Monday, May 12, 2008

New kid on the farm


On Saturday, Snowflake was starting to look like she was getting ready to give birth: udder bagging up, vulva protruding with a little clear discharge, tail head slightly turning up.
Sunday, no change other then sometimes staying away from other goats and udder really getting hard.
So we gave her the food test. She ravenously munched fresh grass and attacked her small ration of grain, making sure she got each small grain.

Well, this is not behavior of a goat getting ready to give birth.

Woke up Monday at 4 A.M. to some varmint trying to have a chicken dinner. All three goats were walking back and forth on the hill side. The chickens squawking must have woken the goats also.


5:20 A.M.
I am making breakfast and wondering if the varmint is a possum or raccoon that tried to get the chicken dinner. I look out into the goat pen and see all three goats looking at something on the ground.

Wonder why the goats are playing with the skunk? I wonder if that is what was bothering the chickens. One of the chickens was missing some feathers and there was digging around the chicken yurt. That is usually possum or raccoon MO (modus operandi).

I grab my camera and head up the hill thinking this will make great video, the goats playing with a skunk. I hope they do not get sprayed as I don’t want to milk a stinky goat.

Hey, that’s not a skunk. It’s a baby goat.

Snowflake just pushed the 8.4 lb buck out no fuss. It has two small black spots
I am naming it “Otter”…… …. As in out of here.
I am glad its just two small spots instead of black and white cow markings which I really like. We knew that sable was a possible outcome since we bred line on line.
I have a habit of doing loose association with situations and songs so, when I first saw the black spot I though of the lyrics of the song by Sting & Police”, King of pain”.

My version went like this:

There's a little black spot on the goat today.
She plopped it out in the clean hay.
At least it’s not in the pouring rain.

But Snowflake is not the queen of pain, she was a quiet as can be.
She did not even wake Sharon or the kids who were sleeping with their windows open so they could hear when the goat was in labor.

This goat is a quiet as Sharon is when she gives birth. But that is another story or post.

Lets try this link to some You Tube footage of the baby goat:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxaHrIaK9xA&feature=email

1 comment:

Walter Jeffries said...

Bees! I'm jealous. I kept bees for 25 years but then stopped in the 90's with the mite problem. I keep wanting to get started with them again. Each year I think this will be the year but so far things have come up. Have fun and enjoy the tasty honey and comb.

Cheers,

-Walter