Introducing the "Teenies"

In December, I bought a bred, polled Nigerian Dwarf doe. On February 11th, on a nice warm afternoon, "Ariel" presented us wiht quads! Two bucks and two does and let me tell you - we are all HOOKED!! They are the cutest things and have the neatest personalities! They have been called squeaky toys, party blowers, beanie babies and who all knows what else. They lived in the house until just recently and no one could walk by without picking one up and cuddling it!

Our Kids Are Growing Up!!

Our first 2009 kids are already almost a month old and growing like weeds! They have been started on the lambar and are doing quite well with it - well except the one or two that like to jump up and stand on it - naughty kids! They have been going out to play on nice days - they love our deck - built in goat toy! They spent their first night in the barn last night and handled it all in stride. Be sure to see the one kid in mid-leap on about the second picture of them playing - caught that totally by accident!

Slideshow of the Kids' Field Trip

The Kids Go On A Field Trip!!

Today was story hour at the library I work at. I had purchased a wonderful new story book - "Trudy" - about a Nubian doe giving birth. Since we have a whole passle of kids and Aaron was out of school today, we took the "teenies" (as I have dubbed the Nigerian quads) in to share with the children. Everyone had a really good time! Notice the photo of the little girl in pink holding Sebastian - in the background you can see the story book - Aaron caught the picture just as the little girl was hold the goat just like the gal in pink on the cover of the book! Then, Melodee decided she would like to take a turn running the circulation desk and was in the process of picking out a book mark when Aaron took her photo!

There Was an Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe . . .

. . . and we are really beginning to wonder what to do!! We have ten kids now - holy cow! And at least three more does to go! A week ago, our standard Alpine doe had a single doe kid - good size kid - a first generation mini-Alpine named Cupid's Comet. Tuesday morning I was watching our goat cams from work and was watching our two year old first freshener Hugz just laying there chewing her cud - BORING. Then, she stood up and there was a kid laying there! Rushed home just in time for the twin to be born - both bucks - "Brutis" and "Bubba". "Brutis" is built like a tank and I think he will go far in the showring! Wednesday afternoon, our single Nigerian doe presented us with QUADS!!! 2 does and 2 bucks and they are absolutely ADORABLE!!! Probably about the size of half grown cats or a small Chihuahua - you can see the size comparison in the photo where they are with Brutis, Bubba and our doxie dog! We have chosen to hand raise, so are keeping very busy milking, pasturizing the milk, and feeding the babies!

Kidding Time is Upon Us!

Our first doe, Candy, presented us with two 2nd generation doe kids early Sunday morning! She has yet to give us a dark brown kid like herself but she sure does give us nice kids none - the less! Keeping with the candy theme, they are named Cherry Butte Dotz and Cherry Butte Skittlez.

Then this morning, when I was out doing chores, I heard a baby! What a surprise! Last fall, we came home one afternoon to find the does in with the Nigerian buck - oops. We had planned to breed Summer to a standard Nubian buck and in fact put her in with him the first part of December and he DID breed her. Apparently though she was already carrying triplet doelings by the Nigerian! Sadly one doe kid was already dead and the second passed away this evening (it was VERY cold last night), however, the third mini-Nubian doeling who I am calling Cherry Butte Summer Surprize is doing quite well - she has a slightly roman nose and her ears hang very nicely.

Three more does are in the barn and due with in the next couple of weeks . . .