Anna's baby. She kidded yesterday and had two bucks, quickly. We were on the way to music lessons, we were driving down driveway and Nathalie said she thought Anna had a baby with her. We looked out, stopped, climbed fence and she was cleaning the tiniest goat we had ever ever seen! He was a tiny baby buckling. She was cleaning him and pushing out a second at that moment. I had seen her fifteen minutes before we started down the drive-some goats take three days and Anna takes ten minutes. She spent a few minutes cleaning up the two bucks before dropping this doeling. They are all three very different colored, and I havent had an alpine of this color before. We havent named her yet.
Lots of goats, only one dress but give me time. I am starting summer clothes! I enjoy this sewing season even if I dont love the heat. We had sun today for the first time in more days than I can count. I lost count in despair at some point, and maybe I just have a poor memory but I dont remember this many gray days in a row in Ks over the past three years.
Some of the older girls, the poor little new girl feels a bit small with some of these that are already three weeks old! This is the weaning yard where they live, its a nice little yard with a comfortable barn.
These babies are on bottles, and are super annoying. Bottle babies try to bite at you constantly and are always looking for a bottle. Well, not true. If they are full they are not annoying. The kids feed all but one feed daily, I do morning alone usually. If Tad is up he goes down with me. We do the last feeding (usually in the dark) together and then close them up in the barn.
New dress! Amanda, friend in Hutchinson, Ks. made a dress for her this winter. It was a christmas present, and Nathalie wore it this winter with a jacket but its a lovely spring/summer dress. This is the same style but not as fancy. I made the pattern this morning. I used to make little dresses for her with buttons/snaps up the back but never up the front. I made jumpers with front buttons. Then I learned to work with cotton knit (stretchy) and have used it almost exclusivly. Nathalie was terrible about stains until the last couple of summers, and I have had this fabric for years holding out for when she was a bit older. Its a woven with a % of spandex and its wonderful! She likes the snaps, and it was easier to apply than sewing on buttons and doing button holes.
She wants three more mama she says. Maybe. We will see. I think her brothers clothes from last summer will do fine right? Mama! No! I dont want to wear his old nasty clothes! Okay punk. Will make more dresses.
Oh thanks mama! I am glad. I hate his old sandales and boots. I know it baby. But they fit. So hush up.
We have mostly goat and Nathalie pictures from today because mostly Tad and I had the camera. The shirt he is wearing, while speaking of sewing, was made by my mama 16 years ago. My big (being relative) brother wore it when he was 10. Which makes him 26, and yes I am nearly 32 but he is my big brother both in size and maturity. He and I are both happy with this arrangement. I cannot imagine that Grayson was ever truly small.
A view to prove its green! Oh how I love winter, the snow, the ice, the splendor of it all but spring is equally amazing as is fall. As each season, except summer, rolls in I remember that it is one of my favorites. Yes I know my trailer tire is flat. So is the back right jetta tire, and the left front truck tire. And yes, I air them up. And yes I even mended them but something goes wrong and I dont know what it is. So for now I air them, and keep them aired most of the time until Frank can get home because that is only a few weeks away, and then they will be frightened into holding air and wont stop again this side of December.
Anna and small guy, he is so tiny! Such a pretty color also. Anna is such an attentive mama, she cares for both of them so sweetly.
Here is his "big" though born second brother checking on him. He or Anna are constantly checking on him. He seems healthy enough just teeny!
Oh now he gets a few moments to nap with no one nuzzling him, loving him, sniffing him, licking him, smooshing him...
Oh wow! Nathalie... Honey you might stick that way and never look normal again. Phoenix doesnt want to be milked but if I dont milk her, one side is huge and engorged. Her buck doesnt drink enough from both sides.
The bad part? She was WAY out in back field on the north-east part of our property. I had to walk her butt all the way up to the milk shed with her fighting so... It was insanity in a can. Yet, I got nearly a gallon of milk, got her hooves trimmed and trimmed up the back end of her. The hair (plug your ears here if you have an ick factor) gets all nasty when she kids and its stuck and just gross. The only way to get rid of it is to clip it, or to prevent it by shaving her before hand which I clearly didnt do.
Nona's bucks. Nona is my pet, everyone knows that. But, for some reason Nona isnt well. She wasnt well last pregnancy, though it was mild. This time she was fine during pregnancy, but possibly having four was a bit excessive for her body. She became hypocalcemic (I think, though all symptoms didnt fit at first) and I am giving her meds for that. She isnt responding as well as expected. She is also being treated for ketosis, worms have been treated for though I dont think she had any worm problems. She is getting LA200 again, she had it after kidding for some mild diarhea and now she is getting it again for a possible infection. She is on probios, vitamens, minerals, extra alfalfa, herbal supplements and grapefruit seed extract. Trying to cover all bases and make sure she doesnt suffer any dammage from medication. She simply isnt well and I dont think that she should kid anymore. She has dried up completely for some reason, and cannot feed her bucks. One of her bucks died a few nights ago, we are not sure why but we were with him and I did try to save him. These two live with her, hang out with her, but get bottles four times a day with the little girls. We are selling them as bottle bucks now.
Tad was taking pictures while I milked, Anna is nervous of us being around her bucks. I tried to get a picture of her head-butting the chickens but I failed. That was funny, the chickens take flight for just a second.
And Anna again. She doesnt like being separate from them for even a moment. We put them in a kidding stall for the first couple of nights with a heat lamp and plenty of clean straw, water and alfalfa for Anna. I do this to allow mama some time alone with her babies and plenty of water/food without her having to go far for it. It gives her some much needed rest and healing without having to watch out for her babies. None of the other goats will be rough but she would be constantly looking for them so this helps her have a safe break.
Our first baby of this season, Tall Boy. I think he is spoken for. Most of our bucks will be wethered (castrated) and be eaten or sold for meat. TB is a sable and thus we would like to sell him registered, he comes from good stock and sables are hard to find. I wouldnt register him if his parents were of poor quality but they are not, so we will sell him reg if we can find a buyer.
What kind of blogger/farmer would I be if I left out the chickens? The local dogs dont leave them out. We have new "neighbors" several blocks away (we have no imediate neighbors and our driveway is the road leading to our house so no one "passes") and they have dogs. Dogs that are not at all contained. A dog that was referred to as Kujo (sp) by the next neighbor over, and I was told not to go near him. Well, since they moved in we lost over 20 chickens, during the day somehow between the many times we go out. I was stymied but this until I discovered the dogs on my property. We were not pleased and we called the police. So thats it in a nutshell. Its 10:30 at night and I am heading downstairs to make t-shirts for my poor son who is desperate for clothes.
Anna's baby. She kidded yesterday and had two bucks, quickly. We were on the way to music lessons, we were driving down driveway and Nathalie said she thought Anna had a baby with her. We looked out, stopped, climbed fence and she was cleaning the tiniest goat we had ever ever seen! He was a tiny baby buckling. She was cleaning him and pushing out a second at that moment. I had seen her fifteen minutes before we started down the drive-some goats take three days and Anna takes ten minutes. She spent a few minutes cleaning up the two bucks before dropping this doeling. They are all three very different colored, and I havent had an alpine of this color before. We havent named her yet. 
Lots of goats, only one dress but give me time. I am starting summer clothes! I enjoy this sewing season even if I dont love the heat. We had sun today for the first time in more days than I can count. I lost count in despair at some point, and maybe I just have a poor memory but I dont remember this many gray days in a row in Ks over the past three years. 
Some of the older girls, the poor little new girl feels a bit small with some of these that are already three weeks old! This is the weaning yard where they live, its a nice little yard with a comfortable barn. 
These babies are on bottles, and are super annoying. Bottle babies try to bite at you constantly and are always looking for a bottle. Well, not true. If they are full they are not annoying. The kids feed all but one feed daily, I do morning alone usually. If Tad is up he goes down with me. We do the last feeding (usually in the dark) together and then close them up in the barn. 
New dress! Amanda, friend in Hutchinson, Ks. made a dress for her this winter. It was a christmas present, and Nathalie wore it this winter with a jacket but its a lovely spring/summer dress. This is the same style but not as fancy. I made the pattern this morning. I used to make little dresses for her with buttons/snaps up the back but never up the front. I made jumpers with front buttons. Then I learned to work with cotton knit (stretchy) and have used it almost exclusivly. Nathalie was terrible about stains until the last couple of summers, and I have had this fabric for years holding out for when she was a bit older. Its a woven with a % of spandex and its wonderful! She likes the snaps, and it was easier to apply than sewing on buttons and doing button holes. 
She wants three more mama she says. Maybe. We will see. I think her brothers clothes from last summer will do fine right? Mama! No! I dont want to wear his old nasty clothes! Okay punk. Will make more dresses. 
Oh thanks mama! I am glad. I hate his old sandales and boots. I know it baby. But they fit. So hush up. 
We have mostly goat and Nathalie pictures from today because mostly Tad and I had the camera. The shirt he is wearing, while speaking of sewing, was made by my mama 16 years ago. My big (being relative) brother wore it when he was 10. Which makes him 26, and yes I am nearly 32 but he is my big brother both in size and maturity. He and I are both happy with this arrangement. I cannot imagine that Grayson was ever truly small. 
A view to prove its green! Oh how I love winter, the snow, the ice, the splendor of it all but spring is equally amazing as is fall. As each season, except summer, rolls in I remember that it is one of my favorites. Yes I know my trailer tire is flat. So is the back right jetta tire, and the left front truck tire. And yes, I air them up. And yes I even mended them but something goes wrong and I dont know what it is. So for now I air them, and keep them aired most of the time until Frank can get home because that is only a few weeks away, and then they will be frightened into holding air and wont stop again this side of December. 
Anna and small guy, he is so tiny! Such a pretty color also. Anna is such an attentive mama, she cares for both of them so sweetly. 
Oh now he gets a few moments to nap with no one nuzzling him, loving him, sniffing him, licking him, smooshing him... 
Oh wow! Nathalie... Honey you might stick that way and never look normal again. Phoenix doesnt want to be milked but if I dont milk her, one side is huge and engorged. Her buck doesnt drink enough from both sides. 
The bad part? She was WAY out in back field on the north-east part of our property. I had to walk her butt all the way up to the milk shed with her fighting so... It was insanity in a can. Yet, I got nearly a gallon of milk, got her hooves trimmed and trimmed up the back end of her. The hair (plug your ears here if you have an ick factor) gets all nasty when she kids and its stuck and just gross. The only way to get rid of it is to clip it, or to prevent it by shaving her before hand which I clearly didnt do. 
Nona's bucks. Nona is my pet, everyone knows that. But, for some reason Nona isnt well. She wasnt well last pregnancy, though it was mild. This time she was fine during pregnancy, but possibly having four was a bit excessive for her body. She became hypocalcemic (I think, though all symptoms didnt fit at first) and I am giving her meds for that. She isnt responding as well as expected. She is also being treated for ketosis, worms have been treated for though I dont think she had any worm problems. She is getting LA200 again, she had it after kidding for some mild diarhea and now she is getting it again for a possible infection. She is on probios, vitamens, minerals, extra alfalfa, herbal supplements and grapefruit seed extract. Trying to cover all bases and make sure she doesnt suffer any dammage from medication. She simply isnt well and I dont think that she should kid anymore. She has dried up completely for some reason, and cannot feed her bucks. One of her bucks died a few nights ago, we are not sure why but we were with him and I did try to save him. These two live with her, hang out with her, but get bottles four times a day with the little girls. We are selling them as bottle bucks now. 
Tad was taking pictures while I milked, Anna is nervous of us being around her bucks. I tried to get a picture of her head-butting the chickens but I failed. That was funny, the chickens take flight for just a second. 
And Anna again. She doesnt like being separate from them for even a moment. We put them in a kidding stall for the first couple of nights with a heat lamp and plenty of clean straw, water and alfalfa for Anna. I do this to allow mama some time alone with her babies and plenty of water/food without her having to go far for it. It gives her some much needed rest and healing without having to watch out for her babies. None of the other goats will be rough but she would be constantly looking for them so this helps her have a safe break. 
Our first baby of this season, Tall Boy. I think he is spoken for. Most of our bucks will be wethered (castrated) and be eaten or sold for meat. TB is a sable and thus we would like to sell him registered, he comes from good stock and sables are hard to find. I wouldnt register him if his parents were of poor quality but they are not, so we will sell him reg if we can find a buyer. 
2 comments:
Funny how you picture Grayson always being big. Because I'm still picturing him so small. =)
LOL he is over 6 ft tall and broad. My kids didnt know him as much as they knew Lucas and Seth because Grayson was grown and away in school. They were frightened of him the first few times they met him, he is tall, big and has a very big deep voice. Seth and Lucas are still pretty narrow though Lucas voice sounds like Graysons. They are all 6 ft or over 6 ft tall and I am 5'2". They are also ALL more mature and grown up than I!
Post a Comment