consider the source

According to the news, yesterday was the Queen's birthday.

"You have been misinformed.

It's May 7th."

~~~~~

notes from day three

I thought the little grey baby might benefit from a goat coat, especially during yesterday's rainy, raw weather.

Here's a general thought:

no matter how much a person learns from books,

raising animals involves a lot of guesswork and gut feelings...

will such-and-such help? will it hinder?

You rarely get instant confirmation when you make

these judgement calls, but this time I had to laugh:

literally within seconds of donning her polarfleece coat,

the baby simply dropped over sideways

- on her sister - 

and was sound asleep.

Soooo warm!

 ~~~

Tsuga has phenomenal mothering skills.

She's not a fretful helicopter mum,

but she is aware of her kids

and communicates with them frequently.

In the barn, she even sweeps her feet along the ground

instead of picking them up and plunking them down;

a technique I recognize because I use it myself

when there are new babies underfoot.

~~~

Today while there was a little more sunlight,

I tried to get some pictures of the black kid.

She's pretty darned cute.

Don't you agree?

 ~~~

I had to spend a lot of time mending fences today,

but went and sat in the barn a couple of times for a break.

Tsuga is being very nice about sharing her kids with me,

but mostly she needs quiet time alone with them.

She doesn't want the other goats around yet, either.

This is all fine.

But it had meant a lot of rearranging of goats,

and hurried mending of winter-damaged fences.

There was a lot of excitement today when Vinca figured out

that she could slip through a tiny gap

into the pen with the big wethers and the matriarch doe.

Good gracious.

And then the boys found that tiny opening and made it BIG.

Instant Priority Task.

I did such an ugly job of temporarily patching the gap,

it is truly embarrassing.

It was, oh my gosh - you know what it was?

A stop-gap measure.

I just hope very much that when I go out in the morning,

all the goats will be where I left them tonight.

Especially Vinca!

~~~

Day Three:

a good day in the barn.

~~~~~

assuming nap position

I took this yesterday morning, when Tsuga's little black girl was having breakfast (again) and her little grey girl was settling for (another) nap. Hope it makes you smile!

Today before sun-up, I was watching the goatcam and laughing like a loon. Both babies were bouncing around, full of beans. It is astonishing how quickly their coordination develops, literally from the moment they are born. These first couple of days are mind-boggling, every time.

It's a rainy, raw morning, but all is well in the cozy barn.

~~~

By the way:
if anyone has advice about posting videos, please let me know in a comment or email. I tried going direct-to-blogger using the video link in the editing bar, but after loading this video the quality was so poor I took it down immediately. Not entirely comfortable about putting my goats on YouTube, but so far it's the only solution I've come up with. And I'm still not satisfied with the quality; the original is quite sharp.

Any advice appreciated!

ETA: I just switched the little player button to HD and watched it fullscreen. I recommend this if you want to see every wavy little hair on that grey kid. And I'm pretty sure you do  :)

~~~~~

well...

I took this screenshot of the blog tonight,

when I sat down to write.

(As always, a left-click should embiggen snaps.)

I have not wanted to mention the countdown,

but I have been checking it weekly since December. 

About 7 times weekly, in fact.

I wanted so much for Tsuga to have her first kid this year.

Well, goats can really keep you guessing.

But with only three days left in the countdown,

I might as well mention it.

Is Tsuga pregnant?

No, she is not.

Not anymore.

This afternoon Tsuga had this perfect little baby girl.

And a few minutes later, Tsuga had this perfect little baby girl.

She had two.

Two lovely little girls.

Two babies who have been washed and nudged

and fed and nickered to

and watched over and counted

and washed again

pretty much non-stop for the past several hours.

The kids have been getting lots of naps.

I saw Tsuga yawn once,

but I don't think she has closed her eyes.

Tonight, the new mama and babies have the barn to themselves,

while five rowdy roommates enjoy their first camp-out of 2015.

Night-night Tsuga.

Aren't you a lovely girl yourself.

~~~~~

goat coats

What shall I do today after morning chores?

Hmmmm.

Oh, I know!

I'll comb goats again.

These are three of my rake-style combs, which I brought in and washed last night. I use an assortment of combs and brushes, usually three or four per goat, per session. This year I've been using two slickers, four rakes, and two combs.

(I own one hairbrush, by the way.)

Someone recently asked about the length of topcoat on cashmere goats. Very variable! For example, these boys are full brothers, and yet are at two ends of a spectrum.

Betula has an incredibly long topcoat. I call it "Hollywood Hair" because when he runs his coat flows and it looks like he's moving in slow-motion. Betula produces very white cashmere. It is not easy to comb it out from under all that long topcoat:

By contrast, brother Acer has a very short, dense topcoat, much like a plush toy. He produces grey/taupe cashmere:

Some cashmere breeders have a color preference, but I enjoy all the variation in my little gang's fiber. I've been told even the darker cashmere takes dye beautifully; maybe one day I will experiment.

Meanwhile, a challenge awaits.

This is going to be a two-pockets-full-of-carrot-pennies operation.

~~~~~