First Of The Month - November

Goofy Daphne decided she was going to lay down. Nobody ever said she was graceful! :)
Linking up with First Of The Month, Rural Thursday and Farmgirl Friday.

First Of The Month - October

I'm joining Jan for her First of the Month meme all this year. Here are the ground rules per her site: "The goal is to capture one thing repeatedly on the first of each month. It can be a landscape, a person, an animal, a project; whatever your focus is, is fine. It can even be a record of where you are each First of the Month."

 

Daphne is seven months old now and I noticed her "kid" collar was getting pretty tight so I changed it out for her brand new, yellow, big girl collar today. It's still just a little big so I shortened it a bit. I also introduced her to apples today, she sniffed them but wasn't particularly interested so Nike got to enjoy them all. She didn't mind a bit! ;-)

First Of The Month - September

I'm joining Jan for her First of the Month meme all this year. Here are the ground rules per her site: "The goal is to capture one thing repeatedly on the first of each month. It can be a landscape, a person, an animal, a project; whatever your focus is, is fine. It can even be a record of where you are each First of the Month."

I'm late with my First Of The Month post for September, mostly because I couldn't come up with anything new to say about my sweet little Daphne so I thought I would share a "portrait" of her. Doesn't she look like a perfect little angel? :)

BUT, just so ya'll don't get the wrong idea, this is why she had such an intent look on her face!

She sure did run when the window banged shut! LOL!!

First Of The Month - August

I'm joining Jan at Murrieta 365 for her First of the Month meme all this year. Here are the ground rules per her site: "The goal is to capture one thing repeatedly on the first of each month. It can be a landscape, a person, an animal, a project; whatever your focus is, is fine. It can even be a record of where you are each First of the Month."

Not really too much new to report on Miss Daphne this month. She is five months old now, growing like a weed, and her favorite pastime is eating! I'm going to have to add a couple more links to her collar before too long.

She still wants to be right by my side whenever I'm down in the pasture, which makes picture taking somewhat of a challenge. No matter how nicely I asked, she just would not jump up on the steps behind her for a photo session. ;-)

Here, she is trying to figure out how to get the chain off the gate so she can get out! LOL!!

I really love seeing the goats out in the pasture during the day.

I'm still working with Daphne every day - making her lead, getting her used to having her udder touched and just lovin' on her lots and lots, which is very easy to do because she is such a sweetie! I really love my goats and feel very fortunate to have such nice girls. :-)

Linking up with Rural Thursday too.

First Of The Month - July

I'm joining Jan at Murrieta 365 for her First of the Month meme all this year. Here are the ground rules per her site: "The goal is to capture one thing repeatedly on the first of each month. It can be a landscape, a person, an animal, a project; whatever your focus is, is fine. It can even be a record of where you are each First of the Month."

Little Daphne is sure growing, I had to add a link to her collar the other day. I'm really pleased that the two older girls are accepting her...well...pretty much! LOL!! Goats can be "cliquish" but they are good with her.

It is actually pretty difficult to take pictures of a goat that always wants to be standing next to you so that she can get petted.

We have had to take measures to keep Daphne out of the hay. She will soon be too big to get under the gate, we hope! ;-)

Yes, sweetheart, this is to keep you OUT!!

Yikes! Here she comes again!!

Daphne is just the sweetest, friendliest little goat I have ever had. We had our annual Fourth of July BBQ yesterday and whenever anyone went down to the pasture to see the critters, Daphne would come running to greet them and get petted! :)

That's it for this month. Say goodbye Daphne!

First of the Month - June

I'm joining Jan at Murrieta 365 for her First of the Month meme all this year. Here are the ground rules per her site: "The goal is to capture one thing repeatedly on the first of each month. It can be a landscape, a person, an animal, a project; whatever your focus is, is fine. It can even be a record of where you are each First of the Month."

Well, as I reported last month, I sold Abigail and her two little boys. I kept BW, the bottle baby, here until he was old enough to be weaned.


"Hi BW!!"




"Come here big guy!"




"No, I didn't bring you a bottle, I just wanted to pet you and take your picture!"


BW's new owners came and picked him up the other day. They were so impressed with how nice he looked and how much he had grown that they are considering leaving him a buck for breeding purposes.

He was such a character but, then again, most bottle babies are! :) I am going to miss him.

 
So, with the departure of BW, that ends the Abigail chapter. For next month, I will focus on my sweet little Daphne! She is even starting to convince Jerry that not ALL goats are full of mischief and a pain in the a**!!

Weeelll...maybe NOT!! ;-)

First of the Month - May

I'm joining Jan at Murrieta 365 for her First of the Month meme all this year. Here are the ground rules per her site: "The goal is to capture one thing repeatedly on the first of each month. It can be a landscape, a person, an animal, a project; whatever your focus is, is fine. It can even be a record of where you are each First of the Month."
I have been focusing on my Alpine doe, Abigail, and her first pregnancy and kidding. Well, we had babies on Easter Sunday! :) Triplets, two boys and a little girl.

 



No. 1 Son



No. 2 Son



Lily



All seemed well until Tuesday. Little Lily was lethargic and wouldn't nurse so I started force feeding her. She died in my arms on Wednesday morning. I still get teary-eyed thinking about it. In retrospect and talking to my girlfriend who was here when they were born, I think Abigail stepped on her and might have caused some internal injuries. Jerry buried her underneath a mesquite tree for me.

 

Again, all seemed well. Abigail was nursing the two boys and being a pretty good mother. Then, on Friday morning, we noticed No. 2 Son was a bit lethargic. I put him over near Abigail so he could nurse but she butted him away. I tried several times but she had rejected him for some reason. He became a bottle baby.

 

    

Since I was now his maaa, I renamed him BW because he is black and white! :)

 

I worked with Abigail every day so that I would be able to start milking her and every day, she would NOT let me touch her udder! As she was eating her grain, I would pet her and talk to her and move my hand down her back with no problem, down her leg with no problem, but when I got to her udder, she would butt at me and run away. This went on for over two weeks and she just wasn't getting ANY better so I made the hard decision to sell her. I love my goats very, very much but I just can't afford to feed a goat that won't let me milk her. I sold her and the two boys to a guy who has bought goats from me before. He and his wife came and picked up Abigail and No. 1 Son this past Sunday. BW is going to stay here for another three to four weeks until he is old enough to be weaned. He is now in with his grandmaaa and great-grandmaaa. Great-grandmaaa, Nike, is sooo good with all the little orphan goats, she lets them hang out and teaches them how to be goats! I'm so glad I have her!

 



Abigail three weeks after kidding, she has her girlish figure back!



BW and No. 1 Son, three weeks old.



On a separate note, we also sold the miniature donkeys, Esmeralda and Mercedes. Hay in our part of the country is still hovering at $20 a bale and despite their cute factor, we couldn't justify feeding them since we now have Dallas as company for Paco. We sold them to a very nice family from Willcox who raise miniature horses. They brought their children when they came to pick the girls up and the kids were instantly in love with the donkeys! Here is one last cute donkey picture.

 

 

Honest to Pete, I've had a pretty rough week emotionally. I feel like a failure with Abigail. If only I had worked with her more when she was young she might have been less "wild." I really miss the donkey girls but know they went to a really good home and we have been invited to visit whenever we are over that way. On a brighter note, I am buying a two-month old Alpine doe tomorrow from one of the girls at the Farmer's Market and I am excited about that. I will post pictures soon! Sorry for such a long post...

First of the Month - April

I'm joining Jan at Murrieta 365 for her First of the Month meme all this year. Here are the ground rules per her site: "The goal is to capture one thing repeatedly on the first of each month. It can be a landscape, a person, an animal, a project; whatever your focus is, is fine. It can even be a record of where you are each First of the Month."
I am focusing on my Alpine doe, Abigail, and her first pregnancy and kidding. She is due to kid the middle of April.

"Hi, it's me, Abigail, checking in with everyone for the first of the month. I sure hope my kids come soon but Candy says I have about 7 to 10 days to go before they are born."

"As you can see, I'm as big as a house and I even have trouble getting up when I have been laying down chewing my cud! The other day, when I was out of my pen browsing, mean Esmeralda, the miniature donkey, chased me and chased me! Candy told her to stop but she wasn't listening! It was hot and I got very tired and Candy was concerned that I might have early labor because I was humping up a bit that evening but everything is okay now."

"You can see the kids on my right side and I have started to develop an udder so that I can feed them after they are born. Also, my tail is sort of "disjointed" which happens to us goats before kidding. Candy has been very nice to me and makes sure I get plenty of yummy alfalfa and goat cereal so that my kids will be healthy when they are born."

"Oh, excuse me for a moment while I take care of this itch! I love having my horns for when my back itches! Ahhh!"

"Well, that is all for this month but I will make sure Candy has lots of pictures of my cute kids for next month! I will also make sure she shows them to you when they are born so you don't have to wait and wait...like me..."

First of the Month - March

I'm joining Jan at Murrieta 365 for her First of the Month meme all this year. Here are the ground rules per her site: "The goal is to capture one thing repeatedly on the first of each month. It can be a landscape, a person, an animal, a project; whatever your focus is, is fine. It can even be a record of where you are each First of the Month."
I am focusing on my Alpine doe, Abigail, and her first pregnancy and kidding. She is due to kid the middle of April. I never think there is much difference in how she looks until I go back and look at the post for last month! This time, I thought I would let Abigail fill you in on how she is doing. :)

"A girl needs to keep her strength up when she is pregnant by eating lots of yummy hay! I get my goat cereal too for the extra protein and vitamins."

"My belly is getting so big that I have trouble getting up from my mid-morning nap and I'm starting to waddle when I run! Don't laugh, it's not nice!"

"Can you see my "baby bump" on the right? Candy is hoping that I only have one kid since this is my first time being pregnant."

"Dang, it's really getting hard to get my hoof up there to scratch that itch!"

"That's it for this month! I hope you come visit me again at the beginning of April, by then I should be HUGE! I don't want to be huge but Candy and my maaa keep telling me it's going to happen."

First of the Month - February

I'm joining Jan at Murrieta 365 for her First Of The Month meme all this year. Here are the ground rules per her site: "The goal is to capture one thing repeatedly on the first of each month. It can be a landscape, a person, an animal, a project; whatever your focus is, is fine. It can even be a record of where you are each First of the Month." I am focusing on my Alpine doe, Abigail, and her first pregnancy and kidding. You can find my post for January here. By the way, it's not too late to join in! :)
I'm also linking up with the brand new Rural Thursday Blog Hop hosted by Nancy at A Rural Journal and Lisa at Two Bears Farm. Check it out! :)

I was thinking that there really wasn't a lot of difference noticeable with Abigail since last month, until I went back and looked at last month's pictures! Her belly is definitely bigger and lower.

Because she is pregnant, I'm focusing on her nutrition. As you can see, she's really enjoying the mineral blocks we have out for the animals!

She also gets a 16% protein grain ration every day to help the babies grow big and strong. This is the same "goat cereal" I feed to Madeline while I'm milking her. All of the goats get good quality alfalfa for their hay.

I put Abigail down in the spare pen to feed her the goat cereral to make sure she gets it and not her maaa or grandmommy! She is a bit skittish yet, sometimes I can pet her and love on her and sometimes NOT!! Her maaa was the same way at this age and has turned out to be a great milker and is a real love with me. I'm working on getting Abigail settled down so that she will lead every time and come over to me for lovin'. Of course, if I have the bowl of goat cereal, I'm her best friend! LOL!!
That's it for this month, by next month she should really be getting big as she will be three months' pregnant.

First of the Month - January

I thought it would be fun to join Jan at Murrieta 365 for her First of the Month meme. Here are the ground rules per her site: "The goal is to capture one thing repeatedly on the first of each month. It can be a landscape, a person, an animal, a project; whatever your focus is, is fine. It can even be a record of where you are each First of the Month."

I have decided to focus on my pregnant goat, Abigail, for this project. This will be her first time kidding. She is currently only two months along and is due in April so we will get to see just how big a goat gets when pregnant! I always think they surely must explode! LOL!! Then we will get to watch as the baby(ies) grow up. We will also get to see what kind of a milker she turns out to be. Her maaa is GREAT!! :)

These are some pictures from this morning.

Her maaa is an Alpine and dad a Nubian. She got dad's Nubian markings and maaa's wattles. She doesn't have her maaa's beard but she does have "Flying Nun" ears!! I wouldn't swear to it but I think that is a "baby bump" already on her right side!

I also had to include her baby picture from the day she was born, March 29, 2010. Good thing she grew into those ears, huh?!? ;-)

It will be interesting to have a photo record of the changes over the coming year. It's not too late for you to join in on the fun too, come play along!!