Truth be told, this is another of my late posts. These beautiful boys entered the farm family on Wednesday. We were so thrilled that they came along in the daylight, in such an easy delivery, I thought there was sleep in my future! That was not to be, since the boys had trouble latching on to mama Silver. An experienced dam who has raised some champion kids, Silver didn't know what to make of the issue. Bailey and I were scratching our heads and pulling out the tricks, and she was calling on the breeders who have so generously become mentors to us in this process.
This adorable little black one came out with hilariously turned back ears. We will be taping those to correct it. As cute as it is, it does change the shape of the head a bit, counts as a fault, and more importantly leaves the ears more open for foreign stuff to get in. By the second day, this little one was doing great with his mama, and we were feeling a full little baby goat belly and not needing to supplement him.
The larger lighter one, though, is still having trouble. Mama Silver is very anti milking, she wants to save all the milk for her boys, so Bailey and I have been teaming up and having to wrestle her for what milk we can, and supplementing more with formula when we have to.
She tells him to go back and drink, but he is still struggling with the sucking though he does swallow fine. He has also tried to get milk from her waddles, reminiscent of Nathan from a few years back.
Miss Versie, Bailey's showmanship goat, has been feeling left out. She has been making friends with Shadow at the fence, laying at the gate to the kidding pen, socializing with Bailey's bantam Cochins through their fence, and trying to sneak in and kiss the new babies! Here she is taking advantage of the camera for attention and a photo op!
Neither of the babies are named at this point. We keep coming back to something involving light for this little guy. This morning (Saturday, they both weighed in at 5.3 pounds.
This was thier first photo, as Silver was still working on cleaning them up.
While the breeders all remind us that some bottle babies are inevitable, I hope that little man settles in to the nursing thing, as I really believe it is a smoother life, even if the kids are home schooled and available to work with them much of the time. Plus life is crazy and I must admit that miss sleeping and know the first round of baby geese here should keep us on our toes as well.
Anyhow, that's what we are up to. As I finish this, there are two Light Brahma babies trying hard to break out in the incubator, and little ones growing rapidly in the brooders. Life is always an adventure, and we lean from each new experience. Well, you all have a great night!
Love to all,
Erin
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