Heads In The Fences

Nothing new with the goats. So I just thought that I would post some cute pictures of a few of our silly goats who stick their heads through the fence to get the grass on the other side - or simply want to see what's on the other side. I can't tell you how often we have had to walk out to our field with a bleating goat who got their head stuck in one of those tiny holes they SOMEHOW know how to get through but can't seem to figure out how to get out. There are countless stories that are all pretty similar...simply put - they get their heads' stuck and we come to the rescue. I've never understood  the saying "the grass is always greener on the other side" - 'cause that would be their excuse. And I'm thinking..."Well whats wrong with the grass that's available to you - right underneath your nose, are you just really picky or something?". And the answer to that question I guess is ...YES. Goats are very entertaining creatures I will say at that. :) :) :)...

PRICELESS MOMENTS AND GOOD LAUGHS

These are some great and not expected moments of picture taking of our goats - I think they're priceless! They obviously did not know that I was photagraphing them at the same time they were doing their special "thing" as you can see in these next few photos. I love these pictures since I caught them at some funny moments! I know I've posted a couple of these before, but I thought they deserved another showing since they were great pics! Enjoy - and I hope you get some good laughs!! :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)...

~Gennavieve And Annaliese~

 

The Goats Are doing great today! Here are some photos of Gennavieve and Annaliese, the twin pygmy/nigerian dwarf does who will be one year old on January 3rd!! They're growing up. :)

Goats Strolling Along The Highway

Yesterday during bible study, our neighbor called us and said that are goats were apparently along the fence near the highway!! My mom, my older sister, and little brother all went straight home to check on them and get them back in their proper place. My sister told me later that when they got home the goats were in our yard! I still have no idea how they did it...we're planning on figuring it out as soon as possible. Those silly goats! :)

Relaxing With The Goats

Yesterday I got to spend more time with our goats then I normally do. I've just been so busy that don't usually get to relax and pet them for a while. But as I said, yesterday I got to pet them more and even hold Cocoa and Hosea! :) They are all growing up, that's one thing I really noticed. Cookie, was finally put back on his chain where he belongs. If he's not on that thing - he causes trouble. We're hoping to sell him sometime soon. The goats were all waiting at the door once again this morning. I love them!! Here's my continuation of "Sticking Together" pics. :)

First Pics Of Gracie, Cookie, and Genevieve

The weather is amazing outside right now!!! I'm sure the goats love it! I was looking at my other pictures on my blog trying to figure out which of the goats I hadn't posted pictures of. I found a few...so here they are! Genevieve, Cookie and Gracie. Gracie (first), Cookie (second) and Genevieve (third)

Sticking Together

Earlier today I saw all of our goats running together to the orchard. Goats, as I'm sure you know, are herd animals. They can't live alone, they HAVE to have a companion. It's just a part of their nature. So with our goats, they're not always ALL together, but most of the time they're not alone. Some are dispersed over there, and some are over here. Now, one of our goats can be an exception however. Hosea, has always been really independent. Yes, he REALLY likes to be with the herd. But when he was little and even now sometimes, he likes to stay with me until I leave - even when the herd has already left to go graze. He likes to explore and go off by himself every once in a while too. He's a cutie pie. :) Here are some pics of a few of our goats and their companions. (They're always with somebody!) :) The first is of Cassidy (left) and Pete (right)...they are love birds! :) The second is of Katrina and her son Hosea...she's a first timer and she loves her baby very much. :) The third is of our three summer babies (Cocoa, Brownie, and Hosea)as they play... "Who can push down Cocoa first!" :) The fourth is of Valorie, Charlotte, and Arthur as they lay out in the sun together. Valorie has someimes literally taken Arthur in even though he's not her baby. :) The fifth is of Cassidy and her son, Arthur...she is an amazing mother and just adores her baby! I don't think I've ever seen a mommy doe like her before! :) Hope you enjoy looking at the sweet pictures! :) :)...

~Staring Goats and Fallen Leaves~

It was CHILLY outside this morning! As I walked down to open the gate for our goats, they all just stared at me as they stood out in the cold weather. I think it's so funny the way they wait for you to come down. It's like they're saying..."We've been waiting!" as they roll their eyes (if they could!) :) The moment they were let out they went straight for the fallen leaves underneath one of our trees that flourishes each year. Goats LOVE fallen leaves...they gobble them down as if they were pigs! (Thankfully they're not!) Essie's leg is doing a little better...she was still babying it a little this morning. I haven't figured out what could've happened, but like I said yesterday...it's nothing that serious. A lot of our goats limp every once in while. They either get into fights or one of the meaner or greedier goats takes advantage of their weakness and hurts them. They're strong though, so I think Essie's fine. :) Here's some pics of Comet - posing as "the staring goat"...Cocoa - posing as the goat eating a leaf...and Cassidy and Essie - posing as the "fighting goats" (or mean ones, whichever you prefer...:):)

~Essie and The Goats~

I opened the goats this morning and found that our doe, Essie, was limping on her left leg. Hopefully it's better now, I haven't checked. She seemed to be able to get around fine, so I don't think it was that serious. (thankfully!) I finally let the goats out into our orchard field...they were very excited about that! They love all the different kinds of grass and plants that exist there. We were keeping them out because the "smarter" ones were getting into places through holes that they weren't supposed to know about. But I thought that today it would be alright. :) They are really funny though. Our pygmies are so smart! Since they're small they tend to get through really small openings like it's a piece of cake. So they find ways to get into our neighbor's field, our clearing in the woods, and into our north field...like I said...they're smart. Our boer goats on the other hand are a lot dummer than our pygmies. They can't figure out the "hole thing" too well. (Thank goodness!) So as my sister says..."Goats are smarter than sheep, but dummer than cows" :) :) :)...

~My "Babies"~

Today has been so beautiful! I went out earlier to take some pictures of our goats. Cookie sure loves roaming around with his fellow "goat friends" (He's normally on a chain). Everyone is doing great! Cocoa is becoming a lovely little lady as her brother Brownie is becoming a hansom young wether. Hosea is dong wonderful as well...he is growing so fast! He's almost as big as his mother, Katrina (though she is kind of small). :):)... All of our other 2009 babies seem to have grown up already...I can't believe they're all close to being a year old here in a few more months! Time flies! As a mother would say..."my babies are growing up!" And of course, as you know, I think that all of our "older" does are all pregnant...which I'm very excited about! Only, hopefully this year they'll all be born in the spring, instead of the winter. But sometimes I don't have a say in the matter...check that...almost all the time I don't have a say in the matter! Pretty much ALL of our babies have been born in the winter! :) :)... But oh well, as long as they're healthy little babies and they stay that way...then I can compromise. :) :) :)... Here's a few of the pics I took today and a cute video of Cocoa. Enjoy them! :)

~Morning Chores~

I hurt my leg last week, so I haven't seen our goats for a few days since I couldn't walk on it too well. But thank goodness, this morning I could finally see our goats again as I went down to take care of them this morning. It's really rainy and wet out there. They are all so cute! One of our bucks was after Charlotte so we locked those two up in a separate pen last night so the others could get some sleep (the bucks tend to go nuts and be a little mean to the other goats). Anyway, that's all the goats news...I'll post again when I have some more! :)

~Goats And Mud~

The weather has been fabulous today...and the goats have enjoyed every bit of it I'm sure! They're all doing great, thankfully! Almost all last week it was extremely wet and rainy...and if I know one thing about goats for sure...THEY HATE MUD! They either stare at it, run through it really quickly, try to find a "safer" route to walk on, or they'll just absolutely refuse to walk through it all together! So their usual pen they sleep in was muddy, me and my sister go down to lock them up one night, and they're all out. Now that's extremely rare to find them outside their pen on a COLD, wet night - but they just wouldn't walk in the mud...which I find rather humorous as I'm sure you do too. :) To make a long story short, we put them in another pen that was less wet and muddy and they were satisfied there for the next 2 nights. :) Me and my sister also cleaned out their "goat house" (where they sleep)on Saturday...boy am I sore! I'm telling you..it's a job! :) But it's worth it at the end once the straw is put down and you gaze at at your completed work with satisfaction.:)

~Adorable Photos And Winter Weather~

It's been nasty weather outside these past few days. Our poor buck, Cookie, who is chained up since he's a little aggressive was very cold this morning. It's amazing how cold it is for this time of year...it feels like Christmas already! The goats are also beginning to show their winter fur...we sort of skipped fall. They're cute though in the winter. Looking at those plump, furry bodies, with those sweet eyes is just too much! Anyway, nothing much that is new with our goat farm, so here's some more pics for you to enjoy!

Pictures info: The first pic is of our twin pygmy/nigerian dwarf does...aren't they lovely? The second is of our sweet Valorie who just so happens to be smooching in the camera (it is a real goat). The third is of her daughter, Charlotte,....seriously...once again THIS IS A REAL GOAT...to be honest I really don't know how I was able to snap such a priceless photo as this! The fourth is of our energetic Cocoa who happened to be running when I was taking this snapshot...don't you love her ears? And the last is of her twin brother, Brownie. He is very photogenic...don't you think?

~Expecting Mothers~

Well, many does have become pregnant these past 2-3 days and boy...is March full!!! So far Essie, Annaliese, Gennavieve, Charlotte, Katrina, and Velvet are all pregnant (more than likely...some for sure...and some are just common sense!). Anway, the estimated due dates for each are Essie-March 1st Katrina, Annaliese, and Charlotte - March 7th Velvet - March 8th Gennavieve - March 9th

Anyway, here's some pics of each of the new expecting mothers!

Introductions to A Few Of The Goats

This is Essie who is white with brownish red markings (a doe we bought along with Valorie at an auction) and this is Arthur with his shiny redish brown hair, who was our first boer baby buck born to Cassidy in late February 2009...aren't they adorable?!

These are pictures of a couple of our 2009 summer babies! Cocoa and Brownie...they are cuties!

This is Valorie whom we bought at an auction last summer. She is very sweet and has a daughter who was born in February 2009.

Cassidy

This is Cassidy!!

Goat News

So far no new babies yet. We've been expecting some here for a while from Cassidy, Essie, and Valorie once again. Don't know when they're going to kid. For some reason those mothers never weaned their babies they had back in February and March (6-7 month ago!), so we had to separate them from their babies. It's going to stay that way until they kid (who knows how long that will be!). I think it's because the mothers were "first-timers" and they didn't know exactly how or when to wean the kid...so we're gonna do it for them. :) Anyway, June and July babies are growing! We wethered Brownie and Hosea a couple weeks ago. Cocoa is becoming a little "lady" as she is almost 3 months old. "Hosi" (as I like to call him") and Brownie have good size horns coming in as well...they are very manly boys I must say. We have 5-6 goats we'll be selling for sure when that time comes. Probably more once these new babies are born. I'll have a post of new signs of labor and kiddings when things start happening...can't wait! (also...should be having goat pics soon!)

~NEW BABIES~

Great News!!! Velvet (our main pygmy doe) had twins on June 30th!! This was a huge surprise...we thought she had a month or so left to go before she would kid...but she obviously had a different perspective. Anyway, she had a baby boy and girl whom we've named Brownie and Cocoa. As you can tell by the names they have a lot of brown on them...they are also the kids of our boer buck. They're the first pygmy/nigerian/boer mix we've had! They are so cute! And Katrina (another pygmy doe) also kidded on July 8th and had a beautiful baby boy who's name is Hosea! This doe was the one we thought for sure would kid before Velvet...but I guess you could say they both had different ideas. Hosea is also the son of our boer buck and is almost all white with a creamy light brown on a couple different parts of his body. He is very fluffy and healthy! We all love him to pieces! So far we've had 8 babies born this year and more on the way!!! Annaliese, Genevieve,Charlotte, Arthur, Gracie, Cocoa, Brownie, and Hosea...and like I said MORE ON THE WAY!!!

OUR GOATS NEWS

This past month has been kind of quiet with goat news. Nothing much has happened other than worming them a couple weeks ago. I also haven't been able to be out there with them very much at all since my allergies started kicking up. All I know is that the 2009 babies are growing and getting nice horns in. Gracie has done amazing since her eye trouble! She is so energetic and jumpy...she follows her momma really well too (which is good to know since we thought she was becoming blind). Charlotte is blooming with grace and poise as she is slowly becoming a "lady". She'll be 4months on June 10th. Arthur is huge! He's very masculine (like his father) and his horns are getting bigger every week. We also castrated him not too long ago so we won't have any problems with early pregnancies (hopefully...unless we were too late!) He will be 3 months next week. Annaliese and Genevieve are also blooming with grace and beauty. They are soon to be 5 months old on June 3rd. :) We for sure need to clip all of there hooves here pretty soon. Pete (our boer buck) has been jumping into our yard lately and we still can't figure out how he's doing it. We've had to pen him up a few times. That's all the goat news though. Thankfully no deaths or illness. Praise the Lord! :)