Pebbles Baby

Pebbles is a first generation Mini-Alpine, a mix between a Nigerian Dwarf and an Alpine goat. She was brought in to increase the milk production without increasing the size of the animals in the herd or their feed requirements. This is Pebbles little buck.

Pebbles has a lot of color and her buck is white with subtle orange highlights.

Here are two of Gidgets boys, Huck and Finn, facing off. They are almost 4 weeks old any yet Pebbles buck is the same size. It may be because Gidget had quads and Pebbles had a single.

Addison is out baby sitting while she waits to kid. She is due any day and then we will be done for the season.

Ilsa is such a cutie. Kids and lambs bring so much life to this place every Spring!

Kia’s Baby

Kia finally had her baby last week. Of course she waited until the middle of the night and she wasn’t discovered until the next morning. It was snowing and freezing so once I got her weighed and medicated she was fitted with a sweater to help keep her warm.

Clare is a real cutie with a black mop top sitting on her head. So this year we ended up with two ewes and one ram.

We went to a chicken swap last weekend and sold off two extra roosters. I figured that I could keep Leopold in a separate area and reintegrate him once the others were gone. It didn’t work of course, the guineas still attack him on sight and his son, mini-Leopold, joins in to keep him constantly on the run.  It seems two roosters is one too many.

New Record

With the 6 inches of snow we got last night we set a new record for snowfall in April this year. So far Duluth is recording 51 inches and here in Cloquet we have gotten over 60 inches! What this means is the new born goats have to stay in the barn or in the house.

As you can see out the window things are still very “Wintery” around here. Huck gets to jump around in the baby hamper or in the kitchen. It is forecast to get into the 50′s this weekend so maybe some of the 2+ feet of snow outside will melt.

No Spring Radishes Here!

April 20th in Minnesota….no radishes yet!

We got over two feet of snow Thursday night into Friday morning!

This is only the second snowiest April on record. Global warming must be the cause of us not breaking the all time mark, but the month isn’t over yet.

To think the Commander actually got the grill out of the garage and put it on the deck.

The gazebo is going to need a bit of work before we spend any time in it.

Here is the path off the back deck to the driveway. The snow was too heavy for the snow blower to handle.
We now ironically have a “goat trail” to navigate to get to the garage.

The front door is totally blocked and will have to wait for Summer before we can use it again. Spring doesn’t seem to have much impact on the snow.

The fence lines are buried. I wonder if anything is growing under the thick, warm, blankets of snow?

All the gates had to be dug out again so we could use them. The Commander took the dogs into the woods to look for fallen trees and he said in some spots the fence line isn’t even visible.

I got this last year for the baby goats to play in. Looks like the playhouse will stay vacant for a while longer.

While the storm rages outside little Charlotte is safe and warm inside.

The little sweaters Charlotte and Chase are wearing help keep them free of from the Spring chill. I sure hope the melting season comes soon, the kids and lambs really want to go outside and play!

Lambs!

Azalea had twins today, one ewe and one ram. Of course she waited until I left for a meeting to go into labor, thankfully my mom was home to keep an eye on things.

Good thing she was home because Azalea was having a hard time delivering her ram, he weighed out at 8.5 pounds and had the longest legs! As I was helping her deliver I could only think that I had broken the poor guys legs as they were so long. We got him out and I thought she was done, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I waited to see if she was done for over an hour and a half, I should have waited for two. It seems that as soon as I left a little ewe was delivered. My mom found her all cleaned up and nursing just fine.

We had one more little emergency a bit later on. When the Commander got home he found Azalea “ramming” the little boy to keep him away from the little ewe. He carried the boy inside and was telling me that Azalea was rejecting him. I took him back out and his mom started to head butt him away, what to do? I put on my gloves and wiped the placenta onto the top of his head and down his sides to see what Azalea would do. She sniffed him and started to clean him off, looks like he was back in the club. I’ll keep an eye on him tonight to make sure everything is OK.

Unfortunately we are expecting a large Winter storm tonight so I had to put little sweaters on the lambs to help keep them warm. I hope the new smell doesn’t cause Azalea to reject them again.

Winter Sadness

Spring refuses to show up and it is taking its toll on the animals. Killarney is already shedding his wool, you can see it hanging off him in sheets.

The snow is still crazy deep to the point of making it hard to just feed the animals. If it was just snow it wouldn’t be too bad, but it is thick slushy snow that is impossible to walk around in.

Sadly Gardenia gave birth Saturday night and lost her lamb that evening before we discovered him. I don’t know if he froze or was just lost at birth but she is crying for him and it is heartbreaking. The forecast is for another 5-8 inches of snow Thursday…..please, make it stop!

NOT Spring Yet!

We have gotten over 2 feet of snow in the past few days with more to come! The Commander had to go out and dig out all the gates just we we could get into the animal areas.

The Commander was away for a few days so we actually had to have the driveway plowed. The snow was just too wet and heavy to do anything else.

The garden area is buried in snow and waste hay. The barn had to be cleaned out for birthing so the Commander and one of the boys dug a trench for the wheel barrow so they could empty the barn. For the sheep they had to dig a trench that was about 30 yards long. If Spring ever arrives they plan on moving the yuck to its final resting place, I can’t wait.

Look at how much snow is on the railings and on top of the grill. Sara, who loves the snow, can’t wait to get inside to get away from all the “wet”. It is more slush outside than snow!