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Milking Again & Baby Goat Naming News
Why has it taken so long? Well, for a number of reasons.
Once a day milking means being able to share the milk with the kids. Once they are two weeks of age, they are able to spend the night in a pen near to, but separated from, their mother.
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| “But we don't want to be separated from Mom at night.” |
At that age they are beginning to eat solids so hay is available to them all night. The morning milking is for the humans and the kids get it for the rest of the day. Their mom learns to not let down all of it, so they still get some for breakfast.
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| Breakfast at last. Daphne's twins are now 2 and a half weeks old. |
Helen's quads presented a concern, however, because I need to make sure they are all getting enough. So far she's managed to feed them all herself without supplementation on my part, but as they get bigger my concern has been that the smallest kids will get pushed out.
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| Helen's quads, now 6 weeks old |
The solution for that is to alternate separating two per night, to make sure all are getting enough. If one looks a little behind, it gets to stay with Helen for as many extra nights as are needed.
Our set-up caused somewhat of a delay on this front, because we only have two stalls in our little goat shed. I had to wait on Daphne to kid before I could start separating any kids at night. Daphne's twins turned 2 weeks over the weekend, so Sunday night they, and Helen's two biggest, had to spend the night next to, but not with, their moms.
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| “We missed our milk!” |
Other goat news is that the kids all have names now. Of the quads,
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| The only doeling is Jessie |
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| Woody |
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| Buzz |
Are you catching on?
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| Dancin' Cowboy |
Daphne's twins are
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| Constellation (Stella for short) |
and
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| Velma |
Velma and Woody will be going to new homes toward the end of June. I will keep Jessie and Stella, and maybe one of the other two bucklings. For now, however, everyone is happy and healthy. I couldn't ask for anything more.
Source: http://www.5acresandadream.com/2015/04/milking-again-baby-goat-naming-news.html
