Comings and Goings

An exhausting, discombobulating, productive month of March Madness skittered to a close.

After Zippy delivered her triplet girls a day ahead of schedule,

first time momma Blintz was due on March 19.  Goo finally started leaking out of her two days later, and she was feeling uncomfortable, but nothing else was happening.  Her labor just wasn't progressing as it should.

Fortunately, Dr. Angela Urban of Arrowhead Lane Pet Clinic made an emergency visit, arriving at 8:00 pm.  With Barb’s assistance, she discovered that the first kid in line was malpositioned and blocking the way.  Dr. Urban, Barb and Blintz struggled for an agonizing half hour before the culprit – Latke, a buckling – reluctantly emerged.

Even after a rest, Blintz was too exhausted to push the other baby out, so Dr. Urban went back in and delivered a beautiful doeling, Babka.

After a few middle-of-the night visits to make sure the kids were getting colostrum,

 the whole family looked much better the next morning.

Meanwhile (whether from adrenal fatigue or something else), first-timer Zippy proved to be not the ablest of mothers and was struggling to attend to her three daughters.

Barb found a new home for Allegra 

and Presta at a farm in nearby Finlayson, where they are being raised as bottle babies.

Two days later it was time to disbud Zippy’s cute other girl, Szybki (Chipper), who tolerated the procedure like a trooper.

Kuiper, who was due on March 20, waited till the 23rd to start the excitement.

With Barb’s help, she delivered a giant (10.25 pound) doeling

promptly named Planet Nine (because she turned out too big to be a Kuiper Belt Object)

and then an even bigger (10.5 pound) buckling, Ixios.

Mojo is the proud daddy

and the experienced Kuiper is the best of mamas, grooming and attending to the kids from the start.

Unfortunately, Blintz proved to be even less of an enthusiastic and competent mom than Zippy.  She didn’t reject her kids (as Cheeky had last year), but she just wasn’t able to take very good care of them.

Barb had to go out every few hours and hold the kids in place to make sure they were getting enough milk.  This routine (on top of a bad cold and asthmatic attacks) soon proved exhausting.

It was time to winnow the herd down to a number that the 70-some-year-old Farmers could handle without stressing out and collapsing.  Fortunately, friend McKinsey was willing to make the first-time moms part of her herd and to bottle-raise the babies.

So on March 24 the Goatmobile zipped Zippy, Chipper, Blintz, Babke and Latke down to New Auburn, WI, where they have joined other MeadowWild alumnae and alumni at a wonderfully managed dairy farm.  We’re delighted that they are now enjoying such a great new home.

Babka and Chipper pose with one of their penmates

and then Babka chews on her snout.

(photos courtesy of McKinsey)

The remaining MeadowWild herd went for a walk in the March 25th spring sunshine.

It was the first adventure out of the barn for the 2½-day-old babies

and mom kept a close eye on them.

And the next day, time for their appointment with the disbudding iron.

Among other comings outside the barn, deer have emerged in force at all times of the day

(blending in with the brown grass)

as snow piles recede and they can once again navigate freely

and bed down comfortably in the back yard.

Momma Kitty is delighted that mice and voles no longer have as many places to hide.  Though she still expects her 9 Lives treat in the morning.

Kidding season came to a happy end on March 27 when Bhindi, 2 days overdue, filled out the spring roster.

Barb had to reposition the head on the first bundle of joy so it wasn’t blocking the way for everyone; she then assisted as Bhindi released the first doeling.

Two more followed soon after, shooting out like they were riding a water slide.

Bhindi Masala's girls are named (in accordance to tradition) for curry ingredients: 

Jeera (cumin), Dhaniya (coriander), and Haldi (turmeric). 

The girls were soon up on spindly little legs

looking for a good meal.

Then it was time for a nap.

Across the way, Kuiper's kids looked on in fascination

and then joined mom for a nap of their own.

At three days old, Bhindi's daughters were integrated into the rest of the herd.  The newbies played non-stop on the hay bales.

Ixios went to his new home on March 31, accompanied by a buck from the McCann Farm. 

The babies are at their irresistible stage.  It’s impossible not to grab them for a cuddle.

The Farmers celebrated the end of a successful yet exhausting kidding season with the traditional glass of sham-pag-na.

Meanwhile, back in the house, Dustin pursues a favorite pastime: standing in front of the computer to block the view.  

He assumes that nothing on the screen could be nearly as interesting or worthy of attention as His Majesty.

After batting at the moving cursor a number of times, he figured out that the screen is a TouchSmart –

and that by pawing at icons he can access various programs and web sites by himself.

This explains why Amazon Prime Video keeps billing us for films we didn't order ourselves:

Dustin is particularly fond of violent Tarantino films

especially starring his favorite actor: