I had seven goats born this spring!
Pippi was my first to kid. She had twins, a girl and a boy. Apollo and Pixie. Pixie came out one leg first then Apollo decided to come out backwards! Silly boy, he was just fine though. I have been wanting a girl from Pippi for about two years now, but sadly pixie was a bit of a disappointment in the fact that she actually had four teets, thats pretty rare, I've seen goats born with three, but never four, teets. oh well though, not much you can do. Pippi not only didn't want her babies...she wanted them dead. I am convinced if left alone with them she would have killed them. She immediately started to stomp them so we took them away from her and they were fine.
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Pixie |
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Apollo |
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Azariah |
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London |
The next to kid was Tilly, she also had a boy and a girl, London, and Azariah. I loved London and planned on keeping her but ended up selling her. When they were borne Tilly (the great mom that she is) accepted them very well but London set herself aside in the corner and wouldn't go near her mom or brother. I took her inside because it was too cold for her without the shared body heat of her family. She wouldn't settle down in the crate or box so I actually slept with her on the couch wrapped in a towel for three nights in a row. she got very attached to me and couldn't just sleep on the couch, she had to be on me! Then when she was disbudded one of her horn scab things started to bleed, so she was really babied then too. she got so she was very attached to people...too attached. she didn't think she was a goat and she HATED being with the herd. at first it was cute, she'd follow me every where, help me with chores, follow me inside and back out again but then when she got bigger and she was mad at "mom" (me) for leaving her in the pen with all the goats, she'd break my fences to come and see me. That was not cute. So I sold her. She was getting out far too often.
The next was Annika, a boy I named him Robin but sold him right away I also sold Annika, sorry to say this is the best picture I have of him:
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Robin |
Then Faye kidded, like her mother, one boy. I named him Guy of Gisborne, to go with Robin. He was really cute and SO SO friendly, wished he was a girl actually. He was boring in color but so cute. And my Friend Brittany was up from NY when he was born so she got to see that, so that was cool too. Sold him too though...sadly. And for some reason I don't have any pictures of him.
Then! Leibchen Surprised us all with a baby girl! I didn't even know she was pregnant till just a couple weeks before she kidded! She had Laura. And I'm so glad she had her because she made the decision to sell Londen so much easier. Laura's a sweet heart. I had her mom raise her because by the time she was born there were no other babies herr size to put her with, so unlike most other babies I've had she thinks she's a goat, and I'm another member of her herd, not her mom. She's quite silly and so much fun to watch. and she's HUGE because she was nursing forever she got big FAST. Shes eight weeks younger than Ellesmera (who I will discuss in a moment) and she's the same size if not bigger than her!
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Laura and my new chick "helping" me milk Leibchen |
Ok, Ellesmera (El es MEAR a) I bought from Larissa when I discovered I couldn't keep Pixie. I was feeling awful about Pixie and I met her and she lifted my spirits the second I saw her. So when I heard that Larissa wasn't keeping her I was quick to claim. Then Larissa told me (about a week or two later) that she was also selling her mom, Varla (who is also Tilly's mom. so Tilly and Ellesmera are sisters.) so I traded Annika for Varla. So I have seven goats now (one more than I had planned) but it works nicely.
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Ellesmera |
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Ellesmera |
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Pixie, about ten minutes old |
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Apollo |
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Pixie
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London, Pixie, and Ellesmera |
So I ended up selling all the babies but Mera and Laura, but my friend Eliana (who has Tilly's sister Ally) bought Apollo and Azariah. So I get to see them all the time. I'm going to take some more pictures tomorrow of the four babies so I can post some more recent pictures.
P.S. I also sold Leipchen's sister Leia.