It’s time… my favorite time of year on the farm!
Ok to be fair I have a few favorite times but this one might be my actual favorite. It’s kidding season!
Oreo, my herd matriarch delivered twins today! A boy and a girl. They are already up and stumbling around—even trying to play a bit with each other. It’s dark out and the red glow of the heat lights doesn’t make for good photos… I’ll try to get some good ones tomorrow and post an update.
Here they are! The snickerdoodle twins!! Snicker is the boy and Doodle is the girl
Here are 3 reasons I LOVE this time of year
Baby goats
So this is a no-brainer when it comes to kidding season—it wouldn’t be without the babies! Baby goats are so tiny and cute and BOUNCY. The wobbly first steps, the tiny cries, and mom’s tender attention. Fast forward two weeks and the goats are leaping and climbing on everything in the barn yard. It’s a really happy time of year.
Signals the start of spring
While this may not be true of all farms (and not necessarily true all years), the birth of the first goats feels like the starting gun to the farm and garden year. It’s usually around this time that I’m putting in the first seeds and planning out the summer produce. Days are starting to get a little longer and slightly warmer. Kidding season ignites new hope and energy in me to kick off a new year on the farm.
Milk
We keep dairy goats to milk them. And without babies, there is no milk! On our farm, babies get all the milk for about 2 weeks. As they grow and begin to nibble grass, I start to night wean them. This gives mom a break to rest through the night and build independence in the kids. And, best of all, it allows our family to have a little milk. I milk once a day, every day until the kids are 2 months. At this point, I check on the health of the mom and the kids to decide if milking and nursing can continue as is, or if we need to make an adjustment. I’ll do about blog post on the details of milking in the future.
Have you ever seen a brand new baby goat? In the words of my youngest “it cuuuuuute”
