Rearranging Goats

These three girls are always underfoot whenever we go out to the pasture.  They are so adorable and friendly.  I know raising goats as pets can make them into pests, but I sure prefer kids raised with handling over ones that are raised basically feral.  Last weekend we spent three hours doing annual vaccines, deworming those who needed it and trimming everyone's hooves.  Having friendly goats makes those chores so much easier.

Anyway this post is about some rearranging of living situations with some of the goats.  The does all stayed where they were, but we moved the bucks around.  I'm going to let the pictures break up the text.  Please forgive the blurry cell phone pictures.  I'm saving up for a new camera (can't stand not having one), but it will be a while.

Andesine is so cute, chewing on hubby's glove.

First off we moved Jasper into the pen with Dottie and Big Mamma.  We're working with our vet to try out a couple of options to see if we can get them pregnant.

 Big Mamma put on a big show at first, but they settled in quickly.

 Dottie got all bucky as usual, sticking her tongue out, blubbering and being a pest.

 Jasper, the real buck, sticks his tongue out too.

Sorry the goats are so gross, it's rainy and muddy.

 He flirted with Big Mamma a bit, but mostly they were calm.

Dottie on the other hand challenged him multiple times.  They fought a bit, but it wasn't serious, dangerous fighting.  Just establishing their place in the pecking order.  Jasper, weighing twice as much as Dottie, obviously is top dog hehe.

Then we let Daniel out and introduced him to the wethers Champ and Taz (Jasper's sons).

He was more interested in attention from us than the boys. Sorry for the blur.... really wish this one turned out better because I love it. The tear in his ear is years old from where his scrapies ear tag got infected before we owned him.

 Champ just waited outside the feed room, hoping for a snack.

We used a bucket of feed to lure Daniel to the buck pen because it's across the property and he was leery about leaving the Myotonic girls.  I was being lazy and didn't want to find my collar and leash even though Daniel is leash trained.

Once he was settled in with the boys and eating, he was fine.  They didn't fight at all really.  Daniel is not interested in them at all.  He called out for his girls for a long time, but he will settle into the new situation soon.

We fed everyone else breakfast and I snapped the above picture of Coral eating food from hubby's hand.  She has gotten so much calmer around us!! It's hard to believe she's the wild goat we brought home that went over a four foot fence and forced us to chase her around twenty acres of forest on a four wheeler before we could catch her!!!  She's come such a long way and I'm so proud of her.

Then we turned Zephyr and her kids out with Georgia so they could have room to play, stretch their legs and zoom around.  That's why we had to move Daniel, because he could get Zephyr pregnant again even though she's nursing kids.  That would be way too hard on her physically.  She needs to focus on her kids and then wean them before she gets pregnant again.

Here are a couple of videos of the kids playing.  They are SO adorable!

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Here are a couple of blurry pictures of the kids.

 I have to borrow my mom's camera and get some better pictures of them.  They are so cute!

Sorry I've been quiet again.  Things have been crazy.  This year has not started off very well (the two things I'm most thankful for is Chrome surviving his colic and the healthy kids), but I'm not going into a bunch of detail.  All of the animals are fine.  Hubby and I are sick, but it's nothing dangerous.  Our fridge went out and all of the food in our fridge and freezer is ruined.  It is going to take TEN DAYS before they can repair it.  Then a tree fell on our goat pen gate....

It didn't cause a ton of damage though so I'm grateful for that.  Anyway, I'll leave it there.  I hope the goats brighten your day as much as they do mine.  I love all of these furry little brats!!

Jack Update!

In the winter Jack stays in his indoor cage so that he doesn't freeze to death. I have a video with a few clips of him being his adorable self.

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If you can't watch videos here are some pictures.  They aren't very good, but still better than nothing.  Isn't he adorable?

 Chewing a block of wood.  He loves destroying stuff.

 Cuddles!

 He loves his cuddles.

He also loves asparagus!

I love this little guy. He's so awesome!  Sorry it's been so long since I updated about Jack.  I don't have a whole lot of time for editing videos.  At least you can see how well he is doing now.

Jack Update

It's been a while since I've given a squirrel update.  Jack will be a year old in a month!  I can't believe it.  Time flies!  He's doing really well.  It's hard to get pictures of him because he rarely stops moving.  He does take short rest breaks when he gets hot though, then we're able to snap cute pictures like the one below.

I love how he splays himself out flat.  He is so cute!

 He's discovered snow peas and loves them!

When he stops for a break I actually get a chance to pet him hehe.  Normally he just wants to wrestle.  Also yes I actually do have to wear a thick jacket when I play with him because his claws hurt when he climbs all over me.  It is HOT wearing that thing in the summer!

Here is a short video of him enjoying a short ear scratch before he goes back to roughhousing with me.

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Isn't he adorable????

P.S.  I have a story I forgot to share with you guys.  Jack was out playing on the porch (supervised) when he stumbled upon a red wasp... it stung him on the paw and he went flipping across the porch like a Mexican jumping bean chattering and growling (squirrely expletives).  We were about eight feet away when it happened. We kept our distance because he gets aggressive when hurt and just talked soothingly to him. He finally climbed on top of the dove's cage and was inspecting his foot. At first he couldn't sit up because he wouldn't put weight on his paw.  He kept falling over because he couldn't balance sitting up on his haunches with one foot in the air.  Finally he just stretched out on his belly and lay really still.

We finished cleaning his cage and water bowl, then put his evening snacks in and thank goodness he put himself in his cage when we walked away. He was jumping, climbing and sitting up to eat, but he was definitely still in pain an hour later. When I tried to look in his wire windows he jumped right at my face aggressively. His paw was pretty swollen.

I of course was panicking because I didn't know if he could have an allergic reaction that would kill him.  I contacted some squirrel knowledgeable people and they told me to give him Benadryl and infant ibuprofen and how much to dose him.  The only way to get medicine in him was to put it on a pecan and hope he'd eat it.  He did!  Then he licked it all off of his paws, which was good since it meant he got more of it in him.

Hubby was actually able to pick him up and put him in a bowl to weigh him on our kitchen scale after it got dark outside and he weighed 1.9 pounds and that's when he was eight months old!  Luckily by the next day he was totally back to normal besides a bit of swelling.  He recovered completely from the ordeal.  I now carefully check the porch for wasps before I let him out!

Amethyst's First Hoof Trim

Amethyst got her first hoof trim on Saturday and she fell asleep in my arms!! I was holding her while hubby trimmed her hooves.  She had just got done meeting and playing with Apatite and was worn out, so she drifted off to sleep in my arms.  So adorable!!

Here's a video of her sleeping.

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Here is a picture of her hoof about halfway done.  One side is mostly trimmed and the other side is untouched.

She's a good girl.

Amethyst Five Weeks

Amethyst is five weeks old and weighs twenty two pounds. She is such a chunk!  I wanted to get some nice conformation shots so we can see how she changes, but she does not stand still so hubby started playing the head butting game. It was so cute!!  Keep in mind I do NOT recommend playing this game with baby goats because once they are grown they can seriously hurt you if they think head butting is a game.  I'm full aware of the risks and willing to pay the price for my stupidity should it come to that.  We don't do this very often though, so I don't think she will be a problem.  The jumping up needs to be stopped though.  That's getting annoying.  Anyway, enough rambling, here's the video.

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Isn't she adorable?  He super ninja kicks off the table crack me up.  I love it.  Here are the rest of the photos.

I normally don't like pictures of them looking away from the camera, but this one shows her "racing stripes" on the back of her ears so I had to share it.

 Stretch!!

 I kind of liked how she was half hidden in the shadows here.

 I did manage to get a good conformation shot!

 She's like, "Oh you wanted me to pose?  Okay here, how's this?" Hehe.

 Scratching an itch.

She loves rearing up on her table.  She has amazing balance already.

 Below are some still shots of the head butting game that we should not be playing with her.

 She's such a cutie!

The jumping up on us is something we are trying to dissuade.  She is slowly getting it, but she has her moments when she gets excited.

I was zoomed in too close for this one, but I'm glad I caught part of it!  I wish I'd gotten it on video.  She was facing the left when she jumped off the table and did a 180 in midair.  I was super impressive!  She's such an acrobat.

 Super Goat!

She has so much fun. When she gets tired she goes looking for a lap to crawl into....

 Chewing on buttons.

Checking out the camera while hubby holds her.

 She has such a sweet, sleepy face.

 Watching her and hubby cuddle is so sweet!

 So precious!

 She's already an armful at only five weeks.  She is going to be huge!

I finally got a decent shot of her marbled eyes!  She got that from Crockett.  Aren't they beautiful?

I'm so in love with this doeling.  I know it's because she's the first baby of the year and the first one we've had in years, but it's also because she's a part of Crockett that lives on.  I'm so happy to have her.