3/25/15

Five Little Peppers and How They Grew

 is a classic novel published in 1881.
 MeadowWild Farm's version consists of peppy Ecio and EC-Rider (here climbing on mom Eclipse)
 and Cheeky's triplets, resting after a pepfest,
 with Talisman on top, Tzat's a Keeper on the bottom, and little Tzarina in the middle of the sammich.
 
 And how they grew during their first 13 days of life!
 
 Together they gained a total of 33.5 pounds, well beyond the minimum expected for healthy young goats.
 
 Disbudding (never much fun) went well in their swanky new box.
Just a few days old, the peppers are energetic if not always graceful:
After a week, they're pestering the moms, tap-dancing away on the Bat Cave and playing King of the Mountain:
Outside they can really stretch their growing legs
running madly hither and yon

and climbing on the skywalk
sometimes a bit awkwardly still.
There's always time for a head scritch.
While the littles play, Eclipse challenges dad Mojo -- something about a lack of child support.
The kids will soon be too big to snooze in the Bat Cave
but they can still snuggle with mom
and have discovered that the hay feeder is a great place to nap
as well as to nosh.
Eclipse is outraged.
"Hey, you -- Goatmom Lady -- Cheeky's kids are peeing in the hay!"
Feral Momma Kitty enjoys this year's early spring
She's ignoring the Meow Mix we provide because mice are plentiful and more tasty.
When Dustin was informed that SOME kitties earn their own keep, he shifted his position in front of the heat vent and went back to sleep.
Next up: Momo is due to deliver any day now.  (Can you tell?)

3/12/15

Eclipse & Cheeky Deliver

 The thermometer plunged to minus 23 on March 5th, three days before Eclipse was due to deliver.
 It warmed over the next few days, though,
 as Barb exercised the mothers-to-be on the front driveway
 
 and checked on them every few hours each night by the light of a full moon
 to make sure any new arrivals would be dried off and warmed before their ears froze.
Eclipse kept us waiting one day past her due date
but then at 9:30 a.m. on March 9, without indicating that delivery was imminent, pushed out 2 adorable bucklings when no one was looking.
They were up on shaky legs within minutes and getting a good licking.
 
 
Fortunately, the temp soared to 51 that day (16 degrees above average), so freezing was not a problem.
 
The newbies cleaned up nicely and lost that initial "drowned puppy" look.
Cheeky in the adjacent pen was so fascinated by Eclipse's pair
that she released her own triplets (2 doelings & a buckling) four hours later.
First one out was easy, but Barb assisted with the other deliveries.  The third was a breech-birth girl a little smaller than her womb-mates.
They are all carbon copies of Cheeky and papa Mojo, and were up and nursing in no time.
Four a.m. bedcheck on the second day revealed that everyone was doing fine
and by the third day they were exploring the barn
(on legs that still occasionally give out:

meeting the other residents
starting to climb
and even refueling outside.