Tomorrow is the day I have been dreading since the birth of the first baby goat. It is the day that four of the baby goats will be taken to their new home. It will be a sad day for both of us, I am sure.
Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Raphael and Cyrus are the four that will be loaded into the pick-up truck and taken away. I am sure their mommies, Sugar and Spice, will cry for their babies. I know the baby goats will cry for their mothers as we diaper them and load them up. They have never been in a vehicle before so I am sure they will be sacred.
I will miss their soft fur and the way they come up to me, anxious to see me when I go into the barn or out into the pasture. I will miss their warm noses muzzling me and their wet tongues licking my hands. I will miss their dirty little paws jumping on my clean clothing covering it in mud. I will miss looking into their innocent little eyes and seeing them suckle milk from their mothers.
I wish we had enough land to keep them here, but alas, we do not. I wish they had been does so I could have justified keeping them through the winter.
I know they will be happy in their new home. There was lots of tall grass for them to eat and the pasture is certainly bigger than it is here.
Tomorrow will be a hard day, for both of us. However, it is a day that I know will come around once a year as long as we continue to breed goats. It is a day, that I hope, with each passing year will get easier.
Filed under Dairy Goats, Fiber Goats, Goats by on Dec 5th, 2009. 1 Comment. 
We finally settled on a name for our angora buck – Leonardo. He seems to like it although it will take some time for him to get used to being called something other than little boy which is what we had been calling him.
Tulip, our cashmere goat, has taken quite a liking to Leonardo. The two of them are stalled together, right next to the dairy goats. Needless to say the dairy goats are acting like they are really missing out, but they were the ones who wanted to beat the two smaller goats up all the time.
We have spent most of the day working on the room next to the stalls. We thought we were going to make that a sheep room – but suprise, there is concrete curbs and a metal stand in there that is unmoveable without more work than we want to invest. So, back to the drawing board. We have decided to use the room as a milking room and feed room instead.
We are considering purchasing a pair of Leicester Longwool Sheep in late July or early August once they are weaned and need a new stall area to keep them in. One is black and the other one is white.
Sheri
Filed under Fiber Goats, Goats by on Oct 30th, 2009. Comment.
Last night we brought our six month old Angora buck home. The girls, even Tulip, are being a bit pushy. The buck is rather timid and has not started showing them who is the new boss yet. He did ok in the pen overnight and is eating, but not with the girls yet. Jerry keeps reminding me this is the way it goes everytime we bring a new goat in.
He does not have a name yet. I think we should name him Loverboy! He is such a sweet little guy and after all he will have all those does to himself!
He came with health papers and is CL free. Woo Hoo! I cannot wait until spring to see what the babies he creates look like. The lady we got him from said his father was huge. She had got rid of him in favor of a white buck. His mother was a pretty good sized doe and just loaded with fiber. His fiber is so soft. Of course the first cutting is always the prime mohair.
Sheri
Filed under Fiber Goats, Goats by on Oct 30th, 2009. 3 Comments.
The afternoon of June 25, 2009 I went out to the barn to check on the goats and found Sugar had given birth. She had two gorgous white kids with her. They were both boys.
I am happy to announce that everyone is doing well. The goat kids are so cute the way they jump around. Sugar is such a good mother to them. I can’t wait until the other does give birth!
The birth went well, there were no complications. In fact, Sugar did everything. That was a relief. I was prepared in case something went wrong. I hope the remainder of the births go as smooth.
Here are photos of the babies a few hours after they were born.
Sugar's baby boy - June 25, 2009.
This is Sugar's baby boy, born June 25, 2009.
We do have these two for sale. We are asking $150.00 for the top baby and $200.00 for the bottom baby who is showing signs of curly fiber. Both seem like they will have long hair.
Filed under Dairy Goats, Fiber Goats, Goats by on Oct 30th, 2009. Comment.
Darla brought her babies into the world around 3am July 3, 2009. They are both does. Just adorable. Here are pictures of the babies!
Darla's Baby Girl 2
Darla and Baby Girl 1
Filed under Dairy Goats, Fiber Goats, Goats by on Oct 30th, 2009. Comment.
Our first goat kidding season has been a good one. Everyone has had healthy babies and they have all been good mothers. The first set of kids will be weaned in August meaning they are almost ready to go to new homes. We will be weathering soon unless someone contacts us wanting a buck.
Here is who we have:
Sugar gave birth first to two adorable baby boys. She kidded on June 25, 2009. Here are photos of her babies. They are angora/dairy goat crosses.
The next set of babies came from Darla, the first dairy goat that came to live here at the farm. She had two girls. One looks just like her and one looks like Sugar’s babies. At first I thought we might have trouble telling the three white ones apart but it has not been difficult at all and the goat kids know who mommy is.
Here are pictures of Darla’s kids who were born on July 3, 2009.
Darla was followed by Tulip our cashmere goat. She has the most adorable baby called a cashgora because the daddy is an angora. It has shiny black fur that is quite curly. This was our only single birth.
Tulip’s baby, which has the same markings she does, was born on July 11, 2009. She is a more protective mommy than the other goats and her baby sticks closer to her. Here is the photo. It is a bit fuzzy but it was the harder photo to get. Tulip kept standing in front of her. I had to wait until she came out and snap the photo quickly.
Our last goat to kid was Spice. She had one that looks just like her and one that is a lighter brown color. She kidded yesterday, July 14, 2009. Here are photos of her kids just after they were born.
Filed under Dairy Goats, Fiber Goats, Goats by on Oct 30th, 2009. 3 Comments.
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