Venus

Venus is one mean doe, but she wrote the book on how to kid and get those kids off to a jump start, just stay out of her way, she will bite and butt you. She wants no help, perfectly capcable of birthing those babies on her own. And she has real good hair and passes it on to her kids. She had two doe kids that will probably carry the mean gene. Just got up from the barn, Jewel, the doe, had a nice single buck kid that is a little slow getting started. Heard her screaming when I went out to do the midnight check, she had him almost out, I finished getting him out and laid him in front of her so she could clean and claim him. Being a first time shy Mom it is important to give her a pen to claim her kid. Sometimes a first timer will leave their kid if there is too much interference from another doe, a young guard dog or the shepherd, or just afraid of the kid trying to nurse her. All the signals have to be right, so she needs time to sort them out, and as soon as that kid talks to her that bond is solid.

Jingle Bell in her jammies

Jingle Bell is a ding a ling. I tube fed her four times a day for two weeks before she learned to nurse her mother. She has never been right. Looks like I could have seen it from the beginning, so who's the ding a ling? Now, two years old and still tiny, she follows me around like a puppy. What can I do with her? She has the finest fleece I have ever seen on an angora goat. Hopefully I can make a couple of scarves from her hair to cover the cost of her upkeep and she can continue to jingle. She got sheared last week when it was in the seventies, then the temp dropped yesterday and she was shivering. She was smart enough to get behind the bales of straw and get out of the wind. I put Magi's old sweater on her and she is happy again.

Kids

Curly had two small doe kids, just like her, so she has enough milk for four kids, Murphy's law. The other does had bigger twins that seem to keep them nursed down to the point I am checking to see if they are getting enough. They are. There were tornadoes all around us last night but fortunately, we only got much needed rain.  Dropped off some roving and locks at the art gallery today and found out our rent is going up. There is really no profit in selling handspun, handknit or handwoven items when you consider all the time involved. It takes months of work, feed and care of the fiber animal, shear it, wash, dye, card, spin, knit, weave or felt it. Selling a few items at the gallery brings in money for feed and hay, but with a fifty-fifty split I am keeping someone elses dream going, not mine.

Here a chick there a chick

This hen came out from under the shearing floor with about 20 chicks a few days ago. I think all of them have made it so far. Badger is feeling a bit better today. I let her in with her flock after she stood at the gate all morning waiting to get in. She stayed with them and grazed more today than yesterday and later in the day I saw her chewing her cud. She came to the feeder tonight and nibbled a bite or two with Sunshine and Jewell. I bedded the barn down good with wheat straw, hoping she can keep her incision clean. Sheep need their flock mates and familiar surroundings to recover. Heard a curdling scream after lunch, I had been watching Ruby all morning and it was time to help. She had a big buck kid almost out, I pulled one leg just a little and he came on out. She has been moaning all night for the last few weeks, I new she had a big kid in her. He is dark red with a white stripe on the side and a white foot. Then she dropped a chocolate, almost black, doe kid.

The good, the bad, the ugly news

Tara was first to kid with two nice buck kids, one dark brown and one red. Then Curly with twin doe kids, one brown and one red with white spots. Old Tipper, this maybe her last kidding, had twin brown doe kids. All very nice and healthy. The bad news is my favorite ewe Badger has been sick for the past few weeks and yesterday she made a turn for the worst. Took her in to my vet and my fears were confirmed, her lambed had died in her and she couldn't get it out and I couldn't get my hand in. He did a c-section and I brought her home. She was on her feet this morning and sipped lots of warm water. When her flock mates came by her trailer she got off and followed them on her side of the fence and ate a few nibbles of grass and wild onions. She is bright and alert but no cud chewing yet. Just before dark she put herself back on the trailer for the night. Fortunately, I sheared her when she first got sick to make her feel better and to save the fleece from a break. It is beautiful. I'm glad there are no other lambs born yet as she has called for hers over the last few days. Sheep get the blues same as us when things go bad. Until one has loved an animal, a part of ones soul remains unawakened.

Almost ready

Just a week away from kidding, still alot to do, the first 15 does are vaccinated, wormed and shorn, deloused, most of the feet trimmed. The barns are clean and a deep bed of fresh straw. Going to pick up new kidding pens today. I have made many types of pens over the years, wooden and welded and cut up goat panels. The goats are hard on them and finding a pen that will keep the kids in is not easy. Lambs will stay in most any pen, not kids. So this year I am trying a goat panel made with reinforced bars to help it hold together when the doe butts the panel. Does will fight through the pens, thinking she is going to steel my baby, if it is not strong enough it will give way to the butting doe. You either love fooling with goats or you hate it. Takes a special kind of goat lover to do well with angoras, you have to live with them and learn to read them and think like them a little. Just don't act like them.

Love it

Everything is loving this beautiful weather. And I am trying to spend every minute working on outdoor projects while I can. Made a pen for Dan the Cormo ram including shelter, the hard part was separating him for the others and getting him in the pen. Then tackled the late job of shearing Ruby and Curlie and trimming feet. Ruby has more hair than three goats, and it is kid hair on an adult doe. She has been moaning all day long for the past few weeks, after I sheared her it was plain to see, she must be having twins. I know she is relieved to take off that ten pound coat. A heavy coat can slow a doe down, after shearing she will eat more and be more active, her metabolism will speed up as she grows a new fleece. Curlie does not have enough hair, she is a small doe but has a kid fleece that is silky soft,  she is one of my favorite pets, and someday she might have the perfect kid that has her handle with a ton of hair.