Kids~N~Pigs

As you can see, the kids are getting big. The oldest ones are just about 3 months now, and the youngest are 2 months. The meat goats are starting to put on some size, and the bucklings are getting tall.

Here's Ean and Blondie.

And sweet little Zeeba.

Hey wait, those aren't goats! Melissa and Tim had the pigs in the larger pasture for some excersize. Believe it or not, a 4H pig needs to be walked and kept in shape. That's a whole nother story!

The kids had never seen the pigs up close and personal. Sputnik was the brave member of the herd.
Oxford didn't seem to care. But then again, he is a pig!

Suck-It Bucket

With 13 kids to feed, doing it one at a time is just not very good time management. Not to mention it would be never ending! Enter the "Suck-It Bucket"

You can purchase a bucket, they are usually called a Lamb Bar. Most supply catalogs sell them, and they can get quite pricey.


My handy husband, Jim, made this one for me. It's a leftover 5 gallon bucket from his work that we cleaned out. He drilled holes in the sides to accomodate the nipples that I purchased from Hoeggers Supply. He drilled it just smidge smaller so it's a tight fit. Next we purchased some clear tubing from the hardware store that fits into the back of the nipple. Sort of like a big straw!



I just fill the bucket with warm milk, and let the little buggers feed themselves. Since I put out one bucket and there are only 5 feeding spots on it, I do split them up for feeding time. The smaller and younger goats get first shot at the bucket and eat until they are full. Then I put it in with the larger kids. This prevents bullying and enables every kid to have a sufficient amount of milk. At this point the smaller kids are getting 3 feeding chances a day and the larger ones are getting 2. The kids that are getting weaned are down to once a day, they are really thinking the world is unfair!

Gleason and the Kids

This is Glee (*B Cherry Glen Romulus Gleason) He is the sire of most of the kids that we had this season. He's a tall fellow, long and level, great disposition. And he has a wonderful pedigree! Not to mention, Elvis Hair.

Here are some general pictures from the kids pen. They're eating much more hay now, so after I'm done with the milking stand (which is right against their wall) I put hay out there for them to nibble. They also have a hay rack, but this provides more eating space.

Here is a different shot of the hay eating situation. They just line right up for a snack. Being a month old has certainly changed things for them. They've done a lot of growing and are now eating hay and grain along with their daily milk buckets.

*sigh* and they are just so cute!

Passed Out

Guess it was a very hard day being a kid! Bailey looks like road kill, she didn't move at all as I took several pictures.

Honest, she's not dead.

Here's cute Erin, Emma's daughter. Her little head kept bobbing into the shavings, eventually she just stretched out her neck and laid it down.

Dolly, Dolly, Dolly. Cute as a button, you can see why she's Melissa's favorite. Such hard work being a bouncy, energetic kid.

An overall view of the "mass flop".

The Mob spent the day outside in the pasture yesterday. Running, leaping, zooming about.

It's hard work being a kid.

I'm glad it's spring!

I'm so glad that it's spring! Yeah, we get some rain and mud, but it's such a relief to get outside and enjoy the day.

Our area has been swarmed with black birds! Huge flocks, swooping about and chirping noisily. Robins are everywhere, hopping about the lawn looking for early spring bugs and worms.

It's time to enlarge the kids pen. They're growing so quickly and are very active now. When the weather is nice out I like to have them in the pasture with shed. It's good for them to be outside and playing, just like our 2 legged kids! When I bring them in after work, they are pretty tired out. It's been a hard day having fun!

The Mob

Things have settled into a bit of a routine here on the farm. All the does have freshend except Esmay, and she's due next week. Right now she looks a bit like a balloon, and rather uncomfortable, but she's holding her own with her bossy pen mate K.

Today was the first time that all the kids (a.k.a. The Mob) were put out into the pasture with the shed in it for a few hours. There are 13 of the little buggers, and they are a hoot to watch. I don't think that I'll ever get tired of seeing them leap and twist and then tear around like their tails are on fire. Most of them are Alpines, but our daughter raises a few meat goats, so there are a few BoerX kids in there also.

Here they all are, hopping about and chasing each other. The little white one with the black head and long floppy ears is Dolly. She's an orphaned BoerX doeling that was given to our daughter. Dolly will stay.

This is Bonita

And this is Buena. They are Baco's kids that I wrote about in an earlier post. They'll be staying on the farm.

Aren't They Cute!?

These are Eunice Unihorns 2 doe kids. Melissa decided to name them Spot and Blondie, and is considering keeping one of them for breeding. They are just the cutest little things, very furry and soft.

The personality of a Boer Goat kid is much more laid back and relaxed than the Dairy Goat kids. When you pick these guys up they just kinda lay there, totally unconcerned about the fact that you just took them from their Mother. The Dairy Goat kids would be freaking out and squirming around. Nope, it's just not a big deal for these guys.

Finally!

Today Dixie Chik finally freshened. She had 1 buck and 2 does, this is the 4th year that she has had triplets! I think this will be her last freshening, she can live out the rest of her days as a pasture bum.

This is Dixie taking a nap with the buckling. He's only a few hours old. It's so amazing to me that they can get up within minutes and know where to look for their first meal. God sure is wonderful in his creations!

New Life

The title of today's post is fitting for 2 reasons. First, this is the beginning of "The Crazy Goat Lady" blog. Second, we have new life on the farm!

Last evening I had promised to take the kids (2 leggers) to the mall. Having a gift card to spend was just driving someone crazy, so I agreed that as long as none of the goats looked like they were in labor or suspicious we'd go. Off we went, shopping was completed and we were just going to stop at Tim Horton's for a bite to eat when Jim called to say that "I think there's babies in the barn!"

Uh oh! Turns out that Nougat did a surprise delivery on us, she wasn't actually due for a few days. 2 nice bucks, one of which I'm planning to keep. So, I pulled them to bottle raise, not sure of her CAE status yet. Went out first thing this morning to find K in the midst of delivery. She did quite well for a first timer, 2 nice doelings. I'm leaving them on her, she is second generation bottle raised with CAE prevention.

Had to bring them all inside to make sure they were good and dry. It's been frigidly cold here this week, and I don't want to lose any ear tips to frostbite. Maddy (the Great Dane pup) is quite interested on what those small, noisy critters in the mudroom are up to. They're all back out in the barn now, doing well.

Dixie and Baco are due next..