Another Goat Heard From...

Lilac surprised us all last night! We had moved her into a temporary pen *just in case*, although we didn't expect her to kid for a day or two yet.
She was checked on every hour, and showed no signs of being about to kid.
Then, without any fanfare or fussing...she kidded!
By the time we got to see the kids, she had already cleaned them up and the wee ones were on their feet!

Another set of boy twins. We named them Lenny and Lester. Lenny is the black and white one, Lester the solid white. Healthy and strong. In fact, by this morning, both were bouncing around the little pen and jumping at their mama.
So, the tally sits at 6 boys, 2 girls. So far. We still have Nola as our *lady-in-waiting*.
We only keep the girls to add to our little herd, so what to do with the boys?
Well, we have worked out a deal with a Greek restaurant in town.
But...I am thinking of keeping one male (intact) as a future herd sire. Just....which one?
Lester and Lenny are strong little ones...and that means Lily's bloodline would continue in our herd.
Gabby's twins, Gary and Gerry are simply adorable...and strong, and that would continue Gabby's bloodline. Especially if we decided to not breed her again. She IS getting up there in age and I don't want to risk her health. She is an excellent herd matriarch, so even if she is not being milked and is not producing kids, she is still a valuable goat to have.
And Gabby's boys are soooo cute!

Look at those ears!

Working on the Night Shift...

So, since Champagne had her quads, we have taken turns checking on the wee ones and their mama to make sure everything is going well. Every hour on the hour.
I get the night shift.

The girls are in dark gray, the boys in red.

Lilac wondering why I am wandering around at 2 am!

I check on Gabby and her little ones, too!

So, thats' how my nights are going!

New Kids On The Block!

Gabby was the first one to deliver.
FINALLY!
 After weeks of waiting...following my goats around peering at their nether regions, going out in the middle of the night to check them...hell, even ASKING them every morning "Any of you girls gonna kid today"...the reply was always "N-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-h"...Gabby had her kids today!
The first one slid out easily, the second one required my assistance, he was so big!
Both boys, unfortunately. But both cute as can be!
Pictures...some birthing grossness--if you are not used to it--plenty of baby goat adorableness!

Working on Kid #1

Here he comes!

Mama cleaning her new baby

A few last licks to get him clean...

Trying out those new legs

Look, Mama! I can walk!

#2 starting out

Mama, pay attention to me!

Mama still working at #2

#1 still getting Mama's attention

Mama multi-tasking...labor and cleaning first baby.

Now get out of the way, mama's busy!

#2 working his way out

THERE he is!

Mama Gabby cleans up #2

A few pics didn't make it onto here as they were out of focus, or I was blocking the camera, as I had to assist and pull #2. He was a big boy! We named #1 Garrett (Garry) and #2 Gerald (Gerry). Both are sweetly asleep with their Mama now.

 

Pictures!

Little Nate

Nola with Nate and Nikki

Proud mama Nola

Leo, Lilacs baby

Nikki close up

Lucky, who is now in a new home as a loved pet!

Nola's kids having a snack

Good view of Lucky

Goatapolooza!

Pics!

Remember Ugly Betty?Well,Ugly no more! AND she is laying an egg EVERY day, sometimes TWO a day.

Isn't she lovely now?

Some shots of our new kid:

Yes, Cornelius has one ear up and one down ALL the time...he just came that way! Gives him sort of a rakish look, lol!  He is nursing well and often and his mama is taking very good care of him. The first night I was concerned because he was so tiny and actually considered bringing him inside to keep him warm...but decided in the end to just keep checking on him and only bring him in IF he was in some sort of distress. Well,his mama kept him warm, so I didn't have to bring him in. Which could have been funny...considering I probably would have tucked the wee cuddly Cornelius into bed with us. I think my Darlin' Man would have been a bit disconcerted to wake up with a goat in our bed, lol!

Nina...looking pretty!

I can barely wait until she kids! I just know her baby is going to have lovely markings!

Gabby and her twins,just hanging out! Gerte got tangled up in some baling twine that got left in the pen, so, after taking this pic, I spent about 5 minutes untangling her.

Wang left us yesterday....on his way to a new home about 5 miles down the road. So, this afternoon we will move Gabby and the twins into the pen with Molly and Paulis and the geese. We'll see how that goes!

Report On Gabby the Goat

The day before yesterday, Gabby began frantically pawing the ground in her pen (the new goat palace) and bleating loudly. I went out to see her and once I was in the pen, she came up to me and leaned against me while I scratched her ears and rubbed her side. I could tell she was in labor and she just wanted some comfort.
I came back in the house and when The Girl came home from school, we heard Gabby give a particularly loud bleat, we ran out to discover she had delivered an adorable little buck. I had a towel with me, so I wiped off his wee face while his mama cleaned him up.
I  had suspected Gabby was carrying twins and as she cleaned up her new kid, I could see I was right, as the movement of the second kid was obvious. After about 15 minutes, she plopped back down and began delivering her second kid. A few pushes and a lovely fawn colored little doe was delivered! I wiped off her face as the wee thing was snorting and struggling to breathe.
Gabby got both her babies cleaned up, and within an hour, both were up and enthusiastically nursing.
I gave mama Gabby some warm water with molasses & salt (livestock Gatorade) mixed in to boost her energy and replace electrolytes.(Recipe: 2 quarts warm water, 1/2 cup molasses and 2 teaspoons salt, mix well)
I posted pictures (post below this one) and then the batteries on my camera died!
The Girl took some video and I am struggling to post that....just having a hard time uploading it to youtube, darnit.
So, video and more pics just as fast as I can get them up.
Babies and mama goat doing well. They have beautiful markings and are frisking around. Mama Gabby looks as pleased as can be with herself.
Baby goats are THE most adorable farm babies (just my opinion)!

Tonight at Frippery Farm

New additions, born within the past hour...one boy, one girl!
Will post update tomorrow!

And This Morning, Peace and Quiet...WTH!??!?

So I woke up this morning at 6am with the alarm going off. I slap the snooze button and lay there listening.
No Gabby bellowing!
A faint clang noise, but no Gabby noise.
The fella said "What's that sound?"
"It's SILENCE" I replied, "Enjoy it!"
"No, that clanging sound, it's annoying"
...sigh...
I roll over and peer out the bedroom window. Wang the billy goat, is gently scratching his head on the fence.
Gabby and the other goats, their legs tucked under them, all seem to be still asleep.
They are ASLEEP! At 0600!!!
It is still pretty dark out.
And then my neighbor flips on his porch light.
Gabby jumps to her feet and begins her plaintive wailing.
I got the goats out to pasture and fed in record time and was outside feeding the chickens when my neighbor came out of his house to feed his dogs.
"Hey Frank, how's it going?"
"Pretty good...didn't hear your goats this morning. Everything okay?"
"Yeah, they are fine. Hey Frank, what time do you usually turn on your porch light?"
"Oh, around 5 am or so. Lupe' (his wife) leaves before I do, heck, she gets up before I do, so she turns it on as she leaves."
My AH-HA! moment arrived.
I went around to where the goats were contentedly munching away on their alfalfa and saw that I had neglected to turn on our front porch light.
Went in the house and flipped it on.
Gabby began her wailing.

Turned off the porch light.
Gabby soon quieted down.

Then my other neighbors towards the front of the property turned on their porch light.
Gabby started up again. And continued until the sun came up.She calmed a little then, though cars going past with their lights on would start her up again.
I remembered that Gabby was unusually quiet last night...then I remembered that one of my neighbors had been visiting friends overnight and she usually keeps her yard light on all night, but since she was not there to turn it on...
Yeah.
Gabby apparently doesn't like it when people turn on lights.
Now that I know the issue, I can come up with a solution.
I think we will move the goat pen to a different corner of the property. We have one section that really isn't within sight of the neighbors.

I don't know why the lights bother Gabby. It just seems that they do.
ALL the goats get noisy when the Army helicopters are flying over (we are kinda under their flight path), but then again, all the neighborhood animals go nuts during the flyovers.
Ditto when they are practicing with the *big guns* over at the range. I can be startled when they start up with those, but after the first 5 or 10 minutes, you tend to filter it out.
It just never occurred to me that flipping on the porch light would freak out the darn goat!