My Entertainment

Cora Belle's Family

Cora Belle would like to introduce her family...



MinterBay Wedding Belles- in honor of the upcoming nuptials of my boy and his girl

"Belle"



MinterBay Notty Boy

"Boy"

Happy Easter

Class Act

I knew when I fed this morning that today would be the day. Cora Belle labored like she does everything in life...with class. She took her time. Chewed her cud. Pushed when she felt like it and knew when to ask for a little assistance.

This is what came out. A girl who looks like her mother and a boy who looks like his dad.

The Apple

You know the saying-the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. Zipper is the apple of Buttons' tree. He has her same sweet personality. At one day old he would stand by me to be petted and then get that dopey look in his eye when I scratched. If I stop he paws my leg until I scratch again. He crawls into my lap and relishes a good face rub.

Boots on the other hand is more independent...which is a nicer way of saying she doesn't give a hoot about me.

All Alone In The World

Buttons' Babies

photo by foxtrot photography

Next

Better Than a Toy

Boots

Musical Goats

The Button's trio is having a hard time deciding where to live. Over the last few months, we have been working on a small shed for Buttons to have her babies. It's a quaint little shed made entirely of recycled materials and is perfect for a goat to raise her kids. The trouble is Button's doesn't think so. She hates the little Button's house. She wanted to be back in her lean-to with the other two thirds of the trio.
Back she went to her lean-to where she settled in and started eating and the kids played...yes already...they buck and play!

Alice and Reese were very curious through the wire gate but I couldn't let them in because Reese was too rough. So I plopped Reese down in the big goat pen and figured I could put the gentle Alice in with Buttons and family.
That worked for about a minute as I saw a vet bill flash before my eyes. The little white goat wanted no part of that and was going to get out of there and back to her trio if it killed her. Literally.
I put Alice and Reese in the little Button's house. They screamed so loud and Button's called so long she forgot she had children.
They ran over to the gate of the lean-to and cried to get in and Button's cried for her ladies in waiting. I ended up dragging two igloos to the front of the lean-to gate.
One for Alice and one for Reese.

They made it quite clear.........They don't like camping.

I Told You Boots Were In This Year

Buttons had her babies today. All by herself. A doe and a buck.

I saw the doe first and this is what I saw......



So meet Boots.



And her brother Zipper.

Quit Looking At Me

I will have these babies when it is convenient for me...not you.



I especially didn't appreciate the 3am check.

Jenny Goat

Jenny Goat lives on the farm next door.



She is a companion of racehorses.



Jenny Goat doesn't like racehorses.

It is very bothersome when they start racing around. It is hard to relax when for no apparent reason a racehorse is chasing you around the field.

The racehorses have gone to the track.



Jenny is glad.



She can now relax.

Silver-Laced Wyandotte

It Takes A Village

Spring.
There is a lot to do when you have a farm. Even a micro-farm like mine. Last weekend the goatjudge came out to the farm to draw blood for the annual CAE and CL testing. I thought it was great fun and she's a pro. I held the goat while she did the blood work. Each vial was carefully labeled with the goat's name then carefully packaged and shipped off to the lab.
I can just hear the lab workers say, "We have another Alice"
I was happy to get a call from the nice gal at WSU to tell me that the tests were negative. One of the rare times a negative is a good thing.
It was also time to clean out the stalls. I use the method where I just pile on the bedding and leave the wasted hay until spring. It turns into a soft, warm, comfy mound but come spring it's backbreaking mucking out. Now Hubby is a great shoveller so I enlisted his help with the shoveling while I ran the wheelbarrow. After he got over the shock of how much hay the goats waste he did a real quick job of it. I would have given up halfway through and thrown on some shavings but he dug the whole thing out down to the stall mat....I hadn't seen that in months.

We have to get ready for Buttons to deliver at the end of the month.

I am going to predict that she will have one buck. I really want a doe out of her but she's not very big so I can't imagine two fitting in there, making my chances better for getting a doe.
But I really want a doe-a Rebel daughter.
Cora Belle on the other hand is getting very big. I could see her having triplets. I want to keep a blue-eyed buck out of her so that's what I'm hoping for.....along with two doelings. She is looking tremendous in the milking department, as is Buttons.

I am going to have me some sweet candy milk this year. Anyone for a latte?

Potpourri

I like that word so much I think I may name a kid Potpourri, maybe a spotted one with lots of different colors.
A little bit of this and a little bit of that. Kind of like the weather. Today the sun was out and it was snowing. I have Friday off because it is a snow day unused. Wouldn't that be ironic if we had a snow day and had to go to work on Friday to make it up.
Anyway, we are nearing kidding time.

Buttons is due the 27th give or take a few and Cora Belle is due a week after. I think Buttons may have one or two. She is not huge. Cora Belle is getting huge. She may fall in her mother's footsteps and have triplets. I can feel the kids kicking in there. It still gives me a thrill to feel that little hoof kick my palm and I know there's life growing.

The hens are making a liar out of me and filling all the saved egg cartons. We are getting more green eggs this year thanks to "Little Brown Hen"-the hen that hatched last summer. No small pullet eggs for this gal. She gives me huge bright green Easter eggs. So pretty I had to get a new egg basket, so it's Easter every day. I have bid on those cute little Jiffy egg scales on ebay but the last one went for 35 dollars. I got a Hansen milk scale for 12 dollars...that's about as much as I want to pay for anything. Cheep and cheap.



Filbert is in love with the little white goat. Which isn't surprising because the little white goat is a merry little goat that seems to be able to deflect any sort of conflict. We all love her.
But Filbert really loves her.



She is such a flirt...you know the type.



Speaking of the little white goat, isn't she pretty?


I don't care how a goat looks in the show ring (now that's a lie) as much as I do when it is standing in the pasture, where it will be 98% of the time.

Cora Belle Immortalized

First read here


See what came yesterday...



This is my favorite part...



She is perfect right down to her blue eyes.



Now there will be no living with Cora Belle. I wonder if she will feel it when I stick a pin in.

Thanks Lisa.