Rambunctious Stew

Buckling Stew tries to clamber up onto the crate with little goat Lisa.

The other day, after I had moved the goats into the secure pasture behind the house, the younger goats immediately found ways to play. "King of the Mountain" is a goat favorite; goats of all ages seem to gravitate toward the highest spots in any given area.

Uuumph! This buckling needs a boost.

Although I had placed a dog crate into the pasture as a shelter, our buck, Midnight Hank, saw fit to turn the structure on its side. Since the sides are tapered in toward the top and bottom, the sideways crate provides an unstable surface for goats who jump up onto it.

When little Lisa, our last Nigerian Dwarf goat (She is scheduled to move soon.), jumped up onto the rocky surface and balanced perfectly, our largest buckling, Stew, scrambled to join her. Only, he was not yet tall or talented enough to surmount the obstacle. Determined, he worked and worked at the problem--even foregoing grain when it came to the pasture.

He's up!

I enjoyed watching him hook the front portion of his torso onto the crate, then try to figure out how to bring the rest of his body up there. Within the hour, he had accomplished his goal. He was up! Until he shifted his weight and the crate wobbled, tossing him off again.

... and right back down again.

Stew spent the rest of that afternoon and well into the evening launching himself up onto the crate, learning to balance, then leaping off only to repeat the process within minutes. The thudding of his little hooves on the crate resounded about the farm and continued to do so even after I went inside for the night.

I wonder how soon our littlest bucklings will tackle this new obstacle?

Kids Venture Outside

Logan and MollyToo play outside their stall.

After all the cold temperatures we have had, yesterday warmed up significantly. The ground turned sloppy with mud and I needed to find the muck boots that had been put away some months back. When I pulled back the outer door on the maternity stall, the few-inch opening for fresh air vanished and the kids saw the home pasture--and wanted to check it out. The little doelings were eager to get out to see their expanded world, but the build-up of straw and hay bedding in that stall made returning indoors a challenge.

At first I just wedged a piece of wood against the cattle panel barrier, propping it at the bottom with a loose rock, and hoped that the kids could use this ramp to easily get back into their stall. Of course, bouncing kids quickly rocked it out of place. Silly me; what had I been thinking?

My carpentry skills being all but nonexistent, I used my favorite farm remedy: baling twine. A notch at the head of the board, made with a pair of ever-present hoof nippers, helped to wedge the board into a set position. Little angle nicks on the side of the board provided just enough of a catch that the twine worked to hold the little goats' new ramp in place. A temporary fix, to be sure, but that was all that the situation required--so I was satisfied.

Logan plays on ramp while Cocoa and Lisa observe.

Logan, too, was satisfied. Right away she began testing out her new independence. With either Mama Jennifer or Auntie Cocoa standing in the doorway watching, Logan explored the ramp and the areas of the ground near the door, stopping to slip back into the stall now and again.

Lisa looked on, intrigued, but not ready to venture onto that strange structure--at least not while the woman with the camera was nearby. The littlest kid, Kendall, hung close to her mother--hoping, I am sure, for more chances to nurse.

Kendall is not thriving as well as the other kids. Being little, I imagine she gets shoved aside in the feeding frenzy--two teats, three kids: Kendall loses. As well, I see Jennifer shaking her off when she tries to feed, so I have taken to holding the momma still one or twice daily to ensure that Kendall gets a decent feeding.

Kendall perches nimbly on my shoulder.

Her coordination has kept apace with the bigger kids' development. This morning when the lot of them were clambering about, climbing upon the human squatting in the stall, Kendall climbed up onto my lap and--with a little help--climbed onto my right shoulder, where she stayed for several minutes while I moved about the stall.

I'm only a little worried about Kendall. She may not be growing as fast as the others, but she's certainly holding her own. With a little help at feeding time, she ought to catch up soon.

Kids Keep Warm Together

Kids huddle together atop silver foil insulation, pressed beside the brooder's warmth.

We've had some pretty cold nights since the last lot of kids arrived. Most are below freezing, some have gotten into the twenties and teens. Although we keep two heat lamps lit in their suite--one in the dog crate occupied by the keets, and one hanging from the hayrack affixed to the wall--not all six kids can get under a lamp together. One reason for this is that Thumbelina and/or Jennifer, two of the Nigerian Dwarf mama goats, often manage to stand directly beneath the red heat lamp, hogging its warmth.

Is that the top of Kendall's head visible behind Lisa?

In the top photo, I count five of the six kids. Loyal on the left, Luke on the right, and in the center--back to front--MollyToo, Logan, and Lisa. However, a very close inspection reveals that Miss Kendall is tucked in front of Logan; I only "saw" her because the third photo shows her walking away when the group dispersed! Looking back to the middle shot, the star atop her little head is clearly present in front of Logan.

There's little Kendall strolling away, on the left.

The smallest of the six kids, Kendall sure seems adept at taking advantage of her size! Buried in that pile shown at the top of the page, hardly any of her was exposed to the chilly air. Go, Kendall!

Naming Kids

Nigerian Dwarf x Tennessee Fainter crosses: Brad's first kids!

Lisa, Loyal, and Luke. It took close to a week for Cocoa and Thumbelina's kids to get named, but the names fell into place yesterday right after Jennifer's triplets were named.

Lisa is a curious kid. She investigates with the zeal of a good reporter.

Beginning with the doeling, Lisa is named for a fun-loving and highly-accomplished journalist better known to her friends as L.A.  Our little Lisa is dark chocolate brown and white. (We thought of her as black-and-white until Jennifer's Molly came along to show us what black-and-white really looks like.) This little gal very nearly carried the name Melissa, for a character in a novel we like, but when given the opportunity to name her for an actual person, why we couldn't resist calling her Lisa.

Little Loyal with his twin Lisa. Loyal is already emulating his sire with the curled-up lip.

Loyal and Luke share such a strong resemblance, we wanted names with similar sounds. They were named for a real person and a character, respectively.      

Although we'll finish this entry later, Lisa wanted us to squeeze in a message from her:

Lisa says, "Happy Birthday, L.A. Thanks for giving me your name today!"

--Later--

To wrap up, Loyal was named for an arborist who used to trim my mother's French lilacs in return for lemon meringue pies. Uncle to the Kyle for whom this spring's kid Kyle was named, Loyal was not someone who frequented my young world, yet he held an important place in our household and neighborhood.

Luke is the namesake of a character in a novel. A young, energetic sort he likes kids and farm life, so he seemed to be a reasonable choice for Thumbelina's surviving fall kid.