NTR Acres

We let the doelings out to run around for a bit today.
They absolutely loved being able to run around and explore all over the barn, yard and pasture.
I'm not sure who had a better time, the goats or the kids! 🤣 They loved them chasing them around and playing "boingga".

It's always so fun to put the goats out on grass for the first time in the spring!
We usually put them out on grass during the day and back to the barn at night. We do this to keep them safe from predators and for ease of milking. This is the first year that we've done it with the Does and they are learning the routine pretty well!
They were loving being out in the sunshine and eating all the yummy grass.
What they didn't love was the 5 minute rain storm that passed through! We made a very quick trip back to the barn so they wouldn't all melt from the rain🤣

Bottles, bottles everywhere!
If we're not feeding bottles, we're heating bottles or filling bottles or washing bottles.
We started with 30 bottle babies🥴 With selling some and weaning some, we're down to 17.
We feed them 3 times a day. It's a great way to keep them tame and teach them that we are their friends! We especially want the Doelings to be friendly and calm so that when we milk them next year, they won't give us any trouble.😊

We got ourselves a new toy😁
As our herd continues to grow, the ability/desire to hand milk them all becomes less and less.
We have sore wrists, shoulders and hands. That's why we decided that it was time to invest in a milking machine.
It can do 4 Does at a time and only takes 2 or 3 minutes to milk them out....and our hands get to have a break😃
There is a bit of a learning curve, but we're figuring it out. 😊 It has helped to make milking time a whole lot easier. And if one of us is unavailable to milk, it's not the end of the world.
We're still planning to hand milk once a week so we can see their individual production and keep them used to hand milking. But our bodies are grateful for the helping "hands"!

I hope that everyone is enjoying their long weekend!
We took the opportunity to get some unpleasant job checked off of our list.
We....and by we, I mean Vanessa....disbudded our last baby today. 🎉 It's always nice to have that job done!
We also got all the little boys banded. They hate their lives right now😅 Give them a couple of days and they'll be back to their annoying selves again.....BTW....if anyone is looking for a nice pet, we have a few wethers available😊
It feels good to get these things done. Now we just have tattooing to do and we're done the jobs we dread!

This farming thing is not for the faint of heart! It's such a roller coaster of emotions! Happy when babies are born, determined when they are sick and struggling and devastated when we lose one.
Unfortunately we lost one of Rebel's babies last night😢 We tried for a day and a half to get her to eat, get her to be active and thrive. She just didn't have it in her😞
We have some very sad kids this morning....they are learning the hard lessons of having animals!

Rebel finished off our kidding season with a bang!
She had a long labour but was able to deliver not 1, not 2, but 3 beautiful little doelings!😃 They are so adorable and so tiny!
One of the babies is really struggling right now and seems to have failure to thrive. We're working to get her to eat and help regulate her body temp. Hopefully she'll pull through!
Our final count
16💙
15 💜
The girls almost caught up to the boys this year.😊

We had a little surprise arrival last night!
We tucked Tauriel away after chores in the evening because she seemed as though she was going to kid soon.....ligaments gone, udder bigger, etc.
We checked her again at 9:50 and she was acting normal. We looked at the cameras an hour later and there was a baby in her pen. We thought that one of the bottle babies had escaped and were in her pen, but nope....she had pushed her baby out 10 minutes after we had checked on her (we looked on the camera video to see when it was born).
She had it all cleaned off and almost dry by the time we got there. 🤯 Unfortunately, being that she's a first freshener, she was afraid of the baby and wouldn't let her nurse. So we took her and bottle fed her and now she's another one of our bottle babies.😍
Since she gave us a little doeling, that brings our count to
16💙
13💜
One more to go....and she in labour right now!😃

Meet Cosmo....or as some of the kids call her, sweetheart.
When she was born she wasn't able to walk. She was so weak! We could tell that there was something wrong. It was touch and go for a bit....we weren't sure that she was going to make it.
We started her on a bottle right away. It took a few days before she was able to stand on her own, but she started to get stronger and stronger.
Now 2 weeks later, she actually was running and trying to jump around like all the other babies. She's still not 100%, but she's doing so much better.
If anyone is looking for a great little pet, look no further 😉 She loves to snuggle and will follow you anywhere you go! She's such a sweet little goat!
We're super happy that she pulled through and is doing so well!

Now that we've started milking more regularly, we're establishing some order!
What's really cool is that the goats learn quite quickly who comes when and what milk stand they go to.....we on the other hand have a hard time remembering 😅
So we got these cute little signs from the dollar store to put at each milk stand so that we know who goes on what stand and in what order. Aren't they cute?

Coming in second place was Hera....she gave us a couple hours break after Phyllis had her baby this morning.
She gave us 3 adorable, blue eyed babies....2 doelings and 1 buckling. Her labor and delivery went pretty well and she was able to push them out unassisted. The last one was breech which made it a little more stressful, but everyone is doing well!
I love this picture! The middle one looks like she's terrified of getting her picture taken🤣
We're almost done!
16 💙
12 💜

It was a busy morning this morning! We had two Does laboring at the same time. It was a race to see who would kid first.
Another one of our first fresheners won the race and kidded first. She did it like a pro! No problems, no need for help, textbook.
Phyllis added a little buckling to the crew. She's a great momma and has spent most of the morning snuggling with her baby😍
11 Does have kidded so far...3 to go😃
15 💙
10 💜

We've been having a lot of fun around here welcoming baby goats and watching them grow and become more playful.
But some times we have to make some pretty tough decisions.😔
This little guy, fondly named Tyrone, struggled a bit from birth. He seemed to have a heart issue. He grew pretty good and was starting to be more playful and active. But over the last couple of days he really deteriorated and would just stand with his head down, not playing or being active.
Today we decided it was time to end his suffering😢 It's not a decision that we took lightly and it felt awful to actually decide, but it's better in the end!
Hopefully everyone else stays happy and healthy and we don't have to make that decision again!

Not to be outdone by her daughter, Star decided that we needed 3 more bucklings added to the count😒....not that we don't love bucklings, we just love doelings way more😇
Her labor went on all day and didn't progress as it should because someone was in the wrong position. After a little readjusting he made a grand entrance into the world.
The other 2 followed shortly with only a little trouble because they were huge! We thought for sure she had 4 or 5 babies in there but alas, only 3 giant ones.
BTW...these babies were very hard to get a picture
Sadly the boys are taking off now
14💙
10💜

Well we had mother and daughter laboring at the same time today.
The daughter won the race and kidded 2 handsome bucklings.....which of course were in the wrong position and had to be pulled lol....seems like the way things go this year.
The boys pulled ahead
11💙
10💜

It was a busy day around here!
After a perfect birth this morning, we waited all day for Chanty to get things rolling.
She is a very vocal goat and made sure that everyone knew that she was in labor!🤣
After a little concern and some stressful moments, she pushed out 3 healthy babies.
We were then just sitting around waiting for the placenta to make its appearance when she laid down and started pushing. The last one was BIG and was stuck. We had to give him a pretty good tug to get him out.
Thankfully momma and babies are doing great! Sadly (did I say that out loud?🤣), we ended up with 3 boys and 1 girl.
It's crazy the size difference of these ones! The smallest was 2.2 lbs and the biggest was 4.3 lbs 😳
Our count at the halfway mark
9 💙
10 💜

Today one of our first fresheners, Whinnie, gave birth.
It was a textbook birth. She was so quiet and calm about the whole thing, she laid down and pushed out the perfect little doeling.😊
She's a great momma and seems so happy with her little baby!❤
6 💙
9 💜

Ellie labored all day yesterday trying to get these babies in a good position to make their entrance into the world....she wasn't successful.
Although these babies were pretty stuck and all of them had to be pulled, we're super happy to have 3 adorable doelings safely here!😊
They are SO cute and will get lots of snuggles!
Our count looks a lot better now!
6 💙
8 💜

To say that this kidding season has gone well would be a lie😔
We've had to pull almost all of the babies, had emergency vet visits and have ended up with unexpected bottle babies.
Yesterday we had our 5th kidding. Party was the size of the house so we thought that she was going to have a pile or babies.
It was a bit of a slow start but after realizing that baby was trying to come out side first, she was able to be repositioned and pulled out. Her brother came out like a shot. Then it seemed like the placenta was next....we were super surprised that she would only have 2. After a bit we felt inside and felt another baby. She was stuck and had to be pulled out as well.
The last little girl is super weak and we are having to bottle feed her to try and help her regain her strength. We're hoping she pulls though but we'll see.
Our count so far
6 💙
5 💜

Story was our 4th Doe to kid. She was uncomfortable all night and seemed to be in labor but didn't actually kid until this morning.
The gold little guy was stuck and had to have a little help exiting his momma. It was a tight squeeze because he has a ginormous head but he finally came out.
She gave us 1 handsome buckling and a beautiful doeling! Momma and babies are doing well!❤
Kid count
5💙
3💜

Having bottle babies right off the bat was not our original plan for this year. We wanted to give the babies a couple weeks with their mommas before we started to take them at night.
Unfortunately with what happened with Indie, we had her buckling to bottle feed. Since baby goats don't like to be alone, we made the decision to take one of Red's triplets to be a companion for him.
So now we have 2 bottle babies. Ozzy and Ruby. They are doing pretty well learning how to drink from the bottle, although they seem to think that they are always hungry😒 lol.
The kids love playing with them and letting them crawl all over them! Bottle babies are a lot of fun😊

Well today didn't go as we had hoped😭
We had to rush one of our Does to the vet because she was having a lot of trouble delivering her babies.
She was all prepped for a c-section but thankfully passed the first doeling on her own. The first one had died a while ago and wasn't fully formed.
The vet then went in and pulled the second one, a beautiful doeling that was DOA.😔
He then went back in to get the last kid. He had a terrible time getting him in a good position to pull out but he finally succeeded.....and it was still alive.
So we ended up with our Doe Indie still alive and 1 little buckling that survived the ordeal.
He's getting bottle fed right now while his momma heals a little. Then hopefully we can rebond them.🤞
So our count is
4💙
2💜

When you're ready to lay an egg but all the other nest boxes are occupied.🤣

Austin didn't want to miss out on all the fun that Red was having so she decided to have her babies today.😊
It was a bit rough getting the first one out because his one leg was pointing the wrong direction. But she was a trooper and pushed out 2 little babies. 1 buckling and 1 doeling.
Our running total
3 💙
2 💜

Well our first babies have hit the ground!😃
It was a bit of a rough labour for Red and she ended up having to have all 3 pulled, but they are here safe and sound and everyone is doing great!😍
So far we have 2 bucklings and 1 doeling.

One of our momma kitties decided that she wanted to kick off baby season at the farm.
She disappeared for a couple of days and we searched all over trying to find where she would choose to have her babies.
We finally found her hiding under the hay feeder in the buck barn with 3 squirmy babies. They all seem to be healthy and momma is doing a good job taking care of them!

A wonderful addition to kidding season this year is having cameras set up in the barn.
Last year we would get up and go check the Does every 2-3 hours in the night. This year we can just take a peek on our phones from the comfort of our cozy beds😁
We have hooves trimmed, udders shaved, kidding pens set up and all the supplies collected. Now we just wait patiently for the babies to decide to make their appearance.
Our first Doe is due on Saturday....we'll see how accurate our dates are.
BTW....be prepared to be inundated with baby goat spam😁

In preparation for our Does to start kidding, we took the afternoon to clean out our Doe barn. It took a bit longer than expected but we finally got it all done and started to get our kidding pens ready.
The Does hated being out of the barn and were happy to get all snuggled back into their usual place. They seem happy that it's all clean now.😊
T-minus 9 days until our lives get a whole lot busier!

When we're not taking care of animals we're working to clear the land to get rid of dead/diseased trees and making room for more projects to be completed.😁
There always seems to be something to do! While we were working we were planning a new chicken coop and a barn for all our baby goats. It's going to be another busy spring/summer!

We are 18 days away from our first babies hitting the ground. To say that we are excited would be an understatement!
These ladies are looking pretty round these days and already seem to be uncomfortable....we're placing bets as to how many babies each Doe will have. I'm guessing the one in the first pictures is going to have 4!...she's SO big and still has a ways to go!
With 15 Does to kid this year, we have the potential for 35 babies😃 We're going to be overrun with cuteness! Yay!