Triplets ... again!
Just about the time I made the last post here saying that Tassie was due any time, she went into labor. Within a few hours, on Thursday, April 17, Tassie delivered a beautiful set of triplets; two girls and a boy. The first doe kid, Violet is the only solid kid we had this year. She's a gorgeous, petite girl sporting a deep mahogany coat with black points and frosted ears. The next two kids, Jack and Chrissy, are a dark reddish brown with silver and white spots, white faces and frosted ears. All of them are adorable! While these are Tassie's first kids, she has proven to be an outstanding mother with plenty of milk ... and patience.
You can see pictures of the new triplets on the Our Babies page of our website.
It's a Bubbly Business
This weekend, we had the pleasure of visiting our friends at Four Mile Farm and getting lessons on making goat milk soap. What a blast!!! We learned so much in just a short time. Our wonderful teacher even sent us home with some of our own creations to try after they cure. Many THANKS to Rachel for her generous hospitality and unending patience!!! :)
Crispy Critters?
Time to disbud the babies! This past Sunday, we took the goat twins, Darren and Samantha, to visit "the disbudding iron" at nearby Keno! Farms. Our friend, John, was kind enough to give Rob lessons in how to do the deed using our new disbudding iron. This week, we will face the challenge of doing Mikki's triplets ourselves ... wish us luck!
Monday, April 21, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Springing and Bouncing
Bouncing Baby Goats
Surely everyone knows how absolutely adorable baby goats are. We have spent hours being entertained in the past few weeks by their non-stop antics.
The twins have developed what appears to be a new game with the llamas. If the llamas are laying down, the kids just use them like a mountain to climb. When the llamas are standing still, they become big, soft, fuzzy springboards to leap up on and bounce off of! You should see the llamas faces!!! It is really interesting to see how protective all the llamas are of the babies - even when they are literally running underfoot.
The triplets are growing and running like crazy. When they are not chasing around with the twins, they are sticking close with their Momma, Mikki. All of the kids are super friendly and come right up to let us play with them. :)
Two of our guardian dogs, Trina and Emma, have taken to staying with all the babies almost full time. The babies are not afraid to use the dogs as climbing posts either, and the dogs don't seem to mind at all. Such good guardians!!
Milk.... NOW!!!!
Our newest goat addition, Ashlee, is still getting a bottle every day. This past weekend while we were working along the pasture fence, Ashlee apparently decided it was time for a snack... since we appeared to be handy and all. So, while we were working hard, she stood at the fence and told us, in very plain English, "Mmmmmiiiiiillllkkkkkk!" Rob and I just looked at each other and laughed at how clearly she said that! We loved on her a bit and told her it was not snack time. Ha, like that worked! A few minutes later, her "Mmmmmiiiiiillllkkkkkk" plea was back. We about fell over laughing, when abruptly it was followed up with a very clear "NNNOOOOOOWWWW!" What do you say to her then?? :)
Gone Home
This weekend, one of our long-time resident llamas, Kali, went to her new home on Sunday. Kali now has a great new family, including another young llama to keep her company. We feel sure she will thrive on the prolific attention she is sure to get in her new home.
Traveling Calves
Saturday morning, our last two calves from 2007 went to their wonderful new home. Their new Momma came to pick them up. They were so good - we opened the trailer and they literally hopped right in. No fuss, no muss ... guess they knew they had a great new home waiting. :)
Now we have this years calves to look forward to. We have a wait yet - they are no due until mid Summer and beyond.
Still Waiting
We still await more babies due to arrive this Spring! One more goat, Tassie, and one llama, Popo, are due to have their babies soon. Tassie has gotten wider by the day; we are starting to think she may be carrying triplets like Mikki was. With the full moon coming this weekend, and several weather fronts brooding, we expect to see babies arriving by the end of the weekend.
Surely everyone knows how absolutely adorable baby goats are. We have spent hours being entertained in the past few weeks by their non-stop antics.
The twins have developed what appears to be a new game with the llamas. If the llamas are laying down, the kids just use them like a mountain to climb. When the llamas are standing still, they become big, soft, fuzzy springboards to leap up on and bounce off of! You should see the llamas faces!!! It is really interesting to see how protective all the llamas are of the babies - even when they are literally running underfoot.
The triplets are growing and running like crazy. When they are not chasing around with the twins, they are sticking close with their Momma, Mikki. All of the kids are super friendly and come right up to let us play with them. :)
Two of our guardian dogs, Trina and Emma, have taken to staying with all the babies almost full time. The babies are not afraid to use the dogs as climbing posts either, and the dogs don't seem to mind at all. Such good guardians!!
Milk.... NOW!!!!
Our newest goat addition, Ashlee, is still getting a bottle every day. This past weekend while we were working along the pasture fence, Ashlee apparently decided it was time for a snack... since we appeared to be handy and all. So, while we were working hard, she stood at the fence and told us, in very plain English, "Mmmmmiiiiiillllkkkkkk!" Rob and I just looked at each other and laughed at how clearly she said that! We loved on her a bit and told her it was not snack time. Ha, like that worked! A few minutes later, her "Mmmmmiiiiiillllkkkkkk" plea was back. We about fell over laughing, when abruptly it was followed up with a very clear "NNNOOOOOOWWWW!" What do you say to her then?? :)
Gone Home
This weekend, one of our long-time resident llamas, Kali, went to her new home on Sunday. Kali now has a great new family, including another young llama to keep her company. We feel sure she will thrive on the prolific attention she is sure to get in her new home.
Traveling Calves
Saturday morning, our last two calves from 2007 went to their wonderful new home. Their new Momma came to pick them up. They were so good - we opened the trailer and they literally hopped right in. No fuss, no muss ... guess they knew they had a great new home waiting. :)
Now we have this years calves to look forward to. We have a wait yet - they are no due until mid Summer and beyond.
Still Waiting
We still await more babies due to arrive this Spring! One more goat, Tassie, and one llama, Popo, are due to have their babies soon. Tassie has gotten wider by the day; we are starting to think she may be carrying triplets like Mikki was. With the full moon coming this weekend, and several weather fronts brooding, we expect to see babies arriving by the end of the weekend.
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Mikki's Kids
The TRIPLETS arrived on Sunday, April 6 ... all of them boys!
In the order they were born, the boys go:
Toby, a light brown with spots and splashes
Kenny, medium gold with spots
Tim, a very light gold with white & silver spots
Mikki is a terrific mother and all the boys are thriving!
We have to send out a big THANK YOU to our dear neighbor who helped make sure these boys arrived safely. True to form, it seems that anytime we leave town for a day or more, a baby of some type is born on our ranch; this weekend was no exception. While we were enroute home from the Celebrity Llama Show in Oklahoma City, our neighbor was monitoring Mikki for us. About 3:00 PM, the signs of imminent delivery were there. Soon, the first boy made his appearance. By 5:30, they had all arrived safe and sound, had navals dipped, pictures taken, and were standing on their own. When we arrived home a little more than an hour later, Mom and babies were doing great. We made sure they were all nursing and settled them in for the night.
Mikki is producing a tremendous amount of milk! On both Monday and Tuesday, we milked 16 oz of colostrum to help relieve the load. With three boys, it is a good thing to have lots of milk!
Another new arrival
On Monday, our friends from Four Mile Farm in Harper, TX paid us a visit. Our newest addition to the herd is Ashlee - a beautiful little spotted doe. Ashlee came with her pal, Diamond, who will be going to live with our neighbor in the next week. (Diamond is a yearling Boer goat and is just as sweet as Ashlee). For now, Ashlee and Diamond are exploring the big new pasture together and making friends with all the other goats.
Tuesday night, after Ashlee got her evening bottle she made a point of getting some extra attention from Rob. While he was in the pasture monitoring the dining activities, Ashlee walked up and tapped him gently on the leg. Yes, tapped him... with her foot. Then she gave him the most pathetic look. Who could resist?! Rob sat down to love on her and she climbed right on up into his lap and made herself at home! Awww.... it was a Kodak moment... too bad the camera was not handy! :)
Coming soon...
Looks like Spring will be bringing more babies yet! In addition to goat kids and llama babies (called crias), it looks like we have three of our Swedish Blue ducks sitting nests under the roses. We can expect those ducklings to hatch towards the end of April. I am sure that somewhere off in the wild areas, there is a guinea or two starting a nest. Soon, little winged wonders will be appearing all over the yard!
Many thanks!
In addition to bringing Ashlee to us on Monday, our friends at Four Mile Farm left us with an armload of wonderful goodies! They make the best goat milk soap and brought us some of their newest creations to try out and share. MMmmmm.... WONDERFUL! On top of that, they shared fresh eggs, frozen milk with kefir for Ashlee, and some new goat milk products to try. Because we are 2+ hours away from each other, we do not get to see each other very often. Their visit was really special and made my whole week!!! :)
Stay tuned for more news from the ranch!
God Bless Ya'll!
In the order they were born, the boys go:
Toby, a light brown with spots and splashes
Kenny, medium gold with spots
Tim, a very light gold with white & silver spots
Mikki is a terrific mother and all the boys are thriving!
We have to send out a big THANK YOU to our dear neighbor who helped make sure these boys arrived safely. True to form, it seems that anytime we leave town for a day or more, a baby of some type is born on our ranch; this weekend was no exception. While we were enroute home from the Celebrity Llama Show in Oklahoma City, our neighbor was monitoring Mikki for us. About 3:00 PM, the signs of imminent delivery were there. Soon, the first boy made his appearance. By 5:30, they had all arrived safe and sound, had navals dipped, pictures taken, and were standing on their own. When we arrived home a little more than an hour later, Mom and babies were doing great. We made sure they were all nursing and settled them in for the night.
Mikki is producing a tremendous amount of milk! On both Monday and Tuesday, we milked 16 oz of colostrum to help relieve the load. With three boys, it is a good thing to have lots of milk!
Another new arrival
On Monday, our friends from Four Mile Farm in Harper, TX paid us a visit. Our newest addition to the herd is Ashlee - a beautiful little spotted doe. Ashlee came with her pal, Diamond, who will be going to live with our neighbor in the next week. (Diamond is a yearling Boer goat and is just as sweet as Ashlee). For now, Ashlee and Diamond are exploring the big new pasture together and making friends with all the other goats.
Tuesday night, after Ashlee got her evening bottle she made a point of getting some extra attention from Rob. While he was in the pasture monitoring the dining activities, Ashlee walked up and tapped him gently on the leg. Yes, tapped him... with her foot. Then she gave him the most pathetic look. Who could resist?! Rob sat down to love on her and she climbed right on up into his lap and made herself at home! Awww.... it was a Kodak moment... too bad the camera was not handy! :)
Coming soon...
Looks like Spring will be bringing more babies yet! In addition to goat kids and llama babies (called crias), it looks like we have three of our Swedish Blue ducks sitting nests under the roses. We can expect those ducklings to hatch towards the end of April. I am sure that somewhere off in the wild areas, there is a guinea or two starting a nest. Soon, little winged wonders will be appearing all over the yard!
Many thanks!
In addition to bringing Ashlee to us on Monday, our friends at Four Mile Farm left us with an armload of wonderful goodies! They make the best goat milk soap and brought us some of their newest creations to try out and share. MMmmmm.... WONDERFUL! On top of that, they shared fresh eggs, frozen milk with kefir for Ashlee, and some new goat milk products to try. Because we are 2+ hours away from each other, we do not get to see each other very often. Their visit was really special and made my whole week!!! :)
Stay tuned for more news from the ranch!
God Bless Ya'll!
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
Ophillia's Kids
They're HERE!
Meet Darren ...
and Samantha...
The twins were born on Sunday, March 30. Both babies and Momma, Ophillia, are doing just fine! :)
You can see more pictures on the Our Babies page of our website.
After we were sure the kids had nursed and received good colostrum, we milked Ophillia to relieve some of the pressure. Now we have some valuable colostrom in the freezer! This was our first time to really milk one of our girls and we found our new UdderlyEZ Milker to be a wonderful asset!
I have to admit we were surprised that Ophillia kidded first, but Mikki will not be far behind. Both Mikki and Tassie are due in the next 2 weeks.
Mikki
Tassie
As you can see, Mikki is well bagged up (and getting larger daily). Tassie is just starting to make a bag, but it is growing daily as well. These photos were taken Sunday (03/30/08), since then Tassie has progressed tremendously.
Keep watching, more babies arriving soon!
Meet Darren ...
and Samantha...
The twins were born on Sunday, March 30. Both babies and Momma, Ophillia, are doing just fine! :)
You can see more pictures on the Our Babies page of our website.
After we were sure the kids had nursed and received good colostrum, we milked Ophillia to relieve some of the pressure. Now we have some valuable colostrom in the freezer! This was our first time to really milk one of our girls and we found our new UdderlyEZ Milker to be a wonderful asset!
I have to admit we were surprised that Ophillia kidded first, but Mikki will not be far behind. Both Mikki and Tassie are due in the next 2 weeks.Mikki
Tassie
As you can see, Mikki is well bagged up (and getting larger daily). Tassie is just starting to make a bag, but it is growing daily as well. These photos were taken Sunday (03/30/08), since then Tassie has progressed tremendously.
Keep watching, more babies arriving soon!
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