2007farmbirths

2007 FARM BIRTHS

I love when babies are born! Waiting for the first ones are always nerve racking. And once they start, there seems to be a
flow to it. There is nothing better to break the winter doldrums with the gray skies and chill in the air. And sometimes the
chill is downright painful. But when I open up the barn door, peek over birthing areas and see new tiny damp faces
looking up at me, I am reminded that spring is right around the corner. And the births will keep going into summer, and
sometimes, right into fall and even early winter with sneaky chickens!
Births can happen monthly, weekly, and even daily, and sometimes 4 in a day and sometimes 4 at the same time! This
is a peak at some that have arrived.

This is Bandit, a Nigerian Dwarf milking doe.
These twin bucks were our first farm babies of
2007. They are active and bouncing all over.
I can just sit and watch them for the longest
time when they dance and jump sideways
and ZOOM around their pen. They are quite
the characters already. This is one of the
reasons why farmers don't need to watch TV.
We are entertained in our backyard.

Bandit is an exceptional mother, and the
babies are picked up and hugged repeatedly
throughout the day. How can we resist?

Ky-Ky is a registered Dorset ewe. She is a
nice ewe, easy to handle, spoiled rotten, and
is quite proud of her new babies.

Dorsets are a nice meat breed, and she has
a great udder with a large milk capacity.
We bred her to a super nice Merino ram and
are thrilled with the results!

We have been awaiting Ky-ky to deliver for
weeks. She has been bagged up and
looking uncomfortable for a long time.
The wait was worth it! Twin ewes.

We couldn't be more excited. And of course,
they were born the day before a nasty cold
front was coming in!

I love watching the moms clean and nuzzle
their babies. They gently bleat to them, and
lick them all over. They sniff them constantly
to make sure that they are their babies. It is
amazing to watch young ones come running
into a group of moms and immediately sniff
out mom.

With newborns that are few hours old, come the important
visitors. Those good friends that have had the update of "no
babies yet" every single day. You know you have great
friends when they are over to see newborns that still need
cleaned off!

This little girl got to be wrapped up in a towel to sit on the
lap of a very special person, Paul. He is the father of one of
my best friends. He can't get around too well on his feet, so
he sat in the truck and we brought the baby to him. She even
bleated for him a few times!

DAIRY GOATS
The dairy goats started delivering in January, and of course, right before the coldest temperatures that we have had in over a decade!
This is when my answering machine greeting says that "it is kidding season, leave a message and if we are lucky, we'll call you back within the week..."

It was 5º out when I checked the barn before
dawn.
There were two kids on the ground, still wet,
a buck and a doe. I wrapped them in towels
and brought them down to my mudroom.
They were placed on the big dog bed, and
layered with towels and a heating pad.
I went back up the barn to milk the new mom,
for her colostrum.

They were wide awake and
hopping around when I returned
with their colostrum. These were
the hungriest babies that I have
seen in a long time!

The babies kept coming, as
temperatures were dropping and
warnings of wind chills in the
negative numbers, of course, more
goats were due!

With over 60+ goats to deliver in
the spring of 2007, this is when my
cell phone gets charged in the
barn, and I spend more time in the
barns than my house. And, with
the temperatures being as low as
they are, when it hits 20º, it is a
heat wave. Those are the days that
I will be outside checking the barns
in a sweatshirt and blue jeans!