A Little Bundle of Joy

I’ve had some of the girls who are close to kidding shut in, so my mom can check them while I’m at work.  I have Zinnia, Aphrodite, and LilyAnn in the greenhouse.

Aphrodite

LilyAnn

I haven’t decided when Aphrodite and LilyAnn are due, but they look closer than my original estimate–like they might have been bred right away like Zinnia and Cookie.

Aphrodite and LilyAnn

If you have to lay down to eat your sweet feed, you’re definitely ready.

Aphrodite

Wednesay evening, I noticed that Penny’s udder had suddenly filled.

It also made the place she ripped her udder come back open.  Poor girl.

Anyhow, I put her in the Love Shack with Cookie and her girls.  That way she’s not running around in the tall grass with that udder injury.

Chiffon, Cookie, Marge, and Penny

She is due on Saturday, and it’s good for her to get a bit of TLC and sweet feed while she’s this close.  My mom is spoiling her by brushing the rest of her winter coat out.

Then, at 3:00 am Thursday morning, Zinnia had her baby girl!  A beautiful little bundle of Joy.

Zinnia and Joy

Mom is doting and protective, and she keeps snorting at me when I get close to her baby.

I don’t care if Zinnia wants me to stay away.  She’s going to be a nice sweet little girl.

Joy

Unlike Cookie’s little hooligan girls.

Chiffon and Marge

These two are wild things!   Monday is my last day of work before summer break.  I will be glad to be home with everyone.

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Who’s Due

I can’t believe we’re almost to June.  You know what that means–June babies.  So who’s due?

After I thought the copper was going to fix everything, I decided to let some of my girls who didn’t settle last year try it again.  Here’s who’s due from oldest to youngest.  At ten years old, Penny is my oldest one to have kids this year.  She is due June 8th.

Penny

Bambi and Vinnie are also both in that category of not having kids last year but settling this year.  They are both nine this summer. Vinne is due between June 9th and 15th.  She is one I’m really concerned about with the copper since she’s lost so much hair and looks horrible.

Vinnie

Bambi is due between June 16th and 22nd.  Bambi actually looks like she’s still in pretty good shape.

Bambi

The next one is Cookie.  She’s the last of my “old” girls who are bred.  She is going to be eight next month. There’s no question about her being bred when you look at her.  She’s also one of the first ones due. June 5th is her due date.  She was in heat when I put her in with the buck (I didn’t know it when I put her over there), and with our many snow makeup days, she is due before I’m done working for the summer.

Cookie

Bambi’s doe Daisy is my next one. I still consider her young at three years old.  She is due between June 16th and 22nd.  It was such cold miserable weather when they were with the bucks, I didn’t see when many of the girls were bred.  I just am using dates from when I last saw them in heat and extrapolating when they are most likely due.

Daisy

Zinnia and LilyAnn are both two years old.  Zinnia is expecting her second kid on June 5th.  Like Cookie, I didn’t know she was in heat when I put them with the bucks.

Zinnia

LilyAnn is expecting her first baby this year.  She’s due between June 16th and 22nd.

LilyAnn

Aphrodite is my yearling. She is due sometime between June 23rd and 30th.

Hera is another yearling and the last one I saw bred, which would make her due June 28th, but I’m not sure she settled.

Hera

She doesn’t seem to be making an udder, so I think she’s open.  I have to say, I will be relieved when we are done with kidding this year.

Looking Green

My pasture is really starting to look green.

Odie and Maybeline

Everyone is enjoying being out of the barnyard.

Stormy, Maggie, LilyAnn, and Coral (behind)

Astra and a bunch of kids

The kids are really getting big and enjoy running around and nibbling grass with their moms.

As an aside, you can see that my Quonset hut did not survive the strong winds from this past week.

Reva and Michael

I love looking out the window and seeing all the goats happily munching.

Although, it’s still weird seeing the bucks where my garden used to be.

Xerxes, Anubis, and Zeus

I kind of like not having to feed four or five bales of hay everyday too.