Well, I’m not sure if it’s official yet, but we’ve been calling the new little one “Nubbin”. Perhaps not so suited to such a big girl, but it sounds so well with “Nibbles”. I don’t have any new photos since mostly she’s spent the last few days sleeping in the shed. Today she was out a lot more and is starting to bounce around like a proper goatling, but I was too busy to play with her.

I got some Selenium/Vitamin E gel into her to help strengthen her and straighten her out. Her hind end is much stronger, and her feet are starting to look normal instead of knuckled under. She still wobbles a lot in the back end when she walks, and her feet splay out easily, but she’s hopping around and running, so I think she’s going to be just fine. I have to remember she came a couple days early and had some catching up to do.

It’s amazing how the goats’ personalities have all changed with the coming of babies. I never knew Lilly could be so aggressive and even downright mean, and I never knew Nibbles could ever be so subdued. At first Lilly was worried whenever Nubbin bawled and would come running even though it wasn’t her baby. A day later she had realized it wasn’t her baby and she started being mean to her whenever Nibbles wasn’t around. I’ve had to rescue poor Nubbin from Lilly’s head-butting and ear-biting on a couple of occasions when Nibbles has been in the stanchion. Nibbles, on the other hand, has taken a back seat to Lilly in the pecking order. Yesterday I was encouraging Nubbin to drink from the less popular side of the udder when Lilly came out of nowhere and savagely t-boned Nibbles and about knocked her off her feet. This is such an enormous change from just a month ago that it’s hard to believe they are the same goats.

Lilly is starting to get impatient with milking lately too. Once she’s finished her grain, that’s it. She’s done with milking and she spends the entire rest of the time kicking savagely. I’m pretty sure I’m not hurting her. I think she’s just bored and feeling dominant, and this is her way of asserting herself. She’s also run past me into the house twice in the last two days, which she has never ever done before. Cuzco hates Lilly more than ever. He’s been going out of his way to butt her, chase her, harass, and terrify her any time they have to share the same space (like during feeding time). Any time he doesn’t have to be near her, he stays as far away from her as he can and makes sure she doesn’t dare come near him. I think he’s as annoyed with Lilly’s recent “attitude” as much as I am. The weird thing is that Lilly is hanging around Cuzco more, like she’s trying to replace Nibbles as “Cuzco’s girl,” and Cuzco ain’t havin’ none of it!

But other than his general annoyance at Lilly, Cuzco has been real good around the babies. He doesn’t like them and avoids them as much as possible, but he has never offered to hurt them. He hasn’t once tried to go in his shed since Petunia first adopted it. I was leery at first of letting all the goats be in one pen, but after letting them out under supervision for a few days, I decided it would be safe to leave them together all the time. Cuzco has his space in the plastic shed and no one dares come near it. As long as he has that refuge, he’s content to let everyone else go where they please. Petunia learned quickly that Cuzco does not like to play and wisely leaves him alone. As long as she leaves him alone, he leaves her alone and everyone is happy. Now if Lilly would just settle down and stop playing the “diva mom,” I think we will all get along very nicely.

Oh, and Petunia has learned to jump on people. I can’t go outside any more without feeling little hooves pattering all over my legs. She loves to be picked up and held. She’s like a toddler reaching her hands towards the grown-ups’ knees and saying “Up! Up!” I thought jumping was just a bottle baby thing. I guess I was wrong. I figure she’ll grow out of it eventually like Nibbles did, but it’s cute in the meantime, as long as she hasn’t been stepping in mud or other things one finds in goat pens.