A Bottle for Biscuit

Another bottle for Biscuit.

And another.....and another.......

I think he's finally catching up to his brothers and sister.

It will be hard to tell he was the runt soon.

Spring is here!

Ranae just loves any and every animal.

Especially baby goats.

She is a willing helper when Brian needs to doctor our farm animals.

And she is a great helper to me in their daily care.

And, as you can see, the animals just love her so.

Kisses!

Student Day Honors Recital

Ranae performing her piano piece at the Honors Recital.

They grow up so fast.

I remember when her feet couldn't even touch the pedals.

My kids

Matthew is home for spring break.

So that means it must be time for the "kid" picture.

So far we have had 6 kids born on the farm this year.

Little Dot will deliver in April and there will be more.

But for now, 6 is good.

Frankly speaking,

I don't think I could have gotten even one more goat to look at the camera.

Or smile.

From L to R back row:

Kevin holding Barnabas, Matthew holding Believer, Alex holding Blessing

From L to R front row:

Sarah holding Bullet, Ranae holding Ballerina and Biscuit.

Sarah's Castle

"Mommy, Mommy, come look at my castle!"

It's Just A Broom

Ester's kids saw a broom for the first time today.

I know it's just a broom.

But when you've never seen one.....

it's captivating.

From L-R: Biscuit, Bullet, Believer and Ballerina

Dinner Time

This is Biscuit taking his bottle.

(His absolute favorite thing to do.)

You may notice that he has been disbudded.

Brian and Ranae did that deed last weekend.

This way he won't ever get long, wicked horns that get caught in fences.

This way he has no sharp horns that hurt goats or people.

The good news is Biscuit has already forgotten about it.

~ ~ ~

All he thinks about now is milk.

More milk.

And more milk.

This is Believer.

He is Biscuit's big brother.

He's big not because he's older,

(he was born 4th, Biscuit was born 3rd)

but because he's BIGGER.

Believer has decided that milk bottles are good.

He seemed a little hungry one day and I offered him the leftovers.

That was all it took.

Now every time he sees me he looks up and waits for his turn.

~ ~ ~

And he doesn't mind waiting.

He says, I'll just be right here at your feet,

looking up into your eyes,

with a hopeful expression on my sweet face.

Any leftover milk for me?

Please.

And I always have some milk for Believer.

You better believe it.

Milk Bucket

~ Feeding Time ~

Lots of warm goat milk needed.

I have found this is the best way for me to carry all those bottles.

From the house to the barn.

From the barn to the house.

With my little red milk bucket.

Sharing Isn't Easy - For Goats

I decided it was time to get my New Mexico goats into the herd.

Lily is such a sweet goat that I know she would be perfect to pair with Amadaeus.

The only problem they have is sharing grain.

They always start out fine.

Then Lily gets bossy.

And finally I have to stand guard.
Just for a few days.
Until they get used to each other.

Double Fisted Drinking

Bottles of warm milk for Barnabas and Blessing.

Me trying to hold on to two bottles

and take a picture at the same time.

I am so glad they are both doing well.

Their mother would be glad.

Riding Rides and Going Home

Finally.

We're done.

Today's the day we get to ride rides.

Today's the day we get to take our goats home.

Yaaaaa Hooooo!

Babies at the Fair

Besides our quadruplets, there were other baby goats at the fair.

This breed is a Nubian.

They are a dairy goat also.

They get to be very tall and do well in warm weather.

Ranae loved to help bottle feed them anytime she could.

Don't you just love their ears.

I always want to put ponytail ribbons on them!

My Boys and Goats

Kevin liked getting Lightning out every night to give him exercise.

Lightning was always grateful.
After all, he's just a baby.
Only one year old, with lots of energy to spare.

In other fair news, just for fun Alex entered the Goat Agility Contest.
He asked my advice about which of the 8 goats we had at the fair he should use.
I said, "Adagio, without a doubt."
Despite having not practiced the sport himself,
and using an animal that had never seen the course,
they did quite well.
Alex and Adagio completed the course in 43 seconds
and won third place in the Senior Division.
Alex had quick determination
and Adagio had an "I'll follow you anywhere" attitude.
A winning combination.

Eating at the Fair

Once a year, when the fair rolls around, we look forward to the food.

Ice Cream, pizza, beef tips, corn-on-the-cob, stir fry....

Fresh squeezed lemonade, pretzels, cotton candy, nachos....
I could go on......but you get the idea.

After 10 days of this all we can think about is
fruit and vegetables and eating at home.
Instead of on someone's shoulders.
Or in a car.
Or with the smell of the steer or swine barn nearby.
~ ~ ~
Soon it will all be over.
And we'll be sad about it.
~ ~ ~
And after a little while we will start to dream about next year's fair...
and all the projects we want to enter.
We'll have plans to enter our baked goods and our sewing projects.
We'll dream about winning a blue rosette ribbon for our photography.
And we will hope once again to raise a grand champion goat or chicken.
And then we'll start dreaming about the food.
~ ~ ~
But not now....not yet.
Let me try to find the bottom of my kitchen sink first.

Biscuit

Guess who had to come home a little early from the fair?

Biscuit, the runt.

With him being away from the farm all day I couldn't monitor his nursing.

I couldn't make sure he was getting enough.

So he started langishing.

(That's kindof a nice word for dying.)
So Biscuit came home and I put him on a bottle.

He's doing much better now.
Even though he made me break my hard and fast rule:
NO ANIMALS IN THE HOUSE.

He's been sleeping in a crate in the laundry room.
And getting fed 5-6 times a day.
Maybe once or twice at night.

And he's doing much better now.
Much, much better.
Thankfully, goats grow up quicker than children.
Because I could sure use some sleep.
Soon.

Fair Questions

Who's foot is this?

.....Just take a wild guess.....

If you said camel, then you're right!

This one was right behind the goat barn all week.

They are quite interesting animals.

Especially close up.

Here's another fair question for ya:

How are your goat's doing up at the fair?

The answer is either:
"Let me out of here!"


Or........."I'm bored"........zzzzzz.