meet márton

meet márton... our first angora kid born 03/01/10. we named the little feller márton which is hungarian for warrior from mars. jason had to sub as "goat mid-wife" as i was in st louis staying with my mom. jason did a great job! unfortunately, márton's mommy, bianka, pulled an "842" and rejected the little bugger. bianka is a maiden. it was her first pregnancy. and she just didn't have a clue. after the birth, she got up and walked away to be with her other goat friends. jason, then confined her and her baby to a kidding pen for a while but no such luck. she just kept butting him away. and the little guy was in danger. the first 24 hours are so important. they need to get colostrom. so jason packed him up and brought him in the house and we have another bottle-baby on our hands. tito heard the news and is a bit jealous.

this time, however, i have the help of "other mother" little bit. who cleaned márton off after the birth. and has been pretending to nurse him ever since. i can't believe it. she's only one year old (and spayed) and is usually a crazy wild child. but all of a sudden she has taken on this massive responsibility with grace and composure. it's utterly bizarre. and so freakin' cute.

little bit cleaning off the "after-birth"

my first time holding him!

márton enjoying the comforts of home (like my favorite wingback reading chair!)

kids love kids (and llamas too).

we had a tiny visitor yesterday. delaney (jason's cousin ron's daughter) flew in all the way from sunny california to visit family (and more importantly, goats). she loves them. especially tito. but was very concerned about tito's negligent mommy (842).

welcoming committe member baby snakes greets ron and delaney

and offers kisses

while tito and his big sis little bit crash from all the excitement

"in labor" day weekend.

what a lovely weekend. started with some general home/farm improvement. cleaned up the laundry room and installed a new-to-us refrigerator which will be used solely for curing meat and aging cheese.

an amazing harvest from the garden...

then a visit from sam the drummer, his wife kate, and their gorgeous baby ophelia. this baby is crazy about animals and loves to give them hugs. a simultaneous visit from jason's daughter, amber. much fun was had playing with baby goats, chickens, the llama, the pigs and the zillion dogs. plus a bottle of italian prosecco didn't hurt, either.

ophelia leading the way for sam

ophelia waving in her very own chicken parade

then today, labor day, the goat stork visited. 842 finally had her baby. a beautiful blue-eyed blond buck, tito (named by our friend kendra's daughter). labor and birthing went brilliantly. unfortunately, that's where the brilliance ended. 842 wasn't too keen on being a mom. perhaps she imagined her role as mere surrogate? after much counseling upon our part, 842 still stuck to her guns and gave the baby up for adoption. she rejected the poor tike. luckily, we have colostrum replacer on hand. and he is currently being bottle fed indoors by his new mother, me. his big doggy sister (little bit) is doing a wonderful job at keeping him clean. and he seems to like the extra attention.

tito

although tito is currently doing well, baby goats that are rejected have a hard road to travel. right now he's still about 50/50 for survival. so all well-wishes and strong-goat-baby-vibes you want to throw our way will be ever so appreciated.

c'mon 842!

goat eight hundred and forty two

all the pregnant nannies have delivered except for resident refugee 842. marching to her own drum as usual, she prefers to bang her head against barnyard gate and practice her vocabulary. in addition to "ma, ma, ma" she has added "hot, hot, hot". perhaps she thinks she is one hot mamma. i choose not to delve too far into her riddled mind. it frightens me.

instead, how bout some cute kid pics?

audrey in the sky with straw

i'm russell!

leaping leon!

ramona

twins, goat mid-wife, and the mark of the horn.

this has been an interesting week. two days after audrey was born, marla finally gave birth! to twins! a boy and a girl. she had them in the morning before i awoke. and after constant observation, the little boy did not appear to be nursing and looked a tad unthrifty. baby goats need to nurse especially right after being born. if they do not get colostrum (milk with antibodies from mom that is only produced for first day or so after birth), they will die. i first tried to get the little feller to nurse. tried holding him up to nipple and squirting a bit of milk. the little man wouldn't have it. and to top it off, marla panicked a bit. marla is a big big goat. and even though we've had her for over a year, she is still pretty wild. oh and by the way, all this is happening while my husband is at work. so i'm here alone. step two: try to milk marla. why did i think this was even a possibility? i crawl into kidding pen with her. and bribe her with treats. grab a hold of her horns. and then let go with one hand and try to access teat. she takes advantage of the loosened grip and tries to butt me. i put free hand back on horn. talk sweetly to her. pet her nose a bit. then try again. again she tries to attack. this goes on several times. and finally ends with... bam! she flings me against the side of the stall. and leaves a perfect imprint of her horn on my thigh.

i decide i need to jump ahead to plan 3: drive to town and pick up colostrum replacer. long story short. fed little boy colostrum replacer several times throughout the day. and by evening he nursed from mum. and is doing well. meet russell and ramona....

the twins and marla

russell (named after russell brand)

ramona (named just because it sounds good)

a few days go by. and we wake to daisy going into labor right as jason is going to work. he asks if i'm going to be ok alone. i feel confident. daisy is a sweetheart and has no horns. i gather my supplies. bucket, warm water, book with birthing assistance instructions, gloves, lube, and snippers (in case i need to trim umbilical cord). i take a seat in field with daisy. and watch as her water breaks and bubble appears. next i see two little hoofs. no head yet. she seems to be straining. goats need assistance if labor goes on for more than half an hour after water break. so... i consult book. by this time daisy really looks like she needs help. i put on gloves. lube up hands and grab hold of the two little hoofs. then i see something frightening. it looks like the baby has suffocated. it's tongue is sticking out of mouth and appears rather blue. i gentle pull on hooves and the head comes all the way out. i wipe the mucous off face. i see little nostrils blowing bubbles. i clear mucous away from mouth and out comes a sweet little cry. the rest of goat slides out. mom is fine. baby is fine. she cleans him. and within a half hour the little boy is standing and nursing. what an amazing act.

daisy and little boy (not named yet since this just happened)

mother and son

what's next? 842 is still pregnant. i feel it will be within the next few days. and talk about wild goats.... 842 makes marla look like a trained poodle. i'll be wearing armour on that day.

the goat stork came back...

guess who else is gonna be a daddy?... patrik, our little angora buckling! i've noticed that he and gretta have been sweet on each other for some time. yesterday, when jason & i were having our evening cocktail on the veranda, the goats joined us. and we noticed a sizable milk bag on gretta! i'm thrilled.

patrik, proud father-to-be

we decided to take a peek at the other female goats and guess who else has a bag? 842! yes, our crazy salt and pepper pygmy-mix! herschel can take credit for that one.

a coy 842 lounging under the van

and there is a possibility that violet, one of the twins, is with kid as well. no bag yet. but she is starting to put on considerable weight. too soon to tell though. a goat's weight can fool you. but her and patrik were seen romping around a month or so back.

mother violet?

the fence, the fence!

never thought i'd see the day. but it came. and there is peace in the belgrade valley. goat, pig, black mouth cur, all getting along and enjoying the fine front field (aka our former front yard). yes, we are officially hillbillies.

the hog & the hogdog

who needs a tractor when you got samson?

842 approval

patrik moves out.

today patrik got to move out of our basement cellar and back to the barn. it's been three months and he's got about two inches of new hair growth. it was a perfect day. sun was shining. temp in the 50s.

the whole gang was waiting to welcome him back

lil'ann was all grins

marla greets patrik with a friendly smile

842 screams "hay! it's what's for dinner!"

if only the truth could have been this picturesque. but alas, goats are goats. marla didn't so much offer a smile as her horns. bernadett & bianka also displayed some major head butting action. seems the girls didn't think a smelly billy was necessary. he's staying in a private barn suite tonight. hopefully things will settle down tomorrow. 842 & the GLOPs, however, were truthfully portrayed above.

saturday was...

lots of driving/riding (jason drove & i looked out window), farm supply shopping in two different counties (hence, the all the driving) to find specific poultry medicine, administering poultry medicine, attempting to shear baby snakes (no luck), picking tomatoes (much luck), trimming goat hoofs (so yuck), & enjoying the view while jason grilled turkey-burgers.

our august landscape

freshly picked tomatoes

free range chicken

842 & marla comparing manicures

further evidence.

i present you with further evidence of the inter-species bonding on the rook farm. the animals have open pasture of around 4 acres to spread themselves out on during the day and graze and run and play and whatnot. but all six goats, two pigs, two puppies and one donkey chose to huddle themselves into a cozy little corner of the field.

oh, by the way, you may be asking who is that goat with the head-ache? that's 842. our newest addition. she was given to us as a gift by my father-in-law. since she was acquired at the local livestock auction (hence her name which was her auction number), we're not quite sure what breed she is. she might be a myotonic (fainting goat) mix. she doesn't exactly faint. myotonic crosses don't. she's more the stumbling around mumbling like she's drunk kind of goat. but she should be able to be bred with an angora to produce a fine cashmere coated kid.