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! :)

~Gracie~

We named Essie's baby Gracie, but this past month has been pretty hard with her. We thought that Gracie was blind and so we started patting it with water to get the goop around her eyes off. It helped a little but we finally decided to take her to the vet. We found out that she had an internal eye infection, and that she could be blind. The vet gave us some ointment and antibiotics to give her each day. So we did and wa-lah! It worked! She's running around and following her mom everywhere...it is VERY obvious she can see. :) Thank the Lord! It has taken a big burden off my back now that I know she's okay. :)

~A NEW BABY GIRL~

Essie FINALLY had her baby!!!!!

It's a beautiful little girl, and my goodness...is she huge! I had to assist in the birth because for some reason Essie couldn't push her out! So I pulled the baby gently while Essie pushed and with both of us working at it...a big baby girl popped out!! We still don't have a name but I am just so relieved all of our kiddings are over (for now!). Thank the Lord!! He is miraculous!!! :)

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~Kidding Close At Hand~

These past couple days I have been closely watching Essie for any signs, and finally! Last night she had a string of discharge that prompted us to put her in our Birthing pen. This morning we woke up, I went down to check on her...no babies...but she still had a string. This string I think was a little different. I'm almost possitive that it's the mucus string, because her ligaments feel like they're either already gone or they're almost gone. Her stomach has dropped and her body looks ready for the big moment! I'm thinking that in just a few hours we might have some new additions to our goat herd!!!!!

~A Glimmer Of Hope~

Essie is getting really close! This morning her udder looked like it had grown more and ever since yesterday morning her body has begun to drop QUITE a bit! That's great news for us! Come on Essie!!!!!!!

Still Waiting

We are still waiting for Essie to show more signs. She has started to act like she's about to have babies in a couple days. It's just so hard to tell...we don't know how she's going to act. I keep waiting to see new babies down there each morning. I'm beginning to become a little impatient...I'm ready for all of our kiddings to be over so we can really start to enjoy all our new babies. :)

Waiting On Essie

Still no babies yet. It could be any day now. This is her first kidding so we really have no idea when it's going to happen or how she's going to act. With Cassidy it almost seemed like a wild goose chase. We thought for sure she'd kid before Valorie...but low and behold...just the opposite. She had her baby 11 days after Val had her's (Val kidded Feb. 10 and Cass kidded Feb 21). We also thought that Cassidy might have her babies even before Velvet had Annaliese and Genevieve (Jan. 3rd)! But boy! We were more than a month ahead of her!!! So Essie could be just the same...we might be waiting for a while! :) :) :)...

Pictures

Still trying to get some pictures posted.Might take another day or two. Our computer doesn't seem to be cooperating right now. I'm hoping I can post some pics of our goats soon. Sorry. :)

~More signs~

Essie is still showing more signs. Her back end keeps getting softer and softer. And I'm not sure, but I thought I could see a little discharge on her earlier today. I'm actually thinking that she could kid any time now. This is the perfect week for it too...there is going to be really nice weather for the beginning of this week. I really hope she has those babies born soon (or baby...we don't know yet). :)

Showing Signs

Essie is showing more signs as the time is nearing. Her bottom is getting much, much more softer and looser. I'm thinking that here in a week or so we will have some new 2009 babies! Hurry up Essie!!! :) :) :)...

Arthur And Essie

We are debating whether or not to keep Arthur. He was born just last month so it probably won't be until April or May if we decide to sell him. I would really like to see him as one of our bucks...but that would more than likely mean we would have to sell Pete (our boer buck at the time) in order to keep little Arthur. The Lord will work it all out. No signs from Essie yet except that her udder is still growing and her back end is softening. Can't wait! Come on Essie!!! :)

~Birthday "Babies"~

Here are all of the birthdays of our goats that we know:

Stardust: February 23rd 2007 parents: Cookie and Velvet

Comet and Starlight: November 28th 2007 parents: Cookie and Velvet

Jeffrey and Joey: January 28th 2008 parents: Cookie and Stardust

Skylar and Katrina: June 9th 2008 parents: Cookie and Velvet

Annaliese and Genevieve: Jan. 3rd 2009 parents Cookie and Velvet

Charlotte: February 10th 2009 parents: Pete and Valorie

Arthur: February 21st 2009 parents: Pete and Cassidy

This month Essie (one of our boer does) is due. Very soon we will hopefully have 1 to 2 more babies!!!! She is our last kidding so far that we know of right now. We've already had 4 babies born this year! I'm hoping to post some pictures soon. :)

~Introducing My Goat Farm~

I can't imagine life without my goats! They are all so sweet, loving, and cute! I have 12 goat "babies" on our farm right now...with more on the way! We started out about 4 years ago with just three pygmy goats. My dad had gotten them to keep the grass down in our lagoon (believe me... it works!), but when one of our pygmies became pregnant and had our first baby...that's when life with raising goats really began! We bought them for the lagoon, but then they became our "babies" and they haven't been in the lagoon very much since.:) We have had quite a few babies born since our first. Stardust, Comet, Starlight, Jeffrey, Joey, Skylar, Katrina, Annaliese, Genevieve, Charlotte, and Arthur are all babies our goats have birthed during the past couple years. Stardust and Starlight parted from us due to an aweful dog attack in April 2008. It was a horrific nightmare and my heart still aches for them to this day. On a lighter note, however, early last spring we began a new trend by adding a couple boer goats to our herd. We loved them so much that we bought some more that June! Since then, last month Charlotte and Arthur became our first baby boer goats...and I can't tell you how much we adore them! Both of them are from two different mothers but they are with each other a lot, so most people would think they are twins. Joey and Jeffrey also left us in October due to the fact that they were bucks and we didn't need anymore. They were sold and are hopefully in good homes. My goats mean so much to me...life would not be the same without them. :) :) :)...