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!

Spring Pasture

Yesterday was the first day that I turned the girls out onto the fresh, spring grass.

You have to be careful on fresh, spring grass. Eating too much at once can cause digestive upset. Sort of like if a person eats too much rich food at one sitting.

Last spring I purchased some moveable electric fencing. I set it up in a different location around our yard each week. The girls get fresh grass, manure is nicely distributed, and part of my lawn gets mowed! One of the best purchases I've made.

They're all enjoying their pasture, and it's nice to see them outside.

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.