Photos of Babies and Big Girls

I took these photos the other day out in the barn.  I love taking pics of them and the big girls. They are such characters! Finally the weather is bearable enough for me to get out and do this.

 One of triplets -whether

 Mistletoe peaking

 Twin buck - I love his color!  We will probably whether him so that one of our kids can show him at the fair.

 Triplets that are being bottle-fed.

 Twin doe -little sister to the buck with all that color!

 Our big billy and the producer of all that color.

 Heifer named "Big Red". She is built like a tank and will be calving in a few weeks!

 "Mabel" was our first baby cow born here and will be one of the first cows to calve in early April. This will be her second calf.

"Snowflake" likes to rub on everything!  She is not bred this year, but will be for next year.

This is "Maria". She is a first timer at calving this year also. She is a polled hereford that is a little standoffish still, but she is getting better.

There you have it, our first photo shoot for 2014! There will be lots more photos to enjoy throughout the year.  Hopefully we will have calves to take photos of soon!

Oh yeah and all photos ARE copywrited! If you chose to use one, anyway please include a link back to this page!  Thanks!

Love Baby Goat Kids!

I have always loved the babies of our farm and the calves were the first we ever had.  I am still a little bit partial to calving season and look forward to it all winter long.

These days, however, the baby goat kids are stealing my heart.  They are amazingly cute and have so much personality from day one.  We have had 6 babies so far this year and they are such characters.  I thought some of you may enjoy some of the photos I have of them:

Boer billy kid - one of the twins 

Triplets peaking while waiting for their bottles!

Big goats exploring the barnyard after winter.

I love each of these goats and each has a different personality just as people do.   It makes each day very interesting and unpredictable.  Cannot wait until we have more babies to show off and adore.

Baby Goat Kids Updates

Mystery, our first goat kid born on our farm is growing like a weed!  She is doing amazing.  She received her first CD &T vaccination last week, which she was not so fond of.  She stays close by her mama but is willing to venture out and explore.  For now they are being kept in the baby goat pen probably until the fair.  She will be shown at our county fair by my daughter who loves her immensely!  After the fair she will be weaned and go out to the pasture while her mama, Dazzle, goes straight out to pasture with the billy.

We also have had a set of twin boys to report.  The are both doing great and for now are in the barn with mom.  The day they were born mom was especially friendly that morning, which made me a little curious as to whether it would be that day or not.  She did not, however, have any of the signs our first time doe had, no hind end swelling or drainage. She was as wide as she was long -almost. We had been gone for a few hours and went to check her when we got back in the afternoon.  The goats were in our old barn in the back pasture.  When my daughter got close she said " uh, mom, there is something white outside the barn".  Well, it was a newborn goat.  He had slid under the door and when we looked inside his brother was with mama. The other big goats were with her while she had them and even Billy was standing near with a kind of watchful fatherly eye.  We hauled mom and babies up to the "good" barn in a large stall (actually one whole side of the barn).  We had been kind of hoping for girls to increase our herd.  They have done well there and love to run, jump and climb on our junk in the barn.  Some days Billy and the others lay just outside the barn gate as though they miss her and want her to come play. 

Last week the boys were vaccinated and banded.  I always feel sorry for the animals that get banded, but it looks so funny the way they walk just after.  They cried for mama when they got their shots!  They will eventually be butchered and sold as meat.  I have to keep myself from thinking about it for now, as they are so adorable and I love to play with them, but that is why we started raising goats!

I do think the other 2 girls with Billy have bellies that are looking a little pudgy and hopefully they are pregnant as well.  The more, the merrier!  All the bottle babies in the baby pen are about ready to go out to pasture and hopefully be bred. I am a little nervous that they will attempt escaping the different fencing, but all our goats will go anywhere following a bucket of grain, which makes it easy to get them coralled.  We will then move the newest mama and boys to the baby pen with mystery and her mama.  Our little billy is also ready to get to work!  

I would like to build one more nursery pen, but haven't decided where it will be yet.  It has been so busy around here that I find it hard to find time to write, but after the county fair I will have more time!  Hopefully anyway!

As always HAVE A GREAT DAY!   

New Baby Boer Goat

We finally did it!  We have had our first baby Boer goat born on our farm!  So exciting!

Last Friday, I went out to do morning chores and found that Dazzle (momma) was acting a little strange.  She was eating like she was starving and didn't mind having me pet her and feel for baby movement.  She has gotten a lot more tame since being in the barn, but not this tame.  Still, though, no signs of impending birth.  In the afternoon I decided to take a look at her and sure enough there was mucous hanging out.  It was so thick that I thought it was membrane.

 Throughout the afternoon we kept close watch and there was more and more mucous. Not being sure how fast things would progress or if we would be waiting until the wee hours of the night- we had to leave to go get some new cows for my son to show at the county fair and left my mother and son in charge of keeping an eye on her.  My hopes were that she would wait for me to get back.  No luck there! 

About an hour after I left I received a phone call that a hoof was hanging out.  Twenty minutes later another call that it was the same.  My son made a good decision knowing I wasn't there to see first hand and made a trip up to the neighbor to come take a look.  After being there a few minutes he decided momma looked like she had had enough.  He pulled the kid and we are lucky he did!  I didn't want our first kid to be a dead kid.  Out came one large kid for the size of the momma!

Our little girl, Mystery, named by my daughter for the question-mark shaped white marking on her head, is our most prized possession on the farm right now!  Our first baby Boer and healthy as can be and it didn't take her long to start drinking.  Momma takes great care of her and she is an energetic bouncing baby girl.  She has brown knees/elbows, head and feet.  She is truely the meaning of adorable!

We have another doe that will be kidding sometime soon that is all sorts of enormous looking and another that had looked pregnant and now she doesn't so I think she lost it.  So much fun here on the farm with the babies and spring/summer weather.  

More to come soon on momma cow and the AI process and garden planting!

As always, the day is as good as you make it so HAVE A GREAT ONE!



Signs of Spring

Today, as the temperature was a seemingly balmy 45 degrees, I decided to venture out.  I cannot remember the last time I ventured out just to enjoy the day.  If I did, it was with uncomfortable full winter garb on.  I am feeling so tired of being cooped up in the house with the windows shut and freezing my buns when I have to go out to do chores!  While outside I decided it was nice enough to let the chickens and ducks venture outside also.  They loved it.  The ducks played in a puddle and the chickens were looking at the outside like "we haven't been out here for a while".  The goats and cows were just laying around soaking up the sunshine. 

While out there I noticed some sure signs of impending Spring!!  Yay!  There are buds on the trees!  It is muddy as ever around here, which I don't enjoy.  The kids usually bring in plenty.  The best thing I saw, though, was some little white flowers up and in bloom and my daffodils are starting to poke out of the ground!

With next week being the first day of spring and my self diagnosed seasonal affective disorder (spring fever) at its peak, I am DEFINATELY ready!  I already have a list a mile long of things that need done outside like fences and better goat pen to house the mommas and babies away from Billy. We will also be starting round 2 of pasture reseeding. Tomorrow is looking to be a wonderful day, too, then it looks like back to cold temps.  Double ugh!  I love Iowa and everything that entails EXCEPT winter!!

I am still waiting on baby goat kids and keeping a good eye on her every day.  When that finally happens I will be sure to post some new kid pics!  I am hoping that I may even get to see the birth.  If so, I am going to try and video.

HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Preparing for Goat Kids

Last Friday I noticed that our very pregnant doe, one of the first purchased last year, had a swollen hind end.  Hubby and I looked at her when he got home from work and he didn't think it was enough to warrant separating her.  I don't think he is as "in tune" with noticing these things like me!!

  By Sunday she was swollen enough for him to notice so he moved her into the stall we had prepared in the barn that now houses the 8 bottle goats and a new 4H calf, Stella, that we purchased last week.  Dazzle is friendly, but not super excited about being touched since she was very young.  Yesterday Dazzle was very receptive to me being in the stall with her and for a little grain she let me feel the babies and pet her.

Today, on the other hand, she seemed more nervous and did not want me touching her at all.  She is starting to have a small amount of clear discharge from the hind end as well as more swelling.  There is no bagging up yet, so I am hoping that won't be a problem. From what I have read, the birth could still be days away.  I get very excited about babies!  Enough to even warrant extra trips outside in the cold!

Hers will be our first kids born here.  Her counterpart, Razzle, is looking pregnant but not near as big as her.  I was hoping they would be kidding around the same time, but as of now I am doubting that.  These girls are full boer and bred to our all red full boer billy.  I will be posting some pics of the new little ones as soon as they arrive!!

As always, HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Winter Animal Update

As winter seems to go on and on I have a few updates of things that are happening or will be happening around the farm. 

First of all, the goat kids are now weaned!!!  All went very well with this and they are all eating their hay and grain.  Also, it seems that their water consumption is lots more now.  I am also ready for spring to get here so we can put them in the outside goat pen! They will love to run and jump around.  We do, however, need to buy some cattle panels to redo the goat pen first.   

Secondly, for the first time ever we are running low on hay!  Bad to need hay in the winter as everyone thinks their hay is worth a fortune this time of year!  A little to my disgust is looking for hay for sale only to see prices double what they are in the summer.  Seems a little like taking advantage of the ones in need!  I would feel guilty for doing this to people and hungry animals.  We did try and estimate the number of bales we would need for the winter, but it is not an exact science due to no one knowing exactly what winter will hold for us until it's here.  This year happened to be cold and snowy and with the drought last summer not much to keep eating in the pasture.  We have resorted to buying some big round bales, which we have no way to move around except for good old muscle strength.  They are a little overpriced in my opinion, but the cheapest we could find.  That definately ups our feeding cost this year!

On the bright side, I definately think we have pregnant goats.  One obviously more than the other.  By my calculations the earliest we could kid would be March 4th.  With March right around the corner I am getting very excited!  I love all the spring babies and these will be our first baby goats born here!!The only problem is the enormous white goose that chases me and only me is with the goats.  Today the goose went on craigslist!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Goat Research

With the rain off and on today and the slightly colder than I love weather I fed the animals and filled water tanks this morning as usual.  Much of the rest of my day has been about research.  I have been researching our new herd of goats in depth.  I believe that research is hugely important to any successful venture.  I have read everything from general care to vaccines to breeding to what body types do well in shows to everything else I could find. 

When we decided to start raising boer goats, I of course researched a few topics but the brunt of my learning has come after their purchase.  I do think it is important to learn everything you can about any animal species you want to raise in order for all to hopefully go well.  There is such a vast array of info on the internet that I am all too happy to take advantage of.  Thank you to all that post this info on their websites!  It also doesn't hurt to talk to your local vet for advice.  They can be a tremendous resource.

I have also been trying to find more goats to purchase, but am having some trouble with that.  I want more does, but everyone has bucks or wethers for sale.  I usually search craigslist for these inquiries.  There I get local results and can usually see a picture of any potential purchase. 

Well, back to a little research then some quality family time!

HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Billy the Boer Goat

Billy is our first Boer goat purchase.  He is supposed to be 100% boer but not registered.  I was a little hesitant in buying goats again as we had a few pigmy goats the year we moved here.  We weren't equipped for them at all.  We bought them at a sale barn which maybe was our first mistake.  They were wild, got out of the pen repeatedly, ate all my flowers and ended up getting mouth disease that killed most them.  We promptly ridded ourselves of the remaining goats with the conviction I would never buy goats again!

However, my husband has wanted more goats for a while now.  Not pigmy goats, but boer goats which he assured me over and over would go better than the others did.  I finally broke down this spring when we showed up to purchase a cow and they had goats for sale for a decent price.  He and the kids kept asking until I gave in. 

We have had him now for a few months and he is wonderful at eating the weeds that the cows don't eat.  He also herds with the cows.  At first they were not too fond of him and chased him a bit.  Maybe only because they had just calved.  Now they don't seem to mind having him close by.  The only bad thing about him is that he gets his head/horns stuck in the fence constantly.  The past few days he has not had it stuck so I'm crossing my fingers, but some days I have to go unstick him 3 or 4 times!  and in the same place sometimes! 

Anyway, he is a beautiful goat and the neighbors that have goats already want to use him to breed.  All things considered I am still ok with having a few goats and hopefully this spring we will have some cute little baby boer goats!