Well, we now have two new arrivals!  Monkey kidding this morning at about 9:30 am.

Look how proud Mom is!  These two little doelings are experimental.  That means they are mixed blood basically, but the American Dairy Goat Association lets you register them anyway.   They are half LaMancha and have little elf ears that are so cute! Mama is 3/4 Toggenburg and 1/4 Alpine.

The closest guess was Monkey on March 21, with two twin does.  So Catsmum, only got a 40% Correctness score.

So, Catsmum, Anna Stein, and Mary L,  you should all guess again.  Also, if you guessed Cecilia or Agnes, you should also guess again, keep the contest going!

Michelle is still in the lead with an 80% correct guess.  This roving is the prize, and it is merino, with lots of pretty angelina in it!  So, if you want to win this yummy roving that was drum carded then hand pulled (drafts like a dream I might add) then make a guess on the ewe or doe of your choice.  Here is what you need to guess on.

Mom, day, time, number of babies and sex of babies.  Each correct guess gets you 20% of a correct guess.

“HEY, where are you going?  Get back here brat!  That’s the wrong end!”

Kids are not the quickest at finding the teats….Being used to the shetlands who are born knowing their times tables (hee hee) the kids were quite a lot slower to pick up on how to nurse.  They are also a lot slower to be on their feet and trying.  The first Shetland baby will often be up and nursing or trying by the time number 2 arrives, which is usually in about 15 minutes.  Anyway, these two are now doing great.

“Give Mama a kiss….”

We were going to take the doe kids off their Moms and bottle raise them, but since I wasn’t dressed and out there in time, Monkey had already fallen in love with the white one who came first.  So we will just let Mom raise them, since Mandy will have kids too.  Many people take the kids off and heat treat the milk to prevent CAE which is a diesease in goats.  But I don’t have the heart to break them up after they are all in love with each other.  I have been told, that when you are there, and take the kids away before Mom sees them, that Mom will lick and bond to YOU and be happy without the kids, but Monkey was too fast for us!  So, since she tested negative this year, it is probably fine that she keeps her babies.

I’m not sure how much I want to worry about CAE anyway, from what I have read, many many of the positive animals are merely carriers, and do not get symptomatic, further, the disease is not super easy to spread.  The most common way, is from milk from Mom to babies.  Many farms do not test, and never have any sick animals either, so it is a debatable topic at best.

Anyhow, there are the new pictures of the latest arrivals, make your guesses if you guessed wrong!  Also Lucy almost must have not settled the first time around, so if you guessed on lucy, you might want to reschedule your guess for around the 31st.