Just one?!

Guava is by far the biggest doe that I have ever owned.  She's a fantastically milking Saanen, and this year she was bred to an Alpine-Saanen-Oberhasli with great milking genetics. 

Yesterday was day 151 of her gestation, and it found her in labor most of the day.  Finally she started to progress, and a foot popped out.  Then she'd find herself needing a different position and the foot would slip back inside.

I realized pretty early on, that this was going to be a long slow road for Guava.  She progressed very slowly, so inbetween checking on her and my little girl who was playing indoors, I raked the wet goat poop off the snowy icy path in front of the goat shed.  When I looked in on her awhile later, there were two feet and a nose poking out.

It took a good lot of work for her to finally push the head out.  It was pretty cute to see those long white ears flicking back and forth while he took his first breaths.

But quickly I began to worry, as she wasn't progressing near as fast as I would like to see, and the baby's head started to turn purple.  So I tugged on one leg and then the other, but still he was stuck.  Then I pulled down on his neck, and it took a good amount of steady force to release him from the pelvis.

The little guy had had a long rough trip, but he still managed to try to get on his feet quickly.  It's always amazing to see how active they are from the moment of birth.  I fully expected that Guava was carrying twins, so after an hour I decided it was time to inspect her, in case the next baby was having a difficult time getting into position.

The first time I examined her I felt a sac of fluid as big as my fist, and thought it might be another kid.  But when I went back in for another feel, all I could find was the placenta.  I'll admit here that this was my first intrauterine inspection, and it's not something I'll likely ever forget.  Such wonder.

At this point I brought Guava and the little one into the cabin, to get him good and warm and feed him some colostrum- since we hadn't been able to get Guava dried off before the kidding.  She was still giving almost a 1/2 gallon a day.  

We had colostrum frozen from Ginger's birth, and it didn't take but a few hours for the kid to suck down 3/4 of a pint.  So we pulled out the 2nd day colostrum from Licorice's kidding, and even that 3/4 quart didn't last the little sucker through the night. 

He spent last night sleeping on the floor next to my Mom's bedroll, and today he's roaming the cabin.  Guava has come in several times to lick and nurse him, and let me tell ya... he's got a big voice.  

This buckling has the blockiest head and shoulders I've ever seen on a new kid.  Add that to my belief that Guava has a narrow pelvic outlet, and we're lucky he wasn't more stuck than he was.

I think he's going to be a moose, hence, his name.  Bullwinkle.  I haven't figured out yet if we'll have any suitable does for him, but for now, he's going to stick around for awhile.  Goats are great!

No denying it

On this second to the last day of March, I'm officially welcoming Spring.  Today I opened the hatch.  The upstairs east wall of our cabin has a 2 foot by 4 foot hatch built into it, not only as an emergency escape route, but also to move large items into the second story.

The last thing we do at freeze-up is close the hatch.  This mean layering canvas, then insulation, and then siding boards to seal it from the winter weather, 8 feet off the ground.  And you know that winter is over when you reverse the moves to open it back up again in the springtime.  There's no stopping summer now.

I also got the four-wheeler started and dug it out of a solid two foot deep snowpack.  I had to gun the throttle to pop it out of it's hole, up onto the turnaround where the ice is hardpacked.  Now it's parked over in the woodyard, waiting for the snow to melt.

The other obvious harbingers of warmer weather are the chickens.  They are out and about, all over the place, checking everything out.  I love seeing them want to be outside and obviously enjoying themselves.

The edges of my garden beds are starting to peek out... it won't be long before the green onions and chives are poking their heads up through the bottom of the rotting snow.  

Everything feels alive today!

One down, four to go

Remember Oliver, the Romney ram?  Well, I brought him inside today and gave him a haircut.  The days have been getting pretty warm, so I figured it was time for me to learn to shear a sheep.  And I did.

Now I guess I need to figure out what to do with all this fleece.  10 pounds!  Life is such an adventure...

Baaad sheep

Well, since I put a fence/gate up between the dogyard and the bunkhouse I have only had to chase the sheep one time. Normally, I leave the gate open inbetween loads of whatever is being hauled up the mountain- so I only have to open and close the fence once.

Occasionally, I'll notice the sheep wander past the dogs and start to head down the mountain. But I've always been able to call them back. "Hey sheep, come on sheep." And they turn around and come home.

A couple of times, when I've left the gate open to go down to the spring to haul water I've found them on my way back... partly down the mountain trying to eat what buds are available from the snowpacked trail.

Today, I ran down to the bottom, to get the last of the loose barley from it's storage in our hottub. Lo and behold, just as I finished loading grain and started the snowmachine to go home... I see 1,2,3,4,5 sheep and 1,2,3,4 goats headed into the parking area.

Ack. Last time they got this far away from home, I had to catch one sheep at a time. Then I threw it over the seat of the snowmachine right in front of my lap, and took them up the mountain one at a time.

But now the sheep are skookum enough to know they can move past the dogs on the way up, so I'm able to drive them straight up the trail and into the yard... if, that is, I can push them the right direction at the 3 forks.

So it wasn't all baaad this time. It didn't amount to alot of trouble. But now the point is becoming clear that these guys are NOT going to stay home of their own volition once the snow goes. AND I'm going to need a good dog if I'm going to be a shepherd. Once again, time to brainstorm.

Not one but two

This afternoon, Ginger quickly and quietly birthed her doeling.  The little girl is small but spunky, weighing in at an even 7 pounds.  After I got her dried off and snapped some photos, I went inside to call Ginger's previous owner to tell her the good news.

Much to my bewilderment, when I went back out to check on them, Ginger had delivered a buckling too.  A 9 pound boy, oh my goodness.  I still cannot believe that she was carrying twins.  It wasn't that long ago that I was questioning whether she was pregnant at all!

She just did not look like she could possibly have twins in her.  And she has such a small frame that you would think two babies would be quite apparent.  I do not know where she was carrying that big boy, but wow.  He sure is gorgeous.