“A day in the country is worth a month in town”Christina Rossetti

Monday, March 5, 2012

Outlaw Orphan

Its been a busy couple of weeks on and off the farm.

I spent some time with my Mom doing some spring cleaning. Now that she's 85, turning mattresses and climbing ladders isn't as easy.
Here at the Farm, the herd is doing fine and we are waiting for Zola to kid next. Saba is moving along nicely too.
The weather has been all over the place. In the 40's an 50's making more mud, and now freezing and about 24 hours of snow flurries.
Meanwhile, the orphans are doing great on the bottle, and as of two days ago, Beatrix wastes no time getting hers down. She gets between my legs as if I have the udder and takes the bottle there. She even butts me if she thinks the bottle is too slow! Becka still needs to be caught and held, but then she slowly nurses away, wasting nothing.
The story with the blog title,is that while I was away, Dave went to pick up one of Trinity's kids who was nursing on her.  Instead, he found that he had Becka. Ooops!   He put her right back and she continued nursing. Trinity was too busy at the hay rack to realize she had a milk thief. It's been going on a week now. That's Becka thieving above. She sneaks in from behind.
Since Trinity has not been a mother of triplets for long, her coordination is to be admired, as all three are trying to nurse at once here. She is not a large doe, and all three give her quite a challenge.
Not to say that this is an always loving relationship, as Trinity bites at Becka and pushes her away sometimes, but she does let her lay with her and the twins as a family, and does let her nurse enough to tide her between bottles. I have to give Becka credit for persistence too. She really is a survivor.

For her generosity and cooperation, I have been giving Trinity extra hands full of corn. She was getting thin, but we are trying to keep her healthy so that she can remain a mother of triplets.
PS: Frgv spling errrs. Blogger is not cooperating today.

1 comment:

Kittie Howard said...

Ah, the orphans are thriving. Great news! You do so much you inspire me to move a bit faster. And this weather - yipes! It's snowing outside. Will be sunny tomorrow.