Farm News 02-25-07

Sunday morning, after chores, fresh snow

Triple Tetrapods and More

On Thursday morning we had twice as many goats as we had on Wednesday morning. Lucy had triplets! Two male and one female. They all have silver ears, but their bodies are different colors. The little doeling is mostly black with some dark mahogany markings on her nose and front legs. One of the little bucks is light brown and the other is dark brown. They are all, of course, very cute.

Shortly after noon on Thursday I went out to check on the babies and found two more. Sally had twins! Five baby goats in one day was the most I can remember. Sally's pair consisted of a doe that is marked exactly like her mother and a little buck. The buck, unfortunately, failed to start. Sometimes babies never try to nurse, they just curl up and lie there for a day and then die.

Friday afternoon I went out to look at them and was greeted with the delightful sight of Lucy's light brown buck hopping. Jumping is a high priority skill for little goats. They will work and work at it, until, finally, they can get both front feet off the ground at the same time. Then they start working on the hind feet. Lucy's baby, no more than 36 hours old, managed to get all four feet off the ground at once.

By Saturday afternoon the first races were beginning. It was raining, so they didn't have a lot of room, but they used what they had to race back and forth. After a few laps they would all lie down and take a short nap, then jump up again and start a new race. Every third race or so would be delayed while they called for their mothers, feigning starvation.

Goats have two teats, a fact which creates traffic jams at the udder when they have more than two kids. I'll have to keep an eye on them to make certain they all get enough to eat. Little bucks will tend to push little does aside when there is competition. Even when there are only two kids the largest will always get the most milk.

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