Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Around and about the farm

 It's been crazy here lately. SO much to do and not enough ME to do it all! And now another bottle baby. I had to take her to the market with me Saturday. Everyone loved her. She followed me all over the place. I had some other things to do before going back home. Like stopping to check on my very pregnant grand dog Daisy. She got to meet Mirabelle too. She's such a sweet dog.





This is the goat playground. A pile of big rocks. There has been a whole lot of baby goats playing right here over the years. Little Mirabelle got to play too.




                       All 10 apple trees are in full bloom. And now it might freeze tonight. Crazy weather!



We finally got all the hive boxes put together and the old ones cleaned up. Put all new frames in them. I've painted them all too but will show that in another post when they are finished. They look so pretty. Hope the bees like their new homes!



                   We had 2 of the grand kids for the weekend. This is Chloe, feeding Mirabelle a bottle.




And I had no idea alpacas liked to get wet. There's a hole in this hose and when I was filling up the water buckets, I saw them doing this. Sugar just laid right down on the water, silly boy! I turned the hose on them and they loved it!

It's Tuesday. My day with mom. And it's rainy and so cold out. I hope you all have a nice warm Tuesday.

Thursday, April 10, 2014

Little Miracle

 Tuesday evening, Zeeboo had triplets. Just like I thought she would. I wasn't here to help though. When I got home, she had the 2 boys all dried and fed. But there was another baby. When I found her, I thought she was dead. She hadn't even been cleaned off and it was nearly dried. I picked her up and she was breathing. So I put her up to Zeeboo's udder and she got a few good swallows of colostrum in.

I grabbed Zeeboo and took her into the back stall then went to get the kids. She wouldn't have anything to do with the poor little doe kid. Just the 2 boys. So I went ahead and took her inside. I milked Zeeboo and got about a good quart of colostrum and got a bottle to try to feed the little baby. She would hardly even try by then. I tried to tube her but couldn't get the tube down far enough and it looked like it was hurting her. So I used a syringe to get milk in her.

I really didn't know if she'd make it or not. She was leaning to the right really bad and could not stand at all. I was at the point last night when I just asked God to let the poor baby die. I guess that's why Zeeboo didn't do anything with her, something was wrong and she knew it.

But then something happened and the little girl got up and stood on her own! Without leaning! And took a whole little bottle of milk! All at once too. Then she stood on her own for awhile. We were all so happy for her. And relieved too. It was just a little more than I could take at this point. Like I had so much to do and I needed to care for a handicapped goat too?

This is when I took her back out yesterday morning, to see what would happen. It was so sad.





                                                        Here's her 2 brothers. So cute!





                            This is last night when we saw her standing. Kansas was so happy for her.



                                                  So today, I've had her outside several times.




She went to see her brothers and mom. Zeeboo almost bit her one time so I knew she didn't want her.




              Then she went out to meet the lambs. Look at the size of Carabella next to her! Like a giant.



      Then she met Misha. He was so interested in her. And was so nice too. He's just a big teddy bear!




                                                         He was such a nice big guy.




And here is little Mirabelle, getting some sun. It's a beautiful day here today. Great day to be outside soaking up all that warmth.


I am so glad she's going to be ok. I was really worried. I had said I was going to take her to a vet today. But guess I won't have to now. I think the little gal is going to be fine. And she weighs 4 1/2 pounds today.

Forgot to say that this is John Henry's 3rd set of triplets this year! My friends up the road used him on their 2 does and one of them had triplets but 1 was still born. Then another friend brought her doe here and she called a few weeks ago to tell me Trudy had triplet doe kids. They are all doing great! And then Zeeboo. Also had a call today from a friend who has goats and has used John Henry before but not this last time. But one of her does just had triplets.

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Zarah had twin does!!!!


Look what I found this morning! Zarah finally had her kids. And they are both little does! I just new the tan one would be a buck, but it's not. They were born probably about a half hour before I got out there. They were all cleaned off but a little damp. Both nursing and look really good. And so cute. I put them all in the back stall so I could give her some warm molasses water and feed. It's supposed to rain later again so I'll leave them in awhile.





I found these pictures from last year and wanted to show how much they look like her new kids. The little black one is a doe and looks just like her mother. The tan one is the buck and looked just like John Henry. He's the dad of the new ones too. Almost identical kids this year.



                                                  So yay, 3 does had 5 girls and just 1 boy!

Now just waiting on Zeeboo. Look at this fat girl! I am liking the looks of her udder and teats. I think she'll be an easy milker.