Photos from the Farm #16

Welcome back! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas vacation and a very Happy New Year!

Since you didn't have a chance to ask me any questions before the break, I thought I would post a few photos that I took while you were gone.

You might not believe this, I hardly believe it myself. We have another set of new animals on the farm!!

You'll have to guess what they are. I'll show you later.

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It's been very cold lately.

Do you remember Clover, our goat? She is very old. We have had her for about 10 years. She was at least 4 years old when the neighbors gave her to us. They didn't know exactly how old she was. We know that she was at least 4 because of the teeth she had in her mouth.

I'll show you some photos of goat teeth another time.

One problem Clover has is that she doesn't like the cold! The white goats don't mind the cold one bit! The cows don't mind the cold, either! As long as the chickens and ducks have food, they don't mind the cold, either.

Clover shivers in the cold so she needs to wear a coat!

This is Clover's new coat!
The old one was worn out so over the Christmas holiday I sewed a new one for her.

First I cut it out, then I brought it out to the barn to see if I had the right size.

I had to cut it down a little, then I sewed the inside (which is a nice, warm fleece) to the outside (the black quilted fabric).

I went out to the barn to try it on Clover again, and to make marks so I would know where to sew the belt that holds it on.

Clover came when I called and walked in the barn. She stood their patiently while I tried it on again.

I went back to the sewing room to finish the coat.

Matt took the coat out to the barn. He called Clover and she came trotting up to the door because she knew why Matt was calling her. She came in and stood quietly and patiently while Matt put her new coat on. She knew she was getting a new coat and she was very happy because she hates the cold!

She loves her new coat and doesn't complain one bit about wearing it!

If you are interested in sewing your goat a coat I used the pattern at Rocky Run Goats and tweaked it a little so it would fit our goats.

Are you wondering why Clover is the only goat on our farm with a coat? The big, white goats all grow their own thick, winter coats. Underneath their white fur is a thick, fluffy fur that grows in the winter to keep them warm. We call it an 'undercoat'. Clover is a different breed (kind) of goat and she doesn't grow very much of an undercoat.

Dogs and cats and other animals often grow thicker fur for the winter. The ones that don't need a coat in the winter. People don't grow extra fur in the winter, that's why we wear coats and thicker clothing to keep warm.

I hope you don't complain about wearing a coat when it's cold. If you do, then I think Clover might be smarter than you.

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Some of you wanted to know how big a cow gets. Here are some photos to show how big our cows are now.

I thought you might like to see how big the cows are.
It's hard to show their size so Matt stood near them.
Echo is a cow (a girl). That is about as big as she is going to get.

This is Matt and Remi. He's getting bigger! He will be much bigger than Echo when he finishes growing.

Here's a video of Echo. You can also hear some of the other animals.

Guess what? One of the chickens ended up being a rooster! He's a very pretty rooster, but we only want one rooster on the farm. We like Charlie, so this rooster was sent to another farm.

That's all for now!

Remember to write any questions you have. Use your neatest writing so I can read them. I'm not your teacher so I have a little trouble reading poor handwriting.

See you soon!

Clover's Kids

Sunday night was a little it nerve-wracking! No time to take pictures by the time we figured out what was going on and what we needed to do.

Clover started kidding around 7:00 pm when we were starting to milk. The first kid came out hind legs first, which isn't a big problem except that sometimes they breath a bit too early.

Lucky did just that. He really tried to breath, and breath, and breath. But all he got was mucus. We turned him upside down and  spent the next 5 minutes using the bulb syringe to suck out his nose and mouth.

I really didn't think he would make it. Especially since boys tend to give up early.

But he's still around, that's why we are calling him Lucky.

His brother came out head first, but no feet. NO FEET!

That meant that I had to go in and get the feet out!

In my Sunday dress! Silly me, I thought I would have time to change between milking and checking on Clover.

As soon as his little head was out... he started BREATHING!

At least we caught this one faster and we were able to wipe his face off. He didn't have as much mucus sucked in as Lucky did. We worked as fast as we could, especially because we didn't know if this one would be a boy or a girl. Sheesh! All that work for two boys!

Both kids got a shot of LA 200 just to be sure they were okay. Clover got a big shot of Penicillin since I had to go inside and help with the kid.

I think next year Vet2Be will be the one going inside and figuring out the puzzle!

Here's Lucky. He was still wobbly on Monday. I'm sure it was because he had such a rough first few minutes of life.

Lucky is being bottle fed for now, since he can't seem to figure out where Clover's 'spigot' is. That's okay with me. It means that he'll be a very friendly little whether.

Lucky on the right, Banjo (that's what I'm calling him until Vet2Be figures out a better name) on the left. Banjo figured out where to eat Sunday evening. No worries about him right now. 

Surprisingly, Clover doesn't let them sleep all that long. I'm wondering if she thinks they need to be up, moving, and breathing, to keep their lungs from filling with fluid. Just a thought. We'll see if they make it through the first week of life.

Here's hoping!