Wednesday, April 8, 2015

Snow Goats

Benjamin

Jacob
These sweet faces were waiting for us this morning bright and early. After I let the other kids out to play, I spent a little time snapping pictures of them. It is always so surprising how quickly their personalities begin to emerge. Yesterday, Benjie could not work his feet. Today, he is feigning head butting and pouncing in delight. Jacob is full of energy. It is hard to capture a good picture of him because in a flash, his feet explode and he is bounding off.

Benjie is such a snuggle bug. I love goat kids that are quiet tempered and like to cuddle with me. And I am partial to the ones that are into everything all the time. Basically, I like them to have Personality with a capitol P. I know Sean agrees, though it often means extra work for him.

Case in point, Sean had to add two additional rails to the kid's sleeping stall last night. Both Boaz and Phoebe looked at the original height of 3 1/2 feet and laughed in our direction. They had no trouble jumping over to help themselves to the milk before us in the morning. The added rails brought the wall to at least four feet tall. Should be sufficient, right? Wrong. Mistress Phoebe Rubber Hooves met us in Jane's stall this morning. Full of milk and smiling smugly. And while that is annoying on the one hand, it is so terrible that it blurs the line into cute. ♥

After milking, Sean and I traipsed out into the pastures to see how deep the snow is there. While there are small, barren patches under the pine trees, Sean reckons the snow to be about 6 inches deep in most places. We are anticipating rain and sleet over the next couple days. I won't mind so long as Sean's prediction of it melting the last of the snow by the weekend comes true.



Ellie, Jem,, Cassie and Judah munch on evergreen needles Sean broke off for them-
a "reward" for following us to the back fields. Okay, it was a bribe.
They ate it all the same. 

Judah
Ellie, Jemima, and Cassie are all sweet tempered girls. They prefer to be with their people and stay close by us when we are in the field. Judah is a huge cry-baby. He is a loud buck that calls non-stop- even when he is eating! Silly boy! This group are some of my favorite goats. ♥

Leah, Rachel, Keziah, and Eli came running to see what we had offered the other goats, but were quick to decide snow was not to their liking and they returned to the hay cushioned comfort of their stall to chew their cud and await the afternoon's offering of hay and grain.

Once reminded evergreens are indeed edible, Cassie, Ellie, and Judah were happy to browse on them for a bit.


Any place not covered in snow was fair game for exploration, including a temporary shelter from last year. Cassie found it to be a perfect resting spot before trudging through the snow to return to the barn.

The sleet and rain affects my outlook and makes it hard for me to be productive, especially when it lingers. I am more than willing to put up with it if Sean is indeed right and it does the job of clearing the snow away once and for all. The plan for the rest of this week is to finish planting some early seedlings, make feta and chevre tomorrow, mail out some special orders and paint some new jewelry pieces. Sean is focusing on thoroughly cleaning out Jasmine's stall and the main chicken coop. We'll need to find a minute to check on the dozen eggs I set under a couple of broody hens this morning. We won't disturb the nests, but we need to make sure the hens are willing to set on the eggs we placed in them. It should be fine. If all goes well, we'll have our first hatch of a dozen Easter Eggers chicks the first of May then a week later, we should welcome a nest of a dozen Mallard ducklings.

Thanks for stopping in for a visit today, friends. We appreciate your company. :)
~Sean and Sonja ♥

3 comments:

  1. The goats are so cute! I'm tired of this wacky weather.

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  2. I just can't with that pic of Benjamin snuggled to his brother!!!!!!!

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  3. Benjamin has the cutest little smile :)

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