Week-Old Goat Kids

I spent most of today catching up on some things that have gone neglected in my studio. I made fresh cinnamon buns for our family's breakfast and made a batch of Feta cheese. I had plans to do as much as I could and finish what I could not, tomorrow, but around 3:30 pm. my body declared it had other plans. The reasons for joy within a large congregation are innumerable, especially during assembly days, like last Saturday. The only down-side is that with the abundance of loving hugs from our friends, the sharing of germs sometimes leaves me under the weather with a touch of something. It will pass I am sure, but the long list of things still needing to be done is going to take a bit longer than I hoped. It is 6:30 pm and I am in bed for the night. The girls are eating dinner with their Dad tonight. Sean will fend for himself. As soon as I finish typing these words, this girl is going to close her eyes and succumb to sleep in the hopes that by tomorrow instead of feeling sick, I will be awesome instead.

This video montage is made up of some snippets I captured of these darling goat kids of ours. I shared an unedited video this morning to our FACEBOOK PAGE. This video is slightly longer and it focuses on Baby Ruthie, Jacob and Benjamin catching a snooze, and Chloe's progress.

The clip of Lilly nursing Chloe shows how diligently they have both tried to make this work. I wish with all my heart there was something we could do to make that a reality for them. Little Chloe is suckling for all she is worth and her little cries of frustration are heart-wrenching. I've written before how Lilly patiently stands for nursing. In this video, she lifts her leg to allow more access. Sweet Momma. On a positive note, Lilly is making progress each day. Eventually, she will not be in milk any more and so long as infection does not set in, this will be just a memory before long. Yesterday was the final day of her twice daily course of Penicillin injections. I know that feels better. We'll continue watching for signs of infection. Our main job now is to help her to gain back the weight she's lost. We have every reason to believe that she will make a full recovery and live a long, happy life.
Chloe turned a week old about 45 minutes ago. Can it be only a week? It feels like I have been worrying over her for so much longer than that. ♥ She is such a sweet girl. Despite doing everything we can to encourage her to be a normal goat kid, she is very attached to the people. And, why not? We bring the food. A few times this week, I have been asked this question, "Why not just bring Chloe into the house?" In case some of you are wondering, too... It is very important to me that Chloe be raised with her herd, like a normal goat kid. Watch the video and see the difference between Ruthie and Chloe. Ruthie is into EVERYTHING. Her feet springs have engaged. She nibbles on anything she comes across. She likes the people, but she is engaged in being a goat kid. Contrast that to Chloe's behavior~ who is only one day younger. Chloe climbs the tables and looks at the grain bowl and nudges the hay, she sees the chickens or ducks passing by, but her main focus is on me. She stands facing me much of the time and as soon as she climbs down, she runs to stand with me between my feet. She is not off exploring as she should be. And, her springers have not engaged yet. While Ruthie runs with the other kids (see facebook video), Chloe is content to just stand and watch. Some of that might be her personality. They each have their own. But, it is my job to help Chloe to be a goat kid- full of mischief and bouncing feet. She'll learn that from being with her herd. Bringing her inside would add to that which I am trying to avoid. My only wish for Chloe is that she grow to be a healthy goat within a healthy herd. ♥

Thanks for visiting with us today, friends.
~Sean & Sonja ♥

Deep Litter Method: Goats

When I read this post from Lil Bit Farm, I had to commiserate. We use the deep litter method. For those of you who don't know what that means, I'll give you a brief explanation. Basically, instead of cleaning the stalls each day, (like we do spring, summer, and fall) in the winter, we pile fresh hay bedding on top of the soiled hay bedding, layer upon layer, all. winter. long. The benefits of doing this is that the bottom layers begin to break down into compost over time and that produces heat. Heat is a good thing in Maine during the bitterly cold winter months, especially this year when we had steady weeks where the temperature failed to break the zero degree mark. Another benefit, in all honestly, is NOT having to chip away soiled, frozen waste and then wrestle to remove said waste through mounds of snow, several feet deep in below zero temperatures to add it to the compost pile on a daily or weekly basis.

While the "Deep Litter" Method of dealing with animal waste works, we pay for it come spring in the form of screaming muscles and the sweat of our brows- (In all honesty, there was no "we". It was Sean's brow, but you get the point). We have enjoyed a string of days well above the freezing mark, culminating in temperatures yesterday hitting 42 degrees. How did we celebrate? That's right... mucking. Sean worked for 6 hours straight pulling roughly a foot deep of compacted, soiled hay from both doe stalls. Each of these stalls are 10 feet square. That makes roughly 200 cubic feet of waste to remove by hand and shovel. Not to mention the smell! Covering the soiled hay daily prevents the smell from being offensive over the winter. Once you start digging into the rotting layers, let's just say, "offensive" doesn't come close to describing it. Sean is Superman.

The stalls look fantastic covered with a fresh layer of pine shavings. If the weather stays around the freezing mark or higher, we will be able to resume mucking the stalls regularly. Without heat, the barn stays a good deal warmer than the air outside when the doors are closed and the animals are inside- comfy, cozy for the animal inhabitants. 23 days until spring. We are in the home stretch now!

While Sean was shoveling away, I kept him company and played with the goats. Of course, I couldn't resist more videos and images of the growing barn gang.


Please, notice the "before" and "after" images of the bedding, won't you? I try to show how much I appreciate all the work Sean does around here to help keep us running. You can help me. Why not take a minute to comment? How cool would it be for Sean to return home from work today and see his efforts have been noticed not only by his wife and animals, but by our neighbors near and far, too. He might call me silly, but I bet it'll make him feel good. ♥

 Jesse ♥

Snuggles with Elisha. 

Totes Ma Goats. ;)

 One of our resident barn roos, Simon, was feeling his oats. He kept dancing for the girls and crowing for attention. Silly boy. All the girls ignored his show completely.

Simon slept outside one night last week instead of going into the barn or coop. Sean found him roosting in the bed of his truck in the morning. Consequently, Simon's waddles are recovering from frost bite. We have been keeping an eye on them for infection, but they seem to be healing on their own. We'll keep a good watch on them because an infection can be lethal.

Miss Leghorn has resumed laying white eggs for us. Her nesting place of choice is in the pig stall.

Rachel loves scratches under her chin. She is such an affectionate girl. Sean paused in shoveling to give her an ear scratch. Rachel reciprocated by licking his forearm repeatedly and rubbing against him. Just look at that face! You can just about see the love shining from those eyes. ♥

Asher was quite interested in these new little bucklings. Once the first doe stall was cleaned, we opened the door to allow the does to take a walk into the snowy pasture if they wanted and their kids to meet the rest of the herd. I was close by in case of any rough introductions, but for the most part, everyone sniffed and tussled playfully. Leah kept good watch on her young lads, too. She is really a good mother.

This week, I am working on a post regarding introducing Molly to the goats, chickens, and Jasmine. We have been working with her every day and Molly is learning a lot!

Still no news on the kidding front. Everyone is doing well right now. I'll be sure to update as soon as the rest of the kids decide to be born. :)

Thanks so much for visiting with us today, friends. I am so thankful you are here.
~Sonja ♥

While Sean Was Away...

Yesterday was a busy and exciting day around here. First, I finished 5 new small eggshell pendants, 1 mosaic egg, 6 new Farm Chick Chic Rope Scarves, and 12 new Rope Necklaces. (I will be adding these to our Etsy Shop with pictures shortly.) Additionally, we had other farm sales in the form of cheese, eggs, and some individual goose eggs ordered. And, the article on Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) I wrote for the April/May issue of From Scratch Magazine went live. My first submission and byline, so I am very proud of that.

In the midst of all this, I am still fighting an awful respiratory thing. I knew that laying carpet, painting, and completely remodeling Meaghan's room would end with my allergies kicking up. Nearly a week later and I am still dealing with symptoms of congestion and a runny nose. Why is this important? It isn't, but I am hoping you will accept this as a reason why my living room is in such disarray. I knew that besides dusting and washing the couch covers, I also needed to vacuum and put away the clean clothes I folded onto the arm chair today. Before I spent the time doing all these chores, though, I thought, "What better time to enjoy some playtime with the babies?"

The goat kids are all thriving and growing normally. They are petted and played with regularly. In the evenings, Sean and I alternate holding two of the kids, petting them while they sleep. We are not alone in loving the new kids. Meaghan spent a few hours "training" Haddie to jump up on her lap when called. She was very successful. Now, Miss Haddie loves to bolt onto any unsuspecting lap. We don't mind a bit, but she is heavier than she looks (as the small, blue bruises on my legs attest to) and her hooves are sharper than they look. As cute as it is now, I am hoping she outgrows this before she weighs 100 pounds or more!

 

I planned on writing more about the chicks growing and getting their feathers, the seedlings I planted in preparation for this year's planting, and the duck and geese eggs set in the incubator, but I still have a lot of items on my "To Do" list that need attending. I'll try to update those and the other happenings around here soon. For now, I leave you with the video I spliced together this morning. I set it to some Irish fiddle music.

Thanks for visiting today. We're glad you stopped by!
Sean and Sonja ♥