Seeing Green

We've been having much warmer weather.  We are finally seeing some green!  I am so thankful!  Thank you Lord!

Made in the shade

We had a commercial doe that had twins Friday night or early Saturday morning.  When I went out to weigh and tag them, I couldn't get over how vigorous they were.  Those 2 kids gave me a run for my money.  I could hardly keep them in the bucket to get their weights.  They were quite lively!  Here is a picture of them before I stirred them up..

The doe that had kidded with twins Friday afternoon also had both of her kids up and about.  They had already headed out with her and made rounds throughout the 12 acre pasture.  At only about 16 hours old, that's pretty impressive.  The dam is an excellent mother and I can only hope she will give us daughters just like her.  After making a round or two, I noticed they were piled up by a dead tree that had fallen during the winter.  I guess they needed a little shade, since the temps are warming up in the upper 70's.  I am so thankful we are having this wonderful weather.  Here they are resting in the shade.

doeling

He had actually worked his way underneath the tree into that cool dirt. 

buckling

Kids

I checked the does before I left to pick Dillon up from school.  No kids in sight.  I was really getting frustrated, because I am really ready for the kidding to begin.  Then I went out to make one more round today, and I found these 2 kids.  They were still wet, so I let the doe clean them up and nurse them while I stood back and took a few pictures.

Aren't these the sweetest little faces.  I get so excited for the kidding, because it's kind of like Easter egg hunting.  They are all so many different colors too.  They grow out of this stage much too fast. 

When I left, one of our commercial does was behind the pond dam trying to birth her kids.  I'll go back later to see what she has.  It was getting too dark to see anything.  I'll keep you posted!

Anatolian Shepherd Pups

I went to great lengths to get you guys and gals some photos of Jael with her pups.  Well, not really.  She has made a den underneath an old satellite dish that was laying out in the pasture.  I had to lay flat on my stomach and reach through a small hole with my camera to get the shots.  Yesterday she was facing away from me with the pups, so today I was able to get some of the puppies.  I have counted 6, but there may be more or less.  We'll have to find out when they get to moving around and about.

Isn't this the sweetest little thing?  Just look at that tiny little ear.  I couldn't resist putting this picture on here.  This is definitely one of the highlights of having the farm.  Babies of any kind just make me crazy!

Puppies

I had a wonderful weekend, and took time away from the computer and being inside.  The weather here has been sunny and in the upper 70's.  Perfect!

Jael had pups Saturday, but none of us have went in her "den" to count them yet.  I know I saw three.  Problem is, I had to lay on my stomach and twist my head just so  to be able to look in.  I really didn't want to spend too much time down there without someone watching my back.  Our male anatolian, Kimba, thinks he must "mark" me.  I am constantly having to watch him.  He did manage to get the top of my boot Saturday before I could get away.  I'll post some pictures later today, if I get any of the puppies.  I'm also waiting very impatiently to see some kids hitting the ground!  There are udders filling up everywhere!  Even on a young doeling that shouldn't have a full udder yet.  Yep, she found her a fella somehow.  There's always one of those in the crowd.  Hopefully I'll have something to share with you later today.

Trying out videos

I am trying out putting videos on the blog, so bear with my amateur skills.  Today we rounded up the does to check FAMACHA scores.  Shane let our border collies get out there and round them up.  Our oldest (Davie) is a little rusty and her daughter (the hyper small one; Alex)  hasn't been trained yet.  Alex seemed to want to play with Davie the whole time; Davie seemed to be wanting Alex to get away from her.  Anyway, this is how we round them up.  Please excuse the noise from the wind.  It was really windy today.

Kimba's got a girlfriend

Last week a gentleman brought his female Anatolian Shepherd to our farm to have her bred by Kimba.  We had to put her in our catch-pen that will allow Kimba to get in to her, but she isn't able to get out in the pasture with our female Jael.  She's getting a little older, and isn't too much into sharing her pasture with any other ladies.  It seems to be working out real well.   I'm not sure how we will work it out next time, if there is a next time. 

 

Annabelle

We're already trying to figure out which dog to put where, when our does start kidding. Jael will be having puppies again around the same time.  When our does kidded last year, Jael stole them and would nurse the kid goats like they were her pups.  We came up with a 2 day old kid goat missing.  It was time for Jael to have her pups and she was also missing. We knew where she had been making a "nest" so we went to check it out.  Sure enough, she had kidnapped that kid goat and was birthing her puppies too.  She is an excellent mother, but I don't think she needs to be raising any kid goats.  That is the reason we will have to move her away from our does.  Hopefully we'll get our game plan for which LGD goes to which pasture before too long!