Jim and I had a very quiet and lazy sixth wedding anniversary today. He got in at 10 last night from several hours of traveling from Atlanta and 12 hours being “on” for interviews. So today he rested up for the upcoming week of job hunting, which is a full-time job in itself.
We had inexpensive Mexican food downtown for lunch, then I worked on dinner for 4-5, a Sunday evening supper, but it turned out to be just us. I roasted a five pound chicken (thyme, sage and white wine) with Mom’s basic stuffing and consomme gravy, boiled tiny red potatoes with butter, and carrots with thyme and sliced onion and a beef broth glaze. We have tons of food left for soup, quesadillas, fajitas, sandwiches or chicken salad. No, Zoe, you’re not on that list! She’s our begging dog who eats very well, thank you.
Margie says this female kid is up and running after just a week. Our young cousin decided to come to the farm to try and milk the mama goat.
I believe the mama goat of the previous litter is the same Bossy I remember from the first goat day last fall. She was bossing the others around so Joe took off her horns, both for aggression and because they get caught in the 4″x4″ goat fencing and they bleat like crazy and can get hurt.
The first ones I named, to be strong around Bossy are Eleanor Roosevelt and Rosa Parks and they like to be atop the dog igloos or in the highest place in the pasture. If it is them, I’ll bet Eleanor is standing and Rosa is munching on hay. Margie will correct me on this tonight or tomorrow and she did, while complimenting me on learning the goats it was the baby boy who had such trouble being born and kept alive, same as the baby girl in the last batch. She says in comments that the first born seems to come out well and the second needs help, which means she and Joe have to stay up late at night when a female is in the “maternity ward” to make sure all works out.
Hope you had a great weekend. Our place smells like roast chicken and gravy. While it was cooking Jim took Zoe out for a walk for over an hour, good for both of them. Cheers, Dee.
Cooking with Dee 
You are getting to know the goats all right! I believe it is Rosa muching the hay but the one beside her has horns so is of the 2nd bunch we bought and I think it is Little Bill, the 100% Boer buck we will use for breeding this year. His side view is quite impressive and he won’t be a year old till May 22. Bossy is the one to the right of Bella, easy to recognize because she doesn’t have a white coat. And the little one Bella is holding is the puny boy born 1 week ago and neglected by mom. He feels heavier than his sister now and has no trouble getting his share of mom’s milk.
If the first 2 goats that kidded are to be a pattern, we will expect to have to help all but the first born of these Boers to get up and going. That has meant an initial bottle feeding or two to help them get some strength, and then encouraging them to go to their mom for subsequent feedings. Otherwise Bella and her little brother may end up with an orphan to raise.
PS: the 2 1/2 week old kids are climbing on dog house igloos and hay bales now. They don’t stay weak for long.
That is a precious picture (of BOTH kids, ha ha!)
I spent part of my morning “surgically dehorning”* a couple of Pygmy kids, we see quite a few of ’em.
*that means they get anest, hair clip & surg prep – but for the bigger one I still had to use my old Barnes calf dehorner (closed down to about 1” aperture)
& I am still threatening to break our big Boer X wether “Rojo” to harness; it would do him good to have a JOB!