Well, Phil and I must know our goats pretty well. Just as we predicted, Lilly needed someone to hold her hand through kidding, giving us ample warning for several days beforehand, then going into mild labor for most of the afternoon until I sat down with her. Then as soon as she knew I was going to stay, she started hard labor within 15 minutes.

Nibbles, on the other hand, was just the opposite, exactly as we foresaw. She dropped an enormous doe-ling today, and she did it all by her lonesome, two days early, with no warning and no fuss. She’d been spending a lot of time under our front deck, and yesterday we heard her pawing and nesting and talking to herself down there. So I attempted to block the area off, but a rainstorm prevented me from finishing the job. I thought I still had time to do it today because Nibbles just didn’t look ready yet. Still, she was spending an awful lot of time under that porch and I heard her chuckling to herself again this afternoon. I couldn’t get her to come out, though, so I figured I’d wait and block the entrance after she came out for evening feed.

I left Nibbles alone and went out to mow grass, and when I went back to check on her a couple of hours later I saw something that wasn’t Nibbles squirming around in the gloom! I crawled back there and was met with what I thought was an enormous buckling already the size of week-old Petunia that was dried off, standing, and nursing vigorously. I grabbed a towel, wrapped him in it, and had to crawl almost forty feet through the dirt to get out of that cave, trying the whole time not to fall and crush baby, who was bawling and struggling furiously. I looked down at the chunky body with the heavy legs and broad forehead and hollered to Phil that we had a bouncing baby boy! Then I went to dunk that filthy, dust-covered navel in iodine, looked at the belly and under the tail and realized he was actually a she! (Sorry girl–my bad.)

Anyway, here she is! We haven’t named her yet. Boy is she a chunk!

I hope her hind legs straighten out. Right now she’s pretty weak in the hind end and her pasterns are knuckled over the front. Especially the left one, which, as you can see in the photos, she can’t properly walk on at all. But she’s strong enough to stand up and nurse in spite of the crooked legs. Do any of ya’ll have experience with crooked-legged kids? Do they usually straighten out ok? I know that foals can have ridiculously crooked legs that they can hardly walk on when born, but that straighten out beautifully within a few days. Are goats the same way? I sure hope so!

Petunia just keeps getting cuter and cuter. And she’s bouncing all over the place and getting more fun to play with lately.

She also enjoys helping me milk.

Nibbles is a barge these days. If she only has one baby in there, she’s going on a diet immediately after she kids!

I’ve got the Linds on my mind a lot lately. Jennifer Lind of Rae’s Majestic Nubians is the girl who owns Petunia’s daddy, and she lives right in the middle of the evacuation zone in that Black Forest fire that’s raging right now. I hope she got all her animals out in time. With so many homes burned, it’s hard to imagine hers survived.

I have spent the last week combing our property and pulling up those horrid little ankle-grabbers that Phil and I call “sock burrs”, and today the goats came with me–all four of them. They don’t generally think much of the sock burr plants, but when I’m picking them, they think they must be delicious. Nibbles and Lilly kept grabbing mouthfuls out of the trash can I was filling up, and I kept trying to shoo them away to eat the ones I hadn’t picked yet. That would have been far more helpful! Cuzco was certain there must be something tastier than burrs in the trash can because he started rooting down into it like a kid looking for the toy in the cereal box. Petunia learned about cactuses and I spent some time pulling spines out of her nose and legs.

And then there was Nibbles… Nibbles, Nibbles, Nibbles. That wily goat was the worst when it came to pillaging the weed bin. But my afternoon really took an interesting turn when I heard her rummaging behind my back, and just as I was about to turn around and reprimand her, she walked up behind me and dumped a whole load of burrs down the back of my pants. You should have heard me whoop! I spent the rest of the afternoon picking burrs out of my underwear. I never did succeed in removing all of them. It was an itchy day. I keep telling myself that I will never again let goats help me with any project! But then I can’t help myself and I allow the entertainment factor to outweigh all practical concerns.

After we got back to the house, I brought Petunia up on the porch with me where we enjoyed the swings.

Phil was gone for the evening, so I had a friend over to watch a movie. She brought a 10-day-old Nigerian Dwarf buckling with her, so I brought Petunia up and we both sat with baby goats on our laps watching “Artois the Goat.” It was a perfect “goat day.” 

I’ve been very reflective these past few days and it’s been hard to hold back tears remembering pain and tears of joy and thankfulness at these moments. One year ago today I found Cuzco after two frantic days of searching and two miserable nights of wondering. He’d been chased off by coyotes during the night and I was hoping simply to find his carcass so I could have closure. But he was alive! He was far from home, battered, torn, and exhausted, but he was very much alive and soooo ready to come home. He’s never fully recovered from that incident and has been an “old goat” in many ways ever since. But he’s happy and whole and he still loves life (even if he has to take it at a somewhat slower pace these days). God is good. 

Lilly had a single, big, beautiful baby girl this evening. We haven’t named her yet, but she’s a real cutie. She’s got a very Nubian face but with a straighter profile, small airplane ears with Nubian spots, a very long body and super-long legs with perfect Alpine cou clair coloring.

Phil says Lilly was in labor most of the afternoon, but she didn’t really get down to work until I came in from the field. She started hard labor within 15 minutes of me going in to sit with her. I think she was waiting for help, just as I figured she’d do. Lilly is my needy child.

Phil had to be somewhere at 7:00, so he left at 6:45, wondering how long it would be until the baby came.

Well, the bubble came as Phil was literally backing out of the driveway. And there were two feet followed by an enormous head before he’d gotten to the end of it of the dirt road.

That big Nubian head was a pain to get out, but I was prepared for the purple tongue hanging out (that about panicked me the first time I delivered a foal!). I stuck a finger in its mouth and felt a tongue reflex, so I knew it was ok. Lilly stood up and gave a push while I grabbed those feet and gave a pull, and out she came! A beautiful baby girl!

And boy was she strong! She was up and nursing long before Lilly stood up. Lilly is a very attentive mother and she has a beautiful big udder with enough milk for five babies. It’s a happy night in the Hassey household. 

Now that the excess hair is gone, it’s time to remove all that flaky skin and stubborn dirt. As much as Cuzco hates to be squirted with water, he has no idea how good he has it. We have a hot water tap outside!! Now how many goats in the world have that particular luxury??

Rub-a-dub-dub, we could use a tub. This is the part Cuzco loves best, as you can see by his expression. Just like a massage.

Toweling off is pretty nice too.

The finished product: Cool and dapper and ready to conquer the summer!

It’s time for Cuzco’s annual spring cleaning. Look at that scruffy winter coat! Time for that hot, itchy, ratty old thing to go!

Cuzco generally seems to enjoy the clippers and willingly stands still for most of this rather tedious process. This is good because we’ve never owned a stanchion.

But then, who needs a stanchion when Nanno is so good at the leg-lock technique? The back end is the hardest. That’s where the hair is longer and more matted so the clippers yank and pull. And when the clippers yank and pull, Cuzco starts to yank and pull and that’s my cue to grab a hind leg and make him stand still anyway. Poor goat–I do my best to be gentle.

All done clipping, and what a handsome fella he is under all that winter scruff!

Lilly the rubber-necked owl goat really gets into her brushing time.

It’s that time of year when I wax nostalgic about my college days, and this year is particularly significant because it is the 10th anniversary of my graduation. I graduated from Houghton College on May 12, 2003. Cuzco was in attendance at that proud event and had the honor of displaying my tassel.

Actually, he spent more time trying to eat it than show it off, but he wore it well in any case.

We even shook hands with President Chamberlain, who loved goats. He grew up milking his nanny goat every morning because he was allergic to cow’s milk, so he approved of Cuzco’s attendance at my ceremony.