Behind the Rain

After the last round of rain pushed through, our weather changed dramatically.  We went from a high of 75°F to high winds, and overnight snow. Yep.  I am really tired of being stuck in early March weather.

snow on the deck steps

I had to shut some of the moms in the garage again.

Perdita and Moxie

Onyx and Penelope, (Victoria behind–she doesn’t have a kid, but she’s old and gets cold easily.)

Of course, nobody gets along yet.  They are so cranky. I had to put Purl and Hilda in the buck room with their babies. I really hope real spring will change their attitudes.

Hilda, Purl and kids

The winds make it really hard to try and prepare for the kids coming next weekend.

Antigone is due next Saturday.

It makes it impossible to fix my fence (remember that I wanted to fix over spring break), and the goats discovered they could walk across the downed panel.  Thanks for the phone call, Gert! That means everyone is on the front pasture.

Part of the whole herd on the front pasture.

I have a lot to do, and the weather is not cooperating. I still need to finish preparing for the greenhouse to be torn down.

The only thing that gives me any hope right now is that the grass is starting to turn green!

Ms. Goose walking across the barnyard.

And I have a question. When I go to my blog to check comments, it is suddenly filled with ads everywhere. Am I the only one who sees this, or is it for everyone?

Kidding Prep

I decided that this was the weekend I had to get everyone adjusted for kidding. I put my gate across the front of the barn with the whole herd on the back side so I could do my adjustments.

The herd stuck on the other side when they came back up from pasture.

Ava wondering why she can’t go where she wants.

I now have the two bucks up north.

Xerxes

They are getting along.  Xerxes is a pretty nice guy when he’s not in rut.  Frodo is still properly petrified respectful.

Frodo

I also put the fence through the middle of the barnyard.  I left Antigone on that side even though she isn’t due until April.  I didn’t want her to have to fight her way back into the herd when she’s that far along in her pregnancy.

Antigone is due next month.

I also added Penelope who had been up with Frodo.  She is due next week.

Penelope looking for leftovers.

Victoria came over by the cattle tank, so I opened that and let her in.  I’ll let both her and Dolly on this side so I can keep giving them extra feed.

Victoria

I let Caroline out.  She was not eating well in the garage, and I hoped that getting out would give her a mood boost.  She will stay on the side with the moms so I can still give her extra care.

Caroline will stay on this side so I can give her extra care.

Because I opened the door for Caroline to go out, it also means that Tux is out.

Tux came out; I put him in; we’ll keep bouncing back and forth for a while.

He might be underfoot outside.

That was a pretty good morning’s work, and all I had left to do was move the first of the spring break moms and Dolly over there.

Udder Checks

Udder checks are done, and here are my best estimates of who’s due for spring break babies.  Of course, I’m never surprised when I’m wrong.

First up is Onyx.  She is due March 11th, and she’ll give me one of my last Freddie babies.

Onyx

Purl is due on the 13th, and she’s also having a Freddie baby.  I wasn’t sure about her, but I finally felt a tiny udder bump.  Sometimes, in the winter their udders don’t drop until just before they are due.

Purl

On the 14th, I have three girls due.  Perdita will have her first kid, and she is also the last of the girls carrying Freddie babies.  I kinda hope she has a beautiful sweet girl that I could keep to eventually be a milking doe.

Perdita

Also on that day, I have Hilda.  At eight, she’s my oldest one having babies.  She was with Benji.

Hilda (with her girl Rosie)

The third one due that day is Athena.  She is also having a Benji baby.

Athena

Aphrodite is due on the 15th.  I confess, I did not try to feel her udder, but I’m pretty sure she settled.  She was also with Benji.

Aphrodite

Penelope is due on the 16th.  She’s carrying my first Frodo baby.

Frodo and Penelope (it’s going to have to be a cute baby)

The last two are due on St. Patrick’s Day.  They both settled on the first day that Benji kept breaking out and re-joining the girls.  Cutie already has an udder visibly showing.

Cutie

So does LilyAnn.  I am kind of hoping that LilyAnn has a gorgeous Benji buck to keep.  But I’ll talk about that more in a later post.

LilyAnn

I can’t believe we’re this close to spring break babies!