Thursday, March 30, 2006

Young Mothers II

I just returned from my late night feeding of the lambs. I have four yearling moms raising twin lambs. I'm supplementing four of the lambs. Another yearling is raising her lambs on her own. One that could use a little bottle feeding, by the looks of him -- I call him "bones" -- refuses to take any milk. Another yearling has enough milk for twins, but is still rejecting one of her lambs. I keep her in a head stanchion most of the time.

Peter is doing well. He woofs down his milk three times a day. It will soon be time to go to a twice a day feeding. There are two more yearlings to lamb. They are younger and I'm hoping that they'll have singles sometime in April. I'm in no hurry. I hope they're not either. The goat (Clover) is definitely pregnant. I'm not sure about her daughters, "Thelma" and "Louise." Who knows about the fat ewe.

Spring has finally arrived, and I let the lambs spend their days outdoors. They have a blast running and playing. Sometimes, the goats join in their "reindeer" games. Goat kids are pretty docile for the first few weeks of their lives, spending most of their time under the feeders. I'll miss having baby goats in the future.

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