I have been watching our Nubian doe, Bella, for many days as she was getting close to kidding and the weather’s been cold. Since we’re off grid, there’s no way to provide heat for the birthing stall and it does get cold in there. Wet, newly born kids can have their ears frozen stiff in less than half an hour. And once frozen, there’s little one can do to save them if it’s been a while. When you catch it right away, soaking them in lukewarm water to thaw them out will often work. But after a few hours, the ears will eventually fall off. Not nice! So, believe me, I’ve been watching like a hawk.

On New Year’s Eve, I went out at 10:30, after the nightly news, to check again. And there were two very wet kids! Although the temperature was over 20 degrees, the first-born buckling’s ears were already freezing on the tips! So I tucked them under my arm and headed for the house. After soaking his ears for a few minutes, I tucked the two into a plastic tote with warm towels in the bottom and put them in front of the living room wood stove. Then I went out to milk Bella so I could get the kids some warm colostrum. Neither would drink from the bottle so I had to tube feed them both, giving them a few ounces of warm milk, each. By morning, one had figured out how to drink but the other had to be tube fed again. But by night, both were lustily drinking from the bottle.

Our New Years Eve baby bucklings, Nuevo and Año or New and Year.

David stopped by to pick up his and Elizabeth’s Christmas presents from Bill and his family (still no granddaughter!). He enjoyed watching the kids and I think Elizabeth, who he Face-timed, would have liked him to bring one home to their apartment.

David stopped by and got to visit with the new kids.

Say, have any of you received our Seed Treasures catalog with missing or duplicated pages? We’ve sadly found that our printer may have goofed when assembling the catalogs. A few people have emailed, saying they received catalogs with missing/duplicate pages! If you have, PLEASE let me know at jackieclay2007@yahoo.com. I’ll send you a new catalog right away. Hopefully it was only a few catalogs that got goofed up! Sorry if one of those folks receiving a “strange” catalog was you! — Jackie

35 COMMENTS

  1. What adorable, precious joys those wee goats are!! So much toil for the little sweeties, I am sure they appreciate it! Enjoy

  2. Adorable! My cousins had a heard of goats that they put to use in their filbert orchards, tethering them to tree trunks to weed in a radius. She seemed to enjoy them and made them useful. I guess these ones weren’t picky eaters.

  3. Our catalog came , correct and intact. Thank you!
    We love your ‘baby’ pictures.
    Be safe.Stay warm.
    Becky

    • So glad to hear you got a good catalog. So far, only about 10 people have contacted us to let us replace their faulty catalogs. I hope that was all there were!!! Stay safe!

  8. They are super cute! I have a New Years bottle baby, too. He’s figured out how to get out of the laundry basket, so we pulled out the dog crate today. He stays with his brother during the day and comes in at night.

    • Yep, Nuevo has figured out how to climb out of the tote today. I put him with his mom during the day, when it’s warmer and he comes in at night. I’m trying to “wean” him from the warm house. We don’t need a house goat!

  9. Too cute! I have your excellent book on goats and we’re interested in adding them in the future. Still having the cow vs goat debate. I think goats would be easier to start with but my DH just doesn’t seem to care for them. Maybe this picture will soften him up!

    • We have been investigating Miniature Cows! They come in the usual breeds like Jersey. You get about 1 ½ gallon of milk a day. They eat less, etc.
      Thought you might like to know. just a thought.

    • Your husband either has had bad experiences with what I call “junkyard” goats or has just heard old wives tales about them stinking, eating tin cans and climbing on cars. Goats and cows are both great. But goats are smaller and easier to work with. Then again, cow cream naturally rises so it’s easier to harvest cream from the milk…. And on it goes…..

  10. Oh the babies are so adorable and beautifully colored! Glad that you were able to warm them up in time. Hope that grandbaby comes soon!

  11. How precious. I am watching everyday myself, our girl Molly is getting ready to calf. I actually just got off the phone ordering some milking equipment. She is our half jersey, half white face and we bred her to white face. It will be a blessing to be getting fresh milk again and the grand babies have been waiting patiently for it as well. My catalog is perfect and I will let my daughters know to check theirs. It’s almost that time again and I seem to be running out of ordering space. lol

    • Let us know when that calf arrives! I’m glad your catalog is okay. It seems nearly all of them are. So that’s a huge relief; we were scared 2,200 of them went out with messed up pages! Whew.
      (Hey, just use a BIG sheet of paper to write down that huge order!! lol)

  13. Goats are so much fun. I believe they may be one of the smartest farm animals. They sure can be mischievous. A new “baby” is always fun. I had trouble always keeping them confined. They can climb “anything”. This pair will be a story for the months ahead. Glad you were able to “save” them. Winter is a harsh time for birth. Do you hand milk Bella and will you use the milk ?

    • We’ve found that stock panel fencing always keeps them in, unlike woven wire, which bags down. I hate winter births!!! I worry so much. Yes, I hand milk Bella. Right now Nuevo is drinking nearly all of it (Año has a new home.) But her milk is increasing faster than he can drink so we can use the extra soon! Yea!

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