We had three more additions to the farm family this week. Our beautiful spotted girl with a larger-than-life personality, Dot, gave birth to two very handsome little boys. We are now on the letter G for names, so we have George Clooney (he has a salt and pepper coat like George's hair) and Gabriel. There is no significance to the name Gabriel; it simply begins with G. Our sweet girl, Fuschia, aka Lil'Black, gave birth to one very tall, lanky little boy we named Hamish. I am pleased to share that everyone is doing well. The mamas are healthy, and the babes are strong and progressing every day. I love baby season.
The purpose of purchasing a new Nubian billy goat was to increase our dairy goat line. My original girls are aging out of milking production, so we need more little girls to take their place. We can't do what we do without milk, and to have milk, we must have babies. We hoped that our dairy girls would have little girls and we would keep them as future mama goats. We have seventeen babies. Of those seventeen, seven are little boys. Only two full-blooded Nubian girls were born this year. Sigh. However, I believe our sweet Aggie, who is half Boer and half Nubian, will make a lovely little milk goat. Besides Fergus, our bottle baby, Aggie remains the farm favorite.
Each time a Nubian baby is born, we hope it is a girl. The male/female ratio isn't quite fifty-fifty, but it is getting close. I am hopeful someone will be interested in our little boys for their herd sire. Our billy goat Ace has beautiful kids with fawn coloring or a beautiful marled grey and black coat. All the babies have friendly personalities, which is unusual for nursing babies. Bottle babies make the best pets but can be overly friendly and annoying. Our babies are just the right amount of friendly.
Tiger Lily is the only Nubian girl left to deliver. She will deliver later in the year, and I am putting all my hope into her giving us little girls. Like Dot, Tiger Lily has a silly and loveable personality. I hope she delivers girls with her personality and their grandmother's boobie formation. Tiger Lily has small boobies that make it a challenge to milk. Her mother, Lily, has nice boobies for milking. I never thought the topic of my writing would be the formation of a goat's teats. Oh, how the road takes twists and turns as we travel the road of life.
The kids who were born just a few weeks ago are now nibbling at hay and grain, along with a steady supply of milk. It does not take long for them to grow. I am already astounded at the size difference between the older babies and the new babies. Baby season feels much calmer and less stressful than in years past. I believe it is due to the warmer temperatures and having the girls spaced out for their due dates over several weeks. It is much easier to give the babies individualized attention when there aren't twenty babies of the same age bouncing around. Life is good.
If you were kind enough to send out good thoughts for a healthy and successful baby season, we appreciate you. On this rainy spring day, stay safe, be smart, keep the good thoughts coming, and keep washing your hands.
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