Stormy

This one was hard.  Stormy reminded me so much of her maa, Maddie, who was my favorite of the original Saanens. I had to dig through the old first ever digital photos (before I had a decent camera) to find this picture of her and her mom.

Stormy snuggling her mom just before I lost her (January, 2009).

She was always shy.  Nobody could get near her but me.

Litha and Stormy (probably late fall, 2009)

I was afraid I was going to lose her when she was only three years old.  She was horribly sick.

Stormy with Haley and Harley (April, 2011)

With lots of work, she recovered.  She and her girls were always close.

Haley, Harley, and Stormy (in 2015)

She would always surprise me when kidding.  She could look like she wasn’t even pregnant and have triplets two days later.  Or I’d think she was done having babies, so I’d check and find nothing. Then I’d come out later to find she’d had another.  I swear she carried them in her front leg.

Stormy eating nettles

It was fairly late in her kidding career that she became one of my milking does.  She was awesome!  Although, she does have a weird kink at the end of one teat.

Stormy in February, 2020

You always develop a special bond with your milking girls.  It’s been hard watching her get old and grow weaker this last month.

I will truly miss my girl.

Terrific Twosomes

For some reason I got to thinking about my old ladies and how I don’t often keep both kids from twins, but two of my oldest goats are twins–Stormy and Litha, born in 2008.

Litha in 2015

They are the first set of two I kept because I just couldn’t decide which one to keep.  Then I had an epiphany and realized I could keep them both if I wanted to.  So I did.

Stormy from 2017

There are only two other sets of twins left in full:  Bonnie and Blaze (b. 2011)

Blaze and Bonnie from 2012

and Sidney and LilyAnn (although they are two of a set of triplets).  Honestly, their brother was the only nice one of the bunch.  Dang sweet boys.

Sidney, Andy and LilyAnn (front) in 2017

Anyhow.  I kept Flower and Bud (b. 2010), and Flower is still here.

Flower and Bud in 2016

Casey is here, but I just lost Cookie earlier in the fall.  They were also two of a set of three.

Casey and Cookie (b. 2011) in May 2019

I still have Coral (2011), but we lost her twin, Clover, last year.

Clover and Coral from 2011

Haley (b. 2011) lost her (triplet) sister Harley last year also.

Haley and Harley in 2012

I kept two sets who are both gone now–Maggie and Marley.

Maggie and Marley (my original “tail count” kids from 2009)

And Pistol and Vinnie.

Dolly with Pistol and Vinnie in 2010

I sometimes can’t believe how long I’ve been raising goats now.  They certainly do have a way of stealing your heart.

Shuffling the Copper Deficient

As much as I’d love to have a long stretch of boring, I have goats.  That is not going to happen.  I am shuffling the goats who have been struggling with the copper deficiency.  The good news is that Freddie is doing so much better I put him in with Tiger.

Tiger and Freddie

His eyes are red; he’s eating well; he’s gaining weight.  I’m feeling pretty good about where he’s at.  I also had to move him to make room for Stormy in the Love Shack.

Stormy

Even though I had been letting her come in to eat sweet feed each evening, she was still falling behind more and more.  Then she ended up with bottle jaw–as bad as Annie’s.  I gave her more copper and shut her in the Love Shack.

Stormy

The swelling is going down, which is good.  She’s eating really well.  Now I just need her not to pick on the other girls and quit fighting through the fence.

Stormy fighting with Cinnamon (Dolly behind; Antigone and Edith in front)

Seriously.  Why? The last thing these old ladies need to do is use extra energy.

Annie; Mary and Dolly fighting

Annie and Mary are getting more color in their eye membranes, but they are still really thin and weak.  I keep trying.

Mary

Bonnie is also looking more thin, so I shut her in with the other three.  It’s kind of getting crowded in there.  As long as they can get along, though, it’s more body heat to help it stay warmer, especially with the cool, damp windy weekend we had.

Bonnie

Hopefully, they can recover.  Part of it will depend on the weather, too.  We need to quit having crazy swings from hot to cold.