Sophi Caught a Cloud

This morning, my daughter Sophia went out with me to do a few chores. She found this chunk of ice and icicles that had fallen from the chicken coop (in the background) and I thought as she held it over her head that it looked as if she was standing under a cloud with rain falling around her.



What a funny sight.

We had some snow overnight and it's a positively balmy 34°F out there right now. There has been rain, freezing rain, and snow in the area and there are over 700 customers of our power company without power—including my best friend.

In case that doesn't sound impressive to you, 700 people is a LOT in North Dakota, he he he. When she called to report her power was out, they told her that over 400 poles were down and they'd get to her when they could...doesn't sound too promising, does it?

Our electricity has been flickering, but so far we still have power. On the other hand, the second punch of the one-two punch of the storm hasn't even arrived. Hopefully, we won't loose power since there are animals to care for.

Well, here's hoping that things are going well at your homestead.

Kidding Report: Jan 18

OK. Here's what happened on Day 2 of the kidding marathon.

First, Rosie kidded. She is a 2½ year old second freshener.



Her kids were born while I was away and you can read about it here.

Later that day, our doe Honey kidded.



She's a 1½ year old first freshener and she had a buckling and a doeling.

Olivia named the buckling, Chocolate...



...and the doeling, she named Cocoa.



Here's a cute picture of the new family.



I'm going to tray and get pictures posted of the rest of the days, so bear with me.

It's Official

Well, it's official. Our herd has doubled in the last five days!

We just had kid number 23 and 24.

I'm tired buy thankful. All the kids have survived and are thriving...more that I can say for Olivia and myself, lol. We're pretty tired.

I'm just getting ready to go out to milk Emily, who just kidded with twin doelings. I need to milk her for colostrum to feed her daughters. It's also time feed all the rest of the little ones.

So, just in case you might wonder what 22 baby goats look like...here's a picture for you. This was taken right before Emily had number 23 and 24.



Hope everything is good on your homestead. Anyone else out there kidding?

Kidding Report: Jan 17

I thought that I would take the time to post some pics of the new kids.

This is Clarabelle:



She is a two-year-old second freshener. She was my first to kid this year and she kidded on Sunday, the 17th.

She had twin kids, a doeling and a buckling:



And this is what happens when newborn baby goat meets laminate floor:



Next to kid that same day was StarFire. StarFire is another two-year-old second freshener.



She had twin doelings, Miriam and Gracie.

Here's Miriam; a wet goopy mess.



She came out head first, and I had to go in and pull her front legs which were curled underneath her. StarFire probably would have delivered her just fine without my help, but it saved her a push or two, I guess, plus, the risk that the kid would have injured leg(s).

Here she is all dried off and eating:



Here's a couple of pictures of Gracie. It's amazing how much darker they look when they're first-born and wet.





The last to kid on Sunday was my doe Justa. She is also a two-year-old second freshener.



She had twin doelings that we named Ivy and Anora.

Here's Ivy:



And here's Anora:

A Quick Update

We've now had 18 kids in 60 hours. It's been quite a marathon, lol.

I'm working to get some pictures posted, but it's a little hard to get pictured of those little squirming kids!

I'm planning on posting pics of the kids that were born each day.

Sunday, we had six kids; Monday we had four kids; and Tuesday, we had eight kids.

I almost have Sunday's pics done. I only need a picture of one of the kids, so I'll post it as soon as I can.

Here's something to whet your appetite.



Hope everything is going well on your homestead.

One Tired Goat-Keeper

So, we've had 10 kids in 24 hours. Liv and I are tuckered out.

Little Miss Sophi has been helping us, too.

After the 5AM feeding this morning, this little doeling (our miracle kid, Bella) decided that she was lonely, so Liv went back out to the barn and brought her in the house. She thought that she needed just a little bit more milk, then she and her "momma" settled down for a nap.

More Babies

Well, more babies are here, lol. I went to prayer group this morning and left Olivia and Sophia in charge of the goats. Olivia had to milk and then bottle feed the six kids.

While I was gone, Rosie kidded and the babies were half frozen and my little girls knew what to do! They put those babies in warm water until they warmed up. The little buckling came around quickly, but the girls had to keep working with the little doeling, but finally she came around.

I'm so proud of them, I can hardly say!

Here's a picture of the little buckling:



And here's our little miracle, Bella, that Olivia and Sophia saved by putting in the bathtub until she warmed up.

Something to Report

Sorry for the loooooong absence. We had a really tough summer/fall season. I lost several goats and it was JUST too depressing to blog about it. I suppose I should have because maybe something that I went through could have helped someone.

Perhaps some day when it's not so raw, I will blog about it.

Nevertheless, I have some wonderful things to report now.

After all the losses and all the worrying and all the work and all the blood, sweat, and tears, we finally have the fruits of our labor...new baby goats.



I'm a little tired right now as we were up late last night, so I won't blog much now, but soon.

We had five doelings and one buckling, all born yesterday. What a blessing! They're all healthy, eating well, and soon, they'll be bouncing around the barn.

God is good!