Comings and Goings

Dad and Lisa came to visit yesterday. Look what they brought!

My dad made this goat milking stand and stool so I wouldn't have to stoop on the ground to milk June.


It makes a huge difference! Here I am pretending to milk for a picture. I put a collar on June so I could walk her from the pasture to the garagebarn, but today she jerked out of my hand and followed right along behind me. I think she was trying to tell me she's a big girl and can walk by herself!


The goatie kids went outside today. Elmer needed his crate back, so they had to go to the garagebarn. They're doing great! Both eating well and getting the hang of the bottle!



The lambs are growing fast!! They really seem to like it outside. Here's rammy boy with a milk mustache!


I can't reach the hay!!


They're really starting to nibble on the hay.



I'm getting the hang of fitting bottling and milking in my chore time. Waking up on time in the morning is a constant struggle for me, but I manged ok this morning. The afternoons are no problem because I get to take my time and enjoy the chores.

Oh, I did lose a chicken today. My white laying hen. I found her on the nest box barely alive. Apparently she'd prolapsed her cloaca trying to lay an egg. :(

Well, time to go bottle the babies before bed. Goodnight!

A Trip to the City

We live fairly close to Washington D.C., but we rarely go. David and I thought it was time we took a trip to do some sightseeing. We decided to go to the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History, or as I like to call it, "The Smithsonian." But that's really not a proper name for it because there are many Smithsonian museums. I think this is my favorite though.

We invited along David's parents and brother. Unfortunately, his dad was under the weather and couldn't go.

We drove about an hour and 20 minutes to the nearest Metro stop. Then it was only a fairly short ride into the city. It's SO much easier taking the metro instead of having to fight city traffic and find a place to park. Besides, taking the metro is fun!


Just look at their faces! You don't get that reaction with a car ride. Well, a normal car ride at least.


We arrived at the Mall!! Here's the U. S. Capitol building.


Just across the mall is "the Smithsonian." D.C. has some gorgeous architecture!


My favorite part of the whole museum is the entry way. This huge elephant welcomes visitors. I remember coming here for field trips in elementary school and standing there in awe of the huge elephant!!


There are also lots of other large animals hanging out. This fella is a Right whale.


Mr. T-Rex with a few of his closest pals.


And a sloth and some other little cute thing. A lemur maybe?


They had this scene straight out of a National Geographic magazine. It's amazing to see them "in person" even though they were stuffed.


The kids and I met a new friend.


All I got were pictures of animals. Not unusual for me I guess! The museum is really huge and you could easily spend an entire day looking through all of the exhibits. We were getting hungry so we decided to head back home.

Another trip through the Mall. Devin took this. The Washington Monument is in the background.


I squish the Washington Monument!!


I got a picture of the family in front of the Capitol...


Then I squished the Capitol!



Haha. Ok. We had a great day. We're so lucky to be so close to our nation's capital, and I feel like we don't take advantage of it enough. I hadn't been to D.C. since college I think. So many people in this country would love to see the sites but can't because they're too far. We're only about an hour and a half away and we rarely go! We'll have to remedy that. As soon as it gets a little warmer, we're going to go back and do some more sight seeing.

June's Babies

Yesterday when I fed the animals at 4pm, I noticed June was starting to have contractions. They were slight and far apart, but I knew that she was finally in labor! I tried patiently waiting in the barn with the animals, but after an hour and a half of no progress and cold temps, I finally went inside. David's parents came over for pizza, but after they left I went right back outside to sit with June.

At 10:00pm, I figured I'd better just go to bed so I could get some sleep. June was having stronger contractions, but wasn't pushing yet so I figured I had a little while. I set my alarm for 11pm, checked on the monitor, and nothing. I checked again at midnight and still no progress. Finally at 2:15 AM I heard June's bleating over the monitor. I quickly got dressed and ran out to sit with her.

She'd finally progressed and had a "bubble". That's what I call it at least. It was the amniotic sac with feet sticking out!


If you zoom in on the pictures, you can see the white tips of the hooves. I waited for about 10 minutes of her steadily pushing, then I crept in behind her and felt for the kid's correct position. The correct position is two front feet followed closely by the nose as the kid "dives" out. I felt two feet and teeth, so I knew she was good to go.



After about another 10 minutes of pushing, out dove this beautiful baby!


I cleared its mouth and nose and let June lick it for a minute. They started talking to each other, so I figured it'd be easier on everyone involved if I went ahead and took the kid inside. I didn't want June to get attached, since she can't raise them herself.



I got the kid mostly dried off and hurried back outside. There I found June with another baby on the way!


Out plopped another doe kid! Two doelings! I cleaned up the second one and brought her inside with her sister.


I went back out to bring June some warm water and get her milked out. After I made sure she was nice and comfy with lots of nice hay, I came back inside to tend to the babies. I heated the frozen cow colostrum I had and made sure they each got a belly full. Then they practiced standing up while I took lots of pictures. Finally, around 4:30 AM I headed up to bed.


Needless to say it took me a while to fall asleep! I was so excited.




I just love my little matched set!

Oh, and to answer Artsyfish's question from my last post, I put different color yarns around their neck so I could tell them apart! I think I've got it now though. One is lighter in color and has more brown on her nose. :)

Sneak Peek

I have more pics to post but we're getting ready to head into D.C. for the day! I just wanted to tell you June kidded at 2:30 this morning. Twin doelings! They're all doing fine. :) Check back later this afternoon for more pictures!

Pick on Someone Your Own Size!

For almost three weeks now (or is it 4?!) the sheep and goat and a few chickens have been living in the garagebarn. I moved them in there before the big blizzard, and they've been in there since. It's pretty convenient, because Purl was expecting and so is June. Plus, at first, they couldn't even walk in the snow it was so deep. Now they're still in there because June is thisclose to kidding, and I like being able to monitor her at night. I can't turn the sheep out yet, because June would be lonely. Plus, it is unbelieveably muddy outside, and I like that they're not out on their pasture tearing it up.

I guess Cogburn was tired of being cooped up inside, so two days ago he made his way out the door while I was filling water buckets. I figured he'd be fine, and he'd come back if he really wanted to be inside. That night I went to look for him at dusk, and I saw him wandering out near the sheep shelter. I didn't really think anything of it, because that's where he'd lived before coming inside the garagebarn.

Well, yesterday afternoon I went looking for him. And I found him. He'd gotten in a fight.

Contender #1: Cogburn.....a little bantam rooster


Contender #2: Rochester....a large Americana rooster

**Warning** The pictures below look worse than it really is.**

I found poor Cogburn in the hedgerow behind the chicken coop. Rochester was keeping Cogburn away from the coop and blocking him from going anywhere. He'd probably been doing this for quite a while. I was able to walk up to Cogburn, and he didn't even try to get away from me. I swear, animals know when you're trying to help.

This is what I found.

Poor guy was all bloodied up. He's a third of the size of Rochester, so he really doesn't stand a chance in a fight.

So I brought him inside and ran a sink of warm water to clean him up a bit. Cogburn was so thirsty he immediately started drinking from the sink.

I washed his feathers and comb and wattles to try to get the dried blood off. I think he really enjoyed it. Poor guy was finally able to relax.


After his bath I wrapped him in a towel.

Then I brought him back outside to the garagebarn, where he's the boss. He immediately did his studly rooster dance for the girls...and the boys. ;)

He'll be fine. But now I need to find a permanent solution for this problem. Maybe I'll build a separate run off the big coop for the bantams.


After I got Cogburn squared away, I spent some time with the girls. This is my favorite thing to do. After I get home from work and let the dogs out, I feed the animals. Then I sit and visit with them. I think I have the gene for this. I remember my mom telling us as a kid she'd go visit her uncle's farm and sit with the hogs. I remember when we got our first chickens. I was 10. I'd go and sit outside and just watch them. Of course, I won't tell you how I tried to dress in all brown and wanted to figure out a way to make a comb out of a red glove...you know, so they'd think I was a chicken too. I won't tell you that because that's kinda embarassing.

Anyhoo, I enjoy sitting and watching the girls. Darla and June fight over who's going to get scratches. Usually a chicken or two will come to see what I'm doing. The lambs take turns sniffing me and running away.

Yesterday the little ram lamb decided he needed to take a nap, and the most comfy place to do that was in the hay feeder (a storage bin).

Poppy, the ewe lamb decided she wanted to see what chickens tasted like. I love the look on that pullet's face.

After a while, I went and layed down in the kennel on the fresh straw. Then I was accosted.

Darla wanted to know why I wasn't petting her.

C'mon pet me! Look how cute I am!

How can you resist my big fluffy head and cute little nose?

Then she checked to see if I was hiding anything edible in my pockets.

Then June got in on the action and tried to eat my jeans.

As you can see, June hasn't kidded yet. She's teasing me. Taunting me. She knows I'm an impatient person. It can't be long now....she's huge.

I Can See Clearly Now...

Today is June's due date. I've been anxiously awaiting babies, but no luck so far. I figured it was time to do a little "tidying up" before she kids.

Do you think she's wide enough?



This is the "before" picture. I decided to trim some hair from her udder and legs so it'd be easier to milk her without getting hair in the milk. Plus, it's easier to see her udder and watch for changes like bagging up. She's a little cow-hocked. :)


Here is the "after"! It made a huge difference! She wasn't too bad for the clipping...but I had to wedge her against the fence and bribe her with handfuls of goat feed.


I'm not sure if it's my anxiousness, but I think she's getting close. I've been feeling her ligaments multiple times per day, and I think they're gone this afternoon. For more information about ligaments, check out this site and scroll down just a little. I felt all around her tailhead and pin bones, and darn if I could find a ligament anywhere.



I also think she's kinda dropped a little. Normally, before birth the babies will "drop" into position, which can leave a hollow look in the flanks. You can see in the picture below there's a space just above the widest part of her belly.


I'm crossing my fingers she'll go tonight. I'm hoping I'm not just imagining what I want to see and that she really is getting closer. Only time will tell!