued until the skies began to turn grey again.

"Awwwww Daddy! Make it sunny again!  We want to play some more!"
After a little more bouncing, they came racing back into the barn.
"Did you see us?  We ran really fast!  Can we have some cookies?  We've been really good!"
A cookie for each with a scratch on the neck and each little girl pranced back to her house, ready for another adventure this afternoon.

Windy days and rearranging the furniture

Winter has finally arrived in the Northeast.  Although we had a wee bit of snow around Thanksgiving, the storms have been steadily sifting for the last few days.  Just before the drifts arrived, high winds  pushed the warm weather, trees, and other things away.

One of the items, much to our surprise, was the 250 lb calf hut that was strapped down in the pasture.  During the night, winds were clocked in excess of 45 mph.  Apparently this was accompanied by swirling air currents which were just enough to lift the hut like an over sized box kite and send it sailing into the pasture 30 feet away.  I was grateful that the goaties were are tucked into their snug little beds inside the barn.  I was also grateful that I didn't have to go searching for it in the wood or in the next county!
I think I'm beginning to understand why the goatie-girls aren't all that keen about the wind!

Puppy love, goat style

Just wanted to say that there is nothing quite as nice as having one of your little goat girls come up to you to give kisses.  Especially on a morning when you don't smell like cookies.

Four Little Princesses

Short and sweet: soon after the girls were taken out to their pasture this morning, a light rain shower began.  Starting as a heavy mist, it turned to light sprinkles, then showers, then back to sprinkles.  The air temperature is still warm so it's not all together unpleasant to be out in it.  Our little goat girls are not that happy about being out in the rain and as soon as it picked up, headed for their playhouse.  The harder the rain came down, the louder they complained.

Around noon, I finally relented.  Slopping down the goat trail, I headed from the barn to their pasture.  "Come on Girls!" I called and they came scampering. 

All was going well until we reached the spot where a tiny stream sent a ribbon of water across the path. 

They came to an abrupt stop and bawled.  "Help!  It's a tidal wave!  It's a flood!"
"It's a tiny bit of water," I countered splashing through it to show them how shallow the puddle was.  "No! No! No! We'll wash away!" they cried, dancing back and forth.  No matter how many times I walked through the puddle to show them that there was nothing to be concerned about, the more they would have nothing of it.
After about ten minutes, brave little Jellybean came scrampering closely followed by Ms Fluffy.

 

Franny and Dorothy hemmed and hawed as the rains came down harder.  Finally in a burst of bravery, Franny came racing down the path with Dorothy thundering behind.  Jelly, Fluffy and I waited for the twins by the gate leading to the barn.  Soon as they got to the gate, everyone bounced around in gleeful greeting before racing to their stall.  One quick shake, then four little princesses pranced to the doorway to turn and stand watching the rain.

 

"That was fun!  Can we have a cookie now?  Did you see me Mom?  Did you see how fast I ran?  I ran right over the top of the river!  I coulda washed away but I didn't cause I'm fast!  Did you see me Mom?  Did ya?"

Never a dull moment.

How to make Happy kids

After providing a nice, safe place to live and grow, provide lots of good things to eat with plenty of fresh air and water.  After a good night's sleep, everyone is ready to go outside and play.

New Toys are always welcome.

As is a reassuring scratch from Daddy.

But sometimes, all a kid wants is to sit and tell Mom all about her day.  It's good to have someone just listen.

Pedicures and foot trimming

'I don'wanna get my feet trimmed! no!no!no!no!'
It was six in the morning, out in the goat barn.  The stanchion was in place and the girls were lined up to get their feet trimmed.  Goat hooves, like toe nails, grow continuously and need to be periodically trimmed.  Most of the time the girls are very good about it, going into the stanchion one-at-a-time, no issues, no complaints, easy peasie.  not this morning.
Fluffy was first.  She's my no-drama-mama.  Give her pats.  tell her she's a good girl.  a handful of sweet feed and we're good.

 

The twins wanted to come in together.  That's NOT going to happen.  The last thing you need is Ms BusyNose bugging her sister as she's getting her pedicure.  After a minor rodeo to separate them, Dorothy was up and ready.
Franny banged at the gate, 'I wanna come in!  I don't like this! I want my sister!'  Each time she bleated, Dorothy wanted to see what she was doing.   We would stop trimming to get her quieted down again, pick up the trimmers, snip-snip, and Franny would bleat again.  Repeat this dance four or five times per foot.
Next was Franny's turn.  Dorothy pranced out of the stall and Franny raced in, only to hear the gate close behind her.
'I don'wanna get my feet trimmed! no!no!no!no!' With a little wrestling, I managed to get her up into the stanchion.  A couple of handfuls of sweet feed and all was forgiven.  Dorothy watched quietly at the gate as her sister was positioned.  Franny stood in there like she had been glued to the floor.  I would start to pick up a foot and she would shift her weight onto that leg.  When I did manage to get it up, she would lean hard into me.  Trimming a foot is hard enough without an additional 130 lbs leaning into you.  Periodically she would decide that you've been working on that one long enough and she'd pull and shake and shake and pull to get that foot out of your grasp.
'Just because you've had enough doesn't mean we're done,' I said softly to her.  'We'll be done quicker if you'd just stand still.'   Dorothy murmured a soft, 'Mhhaaf.' and Franny quit jumping about.  A few minutes later Franny was ready to join her sister.
All the while the girls were getting their feet trimmed, Ms Jellybean wailed, 'Why do they get all the attention?  Wadda 'bout me?  When do I get to play?  When do I get sweet feed?'  Of course as soon as she was set up, she wanted down.  'Whatcha doing?  why are you poking at my feet?  I want more sweet feed!  where's Daddy?'  She danced around in the stanchion while I attempted to finish.
Finally after an hour and a half, everyone was done and set up with her breakfast.  Or so I thought.  As soon as I opened the gate, everyone rushed back in where the stanchion was set up.

No amount of calling was going to get them outside.  I pushed.  They pushed back.  I called.  They just laughed (nah-nah-na-nah-nahhhh!).  I then remembered the magic word.
'Anyone who wants a cookie come with me!'
'Cookie??? did Mom say Cookie?'  All the girls were heads up and all came prancing.
Never a dull moment.

Something nice to smile about

"I'm really not a morning person," I overheard someone lament the other day, "I can't seem to get myself out of bed before 10am."
10am!? I thought.  I can't imagine staying in bed so long.  At dawn the deer and other animals are out grazing.  The beasties are all ready for breakfast, yet anxious to go outside to graze and play.  Early morning light seems softer than later in the day.  Temperatures are cool, so the bugs seem minimal.

Out in the pasture, the girls are finding all sorts of tasties to enjoy.  The chickens are snacking on fresh grass and creepy crawlers.  The goats are delighted by the wide selection of things growing out there.  Some folks think that the only thing grazers eat is grass.  Each animal type, cows, horses, goats, even pigs, have different dietary needs, so the pasture needs to offer graze and browse to fill those needs.  A pasture suited for goats may be inappropriate for dairy cows, and visa versa.  Personally, I like the variety of ever changing flowers.

 Many parts of the pasture are carpeted with wild strawberry blossoms.  If we get good rains, the resulting fruits are large, plentiful, and delicious.  If rain comes sparingly, the wild strawberries are small, dry, and very seedy.  You can guess what we prefer.
Meanwhile out in the orchard, the apple trees are all doing well.  While dormant, they were pruned and checked for issues such as insect egg sacks.  I'm pleased to say, that so far so good.  We have a bounty of pink tips promising lovely flowers later in the week.

Spring has Sprung...toys

Did I mention that everything is a toy?  the girls got some new toys this morning.

The little goat shelter we built last year, was moved so that the girls could play on it.  As heavy duty as it is, they still manage to move it around, even with someones sister standing on the roof.

Of course, playing with the spool never gets old...