Latte's kids

Latte deserves a post all of her own.Her kids were born on Monday. I had to pull all three of them, but she did all of the rest. She cleaned them, got them up and drinking, and then supervised them carefully, so I felt able to leave her loose.
Latte is directly to the left of her kids. She is constantly grunting and calling to them.They follow her and have adopted Willow into their circle.
Latte does a head count routinely to be sure that all three of her kids are hanging together. They like sleeping in the feeders that I no longer hang from the fences, because the goats just butt them off. Anyhow, she is an awesome mom.

Baby Pictures

This is Columbian with her three lambs. The two on the left are rams that I will castrate and the one on the right is an ewe. They are really tiny. I doubt that the ewe weighs more than 2 pounds right now. Cute and fast. Colombian is keeping them in line. She was funny to watch chasing them down this evening.
This is Caramel. Her buck is drinking from her, but not getting enough. They are out now and the little buck comes running up for a bottle as soon as he sees me. I plan to try catching her. If she has enough udder, I am going to cut the bottles. He goes under her as soon as I take the bottle away, but he stays there very little.
Precious' kid is inside the bucket.Precious was feeling insecure the first few days. Now she is overly relaxed and only calls Willow when she wants her to drink. Willow is currently running around with Latte's triplets, who were born the same day.
The above is Willow basking in the sun.
This is Mighty Mouse with her twin bucks. They are easy to pick out of the crowd, because they both have tufts of white hair on the crowns of their heads. They are very self-sufficient and have figured out how to stay warm.

Rejuvenated

Above Texas Doe, the day before delivery. Below her two kids. The doe is the one looking up.

I tried taking a nap this afternoon, but could not stop my mind racing. Took a really hot shower and felt better, so I went out to feed animals. Since there was no pressure to work with new moms, I fed all of the animals and went in the shed to lock Texas Doe's head in the milking harness. I was determined to get her buck drinking on her. I skipped his afternoon bottle in hopes of being able to convert him to the teat. It took 30 minutes of non-stop turning him around and squirting milk from his mother's teat into his mouth before he finally got the message that, if he wanted to eat, he had better start sucking on his mother. Once he got the hang of sucking, I slowly took my hands out. He fell off the teat and then got right back on it all by himself. He drained her and still kept at it. I let him mess around and when he was done, let Texas Doe out. If I see him on her, or feel that he is full later on, I will let them out tomorrow. They have dumped the water several times and I want them out, so I can dry the area out.

Still Tired

Allergies are bad at this time of year and the wind kicking up the dust does not help.

I have been really busy, spinning to fill orders, carding so new felters have fresh choices, organizing for a Koolaid dyeing workshop that I taught today, as well as running out to check on expectant moms and bottle feed the ones' whose moms were not keeping up.

Mighty Mouse had twin bucks and Texas Doe had a doe and a buck yesterday. Texas was pushing against the fence, so it was a good thing I was out there right as she had the baby, because the baby ended up on the wrong side of the fence and I had to push it back through. The buck got chilled, but I think he might be finally on his mom. I will know for sure tomorrow morning.

Caramel, Barbara's baby from last year, seems to finally have enough milk for her buck. He is really cute and has a strong pair of lungs. He has had enough bottles from me, that he sees me and comes looking for one. After he gets half a bottle, he runs for his mother to get more. She has finally relaxed. Sure hope the other first time moms are not as difficult.

I have taken loads of pictures. I will start posting them tomorrow or the next day. I have found that my blog is really useful for remembering dates and events. The bottom line, is that I need to keep it up to date!

Busy Day

Went out this morning and found Columbian with three lambs - an ewe and two rams. All had plump tummies, so were fine.

I also noticed that Latte did not go eat, and she is always first in line, so I was not surprised to hear her laboring at noon. Had to help her with the first baby and after an hour, I could tell that she still had babies, but nothing was happening, so I reached in and found a baby with the head in the wrong direction. Pulled it out and reached back in to pull out another. All three kids are does and doing very well. I had a customer that had worked with sheep as a child, so I pressed her into labor - she held Latte's head, while I pulled babies.

As the three ladies who came to felt got started, I heard another bellow over the speaker. Ran out to find that one of Barbara's babies had had her baby - a really cute black buck. This doe does not have much milk, so I am having to put the baby on her. She is also a first time mom, so no surprise there. She is now standing still for the baby. I plan to give him an extra bottle of milk when I go out before going to bed. He is really big, so definitely not premature.

Pictures will be loaded tomorrow, since I am too tired to wait for them to load.

Absinthe's babies

Yesterday Absinthe surprised me with triplets. Amanda and emily were here raking for fiber, so I let them help me pick their names: Dune (buck) and Evening and Primrose two does). All really cute. She did not bond well with them till this afternoon, when Precious (who was in labor) tried to steal one. Now she knows she has three and does a count every so often.
The babies do not all hang out with each other or with their mother. This is the first time I caught them all in one place. Since Absinthe is more attentive, I will probably be able to get more cool photos.

I had to pull Precious' kids out this afternoon. I hate doing that. The first one as butt first and had already died. I did manage to get the second one out. She looked dead, but I opened her mouth and put my finger down her throat and she coughed and came alive. She is up and drinking and Mom is happy with afterbirth out. I have named her Desert Willow.

Between all of the above and allergy season here with a breeze, I am exhausted. Still have to go out and check moms again. Ii plan to go to bed and then get up and go check in the middle of the night. I mostly worry about first time moms. They don't get it!

Gorgeous artwork

I have found a lovely fiber artist who is willing to rake for fiber! She did this lovely needlefelted "landscape using roving, batts, and mohair locks. I see a successful art career in her future. She is finishing up a degree at the University of Arizona.
The detail and color combinations are really cool. You could sit and look at it all day. Now I am inspired to take a landscape I had started to embellish with crochet and do it in needlefelting. I do have to get some spinning in. I have been too busy running out checking on animals the past two days.