Remember I mentioned in my first entry that goats have a thing for snowstorms, low temperatures, & vacations? Well, it took a vacation & low temperatures, but we finally have goat babies in the barn! If you live locally, you know we had bitter cold temperatures over the weekend - in the teens overnight and "real feel" temperatures down to the single digits with the wind. We had a short weekend vacation planned that we didn't want to miss. Looking at the forecast & knowing we were going to be away, we were sure Oakley would kid. So, we asked dear friends & fellow animal lovers if they would goat sit for us. They conveniently put up Oakley & Nickel for the weekend in their heated barn. We sent both of them because we are suspecting Nickel will go early & goats do better with a buddy. He checked Oakley Saturday morning. All was well. He came back at lunchtime and found the two babies! The doeling was still wet, but Oakley was taking great care of them! He thinks she was wet because she was just born. He took fabulous care of them until we picked them up on Sunday and brought them home. They are now settled into our barn and doing well. Here are some photos of the doeling. And here is her brother... (He wasn't posing as nicely for me as she did - so better pictures will come later!) These little ones need some names. Since Oakley's name is "Annie Oakley" we are thinking about naming them after some American heros. Like Harriet & Henry (Harriet Tubman & John Henry) or William & Penny (after William Penn). Give us your ideas in the comments!
Looking at the snowstorm coming this week, perhaps we'll have more goat kids!
9 Comments
Heidi
3/13/2017 10:21:10 am
Hello!
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Vanessa
3/13/2017 08:40:14 pm
Thanks, Heidi! Glad you found it fun to read :) We decided to try to keep all our goats theme names based on their mamas this year. So, Oakley's will be American heros, Nickel's anything money related, Emma's old Dutch names, & Llama's animal names. We'll see how it goes :)
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Lorraine
3/13/2017 11:35:42 am
So glad to see all is well with the goats the babies are adorable as far as names go you do such a great job. I thought about Abraham and Mary Todd Lincoln.
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Vanessa
3/13/2017 08:43:04 pm
Thanks, Lorraine! They are adorable, but we're a bit biased towards Nubians :) Thanks for the name suggestions - we are going to decide tomorrow. I like "Abe" for a buckling. It fits goats somehow. Thanks for stopping by!
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scott
3/13/2017 12:35:39 pm
Bonnie and Clyde ? Ozzie and Harriet ?
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Vanessa
3/13/2017 08:46:20 pm
Thanks for stopping by, Scott, & giving us names to think about. Hmm...goats named Bonnie & Clyde - think they'd get into lots of trouble???
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COLLEEN
3/13/2017 12:58:23 pm
THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL. WE REALLY ENJOYED READING THIS BLOG, VERY INTERESTING TO US SINCE WE DID NOT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT GOATS. THEY ARE REALLY A NICE SIZE & THEY LOOK LIKE THEY ARE A FEW WEEKS OLD INSTEAD OF NEWBORNS. GLAD THIS IS OVER FOR HER & YOU & YOUR FAMILY, CONGRATS ARE IN STORE. KEEP US POSTED.
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Vanessa
3/13/2017 08:50:39 pm
Thanks, Colleen!! It is funny how the pictures do make them look older & larger than they are! In real life, the little doeling is small. We weighed them today with our somewhat-inaccurate bathroom scale, and she weighs around 5lbs. The boy is a bit bigger. They both are showing signs of being very healthy - tail wagging, nice coats, & sleeping peacefully.
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Vanessa
3/16/2017 04:28:35 pm
Thanks, everyone for the name suggestions! After much deliberation, the boys decided on Pecos Bill & Laura Ingalls :) We will call them Pecos & Laura. I have officially reserved the right to name one of Nickel's or Emma's bucklings Abe :) But, to date, we haven't had any more goat babies in the barn!
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AuthorVanessa from Russell Homestead. Follower of the Lord Jesus, wife of my knight in shining armor, mother of 5 wonderful children, and joint-keeper of the Russell homestead. Thanks for stopping by! Archives
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Vanessa Russell
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