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.

 

 

 

Brady's Girlfriend's

Brady & the girls

Brady has some girlfriends staying with us for the first time.  They have been here for about 2 weeks now and are great girls.  Their names are Ruby & Pearl.

The breeders, Pat & Katie, who we purchased our goats from also had Ruby & Pearl and sold them to a lovely couple, The Lovan's.  Katie offered a free breeding to the Lovan's at the time they purchased Ruby & Pearl.  Unfortunately the buck she was going to breed them too didn't work out so they ask if i would do them a favor and let the girls breed with Brady.

I didn't have an issue with this at all since I knew both of the girls were healthy and they came originally from Pat & Katie.

Within 2 days of being here both girls came into heat and Brady took care of business.  Now the 3 of them like to eat and lay in the sun. 

The girls are super sweet.  I already can tell each of their personalities since being here.

Ruby relaxing in the sun.

Ruby is super sweet and loves to get pats and rubs.  She is the more dominant of the two girls and also isn't afraid to show Brady she won't be pushed around.

Pearl relaxing in the sun

Pearl is super sweet too but she is much more reserved.  You can tell it takes her awhile to warm up to strangers.  She, of course loves Hailey and will come right up to her for pats.  She's a little more hesitant with me.

We will be waiting till the end of March - beginning of April to see if they come back into heat.  Hopefully they won't which means that they are bred and Brady has done his job once again.

Brady & the girls hanging out. 



Brady turns 1!!!!

Brady as a baby

Brady turned 1 today.  It's funny how he and best friend, Bruschi were only born 1 day apart and actually have spent everyday together since that first day.  They are best friends.

Brady is doing well.  These days he's all about the girls.  He is still experiencing his first rut, thankfully its not in full swing anymore.  It makes me a little sad he doesn't think of me as his mama anymore. I'm considered a girl to him.  I take care of the girl goats first so when by the time I go into the boys pen I smell like the girls.  Brady is fine running to his feed dish but if I spend any excessive time in the pen then I have to watch out. He's comes on over to me looking for pats and rubs but then starts smelling the girls smells and then its over for me.  He will start making mating noises at me and you know it, will try to mount me.

Most of the time Brady will get his pats and rubs through the fence so I don't have to worry about this and possibly be taken off guard and get hurt.

For all of you who don't know, we are originally from New England and of course are big Patriots fans.  That is how Brady got his name.  He is named after The Patriots quarterback, Tom Brady.  Brady is an American Nubian and is currently our herd sire.  We are expecting some of Brady's babies in March and April.

Here are some pictures I took of Brady today.

Brady enjoying the wind in his face

Brady nibbling at the cedar post

Brady

Brady and his best friend Bruschi

I can't believe how fast time goes by and the boys are already 1 years old.