The kids are all born

9 kids from 5 does in 10 days!

The first set of twins were born on Sunday March 6th. The mother is Agatha and father is Rufus. They were born about 1:30 in the afternoon. I really did not want to breed Agatha because she was not even a year old yet, but because my farm is still a work in progress, she did not want to stay with the weanling ewe lambs and kept going through the fences. I was afraid she would get tangled up and really hurt herself or worse. So I left her with the does and the buck and hoped she would be alright with the pregnacy. She produces two small doelings, both weighing about 4 pounds. I was worried Agatha did not have enough milk and bottle feed the smallest doeling for a couple of days and also had her nurse off of Cedar for a couple of days.

I am happy to report all are doing well now and both are growing very nicely.
I have named them Brenda and Babs. Babs is a very bright white and Brenda is an off white, technically I think she is considered a faded red, but not sure. The color is only noticable when they are right next to each other. Sure hope Brenda gets just a hair darker as she grows so I can easily tell them apart. I really don't want to put an ear tag in them yet.

The second set of twins were born Tuesday March 8th. Unfortunately, they were born in the early morning and Cedar, the mother, had them outside in the cold rain. Neither one of them survived. They were both black doelings. The only good thing was I was able to supplement Babs off of Cedar for several days while Agatha developed more milk.

The third set of twins was born Saturday March 12 at about 6pm. The mother is Abby, a red doe, and the father is Rufus a black. The two of them look almost identical. But one is a buckling and the other a doeling. They both already have their mothers sweet personality. The doeling is named Bailey and the buckling is named Baxter. I was away on a fiber retreat and Rob did a great job of being nurse 'father'.

The only single kid born was born Sunday March 13th at about 7pm. The mother is Cedar and the father is Rufus. I was very surprised when I saw that this doeling was white! Both mother and father are black. So I will have to do some investigating into the mothers pedigree and see if there is any whites or spotted in her lineage. The buck, Rufus, has no pedigree so I don't know anything about his lineage. I was watching her stand up for the first time and I had not gone in yet and I thought Cedar had pooped on her babies back! Then I discovered that it is a little spot!

The last set of twins was born on Tuesday March 15th sometime early afternoon. When I got home at 5pm they were dry with tummies full. The mother is Ziva and the father is Rufus. I was thrilled when I saw that they were both doelings!! And one of them was brown! They should be friendly like their mother.

I still need to come up with names for three of them, but I am SOOOO thrilled that I ended up with six girls!

So far this has been a total opposite of last year. I just hope this doesn't mean that the four pregnant ewes will have all single ram lambs! But, I guess if they were all healthy I would still be very happy.

There is going to be lots of 'work' getting these kids friendly. I love that kind of work! :)

First of the babies!

We had a very nice surprise this afternoon!

They where born about 1 o'clock this afternoon. The mother is Agatha, my wild child! These are Agatha's first kids. I had planned on leaving her open because she was only born last year, so she is still very young! But, boy, has she been a fantastic mother!! She cleaned them both off quickly and stood quietly while they tried to find the food source.

Of course, she is the only angora goat that I had not sheared yet so the poor babies where trying to nurse on fleece! So I was able to catch her and give her a quick trim job. Not complete, but enough the babies will have an easier time of finding their next meal.

I am happy to report they both have had several small meals and are pretty cozy in their sweaters under the heat lamp. I was afraid that the sweaters where going to be too small, but they seem to be doing there job.

Oh my, I almost forgot to mention.....

Twin Doelings!!!!!!

I can hardly believe it! First time mom produced twin doelings!! I am so excited! I hope this is a peak into the future for the other 8 momma's tobe.

And their names? Well, one of them will be named Brenda, after a friend of mine, in fact her birthday is today!! I haven't come up with a second name yet. It must start with the letter B.

Better go check on them. :)

Spoiled dogs, Beautiful sunsets, the angoras

Yep, our dogs are very spoiled. They sofa is theirs. Usually it is the two brown dogs, Haley and Bella that are on the sofa and Sammie is asleep by the door, but this night Sammie wanted in on the soft sofa.

Kansas has some beautiful sun sets. Many more than I ever capture on film!

Here is Agatha, she was born last spring and is still my wild child. Not sure she will ever mellow out. But she is very pretty and has the softest fiber!

Ziva.

Matilda.

Abby.

Cedar.

All of the angora does are bred to Rufus this year. I don't have a current picture of him because he left for another farm shortly after he finished his job here.

The Icelandic Sheep

Here are some recent pictures of the Icelandic sheep I bought this summer. I am so excited for lambing to begin. Even though I only bred the two older ewes. I let the four young ones have one more year to grow and mature before I breed them.

Hank, a yearling ram out of Evra.

Herriot, an yearling ram. He was suppose to be my flock sire but his horns are not growing as wide as I would like. I have bred him to Evra this year and will see how the lambs turn out. I wonder if his horn set has anything to do with the stress of weaning and moving in the heat of the summer.

Hattie, a yearling ewe. She is doesn't like her photo taken. This is the best one I could get of her. She is not very friendly yet.

This is Evra, a four year old ewe. She is bred to Herriot. And Heidi, Evra's ewe lamb from last year. Heidi and Hattie are of the same mind set that mom's are better than humans. I hope once Evra and Garnett have their lambs this spring that the two yearlings will become a little more friendly.

Hazel, a yearling ewe lamb. She has the sweetest personality. She always comes up for a little scratching on the way the dinner.

Hosta, a yearling ewe. She was very skittish when she first came but she is very friendly now. And she has the cutest expressions!

Garnet, a two year old ewe. She is bred to Hank. I can't wait to see what colors I get from this combination.

Hosta and Hazel getting a little treat for being so sweet girls.

A week ago.......and today

So I am a little late in getting pictures up from our 'blizzard'. So here it goes.

The east side of our house. Good thing we don't use the 'front' door.

Took some shoveling to get my car out. Truck isn't 4 wheel drive so it is useless in the snow.

Couple of the angora does plowing through the deep snow.

The ram lambs from last spring.

Sammie finally had enough and was ready to come inside.

Boy, did that snow blow!!!

Darn red-wing black birds hoggin' all the bird seed!

And here is what it looks like this afternoon! Yep, more blowing snow!

But the horses don't seem to mind at all. I think they are well insulated!

Legend, the chestnut on the left; Max, the grey (my awesome trail horse) in the center; Admiral, the bay on the right; and Nubie, the bay behind the hay feeder.

Barach, Rob's awesome palomino. He is by himself because he would eat two bales of hay in one day if he had free choice like the other 4 geldings. And he is very prone to be over weight.

My two elderly horses. Agape, the bay mare on the left is thirty this year. And Sky, the grey gelding on the right is 28 this year. Sky was my very first horse. I bought him when he was a two year old. I learned so much on this horse and he has taught soooo many students to ride. Both Agape and Sky are retired now.

It is bitterly cold out also. 3 degrees at 4 pm!

But it looks like this weekend is going to be in the 50's!!

Can't wait!

Stay warm everyone!