Everyone Else

As I move into spring break kidding, everyone else is probably going to be neglected. Not really, but they won’t get the attention of my girls who are kidding, old, and ill.  So here’s a bunch of pictures of everyone else.

My littles: Ostara, Zora, Pretzel, and Heidi.

Chiffon, Bubbles, and Heidi–I think I’ve decided Bubbles is open.

Casey

Maybeline and Odie in front of the herd

Maisie

Zora and Daisy

Wanda and Pretzel (LilyAnn behind)

Tiger

Rosie

Sky

The herd

And a peak from what’s happening with knitting.

I finished my second raglan pullover sweater.

Now I’m working on a cardigan.

Come on babies because I’m now on spring break!

Munching

We’ve had warm weather, and the days are getting longer, but I’m still feeding the goats and llamas full hay.

Bubbles

Ostara and Pretzel behind

Joy

Heidi

Hilda

Casey

Daisy and Zora

Odie (and Maybeline behind)

Frodo, Zinnia, and Penelope

Maybeline

Onyx (I know it’s a Christmas tree, but she’s still munching)

They do like their hay!

June Babies

Last year was really hard on the girls and kids with so many of them being born in June.  When I talked to my vet, he said it was the same with his sheep–they thrive when they are born early in the spring, but struggle when they are born later.

Cutie ended up with horrible bottle jaw last summer raising her big buck.

If you remember, I didn’t have a lot of girls settle for spring break.  Okay, I think there’s ten for spring break.

I think Purl will give me one of my last Freddie babies (standing with Pluto)

But they were all coming back into heat for Easter weekend, so I am planning on a lot of them that weekend. I think there’s thirteen for that long weekend.

I think Bubbles is due April 9th.

So who does that leave for June babies?  Well, I’ve decided to give Astra the year off.  She really struggled with her babies last June, so I’m not going having her kid in June this year.

Astra munching hay with daughter Perdita (due in March with Freddie babies)

I haven’t seen Chiffon come back into heat since I put her in for Easter weekend, so I’m not sure on her.  Same thing as Astra though.  If she’s not bred for Easter, she’ll get the year off.

I think Chiffon is due for Easter

The two I know need to be bred and will get put in with Frodo are Zinnia and Trace.  This is Trace’s last chance before I decide she’s a freemartin.  Then I have to make the decision on whether or not to keep a goat I can’t touch (and maintain).

Trace (butting heads with Athena)

I’m not sure what’s going on with Ostara. As a little girl, she is not hanging out with the bucks when she comes into heat.  But she had the little incident of getting a shot to make sure she wasn’t bred and then busting back onto the other side with Benji, and then I couldn’t catch her to take her out. So I have no idea what’s going on with her.  We’ll see.

Ostara

And then there’s Pretzel.  Because she’s young, she’s not quite so obvious when she’s in heat, so I thought she was bred, but I wasn’t sure.

Pretzel

Well, she aborted over winter break.

That tiny bit of blood; she was not very far along.

I don’t know why.  But she’ll have some time to recover.  I might put her in with Frodo to see if she’ll settle for later in the summer.  We’ll see.