Sandia, Little Seed's first official goat baby :)
On Tuesday we had our first goat birth on the farm! She was born to one of our Nubian first fresheners, Tijeras. (A first freshener is a goat that has not previously kidded). We weren't expecting her arrival until today so you can imagine our surprise when we found a perfectly dry and fuzzy baby goat in the pasture next to Tijeras when we went to check on the herd in the afternoon! Izzy our LGD was right there with her, protecting the baby and mama and giving the little baby a few licks here and there.
We named her Sandia, which is the name of the mountain range behind James' childhood home in New Mexico. Tijeras is also a name that finds its roots in New Mexico. To make life easier on the naming of animals front, we have certain lines for certain goats and Tijeras is the "Grande Dame" of the New Mexican line. We also have a Tennessean line (beginning with our goat Blackstrap), a Vermont line (where Eileen grew up), and, last but not least, a Bad NYC Nightclub line (beginning with our goat TenJune).
Here's little Sandia at only 2 days old hopping around like a jumping bean:
She weighed in at 7 pounds and looks just like her dad, our Nubian buck, Gozer. Since she's our only goat kid at the moment and we don't want her to be cold and lonely by herself, she gets to stay in the house at night until another goat kid is born! (ok, she'd probably be fine by herself, we just enjoy having a little goat running around).
Out runnin' around, wreaking havoc, as baby goats do best