I woke up this morning to learn that we have two new baby goats from the other mother. I would guess they were born early in the morning, maybe just before I came down, based on the mother goat licking them clean still.
The goat above is called Spot after the white spot he has on his head. And yes, he is a boy! That is two of the goats born this week that are boys.
The little beauty above is a female, and I managed to squeeze in a name much after that tradition of the llamas we have called Flossy and Pearl. This little one is called Fern.
There was an all black goat born too, but we did not know about it right away. It was dead when I found it. I gave it some stimulation to see if it would come out of it, but there was nothing there. I don’t know how it died, perhaps it suffocated on the amniotic sac when it came out?
Even thought the other goats were only born four days ago, the difference in size is amazing! They pop out, hit the ground, stand up within the hour, and walk around just fine, then grow and grow and grow! Sure can tell they are a prey animal!
So, five new goats this week. That’s a busy one! That puts us up to a total of eleven goats! My, how fast the herd grows!
Our black and white doe delivered her baby early this afternoon while I was out in the barn dropping off some things that did not need to be in the garage anymore. I heard a very high pitch goat cry and thought, “that’s not one of our babies!” I was wrong. It was one of our babies! It was the first of a set of three from that mother, who had delivered a stillborn only six months ago. This time, three! And she did it all on her own, and just fine.
The other expectant mother stayed to the side, perhaps settling into a nest for herself, or perhaps to preserve her colostrum for her own babies when they come, which I expect to be in a day or two, most likely. After all, the father is fast at his work, and even this set indicated that the black and white mother took in three days of being put in with him. They were put in at the same time.
After momma cleaned them all up and all had their first feeding, a quick check of their undersides shows they are two females and one male. The brown one was born first, and we are calling her fern. Then came Oreo, the belted one. The one that has about as much white on him as his mother is Echo.
Looks like I am not the only one to be cleaning out his shop today!
I won’t at all be surprised if the other mother delivers tomorrow. She has done it a few times before and has been very successful at it, so I think she will do fine whenever they come. Goats, kittens, and newly bought chickens are just some of the reasons that springtime is always an exciting time on the farm!
You know? I spotted the boy as soon as he popped out! How could I tell? He was the one that hit the ground, coughed up his fluids, and turned and looked around for his food on mom’s underside right away. He found it before the two that were born before him!
I was out and around the place yesterday and took a couple of photos of some of the animals we keep here on the farm, and a couple of spaces that I find interesting to the eye, every time I pass them by.
The first of these spaces is a window on the house. It stands in a wall that has only one other window in it, and has a curious appearance as an opening into the lives lived inside, and a wall with an otherwise unbroken pattern in this one area. I may take a deeper interest in it because it is closest to there I stand when I am working on the firewood for the season, and I have the time to stare over at it, and allow it to intrigue me.
The next space, below, is looking back at the granary. There is a mess next to it, it’s true, and I hope that by the end of this season that will be cleaned up and the granary will look much cleaner, maybe even painted, soon. I have always been fond of that building, and how it was put together. It would still do its job well if that is what we used it for. It is fairly rodent tight, and where it isn’t, it could be fixed easily. It also stays cool, even in summer.
Here is one of our two pregnant goats, due to deliver about a week and a half after this picture was taken. The picture below is her daughter, also due about the same time. The black and white goat delivered a couple of weeks early last time, and lost the baby. Any time after this picture was taken is her taking the baby closer to term this time, and exciting! Finally, the goat below whose eye only you can see is the one we bought at a pet shop in Pocatello a few years ago, and bottle fed from then till when she was old enough to wean fully. She was promised to be a fine goat, and able to breed. She has never taken.
The picture following is of our Chucker, and one of our new Buff Orpington laying hens. The Chucker is a type of partridge. The hen is due to start laying around mid September. We have a dozen new hens in our egg flock.
Finally, this is one of the peacocks. He is the dominant of the two males, and had assumed the role of mate to both of the females. With any luck, they will one day lay an egg, sit on it, and hatch it. But I suspect we will have to let them live out, in order for them to do that. Right now they live in the egg coop with the laying flock.
Our little place is not a farm in the sense of a place that provides food for many people, but in the sense that it is where we live, and it provides some of the things which we need. It is also a place where we get to live how we want to, which includes a large craft space for Missus, and for me the ability to heat and cook and such on a wood stove. Our eggs are usually fresh as can be, and sometimes so are our vegetables. I imagine I will soon pick up a Holstein bull calf or two, and raise them for beef. I have done it before, and it was so rewarding, and provided a sense of security for the time we had the beef to eat.
I am taking the year off of gardening, and working on getting some other things done around here that require reworking. Honestly, I am hoping to pick up a small tractor later this summer. I read somewhere once that anyone who wants to make any kind of serious effort with farming absolutely has to have one. I have tried for a few years to do the work around here without one, and I can say for sure that the person who wrote that was absolutely correct. Plus, I am not getting any younger.
