Iphone on the Farm.

I finally got around to downloading pictures off my iphone and came across random farm pictures.

The chickens have taken over the horse's manger. Never mind they have 2 chicken houses of their own.

Awe a momma nursing her baby. Only this isn't her baby, so its just weird. After Sadie gave birth to her 2 babies we took them as bottle babies so we could milk momma. Ruby, our mini nubian whom also was a bottle baby that never nursed, quickly bonded with Sadie after her milk came in. We couldn't decide if it was cute or weird, but either way they needed to be seperated.

Thats one way to make sure you get the most feed.

Who would've thought all that fluff could fit through a 3x3 hole. Unfortunately getting back out wasn't as easy...

She used to be a white dog.

We've had a lot of rain which makes for a lot of dirty animals.

We picked up a new goat and she didn't want to share the backseat with Victoria. She kept backing up more and more pushing Victoria out of her seat.

The cats are thrilled we decided to get chicks again...

Its become the new favorite cat hang out.

 We've added little duckies too, how cute are they swimming in their little paint pan pond.

From Babies to Bucks

The time came for our little bottle babies to move to the buck pen. We were all a little sad since it means they wont be be right out our door to see and play with on a regular basis.

 Look at all those cute little babies!

 Toby, one of our favorite goats, also happens to be a buck. So Victoria was getting in some last minute snuggles before he headed out to the buck pen in the big pasture. Since bucks eventually become gross and smelly she's trying to get as much snuggle time as she can in.

 Mommy! We're soooooooo hungry! I love how Link has his tongue out.

There was much curiosity from the other animals about the new boys in the buck pen.

Notice the herd watching from the other side of the fence. It took a few days for all the bottle babies to adjust to being separated. There was lots and lots of loud bleeting back and forth between the nursery and buck pen. But everyone is settled in and seems content. Well everyone except for Max... But that I'll save for another blog post.

Circus Performers

Today, during our morning animal watching from the kitchen window we caught Max and Butterscotch practicing their routine. I've long since suspected that one of the goats was trying to jump onto the pony's back because of the little muddy hoof prints. But, having never seen it, I eventually decided it must be from when she is laying down because I have seen goats try to stand on her when she is on the ground. The pictures are kind of grainy because they were taken through the screen. I knew if they heard or saw us they would come running since it was time for breakfast...

Good Morning Goats!

The morning is my absolute favorite time of day on the farm. I love watching the animals wake up and watch how playful they are in the early morning. As soon as I (and everyone else in the house) wakes up I walk by the "nursery" and check on all our babies...

 Usually they are all waiting by the door all bleeting to see if anyone else is awake.

 As soon as they seen any signs of life they start jumping on the gate and bleeting to get our attention. I love how excited they get when we walk by.

Poor Avery is squished between Ruby (our mini-nubian on the left) and Heidi (our Alpine on the right). Bottles mom! We need bottles!

Who wouldn't love waking up to these cuties every morning?
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First Birth on the Farm

It seems only fitting that the first post on our new farm blog should focus on the first birth that has happened on our farm. 

It seemed like a tumultuous few months leading up to the birth of Sadie's babies (Chlamydia anyone? yuck!). All the kids were so excited counting down the days until her due date while I was on pins and needles waiting for something to go wrong.

I wonder if Annie knew something was going on, or was about to happen, with Sadie because she never left her side in the 48 hours leading up to the birth.

The day before she went into labor she was acting "off" and I worried about toxemia. Originally we thought she was due about a week, basing her due date of the second time she bred. In hindsight she was acting off because she was on the verge of labor because her first breading took. So, in my original line of thinking I worried about toxemia since she wasn't acting right and the only way to check that is getting a urine sample. I offered the kids 2 bucks to whomever could catch a cup of urine first and Jarom was the most eager.

Notice her leg up in this picture as she is about to kick him!

Woohoo, 2 dollars with your name on them! After snapping his picture I tested her urine and she did  have trace ketones. To be on the safe side I went ahead and gave her some Nutri-drench and watched for more toxemia signs.

The next morning Lola came down complaining that the screaming goat woke her up. I was on the other side of the house so I didn't hear anything until she pointed it out. Sure enough Sadie was bleeting on the back steps. A few weeks before her due date we had moved her into the nursery that is right off our dining room so we could keep constant eye on her and so it would make delivery easier being so close to the house and away from the rest of the herd. 

Of course what we didn't anticipate was a storm to come through on the day she labored, adding to her misery. Goats, for the most part, detest getting wet and the fact that it was down pouring was making her miserable. She didn't want to be in her playhouse and walking around or laying down outside of the house meant she was going to get rained on.

So we quickly went to plan b and set up a kidding pen for Sadie in the garage. This actually worked out nicely since she labored for the entire day. There are couches and a tv in the garage so we could be entertained while keeping an eye on her. The kids and I stayed with her all day taking turns petting her and making sure she was ok. Being the first goat birth we had seen we didn't want to miss a minute.

Finally, about 12 hours after she started making a fuss in the backyard the bubble appeared!

We were all SO excited!! The kids could hardly contain themselves. It had seemed like we had waited on these babies forever!

The bubble is getting bigger...

And bigger still. I was a nervous wreck waiting for the baby to appear. My time training as a homebirth midwife actually came in handy and helped me be calm and hands off. I admittedly started to panic since everything I had read on line and all the videos I watched went much quicker than Sadie was. I was also so thankful for a dear friend on the phone talking me through the process.

The whole crew ready for the baby to arrive! After this picture we turned the lights off, Lola and Everly went to Queenie's place to watch a movie and everyone was on strict orders to be quiet. Sadie is our only wild goat and we worried that all of us being around might be delaying her progress. Lola is also terrified of pain in any form and poor Sadie's squeals as she pushed really upset her. So she was much happier in a different room as the birth got closer.

Finally during one the times Sadie was siting down her water broke and a little hoof emerged! As long as her labor was taking, and with some pregnancy issues she might have been exposed to I was so worried her baby was going to be born dead. Or maybe I was just preparing myself for that so it wouldn't be as upsetting. But as soon as the little hoof appeared it started kicking! It was so amazing to see!

And this is when I had to intervene. It had been about 5ish minutes (maybe longer-felt like an hour) and nothing was happening. Sadie was eating all the amniotic fluid that had just came from her ruptured waters completely oblivious to the hoof sticking out of her bits. I also knew one hoof wasn't a good presentation, so I donned my elbow length glove and went in. The baby goat's other hoof was curved around over its face kind of and the baby's head was down. So I got the other hoof out and straightened out the head and Sadie started to push again.

Here comes Avery!

Cute little slimy baby doe! All the kids had a job during the birth and Jacob wanted to be the one that took the newborn baby and dried/warmed them up. I thought he would change his mind once he saw how gooey the baby was since he can be squeamish, but he took the baby like a pro! Didn't bother him at all.

Just as quickly as we got the Avery swaddled a second much larger baby was on its way! We were so excited to get 2 babies!

mmmm placenta! 

The kids overjoyed with our 2 new little babies!

Toby is a buckling on the left and Avery is our little doeling on the right.  

It was such a neat experience for our family welcoming our first little baby goats. Everyone is counting down the days until our next doe is due this summer.