Rosebud at 7 weeks ~ Born 7-16-03

This has been quite an experience for me, as I've never had a goat before...  Rosebud rode home with us in the cab of the truck, sitting on my lap...  She was 7 weeks old at the time...  Good thing I didn't wait too much longer or she would have been quite a handful!!!  She already weighed about 30 pounds...  Her daddy is a Boer, which is a breed of goat raised for meat...  Her momma is half LaMancha and half Toggenburg...  Both of which are dairy breeds.

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     Rosebud with her momma, "Hagrid"                              Taking off the morning chill

Goats are most happy with at least one companion, so after much searching, we found Sweetie...  She's a three year old Oberhasli doe,  just arrived 10-26-03 and has already established her dominant status in our little herd of two...  Sweetie was already bred when we got her and is due to kid in February...  Not exactly when I'd have chosen, but Sweetie and George had their own ideas about the matter.


Sweetie 10-27-03
 


Rosebud at 4 months  11-16-03

February 26, 2004

So much has happened since I last updated this page, so I'm just gonna jump right in here and try to bring everyone up to speed on the events from the goat barn.

Sweetie had her babies!!!  A buckling "Georgie" and a little doeling "Sweet Pea"!!!  Born 2-21-04


Georgie and Sweet Pea just minutes old.


Georgie                       and               Sweet Pea
2 days old

I'm bottle raising the kids, as Sweetie had tested positive for CAE, which is a virus that compromises the immune system, much like aids in humans...  By pulling the kids away before they nurse, and either feeding them heat treated colostrum and pasteurized milk from the mother, or milk from a CAE negative doe, the babies will grow up CAE free...  We were fortunate enough to be there at the time of birth...  (I spent two nights in the shop, next to the kidding pen to make sure.)  My mentor, Robyn McBride sat with me most of the time and was on call at night when she couldn't be...  It takes a very special person to say "call when you need me, even if it's 3:00 AM"...  Thanks Robyn!!!  I'll never forget all you've done for me!!!

Sweetie is back with her previous owner, where she has adopted a meat kid to raise, so she's a happy momma.

Bottle raising two growing babies takes a lot of milk, so to supplement the pasteurized goat milk I'm buying from the store, I also bought a nursing doe...  Serenade is a pretty little Nigerian Dwarf doe, that I was fortunate enough to purchase from a friend and fellow goat person, Suzanne Nevada...  Thanks Suzanne!!!    Serenade will be able to supply about half the milk needs for Georgie and Sweet Pea, as the babies are a much larger Oberhasli breed.


Serenade as a yearling
I'll change this when I get a picture of her.

Stick with me kid...  We'll be buds.

Serenade and Rosebud

3-6-04
Serenade and Rosebud have indeed become buddies...  Just today, while out doing chores, Serenade stood up on Rosebud's back so she could better reach my hand for head scratches.  *grin*  Any jealousy that was shown on Rosebud's part is completely gone now, and they enjoy "hanging out" together...  Goats are happy...  Life is good...  *grin*  {:>