February 18, 2020. Today is a bright and sunny day in the middle of February although quite chilly at 23°. We’re having an unusual stretch of what we hope will be the five days of predicted sunshine in a row! Life in West Michigan can get a little gloomy in the winter due to many cloud covered days. But today is different. Today reminds me and plants hope in me that spring will come!
The animals on the farm are doing well this winter. Thanks to my neighbor Rick, I have beautiful hay stored up in plenty full amounts to keep everyone fat and warm. Before the really cold weather hit I had a line put in from my well to both the horse pasture and the goat pasture so keeping everyone hydrated this winter is much easier work for me. No more hauling buckets of water on sleds out cross the yard. I keep looking out to the spot where my barn will sit and am dreaming of a winter with that luxury! I trust it will be coming in April and will make our goat yoga season less interrupted by the weather.
Another addition to the farm late last fall after the season had wrapped up were too darling little girls that I brought home in November.
They were quite young and so I separated them from the boys who are mostly altered, but one little guy seems to have remained intact. I think the technique used was called crimping and I don’t think it worked because he is all boy and has grown a cute little beard and a fancy little tuft of hair on the top of his head and has that distinctive buck smell.
The lady I bought these two from said her bucks had gotten into the pen at one point but she didn’t think these two girls were covered because they were so young, but I think she may have been mistaken. The more I learn about Nigerian dwarfs I understand they can be bred at a very young age and are able to breed all year round as well. So I’m a little concerned about my new girl because she clearly has two very prominent bulges on each side of her belly and her utter seems to be enlarging and she’s quite swollen at the rear. So, unbeknownst to me, I think I bought a pregnant doe and we are going to have a couple baby goats in the spring for which I am excited. Without a due date I don’t exactly know when to expect them so I will have to watch carefully for signs of readiness. I hope all goes well! I do know that Nigerian dwarf baby goats are probably one of the cutest things on the planet so we all have that to look forward to.
So send good thoughts to my new Violet and I will keep you posted as to how things turn out! Stay tuned and please come visit us in the Spring when we begin Goat Yoga again! 🙂
