It's been a little while

Okay, so I haven't updated for a few days, but in my defense the farm has been really busy.

After the kindergarten class visited on Tuesday, we had a pretty steady day Wednesday. I worked Thursday and Friday so T and MIL were on their own. Unfortunately for them, there were 21 babies born on Thursday! They went out at 9am to do one job and it didn't get done until 6pm because it was so busy in the pen. T told me that at one point she had her arm in a ewe and saw an even worse problem and had to get out of ewe #1, catch ewe #2, re-glove and pull a very stuck baby. Happily there were no serious issues, just a lot of basic problems that would have resulted in the death of the babies if T and MIL had not been there to help (such as the stuck lamb that would have suffocated).

Saturday we had a bunch of friends over for a wiener roast (turned out to be a bbq because of fire bans) and to see the baby animals. The children were all thrilled and did a fantastic job holding and playing with the lambs, kids, and cria.

Today was a lazy day for me. There weren't many lambs so I actually had enough time to finish planting my garden (yeah!).

We did have a new cria today, so that was exciting. He is really cute, and will be our last one this year (hopefully we have 2 or 3 again next year). Here he is, we're thinking of calling him Rusty:

I'll try to get a picture of him with my camera instead of my phone soon :)

Too many babies to remember

Today was once again full of babies and to be honest I can't even remember how many we had. I will try to recount the events to the best of my ability.
This morning #1 had twins, and #2 tried to steal them. Then #2 had a single (big ram!) that we had to pull because it was pretty stuck.
Then the local kindergarten class came to see the animals; imagine 16 young children chasing 30 goat kids, because that was the reality of our situation. The goats and the children all survived, and everyone enjoyed themselves (the children more than the goats I think haha).
Once the kindergarten left we went to check on the sheep again. #3 had had a single, and #4 was trying to have her's but once again the baby was too stuck. So we pulled our #4's two lambs as well. #4 has a weak ewe lamb so we're keeping a close eye on her.

We also had one bull calf today, just a little guy (only 83lbs).

I now have a lamb in a XL dog kennel in my living room. The poor thing was apparently abandoned by it's mother and probably hadn't had anything to eat until we found it curled up behind a bale. We brought it in at 4pm, T gave her some Cal Mag and Vit B, and this really helped; we also kept her on a heating pad. By 5:30 she was strong enough to drink, and happily guzzled down 3 ounces. We were a bit concerned about her because she hadn't urinated, but (lucky for me) she peed everywhere as I was giving her her second dose of Cal Mag and Vit B. I'll be getting up every 2-3hours to check on her, and I'm really hoping that all we've done for her will work, and we'll end up with a healthy ewe bottle lamb :).

Babies, Babies, Babies

As the title states, today was a day full of babies. We had one calf, and twelve lambs today (and one was delivering when I went home).

We had one set of twin lambs early this morning. Then, while we were ear tagging and needling yesterday's babies, Ewe#1 had one lamb, then Ewe #2 had twins (ewe and ram), and then Ewe #3 had one. Ewe#1 tried to take Ewe#3's lamb, so we moved Ewe#1 and her baby into a building; she looked like she was going to have a second lamb, so MIL put on the gloves and pulled out lamb number two (two ewe lambs). By the time we were done dealing with Ewe #1, Ewe#3 had had her second lamb, so we went in for some lunch. When we came back out Ewe #3 had had a third lamb! (two ewes and one ram).
About an hour later Ewe #4 had twins (ewe and ram).

This evening we caught all the cull goats and ewes so we can send them to market tomorrow morning. While chasing the sheep, T noticed that Ewe #5 had a lamb hanging out of her. FIL and I chased her down, and I pulled the lamb out; she stopped at one (ram). Another ewe was starting to lamb just after this so T and MIL stayed out to watch her (I'll let you know tomorrow what she had).

Just a note- hairless ewe didn't make it through the night, her mom just hadn't been taking good enough care of her, and although we tried our best to save her she just wasn't strong enough.

Such a Lovely Day

We had five more lambs born last night, but none so far today. T says it looks like there are a number of ewes who look like they're going to pop any day now, so we may have a few busy days ahead of us.
Had one more bull calf born today as well.

Today was incredibly hot, and because I wasn't thinking I forgot to put on sunscreen; I now have a farmers burn (hopefully it will soon be a tan). DH and I brought the dogs to the lake for the first time this year, and were pleasantly surprised with the temperature of the water. Gertie was not impressed with swimming and was grumpy for about an hour after we got out of the water.

I planted my cucumbers (two types), carrots (two types), lettuce, spinach, beets, radishes, cabbages, and zucchini tonight; corn (two types), peas (two types), butternut squash and watermelon are all going in tomorrow. I'm sure I'll be taking pictures of my garden as it progresses (I'm just cool like that).

Little lambs chilling in a bale.

 First white faced heifer of the year.

I forced the heifer to take a picture with me :P .

It was so hot out that Pepper decided to sit in a container of water; Gertrude just drank it.

*One Hour Later: we have four more lambs. Also, hairless ewe has taken a turn for the worst, here's hoping she makes it through the night. *

Hairless Lambs

I snapped a couple pictures of our bald lambs this morning. They are just so odd looking!

 This is what a normal Suffolk, Katahidn X lamb looks like. A Suffolk, Canadian Arcott should be similar, just maybe a slightly different color.

 This is what our bald Suffolk, Canadian Arcott X lambs look like. (Ewe on left, wether on right)

She is just so pink!

We are wondering if these babies are a bit premature; T said the boys testes were small and were not quite descended when she was trying to castrate him (she got it figured out though). So maybe the small testes and lack of wool are because these babies weren't actually quite ready to come out yet. As long as they continue to eat and build up some strength I won't worry too much about them, except for sun burns that is.

On a slightly different note, we have already had two more sets of twins today, and one heifer calf :). The animals were nice enough to give us a break so T and I were able to check out all of the garage sales in town before lunch, the weather was beautiful so it was great to be able to walk around in shorts rather than my dirty farm overalls :P .

*Two hours later*-we have a new heifer and a new bull calf. The heifer is our first white faced girl of the season, so far all the white faced babies have been males.

Lambs Galore

We had 12 lambs born today (six sets of twins)! Sadly one ewe lamb was dead when MIL found her; she suspects that she was still born as there was nothing apparently wrong with the lamb. We also had 3 calves born today (all bulls), so overall we had a busy day.

One of the ewes had to be caught and helped as she had a lamb coming out head first who was stuck; happily this lamb survived. T put on the gloves and reached in the ewe, she had to go past her elbow to find the second lamb! After she pulled it forward, I put on some gloves and got to reach in and find out what a lamb feels like while it's still in it's mother. Boy was I confused! The lamb had pulled back in a bit before I got my hand in, and so I too was past my elbow in a sheep; it took me a while to locate the legs, and then I couldn't find the head. Sounds odd considering that the head is attached to the same body as the legs are, but I just couldn't find it. So, T had to take over once again, and after a bit of a struggle she was finally able to get the lamb positioned correctly, and pulled it out (it too was alive).
T said the head was turned all the way around (imagine it's nose resting on it's back), so that's why I was having problems finding it. She had to maneuver it around quite a bit so that it was coming out the right way.
Having your arm inside an animal fishing for a baby is a pretty strange experience. You can't see what you're doing so you're going by touch alone. It's like being in a pitch black room, searching for a banana in a large bowl of warm jello, except there is blood and other bodily fluids and the 'banana's' life is depending on you removing it from the 'jello' quickly and correctly.

We also had a set of twins born today who are quite bald. They remind us of hairless cats as they are wrinkly and pink; chances are they're going to need little coats or they'll wind up with sun burns. It's tempting to breed them and sell them for $1500 just like those hairless cats  : P .

Here are a couple of pictures I took with my phone while out in the pen today, sorry for the crumby quality.

 A half Canadian Arcott ewe lamb. I think she's the cutest thing :)

 The first hairless lamb just after it was born. Lamb #2 was still waiting to come out.

The hairless twins together with mom. I'll get some better photos of them tomorrow so you can all see just how pink they really are.

Some Current Pictures

Today is a beautiful day, so I thought I would snap a few pictures of some of our goats so everyone can see what they look like now. Hope you enjoy.

 Mishka is on the right, and her daughter Weeble is on the left.

Stella (C's goat)

A group of babies. The three laying down are triplets.

Trying to cool off in the shade.

Cassie (on the left) and her brother.

Alex and Billie.

The buckling with the lions mane.

Eggplant's buckling has a heart on his leg :).

Tommy the LGD watching his goats while keeping in the shade.

Before We Started Kidding

Back on March 25, before any of our kids had hit the ground, we purchased a purebred (or so we are told...) Boer Doe and her two kids, a doeling and a buckling. The Doe goes by Kirby, and we have named the doeling Peanut Butter (P.B. for purebred also equals Peanut Butter) and the buckling is Rambo (their father's name is Bodacious).

 Kirby with Rambo in front.

Rambo on the left, Peanut Butter on the right.

We will be using Rambo to breed our 2011 doelings in 2012. We're hoping for some good strong meat babies, with lots of color.

Jump ahead a bit to April 14; the day was miserable, it was snowing and blowing, everything was wet, and we had to bundle up as if it was January. For those of you with any farming experience you know that this means it is "perfect" weather for having a baby; enter Zorro. FIL had been told that one of the llamas we had received last year was due to have her baby in May, well that was wrong because she decided that a snow storm in April was the perfect day for a baby. He was quite chilled when we found him, and he had some raspy breathing, but happily he perked right up after a couple of days in the barn with his mom (I'm sure the antibiotics helped too). For those of you who are interested to know, a baby llama is called a cria.

 Zorro and his Mom

A closer look at Zorro, boy was he ever wet!

May 6-17

May 11
Eggplant had twins, a buckling and a doeling. The buckling had a cute little heart on his leg :)

April 28-May 5

April 28
I drove back home after my last exams and went straight to the goat pen to see the new babies! As I was checking everyone Yearling started pushing, and she gave us a doeling and a buckling!(Cassie)

Then as soon as Yearling finished, Peaches laid down and had two bucklings and a doeling! What a great momma she is :). We are supplementing the doeling as Peaches doesn't seem to have quite enough milk for all three babies. (Kadeja)

April 30/May 1st
11:40 P.M. T found a mom cleaning off a doeling and started hunting around the pen for more; she found another doeling (tiny little thing) alone by the feeder. Upon returing to the "Mom" Terryl realised that this 'Mom' had not actually had any babies yet! T and Mil searched the pen and found that Cat and Black Goat had both given birth. Cat was given the large one, Black Goat the small one as she is part pygmy. (Alex and Kiwi)

By the time I got to the farm the new moms were already penned up with their babies, however Black Goat did not want anything to do with her baby. We took Kiwi, covered her in Cat's placenta and put her with Cat and Alex, hoping that Cat might adopt her.
While all of this was happening the "Mom" from before (Pepto) went into labor; she gave us triplets! One buckling and two doelings. The second doeling (last baby) was in backwards and needed to be pulled a bit. (Shirna and Sophie). This all ended around 2:15a.m. -Sadly Sophie died due to a twisted bowel-

May 1 continued
Around 10 a.m. after feeding Kadeja, and Kiwi (Cat also rejected her) T and I found Polly with a buckling. We like to say that we have trained our goats to have their babies on command because only 10 minutes before Polly had her baby, I said "Polly's bag is distracting!" and T replied sarcastically "She isn't anywhere near ready yet!". We waited about 10 minutes after the buckling was born and then decided to check for a second baby; T reached in and pulled out a doeling, who was sadly dead on arrival (we were unable to revive her). As soon as we were certain the doeling was dead, I ran over and grabbed Kiwi and T and I covered her in placenta/fluids. Happily, Polly adopted Kiwi as her own :)

May 2
Paz had triplets; one buckling and two doelings! All the babies are incredibly healthy, and Paz has more than enough milk to go around :). (Chica and Sanchesca)

May 3
Swan had a single doeling. Swan is Paz's daughter, and we were expecting more from her, but one healthy doeling is better than none :) (Billie)

Cal 2 had twins, buckling and doeling. The buckling looks like he has a lions mane I think. (Charlie)

May 4
Mishka had twin bucklings, they are both big and healthy.

Weeble had a single doeling, and it was a terrible birth. T had to pull incredibly hard. The doeling was coming out head first, so T had to push her in and grab her legs. Then she was coming legs first (which is fine), but her head was back so T had to push her back in once again and straighten everything out. (Annabelle) -Sadly annabelle died when she was a few days old, she had so many health problems so this was probably for the best-

Oreo had twin bucklings, but sadly one of them was not cleaned off quick enough so he suffocated.

May 5
Dawn had twins, a buckling and a doeling. The buckling looks just like her and is massive! (Dusk)

April 20-27

April 20
Our first babies have arrived! 492 (Momma) had twin bucklings, and they are beautiful!

April 24
Rub-a-Dub had triplets! We had been worried about her because she had been pushing herself out, but she delivered all three babies safely and is doing well :). Two doelings and one buckling! (Betty and Wilma)

April 25
Chipmunk had a single buckling. Silly girl, you're suppose to have two babies!

April 26
Lightning had a single buckling; she was huge so this is quite a surprise for us. T checked for another baby inside of Lightning, but didn't feel anything.

April 27
Today we have some good news and some bad news. Good new: Cocoa had her babies, bad news: only one of the three bucklings survived. It appears that Cocoa didn't get the other two cleaned off fast enough so they suffocated.

April 27 continued
Lightning was found pushing this afternoon, it appears that she did have another baby in her after all. T and MIL had to tag team pull the baby out, it was very rotten and fell apart as they were pulling (sorry if this is too graphic for some, but this is life on the farm). Lightning is now on antibiotics, the vet also prescribed some pain killers for her.

Lets Get Caught Up

Alright, so Spring Kidding 2011 has almost completely finished for us here at Flat Lake, but I'm going to go through my records and let you know what all happened (this could take a while). I'm going to do a post for each week, so that I don't end up having to make 30 posts to get everyone all caught up. Hope you enjoy :).

-H.T.