It’s official – we are in LOVE! Our 2017 goat babies are just the most precious little things!

Let me start by saying I’ve been very good at keeping our Facebook page (GottaGoat) up-to-date with all the new happenings at our farm, but haven’t had much time to actually sit down and write any new blog posts for a while. For anyone following us, I do apologize, and promise I have lots to share and will get some of our experiences out of my head and onto our site in the near future. In the meantime, please follow us on Facebook to see all the updates at our farm!

We’ve had so much happening here since last fall: we built our (almost) dream barn, which is turning more into everything we want every day; we put up fencing all around a huge part of our property; we are just coming off the tail end of an extremely harsh winter here, which took a huge toll on many of our roosters (frostbite on their combs, and even lost a few toes!); we have been dealing with some new additions and subtractions to the farm (we took in some new Nigerian Dwarf does, but two of our rescued/fostered “big goats” moved to another farm); we have been dealing with some health issues for Charlie the Pig (who thankfully is stable at the moment); but even in the midst of that, we did manage to breed several of our does in the fall, and we are SO HAPPY to see their beautiful kids arriving!

I am just in the process of updating our Sales Page, but thought I would share some pictures of the first few kids. So in order of their arrival:

Halley’s Comet (Miniature Silky Fainting Goat) had two beautiful doelings on April 6, 2017

Halley’s labour and birth went very smooth, even rather quick! Her doelings, Lily and Corel Bell (Bell for short), were a good size: 4.2 lbs and 3.1 lbs. They are absolutely beautiful! We have now had almost three weeks with these adorable doelings, and they are so sweet and cuddly. We have even seen both of them faint (although capturing that on video is proving to be a challenge)! I can’t begin to tell you how amazing these doelings are – not only in their appearance, but also personalities. And they have such beautiful silky fur! Oh, and both of Halley’s doelings were reserved: Lily is going to a wonderful woman in Langley, BC – Jeannie, owner of Jazzy-J’S Silky Fainters; and Bell is going to Gudrun, who runs a great farm in Veteran, AB!

Leeloo (Nigerian Dwarf) had triplets – two doelings and one buckling on April 8, 2017

Leeloo did extremely well for a first-time mom. She has developed a great udder and lots of milk for her new kids. However, we had a little more challenge with their birth. Her first kid, a tiny little doeling named Sweet Pea, was only 1.08 lbs at birth. As Leeloo was still busy giving birth to her other kids, we helped dry her off, but Sweet Pea would not nurse. She had no interest in sucking, even after her siblings were born. The other kids, Birch (a little buckling weighing 3.12 lbs) and Holly (a doeling weighing 4 lbs), started to nurse almost immediately. We tried for 4 hours with Sweet Pea: we put her on a heating pad to keep her warm, and constantly tried to bring her to Leeloo to get her to nurse. She was getting so weak, as she hadn’t had any milk! Finally, we started to rub her gums with syrup, and gave her some syringes full of colostrum, and she eventually started to suck on the syringe! We quickly got her to Leeloo and she latched on! We spent a couple of nights helping Sweet Pea nurse, and now (just over 2 weeks later), she is nursing like a champ! Sweet Pea has more than doubled in weight, but is still our tiniest little baby! Sweet Pea is definitely staying with us, and her sister Holly may also be retained, but I think Birch will probably be available for sale.

Apricot (Miniature Silky Fainting Goat) had a single HUGE buckling on April 12, 2017

Apricot was another first-time mom. She was so huge that we thought for sure she had at least twins coming. However, she surprised us with one HUGE buckling, Mountain Ash (Ash for short)! Ash was 5.06 lbs! From the moment we saw him, we knew that boy wasn’t going to have any problems. Once he was able to stand, he went right for the milk. And Apricot is so amazing, even lifting her leg at first to help him out. She doesn’t let Ash get too far out of her sight! Oh, and we have also seen Ash faint a couple of times! Ash is going to be heading off with Lily to Langley, BC, to also be part of Jazzy-J’S Silky Fainters!

Now of course we have been taking literally hundreds of pictures of the new kids, and have lots more to come as our remaining goats have their babies. For now though, I’ve picked a few of my favourites to share below. We also have a number of videos on our Facebook page, if you’d like to have a look. The one of Sweet Pea first starting to play is just the most amazing thing!

Click the thumbnails below to view larger images…