Friday, April 18, 2014

Surprise!

It has been a busy week down here on the "farm".  I have been preparing for the big Easter dinner that will happen after church lets out on Sunday.  I decluttered the front of the house on Monday, then on Tuesday I went to the center to lend a hand to Shirley, on her beautiful towel warp.  On Wednesday I decluttered the back of  the house, and beat back the clutter that had already made it's way back into our living area!  Thursday is our day off, and we had lunch with our in town daughter, and started putting together some soccer goals for the kids to use this summer.  They are looking mighty fine, though not done yet!

About mid-day, I got a text from Linda.  She wanted to know if I could come get the Nigora doe and kid, that I am purchasing from her, this weekend instead of next.  We had already talked about me taking a look at her goats hooves, while I was there, and we were going to band the boys, so that we don't have any surprise pregnancies!  I had not intended to spend Good Friday with goats, but I felt like I could fit them into the schedule.  :)

So this morning, I ran by the Co-op and picked up a little extra fencing and a new pair of hoof trimmers.  Soon, I was at Linda's house, and we started trimming the hooves.  Tucker didn't really need much trimming, just a touch up, and the does, Ginger and Kami both were well within normal hoof trimming needs.  But I got a big surprise when I went to trim Kami's hooves,  she is definitely pregnant!

I had planned to take both of the little boy goats when they were first born, but Linda fell head over heels in love with the little dark spotted one.  She asked me if I would be interested in buying one of her does along with the little blonde boy, I readily agreed.  Kami had a miscarriage in late October, and while there was definitely time for her to be pregnant again, it is a little hard to tell with all that fluff!

We were in a bit of a quandary!  I told Linda that I would go ahead and take Kami, and that not only is the fleece on her back Linda's, but also the babies that she is carrying.  We will wait and see what she has, and let her raise them up for awhile, then Linda will decide what we will do with them.

After the hooves were done and the boys banded, I headed home with my two.  The first few minutes was quite noisy, but they soon settled down for the 25 minute drive home.  I brought Kami out of her carrier first and put the little goat inside the barn with me, but kept him in his carrier for awhile.  He was sleeping anyway!



I put Kami on the stanchion, she put her head thru the gate for her treat, and I fastened the gate.  While she nibbled on sunflower seeds and feed, I started combing her fabulous fleece out.  It is going to take several sessions to get it all out.  I think I got about 1/4 of it combed out in about 20 minutes.  It is wonderfully soft and I can't wait to see what Linda is going to do with it!



After the grooming session, Kami was let into her private pen.  You should have seen the resident does, the expressions on their faces was hilarious.  Kami was not impressed with all their shenanigans, in the least!  I left the young one in his carrier while I finished off baby proofing the last little bit of the fence with chicken wire.  Now that I know we have new babies on the way it is even more important that nothing can bother them at all.



Once the fence was secure, I let the little one out to join his aunt.  They are so cute together, one big and fluffy and pregnant, and the other just a little bit of a thing!  I left them after awhile, everything seemed to be calm, everyone was calmly eating grass and chewing their cud.  All was right with the world. (That little brown dog is another reason for good fences!)




Until next time, Have a thoughtful Good Friday,  He is risen indeed, Tina

2 comments:

Theresa said...

Cute, cute, cute! It also reminds me, I need to trim a few hooves myself!

LA said...

Nothing like fiber cuties!!!! This should be fun!