Farmer Life 168

 When I got home from work last night I found twins!!  So exciting! The female, Tanzanite! The male (no name because we will be selling him and I can't get attached). Topaz is doing a GREAT job for her first time kidding!  My only complaint is that she had them outside in the dirt under the overhang during a terrible storm, but they are no worse for wear because of it.  She had them completely unassisted and is a very responsive mother.  There were moments of confusion where she accidentally stood on one and pawed the other trying to figure out what it was, but once the hormones kicked in she was very sweet to them, grooming them and talking to them constantly.  She was wanting to groom them so bad that while we were trying to get them to nurse she was licking us because she couldn't reach them.  She even licked my ear.  It was hilarious!    Tanzanite  Topaz grooming her babies.  The boy is standing up.  She is adorable! A...

Poor turtle got stuck in a bucket.  Don't worry, hubby saved him.  This is our resident box turtle and ?his? name is Scuff.  Did I ever tell you guys how he got his name?? I was leaving for work one day, got in my car and started backing out of my parking spot.  My tire went over a big bump and I stopped the car, jumped out in a panic thinking I'd run over a cat and saw.... a box turtle!!  He was completely unharmed, but the tire left a scuff mark on his shell.  I was so relieved he was okay.  I moved him off of the driveway and went along my way thinking I'd never see him again or if I did that I wouldn't even know it. I was wrong!  I did see him again and his scuff mark stayed, making him easy to identify.  He regularly shares the cat food with our cats and we keep water out for him.  It's so cool seeing him hanging around.  You never know when you'll run across him.  :)

 So today were big changes for Jasper, Coral and Amethyst.  It's weaning time!  And breeding time!  Amethyst has been with her mom for four and a half months and that really is way too long.  Doelings really should be weaned around three months.  Coral is starting to lose weight so it's time to separate them and get weaning started.  She's been self weaning Amethyst for the most part and Amethyst is eating solid food really well, so it's shouldn't be a difficult weaning. It's also time to breed Coral again and we're going to breed her to Jasper, since Apatite is nowhere near old enough to breed.  I mean physically he can, but I'm not having my little baby breeding at his age.  He needs to mature a lot more.  We originally intended to get two Myotonic bucks, one buckling and one adult who would be ready to breed Coral, but it didn't work out.  Jasper is turning out to look like a really nice buck (although he's only 75% Boer), so I d...

 It was an absolutely gorgeous day yesterday so after work we let Garnet, Topaz, Amethyst and Apatite out in the front yard to browse while Chrome grazed.  They had a blast! I enjoyed two hours of just watching them, taking photos, cuddling them, etc.  It was a great evening.  Enjoy the photo spam Garnet looks ready to pop!  She loved those muscadines! The kids were a bit hesitant because they didn't realize there were adult goats out.  They haven't been out with Garnet and Topaz before.  Once they realized they had company they were a lot more confident and explored a lot more of the yard than they ever have before.  They used to stick close to the barn because Amethyst wanted her mom. Coral isn't allowed out because she's impossible to catch if she's loose. Apatite is growing SO much!!  He's now just over five months old and is separated from Amethyst because I don't want her getting pregnant while she's a baby.  Yes it can happen with...