Tzimmes Adds Tzwo

 Spring officially arrived on March 20

 but a week later MeadowWild still didn’t look very springy yet

 and a Winter Storm Watch is in effect for the last weekend in March, with “high” temperatures reaching only the 20s.

 

 Deer are hanging out by the compost piles

 

 enjoying all that good hay that the goats waste.

 Momma Kitty survived another winter and is often out mousing in the snow for something more tasty than the Meow Mix we provide

 (which she reluctantly shares with Pepé Le Pew, active once again after emerging from his winter burrow). 

 Dustin survived the winter by hanging out in his cozy beds near the heating vents – and by being spoiled rotten.

 With the increased daylight, he has relocated to his favorite window.

 Kidding season continues to go well, for which we are extremely grateful.

Tzimmes waited two days past her due date (just to keep Barb guessing – and up checking the barn regularly throughout the night)

 and then waited till the middle of milking and bottle-feeding time early evening on March 23

to deliver 

 a handsome buckling,  Boychik

  and then a gorgeous doeling, Blintz.

Tzimmes’ mom Cheeky

 and then Alice offered seasoned advice and encouragement during the ordeal.

 

 The kids were soon up and getting stronger by the minute.

 We had some concern about how first-time mom Tzimmes would handle motherhood,

fearing that her own mom (Cheeky, who rejected a boy last year and her three girls this year)

 may have passed along the Mommie Dearest gene

 but Tzimmes has been superb, taking good care of her babies from the start

 

 

 and nurturing them along during their first week.

 Blintz is proving to be somewhat of a hellion; on her 4th day, we found her escaped from her pen and wandering around the barn.

 Disbudding wasn’t much fun but proceeded successfully.  Although apprehensive about her appointment with the red-hot iron,

Blintz zoned out from some hypnotic cheek-scratching. 

Meanwhile, the kids across the barn continue to grow like mad.
Cheeky’s girls have bulked up under Barb’s bottle feeding, graduating to bigger and bigger bottles.  They’re a real challenge as they tussle to see who eats first.

Barb gets occasional help from young goat farmers in training.

The eight older kids have started to eat hay

Chaffhaye

and grain.

They have reached the juvenile delinquent stage

jumping up on every elevated surface

including each other

and pummeling with poopy little hooves anyone foolish enough to deliver hay or water to their pen

and colonizing the hay feeders, defying gravity and risking broken legs.

Draco is a fearless little Sherman tank; he challenges people and the adult goats, rearing up on sturdy hind legs and then head-butting anything in his way.

The kids love being outside, and are not afraid of snow;  they plow through drifts to play on the spools

and investigate snowbanks

when they're not riding each other

and butting noggins.

Then it's back to the barn

to bask in the sun

and engage in some serious napping.

Next up in the Kidding Derby: Bhindi, due on Friday, April 13.

Despite the unlucky associations, we’re hoping to close out the kidding season with a barnful of healthy moms and babies.

While she waits, Santa’s Busiest Elf continues to experiment with goats’ milk soaps, using her new molds to create a batch that looks like stones tossed up on the shores of Lake Superior

soon to be available on the MeadowWild sales website.