2 more babies—probably 2 more coming!

The Husband said he wanted a whole herd of goats, so I guess this will be his birthday present this year. We had 2 more kids born yesterday afternoon while we were both in work. Our ladies seem very capable of giving birth without any assistance from the humans.

And the really good news is that I think they are both doelings! A white one carrying her Saanen heritage from mama Rosie, and a brown one with 2 white feet who is looking a lot more like her daddy, Charlie.

The 2 kids and Beatrice in the last photo are all looking like their daddy, the Oberhasli/Alpine cross. Little boy on the left, new girl in the front, Beatrice behind, still looking a bit stunned that she produced that little buckling. 

That's a close-up of his cute little face in the photo below that I took while we were on our way to June's house to get him disbudded (horns removed). Now we will have to make another appointment to bring the girls. Not a pleasant thing for a week-old kid to go through (or for us to watch) but it truly takes about 1 minute, and it's better for them as a group that no one has horns to butt the others with.

I am very happy that this buckling-boy survived. He was born on one of the coldest, windiest days. He didn't seem to be able to (or want to) stand up the first day. If he doesn't stand, he can't eat. And mama Beatrice didn't seem to know what to do with him. But now it seems they both have it sorted out, and the other girls are interested enough in their own issues that they have stopped picking on Beatrice. Or maybe it's just that they are accepting her as a good mama now that she has stepped up her game. The little guy is getting to that cute bouncy stage that is so much fun to watch!

Little guy standing tall

We weren't sure this little guy was going to make it through the night. He wouldn't even stand up yesterday, probably because he just wanted to stay warm all snuggled up in the hay. It was really cold and windy both yesterday and today.

I left for work yesterday with him wrapped up in my down vest. The Husband came home early to keep an eye on him. Momma Beatrice did not seem to know what to do, other than to follow Lucille's lead and clean him up a bit. We are pretty sure he spent the night in the corner behind the hay bale, by himself, with only the vest to keep him warm.

Neither of us had seen any nursing going on, including up to the time The Hub left for work this morning. But just now I was out there checking on him, and there he was, the little tough guy, standing tall. I took some time to hug him and warm him up a bit. Lucille and Rosie took most of that time to beat up on Beatrice. I am not sure if they were telling her to go get her baby from me, or just being mean girls.

I was finally able to corner Beatrice and put the baby down beside her. I had to hold Lucille back, again not sure if she was helping or being difficult. Finally the little guy found his way to the milk. He had a good drink, and Beatrice seemed thankful that he found his way. Lucille and Rosie gave up their head-butting and went back to eating hay.

All is right with the world, in the goat barn at least, for now.

A pleasant surprise

We are always surprised by a new birth. As much as we think we know what is going on…well…we don't. We are pretty sure that Rosie (white girl) is going to kid in January. We are thinking it is going to be near the end of the month (on The Husband's birthday according to his calculations). Lucille (black girl) should be a few weeks later. Beatrice (brown girl) daughter of Lucille and Charlie, is 1 year old, and we never saw her go into heat. As she is Charlie's kid, we were hoping that she was not bred by him. She was.

Beatrice gave us a new kid this morning, about 10:15. I think it's a boy.

As usual, Grandma Lucille takes over the cleaning up part, although Beatrice was able to get in there and help out after a while.

So why did she wait till today? A Monday when we both have to work. A Monday that is very cold (high of 20°) and windy, after a warm and rainy weekend.

I guess Mother Nature knows best. Kid is snuggled in a bunch of hay. Mama and Grandma working together to keep him comfortable.

Update on Good Craig/Bad Craig

I posted awhile ago on having problems with people promising things on Craig's List and then falling through. Specifically, someone who wanted to buy 2 of our goats by trading for firewood and hay.

I had posted some pics of Charlie, our breeding male goat, for sale on Craig's List. He has been a good buck, but we cannot keep using him because of inbreeding issues. I did not hear anything for quite some time, and then heard from a guy in NJ. I gave him a hard time about why he would want a goat in upstate NY if he lives in southern NJ. Given past bad experiences with promises, I did not believe him.

Turns out he was a really good guy, with 2 young female alpines that he bought in Maine. He must have some family up here, near Binghamton. Exactly as promised, he showed up last night to take Charlie home.

Funny part (from my point of view) even though warned that Charlie was a big boy, he showed up in a normal sized sedan (like a Taurus) with a large dog crate in the back seat. Probably best that he and Charlie did the 5- or 6- hour trip at night. He says that Charlie was a good traveler all the way home. (Maybe he was sleepy?)

Here is Charlie with his 2 new women, home safe today.

He escaped just in time for the temperatures to drop dramatically. We got about 2" of snow shortly after they left last night at about 6:30 pm. The high was only 14° today.

Wishing you well, Charles, in your new much warmer home. Thank you for behaving yourself in the Taurus.

Happy New Year from the boys!

You might be able to see in the background that we got that little bit of snow for New Year's day instead of Christmas...just a little. Still coming down.

We are headed to Sue and Jim's for lunch—2 friends from South Jersey who also recently moved here.

The boys are staying home and, with any luck, resting peacefully together while we are gone.

Maybe.