Moving Goats

You know, three fourths of raising goats is just moving them from one place to another.  Friday evening, I decided it was time to move Cinnamon and Haley back to the herd.

They are gaining weight and eating well, so I figured it was time.  When the herd headed out to pasture after their grain, I figured that was the best time to do my switches.

Haley and Cinnamon were happy to come out.

Haley and Cinnamon

They saw everyone else.

They wasted no time in catching up to the herd.

That means–fight!  Why?  Why do they have to fight?

Oh yeah, they’re goats.

That’s what goats do.

Finally, I got tired of playing referee and told them good luck.  You’ll notice most of the fights were not very serious.  Just a bit pushy.

I went back to the barnyard and moved my kids that I weaned to where Cinnamon and Haley were.  They immediately enjoyed their supper of sweet feed.

Then they started exploring.

They have plenty of grass to eat up here.

Pepe

Smee was the first to discover the giant play area.

Smee

The others quickly followed.

John, Smee, Penelope, Hook, Bubbles

They even managed to find the opening to go into the old garden area.

They will be much happier up here!

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I Want to Milk

I miss milking.  I’m sad that I won’t get to milk Clover, Haley, or Cinnamon.  With their health, I had to let them dry up.

Haley

I hope to milk Ava and Zinnia like I did last year; although Zinnia isn’t due until June.

Zinnia

I also have a couple of new girls I want to milk–Caroline and Cutie.

Caroline

Cutie and Bianca

Although I’m pretty sure I’d have to fight their girls for their milk right now.

Bianca

I also have a couple of yearlings that got bred that I’d like to try milking.  I do think Aphrodite might be good, but I’m a little nervous about even trying Hera.

You want to do what to me? Aphrodite

I guess I’ll be patient for a little bit yet.  But I really do want to milk.

Weaning

I’ve had to start weaning kids even though they are quite young.  It started with Mary.  She had some pretty out of control bottle jaw.

Mary

I put her in the Love Shack.  She’s not happy about that, but it only took a couple of days for the bottle jaw to go down.

Then I had to wean Haley’s boys because she was getting bottle jaw.  You can see she’s horribly thin and she’s lost most of the color on her side and has a bare streak down her nose.

Haley

I also put Cinnamon with her in the north paddock.  She’s thin and losing hair too.

Cinnamon

After a couple of days, she still didn’t have much milk in her udder.  I got more milk from her when Athena and I were both taking from her last year.

Mary and Haley’s kids are fine.  They were already taking bottles, and they’re still getting them.

Haley feeding Hook and Smee

I do worry about John.  He has never taken a bottle.  He’s chewing his cud, and he’s good at eating sweet feed, but I do worry he’ll need more food and copper than I can provide.

John

Hopefully, they all do well with the new weaning arrangements.