All the Babies have Gone

All of the baby goats that were born here on our farm, Russell's Ridge Nubians have left to go to their new homes.

 

They have all gone to really good homes and I couldn't be happier with all of the families that chose us for their Nubian.

 

The first to go was Daisy.  I love all the babies but there is always one that sneaks into your heart and Daisy was the one this year.  She has gone to live in Alabama with a wonderful family, who has little girls that have become Daisy's best friends.

 

Her new home decided to keep her name Daisy.

 

  Daisy - Isn't she gorgeous!!

 

Next to leave was Duncan and Sam. They are living together here in Tennessee.  Duncan has gone to be a herd sire to a current herd of 3 does.  Sam got to go along as a wether and be his friend and keep him company when he is not visiting the girls.

 

They were both sweet boys and loved to be petted and hugged and held.  I sure do miss them.

 

I had Hailey take a bunch of pictures of me with all the babies the day before they left to go to their new homes.  I love looking at them.

 

Their new owners have decided to change their names, Duncan is now Roscoe and Sam is now Riley.

 

Duncan & I, he has such a curious face

Sam & I, Sam was yelling here even though he was just sitting with me

 

Itty Bitty was next.  Itty Bitty stole my heart from the moment she was born. She was the smallest only weighing in at 4.2lbs.  She was a fighter from the beginning and didn't let her sister or brother push her around too much.  Itty Bitty loved to have lap time and give kisses.

Itty Bitty is living in Kentucky with Jennifer at her farm, Our Little Farm.  Jennifer and I became friends via online since we have a lot of the same interests.  She has a small herd and wanted to add one of our Nubian's to it.  It was very exciting to meet her and her husband Brian in person when they came to get Itty Bitty.  Jennifer is as sweet in person as she is online and I have no doubts she will love Itty Bitty just like I would.

 

Jennifer decided to keep Itty Bitty's name the same.

 

Itty Bitty with her new mama, Jennifer, can you tell she's happy

 

A few days later Maddie's girls Lana & Luna were picked up to go to their new home together.  I was really happy they found a home together since they were really bonded.  Both girls are super sweet.  Lana was on the quiet reserved side and Luna was the outgoing curios one.

They compliment each other very well.

Lana & Luna are living here in Tennessee with Kim and her family at their farm, Smith Rock Hill Farm.  Kim raises meat goats and has always wanted some Nubian's.  Lana & Luna will be the foundation of their future Nubian herd.

 

Kim also decided to keep the girls names the same, Lana & Luna

 

Lana (front) & Luna (back) relaxing on a hot day in the shade in the barn

 

The last to leave was Allen.  Allen's new owner took off 10 days from work to be able to be home with Allen to help him adjust.  Is that nice or what!!

Sissy already has 1 goat.  He is also a wether like Allen and a Nubian too.  His name is Newton.  She rescued him and is not too sure of his age but she wanted to get him a friend just like him.

So Allen is going to be a beloved pet goat living in Mississippi.

 

Allen has been newly named Buckley.

 

Allen meeting his new mama for the first time and already giving her kisses.

 

I always feel both sad and happy when the baby goats are gone.  Sad that they are now longer here with me but happy that they are at their new loving homes.

 

I always try my hardest to pick the best homes for my baby goats.  Some people say they are just goats but if you know me they aren't JUST goats, they are my babies and who doesn't want the best for their babies.

 

Our 2013 kidding season was a success.  We had 4 does and 3 buckling's.  All were born alive and healthy and I can't ask for anything more than that.

 

I have already started planning our 2014 breeding's which I am really excited about since adding in some new blood to our herd. 

 

If your interested in knowing more about our herd you can always visit us at www.russellsridgenubians.com.

 

We have already started a waiting list for 2014. If you would like to be added just let me know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Maddie's Babies are Here!!!

It has been super busy here and I'm sure you all know by now that Maddie had here babies but I want to write about it because I was just so happy about being there when it happened.

 

You see I missed both Whimsey & Priscilla's births.  They decided they didn't need me and had their babies on their own.  Thankfully I found them both just after delivery and was able to help clean up the babies.

 

Maddie started her labor on Saturday morning, February 2nd at 10:15am.  She had a large amount of discharge so we went ahead and moved her into the birthing pen.  For the next hour or so she paced around, dug into the shavings and coming over to me for reassuring rubs and pats that everything was going to be alright since this was her first delivery.

 

Around 11:30am she started pushing.  She was doing really well.  Her first baby presented perfectly, its two front legs first and then head.  Maddie did a great job delivering it and then paying attention to the baby to get it cleaned off.  While cleaning off the first baby she ended up delivering her second baby a few minutes later with no issues too.

 

Maddie did a wonderful job and knew right away what she needed to do to clean her babies off.  She was so sweet talking to them and nudging them so she could clean them really good.

 

Now the exciting part comes in, checking the babies.  We have 2 beautiful GIRLS!!!

 

I was so excited to have 2 baby girls since at this time we already had 3 boys & 2 girls from the other mamas.

 

Maddie cleaning off her baby girls, just minutes old.

 

The babies were doing great and figured how to stand up pretty quick and nurse too.

 

Baby girls all nice and dry learning to stand

 

Maddie is a wonderful mother and takes very good care of her baby girls.  We have decided to name them Lana & Luna.  Lana is the white & brown one and her name means light and Luna is the brown one with the spots, her name means moon.

 

We already have found a home for these two precious girls and I am so excited to say that they are going together!!! It makes me so happy that they are going to be able to stay together because they have such a strong bond already.

 

Luna & Lana relaxing at a week old.

 

I can't wait to see these girls grow, hopefully their new owner will stay in touch and I will get to see them grow into beautiful mature does like I know they will be.

 

 



Priscilla's Babies are Here Too!!!

Priscilla's babies are here!!!

 

Priscilla's triplets, 1 day old

 

Priscilla decided to make me wait this year for her babies and delivered a day late. She was originally due on January 21st.  She ended up delivering on January 22nd, just like Whimsey.

 

So we went from no babies to 5 babies in one day.

 

Whimsey had her babies a little before 8:00 on the morning.  After helping her clean up the babies, make sure they are doing well and nursing and making sure Whimsey was okay I finally got back up to the house around 1:30 in the afternoon.  I was able to have some lunch and do the dishes.

 

I thought it was best at 3:00pm to check on Whimsey & her babies once more before the kids got home from school.  As I'm heading down to the barn I hear a loud cry.  Of course I take off running the rest of the way and when I got down there I looked through the window and there was Priscilla cleaning off all 3 of her babies.

 

I thought I was shocked that morning, I was even more shocked to see 3 healthy babies all doing well and a big pile of SPOTS.

 

This was our first year breeding with Welker, our spotted buck, so we didn't know what his babies would look like.  I was so happy and excited to see all the spots and colors Priscilla & Welker's babies had.

 

Here are the babies they day they were born.

 

 

Priscilla's baby girl already looking to nurse at just hours old

Priscilla's baby girl just hours old

Priscilla's baby boy just hours old

 

They are all doing well now.  Priscilla's brown with white splash girl, who we named Daisy, was the strongest. She stood and nursed first and is super independent.  She was also the first to venture outside of the barn.

 

Priscilla's other girl, Itty Bitty is the black with white spots and is belted, is doing great.  We named her Itty Bitty because she is just that, a tiny girl.  She is little but she has lots of spunk and loves to play with her brother & sister and the other babies.  We did have to help her get her ears to fold the right way, I think its from being squished inside her mama, but that worked out fine and they now fold the way they were suppose to.

 

Priscilla's brown with moonspots boy, who we named Duncan, is just a sweetie.  He too loves to go outside.  Usually he and Daisy will run outside and then back into the barn.  They both love to play together.

 

This is not Priscilla's first time having babies so I have no worry about her being a good mama.  She is wonderful with her babies, very protective, watches them great and makes sure all of the get to nurse.

 

Daisy, 4 days old

Itty Bitty, 6 days old

Duncan, 4 days old

 

I'm sure we will find great homes for these babies and if not I guess I'll just have to keep them :)

 

 



Whimsey's Babies are Here!!

Whimsey with her boys a few hours after giving birth

 

Whimsey was due on January 19th and she ended up having her babies on the 22nd.  I was able to be present during the births last year and wanted to be again this year so once her due date arrived I made sure to check on her every few hours even through the night.

 

The night of January 21st she did fine through the middle of the night.  I did notice that she had some discharge but she wasn't doing any of the usual things goats do before giving birth, like "digging" or "nesting" on the ground or stretching.

 

So the morning of January 22nd, I checked her at 6:15am and saw no changes in her so off I went to drive the kids to school.  Once I came back I went down to do the morning chores of feeding all the animals.

 

I always look in the window to see where everyone is before I open the door and there she was with both babies on the barn floor and her being a great mama cleaning them up.

 

I was in SHOCK, LOL.

 

I helped her clean the off and moved mama and babies into the birthing pen so she could be alone with them to learn how to be a mother, since this was her first time, and to bond with her babies.

 

This was when I found out what she had,  2 BOYS.

 

Whimsey's boys only a few hours old

 

Whimsey is a natural at being a mother and loves her babies and takes very good care of them.  The boys are doing so well.  They love attention and being held.  They really like just snuggling with someone while being held.

 

They are already running and jumping around in the barn.  They have only taken a few steps outside of the barn, they are a little weary of the outside world still.

 

Whimsey's Boy #1 who we name Allen

Whimsey's Boy #2 who we name Sam

 

I really hope we can find wonderful homes for these two sweet boys.

 

We can't forget to mention that Brady is the sire (daddy) to these handsome boys.

 

 

 

Russell's Ridge Nubians Website

2012 Babies -Cole (l), Claire (r) & Chloe (b)

 

Spent the morning updating our website. Information on breeding's have been updated.

 

Come check it out.

 

www.russellsridgenubians.com



All The Babies Are Gone

It's been a crazy here since my last postings and I have a bunch to post to catch back up.

First is that ALL of the baby goats have gone to their new homes.  The last of them left at the end of June.

  

Our friends had just arrived from out of state for a week long vacation and with all of the excitement of them arriving I wasn't able to get pictures of the babies before they left.

 So here is two old ones.

Priscilla laying with her babies Carter, Chloe & Cole

Windy and her baby, Claire

Chloe was the first to go.

Sweet Chloe

Chloe went to a wonderful family who was looking to start their own herd.  They were interested in Nubian's because they would like to milk them and make cheese, ice cream and such from the goat's milk like we do.

I've talked to the owner's daughter and Chloe is doing really well at her new home. 

 Chloe's new registered name is Russell's Ridge Lady.

Cole was the next to leave.

Gorgeous Cole

Cole got to stay a little longer than normal because his new owner had a trip planned and she wanted him to stay here while she was away.

Cole will just love his new home.  His new owners are wonderful people and really love goats.  She already has an established herd and was looking for a new buck for her girls.  She is also partial to spots like me and just thought Cole was a handsome boy.

Cole with have a herd of 8 girls all to himself.  I can't wait to see the babies he will produce.

Cole's new registered name is Russell's Ridge Brad Paisley.

Carter was the next to leave.

Sweet Carter

We were so lucky to find a home for Carter.  I was getting worried that we would not find him a new home.  Carter's new home also has an established herd.  They have 1 buck and 3 does. 

The reason why they decided on Carter is because they loved his red color but mostly because he is registered.  Their current buck is not and his current does are.  This way he will be able to register any future kids he has with Carter as the buck.  I look forward to seeing was Carter produces for kids and will be staying in touch with his new owners. 

Carter's new registered name is Russell's Ridge Dakota.

Claire also got to go to her new home WITH Carter!!

Baby Claire

The family that got Carter was also the family that wanted Claire.

They really fell in love with her and sent along a deposit before she was even 4 weeks old.

She will join Carter, another buck and the other 3 girls he already has at his home.

He loved her name so it will stay the same.

Claire's registered name is Russell's Ridge Claire.

I just want to say that this has been an unforgettable first experience.  I have fallen in love with all of my goat's but I never thought I could fall so deeply in love with the baby goats.  Being present while the mama's grew heavy with their babies and being able to feel them move before they were even born was unbelievable.

Being able to watch these babies be born and help both the mama's and the babies with entering into this world was amazing and I am so glad we didn't miss it.

Watching them stand and nurse for the first time. Go outside into the fresh grass and run was a sight to see.  I was in awe how much these little babies trusted and loved us from the beginning.  I am very sad to see them go and I wish I could keep them all.  Knowing I can't, I hope that I have made the best decisions for all of the babies with their new homes.

I will never forget these first 4 little babies that stole my heart. I'm sure I will think of them often and hope they are doing well.

Claire is 10 Weeks Old

Baby Claire

Well she's not really a baby anymore, she can barely fit in my lap.  I have called her Baby Claire since she was born and the name just stuck.

Claire is doing really well, super big.  She eats grain mostly from the creep feeder in the morning and evening when the big goats are eating their grain.  It's funny, as soon as the big goats start coming out to the milking stands she runs into the creep feeder and starts eating her grain.

I'm really enjoying my time with Claire since she will be going to her new home soon.  I am really going to miss this little girl.

Here are some other cute pictures I took while spending some time with her in the pasture the other day.

Claire peeking around my back

Claire relaxing sitting with me

Claire playing on her bucket



Claire is 9 Weeks Old

Claire with Bruschi

Claire is 9 weeks old now.  As you can see in the picture above she has everyone wrapped around her little hoof.  No seriously, all the adults love her.  Windy her mom takes great care of her.  But Whimsey, Windy's sister loves to take care of Claire too.  Claire loves her auntie Whimsey and loves to cuddle with her.  Priscilla also shared with Windy watching the babies when they were all together.  Maddy & Bruschi like to get little Claire to play with them.  It amazes me that they know to be gentle with her.

Claire is the only baby in the big pasture now that Chloe has gone to her new home, so we kinda let her do what she wants.  Claire wanted to come out to the milking area during feeding time the other day and she kept trying to get auntie Whimsey's food.  I ended up giving her some grain in her own bucket and she nibbled on it a bit.

She is doing really well eating grain.  She has grain in the creep feeder for her to eat whenever she wants during the day and then at night we put a bucket of grain in the pen with her for her to eat if she wants.

Claire & Whimsey at feeding time

I'm not sure if I mentioned it before but Claire is sold.  As a matter of fact she has been sold for quite awhile now.  She will be going to a new home that already has 3 other does, girls.  Also Carter will be going to the same home too.  They will be separated because they are too little to breed but I'm glad that they will be going to the same home together.  Claire and Carter will be going to their new home in 2 weeks.

Gorgeous Claire



First to Go

Chloe

This is the hardest part about having baby goats.  I'm sure having baby anything when you can't keep them all is hard to give them up.  I've been very honest with any of the potential buyers that have called inquiring about buying one of my babies and all I can do is hope they are being honest with me about what type of home they are going to provide.

Chloe was the first baby to go to her new home.  All of the babies have been sold but some are staying here for a couple of weeks more for different reasons.

Chloe was the first to leave for her new home on Saturday.

She is actually a gift for Father's Day. The father who will be receiving her, I've been told has wanted goats for awhile and has been preparing his land with shelter and fencing and just has finished it. he knew that he wanted a Nubian as he and his wife hopes to eventually milk their does.  His daughter decided to get him his first goat as a gift and just fell in love with Chloe, how could she not?

We spent quite a bit of time on the phone, actually over an hour discussing what type of home Chloe would be going to and if she would have any other goats with her.  Chloe will be his first goat but she will have a golden retriever as a pasture buddy until they find their second goat, which Chloe will love since she is used to having Matilda with her.  They also have young daughters ages 9 and 13 that will be there to spend time with Chloe. 

They seemed like really sweet people and I should be getting a call soon from the father on what they would like to name her so I can go ahead and get Chloe registered in the name they would like.

I just really hope that she is doing well and being taken care of the way I took care of her.

Priscilla is doing okay. She was a little lost this morning, actually calling for Chloe and standing by the pen door this morning thinking that Chloe was in there since that is where she usually is in the morning.  I hope over the next few days the she will be fine.

Claire on the other hand is NOT happy she has lost her play friend.  Claire cried all night being in the pen overnight by herself even though she can see her mama and all the other goats through the door.  Claire seems to be doing fine today but I'm sure she will miss her buddy Chloe.

Priscilla's Babies are 12 Weeks old

Cole & Carter

This will be that last weekly update I will do on Priscilla's babies.  Their really isn't much to update on them now. 

Cole & Carter have been moved over to the buck pen for a couple of weeks now and are doing great.  They are still growing well and are eating their grain, hay and pasture.

Chloe out in the pasture with mama and Claire

Chloe is also doing well. She is really enjoying spending the time by herself with her mama.  Chloe is also really enjoying getting all the milk she wants now that she doesn't have to share.

Chloe & Claire are becoming best buddies as they are the only 2 little goats over in the big pasture.  They are also locked up at night in the pen so I can milk the mama's in the morning.

I will be sure to update all of you when Cole, Carter and Chloe go to their new homes.



Claire is 8 Weeks Old.

Claire with mama Windy

Claire is doing super.  She has become best buddies with Chloe since moving the boys over into the buck pen.

Claire is big enough now to share her mama's milk with me so she is put in a pen with Chloe overnight so I can milk Windy in the morning.

Claire & Chloe waiting to get out of the pen in the morning

There is not too much to update on so here are some cute pictures of Claire.

Claire stretching to be able to reach to nurse because she is so big now

Claire hanging out with mama in the pasture

Claire hanging with her buddy Chloe

Priscilla's Babies Turn 11 Weeks Old

Cole & Carter

Priscilla's babies are doing great.  We have moved Carter & Cole over with the boys. They are old enough to make babies now and we don't want any unplanned breeding's to happen.  They weren't too happy about it and cried for a couple of days but now they are doing great.  Brady their dad has accepted them immediately.  He just stood there and looked at them, it was funny.  Welker on the other hand is showing his dominance and trying to push the boys around.  They aren't putting up with it much and trying to head butt him back.

Brady, Welker, Cole & Carter

Brady sharing some hay with his boys

Chloe is doing well. She doesn't really miss her brothers.  She has become best buddies with Claire since they have been moved.  The best thing is she has her mama all to herself.  When all 3 babies were still with mama, the boys tended to push her out of the way at nursing time.  Now Chloe

 gets to have all the milk.  She is still eating grain which is good to.

Chloe looking for some grain

Claire & Chloe waiting to get out of the pen

Chloe & Claire get locked up in the pen overnight so I can milk both of their mama's in the morning

Chloe being silly

Claire is 7 Weeks Old!!

Claire hanging with Bruschi

Claire is 7 weeks old now and doing great.  She is a big girl so we decided it was time to separate her from her mom at night so I can milk mom, Windy in the morning.  She is in the pen at night with Chloe and she is doing wonderful so far.  I haven't even heard her cry once.  Claire is also a very quiet Nubian like her mom.

The big news is we have found a new home for Claire.  She will be going to her new home the beginning of July after she finishes all of her worming and shots.  This was another reason why we are separating her from mom at night so we can start to wean her and have her eating grain real well by the time she goes to her new home.  She is already eating hay and pasture real good.

Claire having sharing some hay with the calves

Claire standing to get hay, they always think it tastes better at the top

Claire has become best buddies with Chloe since we have moved Cole & Carter over to the buck pen.  They go off into the pasture with the big goats and they love to run and play.

Sweet Claire

Claire taking a nap in the afternoon sunshine