Goat Kidding Season A Success

 The final two

As of this afternoon we are officially past our first goat kidding season. Mayday, one of our original does, gave birth to a beautiful little doeling and quite possibly the cutest buckling we've ever seen. Our grand total comes to 10 kids with 7 doelings and 3 bucklings. Everyone was born healthy and all of the moms are in great shape. There were very few surprises, other than the first goat kidding three days before her due date! We are thrilled and thankful that it all went well. Thanks everyone for all the kind words and for joining us through this adventure.

Mayday's buckling

As beginning farmers you always expect the worst and pray for the best. Intense preparation during the weeks leading up to the births really helped us through it. Our friends at Edgwick Farm gave us wonderful recommendations for what to have on-hand. Spur of the moment questions and concerns were happily answered by neighbors and fellow goat-raisers. Goat-raising books provided solid advice. And of course, our trusty friend Google saved the day a few times when we needed to see images to make sure everything "looked" ok. 

Everything looks ok

And so now it's on to milking, cheesemaking, bottle-feeding, and so on. We'll have an update post soon, it's been far too long. Hopefully we'll get back to posting more frequently, it's been a busy time! 

 

Goat Birthing Madness: The Elite Eight

We're in the midst of our own version of March Madness. Goat Birthing Madness. A week ago we posted about Sandia, our first goat born on the farm. Over the intervening time we had four more does kid and now we're awash with eight little baby goats. We have one more expecting mother, Mayday, who is due on April 8th, and then our kidding season is over for the year. It's been a joy and a true privilege.

First up, the photos, because that's what everyone really wants to see! At the end I posted a few takeaways.

The Elite Eight, in reverse birthing order:

1Oak and Santos Party House, born to Tenjune (the bad NY nightclub line)

Milk lips. Ready for a napCalima and Chinook, born to Zephyr (names of winds)

Calima, born to our Alpine buckChinook, born to our Nubian buck

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First Goat Birth on the Farm! (Video bonus, too)

 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