Ladies In Waiting

I had the day off today, thankfully because someone had to drive into town and pick up the prodigal son last night. No wait, he wasn't prodigal, he was just at Bible conference for the weekend.

We were home by 10pm and talked until midnight. I slept in until 6am. Finally got out to milk around 7am.

Came back in and went back to bed. I was still tired.

I got up again around 9am and went right out to paint the new maternity ward. Dh got the roof put on yesterday and I wanted to get the girls in there today. I put on two coats. One was a base paint - we've discovered it's important, otherwise the paint just soaks in to the wood and you have to do three and four coats. It didn't take too long, maybe 3 hours tops. I waited to move the girls into their new digs until afternoon milking, around 4pm.



They aren't too excited about the new arrangements. They happily scarfed down the grain treat they were given, but they refused to eat their hay. Starburst (the one with the white spot on her head) really wants to be back in the doe pen with the rest of her herd - and her mother. She is the one that is half wild, and I'm concerned if I don't spend some extra time with her, she will be a terror on the milking stand. The other doe is Mocha. Her mother died 26 hours after she gave birth to her triplet doelings, so she doesn't have a mother to miss. She was bottle raised.

It is also important for these girls to really learn their names, as I call them when it's their turn for milking. It's so cool to see the girls run in response to their names being called.

To the left you can see a doe headed towards me. That's Mocha's sister, Little Brooke. She thinks I might have a grain treat.




No joy. So she takes off and heads back to the herd, and the hay.


Starburst, the one to the right, is due on Friday. Mocha is due on March 12th.

I was thinking while milking tonight, that this new area is really going to work out good. What we usually do is separate the kids from the dams overnight, when they turn two weeks old. If the kids are wild, and the kids and dams are living with the entire herd, it's nearly impossible to get the kids and their dam separated. Then I milk the dam in the morning, and put her back in with her kids for the day. It will be important to get Starburst on the milking line as soon as possible; otherwise, she will think only her kids can have access to her udder. Since we have our goats for milk, they have to learn that milking is a big part of their life. A way to earn their keep. And they LOVE the "grain"stand, aka milk stand.

The last doe to join this group will be Miss Z. She and her doeling kid. Her doeling kid IS wild, and scared senseless of "the two-legs". When I milk in the morning, before work, it's 3:30 and it's dark. Sometimes Miss Z's doeling kid comes running out with her. I guess she doesn't realize I'm there, just that mama's leaving the pen, and she's going with her! She doesn't do it every morning, but often enough that I know I'll have an opportunity to put Miss Z in with the pregnant does. That way I'll have a chance to spend more time with the wild doeling. AND, the area is small enough that I'll be able to spend time with the new kids.

Until next time.