Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Stuff

It's snowing and miserable here, just when you think it's safe to till the garden, mother nature throws a fit. Blah! Of course my trees and blueberry bushes all arrived yesterday. Go figure.

A friend is in need of positive thoughts and prayers as she deals with her new baby being in the NICU. Been there, wish I could go to her, but she live too far and it's still tax season, AKA/Devil season. ((((Hugs Donna!))))

I've decided the new goat kids are most likely Kinder goats. Nubian and Pygmy crosses, it's what they resemble and they are quite small yet. Not a bad thing, they should still milk nicely, but I will probably not keep all of the does like I was planning. I really want to build my Nubian herd. They are darn cute though.

Positive thoughts people, spring is coming. It is coming!

Friday, April 03, 2009

Waking up the Garden

Hoping this is the last year for this particular chore.

Forming the rows, check out the snazzy shoes:)

Six rows of onions all tucked in.

Dolly never misses a chance to help out.

Even the cats enjoy gardening.





Thursday, April 02, 2009

More Twins!

Today was Oreo's turn to go into labor, she waited a bit longer than I expected but she did a fine job when the time came. She is a first freshener, meaning this is her first birth, just like her twin sister Twix. Once again I was really only expecting one baby and once again I was pleasantly surprised.
She started out quite agitated and confused, so I climbed in the pen and sat next to her talking and rubbing her neck, trying to reassure her. This seemed to calm her down and she commenced to pushing in earnest all the while leaning into me and giving me loving glances. Goats are quite affectionate at times and are very easy to love back:)
Her first baby arrived in a gush with perfect presentation. I quickly grabbed up the little ball of slime and placed it under mama's nose. She took to cleaning and talking to the little one like an old pro. The next one came rather quickly with poor presentation, but I did not intervene since it went quick enough. This one came nose first with one leg with under the nose and the other bent back, gasping for air before she ever hit the ground. Another ball of slime placed for mama to love on. Did I mention they are both does! I'm ecstatic, they both get to stay:)

Circe

Echo

I'm still trying to figure out what they are mixed with. Clearly daddy was not Nubian as I was led to believe. Oh well, they should still make great family milkers, both mamas have wonderful udders and I got promising amounts out of Twix during training this week. Oreo has an even bigger udder and seems less jumpy when I try to milk, so I'm hoping for a smoother training session with her. Twix is coming around......slowly. lol