Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Goat Babies and Lace

I think everyone who knows me knows what's been keeping me so busy and not updating my blog for the past few days, goat babies! Saturday morning I went down to the barn and found not one, not two, but three brand new (still slimy) kids in the pen with Marty. I let Clover out and toweled off the two goats she hadn't gotten to and all looked well. She let all three of them nurse that first day.



Well, it's a good thing I was checking up on them semi-obsessively because she decided at some point that she wasn't going to feed the two that I toweled off. From the reading I've done this has nothing to do with me, and also doesn't mean that she won't take care of all her kids the next time around. It's just one of those unpredictable things that goats do.
Loving up on her chosen kid.

The first day everyone got food.

So, I've been trekking down to the barn four times each day to make sure the two rejects are getting fed. I just put her in the milking stand and very slowly feed her 1/4 of her daily grain ration while they nurse. Once I'm out of grain she immediately starts stomping and trying to get them off of her, but I've got it worked out so that they're full before that happens. Although, I think boy goat would eat forever if it was possible.
Bailey

Brown goat (the one Marty's actually mothering) and Bailey (the spotted one) are going to be kept since they're girls. Boy goat, on the other hand, is either going to be sold or eaten. Tim and I were talking about it last night, and I don't think I could kill him but Tim seems to think that he'll be able to. They're just so cute when they're young, but no doubt delicious. I will list him on Craig's List first and see if anyone is interested, but if he's not gone by the time he hits 2 months we'll have to eat him. Otherwise he could get his sisters pregnant and that could kill them.

I have been doing a tiny bit of lace work recently. I'm almost finished with that bookmark that you saw me setting up. As expected, it's going faster and faster the more I do. I bought a little e-book for my Kindle that's been an excellent reference. It's called Bobbin Lace Stitches and Techniques. It doesn't look that impressive, but it was only $5, so I thought I'd give it a shot. It's really well written and has very easy to follow diagrams. When I get to a section and can't remember how to do a stitch I just check her book. It's an easier read/reference that the book that came with my lace kid (where the pattern came from).

If her how to book is anything like this it's more than worth the $8. Even better, if you happen to be an Amazon Prime member both of her books are free to borrow. I should probably get prime, but I've got Amazon Student for the moment and I'm not going to pay for prime until they kick me off of that.

Anyway, I'll post a picture when I finish my bookmark and when I finish painting Finn's new bookshelf. If I don't post for a few days again just assume I'm busy with goats.

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