After the birth of the kids, Steve and I went out to dinner with some friends. As soon as I got back from that little respite, I checked on the new babies. Then I went into panic mode again! The little girl was chilled to the core and very sluggish. It looked like Caramel had given up cleaning her up to spend time on the bigger, more vocal boy. So I scooped up the tiniest baby goat in a towel and started rubbing and drying her off. I grabbed my goat book and told Steve, "Look in there and see how to get her warmed up!" We ended up putting her in a warm bath in the kitchen sink for about 30 minutes before she started wiggling around and making noise. I even managed to get some warm milk down her. Then we made a warm little bed for her in a cardboard box. She is still in that box in the house. She finally stood by herself about 10 am today. So I gave her some of the colostrum. She drank it down like she was starving. I hope that means we are out of the woods. She is sleeping now along with her brother and our grandson. No, I didn't put my grandson in a cardboard box with the goat. Although, he'd probably like the idea! I'll post some pictures soon.

So far we have had 3 kids from Jenny (one died, 2 boys live), 2 kids from Bobbin, a boy and a girl, and a boy and a girl from Caramel. Lucy is the only one left to have her kids and since she was the last one to be bred on Dec. 29, she isn't due until May 24th. At least that is the closest I can figure. So I will have a chance to get these new ones off to a good start before going through the trauma of another birth. Believe me it is trauma! I've never been so nervous in my life as when I am waiting to see how these kids are going to come out and survive. Well, maybe when my first grandson arrived I was.

Caramel would be a good mom except for something she cannot help. That is she doesn't have an udder so she cannot nurse her kids. So that makes my job that much more scary because I have to make sure they get the nutrition and care they need to thrive and grow beautiful fleece for me. I have been able to do that so far. Thanks to lots of help from my friend Liz. She has been great and even gave me some colostrum for the new babies this morning. Thanks Liz! Colostrum is a thick yellowish milk that comes in before the real milk. It gives the kids a little extra including some immunity from diseases that they need to survive.

Yesterday was supposed to be our shearing day. Unfortunately our shearer never showed up so I guess we will have to reschedule that. I was a nervous wreck all day getting ready and waiting,waiting,waiting and waiting... I wish I knew another shearer who was a little more reliable. Someone still has to shear the animals and soon. It is going to be way too hot for all the fleece they are carrying very soon. But maybe there is a reason for such things. At least I always hope that is true and yesterday it was. Our angora doe was due to have her kids any day and I was hoping it would be before shearing. Well, now it is. At 5:15 yesterday afternoon, as I gave up on the shearer ever arriving and was feeding the animals, Caramel started bleating like crazy and laid on the ground and I knew those kids were on the way! She had a beautiful boy and a girl. The girl is the tiniest goat I have ever seen. She has a white head like her sire and a chocolate body like her dame. So cute! The boy is a dirty white color, kind of like chocolate milk that you didn't put in the whole amount of Quick.

Thank goodness for LGDs, that's livestock guardian dogs for you city folk out there. Our LGD, Buddy, probably saved our new kids yesterday morning. He was barking like crazy when I got up so I went out to see what was so all fired important. What did I see sneaking ever so furtively through the tall grass? Why it was Mr. Coyote, of course! I saw his back and tail just on the other side of the goat fence. So I ran out to open the gate for Buddy to give chase. He had a great time and I'm sure felt as if he was doing his duty, but, alas, Mr. Coyote was quicker and craftier and disappeared without a trace!

"Monday, Monday, can't trust that day..." It's here again, Monday. The weekend was very busy with cleaning pens and cutting toenails, the dog's, not the goats. I still have to do the goats. And our grandson's 5th birthday. We celebrated with a family party at our house. Great fun and my daughter did all the work! Yes! Somehow I'm still feeling exhausted though.

The new kids are growing fast. Yesterday one of the mom's and one of the kids got tangled up in an old straw hat that had blown into the pen. This was after the birthday party, so I had to go in the house and change back into "farm clothes." I don't like trying to catch goats in flip-flops and a dress! How funny would that be? I dragged my husband out too. Can't catch a kid without a little help. Anyway, I got the mom, Jenny, to come to me for a sweet cracker and managed to grab the edge of the hat brim that was circling her neck. She didn't like that much and put her head down. The hat brim slipped right off! Yahoo! One down, one to go!

Steve, that's my husband, got on one side of the herd and I got on the other side. We just started walking closer together and edging the goats we didn't want out of the way. Eventually, we cornered the little buck with the top of the hat wrapped around his neck. I grabbed him up and then noticed Jenny standing real close to me. She didn't charge me this time. It wasn't even her kid afterall, it was Bobbin's boy. When I picked him up, I couldn't believe how heavy he was. He had at least doubled his birth weight, probably more than doubled it.

We had some visitors today. They came to see the new kids. I should've taken pictures to post here. Oh well, next time. It was good to see you Dennis and Liz. Thanks for all the help and good advice. I hope you will come again when Caramel has her kids.

Thank goodness, it is Friday! I don't know why I feel that way. Probably an old habit from the days when I worked away from home! Ha!

A roadrunner crossed my path yesterday while I was walking. "Roadrunner, the coyote's after you..." I sang to him but he didn't care. He just kept bobbing his head and twitching his tail and went on his way. They are awesome birds. I love to see them and they eat rattlesnakes. Thankfully we haven't had a rattlesnake in the yard yet this spring. I will knock on wood!

Someone asked me why I had all the goats. I had two big dairy goats when we first moved here. They were an experiment. I did not want to milk goats or cows every day. When the wether's horns got too big and dangerous, I re-homed the two of them. But then there was a void on our property. So I got what I thought was a good deal at the time, three pygora does. Silly me, they were fairly young and I thought I could tame them. Well, that hasn't happened. They are still wild and skiddish but they had beautiful kids. And the kids they had last year are tame and manageable and the kids they had this month will be too.

I do like goats in general. I just needed to figure out what kind I wanted. I think I will be moving toward all pure bred angora goats. They are small and cute and fairly easy to handle. Their fleece can be blended with the alpaca fleece to make a more durable yarn. Now, If I could just manage to keep everyone's fleece clean and free of vegetable matter. That is a work in progress for this farmer and an ongoing challenge for a lot of farmers, I think.