Remember the two little orphan goats? Well its been five weeks and they're both doing fine. The little boy is named Tumbleweed and the girl is Sagebrush. Tumbleweed especially fits his name because he jumps and runs everywhere whenever he gets a chance. Little Sagebrush on the other hand is more quiet and ladylike.
At five weeks they are still drinking a bottle. Tumbleweed guzzles his as fast as he can and looks for more. He loves his milk and can't wait to get it sometimes. He's very impatient and serious about mealtimes. After the first week they were both given hay and grain to eat in addition to milk but Tumbleweed doesn't seem to eat very much. He just nibbles but prefers his milk to anything else.
Sagebrush enjoys her milk but she takes her time drinking it. I have tried several different styles of nipples on her bottles but she still drinks slowly. She wants to be held close and tucks her head under my chin as she takes slow drinks of her milk. She dances her head back and forth and just takes it easy. Sometimes she even seems to almost fall asleep. I think she really just enjoys being cuddled and loved. If I was impatient with her I don't believe she would get enough milk because she just takes her time. She makes up for the milk by eating more hay and grain then her brother. She likes both of them and nibbles throughout the day. She has been eating and tasting things from early on while he was only interested in milk. She also started pooping her little goat pebbles earlier then her milk guzzling brother. She's not growing as tall or as fast as her brother and I believe she's going to stay tiny. She's also not as brave and rambunctious as him.
Tumbleweed loves to jump up on things and then leap off. He's very daring and leaps without thinking. He has a small plastic doghouse that makes a nice noise when he jumps on top so he pretends to tap dance when he's up there. He turns round and round before leaping into the air and landing on the ground. Sagebrush jumps and plays too sometimes but not like him. She spends more time picking up sticks and leaves and pine needles as she moseys along.
They go to work with me five days a week so I can feed them during the day. Everybody who comes by enjoys holding and playing with them. They are very socialized and love attention. Tumbleweed inspects ALL fingers to make sure they don't have milk in them while sagebrush prefers to be cuddled. He is always showing off his jumping skills and entertains like the class clown. He will run along and then get the urge to kick up his heels for a karate chop or two much to everyone's delight. Their mother Sandy loved to rub her horns on our leg. Whenever we were with her she would come up and press her head against a leg and run it up and down. She never hurt us doing that but it could be annoying at times. Even though we tried to break her of the habit she never would stop. She just kept on as if she was both petting us and getting a good head scrub for herself too. Funnily enough Tumbleweed has the same head rubbing habit. Even though he was never with his mother he seems to have received the head rubbing gene.
The two of them hate to be separated and he will cry if he can't see his sister. He stays close to me unless she wanders off nibbling here and there like she often does. When she wanders then so does he following along behind her just like a little cow tail. She doesn't return when she's called either so she has to be fetched quite often. She has to be carried back to where she's supposed to be but he will happily skip along by my side.
Its been cold at night so they have a kennel in the house where they sleep quietly through the night. In the morning they wait until I mix their milk and then they go outside and walk up the hill with me to drink their breakfast. They play a bit and then eat hay in their outside kennel until time to ride to work.
They're both so entirely different that it hardly seems that they are brother and sister. They don't even have the same coat color or length. His coat looks like it will be longer and full while hers is tighter and short. Even though they're different they are both very attached to each other and their people too. It would be difficult to ever separate them but when its time to breed she will have to be placed with the other buck for a time. I'm not sure how they will feel about that. We have considered banding Tumbleweed to make him a wether (a male castrated goat). He would only be a pet at that point and we don't usually prefer to do that. Most of our livestock are expected to produce something and the bucks are breeders AND pets too. So, there are things to think about with this brother and sister.
This is an unusual year for me with the goats because I usually have more then two to bottle feed. This year it has just been the two of them and I've had an easier time with them. They will be in their own outside pen before too long and I'm actually going to miss having them with me. When we wean the other kids from their mothers they will move into the same pen and everyone will get to play together. Its a good thing to have these two socialized with goats and they have play dates in the big pen every afternoon with all the other kids. Hopefully, they won't be too upset and scared in the bunkhouse with the other youngsters but we will cross that bridge when we get there.
Well that's how things are going with the kids. Its been a quiet and uneventful first month which is actually a blessing. No drama is how I wish all things "farm" would go:) For now I'm thankful for all the little blessings in life and hope it stays this way. The kids look forward to sharing their new adventures as they happen. Happy spring!:)
Southern Wood Elf