Kidding Around

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!

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.

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!

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!

Things are hopping along

Just some quick news bits to share.

Easter bunnies
On Easter Sunday, we went into Austin to spend some time with family. On they way home, in the early dark under an almost full moon, it was like watching an erie Easter bunny tale. As we turned onto our private road the landscape came ALIVE with bunnies! Little cottontail bunnies. They were EVERYWHERE!!! At no other time, in the many years we have lived here, have we seen this many bunnies at one time. They were hopping down the road, bouncing across the road, sitting on the creek banks, jumping thru the pastures - the bunnies were abounding! We stopped the car, looked around, looked at each other and said "Happy Easter"! :)

Puppy recount
Okay, little wiggling puppies can be hard to count when they are safely burrowed around their mom. Greta has let us check out her pups a bit closer now, and we have confirmed there are, in fact, EIGHT puppies. They are a week old today and are really growing. Momma Greta is doing wonderful, as always. Pictures coming soon....

Where there is smoke, there is fire
Yesterday afternoon, a thick haze began to filter its way across the pastures ... coming in waves with the strong, persistent winds. A quick call to my neighbor confirmed that there was, in fact, a grass fire burning just across the highway (about 1 mile from our ranch). Soon, the helicopters and water planes arrived to drop water on it. The event went on for several hours. At times, the local deputies were concerned the fire would jump the highway, putting many more pastures and homesteads at risk. In the end, our gallant fire control crews saved the day! No one was injured and no structures appear to have been lost in the blaze. Thank the Lord!

No kids yet ...
Although I was not sure it was possible to do so, our Nubian goat, Mikki, continues to expand daily! Her bag and teats are full, her ligaments are so soft I cannot feel them, and she waddles about as she grazes. She was exposed to Trevor starting October 28, so her earliest due date SHOULD be March 31 ... will she make it that far? Never mind that we recorded her being in standing heat on November 7 ... surely there is no way she will make it until April 10! Goats, they never cease to amaze me.

Garden zone
This past weekend, between other exciting activities, we took a few hours to clear an area for a garden. Now we just need to rent/borrow a tiller, move some soil around, and get the ground prepped. Oh, and it would probably be wise to start the seeds; they probably are not going to sprout while they are sitting in my kitchen in their original packaging. :)

In conjunction with the garden, we are working on fencing in a large pen in the backyard area too. This involved clearing the line for the fence, and measuring out the distance for materials. We plan to use this pen to bring in the momma goats at night for morning milking, as well as adding to the chicken's running area. The projects are never ending. :)

Guess that is about all the news for now. Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Spring!

Things have been incredibly busy around the ranch lately...


Two weeks ago, we sent four of our six horses to a trainer. Justin and Flurry will be coming home in a month or so after they are trained under saddle. The other two, Sonny and Rita, were given in trade for training services. We are looking forward to being able to ride together this Summer!


Izzy, our large Percheron-cross mare, has been limping for the past two weeks. She was injured a few years ago when she slipped in the mud and got entangled in a small section of wire fencing (this has since been replaced with horse-safe fencing). After surgery on her ankle, and many months of rehab, Izzy has been fine - never a limp. We knew there was always a possibility of future lameness from the incident and that bone spurs were likely; unfortunately, that time has come. She is not in significant pain, more like a bothersome irritation. Her ankle is not swollen, but the flexor tendon going over the bone spur is giving her some pause. At this point, we are helping her work thru this situation and she is coming along very well. While she will never be sound to ride, she is perfectly healthy and sound to use as a broodmare or companion. We are exploring the possibility of leasing or selling her to a good home for such a use.

Spring is the time for babies, and we are expecting our share in the coming months...

First, we are very happy to announce that we have PUPPIES! Greta delivered 7 healthy little Pyrenees puppies on Wednesday, March 19 in the early morning hours - in a torrential rain storm! All the puppies, and Mom, are doing great. Pictures will be coming soon on our website... for now, we are giving Greta some privacy with her pups. Our other Pyrenees female, Emma, is also bred to Koda and we expect pups from her in mid-May.

Many of our llamas are due for babies starting in April. We have bred most of our girls to our junior herdsires, Radar and Dreamin'. Since they are not proven studs and the girls were all exposed in pasture (versus scheduled breeding), we have to do some estimating as to due dates. Probably the first of them will be one of our miniature llamas, Popo; she is sure to deliver in the next few weeks. While llamas are known to hide their pregnancies well, Popo is not hiding much - she is round as a ball!

In addition to the llamas, three of our dairy goats, Ophillia, Mikki and Tassie, are due to kid in the next few weeks. Mikki is the only experienced Mom in the bunch, and looks like she will deliver in the next week or so. Ophillia and Tassie are both "making bag" and starting to expand by the minute! Surely they will kid before they explode!?! :)

Looking to the future ... and other ponderings ...

This morning, we moved our buck, Oliver, into the pasture with our three junior does, Valentine, Stoney and Surprise. We hope to have kids from them in late August, or early September. They should be some pretty fancy babies if all goes as planned!

Now, let me tell you about Oliver and his dog, Emma.... Since the day Oliver arrived on the ranch, Emma decided he was HER goat. She has bathed him, slept with him, watched over him, and just in general bonded with him. Where Oliver goes, Emma goes. Well, when we took Oliver out of the upper pasture this morning and Emma was aghast (no, she was not allowed out the gate too). As we put him into the lower pasture, Emma was right there waiting. (Where there is a will, there is a way - Half of our pastures have an adjoining gate system the dogs can go thru to guard all the pastures while the goats and llamas stay where they belong). Emma watched as Oliver was busy greeting all the does and exploring the "new" pasture. Now, as it is approaching nap time, him and his canine companion are snuggling up together for a nap in the warm sunshine ... what a sappy scene this is. Some days watching the happenings in our pastures are like watching a soap opera ... "As the Pasture Turns". :)

I think I finally have the answer to the long-time question of "which came first, the chicken or the egg"... it is undoubtedly THE CHICKEN ... a LONG time before the egg did apparently. Why do I make this conclusion you might ask ... because our young hens are still not laying - at least not regularly. We have put in "fake eggs" in the nests for them, they are fed very well (layer feed), and are all growing well. One positive change we see is that their combs are starting to fill in now. (This is a sign of maturity in chickens). We are averaging about 3 eggs from the flock every day; we suspect these are primarily from the older hens we got last month. No complaints here - even those few eggs help keep us fed breakfast every morning. :) We just continue to look forward to the young hens getting into "the groove".

Well, I think that about brings everything up to date a bit. We will try to post more reliably in the future. :)

Adventures at the Vet - February 23

Our Scottish Highland bull, Casper, came home from his visit with the vet on Wednesday. We are happy to report he is all fine and healthy. :) When we went to pick him up, we dropped off two of our heifers that we had scheduled for dehorning surgery. Saturday came, and what was supposed to be a quick "pickup" at the vet turned into a real rodeo!

We arrived at the vet to find only one trailer ahead of us in the vet barn. Yippee! We thought. Little did we know how things would go from there. The two gentlemen with the trailer ahead of us were in their senior years ... a very nice father (90's) and son (70's). As they went to unload their cattle from the trailer, they errantly left one of the chute gates open, so the cattle ran down the unloading chute and out into the open barn. Okay, so this, in itself, is not really a big deal since there are gates closing in the whole barn. The problem came when the Dad decided to go into the barn to help move the cows back into the working chute ... and left the gate open!

Rob was standing about 80' away and saw him walk in and not shut the big gate. Before Rob could run over and catch the gate, out ran one of the big cows. Off she goes! Running to the hay lean-to, running all around the loading yard, running thru the now lined up trailers and trucks. She did NOT want to go back in the gate, or into any enclosure she was offered. She wanted to stomp her feet and snort. She wanted to charge. The more she was encouraged to go into one of the pens, the madder she got! Ever seen a cow herded by a Bobcat before?! She even trotted all the way up to the main vet building and went inside the new office area they are just closing in. After taking a brief look around, out she trotted... back down to the loading area. On the way, she passed the main entry gate protected by a cattle guard. You'd think she would keep going right... nope. She passed it by, then turned around and went back. "Hmmm..." she seems to think. Then, to all of our shock and dismay, she jumped feet first INTO the cattle guard. A cumulative moan rises from the crowd that has gathered. Amazingly, this mad cow looks around, climbs back out of the cattle guard, and trots back down the fenceline. She proceeds to eye all the trailers with great content before retreating to the hay area and standing there snorting.

While all of us were trying very hard to keep her calm and stay out of her way, she was obviously rather pissed about visiting the vet. The gentlemen finally got the rest of their cows thru the vet chute and back in the trailer (with a little help from their new friends). When we backed up to load our two heifers, the vet opened the gate to the pen they were in (they had been watching this all transpire) and simply told them to go get in the trailer. Off they trotted without any problem... up the ramp, into the trailer without a single "moo". As he walked behind them and shut our trailer gate, the vet was heard to utter "Now, this is more like it!". Merrily we went on our way that day, glad to have provided less entertainment for once! :)