Well clearly, I have not posted about the goats lately. They kidded on the 14th, both of them. I heard Scampers kids when I went out to check on them that morning. Maddie has hers right after I left for work. It took her a half hour total to birth three kids. Both goats had triplets and both had two does and a buck. This is good. It will give us a bunch of does and hopefully a few milkers out of the lot.
Of course, it was cold when they were born, but it was a good thing they weren’t born this week. Temps have really plunged. They were below freezing a bit before at night, but warming up to the 40s by day. Now we are in the teens when we get up, down to nine degrees F this morning. It’s in the 20s during the day. Jeffrey is having problems hauling water as the hose he normally uses is under two feet of snow, which is now basically ice covered concrete. The long walk out to the car is treacherous, as it is also slick. So far the animals are doing okay. The kids curl up behind their mothers back, lying between her and the stall divider. We moved Bucko into the goat shed the last few nights, to add a bit more heat. There is composting hay and such in the stalls which also bleeds out some heat. But basically, it’s not good. The older they get, the less we have to worry. I’ll try and take pictures if it ever warms up.
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