Last Thursday, as John and I were getting the bottle babies into the house for the night, we saw Honey – standing nearby – with a brand new doeling.
Another oops. I thought we were finished a few weeks ago. So I brought them into the garage nursing pen so they could have a couple of days of bonding well before I let them out into the general population.
Now, as soon as I sheared Willow a couple of weeks ago, I knew she was preggers – baby bump, udder starting to fill out, bitchiness … you know how it is!
Willow has wanted a lot of individual attention this past week, so we indulged her. Friday afternoon, she climbed up to the deck to sit next to me while I ate my lunch. She kept staring at me, so I went in and fixed her some beet pulp mixed with water. She gobbled it down.
Now, I’ve been told many times that goats just don’t eat before they kid, so I was surprised to find that a few hours later, Willow was at the back door, with her new little doeling!
I have 7 bottle babies I need to sell, but I have to get up enough energy to photograph them and advertise for them.
I also have tons of shearing to do. The wintery weather of April has set my schedule way behind, and this is the busiest time of year at work, so I have less time than normal to get the shearing and vaccinations and hoof trimming done.
I kind of wish there were two of me!
I’m off work tomorrow. I will be shearing and taking photos, which I will upload here tomorrow night, hopefully!