Baby goats in the sun

The weather was quite nice yesterday so I let the goat kids and Mama Penny out in the chicken run for a bit of fresh air. I am hoping to integrate them with the rest of the herd next month when it's a bit warmer.

Annabelle

The kids are just over six weeks old now and growing like weeds.

Penny is doing well. I would like to see her put on a bit more weight, but she's much better than she was a few weeks back when she had diarrhea and a cough. The vet's good drugs did the trick!

Luc and Keaton. Keaton loves to hang out with the goats. I found him curled up in their stall this morning when I went down!

They are still feeding from mama. Rosie got left out on the left! I still give them supplemental bottles but have gotten down to two a day now. They are eating hay and also cattle starter now.

Luc will be neutered when he reaches 40 lbs. Yes, I could have had him elastrated or otherwise done when he was younger, but I chose not to for a bunch of reasons, not the least of which is that he's a pet and I'm not going to have him neutered without pain relief. He can impregnate his sisters and mama fairly soon so I am going to try one of these on him: The Bacchus Johnson shield (hahahaha!) A bit of a chastity belt for boy goats. It will also enable him to stay with his mama longer. I don't want to have to separate him early just so he doesn't impregnate her. All the local farmers are giving me grief over not elastrating him, but I simply don't want to. Some European countries have actually banned the practice (think rubber band on testicles until they fall off!) I am NOT criticizing farmers who use this practice, but it's not for me and the vet says that surgical neutering carries the least risk of infection. He castrated our two adult bucks and was really careful with anaesthesia, so I have some faith in him. Goats are very sensitive to anaesthesia but there are some newer drugs out that seem to be safer for them.

Anyway, every goat owner I know has a different opinion on this but for us, surgical castration is the way to go for this little dude. We're not goat farmers or breeders; they're just pets for us.

And here's...hmmm, Rosie and Finney saying hello through the fencing!

After their fun in the sun, the little goat family all curled up for a nap together...

Hope you are having a nice week!

Icy!

We had quite the storm the other day. While we managed to escape the 50 cm/20 in pile-up Ottawa received, we still got some snow as well as freezing rain and ice pellets.

Fortunately we didn't lose power! Everything was coated in a layer of ice...

...which makes for a beautiful sparkly landscape in the late-winter sunshine!

The pony crew was unperturbed!

Finney and Esme are already shedding their winter coats!

Today's forecast calls for rain, ugh! That will make for an unholy mess!

If you are on Facebook, I have made a page for our farm and rescue animals and you will find it here!

Have a great weekend!

Neigh!

It is pretty darn cold today... thermometer was at almost -30C when I got up and the windchill is supposed to be -37C or something today. Winter in Canada. Fortunately it was still warm enough last night for our riding lesson...

Gordon and his girlfriend Sandy

Me and my boyfriend Roo.

I wish I'd started riding when I was a little kid. It is so much fun! We both love going to lessons.

Gordon said my horse has a big ass!!

The nerve!

The place where take lessons and board our horses has just put on a beautiful new addition with nine new box stalls. Lucky Roo and Sandy got to move into the new building this week.

Sandy needs a trim!

I caught her bucking when Gordon went into a canter in our lesson yesterday (this is grainy -- it's from the video I took) Just a little one...

Hahahah! Gordon thought she tripped. ANyway, they just kept on going. Last week, Sandy tripped on fell on her front knees but this time, unlike last time this happened, he didn't fall off! She's a bit of a lazy gal and we think she gets so lazy, she trips over her own feet. Gordon needs to wake her up a bit.

Today is a good day to stay indoors! Our ponies and donkey are staying inside today.

Keaton 1, Annabelle 0

Keaton will only take so much of Annabelle's crap!

bahahahaha! 

Have a great weekend!

It's a wonder I get anything done here...

...with THIS cuteness going on!!!

My little Rosie!

Missy is not so sure about Luc!

Rosie mistaking my nose for a bottle!

These kids just do not sit still!

Rosie. Hard to believe she nearly died the day after she was born! While she is still smaller than her two siblings, she's doing great!

Luc lording it over his sister!

Annabelle eating hay with her mama (stealing pony hay, that is!)

Yes, Annabelle, I caught you in the act!

Esme and Finney sharing hay (in a Handy Hay Net! We love 'em!)

Guess who?

Yes, it's my spectacular donkey!

He was chomping down on my hood here. He loves to do that, and steal hats!

Sharing a snack with Finney

And Emerson says, "Can't you see I'm trying to take a nap?"

Poor Kevin!

Poor Kevin!

He loves a good scratch between the horns. But horns, argh... I noticed some blood on his rear leg yesterday, so the vet came today to take a look at what I thought  was a small boo-boo up near his scrotum (or the remains thereof - he was neutered in December!) Turns out he has a nasty gash about 4" long, courtesy of (no doubt) Geoff's horn (that's Geoff behind him in this picture.) He was being very stoic and I didn't realize there was a serious issue! The wound is deep, but fortunately the gash stopped a centimetre or two shy of the muscle layer.

So the vet scrubbed the wound clean (which I will be doing twice a day with Chlorhexidine) and gave Kevin a shot of Metacam for pain relief and a shot of some strong antibiotics. If things aren't better by the end of a week, the vet will come back. I also have to make sure everything is very dry after cleaning, so that Kevin doesn't get frostbite outside. Poor Kevin! He's really a very sweet goat, impressive for a buck (well, technically he's a wether now.) He's quite affectionate, easy to lead on a rope, and a very nice boy. He was so good for the vet. Here's hoping he heals up well with no complications!

I mentioned to the vet that Henry the pig needed another hoof trim (his hooves were terribly overgrown when he came and we are working them back.) It was done with sedation last time but the vet has done pot-bellied pigs before and figured we could do this. So we somehow managed to catch Henry (who is big and VERY STRONG!) and I held him sort of in my lap as he screamed non-stop in my ear while the vet gave him a pedicure! For the record, pigs scream when restrained. It's just what they do. Perhaps some pampered house-pet pigs learn not to scream, but I have ten screamers! It's a joy on vaccination day! ;)

As soon as we let go of Henry, he stopped screaming and was perfectly calm, and his hooves are looking better too.

And here is Annabelle looking adorable, as she does...

And this morning's goat-kid video!

I suddenly now have FOUR people helping me with barn chores and they are all amazing! I have really lucked out with this crew, especially since they keep telling me they'd do it for free (but of course we pay them.) After the goat kids arrived and I was bottle-feeding three times a day, I realized how exhausted I was and asked for help. And I hadn't realized how much time we spent on barn chores until other people started doing them! I am hoping to use the time I no longer spend scrubbing buckets and shovelling manure to do some art. I have not worked on a real art project in ages, although I do write a poem a week for my poetry course, and am working on other writing. But I am itching to do some drawings of the goats, and maybe now I will have some time. I feel really fortunate that I have found such great people to help out. They all love animals and are so kind to ours! This is freeing up a good four hours a day of our time, PLUS one of them is working with Finney to break him to ride, which is so much fun.

Please think good thoughts for  Kevin, and for Alex the cat who had half his thyroid removed last week (no pathology results yet!) Truly there is never a dull moment around here, but I would not trade it for anything.

Poor Alex!

Poor Alex... I found an odd lump on his neck this week, and he's lost a bit of weight, so Gordon took him to the vet last night. Today they took the lump out and sent it off to pathology. The vet said the lump was basically half his thyroid, enlarged.  So, it may be cancer, and he may be hyperthyroid, They are keeping him in tonight to make sure his calcium levels are okay and he should be able to come  home tomorrow.

Refusing to look at the camera!

Poor Alex was at the vet's last September with a complete urethral blockage.

Gordon said he was pretty relaxed and mellow tonight. Here's hoping it's not cancer and he'll be okay. We adopted Alex from the OSPCA in 2007. He'd been found in a leghold trap six weeks earlier. They amputate his hind leg and put him up for adoption. We went into the shelter that September to look at dogs, and came home with a cat instead! :)

Goatness me!

First off, it was my birthday last weekend and LOOK what my friend Ronna made for me this year!!!!

LOOK!! There's Mama Penny with her triplets! There's Saul cuddling up with his buddy Emerson and the two ponies! There's Tristan quietly watching everyone. There's Keaton up in the loft with the chickens!

I am so lucky to have a talented, kind friend like Ronna. She has made me several beautiful cakes oer the years. Check out Ronna's Cakebook on Facebook, and her blog!

After my birthday supper, we went down to the barn to feed babies!

Ronna is feeding Annabelle in this photo.

I think she enjoyed it quite a bit!

The kids are growing like WEEDS. This was the day they were born, January 9th!

They just keep getting bigger and bigger! Luc is so cute.

Annabelle was nibbling on my ear when I took this!

They are starting to eat some hay and cattle starter feed now.

They have grown since this picture was taken a few days back.

Gordon says the only thing better than one goat on your lap... (look at Keaton's bat-ears front and centre at the bottom of the pic!)

... is two, or perhaps three!

Here is my little Rosie...

She likes playing with the lead ropes hanging in the box stall area.

She is doing very well, especially considering she nearly died the day after she was born. She gets the least of mama's milk of any of the siblings, and now she runs to me at feeding time instead of Penny. And now when I come down the barn steps, she starts screaming for me as soon as she hears me! It's pretty cute.

The cats and goat kids are all very interested in each other...

 

Buttercup isn't too sure about Luc and Annabelle watching her!

 

Feeding time!

Annabelle sampling hay

Don't worry, the cats aren't being neglected...

...although Buttercup wasn't too thrilled about Keaton sharing my lap!

Keaton usually has a lot to say!

My friend Peggy brought this big teddy bear for Henry the pig to snuggle up to, but Pip is rather fond of it!

Speaking of my little angel Rosie! <3 p="">

There's maamaa, chowing down!

Somebody pointed out that Finney's forelock looks a bit like the hair of a certain, ahem, US presidential hopeful!

Me and Saul, the sweetest donkey in the universe!

And in the house...

...Annuk and Honey both want to use my Powerbook as a bed, which might be nice for them but isn't so great for my computer!

And here's a nice shot of my horse Roo that my friend took last weekend...

I have finally broken down and hired more help for around the farm. Now that I have four different FABULOUS people coming during the week to do chores, I realize just how much time I was spending doing chores!!!  It's given me time to work on other stuff, like a Facebook page for our farm which we have now christened Bee Meadow Farm. We'd like eventually to get charitable status for some kind of educational endeavour related to the animals. This year, I would like to continue with some visits from kids and seniors. I had fun doing that last year!

 I put our mission statement on the FB page, and it reads like this:

To inspire compassion for animals as well as educate people on the humane treatment of all animals, while providing a loving home for our own menagerie of rescues!

And now I am off to bed with a warm cat or three. Hope you are all having a good week!

xoxox