Snow, Blue Skies and Bottle Babies

Beatrix has become quite a screamer, especially for the afternoon bottle.

She'd be through this fence if it weren't for the electricity.

As soon as I(or anyone) step though the gate, she is butting my legs to get between them to line up for her bottle.

We use this larger black nipple and I try to put one with less of an opening on hers to slow her down just a bit, but as you will see in the VIDEO, she really goes to work.

I have to really hang on because she gets impatient if the milk doesn't flow fast enough, and tries to butt it like she would the udder to let down the milk.

 Claire is home for Spring Break, and came over for some goat duty.

4-H started this month and Julia is getting ready with some early goat work too. She also helped with the kid weigh in Sunday.  There IS math in goat herding!

Our other bottle baby Becka is still supplementing her bottle by stealing from Trinity, and is here in the middle of her foster brothers Pip and Squeak.

This is the pile on at night. Becks is in the corner, almost out of sight. Trinity has no hope of getting rid of her.

The newest little guy, Britches(middle right), joined the herd this week-end after a short two days of fence training, and tried to be a tough guy from moment one. He isn't a shy one, and at three and a half weeks on Sunday, already weighed in at 19 pounds.

 Back to dry fields and blue skies for a week-end.

 After all that prancing and running all over the field, Britches is one tired little kid.

Adeline and the rest of the herd might not be the youngest, adorable goats on the farm, but they still get some love from Julia.

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.