Dear Mr. Groundhog, You lied!

It has now been 7, yup count 'em 7, weeks since you predicted an early spring, so why is it still cold with snow showers? I really want to get the potatoes in and I still can't leave the broccoli and cauliflower seedlings out in the hoop house some nights. What's up with that Phil?

Sunday morning one of my young does had her first kid, the cutest, teeniest little doe. I think I am done with goat kids for the season now, unless my youngest has a kid this summer.
I am still expecting I-Lean, my three footed Jersey heifer, to have her calf the end of this month. Can't wait to have milk for the baby goats, homemade cheese and
ICE CREAM!

I have a lot of seedlings started and still need to start LOTS more. I also need to get Boogies live Christmas tree planted as soon as it is dry enough to dig a hole.

C'mon Spring!

More new babies!

Two more kids! A doe and a buck!

It was a dark and stormy night.....

We are expecting a snow and ice storm, so Whitney decided this would be a good night to kid. After I finished evening chores I put her in a stall with a bale of fresh, dry straw.

At 10pm I checked her and found a beautiful buck kid.

An hour later, while checking on him, she produced another buck without incident, affording me the opportunity to get these somewhat graphic photos of the process.

You don't get any more newborn then this, just seconds old.

The barn cat, who appears to have picked a fight with someone tougher then he is, watched over the proceedings from the safety of his perch on the stall wall.Well that was it, two bucklings.
Two more does left to kid this spring and one in summer so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some girls!

Now that was quite a surprise!

Today I was planning on blogging about our trip to visit Grandpa, but mother nature sent me a surprise instead. Boogie and I drove across the state and back yesterday, so we got home very late, nearly midnight. After bundling a dozing Boogie off to bed I headed down to the barn to milk Whitney. Iris, my other doe, has a terminal condition called CAE which creates difficulty for her keeping her weight up, so I left her in the feed stall where she could munch through the night as I often do. I did notice she had a bit of an udder, but wrote that off to hormones. This morning, I waited about an hour later than usual to accommodate for the late milking last night, and to my GREAT surprise found Iris with a doe kid. I took the doe up to the house and went back to milk two goats now and get some milk pasteurized for the new little girl. As I sat down to milk I hear maaaaaaaa, maaaaaaa from the corner and lo and behold a little buck kid as well. I am amazed since Iris had just had twins around the first of the year in addition to her disease. I never expected more kids from her. I pasteurized her colostrum along with Whitney's milk so it didn't turn into custard and both of the kids have gotten a good dose.

Now Boogie has 'babies' to help with, though he really needs to work on being more gentle with the little guys, and I have a busy day moving bunnies off the porch to make room for two bottle babies. In the mean time they are sleeping up in the bedroom. Yes, once again I have goats in the house+