Christmas Tree Recycling - Rite of Winter at On the Pond Farm

After a warm start and not much snow, winter arrived the day after Christmas with a pretty messy snow storm. Late that morning, we actually got on the road to visit the new grand baby, and didn't even make it beyond the township limits before we realized our mistake. So we turned around, only to see snow plows going the other way, and for a few minutes the snow even stopped pounding down.

Do we keep going?

No. What's the rush.

There wasn't one, aside from getting back to our favorite new boy.

The next day was a better experience.

So when we got back home, Christmas trees were starting to pile up, and phone calls and emails were coming in asking if we needed trees again. I love our friends and neighbors for this. Not only does this keep the goats happy, it also cuts down on feed costs. I'm sure even the citiest city folk have heard about the price of corn and grains. Wasn't it just last week that I read about huge round bales of hay being stolen. Crazy!

Until the last couple of days of warmer temperatures, we had a field of snow and ice. Of course, now we have boot sucking mud. Where is the middle ground? I think we can hope for that three days in May if we're lucky!

Kids and Kids (and Chickens)

Its great to have kids visit and I usually take lots of pictures, and I did on this visit, but these were taken by the (human) kids mom, Elizabeth.

Its nice to see the interaction though other peoples eyes. This is so dear. 

I think these photos are special.

We just don't know what Zola found so delicious looking about the camera, but she couldn't resist trying to get a taste.

The hens will do anything for corn!

 It was great to have such enthusiastic kids.

Maternal Instincts

I was heading up to move some fences, and stopped to check on the babies, outdoors for the first time.

They were sunning themselves against the back of the shed. A favorite spot it seems.

As I was leaning on the fence, Saba started snorting and acting quite odd. 

I'd never seen a goat "sit" like this.

She was doing all she could to put her body over and around her babies as she tried to stare down the cats. Even her ears were pointed at the cat. 
Here's more of the action and the sounds of Saba snorting.

That's one thing about goats, they confront. They don't run away. We find it very curious that the goats seem to be most afraid or disturbed by the cats. Only one goat had gone after the dog when she had new kids.  Makes you wonder what they fear.

Why Its Great To Be A Goat Herder

Saba's Twins - Boots and Brianna

Adorable Boots(left) and Brianna will be two days old this afternoon, but you are only seeing them now because my computer time has been restricted with work being done in the house.  

I went out on Wednesday to check on Saba as she had let me know she was not hanging with Speckles "the abuser" in the corral anymore. She chose to hang in the barn with me as I cleaned the stalls, and that's where I left her, as we were having weird, changing weather every hour (really -snow, sleet, hail, sun, wind, snow, sleet...you see what I'm getting at.). I was about to run errands in town and decided to check the barn, even though I had been listening for tell tale noise and heard none. 

I looked into the stall and Saba was quietly laying in the corner. I was about to leave when I saw a big, red blob of placenta nearby. I said Saba, "What have you done?", and stepped in the stall.  Behind her were the quietest newborn twins ever. I was actually afraid they were stillborn till they both moved. 

After the usual neighborhood calls, Allison and I got the kids dried, umbilical cords trimmed and dipped, and moved them to a clean waiting stall.

Then almost as quickly, Boots got his name from Allison when I noticed that all four feet had brown shoes or "boots".

 It turns out the twins were so quiet because they had already done a fine job nursing and quietly continued to do so, without any assistance from the anxious humans!

Brianna has us all excited with her markings and just the fact that we have another doe. Hurray!

So are we done for the year?  Still watching the yearling does, but its too hard to tell.  Maybe Memorial Day??

Autumn Clean Up

 

After two rotations, the girls are finishing the last corner of the upper pasture before winter.

 First thing in the morning, everyone gets some grain which is a mix of sweet feed and goat mix. 

Adeline is like a dog with a bone.... 

 She has her foot in the bowl and won't even share with her own mother Saba. 

We hope that's the only reason she's chubby.

 Does this udder look rounder.  That's Twee. I'll be watching for us.

Meanwhile, we'll all enjoy these last warm, dry days while we can.

Tap Dancing Kids

Saba's twin does are twelve days old and really getting to be fun.

Last night's video upload crashed twice. A little clip for today.

Panic!

Fence training started today as anticipated, although the weather is not as lovely as we all had dreamed of. But warmer it was, just with a bit of the wind and clouds to keep us humble - and dreaming. The last of the Christmas trees provided browse, and a place to put the hay to keep it from blowing away. Play time was lots of fun outside - except for those fences.
Soon the kids were staying nearer to Mom, and maybe getting it.Starting with the littlest ones, the activity and the electric shocks tired them all out. Nothing like your sister to make it all go away.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsb4HV0ycic
After taking a break for lunch, I came back out to check on things. I looked everywhere and one of the four day old twins was gone.
Her sister was fast asleep on the box.
Could she be under it? Since the fence was on, I first walked the perimeter of the area and couldn't find her anywhere. Could she crawl under the pallet?
Now I was looking to see if a large bird was devouring her on the hill.
Saba was starting to panic too as she realized she only had one baby.I finally ran into the barn, flipped the fence switch, and jumped in with the goats.
That's when I finally got the right angle of the tree. She had found a place out of the wind to get cozy and was not happy with my tugging her out. However, Saba and I were quite relieved.
Kids!

Happy Valentine's Day

I know.
What's not to love in these day and a half old kids. Ask their mother. She spent their sleeping time with her head completely submerged in the barrel with them.
Do you see the one little behind?Saba was not a quiet personality before these kids came along, but she is amazingly calm and maternal now. I can barely get a picture of her twins without her in it. Who can blame her for loving these girls.
Happy Valentine's Day!

Saba Has Twin Does

The baby monitor went on the fritz at about 6:00AM, but I knew Saba was going to kid today. Yesterday her udder really started to pop and I had her in all day just in case. The sun had been out but the wind was nasty. This morning the wind had picked up and the snow was back. The barometric change probably was everything to do with my waking with an unusually pressure filled head and headache. Dave went out to the barn and Saba was down with a bubble already out.
By 8AM we had our first little doe. By 8:10 we had our first visitors admiring her.

We got everyone settled into a clean stall and brought offerings of grain (greeted favorably) and molasses water (Nah!) and were ready to get breakfast when Julia noted a new, small bubble. Ten more minutes passed before Saba lay down and had Doe #2 at 9:30AM. Finally, we determined that she was really done and left them to rest and work on nursing together. Just after taking the video below, Doe One had taken her first milk. Saba was still cleaning her second kid as we left.
She's a good mom.

VIDEO OF SABA WITH HER NEWBORN DOES