Facebook & Instagram

Please visit our website, Facebook Page, and Instagram Account for updates. I have pretty much given up hope for posting here :)

Um, yeah, so ...

A whole year has passed since I have posted here, and I am a bit ashamed. I have been using the farm's Facebook page more, posting photos and updates there. Also, the farm's website has frequent updates, including information about Freddie and Stanley. Check it out :)

Meanwhile, I am here today to type up notes I took LAST YEAR on Annabelle's kidding as she is due today!

A brief summary on last year: Lilly delivered on day 146, and it was easy as pie. 'Triplets for her first kidding - 2 bucklings and a doeling. The last little guy was only 2 lbs. 2 oz, and was just the sweetest little thing ever! Lilly was a great mom - she very clearly let me know she about to kid (crying, looking worried, unsettled, mucous string an hour before kidding), and her babies slid right out with little issue. Annabelle went on day 147, and she was a bit more subtle with her messages (no crying, just a little worried seeming, maybe mucous? maybe bloodshot eyes? tail arching sideways). Her twins were ginormous: the doeling was 4 lbs. 12 oz, and the buckling was a whopping 5 lbs. It was not an easy delivery due to their size as well as the presentation of the first kid (just the head with her legs tucked under). It was stressful on all of us, but the kids were very healthy and Annabelle was a champ. I retained the two doelings - one from each batch - and after weaning I let the three boys go together to a nice farm with people who love them very much.

Only Annabelle is bred this year as Lilly did not take despite our best efforts. I have a hunch that the cyst she had last fall (ultimately fixed by Fertagyl) may have affected her for the long term, so I have decided not to try and breed her again. That leaves Annie, who was successfully bred to a nice buck from DeBuck HomeStead. Annie is huge and uncomfortable, but we are so lucky to be in a cool and dry stretch of weather, so that really helps. My guess is tonight or tomorrow, and fingers crossed for an easier delivery.

Poor plump girl!

Annabelle's private maternity suite

Freddie, coming to the farm August 1st.

Stanley, coming to the farm August 1st.

Kidding Notes: Day 142 Annabelle, 143 Lilly

The due dates approach, and I am on high alert.

Both girls have a slight discharge, but nothing too noticeable. I'll be darned if I can feel ligaments despite my best efforts, so that means that when they loosen I won't know it. Ugh. Yesterday Lilly was laying down by herself at the far end of the pen which is highly unusual, but I'm thinking it might only have been because it was shady and in line of a sweet lake breeze. Today she seems absolutely uncomfortable, and I might just be seeing things but her udder looks shinier, and her right side (the side with the kids) seems to have dropped. She is still nibbling at her hay, though, so I am just trying to relax. My schedule allows me to be home, so I can check on her and Annabelle every few hours. It will be fine, right?

The baby monitor will be on again throughout the night. Last night I woke up a dozen times, trying to analyze what the goats were doing when I heard sounds. Tonight will likely be the same.

It is so dry but the temps are a comfortable 70s with a breeze. I have spent the day weeding both the foundation beds and the pond garden, and it all looks so beautiful. I also watered all the trees we put in over the last two years as we have had no real rain in weeks. I'll take the moderate temps, though. I'm just trying to stay busy and productive because I know once we have kids I will never want to leave the barn :)

Kidding Notes: Day 138 Annabelle, 139 Lilly

Oh boy. To say that I am excited would be an understatement. Excited, anxious, nervous, elated, ecstatic, nauseous, worried, terrified, confident, thrilled.

Last night the does spent the entire night in their private kidding pens. For a few days before that I gave them their morning grain in their new pens, and each evening they spent an hour or two enjoying their personal stashes of hay. Leaving the barn last night I felt confident that they were comfortable and happy in their new pens, and they are really only a few feet from the rest of the herd so it's not like they are very far apart. Of course throughout the night I worried that they were stressed, despite the baby monitor's relative quiet (it is still a barn full of goats, after all). All seemed well this morning, and today they are basking in the early summer sun and enjoying the cool lake breeze with the other girls.

The weather has been mercifully cooler and less humid this season than it typically is, and the wind continues to come from the north which means we are ten degrees cooler here on the lake shore than just a half mile inland. Despite this, I have the barn fans running today in an attempt to keep the girls as comfortable as possible. Tomorrow and Monday are supposed to be much hotter and more humid, with temps in the high 80s and a southerly breeze. Yikes. But the rest of the week looks like back down into the 70s so I will keep my fingers crossed. It could be much worse.

The boys are now permanently separated from the girls, and I think that will keep things calmer. Boys are just so rough and pushy. Even though they are sweet, they are very large and physical, and combining that with their very different nutritional needs it just makes sense to me to keep the herd divided, at least during pregnancy and through weaning. The boys threw a stink about the division because they loved to "raid" the girls' stall, but they got over it pretty quickly.

The birthing supplies are ready and my schedule is cleared. Next week is the final week of state exams at school and the last week I am required to report for the summer, so that combined with my accrued comp time leaves me with a ton of flexibility.

Both Lilly and Annabelle seem healthy, but they are clearly uncomfortable. They want me to pet and scratch them like never before, and if I stop they make the sweetest little tiny baa sounds as if they are saying "please don't stop". They are laying down more than ever, and when they turn their head back to take care of an itch they make little grunty sounds. I did not think I could bond any more deeply with them but I have, and I imagine that assisting with the kidding will only deepen that bond with them beyond what I can imagine.

Both girls are absurdly round, and their udders have really developed more than I expected. I saw a drop of white discharge under Lilly's tail this morning which at first startled me (it's too early!) but then I remembered reading that they can have small spots of opaque discharge a day, a week, or even a month before kidding.

The weather has been mercifully cooler and less humid this season than it typically is, and the wind continues to come from the north which means we are ten degrees cooler here on the lake shore than just a half mile inland. Despite this, I have the barn fans running today in an attempt to keep the girls as comfortable as possible. Tomorrow and Monday are supposed to be hotter and more humid, with temps in the high 80s and a southerly breeze. Yikes. But the rest of the week looks like back down into the 70s so I will keep my fingers crossed. It could be much worse.

A common theme when breeders discuss what the signs are of impending delivery is that each doe is different. That makes me nervous, but it is also the reason why I am going to keep posting notes here of what each doe is doing over the next week. If I breed them next year then I will at least have a starting point of what to watch for.

<< Deep breath >> This is a perfect time to keep repeating my mantra: I can do this.

Some excellent sites with lots of helpful information:
Fias Co Farm
Kinne's Mini's (although they raise Pygmy's, so much of the info is still helpful)
Cornerstone Farm
Goldenbrook Farm

Kid Names

I will admit that I love thinking about and selecting the names for my animals.

We adopted our dog Willow partly because my son and I were discussing earlier in the day how we thought "Willow" would be a great dog name. That evening I was cruising the Petfinder site and there was this little crooked eared terrier mix that looked like a white version of our Bumble, and her name was "Willow". It seemed like a sign. And our adopted dog Bumble came with his name, too, which suits him so well there was no way we were going to change it.

But when you have baby animals you get to make up your own names for them, and that is part of the fun of baby animals, especially while you are waiting. Thinking of and collecting potential kid names has been one of the activities that have helped me pass the time while waiting for the kidding date to arrive. I actually have a spreadsheet for doeling and buckling names to which I add names as I think of them. Yes, that is fairly insane, I admit, but when I have bouncing goat babies I will want to select a cool name that suits them perfectly.

Themes are fun. For instance, my first four goats were named with a nod to my art background: Vincent, Salvador, Pablo and Jasper. When we adopted two adult goats we stuck with their original names - 'not sure if goats would be confused by a sudden name change but somehow it still seemed wrong to change their identities at this point in their life. Artist names are at the top of my potential kidding names list, but for doelings that will be more challenging. Frida? Georgia? Dorothea? 'Unless I go with female contemporary artists, but then the average non-art person will not get the reference. For the boys my favorite potential names include Hopper, Diego, Maxfield, Claude, Modigliani, Banksy and Ansel.

Plant and flower names have great potential, as well, especially for Lilly's kids. Sweet Pea, Jasmine, Violet, Daisy, Poppy, Holly, Hazel, Flora, Iris, Clover, Rose? But then what about the boys?

Authors, musicians, Greek gods, and biblical characters also have potential, and those names comprise a large portion of my list.

Names should suit the little critters and their personalities, so we will definitely not decide on names and what direction those names will take until the kids are hopping around and we get to know them a bit.  'A little more than a month from now!!

Spring Cleaning

Throughout the winter months, bedding builds up around the concrete pad. Removal requires a morning of team work.

After Jim scrapes and removes the bulk of it with the tractor, I go to work with a rake and a shovel. 

If all of this were left behind, the grass would not grow and the flies would be out of control. After everything was raked and removed, I thoroughly hosed down the concrete and side of the barn. Ahhhh clean!

Old bedding and manure removal is just part of farm life. Here Jim is moving a temporary pile that was created behind the barn when there was snow. It's easier to empty the wheelbarrow next to the barn when the weather is nasty, and then have the tractor guy move it when the weather is nicer :)

Weaning Plans

Weaning will not be an issue until well into August, but of course I am already researching and trying to figure out a game plan for when that time comes. Anxiety is what I am feeling, but I keep reminding myself that this is what needs to be done so I need to suck it up. While I am mentioning anxiety I should also add the great stress I am feeling about disbudding and castration, but that will all be performed by our vet so I am putting that worry off until the time is closer.

From what I can tell, weaning comes with great stress on the animals, the humans, and the neighbors. There is crying and calling and searching from both the does and the kids. Deep breath. The big goal will be to break the nursing habit, so there needs to be physical separation. Out of sight and out of ear shot would be ideal, but our infrastructure will not permit that so I have to come up with the best plan given the logistics. I think I have figured it out.

The north side of the barn would be mostly out of sight of the herd's permanent pen which is on the south side, so a temporary weaning area with t-posts and welded wire (maybe panels) there would be perfect. Well, the neighbors are also in that direction so they may feel less enthused about it but I am hoping a visit with a plate of cookies and an explanation the week before will help neighborhood relationships. Unfortunately the only door on that side of the barn is the man door, and at this stage of the breeding game I am not going to make a permanent and costly change in the barn structure, so the man door it is. I was considering a calf hutch for shelter, but I feel strongly about tucking all my goats safely in the barn every night, especially my wee kids!

Inside the man door I can rearrange one of the kidding pens to serve as an interior enclosure so that will be perfect, too. About kidding pens: After planning and drawing and planning and changing my mind and pricing and discussing it with Jim we have decided to invest in two dog kennels rather than piece together cattle panels and figure out gates and posts in the cement floor. These kennels can be easily stored away and then used again whenever and wherever - like a weaning pen - we need them. The costs are not that far off, either, from all the pieces and parts homemade pens would cost (especially the posts bolted into the cement floor). Add to all of that the fact that my husband is not exactly "handy", and although he is willing to help me he is not a happy carpenter.

Being a human parent includes making tough decisions and sometimes causing stress to your children because you know it will be good for them in the long run, and you keep your eye on the goal of raising your children to grow into healthy independent adults. You insist on them sleeping in their own beds, you resist the urge to deliver to school their forgotten gym clothes, you deny the requests to have their schedule changed because they don't "like" their teacher, you make them go to church and brush their teeth and eat their veggies ....... I suppose being a good goat mom involves some of the same kinds of decisions. Weaning/castration/disbudding won't feel good to the kids in the short run, but in the long run the kids will grow up to be healthy and independent adults who will be a pleasure to have as part of a herd.

Having a plan in place makes me feel more secure about it all. I can do this.

From Tractor Supply -- I may have to "wrap" smaller fencing material around the gate when the kids are teeny, depending on how large the gaps really are.