April 18th, 2005

Lambing and kidding season are definitely underway here!  We have two set of lamb twins and one set of goat twins.  I have two more does due soon and 5 more ewes.  Last year I bred 7 ewe but only 4 delivered for various reasons.  This year it looks like all seven will lamb.  I had to create more lambing pens today in anticipation of all these  newborns!  We lost one goat kid- the two pictured about were triplets, but their brother didn’t make it.  I suspect he never took a breath.  Everyone else is  happy and healthy.

 

April

24th

We are having a lambing weekend!  We have had four ewes give birth with a total of 7 lambs!  There are 3 sets of twins with 5 ewe lambs and 2 ram lambs!  There’s white, grey, brown and black.  Everyone is doing just great.  We have 1 more ewe to go and 2 goat does yet.

 

May 1st

Paloma had triplets Saturday morning!  Last year she had a single, and as a first time mother wouldn’t care for her the first two days so this year we were a little nervous.  The first one she didn’t take care of and when I found her at less than one hour of age she was cold.  I dried her while the second one was born.  The second one was bigger and more vigorous.  I got the second one dried while Paloma started licking them both and then the third one was born- quite a surprise!  He was very thin and small.  We didn’t think he’d make it.  We got him dried off.  The second one would nurse but not the other two.

We brought them into the house and warmed them.  We tube fed the first and third ones and managed to get them all to nurse well off the mother by the end of the day.  When the temperatures cooled though the third smallest one got cold again.  We brought him back into the house warmed and tube fed him with his mother’s colustrum through the night.  He would never take a bottle so we kept him warm and tube fed him through today.  He seemed to be doing well- keeping his temperature up, standing and pooping meconium but then in the evening he died.  He’s stomach seemed a little bloated then so he probably had some intestinal problem that killed him- an obstruction or perforation.

I’m sad that he died, but I feel we did the best we know how for him.  The other two are thriving under their mother’s care.  Tom says it’s just part of farming- they don’t all mak

e it.

 

 

 

May 6th

This is Sasquatch, the last lamb born this year (with his sister Sangria).  Lambing and kidding season are officially over!  The last kid Deja vu was born yesterday.  All the mothers and lambs/kids are going well.  We had two goat kid deaths and two miscarriages this year- really not that bad at all!  We had more females than males for both lambs and kids too so all and all a great spring for our little farm!

Now we can enjoy the bouncing, playful, young animals and sleep through the night!

 

May 11th:

Now it’s selling time.  I may have sold two goats last night to a man in Alaska, and a woman and her children came by today to look at lambs this morning.  A woman called this afternoon and will come by tomorrow evening to pick up Zotz.  We’re getting phone calls regularly.  It’s a busy time but in a different way.

I just received the roving back from the spinning mill last night.  I had reserved 6# for a regular customer and 10# for a new one in California.  I weighed and divided the rovings.  I packaged the roving for CA but ran out of packing tape.  That leaves only 2# left!

May 21st

The kids are growing up and as cute and playful as ever.  They’re all reserved to new homes except one.  That’s Deja Vu- the black one in the back with the “helicopter ears”.  She’s supposed to have upright ears so she may have to be sold as a pet.

I’m sick.  One thing about having critters is that you have to take care of them even if you’re sick.  It makes it a little miserable sometimes.  I’ve had times where I’ve been so sick I’ve had to lay down in the pasture among them to rest a bit before finishing the chores.  It gets kind of interesting sometimes.

You also have to make arrangements for vacations.  I picked critters that are somewhat self-reliant, but you just can’t leave them for a week- you have to make arrangements.  It’s a year round responsibility.

 

 

May 28th:

This is a hot day.  Keeping all the animal with water is tough.  There’s plenty of grass to eat though.  We have the goats surrounded by electric net fencing in the blackberries.  They do an excellent job of eating them down to the ground- great brush clearers!  Tom mowed one of the fields with a tractor today.  We also have to keep all the plants watered so they don’t shrivel in this heat.  A lot to do when it’s too hot to do much!

 

June 1st:

This was a goat and garden day.  First I trimmed all the hooves on all the goats and injected them all with worming medicine.  Then I did the usual animals chores and spent the afternoon weeding the garden and planting the last of the seeds.  The gardens doing well despite the varying weather this spring.  I also packaged up the last of the wool I sold this year and sold the last goat and more lambs today.  Pretty productive day!

By the way, the photo is of some of the hens eating some of the radishes from the garden.