Victoria Blackboer

I’ve known Victoria wasn’t going to make it through the winter for a while.  She’s been coming in for extra feed, but she just isn’t gaining weight.  And the few days we were pretty cold at Thanksgiving was horrible for her.  So I waited as long as I could, but I just had to have the vet come now.

Victoria in pasture

She is one of a large group of goats I kept.  There were eleven of them that year, and she and Casey were the last two left.

Victoria napping in the tractor tire

She also gave me one of the weirdest injuries I’ve ever seen on a goat–and that’s saying a lot.  I still don’t know how she got that chunk of fence through her eyelid, how it didn’t hurt the eye, how she became so infected, and how she eventually healed perfectly.  It was crazy.

She was such a beautiful girl and so sweet.

top left with daughter Onyx; bottom right with her maa, Vinnie

I will miss her.

Haying Themselves

The goats and llamas are still haying themselves out in pasture.

The herd

Maybeline

Even though we won’t likely have snow, once it gets a bit colder, I’ll start feeding hay.

2TC

Popcorn

Ostara

Most of the goats look really fat and sassy right now, but it takes more energy when it’s cold, so not having to run around pasture to eat will benefit them.

Daisy and Zora

Perdita

Pluto

I do have them back on a bit of grain, which helps provide protein and keep them warm.

Victoria is still getting extra feed.

But they will appreciate the hay when it’s colder.

A Photo Dump Friday

Here’s just a bunch of goat pictures.  Because I took a lot when I had all those stories to tell about how crazy this breeding season has been.

Cutie is not doing well; I can’t imagine she’ll be here much longer.

Perdita and Moxie–she’s almost as big as her maa anymore.

Chiffon

Antigone

Victoria is struggling. The short cold snap we had made me realize I’ll have to have her put down before the real cold hits.

Daisy

Flora

Popcorn and Antigone

2TC

Dolly

I’m back to feeding grain–the days are short and they really need it, so they don’t try to run me over. They run each other over to get to the food.

Purl

Trace is holding her own, but she’s going to take a year off.

Pretzel–unfortunately, she lost some blood with her hoof trimming. It looks like another white spot.

Rosie

Maisie

Astra

And the days are busy and short.  I’ll be glad when the days start to get longer even though that’s when we’ll really start to get cold.