Friendly Dam Raised Kids.....or Become a Human Jungle Gym...

So some folks are of the mind that in order to have friendly adult goats, you must raise them on the bottle when they are babies.

Some folks bottle feed for other reasons, such as CAE prevention, or because they want/need all the milk the doe can produce, or because they just really like bottle feeding and that's fine.  No worries on my part for how they like to do things.

I just want to say that you don't have to bottle feed to wind up with friendly goats.....

And I'd like to present the following pictures as evidence....

This is Jen's baby sucking/chewing on my coat while laying in my lap.  I'm not holding here there, she's just chilling out enjoying spending some time with me.  

I don't know what Jennifer will call her, but we call her Fancy Pants because she's got such a fancy face....

I know you can't tell by my face, but I just LOVE MY GOATS!!

The way to get friendly kids, is the same way you get healthy, well adjusted human kids........

Spend time with them!  

As you can see in this picture, Merida is completely sacked out in my lap with Fancy laying on top of her resting as well.  That's Tulip's little girl trying her hand at climbing on the feed pan...

The more time you spend sitting out there being a jungle gym for your babies, holding them while they sleep and just being with them, the friendlier they will be!

Here is a video of the babies and I playing....

Tulip is a helicopter parent and doesn't like to let her little girl join in the fun, but the older she gets the more she defies Mama.  However, during this video, she was napping in the hay rack and because she spent most of the afternoon snoozing away, I don't have any good pictures of her.  

Here is a picture of Fancy's fancy face....

And here is the buckling, who we've decided to call The Bear King, or Bear for short...

He's got the sweetest little gray moonspot on his butt cheek!

And my sweet Merida chewing on Mama Star's beard...

As you can see, everybody is doing just great, and growing to beat the band!  They are all four headed to the vet this week to get disbudded.  

If you remember, that is the one goat keeping chore I just cannot do!

Till next time....

God Bless,

19 Years...........

19 years ago today I married my best friend.....

We stood before God and our families and joined our lives together into one flesh.....

It's a commitment we take very seriously and one we feel shouldn't be entered into lightly.  I do not think it is a random act that marriage is first mentioned in the book of Genesis chapter 2 verse 24.

  We strive for a Biblical marriage and pray for The Youngun to have one someday as well.

I'm so thankful God brought us together and it's been a joy to grow older with this man!

I'm thankful for every day God has given us, and every day He will grant us in the future, and I'm thankful beyond words to know that when we draw our last breath here in this fleeting life, we'll be together again in Heaven.

So thankful that though we don't get to choose how our lives go here on earth, we do get to choose who we go through them with.  I'm thankful The Man chose me, and more thankful that we both chose Him....

If you'd like to read our story, you can do so here.

Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.  Genesis 2:24

Till next time....

God Bless,

Eden and Elvy News/The Ones Who Lived...

               Welcome to the Rabbit Report! Remember these guys??

Tauriel's second litter (Product of Tauriel and Spartan) has finally reached four weeks yesterday! So we decided to do a weigh in and gender-check today...

1.) Castor Doe- 1.25 lbs.

2.) Castor Doe- 1.24 lbs.



3.) Red Castor Doe- 1.19 lbs.

4.) Red Castor Doe- 1.32 lbs. (My personal favorite)

5.) Steel Buck- 1.24 lbs. (who has a notch in his ear)

                                                     

6.) Black Buck- 1.08 lbs.

7.) Black Buck- 1.21 lbs. (camera shy)



8.) Black Buck- 1.03 lbs.

 

Black Doe- 1.17 lbs.



Such beautiful babies Spartan and Tauriel made!

And here are some comparison pictures of the three different colors we got out of her litter...

  

Now we have two pregnant does here. Eden and Elvy are both due on the 13th of April. 

Eden was bred to Presley



 I was very curious as to what we would get if we crossed the two, so I went ahead and bred her to him.

And here we have a rare photo of Spartan's facial expression while the deed was being done...

 The bars inhibit the true hilarity of the look, but you get the idea.

We also went ahead and bred Elvy to Spartan

 (Our only good posing picture of Elvy)

(She does not care for posing... Mayhaps we should reevaluate the wisdom of our choice to put the posing table right next to a buck's cage...)

(Beautiful Spartan and his silvering...)

We already know what we are going to get from Spartan and Elvy, but you never know what could pop up from Spartan, since we aren't sure he is full! Be sure to comment and guess what you think we'll get from Pres and Eden!

Speaking of Spartan, our beautiful boy has made such progress. When he came to us at almost seven months, he was skittish and unsure, and he wasn't filled out at all. Not exactly thin, but not nearly as full bodied as I would have liked him. He's always been smaller than all of the other rabbits, except for Presley... 

But Bad Boy Spartan has made a comeback, and full feed and love has made a huge difference!

And so, signing off is our leather studded Bad Boy Spartan and his amazing progress!

 

Tulip's Last Hurrah......

Don't worry, she's still "with" us, but this was her last kidding (unless our Maker has other plans) and so I guess she wanted to go out with a bang!

She had just started laboring when I got home from work at 5:30 pm.....

While Tulip was busy laboring............

The Youngun and I were busy doing this.....

And some of this......

And she did more of this.....

And some of this....

Having goat babies hurts, just like having human babies.  I like to be there if I can, especially with my Tulip.  I stroke her face, and rub her belly and tell her what a good girl she is....

And that way I'm there if she needs any help, which she did this time.  The kid came out head first, with both legs tucked back, so she needed a little help getting it out.

This was just a few minutes before the big arrival....

And here she is!  A beautiful little doeling, born at 9:30-ish last night...I stayed with Tulip until 11:30 when she "cleaned", to be sure she was finished...

Tulip is such a good momma, talking to and licking her baby immediately....

In the video you can see the baby sucking, trying to find the teat...

And she is such a STRONG baby.  Probably from being a single.  She came out sucking and while laying there wet she was sucking on Tulip's ears, legs, and eye sockets....

Isn't she lovely?

And I'll leave you with a video of the silly little girl LAYING DOWN nursing.  She hadn't even tried to stand yet, and she was chowing down...

God is so good, and I love Him so!  So unworthy of the blessings He gives, but oh so thankful!  

What I wanted/needed was two doelings to go to Jen at Our Little Farm, one doeling for us to keep, and a buckling I can wether to go keep Ollie company, and that's exactly what we got!  

But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19

Till next time...

God Bless,