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.

Everybody Out!

Barn Time

This week's two sets of twins are still spending their day in the barn, especially since the weather has been all over the place. One moment the sun is out. The next, its raining sideways.  Tonight we went out to bring the goats in, and by the time we closed the doors and settled everyone down, the ground was coated with snow.

Layla with her twin does. A day and a half old.

Trinity with her bucklings, Pip and Squeak

After everyone goes out in the morning, the indoor kids get to roam around with their moms while I muck.

Here is a VIDEO from this morning.

This is how the five older kids came in last night.

Mud balls!

Below is what it looks like with four nannies and their nine kids at their feeding bowls, nursing and playing at dinner time.

Jocks flash light eyes just fascinate me!

After we are all done playing, the kids do what they do best...

 - snuggle.

Pip and Squeak -Trinity's Boys



Pip and Squeak

I hate to give these little kids names they get bullied with in school, but they are so small and yet so boisterous.  But they still sound like newborns. They have such little voices, and Pip barely makes any noise at all, he just dances sideways.  They are the funniest little things we have, and we have nine kids under a month old right now. Yesterday's newborns are louder and bigger already.

These two are such perfect little things.

They play hard.

And they sleep hard - right where they collapsed in the hay bale.

More Boys!

This was Trinity this morning, four days late, but with a full udder. I spied on her all day, sure that she would go, but all for naught.

This is her mother Layla, who if you remember, went to SCS Farm to be bred to Remington. I didn't have a due date for her, but it sure looks like she's been ready for a while.

So who had two more boys today?

 Here's Trinity at about 8:30PM cleaning her first buckling.

 Here he is two hours later and a bit fluffed up.

 And his younger brother by about fifteen minutes.

Here is the VIDEO of the second buckling being born.
WARNING! Its a bit bloody if that gets to you.

Initially, Trinity was very worried about every noise the boys made, and seemed too nervous to nurse, so I milked a syringe full off and got her to relax.  I gave the milk to the little guys and that was it.  They wanted more of that good stuff!

After getting both to nurse and letting me do a little clean up of the placenta, Trinity just dropped on her knees to rest.

She almost squashed one of the little guys, but he was able to get himself out of the way, and I assisted too.

Lots of fresh bedding and its time for bed.

Sleep tight!

Past Due

Trinity's due date was yesterday. Layla looks as wide as a - barn? The saddle bags on that girl. Woo!

I've had the baby monitor on for three nights now. I really love it when they surprise us early, but its not happening. I know its just a day late, but its the waiting, the freaky weather (freeze, mild, snow, ice), and I don't like my sleep interrupted by coughing goats and wailing cats.

We had company today for the football games and I predicted that someone would kid at an inconvenient time like when the game was tied with 2 minutes to go. That could have been both games, but it didn't happen.

Tomorrow my guests include two very young ladies, so maybe we can come up with some excitement for them to write home about!

Good night!

Bo the Beau

Trinity is back at SCS Farm for her date with her new beau, Bo. He is smelling love in the air!

Trinity made her annual pilgrimage yesterday, and will be at the farm 45 days to get her through two cycles of heat.Oh Yeah! Bring it on Ladies!

Bo is two and has matured quite a bit since I saw him last year. We look forward to some nice kids for our herd, sometime in April or May.