Guess What?

We decided to go out for Valentine's Day lunch today, so after morning chores and a stop at the gym, we started down the road. And suddenly we had this in the gorge. Just about a white out at moments. We started to reconsider our plans, but as we got to the other side of the gorge things cleared as fast as they started and the roads were clean. What we did see was snow being loaded into trucks to clean parking lots. Hm! I think I could have a new career if I wanted it.

The snow, and even sun, came and went. And we made it home safely.This evening, Brees adventured out to check out the white stuff, now that he's over the shock of the cold air.Tonight after evening barn chores, we finished up like this though.

Brees

The little guy has a name. Brees. As in Saints quarterback and Super Bowl MVP, Drew Brees. I'm sure his namesake would not be too honored having a goat named after him, but New Orleans did win, and it made for quite an interesting day here at the farm.Already trying hay. Not sure about this. Yuk!

All along we were trying to come up with something related to the Super Bowl, as the twins birth was our unusual pregame activity. How many of you whet guests appetites with umbilical cord dipping, tying and cutting? Yum!A little more practice, and I can make this jump.This is a hen.Stamping down the manure. They just can't help themselves.
How long till he tips the wheelbarrow?Eating like Mom.Meeting Snickers. He's a bit bold for Snickers if you can see her body language. Meanwhile, Neo is all by himself in the alley today. He is wondering why the little guy gets all the attention, and he is banished to the outdoors.

In the video below, you can see Brees is not going to be a breeze to keep out of trouble!

VIDEO OF BREES PLAYING AT 5 DAYS OLD

Mr. Personality

This buckling is Mr. Personality with a teeny, squeaky voice.
He loves stomping around in his warming barrel, and Twee can keep a close eye on him there.
She needs to. Tonight we had to add a board along the bottom of the gate panel to keep him from trying to squeeze through.
Luckily, there are a lot of people paying attention to his antics. Hopefully, we will protect him from himself. If the snow ever quits, we can get everyone back outside, and he can have the run of the stall.

Wordless Wednesday Morning

Two Days Old And Ready To Show

Our new little buckling is so social and handsome. He poses like he's ready for showing already, and its months away from fair time. Likely he will become a 4-H project. He is fun to watch, and surprised us all this evening by getting out of the stall on his own. The step is pretty high, and he managed to hop out to explore the rest of the barn, chasing a chicken, and Maggie the neighbor's dog. But can he get back up? Maybe tomorrow.
He is going to be a fun kid, I can see that already.

VIDEO OF TWEES BUCKLING AT TWO DAYS OLD
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ll16AFqdizs

Dealing With The Snow

Some of the trees have taken a beating with the heavy snow that weighed them down before the snow fell off. We're waiting to see how many bounce back.
With more snow today, we may be seeing more of these snow monsters lurking the alleys.
The adult goats have gotten out to the field the past two days, but not without effort on all our parts. Getting hay out is a snowy, slippery mess. The goats have made these belly wide tunnels though. Neo gets to roam back and forth in them.Jock has had his work cut out for him, and a sad lack of walks as a reward. Its just too deep for my boots.
I've tried to get the kids out once or twice a day, as I look in on Twee and her newborn kid. Yesterday, after I got the buck in, late in the afternoon, I tried to get the kids out to explore and stretch their legs. The snow is just too high for them, but it made for some funny pictures as they tried to turn around and go back to the barn. There was no room to pass, or no one was willing to start a new path, so we had a few stand-offs, till everyone got on the same page.
Meanwhile, "Bruiser" is thriving and exploring. A handsome, big guy!

The Sad Part of Nature

This little guy, nicknamed Bruiser, weighed in at 9 pounds today, and is exploring quite ably on his own.

His little six pound brother didn't do as well. The local kids had school canceled, still due to the week-end storm and the cold temperatures, so I had extra help trying to get things going today. On my early morning shift I realized that he was trying to nurse on a small teat that did not have milk. So he was sucking with no reward. Also he just had a hard time standing. His back knees seemed to buckle backwards. We were always trying to stand him up from moment one.Abby and Claire

With four of us assisting, we milked Twee twice on her unused side, also trying to prevent mastitis. We syringed the milk into the kid, trying to stimulate his sucking reflex. The first go around we though we had done a good job, and let him rest in the warming barrel. After an hour or so, we visited again and thought he looked better, but he was no longer standing on his own.
With everyone still available, we milked again, with two holding Twee, Bruiser at her side, and the other stimulating the little guy. Another dose of milk didn't seem to bring on any sucking reflex, although some swallows. When we placed him to rest in the warming barrel again, his cries got very weak, and so I finally brought him to the house. I didn't want to separate him from his mother, especially since she was trying to take care of him, but the more active kid was taking most of her attention.
Only moments in the house, the cries got weaker, and before I could do much more, he died in my arms. I'm afraid that some of the milk may have gone into the lungs, although we were very slow and careful, to try and get swallows. Perhaps there was nothing we could have done, but we put a lot of hard work into trying. The girls will be very sad, but I thank them for their efforts.