More Snow and more kids

We rely on the Eye On the Sky boys. In fact we are weather junkies. Cross any farmer with a former ski racer & coach (choose the right wax!) and you are likely to wind up with this breed. But as we managed for last weekend’s storm we were focused on drainage for the rain and melt out and were completely flat-footed and eventually amazed by the snowfall!  Skiers of course prefer to be leaning forward.  Anyway, Monday was given over to defending the hoop houses from the weight of the blowing snow.  Add on making loafing areas accessible to the other animals and the household level responsibilities like clearing for the mail and it tallied up to 16 person hours plus 7 tractor hours! Much of it was enjoyable but the 3 plus hours clearing each panel of the new hoop house roof while the old one shed its snow consistently made us bitter that the USDA grant disallowed the double plastic layer and the fan to inflate it into a bubble.  Subsequent to our construction they’ve changed their policy.  We will be installing another layer of plastic and the inflation fans prior to facing another winter!  Hopefully all you are fairing well.  As one drives by small hotels shoveling rooftops and cranes lifting tarps of snow off big-box stores one questions how businesses small or big can profit in the month of March?!

Jenga delivered Set & Isis in the storm

Somehow, none of it bothered the goats as they kept delivering healthy kids throughout. In fact all does have now delivered and we have 15 kids bouncing around the hoophouse.  Now, the countdown to piglets begins.

Cycle of Life

Mubarak

As often seems to happen on our farm, just as we say goodbye to one set of animals, we are welcoming in another.  Young Moon, led off the kidding season this week, delivering one buckling on a very cold President’s Day Morning.  They are doing well, though the cold day and night temperatures did have us move Moon and her little buckling down to the Hoop house so they could soak up the warmth of these sunny days before they faced the cold nights.  He is up and about, has figured out milking and at two days old you can already start to see the bounce in his step...sure to come soon.

This did force a decision about the 2011 Naming Scheme.  Each year we choose a theme for all animals that come to us (born here or brought in ) that year.  2010 was space, thus making it clear that Moon was born in 2010.  We had lots of great suggestions for themes, making it very difficult to decide, but on that President’s Day morning with world events what they are at the moment, we decided to choose Egypt as the theme.  A nomination from a farm fan.  So unto Egypt was born Mubarek on a cold President’s Day morning.  Now, we understand that he may quickly be overtaken by others.  And indeed, Martha, Ingrid & Myst all seem like they are about to deliver, but so far they have been wise (or lucky) enough to hold off through these bitter cold nights.  But all of the does will likely deliver in the next 2 weeks.  So do check in on them.

And we are now looking for names!  For goat kids, piglets to come in March and the others for the rest of year.  Anything goes for an animal name—it just has fit into the theme of Egypt!  Do add your nominations.
And if you want to see photos or get timely updates about kidding, check out the Farm Facebook Page.

Goats, Troublesome Goats

Our ruminants have been a major focus on the farm. The goats seem to love Carrie, or at least her ax-wielding skills. We have been taking down some poplar (mostly) trees and letting the goats enjoy and defoliate them as part of opening up some paths and pasture expansion. Boris is now courting our various does and my how he flirts with the ladies. It really is a sight to behold. Though it seems some are less fond of his advances and more fond of going out on the town. The goat kids and their teen chaperones (or perhaps bad influences) were spotted on Loop Road late Saturday night, down past Frost Road. We were none the wiser, until hearing the report, as they were in the field near the Turkeys Sunday Morning. Ah, fall, not an easy time.

Kids and MORE Goat kids

Six have delivered so far. Two more to go this month and then Jenga and Martha will deliver this summer.

Ingrid led the 2nd wave of births with two, a male and female. The female has the cutest little tiny ears, typical of La Mancha goats. Grace was the next to deliver. Mari did the early morning barn check last Sunday and as she walked in she heard the tiny voice of newly born kids. She had triplets, but we missed it all. When we arrived, only two had survived the birth, but are those boys cute. Abigail, who has looked ready for several weeks, delivered two vibrant boy kids on Wednesday. One of which has little neck tags, just like her.

Marlene is yet to deliver and Owari will join the pack at the end of April.

Here are a few more photos of the new kids...and check out the slideshow for others.

And the names....Much gratitude to all of the suggestions that have been pouring in. Space is the theme and for the goat kids we have been choosing names that begin with the same letter as their mama doe.

So the newest names:
Ingrid has:
Ivins, female - named for Martha Ivins an astronaut from Baltimore
Indus, male - a constellation in the southern sky, for Indian

Grace's kids, both male:
Galaxy, very light in color just like Grace
Gemini - is a brown and light mix with some brown spots. The third kid that didn't make it looked just like Gemini, twins.

Abigail, both male..
names haven't been chosens...oh what should they be?

Kids and more kids

3 Goats have kidded, 3 days in a row. It was quite a holiday weekend. Friday, Saturday & Sunday. Molly, Betsy & Sophia did a great job and didn't seem to mind the crowd that gathered to witness the births. What a learning opportunity for young and old. They seem to have taken a few days off, but we have 4 more to go in this round and then Owari at the end of the month.

Names: Space is the theme and suggestions have been rolling in. Thanks for all of the ideas. With more goats and pregnant sows in the mix, we will need plenty.

Introducing:
Meteor & Mir (Molly's twin girls)
Meteor is the dark brown doeling on the left; Mir is the oatmeal colored one





Bootes & Betelgeuse (Betsy's twins - girl & boy)














Bootes, a constellation also known as the Oxherd, is on the left with his black boots and Betelgeuse is on the right in front of Betsy, their doe.

Spock - Sophia's boy.

More photos are in the slideshow - see the right hand box and you can click on it or visit our picasa album for larger views of the photos.

Marbles..goat or is he Tigger?

Marbles, our 5 week old kid goat, makes me think of Winnie the Pooh's friend Tigger so very often. I even get the Tigger song in my head, "They're bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy fun, fun, fun, fun, fun. But the most wonderful things about Tiggers, is I'm the only one."

Marbles bounces and jumps, on whatever is around. On his mother, Martha, on the wall, me, hay bales. He has a zest for life. Most of our animals have a great zest for life, but Marbles tops them at the moment. You can't help but laugh as you watch him. He even has a habit of hurdling over Martha when they are outside. I think just because he can. Why not? It is good to embrace what we can do when we can do it, right? I don't think he'll be able to bounce that high forever. But if he can, we'll think about a circus act.

A New Kid on the Farm!

Yesterday morning around 10:00 we welcomed Martha's new kid to the world! When I arrived at the farm a few hours earlier, Laura warned me that it would happen soon, so to keep an eye on the goat while she and Mari headed to an appointment. As I was getting ready to bring food to the pigs and chicks, I looked over at Martha and saw another tiny head peeking up from the grass! So much excitement and wonder bubbled up inside me, and I immediately called Laura and Mari with the good news.

Needless to say, the birth trumped everything else on the to-do list that day, and we spent hours observing the new duo, making sure he was nursing and she was getting water and grain. Martha did a fantastic job, and she is doing well post-birth. The new kid is a boy, with gangly legs and light brown hair. As our vet Allison said, baby goats have an unfair amount of charm! (Katie)

Katie's call came with the good news and I rushed home. What a delight to see this little buff bundle. Martha stepping right into her mama role, licking him dry. Katie briefed me on what she had observed. Over time it became a concern that he hadn't yet milked. We took shifts watching and stepped in to try to orient the little guy but the right things weren't happening. Ultimately we milked Martha and Katie calmly held baby buckling while we tubed the vital colostrum (special milk of the first hours) into his tummy. Phew! A short while later we placed him on her teat and he got it right. (Mari)

I was the last to meet our cute bundle of fluff. He is all legs! I am in awe that Martha managed to smoothly give birth to all of those legs. She gets major points for having a simple, uncomplicated birth. We can only hope most of our animals follow her footsteps. He is still working on mastering feeding..but eventually he finds the right spot. Not bad for his first 12 hours. And we are all so excited to have a new little one on the farm and to add Martha (in a few weeks) to our milking team. (Laura)

The Name: Marbles, because game names are the 2009 theme and Marbles was a favorite game at Mount Vernon during the Washington's era, apparently especially for the young slave boys. So Martha's (after Martha Washington) new kid is to be Marbles, a favorite game of her era.

Stay tuned for more stories, photos and videos of Marbles!

Here is a video of the kid's first steps!

Morning Milking

An old friend asked me what I was up to now that I’ve graduated and when I told her I’m working on a farm, her response was, “Working on a farm eh? Where is this farm? And what do you get to do??? Do you like wake up at the crack of dawn and help with the pigs?”

I wake up at 5:30 in the morning, but it is to the breath of dawn. For dawn doesn’t open the day with a sudden crack, but rather it slowly creeps up from the horizon, stretching and subtly shifting the navy sky to periwinkle and pale yellow. I take my time in the morning, moving slowly like the sky as I wake up, and many days I ride my bike the 13 miles from my house to the farm.

When I arrive in Northfield, I do help with the pigs, but my first morning chore is milking the goats. Jenga, Scrabble, and Owari climb up on the fence to greet me as I enter the barn, and they are always anxious to be milked and then put on pasture. I take them out one by one, Scrabble first and Jenga last, and lead them to the milking station in the barn garage.

Even though there are many things to get done each day, this time in the morning is usually calm, and a contentedness slips over me as I look out at the pasture and the forest at the edge of the farm while the goats stand next to me and eat their grain.

When all the milking is done and the goats are out on pasture, the other daily tasks begin: feeding the pigs, chickens and non-milking goats, setting new fences for the animals, weeding, harvesting, bug patrol, transplanting and seeding, and anything else that may pop up on the to-do list. Even when the list is long, we make sure to take some time to simply look at the animals; it’s important to observe their actions but it’s also gratifying—the goats always look so happy out in a fresh field!

Who could get fat eating hay?

Our goats having been putting on their winter fat...it seems. Which was a bit surprising to Mari & I because, all they are eating is hay and some minerals, ok and the occasional bit of grain (which is their equivalent of crack cocaine). We wondered if they weren't getting some of the nutrients they needed from our hay, so they were eating more. It is true that they get a lot less exercise in the winter, they aren't roaming the hillsides, clearing ski trails and such. But our vet says, no they can get fat on hay, they won't all self regulate. So the goats are on a diet. And they don't like it very much. They get especially vocal when they hear the sound of the pig's grain being poured into their feeder. They know the sound and they want some too.